Isimud

Isimud has two faces because he is a messenger: one looking where he came from, one where he is going. He is Enki's sukkal, the vizier who does the talking, and he shows up in the myths whenever Enki has to deal with somebody. In 'Inanna and Enki' his master hands over the me — the divine offices that make civilisation work — at a drinking party, sobers up, and sends Isimud after the boat to get them back; Isimud catches up seven times and is refused seven times, in the same words each time. He is on the Akkadian seals too, standing behind the god with the streams of water, recognisable from the double face alone.

Domains

• messengers

Relations

• subordinate to: EnkiEnki's vizier. In 'Inanna and Enki' he is the one sent after her to take back the me his master gave away while drunk, and he has to make the request seven times and be refused seven times, which is the closest thing this pantheon has to a running joke.Reference treatment of Isimud as the sukkal of Enki, carrying his messages to the other gods. (secondary)

Sources

• Isimud, the Akkadian Usmu, is the two-faced sukkal and messenger of Enki, shown on Akkadian seals with a face looking in each direction, and worshipped at Uruk and Babylon without a temple of his own.: Reference treatment of Isimud/Usmu: the two-faced god, sukkal of Enki, his messenger role and his appearance in the myth of Enki and Inanna. (secondary)