Submitted Name Revision History

This was the name of the most important male god in the Elamite pantheon. His name apparently means "commander" in Elamite, as it is derived from the Elamite verb huba "to command". Most sources state that Humban was the god of the sky, though there are also a few sources who claim that he was the god of the earth. The Elamites also referred to Humban by his epithet Napirisha, which in later times became the name he was almost exclusively known by. Humban was married to the mother goddess Pinikir, but he later divorced her and remarried with the goddess Kiririsha. However, it should be noted that some sources state that Kiririsha may have been an epithet of Pinikir (thus making Pinikir and Kiririsha one and the same person), while other sources view them as separate goddesses whose cults eventually merged (by about 1800 BC). This Pinikir vs. Kiririsha matter is a bit of a murky area, in part caused by the fact that little is known about the Elamite religion as well as the fact that the Elamite language is not yet fully understood by modern linguists. Finally, over 20 Elamite kings were named in honour of Humban (which is consistent with the fact that nearly all rulers of Elam bore theophoric names).