Mušmaḫḫū Mušmaḫḫū Mušmaḫḫū, inscribed in Sumerian as MUŠ.MAḪ, Akkadian as "muš-ma-ḫu", meaning "Exalted/distinguished Serpent", was an ancient Mesopotamian mythological hybrid of serpent, lion and bird, sometimes identified with the seven-headed serpent slain by Ninurta in the mythology of the Sumerian period. He is one of the three horned snakes, with his companions, Bašmu and Ušumgallu, with whom he may have shared a common mythological origin. In "Angim" or "Ninurta's return to Nippur", the storm god describes one of his weapons as "the seven-mouthed muš-mah serpent" (line 138), reminiscent of the Greek myth of Heracles and the seven headed Lernaean Hydra he
Modern understanding of Greek mythology Modern understanding of Greek mythology The genesis of modern understanding of Greek mythology is regarded by some scholars as a double reaction at the end of the 18th century against "the traditional attitude of Christian animosity mixed with disdain, which had prevailed for centuries", in which the Christian reinterpretation of myth as a "lie" or fable had been retained. In Germany, by about 1795, there was a growing interest in Homer and Greek mythology. In Göttingen Johann Matthias Gesner began to revive Greek studies and a new humanistic spirit. His successor, Christian Gottlob Heyne, worked with Johann Joachim Winckelmann, and