Ruhurater orLahuratil[1] was anElamite deity.
Ruhurater is the city god of Huhnur.[2]
Ruhurater's gender is uncertain,[1] though some researchers refer to him as a male deity.[3] It has been proposed that his name means "(the god who is the) creator (of) man" and that he was connected to various creator deities (collectively known as Napratep), but his role in Elamite beliefs remains uncertain.[3] It is possible that he was regarded as a creator deity in a specific area of Elam, but not in the entire region.[3]
Many documents mentioning Ruhurater are legal texts which cast him in the role of a divine witness, alongside the MesopotamianShamash.[1] In two of the legal documents fromSusa where Ruhurater appears, the measurement for silver was the city weight of the city of Huhnir, likely indicating that the transactions were either done in Huhnur, or Huhnur was the city the trader came from.[4] Thekidinnu (here possibly to be understood as a symbol for a god) of Ruhurater is mentioned in one of these texts from Susa in relation to a loan of Silver.[5] In legal texts excavated from Teppeh Bormi (Huhnur) Ruhurater is invoked along withNahhunte as divine witnesses, as in Susa where Inshushinak and Nahhunte were invoked for the role.[6]
He is also described as capable of bestowingkiten, an Elamite religious concept which can be translated as "divine protection."[1] Wouter Henkelman notes that his role in them can be compared to that played byInshushinak in similar texts fromSusa.[1]
The oldest attestion of Ruhutater comes fromTepe Bormi [nl], possibly to be identified with the ancient Elamite city of Huhnur.[1] The text in mention, an inscription ofAmar-Sin, a Mesopotamian king from theThird Dynasty of Ur, states that Huhnur was the cult center of this god.[1] Amar-Sin apparently rebuilt Ruhurater's temple located there and returned a statue of the god to it.[7] Association between him and Huhnur is also attested in two texts from theSukkalmah period.[1] Another temple of Ruhurater, shared with Hishmitik, was located atChogha Zanbil.[8] It has been proposed that Hishmitik was his spouse, but this remains unproven.[1]
Two Elamite kings bore thetheophoric name Tan-Ruhurater, "obedient to Ruhurater."[9] Tan-Ruhurater I was the eighth ruler from the Shimashki dynasty,[9] while Tan-Ruhurater II belonged to the Kidinuid dynasty.[10]
Ruhurater is mentioned on a stele of the neo-Elamite king Atta-hamiti-Insushinak, who reigned in the sixth century BCE.[1] While Ruhurater is not directly mentioned in thePersepolis Administrative Archives, it is possible that offerings to unspecified gods made in Huhnur mentioned in it constituted anAchaemenid continuation of his cult.[1]
In Mesopotamian scholarly texts, Ruhurater was considered to be an equivalent ofNinurta.[1] In a Neo-Assyrian fragment of shorterAn = Anum, Ruhurater is likely listed as one of the Elamite equivalents of Ninurta.[11] The "Hurabtil" mentioned in theAnzû epic as one of the names of Ninurta in Elam is likely a variant spelling of Ruhurater (Lahuratil).[11]
An Elamite bearing a theophoric name invoking Ruhurater, Kutir-Ruhurater, is also mentioned in records from archives of the MesopotamianFirst Sealand dynasty.[12]