resembling the intestines of a sheep is known. A praise hymn dedicated to Shulgi, referred to as Shulgi O according to the ETCSL naming system, might allude to a tradition in which Gilgamesh captured Humbaba and brought him back to Uruk, with the reference to “your captured hero” (ur-sag dab5-ba-zu) sometimes interpreted as a reference to the monster. This phrase is better attested as a title of various enemies of Ninurta and presumably indicates that after their defeat they were displayed as trophies. A prayer to Dumuzi imploring him to hand over the petitioner’s tormentors to another deity possibly casts Humbaba in the latter role, though it is also possible the deity meant is Lumma or Humban. According to Gianni Marchesi, Lumma was most likely present in the original version of the text, while the author of one of the two known Assyrian copies, unfamiliar with this god, replaced him with Humbaba, despite the latter not being attested in the roles of a “gendarme-demon” or underworld deity unlike the former. Visual arts Humbaba was commonly depicted in Mesopotamian art in the Old Babylonian period. However, often only his face was shown. Such depictions had an apotropaic purpose. An example has been identified as a decoration of the gate of an Old Babylonian temple excavated in Tell al-Rimah. Ornamental heads of Humbaba are also mentioned in multiple administrative texts from Mari and in a list of jewelry from Qatna. Multiple works of art showing the confrontation between Humbaba and Gilgamesh and Enkidu are also known, including clay plaques and cylinder seals from various locations in Mesopotamia and neighboring areas, and possibly a statue from the Louvre collection showing a hero standing on the head resembling these identified as depictions of Humbaba. While it can be assumed that depictions from Nuzi or from various Mitanni sites strictly reflect the Mesopotamian tradition, it is not certain if artists in western Iran or in Anatolia were necessarily using the motif in its original context, and might have instead reinterpreted it as a representation of unidentified local myths instead. In later periods, the depictions of Humbaba are less frequent. Frans Wiggermann argues that he largely disappeared from visual arts after the Bronze Age, but a relief from Tell Halaf is presumed to be a first millennium BCE example, and according to Gary Beckman representations of Humbaba’s defeat at the hands of Gilgamesh and Enkidu have