Kulla is a Mesopotamian god of bricks and building. Patron of masons and masonry, he's watches over the brickmaking and building process. He must be banished or exorcised afterward. If not he finds ever more places to build, and the work is never done.
READ: Cult of the Fire God - Bronze Age Quest Adventure
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Kulla is invoked together with divine architect Mušdam before the laying of foundation. He's especially connected to the rebuilding of temples after devastation. This is a common enough occurrence in the ancient world.
READ: Cult of the Fire God - Bronze Age Quest Adventure
Invasions, sackings and burning by hostile forces like Sargon the Great or the Zagros Mountain tribes often leads to the re-assembly of temples in the aftermath. Much of Mesopotamia is made of city kingdoms or states responsible for their own rebuilding.
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Aggression among neighbors, neglect, rebellion and famine can all bring the temples tumbling down. As temples contain the wheat supply of a nation, they're a treasure trove for hungry marauders.
Later, around the 1st millennium, the brick and building gods are joined by Isimud (Usimu), the sukkal of primordial water god Enki. Isimud is also connected to the foundation of the
structure.
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Kulla himself is formed from a piece of clay Enki took from the primeval ocean. The story of Kulla's origin is told as part of the ritual for restoring a temple.
READ: Cult of the Fire God - Bronze Age Quest Adventure
Earliest evidence of Kulla as a god who rules brick-making is the Sumerian myth Enki and the World Order. Kulla oversees the building from start to end. From the first dynasty of Isin (c. 2018–1792 BCE) the myth tells how Enki puts Kulla in charge of pickaxe and brick-mold.
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Kulla is invoked with divine architect Mušdam and later sukkal god Isimud at the laying of the foundation of buildings. When the buildings are finished Kulla must be expelled.
If not, the influence of his presence can require further and never-ending construction. This causes waste, economic loss, confusion, fatigue and neglect of building work elsewhere.
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In a ritual for the repair of a temple, the invocation is described:
"If one has to open the foundations of a house, in a propitious month, on a favourable day, when he opens the foundations and lays the brick …
you set up an offering arrangement to Kulla, the lord of foundations and brickwork, set out a censor of juniper, libate fine beer, scatter pressed-out sesame, cedar resin, cypress oil, honey, milk, wine ...
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In Neo-Assyrian King Esarhaddon’s (c. 680 BCE) account of the laying of the foundations of Esagil, he recalls:
"I performed pure sacrifices to the great gods and Kulla, the lord of the fundament and the brickwork, I laid their foundations [upon a … mixed with] wind and choice beer, and made their superstructure durable."
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The other ritual undertaken at the end of construction is the loading of the god onto a boat. With incantations, the god is banished to the Underworld. The construction crew is forbidden to approach the building for three days.
Alternatively the divinities are thanked for their assistance. With words and offerings they're asked to return to their homes.
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The ziggurat at Chogha_Zanbil, Iran is one of the best preserved examples of ancient near East ziggurats. An inscription found here on a brick explains the ruler's motives and reverence for his patron god Inšušinak.
"I, Untaš-Napiriša, son of Humbanumena, king of Anšan and of Susa, anxious for my life to be continually prosperous, so that I may noy be granted the extinction of my prosperous lineage, a temple of baked bricks and a sanctuary of glazed bricks I built; I gave it to Inšušinak of the Siyan-kuk and I a temple tower erected. May what I made and toiled for, as a gift on my behalf, be acceptable to Inšušinak!"
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