Igalim

The name Igalim (also attested as Igalimma) is conventionally translated as "door of the bison," with the element alus/alim (bison) likely functioning as a symbolic reference to Ningirsu rather than a literal animal. Scholarly consensus frames Igalim as originally the personification of a temple gate, incorporated into Ningirsu's small divine household as a son of Ningirsu and Bau and younger brother of Shulshaga. The oldest dedicatory inscription mentioning him dates to the reign of Uru'inimgina (Early Dynastic); he is subsequently attested in inscriptions of Gudea and in Ur III votive material. Active worship is documented through the end of the Ur III period, while later lists preserve his name with reduced cultic presence.

No clear or established iconography for Igalim is preserved in the sources. The iconography is not known; a proposal linking him to depictions of a bull carrying a winged gate has been made but lacks universal support and sufficient regional examples. Consequently descriptions of his physical appearance remain undocumented in the surviving record.

In the textual record Igalim functions as a temple-associated official: he is described as a divine gatekeeper and in an inscription of Gudea as a "high bailiff" (gal5-lá-gal), suggesting administrative and guarding responsibilities connected to the E-ninnu. He receives offerings (sheep, goats) and participates in festivals for his mother Bau and father Ningirsu. In some lists he is grouped with weapon-deities or even called a weapon of Zababa in one text, reflecting symbolic association with martial retinues; the precise significance of these listings is not elaborated in the provided sources. In a hymn to Nungal he appears as her "high warden" (nu-bànda-maḫ), indicating comparable institutional duties in another cultic context.