Muà ¡maá¸«á¸«à «, inscribed in Sumerian as MUà  .MAḪ, Akkadian as muà ¡-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, Baà ¡mu and Uà ¡umgallu, 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 muà ¡-mah serpent" (line 138), reminiscent of the Greek myth of Heracles and the seven headed Lernaean Hydra he slew in the second of his Twelve labours. An engraved shell of the Early Dynastic period shows NinÃÂirsu slaying the seven-headed muà ¡maá¸«á¸«à «.
In the Epic of Creation, Enûma Elià ¡, TiÃÂmat gives birth (alÃÂdu) to mythical serpents, described as muà ¡maá¸«á¸«à «, "with sharp teeth, merciless fangs, instead of blood she filled their bodies with venom".