The Sumerian term GIG is identified with Mars: literally 'disease., reflecting Mars' malefic nature. The standard term would be ^dṢal-bat-a-nu (Kurtik ts02).

Dictionary

Kurtik with Hilder, Hoffmann, Horowitz, Kim

• MUL GIG = kakkab(MUL) šib-ṭi <u> mūtāni(NAM.BAD)^meš = MIN(=^dṣal-[bat-a-nu]),
• "Star of Disease = Star of Plague and Death = Mars". [Urgud B VI, MSL XI, 40:38; Reynolds 1998, 349, 353];
• partially parallel to: [^dṣal-bat-a-nu] a-na mu-ta-ni qa-bi "[Mars], so it is said, for (predicting) death." [ARAK, 114:3].

Images of Mars

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  Close Conjunction of Jupiter (brighter) and Mars (reddish) under Orion (upper right), seen from Cape Town (SMH 2024)

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  Closest Conjunction of Jupiter and Mars in 2024 (Cape Town, SMH).

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  Jupiter, Mars and Pleiades at Dawn (SMH 2024).

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  Jupiter, Mars, Pleiaden in a slightly cloudy morning twilight (SMH 2024).

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  Mars in the constellation Gemini, The Twins (SMH January 2025).

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  Mars in the constellation Gemini, The Twins (SMH February 2025).

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  Mars extremly close to epsilon Geminorum (14 April 2023), seen from Petra, Jordan (SMH).

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  One day after the close conjunction of Mars with epsilon Geminorum; seen from Petra, Jordan (SMH 2023). The planet then had a visible separation from the star.

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  Mars in the Open Star Cluster Praesepe (M44) in Cancer (2023)

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  Mars next to a tower in Central Europe: its reddish colour is extraordinarily obvious (SMH 2025).

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  Mars two moon widths next to the Moon, photograph at full moon taken through a window in order to produce a dimmer image of the full moon next to Mars: the planet is at the right edge of the Moon. (SMH January 2025).

Historical Dictionaries

References

• Kurtik's references