ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Ningizzida

Well hello there little one! Today we're going to talk about a word called "ningizzida." Ningizzida is the name of a god that was worshiped long, long ago in a place called Mesopotamia. Do you know where that is? It's an ancient land that used to be where parts of Iraq and Iran are today.

Now, Ningizzida was a very interesting god. He was sometimes shown as a snake with two heads, and other times he was shown as a person with snake-like features. He was a god of healing and fertility, which means he helped people who were sick or needed help having babies.

Ningizzida was also associated with a special kind of tree called the "world tree." This tree was said to hold up the entire universe, like a big pillar holding up a roof. People who worshiped Ningizzida believed that he could help them access the power of the world tree to gain more knowledge or wisdom.

Some scholars also think that Ningizzida might have been associated with the planet Mercury, which is a planet that moves very quickly and is sometimes hard to see in the sky.

So, to sum it all up, Ningizzida was an ancient Mesopotamian god that people worshiped to help with healing and fertility. He was often shown as a snake and was connected to a special tree and maybe even the planet Mercury.