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Iqbi-damiq
Iqbi-damiq was a Mesopotamian goddess who was regarded as one of the "Daughters of Edubba", and was worshiped in Kish for this role. According to the god list ''An = Anum'' she also functioned as the '' sukkal'' (attendant deity) of Niĝgina. She is mentioned in texts of Assur and Babylon. An illness named after her, the "hand of Iqbi-damiq," is known from texts focused on medicine and omens. Name Wilfred G. Lambert assumed Iqbi-damiq was a male deity, and accordingly translated the name as "He spoke: it was pleasant", but in a more recent publication Andrew R. George translates it as "She said 'it is fine!'" and notes that she was regarded as a member of a duo referred to as the Daughters of Edubba. Manfred Krebernik notes the name is structurally similar to that of Qibî-dumqī ("Speak my hail"). John MacGinnis suggests the two were simply variant names of the same deity. Krebernik only assumes that the writing dDUG4-''bi''-SIG5 might be read as either of these names. Qibî ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sukkal
Sukkal (conventionally translated from Sumerian as "vizier") was a term which could denote both a type of official and a class of deities in ancient Mesopotamia. The historical sukkals were responsible for overseeing the execution of various commands of the kings and acted as diplomatic envoys and translators for foreign dignitaties. The deities referred to as sukkals fulfilled a similar role in mythology, acting as servants, advisors and envoys of the main gods of the Mesopotamian pantheon, such as Enlil or Inanna. The best known sukkal is the goddess Ninshubur. In art, they were depicted carrying staffs, most likely understood as their attribute. They could function as intercessory deities, believed to mediate between worshipers and the major gods. The office sukkal is also known from various areas to the west and east of Mesopotamia, including the Hurrian kingdom Arrapha, Syrian Alalakh and Mari and Elam under the rule of the Sukkalmah Dynasty, while the concept of divine sukk ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sukkal
Sukkal (conventionally translated from Sumerian as "vizier") was a term which could denote both a type of official and a class of deities in ancient Mesopotamia. The historical sukkals were responsible for overseeing the execution of various commands of the kings and acted as diplomatic envoys and translators for foreign dignitaties. The deities referred to as sukkals fulfilled a similar role in mythology, acting as servants, advisors and envoys of the main gods of the Mesopotamian pantheon, such as Enlil or Inanna. The best known sukkal is the goddess Ninshubur. In art, they were depicted carrying staffs, most likely understood as their attribute. They could function as intercessory deities, believed to mediate between worshipers and the major gods. The office sukkal is also known from various areas to the west and east of Mesopotamia, including the Hurrian kingdom Arrapha, Syrian Alalakh and Mari and Elam under the rule of the Sukkalmah Dynasty, while the concept of divine sukk ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Niĝgina
Kittum, also known as Niĝgina, was a Mesopotamian goddess who was regarded as the embodiment of truth. She belonged to the circle of the sun god Utu and was associated with law and justice. Character Kittum's name means "truth" in Akkadian and she regarded as a divine hypostasis of this concept. Kittum's Sumerian counterpart, Niĝgina, is not attested before the Old Babylonian period, and it possible that the Akkadian name was older, which would make Niĝgina an artificial translation. A possible forerunner to the idea of a goddess embodying truth are proverbs or dialogues copied in scribal schools in which truth was personified. Names with the element ''niĝgina'' are already attested in sources from the Ur III period, one example being Niĝginaidug ("truth is good"), but there is no indication that they were necessarily theophoric, and the word is written without the '' dingir'' sign which preceded divine names. Kittum could alternatively be equated with another of Utu's cour ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kanisurra
Kanisurra (also Gansurra, Ganisurra) was a Mesopotamian goddess who belonged to the entourage of Nanaya. Much about her character remains poorly understood, though it is known she was associated with love. Her name might be derived from the word ''ganzer'', referring to the underworld or to its entrance. In addition to Nanaya, she could be associated with deities such as Gazbaba, Ishara and Uṣur-amāssu. She is first attested in sources from Uruk from the Ur III period, and continued to be worshiped in this city as late as in the Seleucid period. Name and character The character and functions of Kanisurra are unclear. Her best attested characteristic is her association with Nanaya. Both of them belonged to a group of female deities invoked in love and potency incantations, which also included Ishtar, Ishara and Gazbaba. Some of these texts use formulas such as "at the command of Kanisurra and Ishara, patron goddess of love" or "at the command of Kanisurra and Ishara, patroness o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zababa
Zababa (Sumerian: 𒀭𒍝𒂷𒂷 dza-ba4-ba4) was the tutelary deity of the city of Kish in ancient Mesopotamia. He was a war god. While he was regarded as similar to Ninurta and Nergal, he was never fully conflated with them. His worship is attested from between the Early Dynastic to Achaemenid periods, with the Old Babylonian kings being particularly devoted to him. Starting with the Old Babylonian period, he was regarded as married to the goddess Bau. Character Zababa's name has no plausible Sumerian or Semitic etymologies, similar to these of deities such as Alala, Bunene and Bau. His two primary roles were these of a war god and a tutelary deity of Kish. He was already worshiped there in the Early Dynastic period, and references to him as the "king" of that city can be found in texts from Ebla from the third millennium BCE. His status was particularly high during the reign of Hammurabi, when according to Walther it was seemingly Zababa, rather than Ninurta, who should ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ningublaga
Ningublaga (, less commonly Ningublag) was a Mesopotamian god associated with cattle. His cult center was Kiabrig, a little known city located in the proximity of Ur. He belonged to the circle of deities related to the moon god, Nanna, and sometimes could be viewed as his son. He is also well attested as the brother of Alammuš, and they frequently appear together in god lists, incantations and especially in astronomical texts. Character It is assumed that Ningublaga's name is a genitive construction meaning "lord of Gublag" in Sumerian, Gublag presumably being an otherwise unknown toponym linked with the worship of this god. Two further names which possibly referred to him are GUL-zi (attested in the name of a priestess, reading of the first sign uncertain) and Lugal-baḫar. Ningublaga was associated with cattle. He was believed to oversee the herds belonging to the moon god Nanna. Consumption of beef was regarded as taboo to him. He also had an apotropaic role, and appea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gazbaba
Gazbaba, also known as Kazbaba or Kazba, was a Mesopotamian goddess closely associated with Inanna, Nanaya and Kanisurra. Like them, she was connected with love and eroticism. Name and character Gazbaba's name is most likely derived from the Akkadian word ''kazbu'', which can be translated as "sexual attraction." A form ending in the hypocoristic suffix ''-īya/-āya/-ūya'', ''dKa-az-ba-a-a'', is also attested, possibly representing an attempt at making the name more similar to Nanaya's, or resulting from confusion with a similar personal name. Little is known about Gazbaba's character, but she was associated with love and sex. Šurpu describes her as ''ṣayyaḫatu'', "the smiling one," which is likely a reference to the frequent mention of smiles in Akkadian erotic literature. She belonged to a group of deities invoked in love incantations, which also included Inanna/Ishtar, Nanaya, Kanisurra and Ishara. For example, one such text contains the formula "Ishtar, Nanaya, Gazbab ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shamash
Utu (dUD "Sun"), also known under the Akkadian name Shamash, ''šmš'', syc, ܫܡܫܐ ''šemša'', he, שֶׁמֶשׁ ''šemeš'', ar, شمس ''šams'', Ashurian Aramaic: 𐣴𐣬𐣴 ''š'meš(ā)'' was the ancient Mesopotamian sun god. He was believed to see everything that happened in the world every day, and was therefore responsible for justice and protection of travelers. As a divine judge, he could be associated with the underworld. Additionally, he could serve as the god of divination, typically alongside the weather god Adad. While he was universally regarded as one of the primary gods, he was particularly venerated in Sippar and Larsa. The moon god Nanna (Sin) and his wife Ningal were regarded as his parents, while his twin sister was Inanna (Ishtar). Occasionally other goddesses, such as Manzat and Pinikir, could be regarded as his sisters too. The dawn goddess Aya (Sherida) was his wife, and multiple texts describe their daily reunions taking place on a mount ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zarpanit
Sarpanit (alternately Sarpanitu, Ṣarpanitu, Zarpanit, Zirpanet, Zerpanitum, Zerbanitu, or Zirbanit) was the consort of Marduk, the main god of Babylon, and a goddess of birth. She was already attested as the wife of Marduk before his ascension to the top of the Mesopotamian pantheon, appearing in inscriptions of the Babylonian kings Sumulael and Samsu-iluna. Some researchers regard her simply as one of the "prototypical divine wives." Name According to the ''Chicago Assyrian Dictionary'' from 1961, her name means '' oddessof Ṣarpān'', possibly a village outside of Babylon. However, this is only a modern theoretical explanation of the name. Its precise origin isn't known. A fragmentary text describes Sarpan as a town assigned to her by Enlil, here (but not anywhere else) identified as her father; W. G. Lambert considered it to be convincing evidence of her origin being tied to such a settlement. A folk etymology of her name explained it as "Zēr-bānītu," "creatress of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Šurpu
The ancient Mesopotamian incantation series Šurpu begins ''enūma nēpešē ša šur-pu t'' 'epp'''ušu'', “when you perform the rituals for (the series) ‘Burning,’” and was probably compiled in the middle Babylonian period, ca. 1350–1050 BC, from individual incantations of much greater antiquity. It consisted of a long confessional of sins, ritual offences, unwitting breaches of taboos, offences against the moral or social order when the patient was unsure what act of omission he may have committed to offend the gods. Composed in Akkadian, its adjurations extend to nine clay tablets and, at Nineveh, Assurbanipal's scribes had canonized the series, fixing the sequence and providing a codicil at the bottom of each tablet providing the first line of the following tablet. Elsewhere, such as at Assur, the tablet order could vary. The text In contrast to the Maqlû incantation series, which was intended to counteract ''kišpū'', black magic, it is a ritual against a ''māmī ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gula (goddess)
Gula ( Sumerian: "the great") was a Mesopotamian goddess of medicine, portrayed as a divine physician and midwife. Over the course of the second and first millennia BCE, she became one of the main deities of the Mesopotamian pantheon, and eventually started to be viewed as the second highest ranked goddess after Ishtar. She was associated with dogs, and could be depicted alongside these animals, for example on ''kudurru'' (inscribed boundary stones), and receive figurines representing them as votive offerings. While Gula was initially regarded as unmarried, in the Kassite period she came to be associated with Ninurta. In Babylon his role could also be fulfilled by Mandanu, while the god list ''An = Anum'' links Gula with Pabilsag and Abu. The circle of deities closely associated with her also included Damu and Gunura, who eventually started to be regarded as her children, as well as her sukkal (divine vizier) Urmašum, who might have been imagined as a dog-like being. Through vari ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
