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Ninigizibara
Ningizibara, also known as Igizibara and Ningizippara, was a Mesopotamian goddess associated with the ''balaĝ'' instrument, usually assumed to be a type of lyre. She could be regarded both as a physical instrument and as a minor deity. In both cases, she was associated with the goddess Inanna. A connection between her and the medicine goddess Gula is also attested, and it is possible she could serve as a minor healing deity herself. Character Ninigizibarra's name most likely means "well regarded lady" in Sumerian. In Umma, the name was written without the NIN sign, and the goddess was called Igizibara, "well regarded." In documents from Mari the usual spelling is Ningizippara. Ninigizibarra was both the name of a goddess and of individual instruments placed in a number of temples of Inanna. The instrument represented by her was the ''balaĝ''. The precise meaning of this Sumerian term is a matter of scholarly debate, though it is generally accepted that it referred first and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mesopotamian Goddess
Deities in ancient Mesopotamia were almost exclusively anthropomorphic. They were thought to possess extraordinary powers and were often envisioned as being of tremendous physical size. The deities typically wore ''melam'', an ambiguous substance which "covered them in terrifying splendor" and which could also be worn by heroes, kings, giants, and even demons. The effect that seeing a deity's ''melam'' has on a human is described as ''ni'', a word for the " physical creeping of the flesh". Both the Sumerian and Akkadian languages contain many words to express the sensation of ''ni'', including the word ''puluhtu'', meaning "fear". Deities were almost always depicted wearing horned caps, consisting of up to seven superimposed pairs of ox-horns. They were also sometimes depicted wearing clothes with elaborate decorative gold and silver ornaments sewn into them. The ancient Mesopotamians believed that their deities lived in Heaven, but that a god's statue was a physical embodiment ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lyres Of Ur
The Lyres of Ur or Harps of Ur are a group of four stringed instruments excavated in a fragmentary condition at the Royal Cemetery of Ur in modern Iraq from 1922 onwards. They date back to the Early Dynastic III Period of Mesopotamia, between about 2550 and 2450 BC, making them the world's oldest surviving stringed instruments. Carefully restored and reconstructed, they are now divided between museums in Iraq, the United Kingdom and the United States. Strictly speaking, three lyres and one harp were discovered, but all are often called lyres. The instrument remains were restored and distributed between the museums that took part in the digs. The "Golden Lyre of Ur" or "Bull's Lyre", the finest, is in the Iraq Museum in Baghdad. The British Museum in London has the "Queen's Lyre" and "Silver Lyre", and the Penn Museum in Philadelphia has the " Bull Headed Lyre". In 1929, archaeologists led by the British archaeologist Leonard Woolley, representing a joint expedition of the Brit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ninsun
Ninsun (also called Ninsumun, cuneiform: dNIN.SUMUN2; Sumerian: ''Nin-sumun(ak)'' "lady of the wild cows") was a Mesopotamian goddess. She is best known as the mother of the hero Gilgamesh and wife of deified legendary king Lugalbanda, and appears in this role in most versions of the ''Epic of Gilgamesh''. She was associated with Uruk, where she lives in this composition, but she was also worshiped in other cities of ancient Mesopotamia, such as Nippur and Ur, and her main cult center was the settlement KI.KALki. The degree of Ninsun's involvement in Gilgamesh's life varies between various versions of the ''Epic''. She only plays an active role in the so-called "Standard Babylonian" version, in which she advises her son and interprets his dreams, petitions the sun god Shamash to protect him, and accepts Enkidu as a member of her family. In the Old Babylonian version her role is passive, with her actions being merely briefly discussed by Shamhat, while a Hittite translation of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lyres Of Ur
The Lyres of Ur or Harps of Ur are a group of four stringed instruments excavated in a fragmentary condition at the Royal Cemetery of Ur in modern Iraq from 1922 onwards. They date back to the Early Dynastic III Period of Mesopotamia, between about 2550 and 2450 BC, making them the world's oldest surviving stringed instruments. Carefully restored and reconstructed, they are now divided between museums in Iraq, the United Kingdom and the United States. Strictly speaking, three lyres and one harp were discovered, but all are often called lyres. The instrument remains were restored and distributed between the museums that took part in the digs. The "Golden Lyre of Ur" or "Bull's Lyre", the finest, is in the Iraq Museum in Baghdad. The British Museum in London has the "Queen's Lyre" and "Silver Lyre", and the Penn Museum in Philadelphia has the " Bull Headed Lyre". In 1929, archaeologists led by the British archaeologist Leonard Woolley, representing a joint expedition of the Brit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nintinugga
Nintinugga (also transcribed Nintinuga) was a Mesopotamian goddess associated with medicine and cleansing. She belonged to the local pantheon of Nippur. While she has been compared to other similar goddesses, such as Ninisina and Gula, and in a number of ancient texts they appear to be syncretised with each other or are treated as interchangeable, she was nonetheless a distinct deity in her own right. She was associated with Enlil and Ninlil, and was worshiped in their temples, though houses of worship dedicated only to her are also attested. Character Nintinugga's name is conventionally translated from Sumerian as "Mistress who revives the dead." However, Barbara Böck notes this interpretation might only reflect an "ancient scholarly etymology." It is possible it initially had a different meaning, with one proposal being "lady of the lofty wine," and only from the reign of Uruinimgina onward it started to be written with the cuneiform sign ''ug5'', "to die." An epithet someti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ninkarrak
Ninkarrak ( akk, 𒀭𒊩𒌆𒋼𒀀𒊏𒀝, '' dnin-kar-ra-ak'') was a goddess of medicine worshiped chiefly in northern Mesopotamia and Syria. It has been proposed that her name originates in either Akkadian or an unidentified substrate language possibly spoken in parts of modern Syria, rather than in Sumerian. It is assumed that inconsistent orthography reflects ancient scholarly attempts at making it more closely resemble Sumerian theonyms. The best attested temples dedicated to her existed in Sippar in modern Iraq and in Terqa in modern Syria. Finds from excavations undertaken at the site of the latter were used as evidence in more precisely dating the history of the region. Further attestations are available from northern Mesopotamia, including the kingdom of Apum, Assyria and the Diyala area, from various southern Mesopotamian cities like Larsa, Nippur and possibly Uruk, as well as from Ugarit and Emar. It is also possible that Ninkar from the texts from Ebla and Nikaraw ... [...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] |
Bau (goddess)
Bau, also read Baba (cuneiform: 𒀭𒁀𒌑 '' dBa-U2''), was a Mesopotamian goddess. The reading of her name is a subject of debate among researchers, though Bau is considered the conventional spelling today. While initially regarded simply as a life-giving deity, in some cases associated with the creation in mankind, over the course of the third and second millennia BCE she also acquired the role of a healing goddess. She could be described as a divine midwife. In art she could be depicted in the company of waterfowl or scorpions. In sources from Lagash and Girsu, Bau's husband was the god Ningirsu. Among their children were deities such as Igalim, Shulshaga and Ḫegir. While they could still be regarded as a couple in later sources, from the Old Babylonian period onwards Bau was also viewed as the wife of Zababa, the tutelary god of Kish. Another deity associated with her was her attendant goddess Lammašaga. Most likely for political reasons, Bau also came to be associat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joan Goodnick Westenholz
Joan Goodnick Westenholz (1 July 1943 – 2013) was an Assyriologist and the chief curator at the Bible Lands Museum in Jerusalem. She held positions related to academic research at the Oriental Institute (University of Chicago), Harvard University, Ruhr University Bochum (Germany), New York University, Princeton University, and the W. F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research at Jerusalem. She was one of the first people to research gender studies in relation to the Ancient Near East and she co-founded and edited the inter-disciplinary NIN – Journal of Gender Studies in Antiquity. Early life and education Westenholz was born in 1943 in Philadelphia and attended the University of Pennsylvania, where she graduated at the age of 21 with a degree in anthropology. She completed her PhD in Near Eastern Languages and Literatures from the University of Chicago in 1971 and studied under Erica Reiner, A. Leo Oppenheim, I. J. Gelb, and Miguel Civil Miguel Civil (Miquel Civil i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ninlil
Ninlil ( D NIN.LÍL; meaning uncertain) was a Mesopotamian goddess regarded as the wife of Enlil. She shared many of his functions, especially the responsibility for declaring destinies, and like him was regarded as a senior deity and head of the pantheon. She is also well attested as the mother of his children, such as the underworld god Nergal, the moon god Nanna or the warrior god Ninurta. She was chiefly worshiped in Nippur and nearby Tummal alongside Enlil, and multiple temples and shrines dedicated to her are attested from these cities. In the first millennium BCE she was also introduced to Ḫursaĝkalamma near Kish, where she was worshiped alongside the goddess Bizilla, who was likely her sukkal (attendant deity). At an early date Ninlil was identified with the goddess Sud from Shuruppak, like her associated with Enlil, and eventually fully absorbed her. In the myth ''Enlil and Sud'', Ninlil is the name Sud received after marrying Enlil. Nisaba, the goddess of writing, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sound Box
A sound box or sounding box (sometimes written soundbox) is an open chamber in the body of a musical instrument which modifies the sound of the instrument, and helps transfer that sound to the surrounding air. Objects respond more strongly to vibrations at certain frequencies, known as resonances. The frequency and strength of the resonances of the body of a musical instrument have a significant impact on the tone quality it produces. The air inside the chamber has its own resonances, and these interact with the resonances of the body, altering the resonances of the instrument as a whole. The sound box typically adds resonances at lower frequencies, enhancing the lower-frequency response of the instrument. The distinctive sound of an instrument with a sound box owes a lot to the alteration made to the tone. A sound box is found in most string instruments. The most notable exceptions are some electrically amplified instruments like the solid body electric guitar or the electric v ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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