Bilulu
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Bilulu was a
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 substan ...
who most likely functioned as the
deification Apotheosis (, ), also called divinization or deification (), is the glorification of a subject to divine levels and, commonly, the treatment of a human being, any other living thing, or an abstract idea in the likeness of a deity. The term has ...
of rain clouds. She might be related to Ninbilulu known from a number of Early Dynastic texts. She is known from the myth ''Inanna and Bilulu'', in which she is responsible for the death of Dumuzi. This event is subsequently avenged by
Inanna Inanna, also sux, 𒀭𒊩𒌆𒀭𒈾, nin-an-na, label=none is an List of Mesopotamian deities, ancient Mesopotamian goddess of love, war, and fertility. She is also associated with beauty, sex, Divine law, divine justice, and political p ...
, who turns Bilulu into a
waterskin A waterskin is a receptacle used to hold water. Normally made of a sheep or goat skin, it retains water naturally and therefore was very useful in desert crossings until the invention of the canteen, though waterskins are still used in some part ...
.


Name, character and origin

In 1953
Samuel Noah Kramer Samuel Noah Kramer (September 28, 1897 – November 26, 1990) was one of the world's leading Assyriologists, an expert in Sumerian history and Sumerian language. After high school, he attended Temple University, before Dropsie and Penn, both in ...
and
Thorkild Jacobsen Thorkild Peter Rudolph Jacobsen (; 7 June 1904 – 2 May 1993) was a renowned Danish historian specializing in Assyriology and Sumerian literature. He was one of the foremost scholars on the ancient Near East. Biography Thorkild Peter Rudolph Ja ...
proposed that Bilulu functioned as a personified thunderstorm or rain cloud. According to Daniel Schwemer this interpretation remains plausible, and finds support in the translation of the name of her son Girgire, "lightning bolt". However, the precise meaning of her own name is not known. She was referred to as ''um-ma'', "old woman". Manuel Ceccarelli proposes that she might have functioned as a figure comparable to
Frau Holle "Frau Holle" ( ; also known as "Mother Holle", "Mother Hulda" or "Old Mother Frost") is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm in ''Children's and Household Tales'' in 1812 (KHM 24). It is of Aarne-Thompson type 480. Frau Holle (als ...
or Perchta from
German folklore German folklore is the folk tradition which has developed in Germany over a number of centuries. Partially it can be also found in Austria. Characteristics It shares many characteristics with Nordic folklore and English folklore due to thei ...
.


Bilulu, Ninbilulu and Enbilulu

It is presumed that Bilulu might be related to the Early Dynastic deity Ninbilulu, who is already attested in the Fara and
Abu Salabikh The low tells at Abu Salabikh, around northwest of the site of ancient Nippur in Al-Qādisiyyah Governorate, Iraq mark the site of a small Sumerian city state of the mid third millennium BCE, with cultural connections to the cities of Kish, ...
god lists, ' as well as in the ' zame'' hymns, in the last of these sources as a deity associated with various sources of water, including
Tigris The Tigris () is the easternmost of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of the Armenian Highlands through the Syrian and Arabian Deserts, and empties into the ...
and
Euphrates The Euphrates () is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Tigris–Euphrates river system, Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia ( ''the land between the rivers'') ...
. Julia M. Asher-Greve suggests that the
theonym A theonym (from Greek ''theos'' (Θεός), "god"'','' attached to ''onoma'' (ὄνομα), "name") is the proper name of a deity. Theonymy, the study of divine proper names, is a branch of onomastics (the study of the etymology, history, and u ...
Bilulu is older, and the
cuneiform Cuneiform is a logo-syllabic script that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Middle East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. It is named for the characteristic wedge-sha ...
sign '' nin'' could be added to it as a prefix. Daniel Schwemer also considers Bilulu to be the original form. Antoine Cavigneaux and Manfred Krebernik assume Ninbilulu might be identified with
Enbilulu Enbilulu ( sux, ) was a Mesopotamian god associated with irrigation, and by extension with both canals and rivers. The origin of his name is unknown, and there is no agreement among experts in which way he was related to the similarly named dei ...
, a deity associated with
irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow Crop, crops, Landscape plant, landscape plants, and Lawn, lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,00 ...
consistently regarded as male. However, according to
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 Univ ...
it is possible Ninbilulu was a goddess at some point, and that either she came to be viewed as male later, or that female and male derivatives of her coexisted.


''Inanna and Bilulu''

While the theonym Ninbilulu does not appear in any sources postdating the Early Dynastic period, Bilulu is present in the myth ''Inanna and Bilulu''. The text is poorly preserved, and has been dated to between the nineteenth and seventeenth century BCE. According to Uri Gabbay, it is difficult to tell if it originally functioned as part of the scribal school curriculum, or as a liturgical text. The plot revolves around the death of Dumuzi. It presents a tradition distinct from that known from ''Inanna's Descent'', as
Inanna Inanna, also sux, 𒀭𒊩𒌆𒀭𒈾, nin-an-na, label=none is an List of Mesopotamian deities, ancient Mesopotamian goddess of love, war, and fertility. She is also associated with beauty, sex, Divine law, divine justice, and political p ...
's actions are meant to avenge this event. The cause is a raid on Dumuzi s dwelling conducted by Bilulu and her son Girgire. According to Richard L. Litke, the latter deity might also be mentioned in the god list ''An = Anum'' (tablet IV, line 264) though the glosses provided there would imply that in this case the name, while written as dGÍR.GÍR, should be read as Ulul. Inanna is informed about Bilulu's role in the events by a nameless servant of Dumuzi. She recites a
paean A paean () is a song or lyric poem expressing triumph or thanksgiving. In classical antiquity, it is usually performed by a chorus, but some examples seem intended for an individual voice (monody). It comes from the Greek παιάν (also πα ...
in his memory, praising his skills as a shepherd, and decides that she needs to avenge him by killing Bilulu. She finds her in her dwelling, and places a curse upon her: Bilulu subsequently gets turned into a
waterskin A waterskin is a receptacle used to hold water. Normally made of a sheep or goat skin, it retains water naturally and therefore was very useful in desert crossings until the invention of the canteen, though waterskins are still used in some part ...
, and she and her son are tasked with acting as the
tutelary deities A tutelary () (also tutelar) is a deity or a spirit who is a guardian, patron, or protector of a particular place, geographic feature, person, lineage, nation, culture, or occupation. The etymology of "tutelary" expresses the concept of safety an ...
of the desert, who are "no one's child and no one's friend", and are tasked with informing the deceased Dumuzi whenever a
libation A libation is a ritual pouring of a liquid, or grains such as rice, as an offering to a deity or spirit, or in memory of the dead. It was common in many religions of antiquity and continues to be offered in cultures today. Various substa ...
is poured out for him. The transformation might be meant to give the myth an
etiological Etiology (pronounced ; alternatively: aetiology or ætiology) is the study of causation or origination. The word is derived from the Greek (''aitiología'') "giving a reason for" (, ''aitía'', "cause"); and ('' -logía''). More completely, e ...
meaning. The rest of the composition is focused on Inanna mourning Dumuzi's death alongside his sister
Geshtinanna Geshtinanna was a Mesopotamian goddess best known due to her role in myths about the death of Dumuzi, her brother. It is not certain what functions did she fulfill in the Mesopotamian pantheon, though her association with the scribal arts and dr ...
and his mother
Duttur Duttur ( Sumerian language:𒀭𒁍𒁺, dBE-''du'') was a Mesopotamian goddess best known as the mother of Dumuzid. She frequently appears in texts mourning his death, either on her own or alongside Geshtinanna and Inanna. It is often assumed t ...
. Samuel Noah Kramer's and Thorkild Jacobsen's original translation ends with the formula However, according to Steve Tinney this interpretation might have been partially mistaken, and the passage should be retranslated:


References


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * {{refend


External links


''Inana and Bilulu'': an ''ulila'' to Inana
in the
Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL) was a project that provides an online digital library of texts and translations of Sumerian literature. This project's website contains "Sumerian text, English prose translation and bibl ...
Mesopotamian goddesses Sky and weather goddesses