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Duttur (
Sumerian language Sumerian is the language of ancient Sumer. It is one of the oldest attested languages, dating back to at least 3000 BC. It is accepted to be a local language isolate and to have been spoken in ancient Mesopotamia, in the area that is modern-day ...
:𒀭𒁍𒁺, dBE-''du'') 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 ...
best known as the mother of
Dumuzid Dumuzid or Tammuz ( sux, , ''Dumuzid''; akk, Duʾūzu, Dûzu; he, תַּמּוּז, Tammûz),; ar, تمّوز ' known to the Sumerians as Dumuzid the Shepherd ( sux, , ''Dumuzid sipad''), is an ancient Mesopotamian god associated with shep ...
. She frequently appears in texts mourning his death, either on her own or alongside
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
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 ...
. It is often assumed that she was associated with sheep.


Name

The name of Dumuzid's mother was usually written as dBE-''du''. 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 BE has two possible readings, ''sír'' and ''dur7''. Duttur is the commonly accepted reading of the name in modern scholarship, though the variant Durtur is also in use. Other attested writings include the
Emesal Sumerian is the language of ancient Sumer. It is one of the oldest attested languages, dating back to at least 3000 BC. It is accepted to be a local language isolate and to have been spoken in ancient Mesopotamia, in the area that is modern-day ...
forms Zertu and Zertur and
Akkadian Akkadian or Accadian may refer to: * Akkadians, inhabitants of the Akkadian Empire * Akkadian language, an extinct Eastern Semitic language * Akkadian literature, literature in this language * Akkadian cuneiform Cuneiform is a logo- syllabi ...
Dutturru. A rare spelling only known from the
Old Babylonian period The Old Babylonian Empire, or First Babylonian Empire, is dated to BC – BC, and comes after the end of Sumerian power with the destruction of the Third Dynasty of Ur, and the subsequent Isin-Larsa period. The chronology of the first dynasty ...
is Turtur. However, dTUR.TUR is also attested as a name of an unrelated deity worshiped in the
Ur III period The Third Dynasty of Ur, also called the Neo-Sumerian Empire, refers to a 22nd to 21st century BC (middle chronology) Sumerian ruling dynasty based in the city of Ur and a short-lived territorial-political state which some historians consider t ...
, sometimes written with the plural morpheme -''ne'' and as a result interpreted as either "the small gods" (''Dingir''-TUR.TUR-''ne'') or "the divine children" (''ddumu-dumu-ne''). Duttur's name could also be represented logographically by the cuneiform sign U8, "ewe." The same logogram could also be used to represent the name of the unrelated deity Ga'um, the shepherd of
Sin In a religious context, sin is a transgression against divine law. Each culture has its own interpretation of what it means to commit a sin. While sins are generally considered actions, any thought, word, or act considered immoral, selfish, s ...
, whose gender varies between sources. In at least one case, in an
Assyria Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , romanized: ''māt Aššur''; syc, ܐܬܘܪ, ʾāthor) was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state at times controlling regional territories in the indigenous lands of the A ...
n god list fragment, U8 is used to write the names of them both without equating them. The etymology of Duttur's name is not known, but it has been pointed out that it might have originally been a name with a reduplicated syllable, similar to various well attested Mesopotamian
hypocorisms A hypocorism ( or ; from Ancient Greek: (), from (), 'to call by pet names', sometimes also ''hypocoristic'') or pet name is a name used to show affection for a person. It may be a diminutive form of a person's name, such as ''Izzy'' for I ...
as well as to the name of another member of Dumuzi's family, his sister Belili.


Character

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 Duttur should be understood as a deification of the ewe (adult female
sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus ''Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated s ...
). This proposal has been subsequently accepted by other researchers, such as Bendt Alster, but according to Manfred Krebernik the evidence is not clear, as Duttur's name shows no etymological affinity with any attested terms related to sheep. He also notes that Duttur could be associated with
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 appea ...
, who was connected with wild cows instead. On this basis he proposes that while she was definitely a goddess associated with livestock and pastoralism, she was not necessarily exclusively connected with sheep. In Mesopotamian literature, Duttur was usually characterised as a mourning mother. She commonly appears in laments detailing her son Dumuzid's capture by the ''galla'', in which she is one of the three goddesses who can be described as mourning him, the other two being his wife
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 ...
and 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 ...
. A commentary on one of the Dumuzid laments states that Duttur was born in Ku'ara.


Associations with other deities

Duttur was the mother of the dying god
Dumuzid Dumuzid or Tammuz ( sux, , ''Dumuzid''; akk, Duʾūzu, Dûzu; he, תַּמּוּז, Tammûz),; ar, تمّوز ' known to the Sumerians as Dumuzid the Shepherd ( sux, , ''Dumuzid sipad''), is an ancient Mesopotamian god associated with shep ...
, as well as his well attested 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 ...
. According to Old Babylonian incantations, Ea was the father of Dumuzid, but he plays no role in narrative texts about him, unlike his female relatives like Duttur. A further member of the family attested in known sources is the goddess Belili, who also appears to be Dumuzid's sister. The relation between her and the primordial deity Belili associated with
Alala Alala (Ancient Greek: (alalá); "battle-cry" or "war-cry") was the personification of the war cry in Greek mythology. Her name derives from the onomatopoeic Greek word (alalḗ), hence the verb (alalázō), "to raise the war-cry". Greek ...
is presently uncertain. Frans Wiggermann argues that Dumuzid's relationship with Duttur was ultimately less significant than his marriage to Inanna, even though his name's conventional translation, "good son," would point at a close connection with the former.
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 appea ...
, the goddess of wild cows, could be identified with Duttur. It is possible that this equation was the result of the network of associations between Dumuzid,
Damu Damu ( sux, 𒀭𒁕𒈬) was a Mesopotamian god. While originally regarded as a dying god connected to vegetation, similar to Dumuzi or Ningishzida, with time he acquired the traits of a god of healing. He was regarded as the son of the medici ...
, and kings of the
Third Dynasty of Ur The Third Dynasty of Ur, also called the Neo-Sumerian Empire, refers to a 22nd to 21st century Common Era, BC (middle chronology) Sumerian ruling dynasty based in the city of Ur and a short-lived territorial-political state which some historians c ...
, who referred to Ninsun as their divine mother. Dina Katz proposes that the tradition in which Ninsun, rather than Duttur, was the mother of Dumuzid was inspired by king lists, in which
Dumuzid the Fisherman Dumuzid titled the Fisherman was a legendary Sumerian king of Uruk listed originating from Kuara. According to legend, in the one-hundredth year of his reign, he was captured by Enmebaragesi. Sumerian King List The primary source of informat ...
(a figure distinct from the god Dumuzid) is listed between
Lugalbanda Lugalbanda was a deified Sumerian king of Uruk who, according to various sources of Mesopotamian literature, was the father of Gilgamesh. Early sources mention his consort Ninsun and his heroic deeds in an expedition to Aratta by King Enmerkar. ...
, the husband of Ninsun, and
Gilgamesh sux, , label=none , image = Hero lion Dur-Sharrukin Louvre AO19862.jpg , alt = , caption = Possible representation of Gilgamesh as Master of Animals, grasping a lion in his left arm and snake in his right hand, in an Assyr ...
, her son, though without being labeled as a son of the former. In at least one case, Dumuzid is called the son of both Ninsun and Lugalbanda. In the
Weidner god list Weidner god list is the conventional name of one of the known ancient Mesopotamian lists of deities, originally compiled by ancient scribes in the late third millennium BCE, with the oldest known copy dated to the Ur III or Isin-Larsa period. Furth ...
, Duttur is placed near
Ereshkigal In Mesopotamian mythology, Ereshkigal ( sux, , lit. "Queen of the Great Earth") was the goddess of Kur, the land of the dead or underworld in Sumerian religion, Sumerian mythology. In later myths, she was said to rule Irkalla alongside her husb ...
, rather than with Dumuzi in the circle of Inanna. Dina Katz proposes that this placement was a nod to a tradition in which Ereshkigal was herself depicted as a mourning mother of
Ninazu Ninazu ( sux, ) was a Mesopotamian god of the underworld of Sumerian origin. He was also associated with snakes and vegetation, and with time acquired the character of a warrior god. He was frequently associated with Ereshkigal, either as a s ...
, and as such had traits similar to Duttur. One ''eršemma'' composition dedicated to Duttur and Dumuzid, most likely dating to the Old Babylonian period, indicates that the traditions about various dying gods (Damu, Dumuzid,
Ningishzida Ningishzida ( Sumerian: DNIN-G̃IŠ-ZID-DA, possible meaning "Lord f theGood Tree") was a Mesopotamian deity of vegetation, the underworld and sometimes war. He was commonly associated with snakes. Like Dumuzi, he was believed to spend a part ...
) and their mourning relatives could intersect or merge.


References


Bibliography

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External links


Head of an Ewe
in sandstone (c. 3200 BC). Purchased by Kimbell Art Foundation, Fort Worth, 1979. Mesopotamian goddesses Pastoral goddesses