Nintinugga (also transcribed Nintinuga) 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 ...
associated with
medicine
Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pr ...
and cleansing. She belonged to the local pantheon of
Nippur
Nippur ( Sumerian: ''Nibru'', often logographically recorded as , EN.LÍLKI, "Enlil City;"The Cambridge Ancient History: Prolegomena & Prehistory': Vol. 1, Part 1. Accessed 15 Dec 2010. Akkadian: ''Nibbur'') was an ancient Sumerian city. It was ...
. While she has been compared to other similar goddesses, such as
Ninisina
Ninisina ( Sumerian: "Mistress of Isin") was a Mesopotamian goddess who served as the tutelary deity of the city of Isin. She was considered a healing deity. She was believed to be skilled in the medical arts, and could be described as a divine ph ...
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
Enlil, , "Lord f theWind" later known as Elil, is an ancient Mesopotamian god associated with wind, air, earth, and storms. He is first attested as the chief deity of the Sumerian pantheon, but he was later worshipped by the Akkadians, Ba ...
and
Ninlil
Ninlil ( DINGIR, DNIN (cuneiform), 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 senio ...
, 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
Etymology () The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p. 633 "Etymology /ˌɛtɪˈmɒlədʒi/ the study of the class in words and the way their meanings have changed throughout time". is the study of the history of the form of words ...
." 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
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- ...
sign ''ug
5'', "to die." An
epithet
An epithet (, ), also byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) known for accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, di ...
sometimes applied to her was "the lady of life and death," ''nin til
3-la ug
5-ga'', attested both in royal inscriptions and in various god lists.
Descriptions of Nintinugga's activity in Mesopotamian texts present her as physician, with her responsibilities including applying bandages, cleaning wounds and according to Barbara Böck specifically dealing with the
musculoskeletal system
The human musculoskeletal system (also known as the human locomotor system, and previously the activity system) is an organ system that gives humans the ability to move using their muscular and skeletal systems. The musculoskeletal system provid ...
. The evidence for an association between her and healing first appears in sources from 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 ...
, and she is well attested as a medicine goddess in 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 dynast ...
. Attestations of physicians serving as her cultic officials are considered to be early evidence of her healing role. In texts where she and other healing deities are invoked together she might represent a specific form of healing rather than medicine as a whole. She was additionally associated with incantations. In a type of ritual, ''atua'', she is connected with cleansing rather than healing, and Irene Sibbing-Plantholt proposes this might have been an aspect of her original character. However, she also considers it a possibility that she developed as an extension of a healing aspect of
Enlil
Enlil, , "Lord f theWind" later known as Elil, is an ancient Mesopotamian god associated with wind, air, earth, and storms. He is first attested as the chief deity of the Sumerian pantheon, but he was later worshipped by the Akkadians, Ba ...
.
Possibly due to the meaning of her name, Nintinugga was connected to the
underworld
The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underwo ...
. Jeremiah Peterson notes it is likely that it was believed that she provided the dead with clean water, and that she was connected to
funerary
A funeral is a ceremony connected with the final disposition of a corpse, such as a burial or cremation, with the attendant observances. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember and respect ...
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 substanc ...
s. She was also invoked against the demon
Asag, as relayed in the texts ''Letter-Prayer of Inanaka'' and ''A Dog for Nintinugga''.
Dogs are well attested as an attribute of most, though not all, Mesopotamian healing goddesses. The connection might have been based on the observation of healing properties of dog
saliva
Saliva (commonly referred to as spit) is an extracellular fluid produced and secreted by salivary glands in the mouth. In humans, saliva is around 99% water, plus electrolytes, mucus, white blood cells, epithelial cells (from which DNA can ...
, or on the perception of the animals as
liminal and capable of interacting both with the realms of the living and the dead, similar as the goddesses associated with them. Nintinugga was believed to possess dogs of her own, and one text mentions that in the Ur III period a throne decorated with two of these animals was prepared for her in
Ur. A ''
Mîs-pî Mîs-pî, inscribed KA-LUḪ.Ù.DA and meaning “washing of the mouth,” is an ancient Mesopotamian ritual and incantation series for the cultic induction or vivification of a newly manufactured divine idol. It involved around eleven stages: in th ...
'' text from
Nineveh
Nineveh (; akk, ; Biblical Hebrew: '; ar, نَيْنَوَىٰ '; syr, ܢܝܼܢܘܹܐ, Nīnwē) was an ancient Assyrian city of Upper Mesopotamia, located in the modern-day city of Mosul in northern Iraq. It is located on the eastern ba ...
mentions reeds and
cornel wood among cult objects associated with her.
Associations with other deities
According to a late medical incantation, Nintinugga's father was
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 ...
. Despite the association between her and Ninisina, she was never referred to as a daughter of
Anu
, image=Detail, upper part, Kudurru of Ritti-Marduk, from Sippar, Iraq, 1125-1104 BCE. British Museum.jpg
, caption=Symbols of various deities, including Anu (bottom right corner) on a kudurru of Ritti-Marduk, from Sippar, Iraq, 1125–1104 BCE
, ...
. Barbara Böck argues that Nintinugga and
Ninurta
, image= Cropped Image of Carving Showing the Mesopotamian God Ninurta.png
, caption= Assyrian stone relief from the temple of Ninurta at Kalhu, showing the god with his thunderbolts pursuing Anzû, who has stolen the Tablet of Destinies from ...
were regarded as a couple, but Irene Sibbing-Plantholt in a more recent publication concludes that this view, also present elsewhere in
Assyriological
Assyriology (from Greek , ''Assyriā''; and , ''-logia'') is the archaeological, anthropological, and linguistic study of Assyria and the rest of ancient Mesopotamia (a region that encompassed what is now modern Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeas ...
literature, is not supported by textual evidence, which is limited to Nintinugga receiving offerings in Ninurta's temple, Ešumeša, which is attested for most members of the local pantheon and does not indicate a spousal relationship. According to the god list ''
An = Anum
''An = Anum'', also known as the Great God List, is the longest preserved Mesopotamian god list, a type of lexical list cataloging the deities worshiped in the Ancient Near East, chiefly in modern Iraq. While god lists are already known from the ...
'', her husband was Endaga (''
den-dag-ga''), a god of unknown character 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 from the
Early Dynastic period, but there is no indication in known sources that the relationship between them was considered significant. In a single
lament
A lament or lamentation is a passionate expression of grief, often in music, poetry, or song form. The grief is most often born of regret, or mourning. Laments can also be expressed in a verbal manner in which participants lament about somet ...
, Nintinugga appears in the role of the mother of
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 medic ...
. According to Böck the tradition according to which he was her son is known from Ur. Sibbing-Plantholt points out that both Damu and
Gunura
Gunura was a Mesopotamian goddess, best known as a daughter and member of the entourage of the medicine goddess Ninisina. She was also associated with other similar goddesses, Gula and Nintinugga. Her original cult center is unknown, though she w ...
appear in association with her in three texts from Nippur dated to the Ur III period.
Nintinugga was also associated with
Enlil
Enlil, , "Lord f theWind" later known as Elil, is an ancient Mesopotamian god associated with wind, air, earth, and storms. He is first attested as the chief deity of the Sumerian pantheon, but he was later worshipped by the Akkadians, Ba ...
and could be designated as his ''šimmu'', translated as "incantation priestess" or "sorcerer" by
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 ...
, but as "a type of healer and provider of
medical plants" by Irene Sibbing-Plantholt. The latter author argues that the common assumption that this term designated a specialist similar to the ''
ašipu
In ancient Mesopotamia, the ašipu (also āšipu or mašmaššu) acted as priests. They were scholars and practitioners of diagnosis and treatment in the Tigris-Euphrates valley of Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) around 3200 BC.
Etymology
Sumerian ...
'' is based only on sources from the first millennium, and earlier texts instead would indicate a role similar to that of a
herbalist
Herbal medicine (also herbalism) is the study of pharmacognosy and the use of medicinal plants, which are a basis of traditional medicine. With worldwide research into pharmacology, some herbal medicines have been translated into modern remed ...
. Another deity connected with Nintinugga was
Nungal
Nungal ( sux, d''Nun-gal'', "great princess"), also known as Manungal and possibly Bēlet-balāṭi, was the Mesopotamian goddess of prisons, sometimes also associated with the underworld. She was worshiped especially in the Ur III period in cit ...
, the goddess of prisons. In a fragmentary literary text both of them appear alongside
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 ...
, the goddess of the underworld, possibly due to all three of them sharing a connection to the land of the dead.
Nintinugga and other healing goddesses
Various goddesses associated with healing, namely Nintinugga,
Gula,
Ninisina
Ninisina ( Sumerian: "Mistress of Isin") was a Mesopotamian goddess who served as the tutelary deity of the city of Isin. She was considered a healing deity. She was believed to be skilled in the medical arts, and could be described as a divine ph ...
,
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 lang ...
,
Bau and
Meme
A meme ( ) is an idea, behavior, or style that spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme. A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural i ...
, formed an interconnected network in
Mesopotamian religion
Mesopotamian religion refers to the religious beliefs and practices of the civilizations of ancient Mesopotamia, particularly Sumer, Akkad, Assyria and Babylonia between circa 6000 BC and 400 AD, after which they largely gave way to Syriac C ...
, either due to analogous functions or shared associations with other deities. The existence of multiple similar goddesses responsible for medicine reflected the well attested phenomenon of local pantheons typical for individual cities or regions. However, while a degree of interchangeability is attested, Nintinugga was usually regarded as distinct from the other similar goddesses. Their individual character was reflected in distinct traditions regarding their parents and spouses, as well as in associations with separate cult centers. For example, while Nintinugga was associated with
Nippur
Nippur ( Sumerian: ''Nibru'', often logographically recorded as , EN.LÍLKI, "Enlil City;"The Cambridge Ancient History: Prolegomena & Prehistory': Vol. 1, Part 1. Accessed 15 Dec 2010. Akkadian: ''Nibbur'') was an ancient Sumerian city. It was ...
, Ninisina was the goddess of
Isin
Isin (, modern Arabic: Ishan al-Bahriyat) is an archaeological site in Al-Qādisiyyah Governorate, Iraq. Excavations have shown that it was an important city-state in the past.
History of archaeological research
Ishan al-Bahriyat was visited b ...
, Gula most likely originated in
Umma
Umma ( sux, ; in modern Dhi Qar Province in Iraq, formerly also called Gishban) was an ancient city in Sumer. There is some scholarly debate about the Sumerian and Akkadian names for this site. Traditionally, Umma was identified with Tell J ...
, and Ninkarrak was worshiped in
Sippar
Sippar ( Sumerian: , Zimbir) was an ancient Near Eastern Sumerian and later Babylonian city on the east bank of the Euphrates river. Its '' tell'' is located at the site of modern Tell Abu Habbah near Yusufiyah in Iraq's Baghdad Governorate, some ...
.
An association between Nintinugga and Ninisina is attested in sources from the Old Babylonian period, and might have been meant to strengthen the ties between their respective cities, Nippur and Isin. However, they were not necessarily interchangeable, and references to the former traveling to visit the latter in Isin are known.
In the ''Gula Hymn of Bulluṭsa-rabi'', a
syncretistic
Syncretism () is the practice of combining different beliefs and various schools of thought. Syncretism involves the merging or assimilation of several originally discrete traditions, especially in the theology and mythology of religion, thu ...
work composed at some point between 1400 and 700 BCE which equates the eponymous goddess both with other medicine goddesses and with deities of different character, such as
Nanshe
Nanshe ( sux, ) was a Mesopotamian goddess in various contexts associated with the sea, marshlands, the animals inhabiting these biomes, namely bird and fish, as well as divination, dream interpretation, justice, social welfare, and certain admin ...
and
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 ca ...
(a minor goddess from the entourage of
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 ...
, described as a harpist), Nintinugga appears as one of the names assigned to her. Despite the syncretistic approach, each section focuses on the individual traits of each deity, and that dedicated to Nintinugga highlights both her character as a healing goddess and her connection to the underworld. However, sources from Nippur indicate that Gula in the local theology was equated with Ninisina, not Nintinugga, possibly due to their character being more similar.
Worship
The cult of Nintinugga was centered in
Nippur
Nippur ( Sumerian: ''Nibru'', often logographically recorded as , EN.LÍLKI, "Enlil City;"The Cambridge Ancient History: Prolegomena & Prehistory': Vol. 1, Part 1. Accessed 15 Dec 2010. Akkadian: ''Nibbur'') was an ancient Sumerian city. It was ...
, as already attested in sources from the
Early Dynastic period. It was closely connected to those of
Enlil
Enlil, , "Lord f theWind" later known as Elil, is an ancient Mesopotamian god associated with wind, air, earth, and storms. He is first attested as the chief deity of the Sumerian pantheon, but he was later worshipped by the Akkadians, Ba ...
and
Ninlil
Ninlil ( DINGIR, DNIN (cuneiform), 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 senio ...
, Initially she was likely worshiped in the
temple
A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...
of the former, while in the Ur III period one of the four chapels located in the temple of the latter belonged to her (the other three were dedicated to
Nanna
Nanna may refer to:
*Grandmother
Mythology
* Sin (mythology), god of the moon in Sumerian mythology, also called Suen
* Nanna (Norse deity), goddess associated with the god Baldr in Norse mythology
* Nana Buluku, Fon/Dahomey androgynous deity cre ...
,
Nisaba
Nisaba was the Mesopotamian goddess of writing and grain. She is one of the oldest Sumerian deities attested in writing, and remained prominent through many periods of Mesopotamian history. She was commonly worshiped by scribes, and numerous Su ...
and
Ninhursag
, deity_of=Mother goddess, goddess of fertility, mountains, and rulers
, image= Mesopotamian - Cylinder Seal - Walters 42564 - Impression.jpg
, caption=Akkadian cylinder seal impression depicting a vegetation goddess, possibly Ninhursag, sitting ...
). She also had her own temple in Nippur, possibly named Eurusaga, "the foremost city," though it is left nameless in the Ur III sources. The so-called "''
lamma'' (tutelary deity) of the king," ''
dlamma-
lugal
Lugal ( Sumerian: ) is the Sumerian term for "king, ruler". Literally, the term means "big man." In Sumerian, ''lu'' "𒇽" is "man" and ''gal'' "𒃲" is "great," or "big."
It was one of several Sumerian titles that a ruler of a city-state could ...
'', was worshiped inside it as well. A further sanctuary dedicated to her, located within the ''E''.NI.''gula'' (reading of the second sign uncertain) of Enlil, was the Eamirku, "pure house of stormy weather," attested in a copy of a building inscription which might have been based on an original from the reign of
Ur-Nammu
Ur-Nammu (or Ur-Namma, Ur-Engur, Ur-Gur, Sumerian: , ruled c. 2112 BC – 2094 BC middle chronology, or possibly c. 2048–2030 BC short chronology) founded the Sumerian Third Dynasty of Ur, in southern Mesopotamia, following several centuries ...
. It is possible that at one point Nintinugga was the personal goddess of Enlilalša, a governor of Nippur and ''gudu'' priest of Ninlil, and she might be depicted on his
seal
Seal may refer to any of the following:
Common uses
* Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly:
** Earless seal, or "true seal"
** Fur seal
* Seal (emblem), a device to impr ...
. Another historically notable person known to be a worshiper of this goddess was
Ubartum Ubartum was a female physician who lived in Garšana , a town in Mesopotamia around 2075 BC (in the Third Dynasty of Ur). Ubartum came from an influential family. Both brothers were physicians too and one of them was married to a daughter of king S ...
, regarded as the best documented female practitioner of medicine in ancient Mesopotamian sources.
Outside Nippur, worship of Nintinugga is attested in texts from
Ur and
Isin
Isin (, modern Arabic: Ishan al-Bahriyat) is an archaeological site in Al-Qādisiyyah Governorate, Iraq. Excavations have shown that it was an important city-state in the past.
History of archaeological research
Ishan al-Bahriyat was visited b ...
. A temple dedicated to her rebuilt by
Enlil-bani which bore the ceremonial name Enidubbu, "house which gives rest," might have been located in the latter of those two cities.
The cult of Nintinugga lost importance after 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 dynast ...
. The reason might have been the gradual decline of southern Mesopotamian cities. However, it did not fully disappear, as for example on a
Neo-Babylonian
The Neo-Babylonian Empire or Second Babylonian Empire, historically known as the Chaldean Empire, was the last polity ruled by monarchs native to Mesopotamia. Beginning with the coronation of Nabopolassar as the King of Babylon in 626 BC and bein ...
jar stopper she appears alongside
Marduk
Marduk (Cuneiform: dAMAR.UTU; Sumerian: ''amar utu.k'' "calf of the sun; solar calf"; ) was a god from ancient Mesopotamia and patron deity of the city of Babylon. When Babylon became the political center of the Euphrates valley in the time of ...
,
Ninisina
Ninisina ( Sumerian: "Mistress of Isin") was a Mesopotamian goddess who served as the tutelary deity of the city of Isin. She was considered a healing deity. She was believed to be skilled in the medical arts, and could be described as a divine ph ...
and
Meme
A meme ( ) is an idea, behavior, or style that spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme. A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural i ...
(here a representation of Gula). In litanies, her name was preserved until the
Seleucid period. However,
Paul-Alain Beaulieu
Paul-Alain Beaulieu is a Canadian Assyriology, Assyriologist, a Professor of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations at the University of Toronto.
Beaulieu earned a master's degree from the Université de Montréal in 1980 under the supervision of M ...
argues that it was already only understood as an epithet of Gula during the reign of
Cyrus I
Cyrus I (Old Persian: ''Kuruš'') or Cyrus I of Anshan or Cyrus I of Persia, was King of Anshan in Persia from to 580 BC or, according to others, from to 600 BC. Cyrus I of Anshan is the grandfather of Cyrus the Great, also known as Cyrus II. ...
.
References
Bibliography
* *
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
*
Letter from Inanaka to the goddess Nintinuga' 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 ...
{{Authority control
Mesopotamian goddesses
Medicine goddesses