Ninti ( sux, 𒀭𒎏𒋾; "mistress of life") 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 ...

worshiped in

Lagash Lagash (cuneiform: LAGAŠKI; Sumerian: ''Lagaš''), was an ancient city state located northwest of the junction of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers and east of Uruk, about east of the modern town of Ash Shatrah, Iraq. Lagash (modern Al-Hiba) w ...

. She was regarded as the mother of

Ninkasi Ninkasi was the Mesopotamian goddess of beer and brewing. It is possible that in the first millennium BCE she was known under the variant name Kurunnītu, derived from a term referring to a type of high quality beer. She was associated with both ...

. She also appears in the myth ''

Enki , image = Enki(Ea).jpg , caption = Detail of Enki from the Adda Seal, an ancient Akkadian cylinder seal dating to circa 2300 BC , deity_of = God of creation, intelligence, crafts, water, seawater, lakewater, fertility, semen, magic, mischief ...

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, sitt ...

'' as one of the deities meant to soothe the eponymous god's pain. In this text, her name is reinterpreted first as "lady rib" and then as "lady of the month" through scribal

word play Word play or wordplay (also: play-on-words) is a literary technique and a form of wit in which words used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement. Examples of word play include puns, pho ...

Attestations

Ninti's name can be translated as "mistress who keeps alive" or "mistress (of) life." A variant form of her name might be Nintiḫal, "mistress who allocates life." However, Jeremiah Peterson notes that due to the existence of the divergent variant spelling Kurratiḫal it is not certain how 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 NIN should be read in this case. Oldest attestations of Ninti have been identified in texts from Fara. She is also attested in Early Dynastic texts from

, and according to Gebhard Selz must have been worshiped in this city, as references to a

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 ...

dedicated to her are known. This conclusion has been subsequently accepted by other authors. She also appears in the

theophoric name A theophoric name (from Greek: , ''theophoros'', literally "bearing or carrying a god") embeds the word equivalent of 'god' or God's name in a person's name, reflecting something about the character of the person so named in relation to that dei ...

s Ninti-badmu, "Ninti is my mother," and Ninti-men, "Ninti is the crown" or "Ninti has the crown." Further attestations, including theophoric names (for example Ur-Ninti), as well as entries in offering lists and god lists, are available from the

Ur III 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 Old Babylonian periods. In the Old Babylonian god list from Mari, Ninti appears in the proximity of

Nindara Nindara (, Nindar in sources predating the reign of Gudea) was a Mesopotamian god worshiped in the state of Lagash. He was the husband of Nanshe, and it is assumed that his relevance in Mesopotamian religion depended on this connection. His cha ...

and

Ninmug Ninmug or Ninmuga was a Mesopotamian goddess. She was associated with artisanship, especially with metalworking, as evidenced by her epithet ''tibira kalamma'', "metalworker of the land." She could also be regarded as a goddess of birth and assis ...

Associations with other deities

A hymn to

states that while this goddess was raised by

, her parents were Ninti and

. Ninti and Ninkasi occur near each other in a document from the

Fara period Fara may refer to: Places Italy * Fara Gera d'Adda, Bergamo, Lombardy * Fara Filiorum Petri, Chieti, Abruzzo *Fara San Martino, Chieti, Abruzzo *Fara in Sabina, Rieti, Lazio *Fara Novarese, Novara, Piedmont * Fara Olivana con Sola, Bergamo, ...

. The relation between Ninti and Enki is also attested in 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 ...

'', where she is equated with his spouse Damkina. The masculine equivalent of her name, Enti, is also given as an alternate name of Enki, though in other contexts ^d EN. TI was instead a

logographic In a written language, a logogram, logograph, or lexigraph is a written character that represents a word or morpheme. Chinese characters (pronounced '' hanzi'' in Mandarin, '' kanji'' in Japanese, '' hanja'' in Korean) are generally logograms ...

representation of the name of

Ebiḫ Ebiḫ (Ebih) was a Mesopotamian god presumed to represent the Hamrin Mountains. It has been suggested that while such an approach was not the norm in Mesopotamian religion, no difference existed between the deity and the associated location in hi ...

, a mountain god presumed to represent Hamrin Mountains. Ninti also occurs next to Enki in a lexical list referred to as ''Silbenvokabular A''. Antoine Cavigneaux and Manfred Krebernik additionally suggest that the deity Nintiḫal might correspond to Ninti in the Nippur god list, and that under this name she was understood as the mother of

Siris Siris may refer to: Geography * Siris (Magna Graecia), an ancient city in southern Italy *Serres, a city in Macedonia called Siris by the Ancient Greek historian Herodotus * Siris, Sardinia, an Italian commune * Sinni (river) (Siris in Latin), Ital ...

. The list records the sequence Nintiḫal, Siris, Ninkasi. Nintiḫal is also attested in relation to

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. She was regarded as the '' udug'' (in this context: "protective spirit") of her house. Gebhard Selz stresses that Ninti should not be confused with

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 n ...

, a healing goddess from

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 ...

Mythology

In the myth ''Enki and Ninhursag'', Ninti appears as one of the eight deities created to relive Enki of his pain, being specifically responsible for healing his ribs. The other deities created for the same purpose in this narrative include

Abu Abu or ABU may refer to: Places * Abu (volcano), a volcano on the island of Honshū in Japan * Abu, Yamaguchi, a town in Japan * Ahmadu Bello University, a university located in Zaria, Nigeria * Atlantic Baptist University, a Christian university ...

, Ninsikila (

Meskilak Meskilak or Mesikila was one of the two main deities worshiped in Dilmun. The other well attested member of the pantheon of this area was Inzak, commonly assumed to be her spouse. The origin of her name is a subject of scholarly dispute. She is a ...

), Ningiriutud (

Ningirida Ningirida was a Mesopotamian goddess regarded as the wife of Ninazu and mother of Ningishzida. Little is known about her character beyond her relation to these two gods. Name and character The correct reading of Ningirda's name relies on the sy ...

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 admi ...

, Azimua and Ensag (

Inzak Inzak (also Enzag, Enzak, Anzak; in older publications Enshag) was the main god of the pantheon of Dilmun. The precise origin of his name remains a matter of scholarly debate. He might have been associated with date palms. His cult center was Ag ...

). In the end, when favorable destinies are proclaimed for all of them, Ninti is appointed to the position of the "lady of the month." Her name is reinterpreted first as a

pun A pun, also known as paronomasia, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use of homophoni ...

on ''nin-ti'', "lady rib," and then ''nin-iti'', "lady of the month," which according to Dina Katz reflects the fact that the compilers of the text selected her entirely based on her name's potential for wordplay and not were "not interested in her religious background." Jeremiah Peterson considers the reinterpretation of her name to be an example of a

folk etymology Folk etymology (also known as popular etymology, analogical reformation, reanalysis, morphological reanalysis or etymological reinterpretation) is a change in a word or phrase resulting from the replacement of an unfamiliar form by a more famili ...

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * {{Refend

External links

*
Hymn to Ninkasi (Ninkasi A)
' in the Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature *
Enki and Ninhursag
' in the ETCSL
Ninti
in the Electronic Pennsylvania Sumerian Dictionary Mesopotamian goddesses