Ninḫinuna or Ninḫenunna was a

Mesopotamian goddess Deities in ancient Mesopotamia were almost exclusively Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic. They were thought to possess extraordinary powers and were often envisioned as being of tremendous physical size. The deities typically wore ''melam'', a ...

. She could be regarded as a servant deity or a deified instrument, specifically a

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orchestras or ...

or a

lyre The lyre () (from Greek λύρα and Latin ''lyra)'' is a string instrument, stringed musical instrument that is classified by Hornbostel–Sachs as a member of the History of lute-family instruments, lute family of instruments. In organology, a ...

. She was associated with

Inanna Inanna is the List of Mesopotamian deities, ancient Mesopotamian goddess of war, love, and fertility. She is also associated with political power, divine law, sensuality, and procreation. Originally worshipped in Sumer, she was known by the Akk ...

and

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 ...

, as indicated by god lists and literary texts. She was worshiped in

Old Babylonian Old Babylonian may refer to: *the period of the First Babylonian dynasty (20th to 16th centuries BC) *the historical stage of the Akkadian language Akkadian ( ; )John Huehnergard & Christopher Woods, "Akkadian and Eblaite", ''The Cambridge Enc ...

Isin Isin (, modern Arabic language, Arabic: Ishan al-Bahriyat) is an archaeological site in Al-Qādisiyyah Governorate, Iraq which was the location of the Ancient Near East city of Isin, occupied from the late 4th millennium Uruk period up until at ...

, as well as in

Seleucid The Seleucid Empire ( ) was a Greek state in West Asia during the Hellenistic period. It was founded in 312 BC by the Macedonian general Seleucus I Nicator, following the division of the Macedonian Empire founded by Alexander the Great, a ...

Uruk Uruk, the archeological site known today as Warka, was an ancient city in the Near East, located east of the current bed of the Euphrates River, on an ancient, now-dried channel of the river in Muthanna Governorate, Iraq. The site lies 93 kilo ...

. However, in the latter city her introduction into the local pantheon might have been a late phenomenon reflecting the study of god lists, and she is absent from sources from the Neo-Babylonian period from the same location.

Name and character

The standard writing of Ninḫinuna's name in

cuneiform Cuneiform is a Logogram, logo-Syllabary, syllabic writing system that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Near East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. Cuneiform script ...

was ''^d nin-ḫi-nun-na''. This form is attested for example in the

god list. A variant, ''^dnin-ḫé-nun-na'', occurs in a ritual text from

. Julia Krul romanizes this form as Ninḫenunna. The name can be translated from Sumerian as "lady abundance" or "lady of abundance". According to Manuel Ceccarelli, the similarity to the term ''ḫenun'', "perfume", is accidental. Ninḫinuna could be interpreted both as a personified deity and as a deified object, as indicated by texts from Isin referring to repairs of an instrument designated by her name. She could be referred to as a ''gu₄-balaĝ''. This term refers to a type of

string instrument In musical instrument classification, string instruments, or chordophones, are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when a performer strums, plucks, strikes or sounds the strings in varying manners. Musicians play some ...

, presumed to be a lyre or harp. However, it was also a designation of a class of minor deities who were believed to act as advisors of other members of the pantheon. 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 ...

'' they are the most widespread type of servant deities. The term referring to them might be a unique

logographic In a written language, a logogram (from Ancient Greek 'word', and 'that which is drawn or written'), also logograph or lexigraph, is a written character that represents a semantic component of a language, such as a word or morpheme. Chinese c ...

writing of ''ad-gi₄-gi₄'', "adviser", glossed in Akkadian as ''mumtalku'', "counselor" or "confidant".

Associations with other deities

As a servant deity, Ninḫinuna could be associated with

. She already appears in association with Inanna in the

forerunner of the god list ''An = Anum'', with ''An = Anum'' itself assigning her the role of one of the eighteen messengers of this goddess (tablet IV, line 160). In another fragmentary Old Babylonian god list which might be a further forerunner of ''An = Anum'', she might occur directly before Inanna, though according to Manuel Ceccarelli such a placement would be unusual for a servant deity. However, the name is not fully preserved. She also appears in the same list in a section dedicated to Ninisina, in the proximity of

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 (goddess), Gula and Nintinugga. Her original cult center is unknow ...

, Šumaḫ, Urmašum and

Nintinugga Nintinugga (; also romanized as 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 ...

. According to Grégoire Nicolet, her placement in the Isin god list also reflects an association both with Inanna and Ninisina, similarly as the position of

Ninshubur Ninshubur (,; Ninšubur, "Lady of Subartu" or "Lady of servants"), also spelled Ninšubura, was a Mesopotamian goddess regarded as the ''sukkal'' (divine attendant) of the goddess Inanna. While it is agreed that in this context Ninshubur was rega ...

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 ...

in this source. The association with Ninisina is also reflected in the composition ''Ninisina's Journey to Nippur''. This text is already attested in the Old Babylonian period. She is described in it as ''ellu'', "shining", which according to Wolfgang Heimpel in this context might reflect the existence of a silver-plated representation of her in Isin. In ''An = Anum'' Ninḫinuna is also listed as one of the ''gu₄-balaĝ'' of Gula, alongside Ningal (tablet V, line 187–188). Klaus Wagensonner argues this attestation correlates with ''Ninisina's Journey to Nippur''. Ninḫinuna and Ningal might also be mentioned together in the Mari god list, though restoring the other theonym as

Ninagal Ninagal () or Ninagala was a Mesopotamian god regarded as a divine smith. He was commonly associated with other deities connected to craftsmanship. Texts from the reign of Ur-Baba of Lagash indicate that he was the personal deity of this king, ...

has been suggested as well.

Worship

Ninḫinuna was worshiped in Isin in the Old Babylonian period. Two economic texts from the reign of

Ishbi-Erra Ishbi-Erra ( Akkadian: d''iš-bi-ir₃-ra'') was the founder of the dynasty of Isin, reigning from c. 2017— 1986 BC ( MC). Ishbi-Erra was preceded by Ibbi-Sin of the third dynasty of Ur in ancient Lower Mesopotamia, and then succeeded by � ...

mention the preparation of cured bull hide and gold decorations for her. It is presumed that they refer to repairs of an instrument representing her. Ritual texts indicate that Ninḫinuna was worshiped in Uruk in the

period, though she is absent from the earlier,

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 ancient Mesopotamia. Beginning with the coronation of Nabopolassar as the King of Babylon in 626 BC ...

text corpus from the same city. She is mentioned in the text TU 42+, an instruction for the '' akītu'' festival of

Ishtar Inanna is the List of Mesopotamian deities, ancient Mesopotamian goddess of war, love, and fertility. She is also associated with political power, divine law, sensuality, and procreation. Originally worshipped in Sumer, she was known by the Akk ...

, alongside deities such as the deified sage

Adapa Adapa was a Mesopotamian mythical figure who unknowingly refused the gift of immortality. The story, commonly known as "Adapa and the South Wind", is known from fragmentary tablets from Tell el-Amarna in Egypt (around 14th century BC) and from ...

Urkayītu Urkayītu, also known as Urkītum, was a Mesopotamian goddess who likely functioned as the divine representation of the city of Uruk. Her name was initially an epithet of Inanna, but later she came to be viewed as a separate goddess. She was clos ...

Kilili In ancient Mesopotamian religion, Kilili, ''ki.li.li;'' was a female demon of Sumerian origin, likely associated with owls. She is also attested as a minor goddess who functioned as a servant of Ishtar. Function and Associations Kilili's name ...

, Barirītu, Bēlet-Eanna of Udannu,

Kanisurra Kanisurra (also Gansurra, Ganisurra) was a Mesopotamian goddess who belonged to the entourage of Nanaya. Much about her character remains poorly understood, though it is known she was associated with love. Her name might be derived from the word ' ...

Nanaya Nanaya ( Sumerian , DNA.NA.A; also transcribed as "Nanāy", "Nanaja", "Nanāja", '"Nanāya", or "Nanai"; antiquated transcription: "Nanâ"; in Greek: ''Ναναια'' or ''Νανα''; , ) was a Mesopotamian goddess of love closely associated ...

, and others. Julia Krul notes she seems to belong to a subgroup of Ishtar's servants reflecting the god list ''An = Anum''. She suggests that such deities constituted a new addition to the local pantheon, and that their inclusion in rituals was the result of study of god lists and other similar sources. Despite her ritual role, Ninḫinuna is absent from legal texts from Seleucid Uruk and was not invoked in

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

Notes

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * *{{cite journal, last=Wagensonner, first=Klaus, title=Nin-Isina(k)s Journey to Nippur. A bilingual divine journey revisited, journal=Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes, publisher=Department of Oriental Studies, University of Vienna, volume=98, year=2008, issn=0084-0076, jstor=23861637, pages=277–294, url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/23861637, access-date=2023-09-30 Mesopotamian goddesses Inanna