Amasagnudi

Last updated
Amasagnudi
Courtier of Anu
Major cult center Uruk
Personal information
Spouse Papsukkal

Amasagnudi was a Mesopotamian goddess regarded as a servant of Anu and as the wife of Papsukkal. She is only known from a handful of sources, including the god list An = Anum and documents from Seleucid Uruk.

Contents

Name

The name Amasagnudi can be translated as "the indestructible mother," "the unmovable mother," "the mother who does not go away," [1] or "the mother who cannot be pushed aside." [2] The resurgence of deities with names starting with the sign ama, "mother," in the theology of Seleucid Uruk, including both her and Ama-arhus, is considered to be unusual. [3]

Readings of the name proposed in the past, now regarded as erroneous, include Amasagsilsirsir and Amapanul. [4] Both were based on the forms dAMA.SAG.QA.NU.NU and dAMA.PA.NU.UL from Seleucid documents from Uruk. [4] It has been argued that the spelling varied due to Amasagnudi's obscurity prior to her rise of prominence in this period making her name difficult to render even for the literati of the city. [5] Most likely its original meaning was no longer understood due to trouble with structure and grammar of Sumerian common in late texts. [6]

Amasagnudi was also known by the name Ninkagal, "lady of the great gate," [7] also read Nin-abula [8] or Nin-abul. [9]

Character

The oldest reference to Amasagnudi, a lexical text which lists her as an equivalent of Ninshubur, explains that she was a female deity (nin-sukkal, "vizieress") and the sukkal (divine vizier) of Anu. [10]

Three possibilities have been proposed for the origin of Amasagnudi: that she was the original sukkal of Anu, replaced in this role by Inanna's sukkal Ninshubur; that she was an epithet of Ninshubur; or that she was the wife of the male form of Ninshubur. [10]

In the god list An = Anum and in sources from Seleucid Uruk, she appears as the wife of Papsukkal. [11]

Worship

References to Amasagnudi from before the Seleucid period are incredibly rare, and according to Paul-Alain Beaulieu as of 1992 known examples were limited to the god list An = Anum and a single lexical text. [5] More recent research revealed a further occurrence of Amasagnudi in the second millennium BCE in an Akkadian incantation against Lamashtu known from a copy from Ugarit, in which she appears alongside Papsukkal. [12] Furthermore, her alternate name, Nin-abul, is present in an Old Babylonian exercise text. [9]

Amasagnudi was introduced to Uruk alongside Papsukkal. [13] The entire pantheon of the city was restructured in the Seleucid period, with Ishtar, Nanaya and their court, encompassing deities such as Uṣur-amāssu, surpassed in prominence by Anu and Antu. [14] While Anu was not completely absent from Uruk at any point in time between the third and first millennium BCE, [14] his position was that of a "figurehead" and "otiose deity" according to Paul-Alain Beaulieu. [11] He proposes that Anu's rise was the result of Babylon losing its influence after Persian conquest, which resulted in the development of a new local theology relying on the god list An = Anum (which starts the divine hierarchy with Anu) to enhance local pride. [15] A side effect of the process was the rise of deities connected with Anu, such as Papsukkal and Amasagnudi. [11]

In theological texts, Papsukkal and Amasagnudi are jointly listed on the ninth place in lists arranging the gods of Seleucid Uruk according to perceived theological importance. [16] However, Amasagnudi does not occur in any theophoric names from Uruk. [17] Julia Krul proposes that it should be understood as an indication that her presence in the religion of Seleucid Uruk was largely limited to theological speculation of high-ranking members of the clergy. [18]

During the new year festival held in Uruk in the Seleucid period, Amasagnudi was among the deities listed as participants of the parade lead by Antu (rather than Ishtar), alongside the likes of Shala, Aya, Gula, Sadarnunna (the wife of Nuska) and Ašratum. [19]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ninsun</span> Mesopotamian goddess, mother of Gilgamesh

Ninsun was a Mesopotamian goddess. She is best known as the mother of the hero Gilgamesh and wife of deified legendary king Lugalbanda, and appears in this role in most versions of the Epic of Gilgamesh. She was associated with Uruk, where she lives in this composition, but she was also worshiped in other cities of ancient Mesopotamia, such as Nippur and Ur, and her main cult center was the settlement KI.KALki.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nanaya</span> Ancient Mesopotamian goddess of love

Nanaya was a Mesopotamian goddess of love, closely associated with Inanna.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ningishzida</span> Mesopotamian god

Ningishzida 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 of the year in the land of the dead. He also shared many of his functions with his father Ninazu.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ninshubur</span> Mesopotamian messenger deity

Ninshubur, also spelled Ninšubura, was a Mesopotamian goddess whose primary role was that of the sukkal of the goddess Inanna. While it is agreed that in this context Ninshubur was regarded as female, in other cases the deity was considered male, possibly due to syncretism with other divine messengers, such as Ilabrat. No certain information about her genealogy is present in any known sources, and she was typically regarded as unmarried. As a sukkal, she functioned both as a messenger deity and as an intercessor between other members of the pantheon and human petitioners.

Papsukkal was a Mesopotamian god regarded as the sukkal of Anu and his wife Antu in Seleucid Uruk. In earlier periods he was instead associated with Zababa. He acquired his new role through syncretism with Ninshubur.

Ilabrat was a Mesopotamian god who in some cases was regarded as the sukkal of the sky god Anu. Evidence from the Old Assyrian period indicates that he could also be worshiped as an independent deity.

Kakka was a Mesopotamian god best known as the sukkal of Anu and Anshar. His cult center was Maškan-šarrum, most likely located in the north of modern Iraq on the banks of the Tigris.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anu</span> Ancient Mesopotamian god of the sky. Gods of all gods.

Anu or Anum, originally An, was the divine personification of the sky, king of the gods, and ancestor of many of the deities in ancient Mesopotamian religion. He was regarded as a source of both divine and human kingship, and opens the enumerations of deities in many Mesopotamian texts. At the same time, his role was largely passive, and he was not commonly worshiped. It is sometimes proposed that the Eanna temple located in Uruk originally belonged to him, rather than Inanna, but while he is well attested as one of its divine inhabitants, there is no evidence that the main deity of the temple ever changed, and Inanna was already associated with it in the earliest sources. After it declined, a new theological system developed in the same city under Seleucid rule, resulting in Anu being redefined as an active deity. As a result was actively worshiped by inhabitants of the city in the final centuries of history of ancient Mesopotamia.

Shuzianna was a Mesopotamian goddess. She was chiefly worshiped in Nippur, where she was regarded as a secondary spouse of Enlil. She is also known from the enumerations of children of Enmesharra, while in the myth Enki and Ninmah she is one of the seven minor goddesses helping with the creation of mankind.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sukkal</span> Mesopotamian administrative office and type of deity

Sukkal was a term which could denote both a type of official and a class of deities in ancient Mesopotamia. The historical sukkals were responsible for overseeing the execution of various commands of the kings and acted as diplomatic envoys and translators for foreign dignitaties. The deities referred to as sukkals fulfilled a similar role in mythology, acting as servants, advisors and envoys of the main gods of the Mesopotamian pantheon, such as Enlil or Inanna. The best known sukkal is the goddess Ninshubur. In art, they were depicted carrying staffs, most likely understood as their attribute. They could function as intercessory deities, believed to mediate between worshipers and the major gods.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gula (goddess)</span> Mesopotamian goddess

Gula was a Mesopotamian goddess of medicine, portrayed as a divine physician and midwife. Over the course of the second and first millennia BCE, she became one of the main deities of the Mesopotamian pantheon, and eventually started to be viewed as the second highest ranked goddess after Ishtar. She was associated with dogs, and could be depicted alongside these animals, for example on kudurru, and receive figurines representing them as votive offerings.

Kanisurra was a Mesopotamian goddess from the entourage of Nanaya. She was worshiped in Uruk. Her character is poorly understood, but she was apparently associated with love and possibly with the underworld.

Ašratum was a Mesopotamian goddess of Amorite origin. She was regarded as the wife of the god Amurru. Her name is a cognate of Ugaritic Athirat, but despite likely sharing the same origin these two goddesses occupied different positions in the respective pantheons.

Alammuš (Alammush) was a Mesopotamian god. He was the sukkal of the moon god Nanna, and like him was worshiped in Ur. He was also closely associated with the cattle god Ningublaga, and especially in astronomical texts they could be regarded as twin brothers.

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 Early Dynastic period, An = Anum has most likely only been composed in the Kassite period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ninigizibara</span> Mesopotamian goddess representing a string instrument

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 cases, she was associated with the goddess Inanna. A connection between her and the medicine goddess Gula is also attested, and it is possible she could serve as a minor healing deity herself.

Ninirigal or Ninirigala was a Mesopotamian goddess associated with Kullaba, a district belonging to the city of Uruk. Her character is poorly known beyond her role as a tutelary goddess of this area. Her husband was a god known under the name Nunbaranna, most likely an epithet of the fire god Gibil.

Sadarnunna was a Mesopotamian goddess regarded as the wife of Nuska. Very little is known about her individual character. She was worshiped in Nippur, and appears alongside other deities of this city in texts from the Ur III period already. In later times she is also attested in sources from other locations, for example Harran and Uruk.

Mes-sanga-Unug was a Mesopotamian god closely associated with the city of Uruk, and especially with one of its districts, Kullaba. He was regarded as a warrior deity. In early sources he was described as the "great ensi of Inanna," but later on he was seemingly associated with Anu instead. He belonged to the earliest pantheon of Uruk, though he ceased to be worshiped there in the Ur III period, and the attestations in documents from the reign of the Seleucids are assumed to be a result of a late reintroduction. He was also venerated in Babylon, where he had two temples. Further attestations from outside Uruk come from various god lists.

References

Bibliography

  • Asher-Greve, Julia M.; Westenholz, Joan G. (2013). Goddesses in Context: On Divine Powers, Roles, Relationships and Gender in Mesopotamian Textual and Visual Sources (PDF). ISBN   978-3-7278-1738-0.
  • Beaulieu, Paul-Alain (1992). "Antiquarian Theology in Seleucid Uruk". Acta Sumerologica. 14. Retrieved 2022-04-21.
  • Cavigneaux, Antoine; Krebernik, Manfred (1998), "Nin-abula", Reallexikon der Assyriologie (in German), retrieved 2022-04-22
  • del Olmo Lete, Gregorio (2014). Incantations and Anti-Witchcraft Texts from Ugarit. Boston: De Gruyter. ISBN   1-61451-627-8. OCLC   948655744.
  • Gadotti, Alhena (2015). "A New Text About Nin-abul" (PDF). Nouvelles Assyriologiques Brèves et Utilitaires (NABU) (1).
  • Krul, Julia (2018). The Revival of the Anu Cult and the Nocturnal Fire Ceremony at Late Babylonian Uruk. BRILL. doi:10.1163/9789004364943_004. ISBN   9789004364936.
  • Krul, Julia (2018a). "Some Observations on Late Urukean Theophoric Names". Grenzüberschreitungen Studien zur Kulturgeschichte des Alten Orients: Festschrift für Hans Neumann zum 65. Geburtstag am 9. Mai 2018. Münster: Zaphon. ISBN   3-96327-010-1. OCLC   1038056453.
  • Robson, Eleanor (2019). Ancient Knowledge Networks: A Social Geography of Cuneiform Scholarship in First-Millennium Assyria and Babylonia. UCL Press. ISBN   978-1-78735-595-8 . Retrieved 2022-04-22.
  • Wiggermann, Frans A. M. (1998), "Nin-šubur", Reallexikon der Assyriologie, retrieved 2022-04-22
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.