Kanisurra | |
---|---|
Goddess associated with love | |
Member of the court of Nanaya | |
Major cult center | Uruk |
Kanisurra (also Gansurra, Ganisurra) [1] 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 ganzer, referring to the underworld or to its entrance. In addition to Nanaya, she could be associated with deities such as Gazbaba, Išḫara and Uṣur-amāssu. She is first attested in sources from Uruk from the Ur III period, and continued to be worshiped in this city as late as in the Seleucid period.
The character and functions of Kanisurra are unclear. [2] Her best attested characteristic is her association with Nanaya. [3] Both of them belonged to a group of female deities invoked in love and potency incantations, which also included Ishtar, Išḫara and Gazbaba. [4] Some of these texts use formulas such as "at the command of Kanisurra and Išḫara, patron goddess of love" [5] or "at the command of Kanisurra and Išḫara, patroness of sex." [6]
Paul-Alain Beaulieu proposes that Kanisurra's name might represent an Akkadian or otherwise non-standard pronunciation of the Sumerian ganzer, a name of the underworld or specifically of its entrance, as a lexical text from Old Babylonian Nippur attests that kanisurra was one of the readings of the logogram IGI.KUR.ZA, which corresponded to this term. [3] According to Beaulieu, early forms of Kanisurra's name, Gansura and Ganisurra, could be explained as intermediate stages between ganzer and the standard spelling of the theonym in the Old Babylonian period and later. [7] The etymology ofganzer is uncertain, though it has been proposed that it can be explained as the phrase "let me destroy him." [1] Dina Katz considers this proposal unlikely, and suggests it might have originated in a substrate language instead. [8] She also notes ganzer occurs rarely in literary texts, and is best known from lexical lists. [9] Based on the possible etymology of the name, Beaulieu proposes that Kanisurra was a deified part of the underworld in origin. [1] A different proposal is that she was originally a hypostasis of Inanna, and represented the time when Venus is not visible on the sky. [10]
Kanisurra could be referred with the epithet bēlet kaššāpāti, "lady of the sorceresses." [2] This title appears in one Maqlû incantation, and in another similar text from outside this corpus. [11]
An illness called the "hand of Kanisurra" is attested in a medical text alongside "hand of Nanaya," "hand of Iqbi-damiq" and "hand of Qibi-dumqi." [12]
Two late texts, a theological explanatory tablet and a liturgic calendar, address Kanisurra and Gazbaba as "Daughters of Ezida," the temple of Nabu in Borsippa, and additionally identifies them as Nanaya's hairdressers. [13] Most pairs of deities referred to this way are known from northern Babylonia. [14] In addition to Daughters of Ezida, known pairs were associated with Esagil in Babylon (Katunna and Silluš-tab), [15] Emeslam in Kutha (Tadmushtum, labeled as a daughter of Nergal in the god list An = Anum , [16] and Belet-ili), [17] Edubba in Kish (Iqbi-damiq, whose name means "she said 'it is fine!'," and Ḫussinni, "Remember me!"), [18] Ebabbar in Sippar (Mami and Ninegina), E-ibbi-Anum in Dilbat (Ipte-bita and Belet-eanni), and with an unnamed temple of Ningublaga (Mannu-šanišu and Larsam-iti). [14] [15] Further nameless examples of pairs of such "daughters" are known from Uruk, Nippur and Eridu, as well as Arbela in Assyria. [19] Based on the fact that daughters of Esagil and of Ezida are identified as members of courts of Zarpanit and Nanaya respectively, specifically as their hairdressers, Andrew R. George proposes that these pairs of goddesses were imagined as maidservants in the household of the major deity or deities of the temple they were associated with. [14]
It is commonly assumed Kanisurra was a daughter of Nanaya. [20] However, as remarked by Gioele Zisa in a recent publication, as of 2021 there is no direct evidence in favor of this view. [21] In known copies of an explanatory version of the Weidner god list, the line explaining whose daughter Kanisurra was regarded as is not fully preserved. [13]
Another deity associated with Kanisurra was Uṣur-amāssu, who appears alongside her in an account of a cultic journey of Nanaya to Kish, and like her was associated with the latter goddess as well as Ishtar. [22] Walther Sallaberger suggests that Uṣur-amāssu functioned as an alternate name of Kanisurra in the first millennium BCE, [23] while Jeremy Black and Anthony Green assume she was her Akkadian counterpart. [24]
In a trilingual edition of the Weidner god list from Ugarit, Kanisurra is explained as Kanizuran in Hurrian and Lēlu in Ugaritic. [25] However, the value of this document as a source of information about religious beliefs of inhabitants of Ugarit, both Ugaritic and Hurrian, has been questioned, as many entries are simply phonetic renderings of Mesopotamian theonyms which do not occur elsewhere. [26]
Oldest attestations of Kanisurra come from Uruk from the Ur III period. [1] Walther Sallaberger argues that in the light of presently available evidence it can be assumed that similarly to Inanna and Nanaya she belonged to the trio of central goddesses celebrated during various festivals held in this city. [23] He argues that the presence of many goddesses connected to Inanna in the local pantheon might have been related to the presence of the queens of the Third Dynasty of Ur in Uruk. [27] She received offerings during the funerary rites of Shu-Sin, which might be tied to her proposed role as a deity with underworld connections. [1] In an offering list from the reign of the same king, she appears alongside Geshtinanna. [23]
In the Old Babylonian period, during the reign of Sîn-gāmil, An-am built a temple of Kanisurra, most likely in Uruk. [28] While it is known that he reigned as a king of Uruk himself, the inscription mentioning this construction project comes from before his ascent to the throne. [1] Kanisurra is addressed as Nin-Iturungal, "lady of the Iturungal canal," in it. [29] In the late Old Babylonian period, many of the functionaries of the cults of Inanna of Uruk, Nanaya and Kanisurra moved to Kish. [30] In the same period, Kanisurra was also worshiped in the territories controlled by the First Sealand dynasty. [10] However, only a single offering list from the latter area mentions her. [31] Based on its context it is likely that it was connected to Uruk, perhaps because it was also the result of displacement of the cults native to that city. [31] Kanisurra and Nanaya were also worshiped in Eturkalamma, [32] a temple of Ishtar in Babylon. [33]
In the first millennium BCE Kanisurra is attested on a kudurru (boundary stone) from the reign of Marduk-zakir-shumi I which mentions a certain Ibni-Ishtar, who held various positions among the clergy of Ishtar, Nanaya and Uṣur-amāssu. [3] A gate, a street and a city quarter named after her existed in Uruk. [34] She might be one of the deities collectively referred to as "the ladies" (dGAŠAN.MEŠ) who often appear alongside the five lead deities of this city (Ishtar, Nanaya, Uṣur-amāssu, Urkayītu and Bēltu-ša-Rēš) in Neo-Babylonian inscriptions, though this theory is presently impossible to prove conclusively. [35] She continued to be associated with Uruk as late as in the Seleucid period. [1] The late sources indicate that she was among the deities worshiped during the akitu festival of Ishtar. [36]
Zababa was the tutelary deity of the city of Kish in ancient Mesopotamia. He was a war god. While he was regarded as similar to Ninurta and Nergal, he was never fully conflated with them. His worship is attested from between the Early Dynastic to the Achaemenid periods, with the Old Babylonian kings being particularly devoted to him. Starting with the Old Babylonian period, he was regarded as married to the goddess Bau.
Nanaya was a Mesopotamian goddess of love closely associated with Inanna.
Aya was a Mesopotamian goddess associated with dawn. Multiple variant names were attributed to her in god lists. She was regarded as the wife of Shamash, the sun god. She was worshiped alongside her husband in Sippar. Multiple royal inscriptions pertaining to this city mention her. She was also associated with the Nadītu community inhabiting it. She is less well attested in the other cult center of Shamash, Larsa, though she was venerated there as well. Additional attestations are available from Uruk, Mari and Assur. Aya was also incorporated into Hurrian religion, and in this context she appears as the wife of Shamash's counterpart Šimige.
Papsukkal (𒀭𒉽𒈛) 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.
Shara was a Mesopotamian god associated with the city of Umma and other nearby settlements. He was chiefly regarded as the tutelary deity of this area, responsible for agriculture, animal husbandry, and irrigation, but he could also be characterized as a divine warrior. In the third millennium BCE, his wife was Ninura, associated with the same area, but later, in the Old Babylonian period, her cult faded into obscurity, and Shara was instead associated with Usaḫara or Kumulmul. An association between him and Inanna is well attested. In Umma, he was regarded as the son of Inanna of Zabalam and an unknown father, while in the myth Inanna's Descent to the Underworld, he is one of the servants mourning her temporary death. He also appears in the myth of Anzû, in which he is one of the three gods who refuse to fight the eponymous monster.
Muati was a Mesopotamian god. His character is poorly known. He was regarded as the spouse of Nanaya in Old Babylonian sources. He was later syncretised with Nabu, who likely came to be associated with Nanaya for this reason. Muati is attested in a poem from the reign of Abi-Eshuh, in which he is implored to mediate with his wife on behalf on this ruler. Additionally, he is mentioned in a single text from Isin, possibly in a document from Larsa, and in a god list counting him among the deities of Uruk.
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 she fulfilled in the Mesopotamian pantheon, though her association with the scribal arts and dream interpretation is well attested. She could serve as a scribe in the underworld, where according to the myth Inanna's Descent she had to reside for a half of each year in place of her brother.
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 worshipped. 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 he was actively worshipped by inhabitants of the city in the final centuries of the history of ancient Mesopotamia.
Belet Nagar was the tutelary goddess of the ancient Syrian city Nagar. She was also worshiped by the Hurrians and in Mesopotamia. She was connected with kingship, but much about her role in the religions of the ancient Near East remains uncertain.
Uṣur-amāssu was a Mesopotamian deity. While originally viewed as male, she later came to be regarded as a goddess. Regardless of gender, Uṣur-amāssu was considered as a child of Adad and Shala and like other members of their entourage was considered a deity of justice. The earliest attestations of veneration of Uṣur-amāssu are theophoric names from cities such as Kish, but the female version of this deity is best attested in sources from Uruk from the Neo-Babylonian period. She belonged to the pentad of goddesses who stood on top of the local pantheon, which also included Ishtar, Nanaya, Bēltu-ša-Rēš and Urkayītu. She is still attested in texts from the Seleucid period, and continued to be celebrated during an akitu festival.
Bizilla was a Mesopotamian goddess closely associated with Nanaya and like her sometimes listed alongside courtiers of Inanna. However, she is also attested in connection with Ninlil, and it is assumed that she was viewed as the sukkal of this goddess in Ḫursaĝkalama near Kish.
Gazbaba, also known as Kazbaba or Kazba, was a Mesopotamian goddess closely associated with Inanna, Nanaya and Kanisurra. Like them, she was connected with love and eroticism.
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 most likely was composed in the later Kassite period.
Ulmašītum was a Mesopotamian goddess regarded as warlike. Her name was derived from (E-)Ulmaš, a temple in the city of Akkad dedicated to Ishtar. She was commonly associated with Annunitum, and in many texts they appear as a pair. While she originated in northern Mesopotamia, in the Ur III period she is best attested in Ur, though later she was also worshiped in Malgium.
Iqbi-damiq was a Mesopotamian goddess who was regarded as one of the "Daughters of Edubba", and was worshiped in Kish for this role. According to the god list An = Anum she also functioned as the sukkal of Niĝgina. She is mentioned in texts of Assur and Babylon. An illness named after her, the "hand of Iqbi-damiq," is known from texts focused on medicine and omens.
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.
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 closely associated with Uṣur-amāssu, and like her belonged to the pentad of main goddesses of Uruk in the Neo-Babylonian period. She also continued to be worshiped in this city under Achaemenid and Seleucid rule.
Bēltu-ša-Rēš was a Mesopotamian goddess associated with a temple, or temples, bearing the name Rēš. She is only attested in sources from Uruk from the Neo-Babylonian and Seleucid periods. In the former, she belonged to the pentad of main deities of the city alongside Ishtar, Nanaya, Uṣur-amāssu and Urkayītu. In the latter, she served as the protective deity of a new temple complex dedicated to Anu and Antu.
Epithets of Inanna were titles and bynames used to refer to this Mesopotamian goddess and to her Akkadian counterpart Ishtar. In Mesopotamia, epithets were commonly used in place of the main name of the deity, and combinations of a name with an epithet similar to these common in ancient Greek religion are comparatively uncommon. Inanna had more titles than any other Mesopotamian deity. They pertained to her associations with specific cities or areas, such as Uruk, Zabalam, Akkad, Nineveh, or the Sealand. Others instead highlighted her specific roles, for example, that of an astral goddess personifying the planet Venus—or that of a war deity. In some cases, her individual epithets eventually developed into separate deities.
Išartu was a Mesopotamian goddess regarded as the divine hypostasis of righteousness. She was closely associated with a deity of similar character, Mīšaru, and in the god list An = Anum they are described as a couple. Evidence of the worship of Išartu includes early Akkadian theophoric names, offering lists from Mari and late religious texts from Uruk.
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