Mamu (deity)

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Mamu
Deity of dreams
Major cult centre Sippar
Personal information
Parents Shamash and Aya
Siblings Kittum/Niggina and Sisig
Consort Bunene

Mamu (also transcribed as Mamud, [1] 𒀭𒈠𒊬) was a Mesopotamian goddess associated with dreams. She was regarded as the daughter of the sun god Utu and could herself be called the "Utu of dreams". References to male Mamu are also known, though it has been proposed that they only represent a late change of gender attested for a number of other originally female deities as well.

Contents

Character

Mamu's name is derived from the word mamu, which means "dream" in Sumerian. [2] As noted by Annette Zgoll, Sumerian has two words with that meaning which are not fully interchangeable. [2] While the word mašĝi could designate any type of dream, mamu was specifically a meaningful dream, which was regarded as capable of influencing the future. [2] The Assur Dream Ritual Compendium describes Mamu as dingir mamuda, "deity of dreams." [2] In Mesopotamian religion, dream deities could act as messengers of other gods, and as such were believed to manifest in dreams to convey information, including visions of the future. [3]

Wilfred G. Lambert argued that Mamu's gender in sources such as the god list An = Anum , where she is directly described as dumu.munus, "daughter," was most likely influenced by the feminine grammatical gender of the Akkadian translation of her name, šuttu. [4] References to male Mamu are also known. [4] Julia M. Asher-Greve proposes that Mamu was primarily seen as a female deity, and the references to male Mamu should be treated as a late change as in the case of Ninkasi or Ninmug. [5]

Associations with other deities

Mamu's father was the sun god Utu (Shamash) [6] whose wife was Aya. [7] The god list An = Anum labels Mamu as the "Utu of dreams" (dUtu ma-mú-da-ke4). [8] It has been suggested that the connection between the sun god and dream deities was based on his well attested role in divination. [9] According to An = Anum, Mamu's siblings were Niggina (the personification of truth), Kittum (uncommonly treated as male and distinct from Niggina, despite usually simply being the Akkadian form of her name) and Sisig, [6] a male dream deity. [10] In the earlier Weidner god list, Mamu appears alongside Utu and Aya but without the relation being specified. [11] According to Manfred Krebernik, she is linked with the deity Nin-PIRIG in this source. [11]

Mamu's husband was Bunene, the sukkal (divine vizier) of her father. [1]

Wilfred G. Lambert proposed that the goddess Mumudu might be one and the same as Mamu based on the similarity of their names. [12] In the myth Enki and Ninmah , she appears as one of the seven helpers of the eponymous goddess, the other six being Ninimma, Shuzianna, Ninmada, Ninshar, Ninmug and Ninniginna. [13] These deities do not appear together elsewhere, [12] but in this myth they are identified as Šassūrātu, a group of assistants of Ninmah. [14]

Worship

A temple of Mamu and Bunene existed in Sippar. [1] They received offerings together according to administrative texts from this city. [15] For example, Iltani, daughter of Sin-Muballit, offered mirsu cakes to both of them twice in the twenty first year of Hammurabi's reign. [16] Theophoric names invoking Mamu are attested in documents from the same city,for example Warad-Mamu [17] and Amat-Mamu. [18] In contracts she appears alongside Bunene as a divine witness, similarly to how Shamash and Aya appear together. [7] No other divine couples appear in documents from that city in similar roles. [19] Mamu also appears as a witness on her own, which is only attested for Aya and Annunitum otherwise when it comes to goddesses worshiped in Sippar. [20] It has been proposed that a goddess depicted frontally on some seals from Sippar might be Mamu, but it is also possible that she should be identified as Aya. [1]

A sanctuary dedicated to Mamu was built by the Assyrian king Assurnasirpal II in Imgur-Enlil (modern Balawat) next to the royal palace, [21] but according to Wilfred G. Lambert, in this location the deity was viewed as male. [4] Male Mamu is also attested in some Akkadian prayers. [4]

Related Research Articles

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Shamash, also known as Utu was the ancient Mesopotamian sun god. He was believed to see everything that happened in the world every day, and was therefore responsible for justice and protection of travelers. As a divine judge, he could be associated with the underworld. Additionally, he could serve as the god of divination, typically alongside the weather god Adad. While he was universally regarded as one of the primary gods, he was particularly venerated in Sippar and Larsa.The moon god Nanna (Sin) and his wife Ningal were regarded as his parents, while his twin sister was Inanna (Ishtar). Occasionally other goddesses, such as Manzat and Pinikir, could be regarded as his sisters too. The dawn goddess Aya (Sherida) was his wife, and multiple texts describe their daily reunions taking place on a mountain where the sun was believed to set. Among their children were Kittum, the personification of truth, dream deities such as Mamu, as well as the god Ishum. Utu's name could be used to write the names of many foreign solar deities logographically. The connection between him and the Hurrian solar god Shimige is particularly well attested, and the latter could be associated with Aya as well.

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Ninšar was a Mesopotamian goddess commonly associated with the preparation of meat. The reading of her name remains uncertain, and its possible etymology appears to be unrelated to her role in the Mesopotamian pantheon. She was chiefly worshiped in Nippur, though her original cult center was the settlement AB.NAGAR.

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References

Bibliography

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