Tutu (Mesopotamian god)

Last updated

Tutu was a minor Mesopotamian god. [1] The meaning and origin of his name are uncertain. [2]

He was originally the tutelary god of Borsippa, near Babylon, and appears in the name of an ensi (governor) of the area from the Ur III period, Puzur-Tutu. [3] References to worship him are also known from Kish and Sippar, [2] and he seemingly appears in theophoric names from Larsa, Babylon and Dilbat, [4] though it is uncertain if every instance of a divine name written as DU-DU or tu-tu in personal names refers to the same deity. [3] Tutu is still attested as a distinct deity in the role of the tutelary god of Borsippa during the reign of Hammurabi. [5]

As evidenced by god lists he was syncretised with Marduk in later periods, similar to Asalluhi, a god of exorcisms and son of Enki, the agricultural god Enbilulu, as well as an otherwise unknown deity named Šazu. [6] In Enuma Elish, Tutu is one of the names bestowed upon Marduk, [6] seemingly one connected with Babylon's role as a center of refurbishing and ritually reviving damaged divine statues. [3] Tutu is also explained as a name of Marduk in an incantation from the Muššu'u series. [7] A reference to Tutu, treated as a name of Marduk, can also be found in the so-called Bird Call Text:

The cock is the bird of Enmešarra. Its cry is, "You sinned against Tutu." [8]

According to Wilfred G. Lambert the use of Tutu as a name of Marduk ceased in the first millennium BCE, when it started to be used to refer to Nabu instead. [8] However, according to Francesco Pomponio only a single neo-Assyrian text identifies Tutu as Nabu. [9] Nabu nonetheless started to be regarded as the tutelary god of Borsippa in the first millennium BCE. [10]

Related Research Articles

Nergal Mesopotamian god of death

Nergal was a Mesopotamian god worshiped through all periods of Mesopotamian history, from Early Dynastic to Neo-Babylonian times, with a few attestations under indicating his cult survived into the period of Achaemenid domination. He was primarily associated with war, death and disease and has been described as the "god of inflicted death." He reigned over Kur, the Mesopotamian underworld, depending on the myth either on behalf of his parents Enlil and Ninlil, or in later periods as a result of his marriage with the goddess Ereshkigal. Originally either Mammitum, a goddess possibly connected to frost, or Las, sometimes assumed to be a minor medicine goddess, were regarded as his wife, though other traditions existed too.

Mammitum, Mammitu or Mammi was a Mesopotamian goddess viewed as the wife of Nergal, the god of death. Mammitum's name might mean “oath” or “frost”. In the earliest sources she is Nergal's most commonly attested wife, but from the Kassite period onward she was often replaced in this role by the goddess Las.

Zababa was the tutelary deity of the city of Kish in ancient Mesopotamia. He was a war god.

Ishara Tutelary goddess of Ebla

Ishara is an ancient deity of unknown origin from the north of modern Syria. She first appeared in Ebla and was incorporated into the Hurrian pantheon, from which she found her way to the Hittite pantheon. She appears in documents and personal names from Mesopotamia starting with the end of the 3rd millennium BCE, and had temples in Nippur, Sippar, Kish, Harbidum, Larsa, and Urum.

Sarpanit

Sarpanit was the consort of Marduk, the main god of Babylon, and a goddess of birth. She was already attested as the wife of Marduk before his ascension to the top of the Mesopotamian pantheon, appearing in inscriptions of the Babylonian kings Sumulael and Samsu-iluna. Some researchers regard her simply as one of the "prototypical divine wives."

Nisaba Mesopotamian goddess of writing

Nisaba was the Mesopotamian goddess of writing and grain. She is one of the oldest Sumerian deities attested in writing, and remained a prominent goddess through many periods of Mesopotamian history. She was commonly worshiped by scribes, and many Sumerian texts end with the doxology "praise to Nisaba" as a result. She declined after the Old Babylonian period due to the rise of the new scribe god, Nabu, though she did not fully vanish from Mesopotamian religion and attestations from as late as the neo-Babylonian period are known.

Nanaya Ancient Mesopotamian goddess of love

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

Ningishzida Mesopotamian deity

Ningishzida is a Mesopotamian deity of vegetation and the underworld.

Enmesharra or Enmešarra was a figure associated with the underworld in Sumerian and Akkadian mythology.

Ninegal or Belet Ekallim was a Mesopotamian and West Semitic goddess, as well as a title of other goddesses. As indicated by her name, her role was likely linked to royal palaces.

Šauška Hurrian goddess of love and war

Šauška was a Hurrian goddess who was also adopted into the Hittite pantheon. Her name has a Hurrian origin and means the great or magnificent one.

Tishpak (Tišpak) was a Mesopotamian god associated with the ancient city Eshnunna and its sphere of influence, located in the Diyala area of Iraq. He was primarily a war deity, but he was also associated with snakes, including the mythical mushussu and bashmu, and with kingship.

Adad-apla-iddina, typically inscribed in cuneiform mdIM-DUMU.UŠ-SUM-na, mdIM-A-SUM-na or dIM-ap-lam-i-din-[nam] meaning the storm god “Adad has given me an heir”, was the 8th king of the 2nd Dynasty of Isin and the 4th Dynasty of Babylon and ruled c. 1064–1043. He was a contemporary of the Assyrian King Aššur-bêl-kala and his reign was a golden age for scholarship.

Shuqamuna and Shumaliya Pair of Kassite royal deities

Šuqamuna (dšu-qa-mu-na) and Šumaliya (dšu-ma-li-ia) were a pair of deities introduced to Mesopotamia during the Kassite dynasty of Babylonia. They had a close association with the royal family; the pair of gods are referred to as 'the gods of the king', with Šuqamuna being the 'king's god' and Šumaliya his patron goddess. Šuqamuna and Šumaliya are the only two Kassite gods known to be referenced outside of theophoric personal names and some poorly preserved glossaries, and they are the only ones to consistently receive a divine determinative.

The Crimes and Sacrileges of Nabû-šuma-iškun is an ancient Mesopotamian chronicle extant in a single late-Babylonian copy from Hellenistic Uruk of the library of the exorcist, or āšipu, Anu-ikṣụr. The vitriol levied at the mid-eighth century BCE Babylonian king, Nabû-šuma-iškun, for his acts of sacrilege against cults in Babylon, Borsippa, Kutha, and Uruk, together with the apparent dynastic change following his regime has led to the view that it was originally a literary construct of the reign of Nabû-nāṣir, his immediate successor.

Ninsianna was the Mesopotamian personification of the planet Venus, especially in sources from the Old Babylonian period.

Sukkal Sumerian concept and belief

Sukkal were beings in Sumerian and Akkadian mythology. The term itself can be translated as "vizier," and referred to a class of servant deities who served the major gods as viziers, messengers, doorkeepers, and in other similar functions. It sometimes referred to human officials in addition to gods. It was also adopted into Hurrian beliefs.

Belet Nagar was the tutelary goddess of the ancient Syrian city Nagar. She was also worshiped by the Hurrians and in Mesopotamia.

Lagamal or Lagamar was a Mesopotamian deity worshiped chiefly in Dilbat, but prominent in Terqa on the Euphrates and in Susa in Elam as well.

References

  1. Lambert 2013, p. 265.
  2. 1 2 Richter 2014, p. 241.
  3. 1 2 3 Lambert 2013, p. 483.
  4. Richter 2014, p. 242.
  5. Lambert 2013, p. 255.
  6. 1 2 Lambert 2013, p. 125.
  7. Lambert 2013, pp. 157–158.
  8. 1 2 Lambert 2013, p. 288.
  9. Pomponio 1998, p. 17.
  10. Pomponio 1998, p. 19.

Bibliography