Ningirima

Last updated
Ningirima
Goddess of incantations, snakes, fish and water
Major cult centerMurum, Uruk, Girima
Symbolpossibly two bottles and a battlemented crown
Personal information
Siblings Enlil

Ningirima was a Mesopotamian goddess associated with incantations, attested already in the Early Dynastic period. She was also associated with snakes, fish and water. According to the god list An = Anum and other sources, she was regarded as a sister of Enlil. While suggestions that she was conflated with the mongoose deity Ninkilim can be found in modern literature, this theory finds no direct support in primary sources.

Contents

Her importance declined in the second millennium BCE, but in some locations, such as Ur, she was still worshiped after the Achaemenid conquest of Mesopotamia in the first millennium BCE.

Character

The typical early writing of the name, known from Tell Fara, Abu Salabikh and Ebla is d Nin-A.MUŠ.ḪA.DU, [1] meaning "mistress of snake and fish water" in Sumerian. [2] The sequence A.MUŠ.ḪA.DU could be read as girima. [3] Later the name was commonly spelled syllabically, for example dNi-gi-ri-ma. [4] A text from Lagash refers to her as the "great true-eyed one of heaven," igi-zi-gal-an-na. [5]

Ningrima was associated with incantations, water, fish and snakes. [2] In Akkadian, she could be referred to as bēlat tēlilti, "mistress of purification." [6] One Old Babylonian incantation refers to her as the "mistress" of snakes, indicating she was believed to have control over these animals. [7]

Ningirima's position in the Mesopotamian pantheon of the third millennium BCE was high, though in later periods she had to compete with deities such as Asalluhi and Marduk who shared her association with incantations. [3] In the Ur III period, even though most incantations were seemingly composed in Nippur, deities associated with Eridu, such as Asalluhi and Namma, started to predominate in this genre of texts. [8] As a result, Ninigrima's role was reduced to that of a divine purifier associated with basins of sacred water, rather than an universal divine exorcist. [8]

In astronomical texts Ningrima was associated with the so-called scorpion star. [9]

It has been proposed that depictions of a goddess wearing a so-called "battlemented crown" and holding two bottles can be identified as depictions of Ningirima. [9]

Worship

Muru, a city near Bad-tibira, was a cult center of Ningirima. [10] In later periods, it was also the cult center of the mongoose god Ninkilim and his wife, Nin-Muru. [10] An inscription of Lugalzagesi mentionsNingirima and addresses her as the "lady of Uruk." [11] Further evidence connecting her with this city includes a god list from Mari and literary texts from Fara (Shuruppak). [7] She was also worshiped in Fara itself. [12] It is possible that she also had a cult center named Girim, located in the proximity of Uruk-Kullaba. [2] While Babylon was not associated with her, a few isolated references are known from this city too, including a description of rites performed in E-karzagina, a temple of Ea. [13] However, despite these associations, she was chiefly worshiped as a deity disconnected from any specific location. [2]

Ningirima is attested in god lists from between the Early Dynastic and Neo-Assyrian periods, including the Fara, Mari, Nippur, Weidner, Sultantepe, Old Babylonian An = Anum forerunner [1] and An = Anum lists. [3]

An Early Dynastic hymn listing a large number of deities mentions Ninigirima. [2] An Akkadian hymn dedicated to her from the Sargonic period is also known. [14] For uncertain reasons, Ningirima, addressed as "crossroads of the gods," also appears in connection with Babylon in a late syncretic hymn to Zarpanit. [13]

The existence of clergy of Ningirima is confirmed by formulas in incantations from Fara and Ebla, and by administrative texts from Puzrish-Dagan which mention gudu (a type of priest) of this goddess. [7]

In incantations, Ningirima could be invoked against snakes, demons, and various illnesses. [15] Early Dynastic exorcism formulas were dedicated to her. [2] She is attested in this type of texts as far west as Ugarit. [16] A ritual text from Nineveh mentions the "holy water vessel of Ningirima and Kusu." [6] In association with this container she occurs as late in the Achaemenid and Seleucid periods. [17]

Ninigrima already appears in theophoric names from the third millennium BCE, one example being Ur-Ningirima. [4] Attestations are known from the Fara and Ur III periods from Fara, Ur, Uruk and possibly Zabalam. [7] A single female theophoric name invoking Ningirima is known from the neo-Babylonian period. [18] She occurs in a single late theophoric name from Ur as well, Ningirima-ilat, "Nigirima is divine," which belonged to a woman who lived during the reign of Artaxerxes II. [19] Paul-Alain Beaulieu assumes that her presence in the pantheon of this city well into Achaemenid times was the result of an association with Ninazu, whose cult was well established in Ur. [20]

Associations with other deities

The god list An = Anum refers to Ningirima as the sister of Enlil. [3] She is also his sister in a currently unpublished Sumerian incantation. [21] According to Wilfred G. Lambert a reference to her as a sister of Anu is also known, [22] but Frank Simons noted that this might be based on an erroneous reading of a damaged tablet, which might simply contain another attestation of the standard sibling relation between Ningirima and Enlil. [23] In some cases, due to their overlapping functions she could instead be referred to as sister of Asalluhi, and thus as a daughter of Enki. [16]

Ningirima, Nisaba and Kusu could function as a triad of purification goddesses. [6] Another trinity consisted out of her, Kusu and Girra. This group attested in a consecration rite for priests of Enlil, in various incantations, and in royal inscriptions of Esarhaddon. [24] In some incantations, she could also be associated with Nanshe. [25]

An early hymn compares her to the snake god Irḫan. [2] Due to both of them corresponding to the same star, she could be associated with Ishara, who also shared her association with snakes. [16] Manfred Krebernik notes that in the god list An = Anum both of them belong to the court of Enlil. [3] A few texts, including Šurpu and the Weidner god list, group together Tishpak, Ninazu and Ningirima, always in that order, based on their shared affinity with snakes. [3]

Other similarly named deities

It has been proposed that Ningirima and Ninkilim were considered to be analogous, based on the similarity of their names, a shared cult center (Murum) and other factors, but according to Manfred Krebernik this proposal is implausible. [26] He points out the following differences: while Ningirima is always female, Ninkilim could be regarded as a male deity; their placement in god lists always differs; while both were associated with snakes, the nature of this connection was not identical. [27]

Despite her association with Ninazu, it is not likely that she was ever confused with his similarly named wife, Ningirida. [3]

Ningirima should not be confused with a similarly named deity (dNin-gi-rim-ma or dEn-gi-rim-ma, reading of the first sign uncertain) who was the name of Enki in the role of a gardener god. [28]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sin (mythology)</span> Mesopotamian lunar god

Sin or Suen (Akkadian: 𒀭𒂗𒍪, dEN.ZU) also known as Nanna (Sumerian: 𒀭𒋀𒆠DŠEŠ.KI, DNANNA) was the Mesopotamian god representing the moon. While these two names originate in two different languages, respectively Akkadian and Sumerian, they were already used interchangeably to refer to one deity in the Early Dynastic period. They were sometimes combined into the double name Nanna-Suen. A third well attested name is Dilimbabbar (𒀭𒀸𒁽𒌓). Additionally, the moon god could be represented by logograms reflecting his lunar character, such as d30 (𒀭𒌍), referring to days in the lunar month or dU4.SAKAR (𒀭𒌓𒊬), derived from a term referring to the crescent. In addition to his astral role, Sin was also closely associated with cattle herding. Furthermore, there is some evidence that he could serve as a judge of the dead in the underworld. A distinct tradition in which he was regarded either as a god of equal status as the usual heads of the Mesopotamian pantheon, Enlil and Anu, or as a king of the gods in his own right, is also attested, though it only had limited recognition. In Mesopotamian art, his symbol was the crescent. When depicted anthropomorphically, he typically either wore headwear decorated with it or held a staff topped with it, though on kudurru the crescent alone served as a representation of him. He was also associated with boats.

Nintinugga 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 a number of ancient texts they appear to be syncretised with each other or are treated as interchangeable, she was nonetheless a distinct deity in her own right. She was associated with Enlil and Ninlil, and was worshiped in their temples, though houses of worship dedicated only to her are also attested.

Nammu was a Mesopotamian goddess regarded as a creator deity in the local theology of Eridu. It is assumed that she was associated with water. She is also well attested in connection with incantations and apotropaic magic. She was regarded as the mother of Enki, and in a single inscription she appears as the wife of Anu, but it is assumed that she usually was not believed to have a spouse.

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.

Ninlil was a Mesopotamian goddess regarded as the wife of Enlil. She shared many of his functions, especially the responsibility for declaring destinies, and like him was regarded as a senior deity and head of the pantheon. She is also well attested as the mother of his children, such as the underworld god Nergal, the moon god Nanna or the warrior god Ninurta. She was chiefly worshiped in Nippur and nearby Tummal alongside Enlil, and multiple temples and shrines dedicated to her are attested from these cities. In the first millennium BCE she was also introduced to Ḫursaĝkalamma near Kish, where she was worshiped alongside the goddess Bizilla, who was likely her sukkal.

Ninkasi was the Mesopotamian goddess of beer and brewing. It is possible that in the first millennium BC she was known under the variant name Kurunnītu, derived from a term referring to a type of high quality beer. She was associated with both positive and negative consequences of the consumption of beer. In god lists, such as the An = Anum list and the Weidner god list, she usually appears among the courtiers of the god Enlil, alongside deities such as Ninimma and Ninmada. She could also be paired with Siraš, a goddess of similar character, who sometimes was regarded as her sister. A possible association between her and the underworld deities Nungal and Laṣ is also attested, possibly in reference to the possible negative effects of alcohol consumption.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nanshe</span> Mesopotamian goddess

Nanshe was a Mesopotamian goddess in various contexts associated with the sea, marshlands, the animals inhabiting these biomes, namely bird and fish, as well as divination, dream interpretation, justice, social welfare, and certain administrative tasks. She was regarded as a daughter of Enki and sister of Ningirsu, while her husband was Nindara, who is otherwise little known. Other deities who belonged to her circle included her daughter Nin-MAR.KI, as well as Hendursaga, Dumuzi-abzu and Shul-utula. In Ur she was incorporated into the circle of Ningal, while in incantations she appears alongside Ningirima or Nammu.

Siris or Siraš was a Mesopotamian goddess associated with beer. She was also worshiped in Ebla, where her name was spelled as Zilaš. Cognates of her name are also present as terms referring to alcoholic beverages or deities associated with them in languages such as Ugaritic and Hebrew. She was closely associated with another goddess of similar character, Ninkasi, though the nature of the connection between them varies between sources. She is attested in a variety of texts, including god lists, offering lists and a variant of the Ballad of Early Rulers.

Ninazu was a Mesopotamian god of the underworld of Sumerian origin. He was also associated with snakes and vegetation, and with time acquired the character of a warrior god. He was frequently associated with Ereshkigal, either as a son, husband, or simply as a deity belonging to the same category of underworld gods.

Ningirida was a Mesopotamian goddess regarded as the wife of Ninazu and mother of Ningishzida. Little is known about her character beyond her relation to these two gods.

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.

Ninimma was a Mesopotamian goddess best known as a courtier of Enlil. She is well attested as a deity associated with scribal arts, and is variously described as a divine scholar, scribe or librarian by modern Assyriologists. She could also serve as an assistant of the birth goddess Ninmah, and a hymn describes her partaking in cutting of umbilical cords and determination of fates. It has also been suggested that she was associated with vegetation. In the Middle Babylonian period she additionally came to be viewed as a healing deity.

Šulpae was a Mesopotamian god. Much about his role in Mesopotamian religion remains uncertain, though it is agreed he was an astral deity associated with the planet Jupiter and that he could be linked to specific diseases, especially bennu. He was regarded as the husband of Ninhursag. Among the deities considered to be their children were Ashgi, Panigingarra and Lisin. The oldest texts which mention him come from the Early Dynastic period, when he was worshiped in Kesh. He is also attested in documents from other cities, for example Nippur, Adab and Girsu. Multiple temples dedicated to him are mentioned in known sources, but their respective locations are unknown.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ninisina</span> Mesopotamian goddess of medicine

Ninisina 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 physician or midwife. As an extension of her medical role, she was also believed to be capable of expelling various demons. Her symbols included dogs, commonly associated with healing goddesses in Mesopotamia, as well as tools and garments associated with practitioners of medicine.

<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.

Dumuzi-abzu, sometimes spelled Dumuziabzu, was a Mesopotamian goddess worshiped in the state of Lagash. She was the tutelary deity of Kinunir.

Ninmada was a name applied to two separate Mesopotamian deities, a god and a goddess. The female Ninmada was a divine snake charmer, and in the myth Enki and Ninmah she appears as an assistant of the eponymous goddess. The male Ninmada was called the "worshiper of An" and was regarded as a brother of the snake god Ninazu. It is assumed that these deities could be partially conflated with each other or shared a similar origin, though proposals that there was only one Ninmada are also present in modern scholarship.

Kusu was a Mesopotamian goddess associated with purification and with grain. It is not certain which aspect of her character was originally primary, and which developed secondarily. She was considered to be a member of the court of Enlil, and in a number of text appears with other deities connected to him, such as Nuska. She could also be associated with other deities responsible for exorcisms, such as Ningirima. Multiple sanctuaries dedicated to her existed in Nippur, though she was also worshiped in other cities, for example Lagash and Assur. In the Seleucid period, she was additionally introduced to the local pantheon of Uruk.

Aruru was a Mesopotamian goddess. The origin of her name is presently uncertain. While initially considered an independent deity associated with vegetation and portrayed in hymns as violent, she eventually came to be viewed as analogous Ninhursag. Her name could also function as an epithet of goddesses such as Nisaba and Ezina-Kusu. She was often called the older sister of Enlil. Her cult centers most likely were the cities of Kesh, Adab and Irisaĝrig. She appears in a number of literary texts, some of which preserve information about her original character. She is also present in the Epic of Gilgamesh, which portrays her as the creator of Enkidu.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Epithets of Inanna</span>

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.

References

Bibliography

  • Asher-Greve, Julia M.; Westenholz, Joan Goodnick (2013). Goddesses in Context: On Divine Powers, Roles, Relationships and Gender in Mesopotamian Textual and Visual Sources (PDF). Academic Press Fribourg. ISBN   978-3-7278-1738-0.
  • Beaulieu, Paul-Alain (2021). "Remarks on Theophoric Names in the Late Babylonian Archives from Ur". Individuals and Institutions in the Ancient Near East. De Gruyter. pp. 163–178. doi:10.1515/9781501514661-006. ISBN   9781501514661. S2CID   244620728.
  • Cavigneaux, Antoine; Krebernik, Manfred (1998), "Nin?-girima II", Reallexikon der Assyriologie (in German), retrieved 2022-04-12
  • Cousin, Laura; Watai, Yoko (2016). "Onomastics of Women in Babylonia in the First Millennium BC". Orient. Tokyo: The Society for Near Eastern Studies in Japan (NIPPON ORIENTO GAKKAI). 51: 3–27. doi: 10.5356/orient.51.3 . ISSN   0473-3851. S2CID   166601142.
  • Cunningham, Graham (1997). Deliver Me from Evil: Mesopotamian Incantations, 2500-1500 BC. Pontifcio Istituto Biblico. ISBN   978-88-7653-608-3 . Retrieved 2022-04-12.
  • del Olmo Lete, Gregorio (2014). Incantations and Anti-Witchcraft Texts from Ugarit. Boston: De Gruyter. ISBN   978-1-61451-627-9. OCLC   948655744.
  • George, Andrew R. (1993). House most high: the temples of ancient Mesopotamia. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns. ISBN   0-931464-80-3. OCLC   27813103.
  • Krebernik, Manfred (1998), "Nin-girima I. Beschwörungsgöttin", Reallexikon der Assyriologie (in German), retrieved 2022-04-12
  • Lambert, Wilfred G. (2013). Babylonian creation myths. Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns. ISBN   978-1-57506-861-9. OCLC   861537250.
  • Simons, Frank (2018). "The Goddess Kusu". Revue d'assyriologie et d'archéologie orientale. CAIRN. 112 (1): 123–148. doi:10.3917/assy.112.0123. ISSN   0373-6032.
  • Wang, Xianhua (2011). The metamorphosis of Enlil in early Mesopotamia. Münster: Ugarit-Verlag. ISBN   978-3-86835-052-4. OCLC   712921671.}
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.