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Nikkal
Nikkal (logographically dNIN.GAL, alphabetically ðŽðŽ‹ðŽ ''nkl'') or Nikkal-wa-Ib (''nkl wib'') was a goddess worshiped in various areas of the ancient Near East west of Mesopotamia. She was derived from the Mesopotamian goddess Ningal, and like her forerunner was regarded as the spouse of a moon god, whose precise identity varied between locations. While well attested in Hurrian and Hittite sources, as well as in Ugarit, she is largely absent from documents from the western part of ancient Syria. Name and character Nikkal was derived from the Mesopotamian goddess Ningal ( Sumerian: "great lady"), wife of the moon god Nanna. Similarly to deities such as Ea, Damkina, Aya or Pinikir she was introduced from Mesopotamia to Hurrian areas possibly as early as in the third millennium BCE. Alfonso Archi assumes that the presence of Ningal in the pantheon of the kingdom of Mari in particular was in part responsible for her adoption by the Hurrians and her later prominence in thei ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yarikh
Yarikh (Ugaritic: , , "moon"), or Yaraḫum, was a moon god worshiped in the Ancient Near East. He is best attested in sources from the Amorite city of Ugarit in the north of modern Syria, where he was one of the principal deities. His primary cult center was most likely Larugadu, located further east in the proximity of Ebla. His mythic cult center is Abiluma. He is also attested in other areas inhabited by Amorites, for example in Mari, but also in Mesopotamia as far east as Eshnunna. In the Ugaritic texts, Yarikh appears both in strictly religious context, in rituals and offering lists, and in narrative compositions. He is the main character in ''The Marriage of Nikkal and Yarikh'', a myth possibly based on an earlier Hurrian composition. The eponymous goddess was regarded as his wife in Ugarit, but she is not attested in documents from most other Syrian cities, and most likely only entered the Ugaritic pantheon due to the influence of Hurrian religion. Ugarit ceased to exis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ḫiriḫibi
Ḫiriḫibi is the conventional vocalization of ''ḫrḫb'', a name of a deity known only from a single Ugaritic text, the myth ''Marriage of Nikkal and Yarikh''. It is presumed that he was a Hurrian god in origin, and that his name is derived from that of a mountain located somewhere to the north or northeast of historical Assyria. In the narrative he appears in, he seemingly functions as a marriage broker mediating between Yarikh and the family of Nikkal. It has also been proposed that he was her father, though this assumption continues to be disputed due to relying on a speculative restoration of a damaged passage. Name The nature of the deity whose name is written as ''ḫrḫb'' in the Ugaritic alphabetic script is uncertain, though most authors agree that he was a Hurrian god in origin. This theory was already considered plausible in early scholarship in the late 1930s and 1940s. The name is commonly vocalized as Ḫiriḫibi or Ḫiriḫbi. Sometimes romanizations without ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kušuḫ
Kušuḫ, also known under the name Umbu, was the god of the moon in Hurrian pantheon. He is attested in cuneiform texts from many sites, from Hattusa in modern Turkey, through Ugarit, Alalakh, Mari and other locations in Syria, to Nuzi, located near modern Kirkuk in Iraq, but known sources do not indicate that he was associated with a single city. His name might be derived from the toponym Kuzina, possibly the Hurrian name of Harran, a city in Upper Mesopotamia, but both this etymology and identification of this sparsely attested place name remain uncertain. He was a popular, commonly worshiped god, and many theophoric names invoking him are known. In addition to serving as a divine representation of the moon, he was also associated with oaths, oracles and pregnancy. Some aspects of his character were likely influenced by his Mesopotamian counterpart Sin, while he in turn was an influence on the Ugaritic god Yarikh and Luwian Arma. In Hurrian mythology, Kušuḫ appe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ningal
Ningal ( Sumerian: "Great Queen"; Akkadian Nikkal) was a Mesopotamian goddess regarded as the wife of the moon god, Nanna/Sin. She was particularly closely associated with his main cult centers, Ur and Harran, but they were also worshiped together in other cities of Mesopotamia. She was particularly venerated by the Third Dynasty of Ur and later by kings of Larsa. Character and iconography Ningal's name has Sumerian origin and can be translated as "Great Queen". While she was a major deity in the Mesopotamian pantheon and the worship of her is attested from all periods of history of Mesopotamia, her character was largely "passive and supportive" according to Joan Goodnick Westenholz. She was the tutelary deity of Ur. She shared it with her husband Nanna (Akkadian Sin). She was referred to as the "lady" ( NIN; Early Dynastic sources) or "mother" (AMA; Ur III sources) of Ur. She and the city could be compared to a mother and her child in literary texts. She was portraye ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hurrian Religion
The Hurrian religion was the polytheistic religion of the Hurrians, a Bronze Age people of the Near East who chiefly inhabited the north of the Fertile Crescent. While the oldest evidence goes back to the third millennium Common Era, BCE, it is best attested in cuneiform sources from the second millennium BCE written not only in the Hurrian language, but also Akkadian language, Akkadian, Hittite language, Hittite and Ugaritic. It was shaped by contacts between the Hurrians and the various cultures with which they coexisted. As a result, the Hurrian pantheon included both natively Hurrian deities and those of foreign origin, adopted from List of Mesopotamian deities, Mesopotamian, Syrian (chiefly Eblaite and Ugaritic religion, Ugaritic), Anatolian and Elamite beliefs. The culture of the Hurrians was not entirely homogeneous, and different local religious traditions are documented in sources from Hurrian kingdoms such as Arrapha, Kizzuwatna and Mitanni, as well as from cities with s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mesopotamian Goddess
Deities in ancient Mesopotamia were almost exclusively Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic. They were thought to possess extraordinary powers and were often envisioned as being of tremendous physical size. The deities typically wore ''melam'', an ambiguous substance which "covered them in terrifying splendor" and which could also be worn by heroes, kings, giants, and even demons. The effect that seeing a deity's ''melam'' has on a human is described as ''ni'', a word for the "Paresthesia, physical creeping of the flesh". Both the Sumerian language, Sumerian and Akkadian languages contain many words to express the sensation of ''ni'', including the word ''puluhtu'', meaning "fear". Deities were almost always depicted wearing horned caps, consisting of up to seven superimposed pairs of ox-horns. They were also sometimes depicted wearing clothes with elaborate decorative gold and silver ornaments sewn into them. The ancient Mesopotamians believed that their deities lived in Heaven, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Išḫara
Išḫara was a goddess originally worshipped in Ebla and other nearby settlements in the north of modern Syria in the third millennium BCE. The origin of her name is disputed, and due to lack of evidence supporting Hurrian or Semitic etymologies it is sometimes assumed it might have originated in a linguistic substrate. In Ebla, she was considered the tutelary goddess of the royal family. An association between her and the city is preserved in a number of later sources from other sites as well. She was also associated with love, and in that role is attested further east in Mesopotamia as well. Multiple sources consider her the goddess of the institution of marriage, though she could be connected to erotic love as well, as evidenced by incantations. She was also linked to oaths and divination. She was associated with reptiles, especially mythical '' bašmu'' and ''ḫulmiẓẓu'', and later on with scorpions as well, though it is not certain how this connection initially devel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aya (goddess)
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. Names Aya's name was written in cuneiform as '' da-a'' (). It is sometimes romanized as Aia instead. It has Akkadian origin and means " dawn". Sporadically it could be prefixed with the sign NIN, with the variant form Nin-Aya attested in a dedicatory inscription of Manishtushu and in an offering list from Mari. NIN was a gram ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Damkina
Damgalnuna, also known as Damkina, was a Mesopotamian goddess regarded as the wife of the god Enki. Her character is poorly defined in known sources, though it is known that like her husband she was associated with ritual purification and that she was believed to intercede with him on behalf of supplicants. Among the deities regarded as their children were Nanshe and Asalluhi. While the myth ''Enki and Ninhursag'' treats her as interchangeable with the goddess mentioned in its title, they were usually separate from each other. The cities of Eridu and Malgium were regarded as Damgalnuna's cult centers. She was also worshiped in other settlements, such as Nippur, Sippar and Kalhu, and possibly as early as in the third millennium BCE was incorporated into the Hurrian pantheon. She appears in a number of myths, including the Enūma Eliš, though only a single composition, ''Damkina's Bond'', is focused on her. Name, character and iconography The theonym Damgalnuna can be translated ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sin (mythology)
Sin () or Suen (, ) also known as Nanna ( ) is the Mesopotamian god representing the moon. While these two names originate in two different languages, respectively Akkadian language, Akkadian and Sumerian language, Sumerian, they were already used interchangeably to refer to one deity in the Early Dynastic Period (Mesopotamia), Early Dynastic period. They were sometimes combined into the double name Nanna-Suen. A third well attested name is Dilimbabbar (). Additionally, the name of the moon god could be represented by logograms reflecting his lunar character, such as d30 (), referring to days in the lunar month or dU4.SAKAR (), 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 Ancient Mesopotamian underworld, underworld. A distinct tradition in which he was regarded either as a god of equal status as the usual hea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of the modern Middle East. Just beyond it lies southwestern Iran, where the region transitions into the Iranian plateau, Persian plateau, marking the shift from the Arab world to Iran. In the broader sense, the historical region of Mesopotamia also includes parts of present-day Iran (southwest), Turkey (southeast), Syria (northeast), and Kuwait. Mesopotamia is the site of the earliest developments of the Neolithic Revolution from around 10,000 BC. It has been identified as having "inspired some of the most important developments in human history, including the invention of the wheel, the planting of the first cereal crops, the development of cursive script, mathematics, astronomy, and agriculture". It is recognised as the cradle of some of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sun God Of Heaven
The Sun god of Heaven ( Hittite: nepišaš Ištanu) was a Hittite solar deity. He was the second-most worshipped solar deity of the Hittites, after the Sun goddess of Arinna. The Sun god of Heaven was identified with the Hurrian solar deity, Šimige. From the time of Tudḫaliya III, the Sun god of Heaven was the protector of the Hittite king, indicated by a winged solar disc on the royal seals, and was the god of the kingdom ''par excellence''. From the time of Suppiluliuma I (and probably earlier), the Sun god of Heaven played an important role as the foremost oath god in interstate treaties. As a result of the influence of the Mesopotamian Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary o ... Sun god Šamaš, the Sun god of Heaven also gained an important role as the god of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
