Amat-Mamu, fl. ca. 1750 BC,

Sippar Sippar (Sumerian: , Zimbir) was an ancient Near Eastern Sumerian and later Babylonian city on the east bank of the Euphrates river. Its '' tell'' is located at the site of modern Tell Abu Habbah near Yusufiyah in Iraq's Baghdad Governorate, s ...

in ancient

Babylonia Babylonia (; Akkadian: , ''māt Akkadī'') was an ancient Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Syria). It emerged as an Amorite-ruled state ...

, was a scribe whose existence is known from the

cuneiform Cuneiform is a logo- syllabic script that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Middle East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. It is named for the characteristic wedg ...

tablets on which she wrote. Amat-Mamu was a Naditu priestess and temple scribe in Sippar, in ancient Babylonia. We know she lived in the ''gagum,'' a walled cloister precinct inhabited exclusively by women, similar to a

convent A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglic ...

. Her name is known through Naditu documents that show Amat-Mamu was one of eight scribes within Sippar's ''gagum.'' Her career spanned the reigns of three kings,

Hammurabi Hammurabi (Akkadian: ; ) was the sixth Amorite king of the Old Babylonian Empire, reigning from to BC. He was preceded by his father, Sin-Muballit, who abdicated due to failing health. During his reign, he conquered Elam and the city-state ...

(1792–1750 BC),

Samsu-iluna Samsu-iluna (Amorite: ''Shamshu''; c. 1750–1712 BC) was the seventh king of the founding Amorite dynasty of Babylon, ruling from 1750 BC to 1712 BC (middle chronology), or from 1686 to 1648 BC (short chronology). He was the son and successor of ...

(1749–1712 BC), and

Abi-eshuh Abī-Ešuḫ (variants: m''a-bi-ši'',''Chronicle of Early Kings'', (ABC 20), Tablet B, reverse, lines 8 to 10. "Abiši", m''E-bi-šum'',''Babylonian King List B'', obverse line 8. "Ebišum") was the 8th king of the 1st Dynasty of Babylon and re ...

(1711–1684 BC).

References

Biographical Notes on the Naditu Women of Sippar
Rivkah Harris, Journal of Cuneiform Studies, Vol. 16, No. 1 (1962), pp. 1–12 Accessed September 2007 Ancient priestesses Babylonian women 18th-century BC women writers 18th-century BC clergy 18th-century BC writers Ancient Near Eastern scribes 18th-century BC people Sippar Ancient Asian women writers {{Iraq-bio-stub