Išartu was a

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'', a ...

regarded as the divine hypostasis of

righteousness Righteousness is the quality or state of "being morally right or justifiable" rooted in religious or divine law with a broader spectrum of moral correctness, justice, and virtuous living as dictated by a higher authority or set of spiritual beli ...

. She was closely associated with a deity of similar character,

Mīšaru Mīšaru (Misharu), possibly also known as Ili-mīšar, was a Mesopotamian god regarded as the personification of justice, sometimes portrayed as a divine judge. He was regarded as a son of the weather god Adad and his wife Shala. He was often ass ...

, and in the god list ''

An = Anum ''An = Anum'', also known as the Great God List, is the longest preserved Mesopotamian god list, a type of lexical list cataloging the deities worshiped in the Ancient Near East, chiefly in modern Iraq. While god lists are already known from the ...

'' they are described as a couple. Evidence of the worship of Išartu includes early Akkadian

theophoric names A theophoric name (from Greek: , ''theophoros'', literally "bearing or carrying a god") embeds the word equivalent of 'god' or a god's name in a person's name, reflecting something about the character of the person so named in relation to that de ...

, offering lists from Mari and late religious texts from

Uruk Uruk, the archeological site known today as Warka, was an ancient city in the Near East, located east of the current bed of the Euphrates River, on an ancient, now-dried channel of the river in Muthanna Governorate, Iraq. The site lies 93 kilo ...

Character

Išartu functioned as the divine hypostasis of

. Julia Krul describes her as the feminine equivalent of

Volkert Haas Volkert Haas (1 November 1936 – 13 May 2019) was a German Assyrologist and Hittitologist. __NOTOC__ Life Volkert Haas studied Assyrology and Near Eastern archaeology at the Free University of Berlin and the University of Marburg from 1963 to ...

assumed that in Mariote tradition they were regarded as twins. In the god list ''

'' (tablet III, line 247) she is described as his spouse. Manfred Krebernik argues that the pair represented the concept of law and order. Like Mīšaru, Išartu belonged to the circle of deities associated with

Adad Hadad (), Haddad, Adad ( Akkadian: 𒀭𒅎 '' DIM'', pronounced as ''Adād''), or Iškur ( Sumerian) was the storm- and rain-god in the Canaanite and ancient Mesopotamian religions. He was attested in Ebla as "Hadda" in c. 2500 BCE. From ...

Paul-Alain Beaulieu Paul-Alain Beaulieu is a Canadian Assyriologist, a Professor of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations at the University of Toronto. Beaulieu earned a master's degree from the Université de Montréal in 1980 under the supervision of Marcel Leibovi ...

notes that both of them show affinity with another deity from this group,

Uṣur-amāssu Uṣur-amāssu (also spelled Uṣur-awāssu or Uṣur-amāssa) was a Mesopotamian deity. While originally viewed as male, she later came to be regarded as a goddess. Regardless of gender, Uṣur-amāssu was considered as a child of Adad and Shala ...

, and presumes the latter's own association with justice was influenced by this. Two known instances of the word ''išartu'' being used as an

epithet An epithet (, ), also a byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) commonly accompanying or occurring in place of the name of a real or fictitious person, place, or thing. It is usually literally descriptive, as in Alfred the Great, Suleima ...

Shala Shala (Šala) was a Mesopotamian goddess of weather and grain and the wife of the weather god Adad. It is assumed that she originated in northern Mesopotamia and that her name might have Hurrian origin. She was worshiped especially in Karka ...

, a '' balag'' composition and an ''eršaḫunga'' prayer, are presumed to be related to Išartu's presence in Adad s circle too. Išartu should not be confused with the

theonym A theonym (from Greek (), 'god', attached to (), ) is a proper name of a deity. Theonymy, the study of divine proper names, is a branch of onomastics, the study of the etymology, history, and use of proper names. Theonymy helps develop an und ...

''^dI-šìr-tu₄'' known from a single late god list, which is instead assumed to mean "the ten gods."

Worship

The deity Išar, presumed to be identical with Išartu, first appears in Old Akkadian theophoric names. She was worshiped in

Bad-tibira Bad-tibira (also Patibira) ( Sumerian: , bad3-tibiraki) was an ancient Sumerian city on the Iturungal canal dating back to the Early Dynastic period, which appears among antediluvian cities in the Sumerian King List. In the earliest days of Akkadi ...

during the reign of

Shu-Sin Shu-Sin, also Šu-Suen (: '' DŠu D Sîn'', after the Moon God Sîn", the "𒀭" being a silent honorific for "Divine", formerly read Gimil-Sin) (died c. 2028 BC) was king of Sumer and Akkad, and was the fourth king of the Ur III dynasty. He su ...

of the

Third Dynasty of Ur The Third Dynasty of Ur or Ur III was a Sumerian dynasty based in the city of Ur in the 22nd and 21st centuries BC ( middle chronology). For a short period they were the preeminent power in Mesopotamia and their realm is sometimes referred to by ...

and appears in an offering list from Mari (ARM 24 263) alongside Mišaru. In the latter city both forms of the name were used, with the longer one attested in the offering list ARM 23 264, between Dagan and

Yakrub-El Yakrub-El or Ikrub-El was a Mesopotamian god worshiped in Terqa in the kingdom of Mari in the early Old Babylonian period. Since his name is structured as if it were a theophoric personal name, is commonly assumed that he was a deified hero or an ...

. A possible reference to her is also present in the

Old Babylonian Old Babylonian may refer to: *the period of the First Babylonian dynasty (20th to 16th centuries BC) *the historical stage of the Akkadian language Akkadian ( ; )John Huehnergard & Christopher Woods, "Akkadian and Eblaite", ''The Cambridge Enc ...

god list from Isin, but the signs are damaged and the name cannot be restored with certainty. According to Daniel Schwemer, the only source of evidence regarding the worship of Išartu in later periods are documents from

. She was a member of the local pantheon in the Seleucid period, but she is not attested in earlier sources from this city. She is one of the deities mentioned in a description of a parade accompanying

Ishtar Inanna is the List of Mesopotamian deities, ancient Mesopotamian goddess of war, love, and fertility. She is also associated with political power, divine law, sensuality, and procreation. Originally worshipped in Sumer, she was known by the Akk ...

during the ''

akitu Akitu or Akitum () () is a spring festival and New Year's celebration, held on the first day of the Assyrian and Babylonian Nisan in ancient Mesopotamia and in Assyrian communities around the world, to celebrate the sowing of barley. Akit ...

'' celebrations; among other participants are chiefly figures typically associated with this goddess or the city of Uruk, such as

Nanaya Nanaya ( Sumerian , DNA.NA.A; also transcribed as "Nanāy", "Nanaja", "Nanāja", '"Nanāya", or "Nanai"; antiquated transcription: "Nanâ"; in Greek: ''Ναναια'' or ''Νανα''; , ) was a Mesopotamian goddess of love closely associated ...

Ninsianna Ninsianna (Sumerian language, Sumerian: "Red Queen of Heaven") was a Mesopotamian deity considered to be the personification of Venus. This theonym also served as the name of the planet in Mesopotamian astronomy, astronomical texts until the end o ...

Ninigizibara Ningizibara, also known as Igizibara and Ningizippara, was a Mesopotamian goddess associated with the ''balaĝ'' instrument, usually assumed to be a type of lyre. She could be regarded both as a physical instrument and as a minor deity. In both ca ...

or Ninmeurur. Despite her presence in religious texts, Išartu is not attested in legal formulas or theophoric names from the late Uruk

text corpus In linguistics and natural language processing, a corpus (: corpora) or text corpus is a dataset, consisting of natively digital and older, digitalized, language resources, either annotated or unannotated. Annotated, they have been used in corp ...

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * *{{cite book, last=Schwemer, first=Daniel, title=Die Wettergottgestalten Mesopotamiens und Nordsyriens im Zeitalter der Keilschriftkulturen: Materialien und Studien nach den schriftlichen Quellen, url=https://www.academia.edu/16999070, publisher=Harrassowitz, publication-place=Wiesbaden, year=2001, isbn=978-3-447-04456-1, oclc=48145544, language=de Mesopotamian goddesses Justice goddesses