Mammitum, Mammitu or Mammi was a

Mesopotamian goddess Deities in ancient Mesopotamia were almost exclusively 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 substa ...

viewed as the wife of

Nergal Nergal (Sumerian: d''KIŠ.UNU'' or ; ; Aramaic: ܢܸܪܓܲܠ; la, Nirgal) 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 ...

, the god of death. Mammitum's name might mean “oath” or “frost” (based on similarity to the

Akkadian Akkadian or Accadian may refer to: * Akkadians, inhabitants of the Akkadian Empire * Akkadian language, an extinct Eastern Semitic language * Akkadian literature, literature in this language * Akkadian cuneiform, early writing system * Akkadian myt ...

word ''mammû'', "ice" 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

Laṣ Laṣ (''dLa-aṣ''), also transcribed Laz, was a Mesopotamian goddess who was commonly regarded as the wife of Nergal, a god associated with war and the underworld. Instances of both conflation and coexistence of her and another goddess this po ...

. As her name is

homophonous A homophone () is a word that is pronounced the same (to varying extent) as another word but differs in meaning. A ''homophone'' may also differ in spelling. The two words may be spelled the same, for example ''rose'' (flower) and ''rose'' (p ...

with

Mami Mami may refer to: People *Cheb Mami, Algerian raï singer *Mami (given name), a Japanese feminine given name *Mami (goddess), a goddess in the Babylonian epic ''Atra-Hasis'' *Mami Wata, a pantheon of ancient water spirits or deities Entertainment ...

, a goddess of birth or "divine midwife," some researchers assume they are one and the same. However, it has been proven that they were separate deities, and they are kept apart in ancient Mesopotamian god lists. A goddess named Mamma known from Mari is most likely related to the divine midwife Mami rather than to Mammitum. Another being from Mesopotamian beliefs with a homophonous name was ''māmītu'', a type of underworld demon with a goat's head and human hands and feet, known from the late text ''Underworld Vision of an Assyrian Prince'' and absent from other sources. Unlike deities, who were generally fully antropomorphic in Mesopotamian beliefs, demonic beings were often hybrids. Mammitum was worshiped in

Kutha Kutha, Cuthah, Cuth or Cutha ( ar, كُوثَا, Sumerian: Gudua), modern Tell Ibrahim ( ar, تَلّ إِبْرَاهِيم), formerly known as Kutha Rabba ( ar, كُوثَىٰ رَبَّا), is an archaeological site in Babil Governorate, Iraq. ...

, where she was likely introduced alongside

Erra Erra can refer to: * Erra (god), a Babylonian god * Erra, Estonia, a settlement in Sonda Parish, Ida-Viru County, Estonia * Erra, the purported home planet of the pleiadean aliens described by ufologist Billy Meier Eduard Albert Meier, commonl ...

, a god

syncretised Syncretism () is the practice of combining different beliefs and various schools of thought. Syncretism involves the merging or assimilation of several originally discrete traditions, especially in the theology and mythology of religion, thus ...

with Nergal. She also received offerings in the

Ekur Ekur ( ), also known as Duranki, is a Sumerian term meaning "mountain house". It is the assembly of the gods in the Garden of the gods, parallel in Greek mythology to Mount Olympus and was the most revered and sacred building of ancient Sumer ...

temple complex in Nippur alongside her husband. 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 ...

'' mentions both Mamitum and Laṣ, and equates them with each other. However, in the so-called Nippur god list Laṣ occurs separately from Nergal, while Mammitum is listed alongside him. In at least one text, a description of a New Year ritual from Babylon during which the gods of

Kish Kish may refer to: Geography * Gishi, Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan, a village also called Kish * Kiş, Shaki, Azerbaijan, a village and municipality also spelled Kish * Kish Island, an Iranian island and a city in the Persian Gulf * Kish, Iran ...

(

Zababa Zababa (Sumerian: 𒀭𒍝𒂷𒂷 dza-ba4-ba4) was the tutelary deity of the city of Kish in ancient Mesopotamia. He was a war god. While he was regarded as similar to Ninurta and Nergal, he was never fully conflated with them. His worship is a ...

), Kutha (Nergal) and

Borsippa Borsippa (Sumerian: BAD.SI.(A).AB.BAKI; Akkadian: ''Barsip'' and ''Til-Barsip'')The Cambridge Ancient History: Prolegomena & Prehistory': Vol. 1, Part 1. Accessed 15 Dec 2010. or Birs Nimrud (having been identified with Nimrod) is an archeologi ...

(

Nabu Nabu ( akk, cuneiform: 𒀭𒀝 Nabû syr, ܢܵܒܼܘܼ\ܢܒܼܘܿ\ܢܵܒܼܘܿ Nāvū or Nvō or Nāvō) is the ancient Mesopotamian patron god of literacy, the rational arts, scribes, and wisdom. Etymology and meaning The Akkadian "nab ...

) and their entourages were believed to visit

Marduk Marduk (Cuneiform: dAMAR.UTU; Sumerian: ''amar utu.k'' "calf of the sun; solar calf"; ) was a god from ancient Mesopotamia and patron deity of the city of Babylon. When Babylon became the political center of the Euphrates valley in the time o ...

(at the time not yet a major god), both she and Laṣ appear side by side as two separate goddesses. In the ''Epic of Erra'', Mammitum appears as the wife of the eponymous god, who is referred both as Erra and Nergal at various points in the known manuscripts.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * {{refend Underworld goddesses Mesopotamian goddesses