Ninurima 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 spouse of

Alammuš Alammuš (Alammush) was a Mesopotamian god. He was the sukkal (attendant deity) of the moon god Nanna, and like him was worshiped in Ur. He was also closely associated with the cattle god Ningublaga, and especially in astronomical texts they ...

, an attendant of the moon god

Nanna Nanna may refer to: *Grandmother Mythology * Sin (mythology), god of the moon in Sumerian mythology, also called Nanna * Nanna (Norse deity), goddess associated with the god Baldr in Norse mythology People * Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir (born ...

. She is best attested in texts from the

Ur III period 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 ...

from Ur, though she also occurs in a number of god lists, including ''

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 ...

''.

Character

Ninurima, the "lady of Ur", was regarded as the spouse of

, the divine attendant (''

sukkal Sukkal (conventionally translated from Sumerian as "vizier") was a term which could denote both a type of official and a class of deities in ancient Mesopotamia. The historical sukkals were responsible for overseeing the execution of various com ...

'') of the moon god

. The nature of the connection between them is confirmed by the god list ''

'', where she occurs in line 38 of tablet III, before

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 toge ...

's ''sukkal''

Meme A meme (; ) is an idea, behavior, or style that Mimesis, spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme. A meme acts as a unit for carrying c ...

. The pair Ninurima and Alammuš could also appear in association with Ninpumuna, the goddess of

salt spring A brine spring or salt spring is a saltwater spring. Brine springs are not necessarily associated with halite deposits in the immediate vicinity. They may occur at valley bottoms made of clay and gravel which became soggy with brine seeped down ...

Worship

While Ninurima is already present in an Early Dynastic god list from Fara, her

cult Cults are social groups which have unusual, and often extreme, religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals. Extreme devotion to a particular person, object, or goal is another characteristic often ascribed to cults. The term ...

is best attested in the

. She belonged to the group of deities worshiped in Ur, which at this time also included, among others, Nanna, Ningal, Ninkununa,

Ningublaga Ningublaga (, less commonly Ningublag) was a Mesopotamian god associated with cattle. His cult center was Kiabrig, a little known city located in the proximity of Ur. He belonged to the circle of deities related to the moon god, Nanna, and somet ...

, Nineigara,

Ninsun Ninsun (also called Ninsumun, cuneiform: dNIN.SUMUN2; Sumerian: ''Nin-sumun(ak)'' "lady of the wild cows") was a Mesopotamian goddess. She is best known as the mother of the hero Gilgamesh and wife of deified legendary king Lugalbanda, and appe ...

, Gula,

Annunitum Annunitum (; also romanized as Anunītu) was a Mesopotamian goddess associated with warfare. She was initially an epithet of Ishtar of Akkad exemplifying her warlike aspect, but by the late third millennium BCE she came to function as a distinc ...

and

Ulmašītum Ulmašītum was a Mesopotamian goddess regarded as warlike. Her name was derived from (E-)Ulmaš, a temple in the city of Akkad dedicated to Ishtar. She was commonly associated with Annunitum, and in many texts they appear as a pair. While she o ...

. A foundation tablet of

Shulgi Shulgi ( dšul-gi,(died c. 2046 BC) formerly read as Dungi) of Ur was the second king of the Third Dynasty of Ur. He reigned for 48 years, from (Middle Chronology). His accomplishments include the completion of construction of the Great ...

commemorates the construction of a

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

dedicated to her in Karzida ( Ga’eš). It presumably belonged to the complex of the local temple of Nanna.

Andrew R. George Andrew R. George (born 1955) is a British Assyriologist and academic best known for his edition and translation of the ''Epic of Gilgamesh''. Andrew George is Professor of Babylonian, Department of the Languages and Cultures of Near and Middle E ...

maintains that since this settlement was a cult center of the moon god, it can be assumed that the deity meant was understood as a manifestation of Ningal as the "Lady of Ur," Nin-Urimma Offerings to Ninurima are recorded in texts from Ur, though they do not occur as commonly as these made to the lead deities of the city, Nanna and Ningal. She is listed a recipient of "pure" (''lú-tu₅-a'') flour. In a single case, she received a sacrifice alongside Alammuš. A single

theophoric name 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 d ...

invoking Ninurima, Geme-Ninurima, has been identified in the corpus of texts from the Ur III period. She is also attested in ''An = Anum'', in an

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 where her name is apparently a scribal error and

Ninirigal Ninirigal or Ninirigala was a Mesopotamian goddess associated with Kullaba, a district belonging to the city of Uruk. Her character is poorly known beyond her role as a tutelary goddess of this area. Her husband was a god known under the name Nunb ...

was likely meant, and in a school exercise from

Susa Susa ( ) was an ancient city in the lower Zagros Mountains about east of the Tigris, between the Karkheh River, Karkheh and Dez River, Dez Rivers in Iran. One of the most important cities of the Ancient Near East, Susa served as the capital o ...

References

Bibliography

* * * * * *{{cite book, last=Staiger, first=Annabelle, editor1-last=Shehata, editor1-first=Dahlia, editor2-last=Weiershäuser, editor2-first=Frauke, editor3-last=Zand, editor3-first=Kamran V., title=Von Göttern und Menschen: Beiträge zu Literatur und Geschichte des Alten Orients. Festschrift für Brigitte Groneberg, publisher=Brill, series=Cuneiform Monographs, volume=41, year=2010, isbn=978-90-04-18748-1, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KG3cneWa8BkC&pg=PA225, language=de, access-date=2022-10-01, doi=10.1163/9789004187474_014, pages=225–236 Mesopotamian goddesses Ur