Ašratum
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Ašratum ( '' dAš-ra-tum'', in
Larsa Larsa (, read ''Larsamki''), also referred to as Larancha/Laranchon (Gk. Λαραγχων) by Berossus, Berossos and connected with the biblical Arioch, Ellasar, was an important city-state of ancient Sumer, the center of the Cult (religious pra ...
''dA-ši-ra-tum'') 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 ...
of
Amorite The Amorites () were an ancient Northwest Semitic-speaking Bronze Age people from the Levant. Initially appearing in Sumerian records c. 2500 BC, they expanded and ruled most of the Levant, Mesopotamia and parts of Egypt from the 21st century BC ...
origin. She was regarded as the wife of the god Amurru. Her name is a
cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical effects on both the s ...
of
Ugaritic Ugaritic () is an extinct Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language known through the Ugaritic texts discovered by French archaeology, archaeologists in 1928 at Ugarit, including several major literary texts, notably the Baal cycl ...
Athirat Asherah (; ; ; ; Qatabanian: ') was a goddess in ancient Semitic religions. She also appears in Hittite writings as ''Ašerdu(š)'' or ''Ašertu(š)'' (), and as Athirat in Ugarit. Some scholars hold that Asherah was venerated as Yahweh's c ...
, but despite likely sharing the same origin these two goddesses occupied different positions in the respective pantheons.


Character

Ašratum was a deity of
Amorite The Amorites () were an ancient Northwest Semitic-speaking Bronze Age people from the Levant. Initially appearing in Sumerian records c. 2500 BC, they expanded and ruled most of the Levant, Mesopotamia and parts of Egypt from the 21st century BC ...
origin. Her name is a
cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical effects on both the s ...
of
Ugaritic Ugaritic () is an extinct Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language known through the Ugaritic texts discovered by French archaeology, archaeologists in 1928 at Ugarit, including several major literary texts, notably the Baal cycl ...
Athirat Asherah (; ; ; ; Qatabanian: ') was a goddess in ancient Semitic religions. She also appears in Hittite writings as ''Ašerdu(š)'' or ''Ašertu(š)'' (), and as Athirat in Ugarit. Some scholars hold that Asherah was venerated as Yahweh's c ...
, and it is likely they developed from a common source. Multiple
etymologies Etymology ( ) is the study of the origin and evolution of words—including their constituent units of sound and meaning—across time. In the 21st century a subfield within linguistics, etymology has become a more rigorously scientific study. ...
have been proposed for the name, including "holy place" or "sanctuary" (based on the root ''ʾṯr'', "place," attested in both Akkadian and
Ugaritic Ugaritic () is an extinct Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language known through the Ugaritic texts discovered by French archaeology, archaeologists in 1928 at Ugarit, including several major literary texts, notably the Baal cycl ...
, as well as other
Semitic languages The Semitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. They include Arabic, Amharic, Tigrinya language, Tigrinya, Aramaic, Hebrew language, Hebrew, Maltese language, Maltese, Modern South Arabian language ...
) and "wife". However, due to Ašratum's position in the Mesopotamian pantheon and distinct circumstances of her development, information pertaining to her character cannot be necessarily assumed to apply to Athirat, and vice versa. For example, while it is possible Ašratum was associated with eroticism and voluptuousness, no analogous evidence exists for Athirat. In a bilingual Akkadian-Amorite lexical list from the
Old Babylonian period The Old Babylonian Empire, or First Babylonian Empire, is dated to , and comes after the end of Sumerian power with the destruction of the Third Dynasty of Ur, and the subsequent Isin-Larsa period. The chronology of the first dynasty of Babyloni ...
which presumably originated in southern Mesopotamia, an Amorite deity named ''ʾ''Aṯeratum (''a-še-ra-tum'') is equated with DIĜIR.MAḪ ( Bēlet-ilī), but according to
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 ...
and in this context the name designates the goddess also known from
Ugarit Ugarit (; , ''ủgrt'' /ʾUgarītu/) was an ancient port city in northern Syria about 10 kilometers north of modern Latakia. At its height it ruled an area roughly equivalent to the modern Latakia Governorate. It was discovered by accident in 19 ...
. An Old Babylonian
votive A votive offering or votive deposit is one or more objects displayed or deposited, without the intention of recovery or use, in a sacred place for religious purposes. Such items are a feature of modern and ancient societies and are generally ...
inscription of a man bearing the name Itur-ašdum preserved on a limestone slab ( BM 22454) is considered to be the most significant source for the study of Ašratum's character. It refers to her as "mistress of voluptuousness and joy" (Sumerian: '' nin ḫi-li ma-az-bi'') and "mistress with patient mercy" (''nin ša3-la2-su3''). The former epithet might possibly point at erotic connotations. The term ''ḫili'' (and its Akkadian equivalent ') denoted a quality of both male and female deities, for example
Shamash Shamash (Akkadian language, Akkadian: ''šamaš''), also known as Utu (Sumerian language, Sumerian: dutu "Sun") was the List of Mesopotamian deities, ancient Mesopotamian Solar deity, sun god. He was believed to see everything that happened in t ...
, Aya,
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 ...
and
Nisaba Nisaba was the Mesopotamian goddess of writing and grain. She is one of the oldest Sumerian language, Sumerian deities attested in writing, and remained prominent through many periods of History of Mesopotamia, Mesopotamian history. She was commo ...
.
Joan Goodnick Westenholz Joan Goodnick Westenholz (1 July 1943 – February 2013) was an Assyriologist and the chief curator at the Bible Lands Museum in Jerusalem. She held positions related to academic research at the Oriental Institute (University of Chicago), Ha ...
favors "sensuality" in translations of epithets including it, while
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 ...
- "voluptuousness." Steve A. Wiggins additionally lists "luxury" as a possible translation. While in past scholarship the latter epithet was used to argue that Ašratum was confused or conflated with
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 ...
, more recent research shows that many deities, both male and female (the word '' nin'' is grammatically neutral), could be described as ''nin ša3-la2-su3''. It is attested as an epithet not only Ašratum and Ishtar, but also
Marduk Marduk (; cuneiform: Dingir, ᵈAMAR.UTU; Sumerian language, Sumerian: "calf of the sun; solar calf"; ) is a god from ancient Mesopotamia and patron deity of Babylon who eventually rose to prominence in the 1st millennium BC. In B ...
,
Nergal Nergal ( Sumerian: d''KIŠ.UNU'' or ; ; Aramaic: ܢܸܪܓܲܠ; ) was a Mesopotamian god worshiped through all periods of Mesopotamian history, from Early Dynastic to Neo-Babylonian times, with a few attestations indicating that his cult surv ...
,
Ninurta Ninurta (: , possible meaning "Lord fBarley"), also known as Ninĝirsu (: , meaning "Lord fGirsu"), is an List of Mesopotamian deities, ancient Mesopotamian god associated with farming, healing, hunting, law, scribes, and war who was f ...
and
Sin In religious context, sin is a transgression against divine law or a law of the deities. Each culture has its own interpretation of what it means to commit a sin. While sins are generally considered actions, any thought, word, or act considered ...
. It is therefore insufficient evidence for assuming that its use reflected a case of
syncretism Syncretism () is the practice of combining different beliefs and various school of thought, schools of thought. Syncretism involves the merging or religious assimilation, assimilation of several originally discrete traditions, especially in the ...
. Epithets were commonly shared by multiple deities in
Mesopotamian religion Ancient Mesopotamian religion encompasses the Religion, religious beliefs (concerning the gods, Ancient near eastern cosmology, creation and the cosmos, the origin of man, and so forth) and practices of the civilizations of ancient Mesopotamia, ...
, and it was not necessarily the result of confusion or conflation. The only evidence for association between Ašratum and Ishtar is an esoteric text from the second century BCE, meant to explain the relationship between the names Ašratum and Gubarra. It has been pointed out that due to its late date and character the text is unlikely to provide information relevant to earlier references to Ašratum. Ašratum was also one of the goddesses who could be described with the epithet
Belet-Seri Belet-Seri was a Mesopotamian goddess who served as a scribe in the court of the underworld goddess Ereshkigal. She could be regarded as the Akkadian counterpart of Sumerian Geshtinanna, but the name could also function as a title of Ašratum, t ...
, most commonly associated with
Geshtinanna Geshtinanna was a Mesopotamian goddess best known due to her role in myths about the death of Dumuzi, her brother. It is not certain what functions she fulfilled in the Mesopotamian pantheon, though her association with the scribal arts and dre ...
. It has been argued that it might point at an association with the
underworld The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underworld. ...
, though it is also possible the term can be understood as a reference to an ordinary steppe, rather than a euphemism for the land of the dead. In the
Nippur Nippur (Sumerian language, Sumerian: ''Nibru'', often logogram, logographically recorded as , EN.LÍLKI, "Enlil City;"I. E. S. Edwards, C. J. Gadd, N. G. L. Hammond, ''The Cambridge Ancient History: Prolegomena & Prehistory'': Vol. 1, Part 1, Ca ...
god list from the Old Babylonian period, Ašratum nonetheless occurs among underworld deities. Jeremiah Peterson proposes that this might have been the result of her husband Amurru/Martu sometimes being grouped with underworld deities such as
Ningishzida Ningishzida ( Sumerian: DNIN.G̃IŠ.ZID.DA, possible meaning "Lord f theGood Tree") was a Mesopotamian deity of vegetation, the underworld and sometimes war. He was commonly associated with snakes. Like Dumuzi, he was believed to spend a part ...
,
Nergal Nergal ( Sumerian: d''KIŠ.UNU'' or ; ; Aramaic: ܢܸܪܓܲܠ; ) was a Mesopotamian god worshiped through all periods of Mesopotamian history, from Early Dynastic to Neo-Babylonian times, with a few attestations indicating that his cult surv ...
and
Ninazu Ninazu (; DNIN.A.SU">sup>DNIN.A.SU"lord healer") was a Mesopotamian god of the underworld. He was also associated with snakes and vegetation, and with time acquired the character of a warrior god. He was frequently associated with Ereshkigal, e ...
. Further evidence for Ašratum's possible association with the underworld include the mention of a "corpse star" (múlADDA) in connection with her in a late mystical text and the use of the epithet ''ekurrītum'', which might have such connotations, to refer to her 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 ...
''. Ekurritum was also the name of a goddess in one case listed as a wife of Ningishzida. Another of Ašratum's epithets, "tenderly cared for by a mountain", is likely connected to her status as wife of Amurru, who was called ''bēl šadī'', "lord of the mountain".


Worship

Oldest attestations of Ašratum are Amorite personal names from the first half of the second millennium BCE, such as Ašratum-ummi, "Ašratum is my mother." Four administrative documents from the reign of
Rim-Sîn I Rim-Sîn I (, Dri-im- Dsuen) ruled the ancient Near East city-state of Larsa from 1822 BC to 1763 BC ( MC). His sister En-ane-du was high priestess of the moon god in Ur. Rim-Sin I was a contemporary of Hammurabi of Babylon and Irdanene of Uru ...
of
Larsa Larsa (, read ''Larsamki''), also referred to as Larancha/Laranchon (Gk. Λαραγχων) by Berossus, Berossos and connected with the biblical Arioch, Ellasar, was an important city-state of ancient Sumer, the center of the Cult (religious pra ...
were signed with seals inscribed with the name Aširatum (''dA-ši-ra-tum)'', a spelling of this goddess' name apparently exclusive to this city. Another early piece of evidence for her worship is a
limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...
slab which a certain Itur-ašdum, apparently a devotee of this goddess and an official in charge of the Silakku canal district, dedicated for the life of
Hammurabi Hammurabi (; ; ), also spelled Hammurapi, 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 the ci ...
of
Babylon Babylon ( ) was an ancient city located on the lower Euphrates river in southern Mesopotamia, within modern-day Hillah, Iraq, about south of modern-day Baghdad. Babylon functioned as the main cultural and political centre of the Akkadian-s ...
. The accompanying text is written in Sumerian. While the
provenance Provenance () is the chronology of the ownership, custody or location of a historical object. The term was originally mostly used in relation to works of art, but is now used in similar senses in a wide range of fields, including archaeology, p ...
of this artifact is not known, it has been proposed that it originated in
Sippar Sippar (Sumerian language, Sumerian: , Zimbir) (also Sippir or Sippara) was an ancient Near Eastern Sumerian and later Babylonian city on the east bank of the Euphrates river. Its ''Tell (archaeology), tell'' is located at the site of modern Tell ...
. As the inscription mentions the dedication of a protective deity (''d lamma''), it has been proposed that it was originally a fragment of a figure depicting a ''lamma'' goddess. A ''gudu'' priest of Ašratum is mentioned in a document from the reign of
Samsu-iluna Samsu-iluna (Amorite: ''Shamshu-iluna'', "The Sun (is) our god") (–1712 BC) was the seventh king of the founding Amorite dynasty of Babylon. His reign is estimated from 1749 BC to 1712 BC (middle chronology), or from 1686 to 1648 BC (short chron ...
. Ašratum continued to be worshiped in Babylon in the first millennium BCE. Her temple from that city, Eḫilikalama (Sumerian: "house of the luxuriance of the land") has been dated to the neo-Babylonian period. It has been proposed that it can be identified with a building designated as temple D II during excavations. Ašratum was also still worshiped in
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 ...
in the Hellenistic period, as indicated by a text enumerating deities partaking in a New Year parade alongside Antu, which also features Amasagnudi,
Sadarnunna Sadarnunna was a Mesopotamian goddess regarded as the wife of Nuska. Very little is known about her individual character. She was worshiped in Nippur, and appears alongside other deities of this city in texts from the Ur III period already. In la ...
(the wife of
Nuska Nuska or Nusku, possibly also known as Našuḫ, was a Mesopotamian god best attested as the sukkal (divine vizier) of Enlil. He was also associated with fire and light, and could be invoked as a protective deity against various demons, such as ...
), Gula, Aya and
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 ...
. It has been pointed out that these deities were not otherwise associated with Antu, and therefore it is assumed the formation of this group was most likely a late, synthetic development.


Associations with other deities

Ašratum was commonly regarded as the wife of Amurru, also known as Martu. However, there are also instances where he was described as married to goddesses usually associated with
Ningishzida Ningishzida ( Sumerian: DNIN.G̃IŠ.ZID.DA, possible meaning "Lord f theGood Tree") was a Mesopotamian deity of vegetation, the underworld and sometimes war. He was commonly associated with snakes. Like Dumuzi, he was believed to spend a part ...
, such as
Azimua Azimua, also known as Ninazimua, was a Mesopotamian goddess regarded as the wife of Ningishzida. Name Ninazimua is the original spelling of the name of this goddess, attested in sources from the Ur III period. Later the NIN sign was usually omitte ...
, possibly due to conflation or confusion between him and this god. No children of Ašratum and Amurru are known. The Itur-ašdum inscription calls her the " daughter in law of An." Some early translations referred to her as the "bride of An", but this is now considered to be a mistake. The Sumerian term used in this text, ''é-gi4-a'', equivalent of Akkadian ''kallatum'', meant both " daughter in law" and "bride", but the latter meaning relied on the social practice of fathers picking the brides of their sons. As an epithet of goddesses, it denotes their status as a daughter in law of a specific deity. For example, Aya was often called ''kallatum'' in relation to her position as the daughter in law of
Sin In religious context, sin is a transgression against divine law or a law of the deities. Each culture has its own interpretation of what it means to commit a sin. While sins are generally considered actions, any thought, word, or act considered ...
and wife of his son
Shamash Shamash (Akkadian language, Akkadian: ''šamaš''), also known as Utu (Sumerian language, Sumerian: dutu "Sun") was the List of Mesopotamian deities, ancient Mesopotamian Solar deity, sun god. He was believed to see everything that happened in t ...
. Ašratum could be referred to with the Sumerian name Gubarra. In some bilingual texts, Ašratum and Amurru appear in the Akkadian version, side by side with Gubarra and Martu in the Sumerian passages. Steve A. Wiggins assumes that Gubarra was a distinct goddess in origin, but came to be identified with Ašratum. In the so-called ''Canonical Temple List'' (CTL) known from the
Library of Ashurbanipal The Royal Library of Ashurbanipal, named after Ashurbanipal, the last great king of the Assyrian Empire, is a collection of more than 30,000 clay tablets and fragments containing texts of all kinds from the 7th century BCE, including texts in ...
, there is a reference to 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 ...
of Gubarra, but neither its name nor location are presently known. A similar theonym, Nin-gubara (Sumerian: "mistress with loose hair"), is explained 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 ...
of
Inanna 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 ...
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 ...
'', but it is uncertain if she corresponds to the deity identified with Ašratum. Ašratum could also be identified with
Šarrāḫītu Šarrāḫītu ( Akkadian: "The glorified one") was a Mesopotamian goddess worshiped chiefly in Uruk from the Achaemenid period onward. Oldest attestations of Šarrāḫītu come from Babylon, where she was identified with Ašratum, the wife of A ...
(Akkadian: "the glorified one"), a goddess only attested in late sources from the first millennium BCE. An esoteric text from the second century BCE explains her name as ''Ašrat aḫītu'', "Ašratum the foreigner" or "the other Ašratum." It has been proposed Ašratum could be associated with the
Sebitti The Sebitti or Sebittu are a group of seven minor war gods in Neo-Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian and especially Assyrian tradition. They also appear in sources from Emar. Multiple different interpretations of the term occur in Mesopotamian l ...
due to their placement next to each other in the
Nippur Nippur (Sumerian language, Sumerian: ''Nibru'', often logogram, logographically recorded as , EN.LÍLKI, "Enlil City;"I. E. S. Edwards, C. J. Gadd, N. G. L. Hammond, ''The Cambridge Ancient History: Prolegomena & Prehistory'': Vol. 1, Part 1, Ca ...
god list and a possible reference to such a connection in a lexical text. However,
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 ...
and tentatively suggest that since the former of these two texts is difficult to reconcile with other attestations of her, a different similarly named deity might be meant in this case instead.


References


Bibliography

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