Ninḫursaĝ ( ''Ninḫarsang''; ), sometimes transcribed Ninursag, Ninḫarsag, or Ninḫursaĝa, also known as Damgalnuna or Ninmah, was the ancient
Sumer
Sumer () is the earliest known civilization, located in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia (now south-central Iraq), emerging during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age, early Bronze Ages between the sixth and fifth millennium BC. ...
ian
mother goddess of the mountains, and one of the
seven great deities of
Sumer
Sumer () is the earliest known civilization, located in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia (now south-central Iraq), emerging during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age, early Bronze Ages between the sixth and fifth millennium BC. ...
. She is known earliest as a nurturing or
fertility goddess. Temple hymn sources identify her as the "true and great lady of heaven" (possibly in relation to her standing on the mountain) and kings of
Lagash
Lagash (; cuneiform: LAGAŠKI; Sumerian language, Sumerian: ''Lagaš'') was an ancient city-state located northwest of the junction of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers and east of Uruk, about east of the modern town of Al-Shatrah, Iraq. Lagash ( ...
were "nourished by Ninhursag's milk". She is the
tutelary deity
A tutelary (; also tutelar) is a deity or a Nature spirit, spirit who is a guardian, patron, or protector of a particular place, geographic feature, person, lineage, nation, culture, or occupation. The etymology of "tutelary" expresses the concept ...
to several Sumerian leaders.
Her best-known myths are ''Enki and Ninhursag'' describing her dealings with Enki resulting from his sexual exploits, and ''Enki and Ninmah'' a creation myth wherein the two deities compete to create humans. She is referenced or makes brief appearances in others as well, most notably as the mother of
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 ...
in the
Anzû Epic.
Name
Ninhursag means "lady of the sacred mountain" from
Sumerian NIN "lady" and
ḪAR.SAG̃ "sacred mountain, foothill", possibly a reference to the site of her temple, the E-Kur (House of mountain deeps) at
Eridu. She had many names including ''Ninmah'' ("Great Queen"); ''
Nintu'' ("Lady of Birth"); ''
Mamma'' or ''
Mami'' (mother); ''
Aruru'' () and ''
Belet-Ili'' (mistress of the gods,
Akkadian).
According to the 'Ninurta's Exploits' myth, her name was changed from Ninmah to Ninhursag by her son
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 ...
. As
Ninmena, according to a Babylonian investiture ritual, she placed the golden crown on the king in the ''Eanna'' temple.
Possibly included among the original mother goddesses was ''Damgalnuna''/''Diĝirmaḫ'' (great wife of the prince) or ''Damkina'' (, “true wife”), the consort of the god Enki.
Nintur was another name assigned to Ninhursag as a birth goddess, though sometimes she was a separate goddess entirely.
The mother goddess had many epithets including ''shassuru'' or 'womb goddess', ''tabsut ili'' 'midwife of the gods', 'mother of all children' and 'mother of the gods'. In this role she is identified with
Ki in the
Enuma Elish. She had shrines in both Eridu and Kish. It has also been speculated that she was worshipped under the name ''
Belet-Nagar'' in Mari. However, it has also been proposed that the name Ninhursag in documents from Mari should be understood as a logographic writing of the name
Shalash, the wife of
Dagan, who was the goddess of Bitin near
Alalakh
Alalakh (''Tell Atchana''; Hittite: Alalaḫ) is an ancient archaeological site approximately northeast of Antakya (historic Antioch) in what is now Turkey's Hatay Province. It flourished as an urban settlement in the Middle and Late Bronze Age ...
rather than Nagar (modern
Tell Brak) in the
Khabur Triangle. Belet Nagar has alternatively been identified with
Hurrian
The Hurrians (; ; also called Hari, Khurrites, Hourri, Churri, Hurri) were a people who inhabited the Ancient Near East during the Bronze Age. They spoke the Hurro-Urartian language, Hurrian language, and lived throughout northern Syria (region) ...
deities:
Shaushka (though this proposal was met with criticism) or
Nabarbi
Nabarbi or Nawarni was a Hurrian goddess possibly associated with pastures. She was one of the major deities in Hurrian religion, and was chiefly worshiped in the proximity of the river Khabur, especially in Taite. It has been proposed that s ...
.
Diĝirmaḫ
Dingirmah ("great goddess") was a very common epithet of Ninhursag. In older literature, the name was transcribed as
dMah, but the correct reading was confirmed through the existence of a syllabically written Emesal form, Dimmermah.
Although she was originally an epithet of Ninhursag, Dingirmah eventually developed into a separate goddess at the end of the
Early Dynastic period. In the Nippur god list, Dingirmah was one of the nine goddesses of birth enumerated after Šulpae, and the Isin god list similarly included her as one of six birth goddesses. Dingirmah was also present in the ''
An = Anum'' god list, which listed her alongside Ninhursag, Ninmah, Aruru and Nintur. It is uncertain whether these were all regarded as variant names for the same goddess or different goddesses with similar functions.
A temple dedicated to Dingirmah, the E-maḫ, was built in Adab by a local ruler. Another temple was built at
Malgium by King Ipiq-Ištar.
Ninmaḫ
Ninmah ("great lady") was one of the most common epithets of Ninhursag alongside Dingirmah. The name was already attested in
Fara and pre-Sargonian
Lagash
Lagash (; cuneiform: LAGAŠKI; Sumerian language, Sumerian: ''Lagaš'') was an ancient city-state located northwest of the junction of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers and east of Uruk, about east of the modern town of Al-Shatrah, Iraq. Lagash ( ...
, and primarily occurred in liturgical and literary texts. An Akkadian form, Ereshmah (written syllabically as ''e-re-eš-ma-aḫ''), was attested at Ugarit, and was either a variant or the correctly written form of the name.
Like Dingirmah, Ninmah was initially an epithet of Ninhursag who later developed into a separate goddess at the end of the Early Dynastic period. In Lagash, King
Entemena built a temple that was at first dedicated to Ninhursag, and then rededicated to Ninmah.
In a text known as ''Archive of Mystic Heptads'', Ninmah was labeled separately from Ninhursag as the "Bēlet-ilī of the Emaḫ temple" in an enumeration of seven goddesses of birth.
Function
As evidenced by the large number of names, epithets, and areas of worship associated with her cult, Ninhursag's function in religion had many different aspects and shifted notably over time. Ninhursag was not the tutelary goddess of any major city, her cult presence being attested first in smaller towns and villages. It is possible that she was viewed originally more as a nurturing than a birth goddess. Another theory posits that, along with the goddess
Nintur, she was the birth goddess of wild and domesticated animals. Her connection to the biological process of childbirth in worship is suspected to have developed later, as she began to by syncretized with other 'birth-goddesses', and took on her '' Bēlet-ilī'' name. In this birth aspect, she is called by the kings of
Lagash
Lagash (; cuneiform: LAGAŠKI; Sumerian language, Sumerian: ''Lagaš'') was an ancient city-state located northwest of the junction of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers and east of Uruk, about east of the modern town of Al-Shatrah, Iraq. Lagash ( ...
as "the midwife who suckled them". From the third Early Dynastic Period and onward, the most common Ninhursag epithets emphasize her as the supreme "mother of the world". This term of mother, Julia Asher-Greve and Joan Westenholz argue, was analogous to the generic 'father' used for gods such as Anu and Enki, and therefore transcends the biological concept of motherhood. Later in the Neo-Sumerian Period she became more associated with the physical process of birth. (i.e. her offerings including umbilical cord cutters). In the
Old Babylonian Period some posit a decline in her worship, as she loses her high status as part of the four supreme deities of the pantheon. However Westenholz posits that her cult continued to be relevant but shifted function, as she became '' Bēlet-ilī''.
She had a documented role in Sumerian kingship ideology. The first known royal votive gift, recovered from Kiš, was donated by a king referring to himself as ‘beloved son of Ninḫursaĝa'. Votive objects dedicated to her ''Diĝirmaḫ'' name were recovered in
Adab, dating to the
Early Dynastic Period.
She could also be understood not simply as affiliated with mountains, but as a personification of mountain (or earth) as well. One text in Sumerian, the ''Disputation between Summer and Winter'', describes the creation of the seasons as a result of the copulation of Ninhursag (the earth) and Enlil. Another temple hymn from
Gudea
Gudea ( Sumerian: , ''Gu3-de2-a''; died 2124 BC) was a Sumerian ruler ('' ensi'') of the state of Lagash in Southern Mesopotamia, who ruled –2060 BC ( short chronology) or 2144–2124 BC ( middle chronology). He probably did not come from the ...
praising Ningirsu (epithet of Ninurta) describes him as having been born by a mountain range. She had a connection to the wild animals, particularly deer, who dwell on or around the mountains. Stags appear in façade on the walls of her temples, as well as in works containing the lion headed eagle, a symbol of Ninurta. One composition, a dedication of Ninhursag's Kes temple, mentions deer, bison, and wild goats in connection to the building.
She and her other names could also appear in ritual incantations for a variety of functions, some of which include Damgalnunna to protect from evil demons, and Ninhursaga and Nintur in birth related incantation. As Ninmah she has appeared occasionally in medical texts, such as one from
Sultantepe which describes a ritual and offerings to be performed for the goddess in order to cure bedwetting. It is suggested that her role in performing healing connects to that of her healing Enki in ''Enki and Ninhursag''.
Association with other deities
Family
Ninhursag's parentage and ancestry is not described in any known texts. In the ''Hymn of
Adad'', the eponymous storm god is referred to as Bēlet-ilī's brother.
Consorts and children
Ninhursag's most well attested consort was
Šulpae, who could be described as her "beloved spouse". They were attested as consorts in sources from
Kesh, such as the ''
Kesh Temple Hymn'', and
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 ...
.
Deities who were regarded as the children of Ninhursag and Šulpae include
Ashgi
Ashgi ( ''Ašgi'') was a Mesopotamian god associated with Adab (city), Adab and Kesh (Sumer), Kesh. While he was originally the tutelary deity of the former of these two cities, he was eventually replaced in this role by his mother Ninhursag, loca ...
,
Paniĝinĝarra,
Lisin, Egime, and Lillu, who was possibly identical with Ashgi. Marcos Such-Gutiérrez suggests that Ashgi was initially Ninhursag's husband in
Adab due to Šulpae being sparsely attested in sources from this city from the third millennium BCE, and was only viewed as her son in later periods. Paniĝinĝarra could appear alongside his mother in sources such as greeting formulas in letters. Although Ninhursag was generally identified as Lisin's mother, at least one text equated them with each other instead. According to the god list ''An = Anum'', Lisin (who here had swapped genders) was a son of Belet-Ili. Egime resided at her mother's Emaḫ temple in Adab, and appeared alongside Ninhursag in the lament ''Lulil and his sister'', in which the two mourned the death of Ashgi (referred to in the text as Lulil, meaning "man-spirit").
In the ''An = Anum'' god list, Ninhursag was assigned sixteen additional children besides Paniĝinĝarra, Lillu, Ashgi, and Lisin, named Atugula, Atutur, NIN.LA
2, NIG-gumaḫa, Burukaš, Zarzaru, Zurmuzarmu, Nin-BUR.SAL, Šazumaḫ, Ušumšasu, Naĝaršaga, Anmea, Amaea, UR-guru, Urra, and Amaniranna. NIN.LA
2 is generally accepted to be the same goddess as Egime, because NIN was glossed as ''e-gi'', while the sign LA
2 (𒇲) is believed to have been derived from ME (𒈨).
In
Lagash
Lagash (; cuneiform: LAGAŠKI; Sumerian language, Sumerian: ''Lagaš'') was an ancient city-state located northwest of the junction of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers and east of Uruk, about east of the modern town of Al-Shatrah, Iraq. Lagash ( ...
, she was associated with
Enlil
Enlil, later known as Elil and Ellil, is an List of Mesopotamian deities, ancient Mesopotamian god associated with wind, air, earth, and storms. He is first attested as the chief deity of the Sumerian pantheon, but he was later worshipped by t ...
as his wife, and the mother of
Ningirsu
Ninĝirsu was a Mesopotamia, Mesopotamian god regarded as the tutelary deity of the city of Girsu, Ĝirsu, and as the chief god of the local pantheon of the state of Lagash. He shares many aspects with the god Ninurta. Ninĝirsu was identified as ...
(Assimilated with Ninurta.) She is Ninurta's mother as Bēlet-ilī/Mami in
Anzû and other myths as well. Some Sumerian sources identify her as both Enlil's wife and sister, likely to rectify earlier traditions where she was Enlil's spouse, before later traditions had the goddess
Ninlil
Ninlil ( D NIN.LÍL; meaning uncertain) was a Mesopotamian goddess regarded as the wife of Enlil. She shared many of his functions, especially the responsibility for declaring destinies, and like him was regarded as a senior deity and head of th ...
as his wife instead. After this change Ninhursag was reassigned as Enlil's elder sister.
Enki was portrayed as Ninhursag's consort in the myth ''Enki and Ninhursag'', in which the eponymous goddess is treated as the same deity as
Damgalnuna, Enki's usual wife. However, Dina Katz points out that the goddesses were usually separate. In ''Enki and Ninmah'', Enki instead refers to Ninmah as his sister.
Attendants
In the ''An = Anum'' god list, Dingirmah was assigned a ''
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 ...
'' ("divine vizier") named Ekigara.
Her chief herald was the god Urumaš, and four additional deities who served as heralds were included in her entourage. Saparnuna was the herald of Kesh, Engal-DU.DU and Nimgir-Kurra were the heralds of the underworld, and Lugaligipirig was the herald of Adab. Six deities named Saĝšutašubšuba, KA.NI-šu-KID.DU.DU, Adgigi, Gudub, Ekurabsa, and Nin-Aruru (not to be confused with Aruru) were designated as her ''gud-balaĝ'' ("bull lyres"). Additionally, Šulpaedara, Šulpaeamaš, and Tuduga served as the "standing gods" of her E-maḫ temple in Adab.
Ninhursag in her mother/birth aspects was also likely affiliated with a group of seven minor goddesses known as the
Šassūrātu, "wombs", who were assistants of mother goddesses. These seven appear in ''Enki and Ninmah'' to assist in fashioning humankind from clay alongside their mistress, and are listed as
Ninimma,
Shuzianna
Shuzianna (Šuzianna; 𒀭𒋗𒍣𒀭𒈾 '' dŠu-zi-an-na'') was a Mesopotamian goddess. She was chiefly worshiped in Nippur, where she was regarded as a secondary spouse of Enlil. She is also known from the enumerations of children of Enmesha ...
,
Ninmada,
Ninšar,
Ninmug,
Mumudu, and Ninniginna.
Syncretism
Ninhursag was considered to be similar to the
Elam
Elam () was an ancient civilization centered in the far west and southwest of Iran, stretching from the lowlands of what is now Khuzestan and Ilam Province as well as a small part of modern-day southern Iraq. The modern name ''Elam'' stems fr ...
ite goddess
Kiririsha, who was also regarded as the "mother of the gods". Frédéric Grillot considered them to be equivalent to one another, but partially based his conclusion on an assumed parallel between the presumed union of Ninhursag and Enki with that of Kiririsha and
Napirisha.
In Old Babylonian
Mari the logographic writing
dNIN.HUR.SAG.GA was used to represent the name of
Shalash, the wife of
Dagan.
In
Hittite sources, the logographic writings DINGIR.MAH and
dNIN.TU were used to render the name of the Hittite
mother goddess Ḫannaḫanna.
In a bilingual
Akkadian-Amorite
lexical list from the
Old Babylonian period which presumably originated in southern Mesopotamia, DIĜIR.MAḪ (Bēlet-ilī) was equated with an Amorite deity named ʔAṯeratum (''a-še-ra-tum''), but according to
Andrew R. George and in this context the name designated
Athirat, 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 ...
, rather than the Mesopotamian goddess
Ašratum.
Iconography
Ninhursag was commonly depicted seated upon or near mountains, her hair sometimes in an
omega
Omega (, ; uppercase Ω, lowercase ω; Ancient Greek ὦ, later ὦ μέγα, Modern Greek ωμέγα) is the twenty-fourth and last letter in the Greek alphabet. In the Greek numerals, Greek numeric system/isopsephy (gematria), it has a value ...
shape and at times wearing a horned head-dress and tiered skirt. In a rectangular framed plaque from pre-Sargonic Girsu, the goddess seated upon "scale like" mountains is determined to be Ninhursag. Here she wears a crown that is more flat without horns, and has hair in an
omega
Omega (, ; uppercase Ω, lowercase ω; Ancient Greek ὦ, later ὦ μέγα, Modern Greek ωμέγα) is the twenty-fourth and last letter in the Greek alphabet. In the Greek numerals, Greek numeric system/isopsephy (gematria), it has a value ...
like shape. In another depiction, she is seated upon mountains and also has a mountain on her horned crown. Here she wears a tiered robe. She was identified as the female figure standing behind her son Ninurta on a fragment of the
Stele of the Vultures
The Stele of the Vultures is a monument from the Early Dynastic Period (Mesopotamia), Early Dynastic IIIb period (2600–2350 BC) in Mesopotamia celebrating a victory of the city-state of Lagash over its neighbour Umma. It shows various battle and ...
.
Another symbol of hers was Deer, both male and female. Studies on a plaque from Mari have identified the stone as being a representation of her. The stone likely represents both a face and the naked female form. A notable feature of the plaque is the area below the 'nose area' where ten stags stand eating plants on opposite sides of the face. There is another group of five animals under the nose, which are suspected to be birds. In a frieze recovered from the same Mari temple, two stags flank an Igmud-eagle, the symbol of her son Ninurta. There are a number of other images with this eagle as well (such as the vase in the gallery below), where deer, ibexes or gazelles are present to represent Ninhursag.
According to Johanna Stuckey, her symbol, resembling the Greek letter ''omega''
Ω, has been depicted in art from approximately
3000 BC, although more generally from the early
second millennium BC. It appears on some
boundary stones (
kudurru
A kudurru was a type of stone document used as a boundary stone and as a record of land grants to vassals by the Kassites and later dynasties in ancient Babylonia between the 16th and 7th centuries BC. The original kudurru would typically be stor ...
) on the upper tier, indicating her importance. The omega symbol is associated with the Egyptian cow goddess
Hathor
Hathor (, , , Meroitic language, Meroitic: ') was a major ancient Egyptian deities, goddess in ancient Egyptian religion who played a wide variety of roles. As a sky deity, she was the mother or consort of the sky god Horus and the sun god R ...
, and may represent a stylized womb. Joan Goodnick Westenholz and Julia M. Asher-Greve argue that the symbol should be interpreted as a schematic representation of a woman's hair rather than the shape of an uterus. They tentatively propose an identification with
Nanaya rather than Ninhursag as well.
File:British Museum Middle east 14022019 Panel Imdugud 2500 BC 3640.jpg, Mari temple frieze: containing symbols of Ninhursag and her son Ninurta.
File:Vase dedicated to Ningirsu by Entemena-AO 2674-IMG 9137.JPG, The Silver vase of En-temena, which was dedicated to Ningirsu.
File:Entemena vase motif.jpg, Detail on the En-temena vase - the stags here likely represent Ninhursag, with the lions greeting them in a friendly way by licking their cheeks, rather than attacking them.
File:Stele of Vultures detail 03 reverse.jpg, This is the fragment of the Vulture Stele that (likely) contains Ninhursag.
Mythology
''Enki and Ninhursag''
Two full copies of ''Enki and Ninhursag'' have been uncovered. One is from
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 ...
which contains the complete text (although some passages on the tablet are broken), and another from
Ur, found in the house of a priest of Enki, where half of the text is missing. This second tablet contains fewer lines, and hence it is considered a truncated version. There exists also an excerpt, covering the incestuous couplings, which differs from the Nippur version's events.
In ''Enki and Ninhursag'', the goddess complains to Enki that the city of Dilmun is lacking in water. As a result, Enki makes the land rich, and Dilmun becomes a prosperous wetland. Afterwards, he and Ninhursag sleep together, resulting in a daughter,
Ninsar (called ''Ninnisig'' in the ETCSL translation, ''Ninmu'' by Kramer). Ninsar matures quickly, and after Enki spots her walking along the bank, sleeps with her, resulting in a daughter,
Ninkurra. Enki spots her and sleeps with her as well, resulting in
Uttu. (In alternate versions the order is Ninkura, Ninima, then Uttu.) After Enki has intercourse with Uttu, Ninhursag removes the semen from her womb and plants it in the earth, causing eight plants to spring up. As a result of his actions, Ninhursag curses Enki by casting her "life giving eye" away from him. Enki then becomes gravely ill. A fox then makes an offer to
Enlil
Enlil, later known as Elil and Ellil, is an List of Mesopotamian deities, ancient Mesopotamian god associated with wind, air, earth, and storms. He is first attested as the chief deity of the Sumerian pantheon, but he was later worshipped by t ...
that he will bring Ninhursag back to cure him; in exchange Enlil promises to erect two birch trees for the fox in his city, and to give the creature fame. The fox is able to retrieve Ninhursag, and she then cures Enki, giving birth to eight minor deities from his ailing body parts.
Comparisons between this myth and that of
Genesis are common. As suggested by
Samuel Kramer and
W. F. Albright, Enki's eating of the eight plants and the consequences following his actions can be compared to the consumption of the fruit of knowledge by Adam and Eve.
''Enki and Ninmah''
The text containing this myth has been recovered on tablets from varying locations. The primary two making up the translation are from the Old Babylonian period and were recovered from Nippur. A third tablet from this period was also found containing an extract of the middle of the myth as well. There was also a bilingual (Sumerian and Akkadian) version in the library of
Assurbanipal, and one very fragmented tablet from the Middle Assyrian period that may contain the myth, but deviates from the bilingual version in the creation portion of the myth.
''Enki and Ninmah'' as a narrative can be separated into two distinct parts, the first being the birth of mankind, and the second a competition between the two spouses. The first half of this text recounts Enki creating the first humans at the behest of
Namma, referred to here as his mother. He receives help forming the body of men and women from Ninmah as well as her seven servants, the birth goddesses. Once man is finished the group has a banquet, where Enki and Ninmah drink beer and the other gods praise Enki's greatness. In the second half, Ninmah creates seven humans with illnesses and disabilities, for whom Enki finds places in society. Enki then creates an individual so damaged that Ninmah cannot find a place for them, resulting in her losing the competition. She then complains that Enki has driven her away from her home. The ending of the text is not well understood (due to damage on the tablet), but is likely Enki consoling Ninmah and possibly finding a place for the human he made.
''Others''
Ninhursag appears in the text ''
Creator of the Hoe'', where she is referred to as "the mother of the gods".
In the
Anzû epic, Ninhursag under the name Bēlet-ilī or Mami speaks in support of Ninurta her son, and is given the epithet "The Mistress of All Gods". In another myth involving her son, ''Ninurta's Exploits'', the titular god goes out to conquer the mountain land to the north of Babylonia, and piles the bodies of its stony kings into a great burial mound. He then dedicates this mountain to his mother, once Ninmah, now renamed Ninhursag after the mound.
Damkina is the mother of
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 ...
in
Enūma Eliš
' ( Akkadian Cuneiform: , also spelled "Enuma Elish"), meaning "When on High", is a Babylonian creation myth ( named after its opening words) from the late 2nd millennium BCE and the only complete surviving account of ancient near eastern cosmol ...
.
Worship
Theories posit that, in earlier times, Ninhursag was the highest ranking female deity, but was later displaced from that status by Ninlil, before the Old Babylonian period where she was syncretized with other birthing goddesses.
As Ninhursaga, she had temples in
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 ...
(Ur III period), and Mari. In Adab, she was worshipped under her Diĝirmaḫ epithet. Under her Ninmah epithet, she had temples in Adab, Babylon, and Ĝirsu, known as 'E-maḫ' or the 'majestic house'.
A temple of hers from
Ur's
Early Dynastic Period (Mesopotamia) was excavated by
Sir Leonard Woolley during his series of excavations at various sites around the city, built presumably by a King
A'annepada
A'annepada (; ) was a king of the First Dynasty of Ur. He was a son of Mesannepada. It is thought that his tomb may be tomb PG 580 in the Royal Cemetery at Ur.
Votive tablets
Several tablets are known that bear his name, in particular dedicated t ...
, as per the temple dedication: "Aanepada King of Ur, son of Mesanepada King of Ur, has built this for his lady Ninkhursag." In Early Dynastic Lagash, a temple was dedicated to Ninhursag, then later to Ninmaḫ.
An inscribed door socket was found at an unexcavated mound on the
Adaim river near where it meets the Tigris river, Khara'ib Ghdairife. It read "Manistusu, king of Kis, builder of the temple of the goddess Ninhursaga in HA.A KI. Whoever removes this tablet, may Ninhursaga and Samas uproot his seed and destroy his progeny."
[Al-Rawi, F. N. H., and J. A. Black, "A Rediscovered Akkadian City", Iraq, vol. 55, pp. 147–48, 1993]
See also
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Ereshkigal
In Mesopotamian mythology, Ereshkigal (Sumerian language, Sumerian: 𒀭𒊩𒌆𒆠𒃲 REŠ.KI.GAL, lit. "Queen of the Great Earth") was the goddess of Kur, the land of the dead or underworld in Sumerian religion, Sumerian mythology. In la ...
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Eve
Eve is a figure in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. According to the origin story, "Creation myths are symbolic stories describing how the universe and its inhabitants came to be. Creation myths develop through oral traditions and there ...
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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 ...
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Further reading
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External links
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Enki and Ninhursag' in the
Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature
The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL) is an online digital library of texts and translations of Sumerian language, Sumerian literature that was created by a now-completed project based at the Oriental Institute, Oxford, Orient ...
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Enki and Ninmah' in the
Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature
The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL) is an online digital library of texts and translations of Sumerian language, Sumerian literature that was created by a now-completed project based at the Oriental Institute, Oxford, Orient ...
Ancient Mesopotamian Gods and Goddesses: Mother Goddess (Ninmah, Nintud/r, Belet-ili)Temple of Ninmah in ancient Babylon
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Fertility goddesses
Mesopotamian goddesses
Mother goddesses
Mountain goddesses
Tutelary deities
Characters in the Enūma Eliš