Kabta, inscribed ^d''kab-ta'', ^d''ka-ab-ta'', ^dTA''-gu-nû'', or later ^dTAxMI, was a rather obscure

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...

n deity who appears in texts and seals of the second and first millennium BC. He is frequently paired with

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 ...

, the “Red Lady of the Heavens” or Venus star, who immediately follows him on the Weidner god-list.

Provenance

He was first attested during the Ur III period, sometimes under the Sumerian name Maḫdianna, inscribed ^d''maḫ-di-an-na'', the “Lofty one of heaven.” This suggests an astral character and explains his pairing with “Ištar (of) the star” (Ninsi’anna). Unfortunately, due to a break in the god-list An = Anum, further elucidation is unavailable and even the god’s gender is uncertain. Lambert suggested that he was her spouse and seal impressions from

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 ...

during the

Isin Isin (, modern Arabic language, Arabic: Ishan al-Bahriyat) is an archaeological site in Al-Qādisiyyah Governorate, Iraq which was the location of the Ancient Near East city of Isin, occupied from the late 4th millennium Uruk period up until at ...

-Larsa period seem to confirm this. Kabta appears as the theophoric element in several names of the Old Babylonian and

Kassite The Kassites () were a people of the ancient Near East. They controlled Babylonia after the fall of the Old Babylonian Empire from until (short chronology). The Kassites gained control of Babylonia after the Hittite sack of Babylon in 1531 B ...

period, such as Nūr-Kabta, Amat-Kabta, Kabta-naṣir and Šu-Kabta. Kabta is often confused with Kulla, the brick-god, in literature, probably due to a misreading of line 337 from 'Enki and the World Order' by

Samuel Noah Kramer Samuel Noah Kramer (September 28, 1897 – November 26, 1990) was one of the world's leading Assyriologists, an expert in Sumerian history and Sumerian language. After high school, he attended Temple University, before Dropsie University and t ...

, published in his work “Sumerian Mythology”, although Lambert blamed Dietz Otto Edzard for this error.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kabta Mesopotamian gods