Tadmuštum
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Tadmuštum or Dadamušda 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 ...
associated 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. ...
. She was regarded as the daughter of
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 in known texts often appears in association with his main cult center,
Kutha Kutha, Cuthah, Cuth or Cutha (, Sumerian: Gû.du8.aki, Akkadian: Kûtu), modern Tell Ibrahim (also Tell Habl Ibrahlm) (), is an archaeological site in Babil Governorate, Iraq. The site of Tell Uqair (possibly ancient Urum) is just to the north. ...
.


Name

Attested spellings of Tadmuštum's name in
cuneiform Cuneiform is a Logogram, logo-Syllabary, syllabic writing system that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Near East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. Cuneiform script ...
include '' dTá-ad-muš-tum'' (in an offering list 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 ...
), ''dTá-ad-mu-uš-tum'' (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 ...
''), ''dTá-da-muš-da'' (in a late list of dyads of goddesses), ''dTa-ad-muš-tum'' (in the text ''Silbenvokabular A''), and according to Manfred Krebernik possibly ''dTaš-mu-uš-tum'' (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). However, according to Jeremiah Peterson the last writing, which he renders as dUR-''mu-uš-(t)um'', stands for the deity dUR-''ma-šum'' (or dUR-''maš''), the
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 Gula known from the
Weidner god list Weidner god list is the conventional name of one of the known ancient Mesopotamian lists of deities, originally compiled by ancient scribes in the late third millennium BCE, with the oldest known copy dated to the Ur III or the Isin-Larsa period. ...
and ''An = Anum''. He notes only in a single exemplar the name ends in the Akkadian feminine
suffix In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns and adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can ca ...
, ''-tum''. It is presumed that it the
theonym A theonym (from Greek (), 'god', attached to (), ) is a proper name of a deity. Theonymy, the study of divine proper names, is a branch of onomastics, the study of the etymology, history, and use of proper names. Theonymy helps develop an und ...
Tadmuštum originates in a
Semitic language The Semitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They include Arabic, Amharic, Tigrinya, Aramaic, Hebrew, Maltese, Modern South Arabian languages and numerous other ancient and modern languages. They are spoken by mo ...
, though its precise
etymology 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. ...
is uncertain, with possible cognates including Akkadian ''dāmasu'' ("to humble") and ''dāmašu'' (interrogative form of "cover up"), as well as
Geʽez Geez ( or ; , and sometimes referred to in scholarly literature as Classical Ethiopic) is an ancient South Semitic language. The language originates from what is now Ethiopia and Eritrea. Today, Geez is used as the main liturgical langu ...
''damasu'' ("to abolish," "to destroy" or "to hide").


Associations with other deities

According to the god list ''An = Anum'' (tablet VI, line 15), Tadmuštum was the daughter of
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 ...
, the god of the underworld. Another deity of similar character, Šubula, was regarded as her husband according to the same source. Like both of these deities, she was also associated with the underworld herself. Manfred Krebernik proposes an etymological connection existed between the names of Tadmuštum and the Ugaritic goddess
Dadmiš Dadmiš (, ''ddmš'') or Tadmiš (''dta-ad-mi-iš'') was a goddess worshipped in Ugarit. She is attested in texts written both in Ugaritic and in Hurrian. Her origin and functions remain unknown. Identification The earliest researchers did not ye ...
, who occurs in offering lists from this city alongside
Resheph Resheph (also Reshef and many other variants, see below; Eblaite , ''Rašap'', , ''ršp'', Egyptian ', , ''ršp'', ''Rešep̄'') was a god associated with war and plague, originally worshiped in Ebla in the third millennium BCE. He was one of ...
.


Attestations

The oldest available attestations of Tadmuštum come from the Ur III period. She was already regarded as one of the deities of
Kutha Kutha, Cuthah, Cuth or Cutha (, Sumerian: Gû.du8.aki, Akkadian: Kûtu), modern Tell Ibrahim (also Tell Habl Ibrahlm) (), is an archaeological site in Babil Governorate, Iraq. The site of Tell Uqair (possibly ancient Urum) is just to the north. ...
in this period. In one of the published offering lists, she appears alongside deities such as
Laṣ Laṣ (''dLa-aṣ''; also romanized as 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 pos ...
and Šubula. The so-called ''Silbenvokabular A'' explains the signs ŠNI- ŠUR first as the primordial par Enki-Ninki, and then as Zarriqum (an underworld god from the circle of Nergal, possibly deification of an
official An official is someone who holds an office (function or Mandate (politics), mandate, regardless of whether it carries an actual Office, working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority (eithe ...
bearing the same name) and Tadmuštum. A late late school text from Babylon, which lists dyads of goddesses, labels Tadmuštum ("Dadamušda") and Belet-ili as the "daughters of E-Meslam," the main
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 Nergal located in Kutha. The other pairs listed in include the daughters of Esagil from
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 ...
(Ṣilluš-ṭāb and Katunna), the daughters of Ezida from
Borsippa Borsippa (Sumerian language, Sumerian: BAD.SI.(A).AB.BAKI or Birs Nimrud, having been identified with Nimrod) is an archeological site in Babylon Governorate, Iraq, built on both sides of a lake about southwest of Babylon on the east bank of th ...
(
Gazbaba Gazbaba, also known as Kazbaba or Kazba, was a Mesopotamian goddess closely associated with Inanna, Nanaya and Kanisurra. Like them, she was connected with love and eroticism. Name and character Gazbaba's name is most likely derived from the Akka ...
and
Kanisurra Kanisurra (also Gansurra, Ganisurra) was a Mesopotamian goddess who belonged to the entourage of Nanaya. Much about her character remains poorly understood, though it is known she was associated with love. Her name might be derived from the word ' ...
), daughters of Edubba from
Kish Kish may refer to: Businesses and organisations * KISH, a radio station in Guam * Kish Air, an Iranian airline * Korean International School in Hanoi, Vietnam People * Kish (surname), including a list of people with the name * Kish, a former ...
(
Iqbi-damiq Iqbi-damiq was a Mesopotamian goddess who was regarded as one of the "Daughters of Edubba", and was worshiped in Kish for this role. According to the god list '' An = Anum'' she also functioned as the ''sukkal'' (attendant deity) of Niĝgina. She ...
and Ḫussinni), daughters of Ebabbar from
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 ...
(Mami and Ninegina), daughters of E-ibbi-Ani from
Dilbat Dilbat (modern Tell ed-Duleim or Tell al-Deylam) was an ancient Near Eastern city located 25 kilometers south of Babylon on the eastern bank of the Western Euphrates in modern-day Babil Governorate, Iraq. It lies 15 kilometers southeast of the an ...
(Ipte-bīta and Bēlet-Eanni), and daughters of E- Ningublaga (Mannu-šāninšu and Larsam-iti according to
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 ...
, Mannu-šāninšu and Urkitum according to Manfred Krebernik). Collectively, these deities are referred to as "Divine Daughters" in
Assyriology Assyriology (from Greek , ''Assyriā''; and , ''-logia''), also known as Cuneiform studies or Ancient Near East studies, is the archaeological, anthropological, historical, and linguistic study of the cultures that used cuneiform writing. The fie ...
. In addition to these known from the list, further pairs are attested in texts from
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 ...
,
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 ...
,
Eridu Eridu (; Sumerian: eridugki; Akkadian: ''irîtu'') was a Sumerian city located at Tell Abu Shahrain (), also Abu Shahrein or Tell Abu Shahrayn, an archaeological site in Lower Mesopotamia. It is located in Dhi Qar Governorate, Iraq, near the ...
and Arbela. Based on the well attested roles of the daughters of Esagil and Ezida as
hairdresser A hairdresser is a person whose occupation is to cut or style hair in order to change or maintain a person's image. This is achieved using a combination of hair coloring, haircutting, and hair texturing techniques. A hairdresser may also be re ...
s of corresponding major goddesses, respectively Zarpanitum and
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 ...
, Andrew R. George suggests that the other Divine Daughters were also believed to function as members of the households of major deities who were responsible for various menial tasks.


References


Bibliography

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