Damu ( Sumerian : 𒀭𒁕𒈬 ) was a Mesopotamian god . While originally regarded as a dying god connected to vegetation, similar to Dumuzi or Ningishzida , with time he acquired the traits of a god of healing. He was regarded as the son of the medicine goddess Ninisina , or of her equivalents such as Gula or Ninkarrak . It is unclear which city was originally associated with him, but he is best attested in association with the cult center of his mother, Isin .
93-470: Damu is also a theophoric element in many personal names from Ebla . It has been proposed that in this context the term should be understood as a deified kinship group rather than a deity, and it is assumed it is not connected to the Mesopotamian god. It is assumed that Damu was originally regarded as a dying god . In that capacity, he might have been associated with trees. He was most likely envisioned as
186-463: A child of Ninisina and thus Damu's brother was Šumaḫ. Irene Sibbing-Plantholt notes that in some cases, when perceived as a son of Ninisina, Damu could be also linked to Enlil , for example healing on behalf of his mother as the " azu-gal of Enlil" in texts from the reign of Sin-Iddinam , and suggests he might have been occasionally perceived as a healing aspect of this god. In the Lament for Nippur , he
279-433: A child, possibly an infant, in contrast with other dying gods who were instead described as young men, and were often referred to with the term g̃uruš , conventionally translated as "lad". Dina Katz suggests that high rates of infant mortality in antiquity influenced traditions pertaining to him, and that the rare examples of passages referring to him as g̃uruš might be the result of conflation of various similar gods. From
372-431: A deity linked to healing, Damu could be called an asû , "physician". He could be described as familiar with medicinal plants , as attested in a text from the reign of Sin-Iddinam . It was believed that he was able to find cures for diseases which were regarded as incurable due to this knowledge. As indicated by the incantation Ninisina, mother of the land , he was especially closely associated with care for strings ( sa ),
465-448: A further deity of comparable character, Ningishzida , is also known. Instances where they were identified with each other have been identified too. An association between Damu and the sparsely attested goddess Kurunnītu has also been noted. They occur as a pair in a kudurru inscription, in parallel with Bau and Zababa and Ninkarrak and Ninurta . The original cult center of Damu remains unknown. Girsu or Isin are regarded as
558-488: A god") embeds the word equivalent of 'god' or God's name in a person's name, reflecting something about the character of the person so named in relation to that deity. For example, names embedding Apollo , such as Apollonios or Apollodorus , existed in Greek antiquity. Theophoric personal names, containing the name of a god in whose care the individual is entrusted (or a generic word for god ), were also exceedingly common in
651-508: A group of deities possibly originating in Dilmun , the Sebitti and other groups of seven (as well as the closely connected Elamite goddess Narundi ), Amurru , the divine representation of Amorite nomads , and his wife Ashratum , the deified hero Gilgamesh and his companion Enkidu , and a number of names belonging to deities of uncertain identity, assumed to be of very minor importance, and
744-533: A healing deity was also highlighted in particular when he was associated with the latter. Irene Sibbing-Plantholt argues that initially Damu and Gula were paired only as deities whose characters were seen as complementary, and only Ninisina in addition to a similar association was also viewed as his mother. While the latter role is attested for Gula too, for example in the god list An = Anum (tablet V, line 165), it only developed later on. In some bilingual texts, Gula and Damu are instead used as corresponding deities in
837-409: A later god list, K 2100, whose Adad section contains "Subarian" (Hurrian) Teshub and Kassite Buriyash. The tablet ends with a group of various gods mostly associated with Adad or Shamash, such as Shullat and Hanish , though with some exceptions which were instead linked with Ea, Nisaba or Ishtar . It has been proposed that what unified these deities was their possible Syrian origin, but this view
930-459: A line listing Bizilla , who was closely associated with Nanaya. A major lacuna in which they were presumably originally located is followed by a list of figures associated with the steppe and by a short section dedicated to Gazbaba . A short section is dedicated to Išḫara (who also appears in the Enlil section and in the end of tablet III. ) It is followed by one focused on Manzat . The final entry
1023-452: A list of collective terms for deities. Tablet VII lists various names of Marduk and of his throne bearer Mandanu . Most of the names are not attested in any other sources, and are likely to be esoteric scholarly inventions. Richard L. Litke considered it a late addition. However, Ryan D. Winters notes that despite focusing on Marduk, it is so far known only from Assyrian copies, which is likely to reflect an early date of incorporation into
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#17331059367941116-480: A list referred to as "shorter An = Anum " or "smaller An = Anum ", which begins with the same first line, but it only documents alternate names of major deities, rather than their families and courts. However, it is assumed that it was at least partially derived from its more extensive namesake. The first modern publication of fragments of An = Anum occurred in 1866 and 1870 in volumes II and III of Henry Rawlinson 's Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia , though
1209-407: A new edition partially relying on them started in 2018, culminating in publication of an annotated An = Anum by Ryan D. Winters, with George and Manfred Krebernik [ de ] as editors, in 2023. In addition to Lambert's research, it also utilized additional materials provided by Miguel Civil , Anmar Fadhil, Enrique Jiménez, Zsombor Földi, Tonio Mitto and Jeremiah Peterson. An = Anum
1302-531: A number of children and courtiers of Ningirsu whose names are poorly preserved or lost. Juxtaposition of various deities originating in this area is not exclusive to An = Anum , as attested in a small fragment of an otherwise unknown god list found in Nippur. The next sub-section is centered on medicine goddesses ( Ninisina , Ninkarrak , Nintinugga , Gula ) and their families (including Pabilsag , Damu and Gunura ). They are in turn followed by sections dedicated to
1395-680: A number of historical asû were apparently involved in the cult of Damu and other deities connected with medicine, though there is no evidence that they functioned as his clergy or that they performed their professional activities in temples. Myths involving Damu deal with his death, and have been compared to compositions such as Ningishzida and Ninazimua , Dumuzi and his sisters , Dumuzi and Geshtinanna , Dumuzi's dream and Inanna's descent . Many of them contain detailed descriptions of grief caused by his disappearance, which have been characterized as "visceral" by researchers. Laments describing his death and separation from his family usually described
1488-400: A seal with an inscription mentioning him. In Mesopotamian astronomy , Damu was associated with the constellation Pig. It has been suggested that it might have consisted of stars today regarded as the head and first coil of Draco , though this interpretation is not certain. It is not possible to determine with which deity or deities Damu was originally associated. In earliest god lists, he
1581-416: A term possibly referring to sinew , muscles or blood vessels , envisioned as a single net-like system. There is also evidence that he was regarded as capable of healing headaches ( di'u ) and the unidentified ašû disease. An incantation refers to him as bēl tākalātim , literally "lord of pouches", though it is presumed the term tākaltu in this context refers to an internal organ , possibly specifically
1674-484: A time, according to William W. Hallo only three first tablets were finished by 1998. Subsequently Lambert also compiled his edition of tablet V. Lambert passed away in 2011 without ever publishing his edition, but Andrew R. George inherited his notes, and subsequently cataloged them with Junko Taniguchi. However, due to their age Lambert's commentaries on the tablets were partially outdated and thus no longer suitable for publication without alterations. Preparations of
1767-535: Is Diana and its variants, such as Diane ; others include Minerva , Aphrodite , Venus , Isis , or Juno . The first pope to take a regnal name , Pope John II , had the given name Mercurius and changed his name as he considered it inappropriate for the pope to have a pagan deity's name. Some Christian saints have polytheistic theophoric names (such as Saint Dionysius , Saint Mercurius , Saint Saturninus , Saint Hermes , Saint Martin of Tours , Saint Demetrius of Thessaloniki ). Rarely, Germanic names contain
1860-409: Is also addressed as the kindagal of this god, literally "barber" or "hairdresser," though it has been noted this term might have designated a type of healer as well. However, it is known chiefly from lexical lists and literary compositions, and it is also possible that it represented a title, rather than a name of a profession. It is possible that the development of a connection between Enlil and Damu
1953-481: Is commonly understood as a list documenting Akkadian equivalents of Sumerian gods in a manner similar to the process of interpretatio graeca , but according to Richard L. Litke this view is mistaken. The primary goal of the compilers of An = Anum was to clarify the familial relationships between deities, briefly describe their functions and characterize each god's household, rather than to provide Sumerian deities with Akkadian equivalents. The commentary, when present,
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#17331059367942046-502: Is defined as the Elamite counterpart of Enlil. It is additionally possible that a deity whose name is not preserved, identified as "Enlil of Subartu ", might be Hurrian Kumarbi . Ninhursag (Digirmah, Belet-ili) occupies the beginning of tablet II. Deities listed in her section include her husband Šulpae , her sons Panigingarra and Ashgi , the couple Lisin and Ninsikila , and various courtiers. The same tablet also contains
2139-420: Is focused on presenting the familial relationships between deities, as well as their courts and spheres of influence. The first four tablets list the major gods and goddesses ( Anu , Enlil , Ninhursag , Enki , Sin , Shamash , Adad and Ishtar ) and their courts, arranged according to theological principles, but tablets V and VI do not appear to follow a clear system, and tablet VII is a late appendix listing
2232-587: Is in Sumerian, rather than Akkadian, which is different from most lexical lists . The gods do not appear to be separated into strictly Sumerian and Akkadian columns. Furthermore, some gods are listed with no equivalents at all, for example Zababa , who was a well established deity. Some deities listed are not Sumerian or Akkadian, but Elamite , " Subarian " ( Hurrian ), or Gutian . The list documents many associations between deities and aspects of their character which are otherwise unknown. Explanations frequently use
2325-547: Is included in this section too. He is followed by Lahar , though the nature of the connection between them is not specified. While Sin and Shamash occur in the proximity of each other because they were viewed as father and son, Adad is most likely included on this tablet because of the well established connection between him and Shamash. The section dedicated to him includes his wife Shala , their children (such as Uṣur-amāssu ), as well as another weather god, Wer , though other foreign weather gods are absent, in contrast with
2418-425: Is mentioned in a ritual text describing a procession of Ninisina and her court, during which he and Gunura were supposed to be placed right behind their mother. In Nippur Damu was worshiped in the temple of Gula alongside deities such as Kurunnam, Kusu , Urmaḫ, Nuska , Ninimma , Shuzianna , Belet-Seri , the Sebitti , Bēl-ālīya (an anonymous "divine mayor"), Sirash and Ningirzida. He also received offerings in
2511-454: Is no evidence for close association between Nanshe and the moon god otherwise. Nin-MAR.KI is placed in the same section as well, but in contrast with earlier sources she is not identified as Nanshe's daughter, which might mean her placement reflected her link to cattle herding instead. The circle of the sun god includes his wife Aya , as well as two distinct groups of courtiers, deities of justice and deities of dreams. The cattle god Sakkan
2604-534: Is not universally accepted. Another possibility is that this subsection was incorporated from a list arranged based on lexical principles. Tablet IV documents the circle of Ishtar (Inanna). Due to its contents, it has been nicknamed "the Ištar tablet" by Richard L. Litke. It is less well preserved than other tablets, and full restoration is presently impossible. However, it can be estimated that it originally contained three to four times as many entries as her section in
2697-403: Is not yet identified as his son, in contrast with late sources. Other deities present on tablet II include courtiers of Enki, the river god Id , the fire god Gibil , and various minor deities associated with craftsmen and other professions, such as Ninagal . Part of this subsection was likely incorporated from an independent source arranged based on a lexical principle. Tablet III describes
2790-444: Is rarely if ever used as a personal name or a base for theophoric personal names. Some seemingly theophoric names may in fact be more related to the original etymology of the deity's name itself. For example, both Lakshmi (fortune, success, prosperity) and Lakshman (prosperous, principal, marked) are names of a deity and an avatar respectively, which are related to lakṣ meaning "to mark or see". Much Hebrew theophory occurs in
2883-544: Is the abbreviation of YHWH when used as a suffix in Hebrew names; as a prefix it appears as "Y hō-", or "Yo". It was formerly thought to be abbreviated from the Masoretic pronunciation " Yehovah ". There is an opinion that, as Yahweh is likely an imperfective verb form, "Yahu" is its corresponding preterite or jussive short form: compare yiŝt hawe (imperfective), yiŝtáhû (preterit or jussive short form) = "do obeisance". In
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2976-460: Is the deity giš-su 13 -ga , whose character is undefined, but who might be related to Nergal rather than Inanna. Tablet V begins with warrior deities associated with specific cities. They include the deified hero Lugalbanda and his wife Ninsun , Lugal-Marada , the tutelary god of Marad , the mongoose deity Ninkilim , the agricultural god Urash (his court includes Lagamal , in other lists present among underworld deities), Nitaḫ,
3069-425: Is the identification of the dying god himself as the narrator. The death of Damu could also be mentioned in laments related to the cult of Ninisina or Gula, alongside the destruction of the city of Isin and temples located in it. Next to Inanna laments related to the death of Dumuzi, Ninisina laments are the most common among known literary texts of this genre. In one such text, the goddess directs her lamentation over
3162-509: Is typically listed alongside the deities of the state of Lagash , though from the Old Babylonian period onward he started to be placed in the court of Ninisina instead. In the Ur III period , he could be linked to Gula , as attested in offering lists from Ur , but he was also recognized as one of the deities of Isin , in which capacity he was associated with Ninisina instead. His character as
3255-616: Is very rare until the time of King Saul, when it began to be very popular. The name of the Israelite deity YHWH (usually shortened to Yah or Yahu, and Yeho or Yo) appears as a prefix or suffix in many theophoric names of the First Temple Period . For example, Yirme-yahu ( Jeremiah ), Yesha-yahu ( Isaiah ), Netan-yah , Yedid-yah , Adoni-yah , Nekhem-yah , Yeho-natan ( Jonathan ), Yeho-chanan ( John ), Yeho-shua ( Joshua ), Yeho-tzedek , Zekharya ( Zechariah ). "Yahū" or "Yah"
3348-551: The An = Anum forerunner, which already listed more titles than the section of any other deity. Among the deities listed are Ninegal and various astral deities, such as Ninsianna and Kabta . Tablet IV also most likely originally included Dumuzi and Nanaya sub-sections, which are not preserved. A fragment which presumably originally contained the Nanaya section, which mentions Muati and Kanisurra , has been identified, in addition to
3441-504: The Bible , particularly in the Old Testament . The most prominent theophoric names are: In later times, as the conflict between Yahwism and the more popular pagan practices became increasingly intense, these names were censored and Baal was replaced with Bosheth , meaning shameful one . But the name Yahweh does not appear in theophoric names until the time of Joshua, and for the most part
3534-799: The Canonical Temple List , dated to the Kassite period . A short text from Nineveh listing gods worshiped in the Erabriri, presumably in this context the ceremonial name of the temple of Mandanu in Babylon , states that a seat dedicated to Damu, the E-adgigi, "house of the counselor", was located in it. It has been noted that it is mentioned in this context alongside similar objects dedicated to Gula and other members of her entourage, namely Pabilsaĝ, Gunura and Urmašum. Many medical formulas end with an invocation of
3627-484: The Emesal version of the name of said goddess. Despite Pabilsaĝ 's status as Ninisina husband, there are no sources which would explicitly identify him as Damu's father. He is nonetheless identified as his father by modern authors. His sister was Gunura , and according to Katz they were possibly regarded as siblings even before the development of the tradition in which they were children of Ninisina. A third deity regarded as
3720-604: 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 Early Dynastic period , An = Anum most likely was composed in the later Kassite period . While often mistakenly described as a list of Sumerian deities and their Akkadian equivalents, An = Anum
3813-607: The Louvre ) and from a small fragment from Nippur, but it is presumed it had wider circulation in the Old Babylonian period. It is usually assumed that An = Anum itself was composed in the Kassite period , The most probable date of composition is assumed to be the period between 1300 and 1100 BCE. The name of the list used in modern literature is based on its first line, explaining that the Sumerian name An corresponds to Akkadian Anum. Wilfred G. Lambert proposed that it originated in
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3906-650: The Neo-Babylonian or Late Babylonian period are known, but their provenance and precise dating are often uncertain. Both the list itself and various references to it are known from an archive from Seleucid Uruk. Some of the discovered copies of An = Anum slightly differ from each other. However, the differences are generally limited to spelling of individual names or to inclusion or exclusion of single lines, and there are no major cases of entire passages differing between copies. Early restorations sometimes confused fragments of An = Anum and An = Anu ša amēli , but
3999-433: The Old Babylonian period onward, Damu was known chiefly as a healing deity instead. This aspect of his character is absent from texts pertaining to his death, which according to Katz might indicate that his character had been altered at some point, likely in the Old Babylonian period. She proposes that the change might had been facilitated by the loss of his original cult center and relocation of his clergy to Isin , where he
4092-559: The Ur III period in the textual record, which is sometimes considered an argument against viewing him as a god who originated in this city. Yet another proposal is that he originated in Nippur . A temple of Damu existed in Isin according to Old Babylonian sources, but its ceremonial name is not known. Iddin-Dagan , one of the kings of this city, in a curse formula invoked Damu and Ninisina , referring to them as respectively his lord and lady. Damu
4185-533: The ancient Near East and Mesopotamia . Some names of theophoric origin remain common today, such as Theodore ( theo- , "god"; -dore , origin of word compound in Greek: doron , "gift"; hence "God's gift"; in Greek: Theodoros ) or, less recognisably, Jonathan (from Hebrew Yonatan/Yehonatan , meaning "Yahweh has given"). Certain names of classical gods are sometimes given as personal names. The most common
4278-400: The stomach . A further epithet applied to him was bēl balāṭi , "lord of life", which might hint at a belief that he was able to revive the dead. Damu's attribute in the role of a medicine god was a karzillu knife, identified as a scalpel by Barbara Böck. Sibbing-Plantholt tentatively suggests that other symbols associated with him might have been a dog and a crook, as they are depicted on
4371-522: The Assyrian scribe Kidin-Sin during the reign of Tiglath-Pileser I according to its colophon . This indicates that while Babylonian in origin, An = Anum already reached Assyria by the final decades of the second millennium BCE. Kidin-Sin wrote that he relied on "old tablets" containing the list. An = Anum continued to be copied in the first millennium BCE. Neo-Assyrian fragments are known almost exclusively from Nineveh. 23 fragments dated to either
4464-536: The Ešumeša in the Old Babylonian period alongside numerous other deities, for example Bau , Ninisina, Nintinugga and Pabilsaĝ . Damu is also attested in texts from Larsa and Ur . In the Ur III period he received offerings in the local temple of Gula in the latter city. Andrew R. George suggests that a temple or temples of Damu might have been listed in a lacuna separating the preserved sections focused on Gula and Ninazu in
4557-567: The Weidner god lat times contain additional columns with explanations of the names. A copy from Ugarit adds columns listing Ugaritic and Hurrian deities. In the Old Babylonian period , god lists were often the product of strictly local scribal traditions, and distinct ones are known from Nippur , Isin , Uruk , Susa , Mari and possibly Ur . These local lists show a growing tendency to organize deities based on theological, rather than lexical, considerations. Each of them most likely documented
4650-653: The bandages and wipes them; he treats the bandages with embrocation , and softens the plaster that had been put on them. He mops up the blood and suppuration, and places a warm hand on the horrid wound. My lady, the midwife of the mothers of the Land, is the chief doctor of the black-headed; Nininsina, the daughter of An , hands this all over to her son, the king of Girsu, the kindly Damu: "My son, pay attention to everything medical! Damu, pay attention to everything medical! You will be praised for your diagnoses." References to Damu from Ebla and Emar are unlikely to be attestations of
4743-596: The biggest clay tablets known. Tablet I starts with Anu , Antu and their ancestors. It includes their various servants as well. A sub-section is dedicated to Papsukkal and his circle, including his wife Amasagnudi . Saĝkud appears among Anu's servants as well. The Enlil section, which follows the Anu one, begins with his ancestors, the so-called Enki-Ninki deities , and includes his wife Ninlil , primordial deities Lugaldukuga (explained as Enlil's father) and Enmesharra , as well as various courtiers, among them
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#17331059367944836-441: The canon of An = Anum . According to Wilfred G. Lambert, it should be considered an appendix loosely connected with the rest of the composition, similar to the case of the final tablet of the standard edition of Epic of Gilgamesh . It has been suggested that further additional tablets might have followed VII. However, this proposal relies entirely on a single damaged colophon, and surviving examples of tablet VII indicate it
4929-416: The city of Babylon. However, according to Jeremiah Peterson documents from Old Babylonian Nippur indicate that both the An = Anum forerunner and other texts showing the beginning of the development of new lists fleshing out the relations between deities were also in circulation among the theologians of that city. While the forerunner has only 473 entries, over 2000 names are listed in An = Anum (2123 in
5022-415: The concept of a deified kinship group . He notes that Damu does not appears in rituals pertaining to the royal family, which invoke various personified deities, such as the city god Kura , his spouse Barama and Išḫara . No such a deity is present in any offering lists from Ebla either. Theophoric name A theophoric name (from Greek : θεόφορος , theophoros , literally "bearing or carrying
5115-445: The copies preserve all the material on a single tablet, with a brief summary marked by pairs of horizontal lines indicating the end of each originally separate section. Copies of long works such as god lists or literary composition inscribed on a single tablet are known as dubgallu or tupkallu , or as "monster tablets". YBC 2401 is one such example, and measures 30.5 × 39.5 centimeters (roughly 12 × 15 inches), which makes it one of
5208-554: The death of her son to the Eanna temple. A composition focused on Ninisina referred to in modern literature as Ninisina A deals with the eponymous goddess teaching Damu medical arts. It relays how he was taught by her how to use medical implements and diagnose illnesses: Ninisina has made perfect the divine powers of medicine, and hands them over to her son, the king of Girsu, the kindly Damu. "My son, pay attention to everything medical! Damu, pay attention to everything medical!" He takes
5301-420: The deities in order of seniority, alongside their courts, but the rest of the list does not appear to follow similar principles. It is possible that it was a result of adding groups of deities from originally distinct texts to An = Anum without rearranging them. Jeremiah Peterson remarks that the reliance on theological factors is nonetheless more evident in An = Anum than in any other known god list. Some of
5394-408: The element Wod (such as Woðu-riðe ), potentially pointing to an association with the god Odin . In connection, numerous names containing wulf "wolf" have been taken as totemistic, expressing association with Odin in the earliest period, although -ulf degenerated into a mere suffix from an early time (Förstemann 1856). The personal names of almost all gods and goddesses of various deities from
5487-534: The first god lists emerged only around 600 years after the emergence of writing, in the Early Dynastic period . Like other lexical lists, they were presumably copied by scribes as exercises. Due to their original purpose as a learning aid, they were also important for the gradual modern decipherment of cuneiform . The oldest known god list is usually called the Fara god list, though it is also known from copies from Abu Salabikh and Uruk . 466 theonyms can be read from
5580-452: The goddess of writing, Nisaba , and her husband Haia , Enlil's sukkal Nuska and his wife Sadarnunna , the scribe goddess Ninimma , the exorcist goddess Ningirima , defined as Enlil's sister, and the beer goddess Ninkasi . A separate sub-section is dedicated to Ninurta , his wife Nin-Nibru , and his own courtiers. The Syrian god Dagan also appears in the Enlil section alongside his wife Shalash , as well as Išḫara . Iabnu
5673-423: The hierarchy of deities recognized in the respective localities. Fragments of many further god lists are known, chiefly from Assyrian copies, but their origin and scope are not fully understood. Some of them focus on geographical distribution on deities, and mention many foreign gods as a result. While it was common to arrange the names of gods in lists, no analogous scholarly practice is attested for demons, and
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#17331059367945766-466: The incantation series Utukku Lemnutu outright states they were not counted in the "census of Heaven and Earth", indicating the reasons behind this might have been theological. A list regarded as the forerunner of An = Anum has been dated to the Old Babylonian period . It is sometimes called the "Genouillac god list" after its original publisher, Henri de Genouillac . It is only known from one copy of unknown provenance (tablet AO 5376, presently in
5859-473: The latter list is now considered to be a distinct work of Mesopotamian scholarship and differs from An = Anum due to having three columns, with the third providing an explanation of the first two. There is no indication it depended on material from An = Anum , as very few alternate names of deities listed overlap, and when they do, the sequence differs. An = Anum ša amēli is also more syncretic than An = Anum . An = Anum should also be differentiated from
5952-535: The latter matches the order of these deities in the former, making it plausible that three missing lines referred to Ninkasi , Ninmada and Ugelamma. Paul-Alain Beaulieu proposed in 1992 that the changes in the religion of Seleucid Uruk were inspired by adherence to An = Anum . The entire pantheon of the city was restructured, with Ishtar , Nanaya and their court, encompassing deities such as Uṣur-amāssu , surpassed in prominence by Anu and Antu . While Anu
6045-481: The list as a whole, and it was meant to compile theonyms without necessarily providing additional information and the nature of the individual deities or relationships between them. No god lists are known from between the end of the Early Dynastic period and the late third or early second millennium BCE, when the so-called " Weidner list " was compiled, though it is assumed that they were still being created through
6138-431: The location of the underworld in vague terms. One example is the composition For him in the far-off land . Damu is mentioned in a text listing various dying gods and the places of their demise, but the location is not preserved in his case. While the galla demons could be identified as responsible for his death, it was not equally common as associating them with Dumuzi's demise. In one lament, Damu's mother offers to walk
6231-622: The medicine goddess (either Gula or Ninisina), Damu, and deities connected with incantations: Ea , his son Asalluhi , and the goddess Ningirima : This is not my incantation, it is the incantation of Ea and Asaluḫi, It is the incantation of Damu and Gula, It is the incantation of Ningirim, lady of incantation. They have told it to me and I repeat it. An example from Ugarit links him with another medicine goddess, Ninkarrak . Other incantations pairing them together are known too: Let Ninkarrak bandage you with her gentle hands, Let Damu make your suffering pass from you. It has also been noted that
6324-437: The moon god Sin (unusually not identified directly as a son of Enlil ), the sun god Shamash (Utu) and the weather god Adad (Ishkur). The circle of Sin includes his wife Ningal and various deities associated with cattle herding. Nanshe and deities associated with her, including her husband Nindara , who precedes her, separate his section from that of Shamash. While An = Anum appears to equate Nindara with Sin, there
6417-405: The most complete known copy). However, this should not be understood as analogous to the presence of 2000 individual deities, as many of the names are instead epithets or alternate names. It is nonetheless the most extensive known god list. Copies from the second millennium BCE are known from Nippur, Babylon, Nineveh , Assur and Hattusa . YBC 2401, the most complete exemplar, was copied by
6510-564: The most plausible options. Thorkild Jacobsen proposed that Girsu associated with Damu was not the same as the city located near Lagash , but a different settlement perhaps located on the bank of the Euphrates , but his argument relies entirely on his speculative etymology of this toponym, "prisoner camp", which according to him indicates that there could have been multiple places named Girsu, for which no evidence has been identified in any textual sources. Damu's association with Isin only goes back to
6603-556: The name of their spouse, children, and finally servants, if any were known. In some cases the chief attendant deity, so-called sukkal , is listed before the children. Seemingly only the best established deities had a sukkal . The number and precise designation of various divine servants varies, and there seemingly was no standard composition of a divine court, though some titles, such as "doorkeeper" (NI.GAB) or "counselor" ( gu 4 .DÚB), recur more often than others. An = Anum consists of seven tablets. The initial four tablets list
6696-492: The names of Marduk and one of his courtiers. Many other works of ancient scholarship were influenced by An = Anum , including a similar list of temples and various theological commentaries. It has also been proposed that it was the basis for the remodeling of the pantheon of Uruk in the Seleucid period. God lists were a type of cuneiform lexical lists , the oldest genre of texts next to administrative documents. However,
6789-515: The polytheistic Hindu pantheon are considered common and traditional names for people from the Indian subcontinent. Many traditional Hindu names are in fact from various names or epithets of Hindu gods or goddesses. This is in addition to compound theophoric names using the name of a deity in addition to possessive qualifiers. Brahma , the Hindu creator god, is one of the only deities of the pantheon whose name
6882-411: The prison goddess Manungal , the underworld goddess Ereshkigal , a group of gods associated with snakes and the underworld ( Ninazu , Ningishzida , Tishpak , Inshushinak and Ištaran ), the pair Lugal-irra and Meslamta-ea , who were also underworld deities, but have no apparent connection with the preceding gods, and a number of minor figures of similar character, such as Lugala'abba ("lord of
6975-421: The road to the underworld with him. A neo-Assyrian copy of this text contains the names of nine deities rather than just Damu, even though the original composition is only about him. The other eight deities listed are Ninazu , Ningishzida, Alla, Umunshudi, Ishtaran , Mulusiranna, Amaushumgalanna and "brother of Gesthinanna." Damu himself is placed between Ninazu and Ningishzida in this version. A further difference
7068-479: The same deity as the Mesopotamian Damu. The theophoric element Damu occurs frequently in personal names from the first of these cities. While it likely had its origin in popular religion, it is particularly common among the members of the royal family , with twenty four out of fifty one sons and nine out of thirty one daughters of Eblaite kings having Damu names. Examples include Irkab-Damu and Isar-Damu . At
7161-520: The same time, among women who married into the royal family, who were not otherwise related to it, only three bore Damu names, and it is also comparatively infrequent among members of the family of the viziers Ibrium and Ibbi-Zikir . In Emar , the element Damu appears in the names of four kings who were contemporaries of the rulers known from Eblaite archives. According to Alfonso Archi, in Eblaite context Damu should be translated as "blood", and refers to
7254-424: The sea"). Tablet VI starts with Nergal, his titles, family and court (including Laṣ , Mammitum , Ishum and Ninmug ). The rest of the tablet is not arranged according to any discernible principles, and most likely originated as a compilation of material showing some connection to the underworld. Included are various figures explained as ilu lemnu ("evil god"), such as Kingaludda, the weaver goddess Uttu ,
7347-418: The second half of the third millennium BCE and examples simply have yet to be discovered. The arrangement of deities in the Weidner list does not appear to follow any specific principles, and it has been proposed that it was the result of compiling various shorter lists together. Copies are known from many locations in historical Babylonia and Assyria , as well as from Emar , Ugarit and Amarna . The list
7440-525: The section focused on Enki (Ea), accompanied by his wife Damkina . The order of the sections focused on him and Ninhursag is reversed compared to the An = Anum forerunner, which according to Ryan D. Winters might indicate the compilers of An = Anum followed the tradition making the latter the older sister of Enlil, and thus a deity of higher status. A sub-section is dedicated to Enki's Marduk . It includes his wife Zarpanit . Nabu appears in it as Marduk's sukkal alongside his wife Tashmetum , but he
7533-432: The sign MIN in a role analogous to the modern ditto mark . It can be used to refer to both pronunciation of different writings of a name and to theological identification between names. ŠU is used to mark entries as distinct from each other, for example when a list of servants of children of a deity begins after a list of titles explained as MIN. The entry of each deity is followed by their epithets and alternate names,
7626-433: The so-called Canonical Temple List , which documents temple names rather than god names, though the deities venerated in them are arranged according to similar theological principles. In some cases, the order of deities in An = Anum has been used to support proposed restoration of passages in the Canonical Temple List , for example Andrew R. George notes that the order in which temples of Enlil's courtiers are listed in
7719-580: The surviving fragments, though it is estimated that it originally contained 560. While it begins with the head of the pantheon, Enlil (or, in some of the copies, Anu and Enlil), the gods are otherwise arranged based on lexical, rather than theological criteria, for example deities whose names start with the sign NIN are grouped together. Due to many of the names from it being otherwise unknown, little can be said about its contents otherwise. It has been argued that despite cases of theological and lexical subgroups being possible to discern, no principle guided
7812-589: The table below, 13 theophoric names with "Yeho" have corresponding forms where the letters eh have been omitted. There is a theory by Christian Ginsburg that this is because Hebrew scribes omitted the "h", changing Jeho ( יְהוֹ ) into Jo ( יוֹ ), to make the start of "Y ho-" names not sound like an attempt to pronounce the Divine Name. Theophoric names containing " Baal " were sometimes "censored" as -bosheth = "shameful one", whence Ishbosheth etc. An %3D Anum An = Anum , also known as
7905-462: The transcription contained many errors, and are considered too outdated to use. Fragments continued to be published in the first half of the twentieth century, but a transcription of the most complete copy, presently in the collection of the Yale University , has only been compiled by Richard L. Litke in 1958, and remained unpublished for a long time. In 1976 permission to use Litke's translation
7998-410: The two versions. A connection between him and Ninkarrak , also based on similar character and complementary roles in healing, is also known. However, references to Ninkarrak being his mother, while known, are rare. Exclusively in Nippur he was also associated with Nintinugga , as attested in sources from the Ur III period. Dina Katz additionally points out that a lament calls Damu's mother Geshtinluba,
8091-550: The war god Zababa (whose section also includes Nergal's sukkal Ugur , explicitly identified as such), Abu , and a number of names which seem to be grouped together only because they belong to gods originating in Lagash , among them Ningirsu . This god was usually syncretised with Ninurta and as such regarded as a son of Enlil, but in this case appears separately on a different tablet. Other deities of Lagash listed there include Bau , Gatumdug , as well as Igalim , Shulshaga and
8184-422: Was granted to Dietz-Otto Edzard , who was the editor of Reallexikon der Assyriologie und Vorderasiatischen Archäologie at the time. Many entries in subsequently compiled volumes of this encyclopedia rely on it. Litke's reconstruction was later published as a book in 1998 in the series Texts from Yale Babylonian Collection . While a second edition of An = Anum was being prepared by Wilfred G. Lambert for
8277-485: Was incorporated into the circle of the city goddess Ninisina and acquired similar traits as a result; she assumes that the laments which connect the dying Damu with the medicine goddess were composed later. Irene Sibbing-Plantholt instead suggests that Damu originally developed alongside Gunura as an independent deity personifying healing, and in later periods took a role complementary to that played by goddesses associated with this sphere of activity, such as Ninisina. As
8370-418: Was meant to strengthen political ties between Nippur and Isin . Damu was also associated with Dumuzi . It has been noted that texts focused on Damu show similarity with these pertaining to Dumuzi and other similar prematurely dying deities. However, despite their shared character as dying gods, Damu was not described as a shepherd and was associated with herding animals. A lament which mentions both Damu and
8463-534: Was not completely absent from Uruk at any point in time between the third and first millennium BCE, his position was that of a "figurehead" and "otiose deity", in contrast with An = Anum , where he is the foremost god. Beaulieu considers the position of Marduk to be the main difference between An = Anum and the Seleucid pantheon of Uruk, as the position of this god was much lower in the latter case, possibly due to theological conflict between Uruk and Babylon . Today it
8556-481: Was still in circulation in the late first millennium BCE. While the earliest god lists only had a single column, over the course of the second millennium BCE a two column format became the norm, possibly due to decrease in familiarity with Sumerian , which after the Ur III period survived only as a liturgical and scholarly language, necessitating the addition of explanations in Akkadian . For example, later copies of
8649-427: Was treated as the end of An = Anum . Kidin-Sin's copy does contain an appendix, but it consists of unrelated short lists according to the scribe himself included only to fill leftover space on the tablet. The arrangement of some of them follows esoteric and mystical principles, in contrast with An = Anum itself. An = Anum was itself most likely used as a model for other similar scholarly compositions, for example
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