Karamlesh ( Syriac : ܟܪܡܠܫ , Arabic : كرمليس ; also spelled Karemlash , Karemles , Karemlish , etc.) is a town in northern Iraq located less than 18 miles (29 km) south east of Mosul .
127-537: It is surrounded by many hills that along with it made up the historical Assyrian city of Kar-Mullissi (written URU.kar-NIN.LÍL), which means "the city of Mullissu " in Akkadian . Its Assyrian residents fled to Kurdistan Region because of the planned escape from the peshmerga following the invasion of the town by ISIS in August 2014. The town was liberated by Iraqi Security Forces from ISIS rule on October 24, 2016, as part of
254-480: A clear system, and tablet VII is a late appendix listing 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 ,
381-546: A complex for Armenian Refugees, among other improvements. On August 6, 2014, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria took over the town, causing all of its inhabitants to flee to Erbil. During their occupation of the city, they burned an 80-year-old Assyrian woman to death for "failing to comply with the strict laws of the Islamic State" and destroyed a large portion of the historic Mar Behnam Monastery . On October 24, 2016,
508-515: A daughter or sister. A different theory, based on Aramaic inscriptions from the Parthian period, makes Šerua's initial position that of a daughter of Ashur, who later came to be viewed as his second wife alongside Mullissu. Mullissu also came to be conflated with Ishtar of Nineveh , who was also recast as Ashur's consort in the Neo-Assyrian period. It has been argued that especially in texts from
635-464: A deified cult emblem, specifically a lance (Akkadian: šukurrum ). The deified lance is elsewhere attested in association with the god Wer . As the wife of Enlil , Ninlil was believed to be responsible for similar spheres of life, and stood on the top of the pantheon alongside him. Like him, she was believed to be in charge of the determination of fates, and in a few inscriptions even takes precedence over him in this role. A late hymn states that she
762-447: A different meaning ("house, silent place"). Ekisiga and Edimgalanna appear side by side in a number of texts, for example in a lamentation describing the destruction of Shuruppak. It is also possible that Esiguz ("house of goat hair") located in Guaba was a temple of Sud, but this is uncertain, and it is better attested in association with Inanna of Zabalam . A further temple which seemingly
889-423: A distinct deity later on. Her other servants, known from the god list An = Anum , were an udug (in this context the term denotes a protective spirit) of her temple Kiur named Lu-Ninlilla and a counselor named Guduga. A hymn to Sud from the reign of Bur-Suen of Isin refers to Asalluhi as her doorkeeper. Christopher Metcalf, who translated this composition, does not consider this to be an indication that he
1016-433: 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
1143-537: A further location associated with Ninlil was NUN.KID from the Archaic City List , a document from the Early Dynastic Period, but this is unlikely as the orthography of the name varies between sources, and there is no basis to assume it was read as Ninlil or associated with her in some way. It is possible that a temple of Ninlil attested in inscriptions of Rim-Sîn I, Eninbišetum ("house worthy of its lady")
1270-633: A generic term referring to female deities, and therefore could be assigned the name Ninlil without any type of syncretism occurring. Ninlil's temple there was known as E-Ḫursaĝkalamma ("house, mountain of the land"). A ziggurat possibly dedicated to her, Ekurmah ("house, exalted mountain"), also existed in the same location. It has also been proposed that she was worshiped in the akitu temple of Zababa in Kish. A festival held in Babylon in honor of Gula involved Ninlil, as well as Bizilla , both of whom acted as
1397-694: A god regarded as analogous to Enlil. This equivalence is also attested in Hurrian religion , in which Shalash was the spouse of Kumarbi , another god regarded as similar to Enlil. However, Ninlil is also attested as a distinct deity in Hurrian texts, and could serve as a divine witness of treaties in this context. In the Neo-Assyrian Empire Ninlil was reinterpreted as the spouse of the supreme Assyrian god Ashur , and in this role developed into Mullissu , who in turn could be identified with various deities from
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#17330926733791524-413: A governor of Nippur, acted as a priest of both Enlil and Ninlil, though the terms used to refer to these functions are not identical ( nu-eš 3 and gudu 4 , respectively). The myth Enlil and Sud indicates that Ninlil was regarded as the daughter of Nisaba , the goddess of writing, and her husband Haya . In Enlil and Ninlil her mother is instead a goddess named Nunbaršegunu , who according to
1651-519: A group of deities belonging to the former divine generations who resided in the underworld. Other senior Mesopotamian deities like Anu and Alalu could be listed among them too. They could be invoked as divine witnesses of treaties. From the reign of Tiglath-Pileser I onward, Ninlil started to be viewed as the wife of the Assyrian head god, Ashur . The equivalence between Ninlil understood as spouse of Enlil and Mullissu understood as spouse of Ashur
1778-508: 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
1905-425: A growing tendency to organize deities based on theological, rather than lexical, considerations. Each of them most likely documented 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
2032-409: 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
2159-459: 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
2286-452: 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
2413-480: 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
2540-618: A major urban settlement in the Isin-Larsa period . A recently published hymn mentioning Bur-Suen indicates that Sud was regarded as responsible for granting him the right to rule. It has been proposed that the Isin dynasty's interest in Sud was based on her association with Gula , as medicine deities were particularly venerated in Isin, but there is no reference to her fulfilling such a role in this composition. One of Bur-Suen's successors, Enlil-bani, rebuilt
2667-447: A name of Enlil due to the long-standing association between those two gods. Ninlil was also the mother of the moon god Nanna . By extension, Inanna (Ishtar) and Utu (Shamash) could be viewed as her grandchildren. While a number of sources attest that Ninlil could be regarded as the mother of Ninazu , according to Frans Wiggermann this tradition might only be a result of the growing influence of Nergal on this god's character, which
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#17330926733792794-399: A name of the wife of the sun god Shamash . References to these connections can be found in various Mesopotamian texts, such as a hymn referring to Ninlil as a healing goddess or a myth apparently confusing her with Sudaĝ in the role of mother of Ishum . In Syrian cities such as Mari , Emar and Ugarit , Ninlil was closely associated with the local goddess Shalash , the spouse of Dagan ,
2921-407: 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
3048-531: 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
3175-512: A part of the Epic of Gilgamesh , is described as a Shuruppakean, while the text referred to as Nippurian Taboos 3 in modern scholarship alludes to the belief that a confrontation between the primordial deity Enmesharra and either Enlil or Ninurta took place there. A late occurrence to Sud herself as an independent figure can be found in the Canonical Temple List , which has been dated to
3302-472: A result. While it was common to arrange the names of gods in lists, no analogous scholarly practice is attested for demons, and 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
3429-506: A temple dedicated to her, Edimgalanna (Sumerian: "house, great bond of heaven"; more literally "house, mooring pole of heaven"). It is generally agreed that it was located either in Shuruppak or close to it. A further temple of Sud was Ekisiga ("house of funerary offerings"), possibly also located in this city. The name is homophonous with that of a temple of Dagan in Terqa , but the latter has
3556-400: A temple of Bizilla existed in Ḫursaĝkalama, a cult center of Ninlil. Ninĝidru (written NIN.PA; a second possible reading is Ninĝešduru ) fulfills the role of a sukkal in a hymn to Sud, where she is described as responsible for receiving visitors in her mistress' temple. She is also mentioned alongside Sud in a fragment of an inscription of an unidentified ruler ( ensi ) of Shuruppak from
3683-484: 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
3810-514: 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 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
3937-481: 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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4064-670: Is confirmed by a phonetic gloss rendering the name syllabically as ni-in-lil . The meaning of the second element of the name is not certain, though a late explanatory text translates the name Ninlil as GAŠAN za-qí-qí , "lady of the breeze", which matches a common theory according to which Enlil's name should be understood as "lord wind". A variant Akkadian form of the name was Mullilu, in Neo-Assyrian sources spelled as Mullissu , in Aramaic texts as mlš , and in Mandaic as mwlyt . This form of
4191-502: 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
4318-524: Is followed by a short description of a sexual encounter between the newlyweds, which according to Jeremiah Peterson can be compared to similar episodes in love songs. It has been suggested that the portrayal of Ninlil in Enlil and Sud was informed by her position in the state pantheon of the Third Dynasty of Ur. Sud appears in some copies of Nanna -Suen's Journey to Nippur , though more known copies mention
4445-536: 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
4572-547: 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
4699-454: 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
4826-470: 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 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
4953-534: 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
5080-403: 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
5207-508: Is otherwise absent from Emar, the only other exception being an imported Mesopotamian god list, a variant of the Weidner god list . Especially in Mari, Shalash could also be identified with Ninhursag instead. A trilingual list from Ugarit attests the equivalence between Mesopotamian Ninlil, Ugaritic Athirat and a Hurrian goddess only labeled as Ašte Kumurbineve, which means "wife of Kumarbi " in
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5334-570: Is portrayed as a young bachelor traveling to find a wife, encounters Sud on the streets of Eresh and proposes to her. However, he also calls her shameless. She tells him to leave her sight in response, and additionally remarks that past suitors made her mother angry with their dishonest offers. Enlil consults his sukkal Nuska , and sends him to negotiate with Nisaba on his behalf. He is tasked with listing various gifts Enlil can bestow upon her daughter if she will let him marry her. Enlil also says that as his wife, Sud will be able to declare destinies
5461-459: Is possible that she is depicted as a seated enthroned goddess on at least one cylinder seal from the Ur III period. Another might depict her as a tall goddess wearing the horned headdress of divinity leading a supplicant, followed by a shorter goddess, possibly representing Nintinugga , whose devotee the owner of the seal was according to accompanying inscription. In Mesopotamian astronomy , Ninlil
5588-588: 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 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
5715-460: 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,
5842-498: 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 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
5969-407: Is well attested in Neo-Assyrian sources. It has been argued that Mullissu's newfound position might have resulted in conflation with Šerua , as in scholarship it is often assumed that this goddess was the original wife of Ashur. It has also been proposed that while originally regarded as his wife, she later came to be replaced (rather than absorbed) by Mullissu, and was demoted to the position of
6096-507: 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
6223-552: The Assyrian Democratic Movement during the parliamentary and local elections in 2005, 2007 and 2010. The town also received thousands of Assyrian and other Christian refugees from other parts of the country after waves of violence against them. In response to the influx of refugees, Sarkis Aghajan and the Supreme Committee of Christian Affairs built and renovated new homes, churches, cemeteries, infrastructure and
6350-628: 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 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
6477-467: The Hurrian language . Kumarbi was a god considered analogous to Dagan and due to this association Shalash also came to be viewed as his wife. As a pair, they could also be equated with Enlil and Ninlil. Ninlil was chiefly worshiped in the cult centers of her husband Enlil. Nippur was therefore also associated with her, as already attested in sources from the Early Dynastic Period . One of
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#17330926733796604-456: The Hymn to Gula composed by Bulluṭsa-rabi attests that she could be viewed as a goddess of healing, which has been identified as a possible result of Sud's association with Gula. Sud could also be associated with Sudaĝ , one of the names of the wife of sun god Shamash . Ninlil was also incorporated into Hurrian religion, where she and Enlil were regarded as two of the so-called " primeval gods ",
6731-472: The Isin dynasty , namely Bur-Suen and Enlil-bani . He also notes that it cannot be precisely established how long Shuruppak remained inhabited due to lack of archeological data, as erosion only left the oldest layers of the city to excavate. At the same time, he acknowledges the fact that Shuruppak retained a degree of religious importance does not necessarily indicate that it was still an administrative center or
6858-566: The Kassite period . Ninlil appears in the myth Enlil and Ninlil . Most of the known copies come from Nippur, though it was apparently also known in Sippar . In the beginning Ninlil, portrayed as inexperienced, is warned by her mother, in this composition named Nunbaršegunu , to avoid the advances of Enlil. After encountering him, Ninlil initially resists, but after consulting his advisor Nuska Enlil accomplishes his goal and seduces and impregnates her. For his transgression, he has to be judged by
6985-465: The Sargonic period . Christopher Metcalf assumes that Ningidru should be considered a male deity, but other authors consider her to be a goddess. Her name indicates she was a divine representation of the sceptre , and she was closely associated with the deified crown, Ninmena . Another courtier of Ninlil was her throne bearer Nanibgal, who was initially synonymous with Nisaba but came to be viewed as
7112-644: The Ur III period survived only as a liturgical and scholarly language, necessitating the addition of explanations in Akkadian . For example, later copies of 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
7239-681: The "fifty great gods" and "the seven gods of destinies." According to Wilfred G. Lambert , both terms are rare in Mesopotamian religious literature, and presumably refer to major deities of the pantheon treated as a group. They deem him ritually impure and exile him from Nippur. It is a matter of ongoing debate in scholarship if Enlil's crime was rape or merely premarital sex resulting in deflowering. Ninlil follows him during his exile, even though he refuses to see her, and eventually ends up becoming pregnant multiple times, giving birth to Nanna, Nergal, Ninazu and Enbilulu. Alhena Gadotti argues that while
7366-517: The Early Dynastic period, such as Sud-anzu and Sud-dazi. She does not appear in any offering lists from Adab predating the Sargonic period. It is commonly assumed that Sud ceased to be worshiped under own name with the decline of Shuruppak, which is typically dated to the beginning of the second millennium BCE. However, Christopher Metcalf points out that Sud was still actively worshiped by kings of
7493-606: The Eitimaku, alternative known as Eunuzu ("house which knows no daylight"), a shrine described as her bedchamber, and the Ekurigigal ("house, mountain endowed with sight") which was a storehouse dedicated jointly to her and Enlil, mentioned as early as during the reigns of Damiq-ilishu and Rim-Sîn I . Multiple small shrines in Nippur were also dedicated to her, including the Ešutumkiagga ("house, beloved storeroom") built by Ur-Nammu ,
7620-475: The Emi-Tummal (translation of the first element uncertain), a shrine called Abzu-Ninlil (" Apsu of Ninlil"), attested in documents from the Ur III period, which according to Manfred Krebernik was a water basin, and a further sanctuary distinct from those three whose name is not fully preserved, also known from documents from the Ur III period. A further cult center of Ninlil was Tummal, attested in sources from
7747-566: The Syrian goddess Shalash (not to be confused with the weather goddess Shala ) was viewed as analogous to Ninlil, similar to how their respective husbands, Dagan and Enlil, were viewed as equivalents. It is possible that in Mari , Ninlil's name was used as a logographic representation of Shalash's. She is also attested alongside Dagan in an offering list from Emar , though she most likely simply represents his local spouse, presumably also Shalash. She
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#17330926733797874-494: The Ur III period already. It was located in the proximity of Nippur and Puzrish-Dagan , and might correspond to modern Tell Dalham, located 21 kilometers south of the former of those two ancient cities in modern Iraq . Piotr Steinkeller proposes that it was initially a cult center of Ninhursag , and that she was replaced at some point with Ninlil, but this view is not supported by other researchers. E-Tummal also functioned as an alternate name of Ninlil's main temple in Nippur. In
8001-463: The Ur III period, a festival taking place in Tummal was centered on Ninlil symbolically renewing the king's legitimacy by decreeing his fate. It has been suggested that it was also a celebration of her marriage to Enlil, and that various songs referring to sexual encounters between them might be related to it, though no direct evidence for the latter theory is currently available. It has been proposed that
8128-441: 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 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
8255-596: 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
8382-441: 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
8509-663: The city was liberated by the Iraqi Army , which on the same day, returned crosses to the domes of some of the main churches. The Nineveh Plain Protection Units currently run the security in the Town. Originally based on an article by Habib Hannona and Fred Aprim on karemlash.com, licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License, used with permission. Ninlil Ninlil ( 𒀭𒎏𒆤 NIN .LÍL; meaning uncertain)
8636-445: 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
8763-420: 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
8890-404: 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 the latter list is now considered to be
9017-417: The divine representatives of Kish, alongside Belet Eanna (Inanna of Uruk), Belet Ninua ("Lady of Nineveh ") and the deity KAŠ.TIN.NAM, possibly to be identified as a late form of the beer goddess Ninkasi . A further temple of Ninlil, Emebišedua (house built for its me ), which was also a temple of Enlil, is known from the Canonical Temple List , but its location is not known. Sud's main cult center
9144-425: 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 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
9271-534: The father of gods, Ninlil could be analogously viewed as the mother of gods . In the Temple Hymns (ETCSL 4.80.1. in the Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature ) she is one of the four goddesses described as ama , "mother", the other three being Nintur (a goddess of birth), Ninisina and Bau . It is possible that Ninlil could also be referred to with the epithet tamkartum , a rare feminine form of
9398-502: The first encounter between them is arguably described as nonconsensual, this does not seem to apply to the remaining three ones. There is no indication that Enlil and Ninlil became husband and wife in the end, and only he receives praise in the closing lines of the composition. Ninlil's status in Enlil and Ninlil has been described as that of a "subordinate consort". It has been pointed out that this portrayal does not appear to reflect her position in Mesopotamian religion, especially in
9525-424: The first millennium BCE she was also introduced to Ḫursaĝkalamma near Kish , where she was worshiped alongside the goddess Bizilla , who was likely her sukkal (attendant deity). At an early date Ninlil was identified with the goddess Sud from Shuruppak , like her associated with Enlil, and eventually fully absorbed her. In the myth Enlil and Sud , Ninlil is the name Sud received after marrying Enlil. Nisaba ,
9652-434: The first millennium BCE, according to Joan Goodnick Westenholz specifically during the reign of Marduk-apla-iddina II (721-710 BCE), Ninlil was also introduced to Ḫursaĝkalamma, a part of Kish, replacing the older deity worshiped there, Ishtar. The details of this process are presently unknown, though it is possible the goddess of Ḫursaĝkalamma was at this point understood not as a manifestation of Ishtar but as an ištaru ,
9779-535: The god list An = Anum , an alternate name of Ninlil was Sud, written SU.KUR.RU. It originally referred to the tutelary deity of Shuruppak , who was syncretised with Ninlil. Jeremiah Peterson proposes that the Sumerian writing of Sud's name was misunderstood as an Akkadian noun based on a single copy of the Nippur god list in which a deity named su-kur-ru-um occurs. A different interpretation has been suggested by Manfred Krebernik [ de ] , who argues this entry has no relation to Sud and represents
9906-576: The god list An = Anum was identified with Nisaba. Eresh , the cult center of Nisaba, could be called the "beloved city of Ninlil", as attested in the composition Enmerkar and En-suhgir-ana . However, it is not known if a temple dedicated to her actually existed there. As the wife of Enlil, Ninlil could be regarded as the mother of Ninurta , as attested for example in Ninurta's Return to Nippur ( Angim ), though other goddesses, such as Nintur, Ninhursag or Dingirmah are attested in this role too. She
10033-410: The goddess Bizilla . In a star list, Bizilla corresponds to the "star of abundance," ḫé-gál-a-a , which in turn is labeled as the sukkal of Ninlil in the astronomical compendium MUL.APIN . In most other contexts, Bizilla was closely associated with the love goddess Nanaya . An explanatory temple list known from Neo-Babylonian Sippar , arranged according to a geographic principle, states that
10160-480: The goddess Ninirigal in the same passage instead. Manfred Krebernik [ de ] assumes this might indicate they were sometimes conflated. Ninirigal, "lady of the Irigal," was the wife of Girra . This goddess appears in association with healing deities such as Gula / Meme and Bau elsewhere, but contrary to conclusions in older scholarship shows no affinity with Inanna , despite also being associated with
10287-560: The goddess Sud, like her viewed as the spouse of Enlil. Her association with this god goes back to the Early Dynastic period . A mythological explanation made Ninlil a name Sud received after getting married. The syncretism between them is attested in the god list An = Anum , but in the older Weidner god list Sud appears not with Enlil and Ninlil, but rather among the medicine goddesses, next to Gula . The process of conflation meant that some associations originally exclusive to Sud could be transferred to Ninlil as well. For example,
10414-452: 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
10541-450: The goddess of writing, and her husband Haya are described as her parents. While Ninlil's mother bears a different name, Nunbaršegunu , in the myth Enlil and Ninlil , the god list An = Anum states that it was an alternate name of Nisaba. Syncretism with Sud also resulted in Ninlil acquiring some of her unique characteristics, such as an association with healing goddesses and with Sudaĝ ,
10668-702: The larger Battle of Mosul . Karemlash was the seat of the Nestorian patriarch Denha II (1336/7–1381/2) for at least part of his reign. The continuator of the Ecclesiastical History of Bar Hebraeus mentions several contacts between Denha II and the Jacobite church in Karamlish between 1358 and 1364. At this period Karemlash had Jacobite and Armenian communities alongside its Nestorian majority, and its village chiefs styled themselves 'emirs'. The prosperity enjoyed by
10795-535: 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
10922-487: The local pantheon is reflected in the number of theophoric names invoking her. At the same time, there is relatively little evidence regarding her worship outside of Shuruppak, and she is absent from earliest sources from cities such as Lagash and Ur. She is nonetheless attested in early texts from Abu Salabikh , such as the Zame Hymns , and Adab . In the latter of these two cities she appears in theophoric names from
11049-437: 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
11176-439: The name Ninlil, promised to her in the beginning of the composition. She is described as a former "no-name goddess" (Sumerian: dingir mu nu-tuku ), but after assuming her new identity she is instead a goddess who "has a great name" ( mu gal tuku ). It has also been argued that name Nintur is bestowed on her, though Jeremy Black instead presumed that the goddess who receives it should be identified as Aruru, not Sud. This event
11303-556: 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
11430-609: The name was also known to Greek authors such as Herodotus (who transcribes it as "Mylitta") and Ctesias . It is possible that it originally developed as a feminine equivalent of Enlil's dialectical Emesal name Mullil (derived from Umum-lil , umun being the Emesal form of en ). The names Mullil and Mullissu could also be connected with the Akkadian word elēlu , and therefore it is possible they were understood as "he who makes clean" and "she who makes clean", respectively. According to
11557-418: The oldest genre of texts next to administrative documents. However, 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
11684-527: The oldest texts mentioning the worship of Ninlil might be an inscription of a certain Ennail, possibly a ruler ( lugal ) of Kish , who states that he collected first fruit offerings for Enlil and Ninlil. The text is only known from copies from the Ur III period , but a fragment of a statue from Nippur indicates that a ruler named Ennail reigned at some point before the Sargonic period . In the Ekur temple complex, Ninlil
11811-457: The pantheon of Assyria, such as Šerua or local forms of Ishtar from cities such as Nineveh . Through most of the third millennium BCE, Ninlil's name was written with the Sumerian cuneiform sign LÍL (KID ), while Enlil's with identically pronounced É. From the Ur III period onward LÍL started to be used in both cases. The causes of these phenomena remain unknown. The pronunciation Ninlil
11938-411: 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
12065-425: The reign of Ashurbanipal , the names are synonymous. Similar process is also attested for Ishtar of Arbela and Ishtar of Assur . At the same time Ishtar without any epithets indicating association with a specific location could appear in Assyrian texts separately from the goddesses of Nineveh and Arbela identified with Mullissu, indicating that they coexisted as separate members of the pantheon. Ninlil's husband
12192-423: The same way as he does. Nisaba is happy with the offer and with Nuska's conduct, and agrees to the proposal, declaring that she will become Enlil's mother-in-law. After Enlil keeps his promise and the gifts are delivered to Eresh, Nisaba blesses Sud. Aruru , in this myth portrayed as Enlil's sister, leads her to Nippur and helps her prepare for the wedding. Sud and Enlil subsequently get married, and she received
12319-424: 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 ,
12446-549: 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 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
12573-525: 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
12700-489: 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 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
12827-432: 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,
12954-433: 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
13081-600: The son of this couple instead. Manfred Krebernik considers the composition to be the result of confusion between the names Sud and Sudaĝ, and thus between Ninlil and Ishum's mother, rather than syncretism. An %3D 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
13208-479: The state pantheon of the Third Dynasty of Ur. The absence of Ninurta among the children has also been noted. Ninlil is also one of the main characters in the myth Enlil and Sud , also known as Marriage of Sud . Due to the difference in her portrayal, it is sometimes contrasted with Enlil and Ninlil in scholarship. It describes how she became Enlil's wife. Copies are known from Nippur, Susa , Nineveh , Sultantepe and possibly Sippar . Miguel Civil noted that
13335-421: The territory of Uruk . Ninlil is mentioned in a myth only known from a single Old Babylonian fragment detailing the origin of the god Ishum . He is described as a son of Ninlil and Shamash who was abandoned in the streets. It is assumed that this myth represents a relic of the association between Sud, identified with Ninlil, and Sudaĝ , one of the names of the wife of sun god. Ishum was usually regarded as
13462-448: The text had "wide diffusion attested not only by the relatively high number of sources preserved and their geographical distribution, but also by its long survival through Middle-Babylonian times and into the Assyrian libraries." For uncertain reasons, no reference to Shuruppak is made as any point, and Sud lives with her mother Nisaba in Eresh. In the beginning of the composition Enlil, who
13589-462: 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
13716-468: The village during the reign of Denha II presumably came to an end when the patriarchate was relocated to Mosul at an unknown date in the fourteenth or fifteenth century. Karemlash was relatively calm following the US-led Iraq War . In late 2003, the town came briefly under the control of the 101st Airborne Division (377th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion). The town showed strong support towards
13843-550: 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
13970-455: The word tamkarum , "merchant". Enlil could be described as a divine merchant ( dam-gar 3 ), which according to Jeremiah Peterson might mean that ta-am-kart-tum attested in a fragment of a non-standard Old Babylonian god list from Nippur is a name of Ninlil referring to a similar role. Like many other deities, she could be compared to a cow, though this does not indicate an association with cattle or theriomorphic character in art. It
14097-532: Was Shuruppak (modern Fara). The name of the city was written the same as that of its tutelary goddess, though with a different determinative, SU.KUR.RU rather than SU.KUR.RU, similar to how the names of Enlil and Nisaba could be used to represent Nippur and Eresh, respectively. Much information about the religious life of this city has been obtained from administrative texts, and it is known that in addition to Sud, deities such as Nisaba, Ninkasi, Ninmug and Ninshubur were also worshiped there. Sud's importance in
14224-636: Was Enlil. As early as in the Early Dynastic Period , they are attested as a couple in sources from Abu Salabikh and Ur . The relationship between them is further affirmed by most of the later major god lists: the Weidner god list , the Nippur god list, the Isin god list, the Mari god list, Old Babylonian An = Anum forerunner and An = Anum itself. As Ninlil's husband, Enlil could be called "the allure of her heart" (Sumarian: ḫi-li šag 4 -ga-na ). It has been pointed out that in some cases, they functioned as unity in religious texts. A certain Enlilalša,
14351-593: 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 the pantheon. She is also well attested as the mother of his children, such as the underworld god Nergal , the moon god Nanna or the warrior god Ninurta . She was chiefly worshiped in Nippur and nearby Tummal alongside Enlil, and multiple temples and shrines dedicated to her are attested in textual sources from these cities. In
14478-414: Was also practically without exception regarded as the mother of Nergal . As the mother of those two gods, she could be referred to with the epithet Kutušar. It is attested in association with the city of Tummal . It also occurs in an inscription of Shamshi-Adad V , in which Kutušar is called "the lady equal to Anu and Dagan " ( Akkadian : bēlti šinnat Anum u Dagan ), with Dagan most likely serving as
14605-434: Was also responsible for his role as a divine warrior. He points out that in other sources Ninazu was the son of Ereshkigal and a nameless male deity, presumably to be identified with Gugalanna , which reflected his own character as a god of the underworld. Ninazu is nonetheless one of the children born in the myth Enlil and Ninlil , where his brothers are Nanna, Meslamtaea (Nergal) and Enbilulu . The last of these deities
14732-418: Was associated with two constellations , the mar-gíd-da ("wagon") corresponding to Ursa Major and the ÙZ ("goat"), corresponding to Lyra , as attested in the compendium MUL.APIN and other sources. It has been argued that through the history of ancient Mesopotamian religion, the domain of Ninlil continued to expand, sometimes at the expense of other goddesses. It is agreed that Ninlil fully absorbed
14859-486: Was closely associated with her otherwise, as the connection is not present in any other presently known texts, but Jeremiah Peterson in a review of Metcalf's publication notes that it is not impossible that it had a longer tradition. He suggests that as the god of Kuara , Asalluhi might have been associated with Sud and Shuruppak due to both of those cities being viewed as predating the mythical great flood in Mesopotamian tradition. The god list An = Anum attests that
14986-431: Was entrusted with the underworld by them both. In yet another composition, they are also credited with giving Ninisina "broad wisdom created by an august hand". Nuska was also believed to owe his position to a decree of both Enlil and Ninlil. It has been suggested that an entire standardized series of hymns describing how various deities were appointed to their positions this way existed. Due to Enlil's position as
15113-422: 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
15240-576: Was located in Ur . It should not be confused with a similarly named temple of Ninshubur , Eninbitum (also "house worthy of its lady"), mentioned by the same ruler and most likely located in the same city. Ninlil was also worshiped in Dur-Kurigalzu , and a temple dedicated to her, the Egašanantagal ("house of the lady on high") was built there by king Kurigalzu I from the Kassite dynasty of Babylon . In
15367-534: 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
15494-406: Was primarily dedicated to Sudaĝ but possibly could have been associated with Sud as well was Ešaba ("house of the heart"), whose location is presently unknown. In the Old Babylonian period, Shuruppak became a subject of antiquarian interest for Mesopotamian scholars. It continued to be referenced in literature even after abandonment. Utnapishtim , the protagonist of the flood myth which forms
15621-408: Was responsible for irrigation, and in another tradition was a son of Ea , rather than Enlil and Ninlil. Ninlil could also be identified with Nintur, who was regarded as the mother of another of Enlil's sons, Pabilsaĝ . In a hymn, she is credited with bestowing various titles and abilities on Ninisina , who is well attested as Pabilsag's wife. Ninlil's sukkal (attendant deity) was most likely
15748-463: 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 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
15875-488: Was the ruler of both earth and heaven, and that Enlil made no decision without her. Kings from the Third Dynasty of Ur considered both of them to be the source of earthly royal authority. In literary texts, she could be described as responsible for appointing other deities to their positions alongside her husband. For example, a hymn credits the couple with bestowing Inanna 's position upon her. Another states that Nergal
16002-427: 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
16129-529: Was worshiped in the Kiur (Sumerian: "leveled place"), which can be itself described as a "complex" in modern scholarly literature. It appears in inscriptions of Ur-Ninurta of Isin and Burnaburiash I of the Kassite dynasty of Babylon . The same name was also applied to a shrine of Ninlil which was a part of a temple of Ninimma in the same city. Further locations within the Ekur temple complex dedicated to her include
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