Namtar ( Sumerian : 𒉆𒋻 , lit. 'fate') was a figure in ancient Mesopotamian religion who, depending on the context, could be regarded both as a minor god and as a demon of disease. He is best attested as the sukkal (attendant deity) of Ereshkigal , the goddess of the underworld. Like her, he was not the object of active worship, though references to it are made in literary texts, and additionally some incantations entrust him with keeping various other malevolent forces in the underworld.
38-565: Namtar's name means "fate" in Sumerian. It can be differentiated from the ordinary word "fate" in Sumerian texts due to being preceded by the dingir sign, so-called divine determinative, used to identify the names of deities. The same name was used in Akkadian, written as nam-ta-ru . Jacob Klein notes that true to his name, Namtar was most likely understood as the personification of unavoidable fate, implicitly understood as death. Aicha Rahmouni compares
76-445: A kurugu-hymn dedicated to the gods of Nippur mentions Ayadaragalama. A variant version of the Epic of Gilgameš relocates the hero to Ur and is a piece from this period. Excavations conducted between 2013 and 2017 at Tell Khaiber , around 20 km from Ur , have revealed the foundations of a large mudbrick fortress with an unusual arrangement of perimeter close-set towers. The site
114-412: A logographic reading for the native ilum and from that a syllabic reading of /il/ . In Hittite orthography, the syllabic value of the sign was again only an . The concept of divinity in Sumerian is closely associated with the heavens, as is evident from the fact that the cuneiform sign doubles as the ideogram for 'sky', and that its original shape is the picture of a star. The eight-pointed star
152-476: A man with a sword. No attestations of Namtar as a deity are known from before the Old Babylonian period . While the word namtar , without the divine determinative. does appear in personal names from the earlier Ur III period , they are unlikely to refer to him, as according to Dina Katz, theophoric names invoking him are not known from later periods, similar as in the case of his mistress Ereshkigal. Namtar
190-456: A priestess who received foodstuffs at the temple of Enki in the city of Eridu. The cuneiform sign was encoded in Unicode 5.0 under its name AN at the code point U+1202D 𒀭 . First Sealand dynasty The First Sealand dynasty ( URU.KÙ ), or the 2nd Dynasty of Babylon (although it was independent of Amorite -ruled Babylon), very speculatively c. 1732–1460 BC ( short chronology ),
228-1985: Is also described as attacking Sealand and destroying a temple in "Dūr-Enlil". A serpentine or diorite mace head or possibly door knob found in Babylon, is engraved with the epithet of Ulaburariaš, “King of Sealand”. The object was excavated at Tell Amran ibn-Ali, during the German excavations of Babylon, conducted from 1899 to 1912, and is now housed in the Pergamon Museum . ( Shamshi-Adad dynasty 1808–1736 BCE) (Amorites) Shamshi-Adad I Ishme-Dagan I Mut-Ashkur Rimush Asinum Ashur-dugul Ashur-apla-idi Nasir-Sin Sin-namir Ipqi-Ishtar Adad-salulu Adasi (Non-dynastic usurpers 1735–1701 BCE) Puzur-Sin Ashur-dugul Ashur-apla-idi Nasir-Sin Sin-namir Ipqi-Ishtar Adad-salulu Adasi ( Adaside dynasty 1700–722 BCE) Bel-bani Libaya Sharma-Adad I Iptar-Sin Bazaya Lullaya Shu-Ninua Sharma-Adad II Erishum III Shamshi-Adad II Ishme-Dagan II Shamshi-Adad III Ashur-nirari I Puzur-Ashur III Enlil-nasir I Nur-ili Ashur-shaduni Ashur-rabi I Ashur-nadin-ahhe I Enlil-Nasir II Ashur-nirari II Ashur-bel-nisheshu Ashur-rim-nisheshu Ashur-nadin-ahhe II Second Intermediate Period Sixteenth Dynasty Abydos Dynasty Seventeenth Dynasty (1500–1100 BCE) Kidinuid dynasty Igehalkid dynasty Untash-Napirisha Twenty-first Dynasty of Egypt Smendes Amenemnisu Psusennes I Amenemope Osorkon
266-561: Is an enigmatic series of kings attested to primarily in laconic references in the king lists A and B , and as contemporaries recorded on the Assyrian Synchronistic king list A.117 . Initially it was named the "Dynasty of the Country of the Sea" with Sealand later becoming customary. The dynasty, which had broken free of the short lived, and by this time crumbling Old Babylonian Empire ,
304-517: Is dated, by an archive of 152 (after joins were made) clay cuneiform tablets found there, to Ayadaragalama. Tablets at Tell Khaiber fell into the same short time period as those published from the Schoyen Collection, that being the later part of Pešgal and early part of Ayadara reigns. Excavators were also able to develop a stratified ceramic array for Sealand allowing other sites to be identified. Sealand ceramics and faunal remains were found at
342-548: Is generally absent from offering lists, indicating he had no active cult. Making offerings to him is nonetheless mentioned in a few literary texts, including Death of Gilgamesh and Death of Ur-Namma , in both cases being undertaken by the eponymous protagonist. Incantations indicate that the medicine goddess Ninisina was invoked to counter Namtar's influence. The same function was also attributed to Asalluhi . However, Namtar could in turn be implored to take care of other demons, for example an incantation against Mimma Lemnu ,
380-461: Is not pronounced and is conventionally transliterated as a superscript ⟨d⟩, e.g. Inanna . The Sumerian cuneiform sign by itself was originally an ideogram for the Sumerian word an ('sky' or 'heaven'); its use was then extended to a logogram for the word diĝir ('god' or 'goddess') and the supreme deity of the Sumerian pantheon Anu , and a phonogram for the syllable /an/ . Akkadian cuneiform took over all these uses and added to them
418-407: Is presently impossible to discern. Barbara Böck proposes that he was initially only a disease demon, and developed into Ereshkigal's sukkal at some point in the second millennium BCE. His appearance was typically described as fearsome, with references to such traits as "twisted hands" or "mouth filled with venom." The Underworld Vision of an Assyrian Prince states that he could be depicted slaying
SECTION 10
#1733093403995456-518: The Amorite king of Babylon, and Samsu-iluna ’s son and successor, “set out to conquer Ilum-ma-ilī,” by damming the Tigris , to flush him out of his swampy refuge, an endeavor which was apparently confounded by Ilum-ma-ilī’s superior use of the terrain. The last surviving year-name for Ammi-ditana commemorates the “year in which (he) destroyed the city wall of Der /Udinim built by the army of Damqi-ilišu. In
494-589: The Neo-Babylonian Empire also existed. Traditionally, all that was known about Sealand came from a few Kings List entries and the stray chronicle mention. It has been suggested that much of the writing in this period used waxed wooden boards, as a way of explaining the paucity of standard tablets found. Recently (2009) 450 published tablets mainly from the Martin Schøyen collection , the largest privately held collection of manuscripts to be assembled during
532-597: The 20th century, cover a 15 to 18 year period extending over part of each king’s reign. They seem to originate from a single cache but their provenance was lost after languishing in smaller private collections since their acquisition on the antiquities market a century earlier. Most of the tablets pertain to administration of resources. An additional 32 unpublished Sealand tablets are held in Brussels. The tablets include letters, receipts, ledgers, personnel rosters, etc., and provide year-names and references which hint at events of
570-546: The building of a “great ring against the Kalšu (Kassite) enemy” and a third records the “year when his land rebelled.” A year-name gives “year when Ayadaragalama was king – after Enlil established (for him?) the shepherding of the whole earth,” and a list of gods includes Marduk and Sarpanitum , the tutelary deities of the Sealand. A neo-Babylonian official took a bronze band dedicatory inscription of A-ia-da-a-ra , MAN ŠÚ “king of
608-531: The earlier dynastic monarchs. The king list A totals the reigns to give a length of 368 years for this dynasty. The Synchronistic King List A.117 gives the sequence from Damqi-ilišu onward, but includes an additional king between Gulkišar and Pešgaldarameš, DIŠ-U-EN (reading unknown). This source is considered reliable in this respect because the forms of the names of Pešgaldarameš and Ayadaragalama match those on recently published contemporary economic tablets (see below). Ilum-ma-ilī, or Iliman ( ili-ma-an),
646-541: The founder of the dynasty, is known from the account of his exploits in the Chronicle of Early Kings which describes his conflicts with his Amorite Babylonian contemporaries Samsu-iluna and Abi-ešuḫ. It records that he “attacked and brought about the defeat of (Samsu-iluna’s) army.” He is thought to have conquered Nippur late in Samsu-iluna’s reign as there are legal documents from Nippur dated to his reign. Abi-eshuh ,
684-507: The glory days of the Dynasty of Isin . The third king of the dynasty was even named for the ultimate king of the dynasty of Isin, Damiq-ilišu . Despite these cultural motifs, the population predominantly bore Akkadian names and wrote and spoke in the Akkadian language . There is circumstantial evidence that their rule extended at least briefly to Babylon itself. In later times, a Sealand province of
722-404: The god list An = Anum , Namtar had a wife, Hušbišag , known also from various myths and incantations. She was called the "stewardess of the underworld." Their daughter was Ḫedimmeku, though she is also mentioned as a daughter of Enki in a different section of the same god list. Namtar's mother is identified as Mardula'anki, already attested in this role in earlier lists. A single source applies
760-508: The ibex,” and Ayadaragalama, “son of the clever stag,” were successive kings and descendants ( DUMU , "sons" in its broadest meaning) of Gulkišar. Ayadaragalama’s reign seems to have been eventful, as a year-name records expelling the “massed might of two enemies,” speculated to be Elamites and Kassites , the Kassites having previously deposed the Amorites as rulers in Babylon. Another records
798-431: The land of the dead cannot travel to heaven, he partakes in a banquet taking place there as her representative. While most of the gathered gods pay respect to him, Nergal refuses to, which is the reason behind Ereshkigal's demand to have him sent down to the underworld. Later Namtar is sent to heaven once again to bring Nergal back after he escapes from the underworld while Ereshkigal is asleep. Another myth casting him in
SECTION 20
#1733093403995836-470: The last king of the first dynasty of Babylon. The text describes Gulkišar addressing his troops and being accompanied by the god Istar. The colophon of a tablet giving a chemical recipe for glaze reads “property of a priest of Marduk in Eridu,” thought to be a quarter of Babylon rather than the city of Eridu, is dated mu.us-sa Gul-ki-šar lugal-e "year after (the one when) Gul-kisar (became?) king.” A kudurru of
874-438: The myth Enki and Ninmah Namtar is mentioned in passing as one of the gods invited to the banquet celebrating the creation of mankind. Dingir Dingir ⟨ 𒀭 ⟩, usually transliterated DIĜIR, ( Sumerian pronunciation: [tiŋiɾ] ) is a Sumerian word for 'god' or 'goddess'. Its cuneiform sign is most commonly employed as the determinative for religious names and related concepts, in which case it
912-414: The name is uncertain. As a disease demon, Namtar was often paired with Asag in incantations, with the two of them regarded as the most dangerous sources of diseases. On occasion, the god Šulpae could be compared to Namtar, or even addressed with his name. A single Old Babylonian letter associates Lugal-namtarra, a deity possibly analogous to Namtar, with Ninshubur , and invokes both of them to bless
950-414: The name Ḫumussiru ("mouse") to her. though it was more commonly applied to the god Amurru and it is unclear how it came to be associated with Namtar's mother. Only a single Udug-hul incantation instead refers to Namtar as a son of Enlil and Ereshkigal. A single late text, Underworld Vision of an Assyrian Prince , might also mention a feminine counterpart of Namtar, Namtartu, though the restoration of
988-462: The original "MU am-mi-di-ta-na LUGAL.E BÀD.DA UDINIMki.MA (ÉREN) dam-qí-ì-lí-šu.KE4 BÍ.IN.DÙ.A BÍ.IN.GUL.LA". This is the only current contemporary indication of the spelling of his name, contrasting with that of the earlier king of Isin. Gulkišar, meaning “raider of the earth,” has left few traces of his apparently lengthy reign. He was the subject of a royal epic (Tablet HS 1885+ plus 2 recent fragment joins) concerning his enmity with Samsu-ditāna ,
1026-543: The period of Babylonian king Enlil-nādin-apli , c. 1103–1100 BC, records the outcome of an inquiry instigated by the king into the ownership of a plot of land claimed by a temple estate. The governors of Bit-Sin-magir and Sealand, upheld the claim based on the earlier actions of Gulkišar who had “drawn for Nanse, his divine mistress, a land boundary.” It is an early example of a Distanzangaben statement recording that 696 years had elapsed between Nabû-kudurrī-uṣur , Enlil-nādin-apli’s father, and Gulkišar. Pešgaldarameš, “son of
1064-405: The period. Messengers from Elam are provisioned, Anzak, a god of Dilmun (ancient Bahrain) appears as a theophoric element in names, and Nūr-Bau asks whether he should detain the boats of Ešnunna , a rare late reference to this once thriving Sumerian conurbation. In addition to normal commercial activity, two omen texts from another private collection are dated to the reign of Pešgaldarameš and
1102-423: The personified "Any Evil," entrusts him with keeping this being imprisoned in the underworld. An incantation addressed to the fire god Girra asks him to hand over the enemies of the petitioner to Namtar. Namtar served as the sukkal of Ereshkigal, though less commonly he could also be referred to as the sukkal of Nergal . Some texts simply refer to him as "sukkal of the underworld," sukkal ereseti . According to
1140-460: The recipient. Lugal-namtarra, as well as a deity whose name was written as SUKKAL, who according to Odette Boivin might be analogous to Ninshubur, both appear in association with Shamash in texts from the archives of the First Sealand dynasty in place of his usual attendants (such as Bunene ). Namtar appears in the role of Ereshkigal's sukkal in the myth Nergal and Ereshkigal . As the queen of
1178-514: The role of Namtar in Mesopotamian beliefs to that played by Mot , the personified death, in Ugaritic texts . The primary roles of Namtar in the Mesopotamian pantheon were those of a minor god of the underworld and of a disease demon, especially strongly associated with headaches and heart pain. While his two roles were interconnected, according to Jacob Klein the precise development of his character
Namtar - Misplaced Pages Continue
1216-499: The same role is Ishtar's Descent , where Ereshkigal tasks him with inflicting her sister Ishtar with sixty diseases, and later with reviving her and leading her back to the world of the living to find a substitute. This element of the story is absent from the earlier Sumerian myth Inanna's Descent , in which Namtar is not mentioned and Inanna dies as a result of a verdict of divine judges. In Atrahasis , Enlil initially plans to rely on Namtar to deal with noise created by mankind. In
1254-468: The site of Tell Sakhariya, a few miles east of Ur . The home city of the Sealand Dynasty is currently unknown. A kings list fragment states that Babylon's "kingship passed to E'urukuga". Given its site being known as uru.ku this capital has been speculated as being Lagash of which little is known in this period. Nippur, and Tell Deḥaila are also in consideration. Modern thinking is that the capital
1292-419: The world,” to Tell en-Nasbeh , probably as an antique curio, where it was discarded to be found in the 20th century. Ea-gâmil, the ultimate king of the dynasty, fled to Elam ahead of an army led by Kassite chief Ulam-Buriaš , brother of the king of Babylon Kashtiliash III , who conquered the Sealand, incorporated it into Babylonia and “made himself master of the land.” Agum III, successor to Ulam-Buriaš,
1330-535: Was dimer . (The use of m instead of ĝ [ŋ] was a typical phonological feature in emesal dialect.) The plural of diĝir can be diĝir-diĝir , among others. [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] The Assyrian sign DIĜIR (ASH ⟨ 𒀸 ⟩ and MAŠ ⟨ 𒈦 ⟩, see could mean: According to one interpretation, DINGIR could also refer to a priest or priestess although there are other Akkadian words ēnu and ēntu that are also translated priest and priestess. For example, nin-dingir (lady divine) meant
1368-526: Was a Dūr-Enlil (or Dūr-Enlile or Dūr-Enlilē). There was a Dūr-Enlil in Neo-Babylonian times in the general area between Uruk and Larsa as well as one in Neo-Assyrian times. It is not clear it either is the same place as the potential Sealand capital. The king list references which bear witness to the sequence of Sealand kings are summarized below: An additional king list provides fragmentary readings of
1406-429: Was a chief symbol for the goddess Inanna. The original association of 'divinity' is thus with 'bright' or 'shining' hierophanies in the sky. [REDACTED] The Sumerian sign DIĜIR ⟨ 𒀭 ⟩ originated as a star-shaped ideogram indicating a god in general, or the Sumerian god Anu , the supreme father of the gods. Dingir also meant 'sky' or 'heaven', in contrast with ki which meant 'earth'. Its emesal pronunciation
1444-485: Was named for the province in the far south of Mesopotamia , a swampy region bereft of large settlements which gradually expanded southwards with the silting up of the mouths of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers (the region known as mat Kaldi " Chaldaea " in the Iron Age ). Sealand pottery has been found at Girsu, Uruk, and Lagash but in no site north of that. The later kings bore pseudo- Sumerian names and harked back to
#994005