#IM ON PAGE 201 GUYS I BROKE THE 200 PAGE MARK

[sag-dab-sar]

"According to a text from Šubat-Enlil [1] there were special observances to Bēlet-apim [2] and Nergal on the 14th of the month Abum: i-nu-ma o-no (d)NIN-a-bt i (d)Ne-erin-gal LUGAL iq-qú-qú. Šubat-Enlil/Šebna was the capital of an area called māt apim [3], whose goddess was Bēlet-apim. Bēlet-apim might have been considered another form of the queen of the netherworld, Nergal's spouse, Ereškigal. This may have derived from a play upon the name of the locality referred to as māt apim and the ab/pum-festival. The wordplay and the identification of Bēlet-apim with Ereškigal may have been based upon a perceived parallel construction of the names of the two goddesses, i.e., ab/pum paralleled ki-gal [4]. The term ki-gal connoted both a raised area for cultic purposes and the netherworld." — The Cultic Calendars of the Ancient Near East by Mark Cohen page 260 (link)

[1] Šubat-Enlil meaning "Residence of the God Enlil" (Akkadian). A abandoned settlement, named Shehna (Šebna in quote), revived and re-named by Amorite warrior Shamshi-Addu (Šamši-Adad) for the capital of his Kingdom of Upper Mesopotamia circa 1809bce - 1776bce. It remained the capital for the succeeding Kingdom of Apum circa 1776bce -1728bce. (Source all Wikipedia, seems credible to me, no red flags— done with middle chronology)

[2] Bēlet-Apim is a Goddess name meaning "Lady of Apum" the city's tutelary Goddess. (Freyne p 56)

[3] Māt Apim would mean "Country/region of Apim" based on what I could find out about māt in Akkadian (Link)

[4] Ki = earth/place 𒆠 (Link), Gal = big/great 𒃲 (Link)

..... HOW IS "apim/apum/abum" & "Kigal" a play on words 😭??? Cue my dumbass monolingual self not being able to figure out the Sumerian / Akkadian play on words no matter how long I researched. Don't even know what the cuneiform of Apum is to see if it matches KI or GAL. Or even the origin of the name "Apum" or its meaning. I did try I swear. This book is extremely academically thick 😵‍💫

It interests me that two big mentions of Ereškigal come from upper Mesopotamia (Akkad / Assyria). Ereškigal as potentially Bēlet-Apim in Apum a northern Amorite kingdom. And her Kizzu festival in Emar a northern Amorite city.

Seems I still have much to learn about My Queen *stares at masssssssive book about Mesopotamian netherworld by Diana Katz* ........eventually... maybe... who knows.