#Ninshubur

[yamayuandadu]

Ninshubur(s), Ilabrat, Papsukkal and the gala: another inquiry into ambiguity and fluidity of gender of Mesopotamian deities

Yesterday I’ve mentioned in passing that despite recommending Dahlia Shehata’s Musiker und ihr vokales Repertoire: Untersuchungen zu Inhalt und Organisation von Musikerberufen und Liedgattungen in altbabylonischer Zeit overall, I have a minor issue with the coverage of Ninshubur in this monograph - specifically with the arguments about the gender of this deity. I figured my problem warrants a more in depth explanation, not just because I’m the self-proclaimed “biggest Ninshubur fan not counting Rim-Sin I of Larsa”. 

Note that while this is functionally a followup to my recent Inanna’s article, it is not the followup I’ve promised previously; that one will be released at a later date.

To begin with, in a cursory  survey of figures who speak in emesal in literary texts, Shehata introduces Ninshubur as a deity equally firmly masculine as Dumuzi (Musiker…, p. 83). This is in itself a problem - when Ninshubur’s gender is specified in sources from the third millennium BCE, the name clearly designates a goddess, not a god (can’t get more feminine than being called ama); and even later on she remains a goddess in a variety of sources - including many emesal texts, which is the context most relevant here (Frans Wiggermann, Nin-šubur, p. 491).

Occasionally arguments are made that a male Ninshubur - explicitly a separate deity from “Inanna’s Ninshubur” as Manfred Krebernik and Jan Lisman recently called her - already existed in the third millennium BCE (The Sumerian Zame Hymns from Tell Abū Ṣalābīḫ, p. 151), though this is ultimately conjectural.

It is true that the Abu Salabikh god list includes at least two Ninshuburs, but in contrast with later, more informative lists it provides no theological glosses, so we can’t be sure that gender is what differentiates them. For all we know it might be a geographic distinction instead - “Inanna’s Ninshubur” from Akkil and the Lagashite Ninshubur associated with Mesmaltaea, perhaps. The one case where we have a text involving two Ninshuburs which we can differentiate has the “great” (gula) Ninshubur from Uruk - “Inanna’s Ninshubur” - and the “small” (banda) Ninshubur from Enegi (Nin-šubur, p. 500; Ur III period) . The fact that there might be a third Ninshubur entry between the two certain ones in the Abu Salabikh list (The Sumerian…, p. 151) doesn’t help, either.

This is not to deny the existence of a male Ninshubur altogether. However, this is actually a fairly straightforward phenomenon, with no real ambiguity involved  - possibly as early as in the Old Akkadian period, Ninshubur came to be associated with a male messenger deity, Ilabrat, and later on with equally, if not more firmly masculine Papsukkal; at first her name was used as a logogram to write Ilabrat’s, and later Papsukkal’s, but eventually it became possible to essentially speak of full replacement (or absorption) of both Ninshubur and Ilabrat by Papsukkal (Nin-šubur, p. 491-493; Julia M. Asher-Greve, Joan Goodnick Westenholz, Goddesses in Context: On Divine Powers, Roles, Relationships and Gender in Mesopotamian Textual and Visual Sources, p. 93). Papsukkal even replaces Ninshubur up in the Neo-Assyrian derivative of Inanna’s Descent, written in Akkadian; but he is addressed as a servant of the divine assembly, not the eponymous protagonist of the myth, and the entire mourning and mediation sequence is cut (Wilfred G. Lambert, Introductory Considerations, p. 13). I feel it’s important to stress that in most cases where Ninshubur’s gender cannot be determined this is not due to intentional ambiguity, but rather due to lack of grammatical forms which would make it possible for us - in antiquity all the context needed was presumably available to the reader. Furthermore, in many such cases the ambiguity isn’t quite “what is Ninshubur’s gender?” but rather “does this theophoric name use Ninshubur as a logogram for Ilabrat or Papsukkal?” Thus, Ninshubur’s gender was not ambiguous innately and did not become ambiguous, but rather she was replaced by an originally distinct male deity - her case is thus more comparable to absorption of both male and female deities of specific professions by Enki in god lists form the first millennium BCE, if anything. Even if a separate male Ninshubur existed alongside feminine Ninshubur (or Ninshuburs) even before the entire Ilabrat/Papsukkal situation, we’d still be dealing with a similar phenomenon.

Back to Shehata’s monograph, later on she acknowledges that Ninshubur possessed “a male and female aspect” (“einen männlichen wie auch weiblichen Aspekt”) and on this basis suggests a parallel between Ninshubur and the gala (p. 85). The process of conflation of messenger deities is not discussed, instead this interpretation relies on Uri Gabbay’s The Akkadian Word for “Third Gender”: The kalû (gala) Once Again, which at the time was the most recent treatment of the matter. I won’t go into the details of that article here, since it’s for the most part not relevant (it focuses on the possible etymology of the term gala). What matters here is Gabbay’s novel proposal that Ninshubur was perceived as having the same gender identity as the gala, largely just based on her portrayal as a mourner in Inanna’s Descent and her ability to appease other deities, which was also the purpose of the performances of the gala (The Akkadian Word…, p. 53). The supporting evidence is that some of Ninshubur’s titles use the term lagar, and a single lexical list explains lagar as gala (The Akkadian Word…, p. 54) This is rather vague, and it needs to be pointed out that it has been since established with certainty that in Ninshubur’s case lagar/SAL.ḪUB2 seems to be a rare, old title with similar meaning to sukkal, and it also could be applied to other deities - ones whose gender never showed any ambiguity -  in a similar way (see full discussion in Antoine Cavigneaux, Frans Wiggermann, "Vizir, concubine, entonnoir... Comment lire et comprendre le signe SAL.ḪUB2? and a brief commentary in The Sumerian…, p. 130). Furthermore, earlier in the article Gabbay recognizes the supposed connection between the terms as an error himself (The Akkadian Word…, p. 49). 

I haven’t really seen any authors other than Shehata agreeing with Gabbay’s arguments about Ninshubur; in fact, while I try to keep up with relevant publications, I’ve only seen his points regarding this deity addressed at all otherwise, and quite critically at that. Joan Goodnick Westenholz disagreed with him and pointed out that in addition to Gabbay contradicting himself regarding the term lagar, a fundamental weakness of his proposal is that Ninshubur is never described as a gala (Goddesses in Context…, p. 93). As a matter of fact no deity is, though you can make a sound case for Lumha, who was a (sparsely attested) divine representation of this profession. 

A further problem with Gabbay’s argument is that while it’s true gala were first and foremost professional lamenters (and I think any paper which acknowledges this deserves some credit), lamenting was hardly an activity exclusive to them. Paul Delnero considers Ninshubur’s actions in Inanna’s Descent to be a standard over the top portrayal of grief common in Mesopotamian literary texts. In other myths, as well as in laments mourning the destruction of cities or death of deities Geshtinanna, Inanna, Ninisina and other goddesses engage in similar behaviors. He assumes the detailed descriptions of deities wailing, tearing out hair, lacerating and so on were meant to inspire a sense of discomfort and grief in the audience (How to Do Things with Tears, p. 210-214). If Delnero is right - and I see no reason to undermine his argument - Ninshubur’s mourning would have more to do with what sort of story Inanna’s Descent is, not with her character. I suppose Ninshubur’s mourning is unique in one regard, though. She acts about Inanna’s death in the way sisters, mothers or spouses do in the case of Damu, Dumuzi, Lulil etc., despite not actually being her relative. I think there are some interesting implications to explore here, but so far I’ve seen no publications pursuing this topic.

Gabbay is right that Ninshubur and the gala are described as capable of appeasing deities, and especially Inanna, though I also think Westenholz was right to argue that a single shared function is not enough to warrant identification  (Goddesses in Context…, p. 93-94). It’s also worth noting that similar abilities could be ascribed to multiple types of servant deities, and that Ninshubur was just the most popular member of this category - a veritable major minor deity, if you will - and as a result is much better represented in literary texts. But the likes of Ishum or Nuska appease their respective superiors too, and it’s hard to make a similar case for their gender.

It should also be noted that while Ninshubur ultimately is the main mourner in Inanna’s Descent, Lulal and Shara mourn too (whether equally intensely as Ninshubur is up for debate, but that’s beside the point); and Dumuzi is expected to, and dies precisely because he doesn’t. And the gender of none of these three is ever ambivalent. Furthermore, Gabbay’s argument about Ninshubur’s gender resembling the gala in part rests on treating a single unique source as perhaps more important than in reality - and it’s not necessarily a source relevant to the gala at all. There is only one source where Ninshubur's gender might be intentionally ambiguous. An Old Babylonian hymn describes Ninshubur as a figure dressed in masculine clothing on the right side and feminine on the left (Nin-šubur, p. 491). This does mirror the description of an unspecified type of cultic performer of unspecified gender mentioned in the famous Iddin-Dagan hymn (“Dressed with men's clothing on the right side (...) Adorned (?) with women's clothing on the left side”); however, there’s no indication that a gala is meant in this context. Gabbay doesn’t bring up this passage, and assumes that since Ninshubur’s clothing includes both masculine and feminine elements, it is automatically a situation analogous to the unclear gender identity of the gala (The Akkadian Word…, p. 54), though. It might be worth noting that the unique text still uses the feminine emesal form of Ninshubur’s name, Gashanshubur, with no masculine Umunshubur anywhere in sight (Åke W. Sjöberg, Miscellaneous Sumerian Texts, III, p. 72); as far as grammar is concerned, Ninshubur, even if dressed partially masculinely, remains feminine. Perhaps the context is just unclear for us, and the unusual outfit was tied to a specific performance as opposed to a specific gender identity, let alone specifically to ambiguity of gender? Perhaps it would make more sense to assume the text describes Ninshubur (partially) crossdressing (and we do have clear evidence for at least one festival which involved crossdressing from the Old Babylonian period), instead of dealing with gender identity? This is of course entirely speculative, though I think further inquiries are warranted.  It’s also important to stress that however we interpret the identity of the gala - gender nonconforming men, men with some specific uncommon physical feature, nonbinary people (all three have valid arguments behind them, and it’s also not impossible the exact meaning varied across time and space) - they pretty clearly did not alternate between a firmly feminine identity and a firmly masculine one. Even if we were to incorrectly treat Ninshubur as a single deity whose gender alternates between male and female, I don’t think there would be a strong reason to draw parallels - unless you want to lump together what might very well been a specific nonbinary identity, and an instance of genderfluidity involving two firmly binary genders. I don’t really think these are phenomena which can be lumped together; and neither necessarily has much to do with presentation. And all we ultimately have in Ninshubur’s case is an isolated case of unusual presentation - nothing more, nothing less.

Once again, this short article is not intended as a warning against using Shehata’s book - it’s very rigorous overall, and a treasure trove of interesting information. It’s also not supposed to discredit Gabbay’s studies of the gala - I don’t necessarily fully agree with his conclusions, but I’ve depended on his articles in the past myself, after all.

The article also isn’t intended as an argument against inquiries into the gender of deities, Ninshubur included, or the gala, or any other religious specialists whose gender is unclear. However, it is vital to approach the evidence rigorously and put it into a broader context.

This is particularly significant since the gender of deities is not necessarily fully identical with the gender of humans, and its changes could be brought by processes which hardly have real life parallels - this requires both additional caution, and a careful case by case approach. It would be difficult for a woman to be conflated into one being with two men in the same profession, which is essentially what happened to Ninshubur, just like it would be hard for someone’s gender to be defined by the fact they were viewed as the personification of a specific astral body, as in the case of Ninsianna and Pinikir, who I discussed previously. And, of course, these two cases have little in common with each other. In the final article in this mini-series, I will look into some yet more esoteric cases of shifts in gender of Mesopotamian deities, to hopefully strengthen my point.

[lostpeace]

Inanna, Mesopotamian goddess of love and war.

Ninshubur, Inanna's divine attendant.

Dumuzi, god of shepherds, and Inanna's husband.

[magerywrites]

Can I pretend that Ishtar really likes Haruri because she looks like Ninshubur?

It depends on how attached you are to Fate canon!

As you likely already know if you're asking me this question, but which I shall explain for the more general audience, in Strange Fake Ishtar has two main reasons for liking Haruri and deciding to protect her.

One of them is that, despite using magecraft, Haruri's values, opinions, and beliefs mean she's still "human", rather than a "mage", concepts Ishtar draws an important distinction between.

(There's honestly a lot to talk about in Strange Fake about Ishtar's relationship with humanity. It's not just in her big declarations about watching over them and ruling them, or how she can "find something to enjoy even in the most awkward of dances, as long as you never abandon your humanity", but also in the little things like how Enkidu notes that all the gods "except Ishtar and Ereshkigal" thought Humbaba was a "complete human being". But that's beyond the scope of this ask.)

The other, which I was alluding to in my initial response, is that Haruri's name "was kinda similar" to Siduri's name—that's the "deep reason" Ishtar has for naming Haruri her high priestess. Ishtar's instincts "couldn't possibly choose the wrong person", so that similarity was enough.

But it means that Ishtar's first association with Haruri is Siduri, not Ninshubur. If she had thought of Ninshubur first, she probably would have said something to that effect.

However, if you're willing to step beyond Fate canon, you arrive at a space far more rife with possibility.

By that, I mean it's an even bet if Fate even genuinely knows Ninshubur exists, so go wild, comrade.

Spread the Haruri-Ninshubur word!

Hell, go above and beyond and make it a little fruity: see this speculative essay by someone whose Mespotamian expertise makes me look like a flailing child.

[forgedivinity]

My three most perfect girls

[thescarlettbitch]

Inanna / Ishtar masterpost

Inanna / Ishtar is the deity that I am devoted to, and there is a lot of misinformation out there about her, so this is a masterpost about her and her mythology, which does involve sex and rape, and revenge. Read with care.

Edit: I forgot certain points I wanted to add, so instead of editing and adding them in as an after thought, find them here :)

Lineage

Sources disagree on who her parents are. Some say Enki or Nanna, both male presenting, but most often she is depicted as the granddaughter of Enlil, and the niece of Enki. Her mother, as stated in Inanna Prefers The Farmer, is Ningal, as it is the only story that discusses her mother. Perhaps she is the daughter of Enki, Nanna, and Ningal. Regardless of who her parents are, she is the twin sister of Utu, and the sister of Ereshkigal. In the story of Gilgamesh and a few others, she is also portrayed as Gilgamesh's sister. She is married to Dumuzid.

Myths

Inanna and the Huluppu Tree: "A young woman who walked in fear of no man, and would not be owned, Plucked the tree from the river and spoke: “I shall bring this tree to Uruk. I shall plant this tree in my holy garden.”"

Enki, God of wisdom, planted a tree by the Euphrates at the beginning of time. Eventually, the tree was taken by the Euphrates. Inanna came, picked the tree, and decided she would nurture it so she could carve her throne and bed from it. Many years passed, and a serpent who couldn't be charmed made it's home in the tree. Then the Anzu-bird raised his family in the tree. And the dark maid Lilith made her home in the trunk. No matter how much Inanna wept, the creatures would not leave the tree. Inanna called to her brother, Utu, God of the sun, for help. He refused. She went to her brother, the great hero Gilgamesh, and he helped. He struck the serpent who couldn't be charmed and the birds flew away and Lilith fled to the wild uninhabited places. From the trunk, he carved her throne and her bed. From the roots, Inanna fashioned a pukku for her brother, and from the crown a mikku for Gilgamesh.

Inanna Prefers The Farmer: "No, brother!

The man of my heart works the hoe.

The farmer! He is the man of my heart!

He gathers the grain into great heaps.

He brings the grain regularly into my storehouses."

Inanna asks her brother, Utu, who she will marry. He tells her to marry Dumuzi, the shepherd. She responds that her heart is with the farmer Enkimdu. Utu tells her no, Dumuzi is the better choice, but she says no, Enkimdu is. Dumuzi and Enkimdu fight over this, but eventually Inanna is swayed and marries Dumuzi, in a rather erotic scene.

Inanna's Descent: "Then Erishkigal fastened on Inanna the eye of death.

She spoke against her the word of wrath.

She uttered against her the cry of guilt.

She struck her.

Inanna was turned into a corpse,

A piece of rotting meat,

And was hung from a hook on the wall."

Inanna goes to the underworld for her sister Ereshkigal's husband's funeral, having been the cause of his death. Inanna tells her priestess Ninshubur what to do should she not return. Dress in a single cloth like a begger, go to the temple of Enlil and beg for his help. If he does not help, go to Nanna. If he does not help, go to Enki. Inanna arrives at the gates, and as she passes through each of the seven gates, a garment is removed until she stands naked. The Anunna pass judgement, and Ereshkigal turns Inanna into a rotting corpse with the Eye of Death, and hangs her on a hook on the wall. On the third day, Ninshubur follows instruction. She dresses in a single cloth like a begger and goes to Enlil. Enlil denies. She goes to Nanna. Nanna denies. She goes to Enki. Enki creates the Kurgarra and the Galatur, neither male nor female, and gives them each the food of life and water of life. He tells them how to get on Ereshkigal's good side and to take the corpse from the wall and give it the food and water. They do, and Inanna rises, but the Annuna prohibit her from leaving. She must put someone else in her place. The Galla, demons from Ereshkigal, try to take Ninshubur, Shara, and Lulal, but Inanna spares them, as they mourned her. Then they find Dumuzi, dressed beautifully, with women around him. Inanna was betrayed, her own husband did not mourn her. The Galla take him away. Eventually, Inanna misses him, and sets a deal. For half of the year, Dumuzi will be on the wall in the underworld. For the other half, his sister.

Inanna and the God of Wisdom: "“In the name of my power! In the name of my holy shrine! Let the me you have taken with you remain in the holy shrine of your city. Let the high priest spend his days at the holy shrine in song. Let the citizens of your city prosper, Let the children of Uruk rejoice!”"

Inanna goes to Enki, and Enki treats her with butter cake and water and beer, lots of beer. Enki, while intoxicated, gives Inanna the Meh, the various humanities. She takes them and flees with Ninshubur. Enki, now sober, sends his servants to get the Meh back. Ninshubur protects the Meh for Inanna. They go back and forth six times, until Inanna gives the gifts to her people, and Enki resigns himself.

Inanna and Utu: "She makes perfect the great divine powers, she holds a shepherd's crook, and she is their magnificent pre-eminent one."

Inanna is given reign over fertility and sex, but she knows nothing about that subject. Utu and her go to the underworld and Inanna eats the fruit from the tree of knowledge, gaining that information.

Inanna and Su-Kale-Tuda: "He recognised a solitary god by her appearance. He saw someone who fully possesses the divine powers. He was looking at someone whose destiny was decided by the gods."

Inanna had had a long journey, so she rests on earth beneath the shade of a tree in a garden. The farmer Su-Kale-Tuda sees her sleeping and rapes her, then flees to his father. Inanna wakes up, seeing what had been do to her, and vows to find the man who did this. Su-Kale-Tuda confesses to his father, who tells him to hide. Inanna turns the water of the realm to blood, she sits on a storm cloud and drowns the world, then sends a dust storm, then stopped trade entirely within the world. Unable to find him she cries to her father, Enki, demanding his help. Enki turns her to a rainbow so that she stretched across the sky, and saw everything. Su-Kale-Tuda still tried to hide, but he could not hide from her any longer. She found him, and her first words are lost to time (some words translated to "How ......? ...... dog ......! ...... ass ......! ...... pig ......!") Su-Kale-Tuda tried to defend himself but Inanna told him "You will die, but the world will remember your name. Rapist."

Symbols:

Lions - she is often depicted with lions harnessed, to symbolize her power over the king of beasts

Roses - roses are symbols of beauty and sex, and their thorns represent the war side of her. At one point, the rose/rosette eclipsed the eight pointed star as her main symbol

Doves - another symbol of beauty and sex, in one of her temples was a mural of a dove emerging from a large palm tree, leading many to believe she was able to take the form of a dove.

Lapis Lazuli - the only precious stone I have seen be named as something she wears, specifically referenced in The Descent Of Inanna

Eight pointed star - the symbolic meaning is lost to time, but it shows up frequently in her depictions

Hook shaped twist of reeds - a symbol of fertility, and was her cuneiform ideogram

The planet Venus - many hymns credit her as being the personification of the planet

Carnelian - one of her epithets means "precious carnelian"

Thank you for reading, and I hope to make a similar masterpost detailing Mesopotamian mythology as a whole.

Edit: I did, you can find it here.

[whencyclopedia]

Inanna's Descent: A Sumerian Tale of Injustice

The Sumerian poem, The Descent of Inanna (c. 1900-1600 BCE) chronicles the journey of Inanna, the great goddess and Queen of Heaven, from her realm in the sky, to earth, and down into the underworld to visit her recently widowed sister Ereshkigal, Queen of the Dead. The poem begins famously with the lines:

From the Great Above she opened her ear to the Great Below From the Great Above the goddess opened her ear to the Great Below From the Great Above Inanna opened her ear to the Great Below. (Wolkstein and Kramer, 52)

The work then goes on to describe Inanna's descent to the underworld accompanied, part of the way, by her faithful servant and advisor Ninshubur.

Summary

Inanna is dressed in her finest clothes and wears the crown of heaven on her head, beads around her neck, her breastplate, golden ring and carries her scepter, the rod of power. Just before she enters the underworld, she gives Ninsubur instructions on how to come to her aid should she fail to return when expected. Upon her arrival at the gates of the underworld Inanna knocks loudly and demands entrance. Neti, the chief gatekeeper, asks who she is and, when Inanna answers, “I am Inanna, Queen of Heaven”, Neti asks why she would wish entrance to the land “from which no traveler returns.” Inanna answers:

Because of my older sister, Ereshkigal Her husband, Gugalanna, the Bull of Heaven, has died I have come to witness the funeral rites. (Wolkstein and Kramer, 55)

Neti then tells her to stay where she is while he goes to speak with Ereshkigal.

When Neti delivers the news to Ereshkigal that Inanna is at the gates, the Queen of the Dead responds in a way which seems strange: “She slapped her thigh and bit her lip. She took the matter into her heart and dwelt on it” (Wolkstein and Kramer, 56). She does not seem pleased to hear the news that her sister is at the gate and her displeasure is further evidenced when she tells Neti to bolt the seven gates of the underworld against Inanna and then let her in, one gate at a time, requiring her to remove one of her royal garments at each gate. Neti does as he is commanded and, gate by gate, Inanna is stripped of her crown, beads, ring, sceptre, even her clothing and, when she asks the meaning of this indignity, is told by Neti:

Quiet, Inanna, the ways of the underworld are perfect They may not be questioned. (Wolkstein and Kramer 58-60)

Inanna enters the throne room of Ereshkigal “naked and bowed low” and begins walking toward the throne when:

The annuna, the judges of the underworld, surrounded her They passed judgment against her. Then Ereshkigal fastened on Inanna the eye of death She spoke against her the word of wrath She uttered against her the cry of guilt She struck her. Inanna was turned into a corpse A piece of rotting meat And was hung from a hook on the wall. (Wolkstein and Kramer, 60)

After three days and three nights waiting for her mistress, Ninshubur follows the commands Inanna gave her, goes to Inanna's father-god Enki for help, and receives two `galla', two transgender beings created "neither male nor female", to aid her in returning Inanna to the earth. The galla enter the underworld “like flies” and, following Enki's specific instructions, attach themselves closely to Ereshkigal. The Queen of the Dead is seen in distress:

No linen was spread over her body Her breasts were uncovered Her hair swirled around her head like leeks. (Wolkstein and Kramer, 63-66)

The poem continues to describe the queen experiencing the pains of labor. The galla sympathize with the queen's pains and she, in gratitude, offers them whatever gift they ask for. As ordered by Enki, the galla respond, “We wish only the corpse that hangs from the hook on the wall” (Wolkstein and Kramer, 67) and Ereshkigal gives it to them. The galla revive Inanna with the food and water of life and she rises from the dead.

As in the Greek myth of Demeter and Persephone, however, one who has sojourned in the underworld cannot just leave it so easily. Someone must be found to take Inanna's place and so the galla demons of the underworld accompany her up to the earth's surface to claim her substitute. The demons try to take Ninshubur first, then Inanna's sons Shara and Lulal and even Inanna's beautician Cara but, in all these instances, Inanna prevents them because Ninshubur, Shara, Lulal and Cara are all dressed in sackcloth and are in mourning for her apparent death.

When Inanna comes upon her lover Dumuzi, however, and finds him “dressed in his shining…garments…on his magnificent throne” she becomes enraged that he, unlike the others, is not mourning her and orders the demons to seize him. Dumuzi appeals to the sun god Utu for help and is transformed into a snake in order to escape but, eventually, is caught and carried away to the underworld. Dumuzi's sister, Geshtinanna, volunteers herself to go in his place and so it is decreed that Dumuzi will spend half the year in the underworld and Geshtinanna the other half. In this way, as, again with the myth of Demeter and Persephone, the seasons were explained. Yet why so elaborate a myth simply to explain the seasons? The Greek tale of Persephone (though, also, about much more than seasonal change) accomplishes the same end more succinctly.

Continue reading...

[bye-bye-bees]

I dunno what Ninshubur and Mab are on about. It only gave me a bit of a headache.

[loxosceleslolo]

HERE THERE BE MILD SHADOW OF THE ERDTREE SPOILERS SO IF YOU FORGOT TO FILTER OUT THE SHADOW OF THE ERDTREE TAG TURN BACK NOW OR FOREVER HOLD YOUR PEACE

“From the great heaven she set her mind on the great below. From the great heaven the goddess set her mind on the great below. From the great heaven Inanna set her mind on the great below. My mistress abandoned heaven, abandoned earth, and descended to the underworld. Inanna abandoned heaven, abandoned earth, and descended to the underworld.”

Here I am with some Elden Ring musings that I am not about to post on Reddit because I learned my lesson last time (I made a post regarding the first DLC trailer's use of the word "shrive" and 90% of the replies were dudes being like "well no shit they used an old word for the dialogue" which was not even the point but anyway)

We're probably not going to see or learn anything about the Gloam-Eyed Queen, but the more I think about her the more I'm reminded of an old Sumerian myth.

The Cliff's Notes version goes like this:

Once upon a time, there were two sister goddesses: Inanna the Queen of Heaven, and Ereshkigal the Queen of the Dead.

Ereshkigal was recently widowed, so Inanna journeyed to the underworld to attend the funeral (or, in some tellings, to expand her own power). At each of its seven gates, she was made to remove an article of clothing. By the time Inanna reached her sister's throne she was naked and laid low.

Ereshkigal overpowered her sister, killing her and hanging the corpse from a hook. (In some tellings, Inanna is flayed).

When Inanna did not return at the expected time, her servant Ninshubur went to the god Enki for help.

Enki sent a pair of servants to rescue Inanna, but she couldn't leave the Underworld as easily as she entered it.

Inanna would have to find a substitute if she wanted to leave. As her followers were mourning her "death", she would not take any of them.

Her husband Dumuzid, however, was found clad in magnificent garments and lounging on a throne, clearly unbothered by his wife's supposed death.

So it was he that was taken to the Underworld to take Inanna's place.

I hesitate to say that the story of Inanna's descent might have inspired Miquella’s character arc because a lot of lorehounds will immediately jump in and insist that a 1:1 retelling of the myth is taking place--and that's not what I'm saying.

I'm saying that there are some clear parallels between the myth and what we know about Miquella’s arc and it's enough to make me think that the latter drew inspiration from the former.

The Land of Shadows is a place where all manner of death washes up.

Miquella had to shed everything that he is to go there. Furthermore, there are six or seven points between where we enter the Land of Shadows and the Gate of Divinity where Miquella has given up parts of his body. (Don’t ask me how it works I have no idea)

I think it's safe to assume that Miquella may well be naked and laid low when we finally find him. He may even be a corpse!

Are we to be Miquella’s rescuers or his get out of Hell free card, I wonder...

[comparativetarot]

Boat of Heaven. Art by Rubi Do Trinh, from the Star of Inanna Tarot.

𒐌 Boat of Heaven 𒈣𒀭𒈾 For this card we decided to use the same myth as the one we used for Wisdom (The Hierophant) but a later scene. In the card, Enki gives Inanna the Me, which are divine gifts which create civilization and humanity. Some examples of Me are: Music, Weapons, Truth, Fear, Sex, Prostitution, Art, Law, Lamentations, Rejoicing, Scribeship, Metalworking and many more. After the fact, however, Enki seems to regret it and actually sends out a variety of monsters to stop Inanna from leaving with them, as he was entrusted with the Me by Enlil. Inanna, on her quest to becoming Queen of Heaven, accepts the Me and refuses to give them back. She rides the Boat of Heaven back towards Uruk, which is where her temple and people are, because the real reason she took the Me was to share them with us. This is the scene we see in this card. She is completely in control & focused on her destination. Not even magical monsters can stop her. Inanna is not worried by his attempts, because she knows that she has the Power to move towards her Truth. Plus, her vizier and friend Ninshubur helps to defeat the monsters every time Enki sends them, as we see here. What ends up happening in the myth is that more Me that weren’t there began to manifest once she achieves her goal of sharing the Me with humanity, an example of how one can manifest the unexpected if we follow our truth. This is a core aspect of this archetype. We decided to change the name of this card to Boat of Heaven because that is what she rides in this myth, where, in our opinion, she aligns with this archetype the most. The Cuneiform is: 𒈣𒀭𒈾 “Ma2” boat + An-na  “of heaven”.

[yamayuandadu]

New Ninshubur myth (sort of)

Kamran V. Zand's article Mesopotamia and the East: The Perspective from the Literary Texts from Fāra and Tell Abū Ṣalābīḫ is interesting in general but it caught my attention first and foremost because it adds another myth to the repertoire of literary texts in which Ninshubur appears. The composition in mention is an example of UD.GAL.NUN, a notoriously difficult to decipher form of cryptography used in the Early Dynastic period for uncertain reasons. The plot is not particularly complex: the gods gather and decide to entrust Utu with traveling to a variety of places outside Mesopotamia to bring various wares, animals and in some cases deities from over there. The very first journey described involves bringing Ninshubur from her original residence, the "mountain lands of Subartu" (kur šubur). Technically this doesn't say much that we wouldn't know already - Ninshubur's association with Subartu is reflected by her very name - but as far as I am aware this is the only literary text to explicitly depict her as a former resident of a foreign land brought to Mesopotamia. Interestingly, the same myth also states that Utu's wife Sherida (better known under her Akkadian name Aya, though Sherida might ultimately be an Akkadian loanword in Sumerian too) was brought to Mesopotamia from the west ("Amurru"). As far as I am aware this is the closest to an origin myth she has.

[lostpeace]

Inanna.

Took me a very long while to settle on a design that I liked for her, but finally I think I got it.

[artifacts-archive]

Male Worshiper

Sumerian, 2500-2250 BCE (Early Dynastic IIIb)

The shaven head, a sign of ritual purity, may identify this figure as a priest. A partially preserved inscription on one shoulder states that he prays to Ninshubur, the goddess associated with the planet Mercury.

[babyrdie]

Remembering when I read Adriano Scandolara's translation of the Sumerian version of Descent of Inanna into the Underworld. The experience was a mix of fascination with the mythological elements (the whole scene of Inanna [in Akkadian it's Ishtar] adorning herself and then having to take off her adornments. The way her body is hung) and a bit of humor, probably unintentional, when seeing how Inanna had to trade her place in the Kur/Ersetu with someone else and as soon as she saw Dumuzid (also know as Tamuz, If i'm not mistaken), her husband, sitting on her throne Inanna was absolutely sure who she was going to use to do this lol. Inanna refused to use her servant Ninshubur because she recognizes that Ninshubur was loyal to her and valued that, but she was 100% willing to give up her husband after she saw him taking advantage of her absence to sit on her throne. She's not taking shit and she's making that clear, I'd say.

[thylionheart]

Yes, yes the Achilles-Patroclus archetype as a twin/brother/lover symbol of Venus, each either the falling or rising star. One who dies before their time as the other is deified (or gives up their divinity to save their brother). BUT have we considered the hero-brother who dies prematurely as an ATTENDANT DIETY archetype. The closest being in Mesopotamian mythos to a deity besides their spouse- sometimes listed higher than their spouse, who is their “pure brother,” travel companion, who walks before them and protects them. Like Inanna’s attendant Ninshubur going down to the Netherworld to save her and protect her as they journey back out. wow

I’m on galaxy-brain hyperfixation Wikipedia rabbit hole 25 tabs open hyperfixation mode and I desperately need to eat s omething for lunch

[forgedivinity]

Best girl update because I decided I was gonna add Artio last night and I didn’t wanna leave her out <3

[thescarlettbitch]

Mesopotamian Pantheon Explained

Hello! My name is Red, I am a devotee of the Mesopotamian Goddess Inanna, and it makes me sad to see that not a lot of people know about her, let alone the rest of her pantheon, so I thought I'd make a post about everyone, or at least, everyone I can. I've made a masterpost about her, and I really enjoyed it, as it gave me an "excuse" to learn about her, and this is the same. In this post I will be naming the gods and their domains and their relations with each other. If prompted, I would love to do a deep dive on every deity in this pantheon I can. Unfortunately, there are over a thousand deities across all Mesopotamian cultures, so this is by no means a complete list or anything similar.

So, first, what is Mesopotamia? Mesopotamia means "land between the rivers", the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, and it is the term to define the whole region and the various cultures that lived there. This includes Sumer, Akkadia, and Babylon. Despite culture being different, they shared similarities in written language, religion, and attitude towards women. The gods may have had different names at different points, but they were the same deity to all, often referred to interchangeably. This region gave birth to about 50 firsts of man.

But, on to the Gods!

The first thing to know about the Pantheon and how people worked with them, is that mortals believed them to be coworkers with the deities, and that they worked together to maintain order. (*edit: this fact is disputed, the idea that humans were seen mostly as servants seems to be more popular*) Due to differences in cultures, each civilization viewed the deities differently, so Marduk might have been king of the Gods in Babylon, Enlil was king of the Gods in Sumer. The heavenly Gods were referred to as Igigi, and occasionally Anunnaki, though in some sources Anunnaki was the older or "major" Gods, and the Igigi were the lower ranking Gods.

We are going to start with the Seven Divine Powers, the oldest Sumerian deities. (*edit: largely thought to have been manufactured later in history*)

Anu - sky god

Enki - god of wisdom

Enlil - lord of the air, sumerian king of the Gods.

Inanna - goddess of love, fertility, and war, queen of the heavens

Nanna - goddess of the moon

Ninhursag - mother goddess

Utu/Shamash - god of the sun

Other popular deities include

Assur/Ashur - supreme god of the Assyrians

Ereshkigal - goddess of the underworld

Gula - goddess of health and healing

Marduk - babylonian king of the gods

Nabu - god of writing

Nanshe - goddess of social justice

Nergal - god of war

Ninkasi - goddess of beer and brewing

Nisaba - goddess of agriculture, turned to writing and accounts

Dumuzid/Tammuz - god of shepherds

Enkimdu - god of farmers, seen as the personification of the irrigation system

Geshtinanna - goddess of scribal arts and dream interpretation (theorized)

Bau - mother goddess, healing

Ishkur - god of storms and rain

Ištaran - god of divine justice

Nanaya - goddess of love

Nanshe - goddess of divination

Ninazu - associated with the underworld, though his role is disputed

Ninlil - wife of Enlil, thought to be "artificially created" as Enlil's equal

Ninshubur - god(dess) attendant of Inanna (in some sources she is masculine, and others feminine)

Zababa - war god

Alammush - god attendant of Nanna

Sherida - goddess of dawn

Apsu - primeval freshwater

Tiamat - primeval sea

Creation-

The Mesopotamians had many different tellings of the creation of the world, most likely due to the cultural differences. Atra-Hasis, Eridu Genesis, and Enuma Elish are the most common, as we have physical copies of them today. They, among other sources, depict a different family tree, but with key similarities.

Atra-Hasis: Anu, Enlil, and Enki cast lots to determine who rules what. Anu the sky, Enlil the earth, and Enki the sea. Enlil assigned minor gods to farm, but after many years the minor divines refused. Enki suggested to make humans to do the labor. Mother goddess Mami fashions humans out of clay, flesh, and blood of a slain god, and all the gods spit on the clay. After ten months, humans emerged from a specifically made womb. After many years, humans have overpopulated, so Enlil sends famine and drought every 1200 years. Enlil decides to destroy humanity by flood. Enki goes to hero Atra-Hasis and tells him of the plan, instructing him to demolish his house and build a boat. He does, and he brings his family and his animals and seals the door. When the flood comes it stays for seven days and even the gods are afraid. It ends and Enlil is furious with Enki for breaking the vow of silence but eventually the two agree to find other means of controlling the human population.

Eridu Genesis: the beginning of this has been lost to time. The surviving portion starts with Nintur, the goddess who birthed humanity, where she calls for them to he sedentary and civilized. Then more is missing. It resumes with humanity still being nomadic and barbaric. Nintur is stilling planning to provide kingship to the mortals. Then cities emerge, are named, and become distributional economies. Humans begin to annoy the gods, Enlil was unable to sleep, and made the brash decision to destroy humanity with a flood. Enki tells Ziusudra, a human, and tells him to build a boat to save himself and one couple of every animal. Ziusudra does as he is told and the flood comes. Humanity survives, but the rest is lost to time.

Enuma Elish: at the beginning, Apsu and Tiamet existed, co-mingled. From them came Lahmu and Lahamu. Then Anshar and Kishar, and from Anshar came the god Anu and from Anu came Nudimmumd/Ea. These new gods made noise that annoyed Apsu, who called to Mummu to speak with Tiamat, who proposed to destroy them, but Tiamat was reluctant. Mummu advised Apsu to destroy them. The new gods were worried, but Ea crafted a spell to lull Apsu to sleep. Mummu couldn't wake him. Ea took the halo from Apsu and wore it, slew Apsu and chained Mummu, living in Apsu with his wife, Damkina. Together, in Apsu, they created Marduk. Other gods made fun of Tiamat for not doing anything as Apsu was killed. Tiamat made monsters to fight the gods, eleven chimeric monsters with weapons, lead by her new consort Kingu, and gave him the tablets of destinies. Ea heard of the plan and went to his grandfather Anshar, who proposed Marduk as their champion. Marduk said he would win against Tiamat but that he would need to be king of the Gods if he did so. The others were wary but eventually relented. Marduk was given a throne and many supplies to fight Tiamat. He won and split her body in two, fashioning the sky from one half, places for Anu, Enlil, and Ea in it. He made likenesses of the gods in the stars, and from that he made the days of the year. He made night and day and the moon, he made storms and wind and rain, and gave the tablet of destinies to Anu. Marduk told Ea that he was going to use his blood to create man to serve the Gods, but Ea said that another should be chosen as sacrifice. Kingu was chosen, so man was made using his blood.

So... where do these other gods fit into the family tree?

Great question.

An and Ki had Enlil and Enki.

Enlil and Ninlil had Nanna, Nergal, Ninazu, and Enbilulu.

Enlil and Ninhursag had Ninurta.

Nanna and Ningal (in some sources) had Ereshkigal, Inanna, and Utu. In other sources, Enlil, An, or Enki were their parents.

Ereshkigal and Anu had Nungal.

Ereshkigal and Gugalanna had Ninazu. In other sources, Enlil and Ninlil, or Nanna were his parents.

Utu and Aya had Mamu, Kittum, Ishum, and Sisig.

Enki and Duttur had Dumuzid and Geshtinanna.

Either Sin, Urash, or Anu, and Inanna, had Nanaya.

Dumuzid and Inanna were married, but bore no children together.

Thank you for reading this major info-dump and lmk if you guys want any specifics or deep dives on someone! <3