#Nisaba

[whencyclopedia]

Mesopotamian Goddesses

Mesopotamian goddesses are among the oldest in the world. Inanna is commonly referenced as the most ancient goddess, first worshipped during the Uruk Period (4100-2900 BCE). Veneration of Inanna and the others developed throughout the Early Dynastic Period (2900-2334 BCE) and Akkadian Period (2334-2218 BCE) and continued through the fall of the Neo-Assyrian Empire in 612 BCE.

Continue reading...

#History #Tiamat #Sauska #Nisaba

[sag-dab-sar]

Education & Goals Shrine October 16 2023

Ares, Ninĝirsu, Geštug Nisaba, Nabû, and Athena Ergane.

This use to be where my Oikos shrine was but my room has changed a lot and I also needed space on my book case. So I moved it here, the shelf of my desk. Seems an appropriate spot.

The blue thing in my M.A, behind it is my B.S, and behind that is my HS Diploma. I've been wanting to hang them but I'm not sure where

#polytheism #paganism #shrine #altar #helpol #hellenic polytheism #levpag #polytheist #wish i could get rid of that white wire but i cant #ares #Ninĝirsu #nisaba #geštug nisaba #athena #athena ergane #education #goals #izkurereshkigal altars

[bluestarlights]

me and my friend's got too full so have these Alex's I managed to draw while it wasn't severely lagging my phone ajshajsh

ft. a concept sneak peek of his vol 3 design :D

I've also got one more doodle but be warned, for there be boobs behind the curtain

local Mesopotamian baby gay sees goddess gf's boobs for the first time

#honestly these have been really fun to do #and they've helped me improve my anatomy :] #Star's art tag #Star's OCs #Alex O'Neill #Nejmah #Nisaba

[mastabas-and-mushussu]

Since Tumblr is for being an unhinged nerd, I'm going to throw ideas at the wall for my own pagan practice and let y'all listen.

Since there is only a certain level of historical accuracy achievable, at the mercy of the Changing Times (living alone in an apartment with no city temple available) and also Information Scarcity (I do not have access to academic journals about cultus relating to my gods), I am in a constant state of both Learning and Grafting Ideas On that I think are suitable and a bit fun.

I'm mostly interested in Nisaba, mother of scribes, generally wonderful and awesome and partially represented by the literal written word itself.

I am also an extreme Elder Scrolls nerd and the dragon language/Way of the Voice has my attention for obvious reasons. It's obviously rooted in some other concepts (Buddhism maybe? not my area) but worship of language through language is exactly my idea of a good time. Meditating on the importance of words and where they come from, what they mean, why they mean that- that mostly comes down to etymology, but part of me is doing that 24/7 anyway. Silence as a form of worship also interests me. Like fasting from words, emphasizing the importance of them by experiencing their lack. Or, in the case of the Greybeards, only speaking when there is no other choice.

It's part of why I'm motivated to learn ASL, though that's a whole other rant. Suffice it to say that ASL doesn't work to enable someone who's selectively mute if nobody around understands it anyway.

I'm not entirely sure how practical a vow of silence is though, even if I'd just do it for a week or something. Everything everywhere requires speech, from dealing with managers and customers to apologizing for bumping someone in the hall. From what little I know, fasting rules say that you can eat/drink for health and emergency reasons, but what about words? Part of it, I think, is I'm afraid of being so weird that I get fired or excluded from things on sight. Which is hilarious considering how weird I already am.

I want to try some sort of Way Of The Voice mindfulness/silence thing for Nisaba, but the silence part in particular is driving me crazy. It's not supposed to be easy, but there are reasonable limits to "not easy" too, I think. Problem is the only time I actually speak with my mouth is in a drive-through or at work anyway. Maybe social media restriction???

Eh. Have a ramble. Anyone else tried using silence in worship?

#pagan #nisaba

[whencyclopedes]

Nisaba

Nisaba (también Naga, Se-Naga, Nissaba, Nidaba; está asociada con Nanibgal) es la diosa sumeria de la escritura y los relatos y es la escriba de los dioses. Aunque se suele decir que su nombre es Nidaba, el destacado erudito Jeremy Black señala que "Nisaba o Nissaba parece ser una opción más correcta que Nidaba" (Dioses, 143).

Sigue leyendo...

#Historia #Nisaba #Nabu #Cuneiforme

[ishmazgo777]

Mesopotamian deities headcanons!

#mesopotamia #art #nergal #ninurta #nanaya #nisaba

[whencyclopedfr]

Scribes dans l'Ancienne Mésopotamie

Dans l'ancienne Mésopotamie, les scribes étaient des personnes hautement qualifiées, formées à l'écriture et à la lecture de sujets divers. Au départ, leur but était d'enregistrer les transactions financières dans le cadre du commerce, mais avec le temps, ils ont fait partie intégrante de tous les aspects de la vie quotidienne, du palais et du temple au modeste village ou à la ferme. En définitive, ils ont créé ce que l'on appelle aujourd'hui l'histoire.

Lire la suite...

#Nisaba #Mésopotamie #Littérature

[adamantinetower]

Can't stop thinking about lana beniko and my sith warrior. They are very in love. I need to make them more toxic tho.

#whats the point of two dark sider ladies being in love if it isnt at least a little fucked up? #swtor #lana beniko #nisaba ure

[india-times]

Godrej group marks entry into lending business with Godrej Capital

MUMBAI : The 125-year-old Godrej group has entered into the lending business launching its unit Godrej Capital Limited, which will be a subsidiary of Godrej Industries Limited.  

Godrej Capital will be the holding entity for Godrej Housing Finance and Godrej Finance Limited, its non-banking financial company (NBFC), Godrej group said in a statement. 

Godrej Finance held a NBFC licence since 1998, when it was known as Ensemble Holdings and Finance; however, it has never been active in the lending space. 

Godrej Industries has now committed to invest Rs 1,500 crore in capital in Godrej Capital. With its retail financial services business, the $4.1 billion conglomerate group has a near-term aim to build Rs 30,000 crore balance sheet by 2026, the statement further said. 

Godrej Capital currently has its footprint across Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi NCR, Ahmedabad, and Pune and will soon be operational in six new cities, i.e., Jaipur, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Chennai, Indore and Surat. 

“Godrej Capital will form a key pillar in the overall growth of the Godrej Group. We started with home loans in select geographies in 2020. Having seen strong customer acceptance of our offering, we are very optimistic about the prospects of our financial services venture and will be entering new markets and enhancing our reach across key target sectors and consumer segments,” said Pirojsha Godrej, Chairman, Godrej Capital. 

The company will continue to focus on growing its secured loan book consisting of home loans and loans against property (LAP) and  is positioned to diversify into other customer segments and products. Additionally, the business aims to grow its team by 50% to approximately 500 people in this financial year to aid geographical expansion. 

“We have successfully implemented a digital-first approach at Godrej Housing Finance through innovative products such as Design Your EMI and end-to-end contactless solutions delivered digitally. This has inspired us to grow our footprint and to broaden our service offerings to different customer segments through affordable housing loans and unsecured loans. We envision Godrej Capital becoming a new- age, leading retail financial services institution in the years ahead,” said Manish Shah, MD & CEO, Godrej Capital.

In October 2020, the group launched Godrej Housing Finance, which offers mortgage loans of Rs 40 lakh to Rs 1 crore, but only for customers of Godrej Properties. Its capital adequacy ratio stood at 21.8% as of March 2021, and had a loan book of Rs 1,001 crore as of December 2021. 

Last year in July, following a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) approval, group holding company Godrej Industries transferred its stakes in its units Godrej Housing Finance and Godrej Finance to Godrej Capital (another subsidiary earlier called Pyxis Holdings), making it the group’s financial holding company.

According to data from the ministry of corporate affairs, Godrej Finance has been engaged in investment and other NBFC activities. Investment activities include dealing in listed and unlisted securities and holding 0.6% of Godrej Properties, it said. 

Godrej Industries had signalled its ambition in the finance business last year itself. “The company is looking at expanding and diversifying its business activities. It believes there is a strong potential for housing finance and non-banking finance business in our country with a decent return on investments. The housing finance business in India has been growing at a steady pace. GHFL has recently obtained a licence to operate as a housing finance company and has commenced operations. Looking at the opportunity in the housing finance sector and NBFC business, it is proposed to nurture the finance business under the company’s umbrella, being the flagship firm of the group,” it wrote to stock exchanges on 24 August.

 The Godrej group was founded in 1897 when brothers Ardeshir and Pirojsha Godrej opened a lock-making company in Mumbai after failing in earlier ventures. It has since emerged as a global conglomerate. 

The group has been going through an ownership shake-up after a family feud cropped up between the two brothers, resulting in the division of the group’s businesses among the next generation of the family. 

The group is led by veteran industrialist Adi Godrej (79) as chairman. His brother Nadir Godrej is chairman of Godrej Industries and Godrej Agrovet. Their cousin Jamshyd N. Godrej is chairman of Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Co. Ltd, whose assets include largely undeveloped land across Mumbai. 

Adi’s son Pirojsha runs the listed Godrej Properties, which is developing some of the land owned by Godrej & Boyce, along with other projects across Mumbai. Adi’s youngest daughter, Nisaba, is chair and managing director of Godrej Consumer Products Ltd. Adi’s other daughter, Tanya, is executive director and chief brand officer of Godrej Industries.

#Godrej #lending business #NBFC #non-banking financial company #Godrej Finance #loans #Godrej Housing #Finance consumer lending #Pirojsha Godrej #Nisaba Godrej #Adi Godrej

[ramonag-if]

Patreon Side Stories (March 2024) - Crown of Exile

Hello everyone! The side stories featuring RO perspectives are now ready to read for Patrons and feature events of early Chapter 9. If you're interested in learning more about the characters, consider supporting me on Patreon to get side stories featuring the perspectives of the ROs and the MC's family.

For more information about the side stories, check out the excerpts below!

An Unwanted Reunion is a Zikar side story available for Cyre Tier Patrons and up.

Excerpt: Zikar had decided he loathed the sea. The never-ending taste of salt, the swaying of the barge and knowing there was nowhere to escape from Nisaba’s constant wailing had left Zikar grateful for the sight of land. He dared not show any excitement at the thought of seeing his cousin again. After all, Baba was still grieving and Ama could only speak about her life in Ishari before the war. The docks came into view and Zikar let out a breath. He was sore and the familiar prickle in the back of his eyes told him that it was only a matter of time before his exhaustion was forgotten in favour of his sorrow, but for a moment, he allowed himself to imagine a life where he was not still mourning his mother. “Zikar, come and help. You will have time to explore the city later.” It was Ama. Zikar made a face before reluctantly joining the frail woman. She had lost weight since his mother had died and a pang of guilt twisted in his gut. Everyone was exhausted. His father was almost silent on most days, busying himself with Nisaba and Ama refused to allow herself to cry. Zikar’s inspection of his grandmother was interrupted as he was passed a crate with their meagre belongings. Ama had sold off the supplies that would not have lasted and the aunties from the street had promised to take care of the shop and house in Aspal. All that was left were a few sets of clothes, knitted blankets for Nisaba and some of his mother’s jewellery that his father could not part with.

A King's Decision is a Prince Irus side story available for Cyre Tier Patrons and up.

Excerpt: The unpleasant stab of guilt made Irus swallow a shuddering breath. He knew far too well what had to be done to secure his throne for seeking alliances was the only way he would ever defeat his uncle. His blue eyes shifted to the back of Ellie’s head. She was walking ahead of him, her voice low as she spoke in fervent whispers to Sir Oren. Vinia was under the threat of his uncle and the Blood Guard. It was a stark reminder of the precarious situation Irus found himself in, torn between throwing away his goals in favour of helping Ellie and ignoring the plight of Vinia because he knew that his duties demanded it of him. But the decision had already been made. It had been made when Irus sat in the small chamber, listening to Lord Redall and the High Priestess speak. He knew it when he saw your family outside in the courtyard. There was no escaping the Blood Guard or his uncle and the only way to defeat the threat of more bloodshed was through an alliance with the same people who nearly killed him at sea. A breath left Irus and he rubbed his face, suddenly tired and aching. He wanted nothing more than to find a cot where he could sleep for an eternity. Not for the first time, Irus cursed at his father for bestowing this fate upon him. Being named an heir had only taken him away from the life that once was easy. There had been no threats then, no bloodshed and certainly no writhing guilt.

The Pull of the Tides is an Anu side story. It is available to Vinia and Ishari Tier Patrons.

Excerpt: Anu knew that the war was soon upon her. She could taste in the air, the nervousness that cloyed at the priestesses and hushed the warriors. Returning to Urur was familiar and strange. She breathed in the familiar scents and listened to the voices she knew so well and yet, nothing could have prepared Anu for the unease that slowly began to form in her gut. She had never left Ishari before, not for the war and not out of curiosity. Everything and everyone she had ever loved was in Ishari. But as she gazed at the sea, her strides faltered and she found herself gripped with a sense of panic. She had seen much beyond the borders of Urur and despite her great dislike for Dena and the pomp of the nobles in the Southern Islands, Anu could not deny that venturing from home had been a welcome reprieve. “You have been quiet since your return.” Anu’s grey eyes lifted from the sea and she turned towards Sargon. The retired warrior watched her with an all too knowing look, sending a sliver of embarrassment through Anu. She shook her head, feeling the uneven strands of her hair curling against her shoulders. A frown tugged at her mouth. How long had it been since she cut her hair?

A Queen's Indecision is a Queen Elora side story available for Ishari Tier Patrons.

Excerpt: The saccharine honey in Elora’s tea could not hide the bitterness that lingered in the back of her throat. Her fingers tightened around the clay of her cup as she stared at the missive before her. Redall had brought back even more worrying news from her mother and Elora was beginning to think that leaving Vinia had been a grave mistake. A kingdom could not function without its queen. Without Elora, the courtiers and nobles had fallen into a bickering group. It would not take too long for half of them to be swayed to Virion’s cause and the other to abandon Elora in favour of protecting themselves. A frown pulled at the corners of her lips and she reached out to massage her temple. Leaving Ishari meant that she could not accompany Iri to the Nomad Tribes. It meant that she would have to find a way to eradicate the threat of the Blood Guard in Vinia without compromising the safety of her people. A sigh escaped Elora and she turned away from the elegant writing of her mother’s letter. “Have you decided then?”

The Promise of Love is a Sir Oren side story available for Ishari Tier Patrons.

Excerpt: Oren paced along the courtyard. His boots were heavy, causing the shift of sand beneath them to shift and hiss with each step he took. Above him, the stars mocked him, for they seemed perfect despite the tension in the air. Grunting, Oren rubbed his eyes and stared at the faint glimmer of the lanterns near the docks. Redall’s barge sat proudly and beside it was Her Majesty’s warship. Going into battle meant that there would be little time to prepare. The journey to Vinia would take at least a fortnight if the seas were agreeable and the winds allowed them a swift pace. For weeks since the Blood Guard arrived in the banquet, Oren had found himself training until his palms were rough with callouses and his shoulders trembled with fatigue. He could not let the Blood Guard destroy Vinia, not where his family lived and not where innocents could be harmed. The decision that Her Majesty had taken was the right one, but Oren could not deny the thought of leaving without you left a sour taste in the back of his mouth. He had his duties to his queen and you had chosen to follow His Highness. “You look worried, Oren,” Redall remarked as he joined the captain. “I do not think I have ever seen you this agitated before.”

Read the full stories by becoming a Patron. You will also get exclusive sneak peeks, weekly updates and more!

#crown of exile #side stories #zikar #princeirus #queenelora #siroren #anu #patreon only #bonus stories

[talonabraxas]

Gilgamesh standing at the edge of the Universe

Known to be the oldest epic to be written down c. 1,800 B.C., but having existed through an oral tradition since at least c. 2,100 B.C. It's the ancient epic of Mesopotamia, and it covers a number of timeless subjects, with one of the most significant being a quest for immortality during the latter half of the story.

The following excerpt, however, is from the beginning of the epic. It recounts the "birth" of Enkidu, created initially as a measure against Gilgamesh, the king of Uruk, who was peerless in strength and a tyrant of his domain.

—————

"The gods heard their lament, the gods of heaven cried to the Lord of Uruk, to Anu the god of Uruk: 'A goddess made him, strong as a savage bull, none can withstand his arms. No son is left with his father, for Gilgamesh takes them all; and is this the king, the shepherd of his people? His lust leaves no virgin to her lover, neither the warrior's daughter nor the wife of the noble.' When Anu had heard their lamentation the gods cried to Aruru, the goddess of creation, 'You made him, O Aruru; now create his equal; let it be as like him as his own reflection, his second self; stormy heart for stormy heart. Let them contend together and leave Uruk in quiet.'

"So the goddess conceived an image in her mind, and it was of the stuff of Anu of the firmament. She dipped her hands in water and pinched off clay, she let it fall in the wilderness, and noble Enkidu was created. There was virtue in him of the god of war, of Ninurta himself. His body was rough, he had long hair like a woman's; it waved like the hair of Nisaba, the goddess of corn. His body was covered with matted hair like Samugan's, the god of cattle. He was innocent of mankind; he knew nothing of the cultivated land.

"Enkidu ate grass in the hills with the gazelle and lurked with wild beasts at the water-holes; he had joy of the water with the herds of wild game. But there was a trapper who met him one day face to face at the drinking-hole, for the wild game had entered his territory. On three days he met him face to face, and the trapper was frozen with fear. He went back to his house with the game that he had caught, and he was dumb, benumbed with terror. His face was altered like that of one who has made a long journey. With awe in his heart he spoke to his father: 'Father, there is a man, unlike any other, who comes down from the hills. He is the strongest in the world, he is like an immortal from heaven. He ranges over the hills with wild beasts and eats grass; the ranges through your land and comes down to the wells. I am afraid and dare not go near him. He fills in the pits which I dig and tears up-my traps set for the game; he helps the beasts to escape and now they slip through my fingers.'

"His father opened his mouth and said to the trapper, 'My son, in Uruk lives Gilgamesh; no one has ever prevailed against him, he is strong as a star from heaven. Go to Uruk, find Gilgamesh, extol the strength of this wild man. Ask him to give you a harlot, a wanton from the temple of love; return with her, and let her woman's power overpower this man. When next he comes down to drink at the wells she will be there, stripped naked; and when he sees her beckoning he will embrace her, and then the wild beasts will reject him.'

"So the trapper set out on his journey to Uruk and addressed himself to Gilgamesh saying, 'A man unlike any other is roaming now in the pastures; he is as strong as a star from heaven and I am afraid to approach him. He helps the wild game to escape; he fills in my pits and pulls up my traps.' Gilgamesh said, 'Trapper, go back, take with you a harlot, a child of pleasure. At the drinking hole she will strip, and when, he sees her beckoning he will embrace her and the game of the wilderness will surely reject him.'

"Now the trapper returned, taking the harlot with him. After a three days' journey they came to the drinking hole, and there they sat down; the harlot and the trapper sat . facing one another and waited for the game to come. For the first day and for the second day the two sat waiting, but on the third day the herds came; they came down to drink and Enkidu was with them. The small wild creatures of the plains were glad of the water, and Enkidu with them, who ate grass with the gazelle and was born in the hills; and she saw him, the savage man, come from far-off in the hills. The trapper spoke to her: 'There he is. Now, woman, make your breasts bare, have no shame, do not delay but welcome his love. Let him see you naked, let him possess your body. When he comes near uncover yourself and lie with him; teach him, the savage man, your woman's art, for when he murmurs love to you the wild' beasts that shared his life in the hills will reject him.'

"She was not ashamed to take him, she made herself naked and welcomed his eagerness; as he lay on her murmuring love she taught him the woman's art For six days and seven nights they lay together, for Enkidu had forgotten his home in the hills; but when he was satisfied he went back to the wild beasts. Then, when the gazelle saw him, they bolted away; when the wild creatures saw him they fled. Enkidu would have followed, but his body was bound as though with a cord, his knees gave way when he started to run, his swiftness was gone. And now the wild creatures had all fled away; Enkidu was grown weak, for wisdom was in him, and the thoughts of a man were in his heart." —on the creation and taming of Enkidu, from the 1960 N. K. Sandars' prose translation of THE EPIC OF GILGAMESH (c. Middle Bronze Age)

The featured cover is of the Penguin Books edition (1960)

[whencyclopedia]

Scribes in Ancient Mesopotamia

Scribes in ancient Mesopotamia were highly educated individuals trained in writing and reading on diverse subjects. Initially, their purpose was in recording financial transactions through trade, but in time, they were integral to every aspect of daily life from the palace and temple to the modest village or farm. Eventually, they created what is now known as history.

Sumerian Scribe

Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin (CC BY-SA)

Continue reading...

#Nisaba #Mesopotamia #Literature

[sag-dab-sar]

Me: Gunida Nisaba is the beautiful bountiful grain of our world 🥰 I love my Gods so much

Also me: Gluten is evil and can go die in a ditch

#nisaba

[kevkebus-subh]

Hz. Gazzâlî Kaddesallāhu sırrahu, Musul’da bulunan İbn Selâme’ye yazdığı bir mektupta şöyle yazdı:

“Öğüt [vaaz] vermeye gelince ben kendimi buna ehil görmüyorum. Çünkü bir kimse önce kendisi öğüt tutmalı ve öğüt tuttukları belli bir nisaba [miktara] ulaştıktan sonra bunun zekatı olarak başkasına öğüt vermelidir. Yanında nisap miktarı mal olmayan biri, nasıl zekat versin? Elbiseye sahip olmayan biri başkasını nasıl giyindirsin? Çubuk eğri olursa gölgesi düz olur mu? Allah Hz. İsa’ya şöyle vahyetti: Önce kendin öğüt tut, kendin öğüt tutarsan, başkasına da öğüt ver. Kendin öğüt tutmamışken başkalarına öğüt verecek olursan benden utan! [Sübkî, Tabakâtu’ş-Şâfiiyyeti’l-kübrâ]

#@BayderOsman #alıntı

[yamayuandadu]

hello and thanks for all the information on your blog! i'm hoping you can provide some insight on this. were there any similarities left between the early cult of inanna from the "hymns to inanna", and the cult of ishtar in the neo-babylonian empire? people say the cult of ishtar came from the cult of inanna, but after many centuries, has the cult retained any of its previous characteristics?

With all due respect: please ask more precise questions about Inanna. I already requested that a few times before. There’s no viable way to give you a comprehensive response when the question is basically about critical evaluation of 4000 years worth of incredibly abundant material. My advice for anyone with similar questions would be to read Goddesses in Context as it addresses many similar matters. The short answer is that there is no real doubt about the continuity of cult of the city goddess of Uruk, whether referred to as Inanna, Ishtar, Nin-Eanna, Belet-Eanna or any variant name, from the fourth millennium BCE (the dawn of recorded history) down to the Parthian period (the end of cuneiform). See Paul-Alain Beaulieu's The Pantheon of Uruk During the Neo-Babylonian Period for some discussion.

More detailed response almost entirely relying on these two easily accessible sources under the cut.

I will admit I am puzzled by a part of the ask. There’s no singular work known as "hymns to inanna". I don't quite understand what you mean here. I can’t think of a single early corpus of hymns that might be meant here. The zami hymns are hardly Inanna-centric, the most recent edition argues they are ultimately centered on Lisin (article update tbd). They also do not say much about cult beyond listing cult centers. The Temple Hymns? Same caveat applies. The earliest form of Inanna’s cult is not documented in any hymns and in fact predates any literary texts whatsoever. These do not appear until well into the Early Dynastic period. The earliest evidence for the cult of Inanna boils down to references in administrative texts from the Uruk period. They confirm she was one of the oldest deities linked to specific cities - not the only one, since for example Nanshe and NINA (reading uncertain; Tell Zurghul) or Nisaba and Eresh (unlocated) show similarly strong links, but still. There isn’t much to say about the details. The typical early Inanna source is a list of commodities issued by a small or middle sized city, something like NI.RU (Jemdet Nasr) or Urum (Tell Uqair) for Inanna of Uruk. Virtually all settlements attested in the Uruk period corpus evidently included Inanna in their local pantheons, which reflects her role as the deity of the preeminent city-state, ie. Uruk. Zabalam needs to be singled out here since it seems Inanna in this case didn’t just enter the local pantheon, but also absorbed a deity worshiped there, possibly still sparsely attested as a separate figure in the Early Dynastic period. Inanna of Zabalam in later periods maintained some unique traits, like the connection to Shara, a god of exclusively local importance, but this cannot be discussed here in detail. I already covered the topic extensively elsewhere. Since the Uruk period texts are incredibly lax economic and administrative documents - writing was only just invented, after all - they do not provide much information about theology. However, they do confirm Inanna was already an astral deity at the dawn of history, since separate offerings had to be provided for “morning” and “evening” aspects of her. There are also more enigmatic epithets attested, including Inanna-NUN (maybe “princely Inanna”) and Inanna-KUR (“Inanna, the mountain”? I’d have to look into this more, but I’ve always assumed it’s like Enlil’s and Dagan’s mountain-related epithets highlighting their status). So to sum up, three out of the five main elements attested in later periods, all the way up to the death of cuneiform - astral character, major deity status and connection to Uruk - already appeared at the dawn of recorded history. Not bad for a deity whose early history we can only really analyze through texts looking like this:

The political importance of Inanna’s cult documented in earliest sources from Uruk was retained through the following centuries, even as the center of power in Mesopotamia shifted towards other cities, like Umma and Lagash. Theologically, she retained the role of one of the preeminent deities. The earliest known god list firmly places her as the #1 goddess, right behind An (whose prominence was entirely nominal) and Enlil (functionally the head of the pantheon). Most important, the importance of Inanna evidently continued in the Sargonic period. That’s when a big change in status quo occurred: complete fusion of Inanna of Uruk and the royal goddess of the Sargonic dynasty, hailing from Akkad up in the north. This was most likely motivated in no small part by politics - Uruk was one of the best established cities in the world known to the Mesopotamians, Akkad was an upstart peripheral town, deities were the key to royal legitimacy. Sometimes arguments are made that the warlike side of Inanna was absorbed from the goddess of Akkad, but really it seems the conflation was based on preexisting similarities. Certainly it would be unexpected for a deity of a militarily active city to have no warlike traits. It needs to be stressed here that the merge between the goddesses of Uruk and Akkad was actually pretty unique. To fully illustrate the point: there are thirty seven goddesses in the zame hymns; of these, only Inanna really underwent a similar process. Medimsha served as the counterpart of Shala later on but this is a different matter. At the same time, it was not the first case of conflation, as evidenced by the fact the names Nanna and Sin are already interchangeable in the early sources (and while nominally Akkadian, Sin was actually the preferred one ex. in Lagash, where Sumerian was by far the most commonly spoken language). There was a single mixed pantheon with deities with names originating in both languages (and some whose names instead came from substrates, Hurrian, etc) and with a lot of regional variety, there were no two similar but distinct “Sumerian” and “Akkadian” pantheons and conflation occurred on a case by case basis, not necessarily between a "Sumerian" and "Akkadian" deity. In the Temple Hymns, which might have been originally composed in the Sargonic period, there are three separate cult centers of Inanna as a result of the merge: Uruk, Zabalam and Ulmash, to be understood as the city of Akkad (it’s the name of a temple located there to be more precise). A further impact of the merge was the fact that the logogram representing Inanna’s name could also be read as Ishtar. The situation did not change much through the Ur III and Isin-Larsa periods when it came to the worship of Inanna in Uruk, but in the Old Babylonian period a crisis led to abandonment of many southern cities (in most cases temporarily, not permanently). The circumstances would take too much space to discuss, but both political and environmental factors are typically considered in scholarship. Uruk was among the locations impacted. The clergy evacuated to Kish, and brought Inanna(/Ishtar) with them. Kish had its own Ishtar already (she also had the distinct name Kišītum, “she of Kish”, according to texts from Mari and some theophoric names), but she was seemingly not affected by Inanna of Uruk “moving in”, and continued to be worshiped separately. She was actually more impacted by the introduction of Bau from another abandoned southern city, Lagash, but that’s also another matter which cannot be covered here (I already wrote about it in the past). The period between the end of the Old Babylonian period and the Neo-Babylonian period is somewhat poorly documented when it comes to Uruk, but we do know that the “cult in exile” came back home from Kish and that rulers from the Kassite dynasty rebuilt the Eanna temple for Inanna, with new snazzy decorated walls:

The Eanna dates back at least to the Early Dynastic period, and remained the center of Inanna's cult all the way up to the late first millennium BCE. While there is a hole in records from Uruk, documentation resumes in the Neo-Babylonian period, in no small part thanks to the discovery of the Eanna archive. It doesn’t seem like the model changed: kings fund cults in individual cities, clergy manages the day to day affairs of the temples, rituals like dressing up statues and lamentations occur regularly (though doubtlessly the “cultic calendar” shifted many times). The fall of the Neo-Babylonian Empire did bring huge changes, both from Uruk and for Mesopotamian religion as a whole, but that's another story.

#mesopotamian miscellanea

[haggishlyhagging]

Agricultural fertility is a matter of vital concern to the peoples of the ancient world, who cannot take fertility for granted and believe that fertility is fragile. Ancient religions provide a way to participate in the creation of fertile abundance and to ensure its continuation. They address a human desire to do everything possible to make the earth fertile and to make the crops grow. In Mesopotamian thinking, labor is divinely ordained and, indeed, the purpose for which humans were created. The gods give humankind the tools of labor and instruct the people on their use. Actual work, however, is only one sphere of activity. The ancient pagan religions also provided a cult of fertility in which people sang, danced, and performed other rituals in order to experience and aid the perpetuation of nature.

It was not ignorance that impelled people to perform these rituals, for they were practiced long after the neolithic revolution, long after the ancients learned that if you put a seed in the ground it will grow, long after people domesticated plants and animals to ensure their food supply. But the ancient farmers were also very aware that sometimes you could put a seed in the ground and it wouldn't grow. The ground might be too saline, or the birds might eat the seed, or locusts might devour the growing plants, the weather conditions might not be right, the earth might have become contaminated. There are so many reasons that a seed might not grow that it is a miracle every time it really does so. Pagan religions celebrated this miracle by offering a ritual life through which one can participate in this miracle. Of course. the fertility ritual does not really "cause" fertility—if it could, rituals would not have to be repeated. But in performing these rituals, the celebrants acknowledge their dependence on fertility and their desire to participate in assuring the continuation of the natural cycle.

Pagan prayers and rituals reflect the idea that fertile abundance is the result of harmonious interaction among various powers in the cosmos. Cultic acts and liturgy may propitiate the various divine powers and facilitate their joining together. In Sumerian cult, this conjoining was achieved sexually in the ritual of the sacred marriage. In later periods, even when sacred marriage was no longer part of the official state cult, it clearly continued in sacred and popular literature. Was there ever a time in which fertility and vegetation were thought to come directly from the womb of the earth mother? This claim, very often assumed in modern recreations of paganism, can only be true (if at all) for the prehistoric period. There may be prehistoric evidence from Old Europe and possibly from Çatal Hüyük that the mother-goddess had this vital function and the all-powerful position that results from it. The historical evidence, from the writings of Sumer and Babylon, indicates that the conceptualization of fertility was much more complex than the simple idea of earth mother and her womb. There are certainly goddesses of vegetation, and the breast of the goddess Nisaba is sometimes considered the source of grain. But more common are the many indications that fertility required many gods, and that no one god was able to insure it. Agricultural abundance depended on an interaction of forces and their divine embodiments, upon the fertility of the earth and its fertilization by water, and upon the joining of the power of life with the exercise of agriculture. This conjoining of forces could be aided by sexual activities on the fertile bed, sexual intercourse into the body of the young nubile goddesses. Even when sexual union is not part of the ritual, this union of forces is the essential metaphysical idea.

-Tikva Frymer-Kensky, In the Wake of the Goddesses: Women, Culture, and the Biblical Transformation of Pagan Myth

#Tikva Frymer-Kensky #mesopotamian mythology #fertility rites #pagan rituals