Bau (goddess)
Bau | |
---|---|
Tutelary goddess of Girsu | |
Louvre Museum. | |
Major cult center | Girsu, Lagash, later Kish |
Symbol | waterfowl, scorpion |
Personal information | |
Parents | (father) |
Spouse |
|
Children | Igalim, Shulshaga, Ḫegir, six other deities |
Bau, also read Baba or Babu (cuneiform: 𒀭𒁀𒌑
In sources from
The earliest evidence indicates that Bau's initial cult center was Girsu, and that early on she also came to be worshipped in Lagash. Multiple kings of this city left behind inscriptions which mention her, and some of them, for example
Name
The meaning of Bau's name is unknown.[2][3] Thorkild Jacobsen's proposal that it was "an imitation of dog's bark, as English 'bowwow'" is regarded as erroneous today, as unlike other healing goddesses (Gula, Ninisina, Nintinugga and Ninkarrak) Bau was not associated with dogs.[4][1]
The reading of Bau's name has historically been a subject of debate in
Character and iconography
The earliest sources represent Bau as a "life-giving" and "motherly" deity.[15] A hymn from the reign of Ishme-Dagan preserves a tradition according to which she was believed to be the mother of mankind.[16] While not a healing goddess at first, Bau acquired traits of this class of deities at some point in the third millennium BCE.[17][18] Curiously, in sources from the third millennium BCE only Bau is referred to as an asû,[19] "physician."[20] At the same time, there is no evidence that physicians were involved in her cult, unlike in the cases of Gula, Ninisina and Nintinugga.[21] This might indicate her healing role was associated with domestic religious practices.[22]
As a healing goddess Bau was also connected to midwifery.[23] She could be described as (ama) arḫuš, "merciful (mother)."[24] It has been proposed that this epithet reflected "the knowledge of the female body," and that it designated deities bearing it as midwives.[25] A hymn praising Bau for her role as a midwife was composed to celebrate the birth of the child of queen Kubatum, wife of Shu-Sin.[3][15] She was also regarded as a goddess of abundance, and as such was depicted with a vase with flowing streams of water in art.[26] Furthermore, she was believed to be capable of mediating with other deities on behalf of supplicants.[27]
A depiction of Bau accompanied by a snake is known from a seal, and according to Julia M. Asher-Greve might indicate this animal was perceived as her symbol in the role of a healing deity.
In other contexts, presumably pertaining to her role as a wife or mother, Bau could be depicted with scorpions (associated with marriage), swans or miscellaneous waterfowl.[30] The various symbols assigned to her indicate that she was a multifaceted deity[31] with a fluid sphere of influence.[32] However, in the case of works of art later than the end of the third millennium BCE identifying individual depictions of Bau is difficult.[15]
Associations with other deities
Bau's father was
Bau's husband was
In
An association between Bau and Nergal is attested in Old Babylonian sources from Ur and in one case from Larsa as well.[47]
Bau's divine vizier (sukkal) was the goddess Lammašaga, "good guardian angel (lamma)," lamma being a class of tutelary and intercessory minor goddesses in Mesopotamian religion.[48] She had a temple of her own in Lagash,[14] and hymns dedicated to her are known from the curriculum of scribal schools.[49] In the past, attempts were sometimes made to prove was a manifestation of Bau rather than a separate goddess, but this view is no longer considered plausible.[50] A hymn formerly believed to be a praise of Bau, while sometimes referred to as Bau A according to the ETCSL naming system, has been subsequently identified as a composition dedicated to Lammašaga instead.[51] Bau herself was possibly sometimes addressed as a lamma in Lagash.[52] In a handful of inscriptions, Bau's mother, left nameless in them, is also designated as such a deity.[53]
Bau and medicine goddesses
A degree of syncretism occurred between Bau and
Another medicine goddess associated with Bau was Gula,[57] though they were not closely connected with each other until the late second millennium BCE.[58] They were likely regarded as analogous in the Middle Assyrian period, with examples including the interchangeable use of their names in colophons and direct equation in a local version of the Weidner god list, but they were not always viewed as identical.[59] Irene Sibbing-Plantholt suggests that the phrase Bau ša qēreb Aššur might have been used specifically to differentiate Bau as a name of Gula and Bau as an independent goddess.[60] In the Gula Hymn of Bulluṭsa-rabi, composed at some point between 1400 and 700 BCE,[61] Bau is listed as one of the names of the eponymous goddess.[62] This composition, despite equating various goddesses with Gula, nonetheless preserves information about the individual character of each of them.[63] The section dedicated to Bau highlights her role as a life-giving deity.[64] However, a late Babylonian incantation states that Gula was exalted by the command of Bau, which affirms they were viewed as separate.[65] They also function separately from each other in sources pertaining to a festival held in Uruk in the first millennium BCE.[66] Bau's association with Zababa was also exclusive to her.[60]
Worship
In the third millennium BCE
While the oldest attestations of Bau come from scribal school texts from
Bau's importance grew further during the reign of the Second Dynasty of Lagash (c. 2230-2110 BCE) on the account of her connection with Ningirsu.[77] Gudea elevated her rank to equal of that of Ningirsu, and called her "Queen who decides the destiny in Girsu."[26] This made her the highest ranking goddess of the local pantheon of Lagash,[27] putting her above Nanshe.[28] During the subsequent reign of the Third Dynasty of Ur, she was the second most notable goddess worshiped chiefly in association with her respective husband after Ninlil.[78] The highest cultic official of Bau in the province of Lagash, and as a result one of the most powerful political figures in it was an ereš-dingir priestess,[79] with one named Geme-Lamma being known from a number of seals.[80] While servants and scribes are depicted led by minor goddesses to meet with Bau in seals, the high priestess was depicted interacting with the goddess directly.[79] In the same period Bau came to be worshiped in Nippur, though neither she not her husband Ningirsu were major members of the local pantheon.[1] According to Walther Sallaberger, she received offerings in the Ešumša, a temple of Ninurta.[81]
Later attestations
Kings from the dynasty of Isin, in particular Ishme-Dagan, showed interest in the cult of Bau, though she was not introduced to the pantheon of Isin itself, and in documents from it she only appears in theophoric names.[15] Evidence for the worship of Bau from the Old Babylonian period is scarce.[1] In Ur she is only attested near its end, always in association with Nergal.[47] While the original Lagashite cult of Bau declined alongside the city (a situation analogous to that of Ningirsu as an independent deity, as well as other southern deities such as Shara and Nanshe),[82] she continued to be worshiped in Kish in northern Babylonia.[43] Old Babylonian evidence for the presence of her worshipers in this city includes a record from the reign of Ammi-Ditana which mentions a woman serving as a courtyard purifier (kisalluḫḫatum) of this goddess, and a seal from Hammurabi's time whose owner referred to herself as a servant of Zababa and Bau.[81] She remained a major goddess of that city as late as the Neo-Babylonian period.[49] An inscription from the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II mentions the rebuilding of the local temple Edubba for both the city god, Zababa, and for Bau.[81] A cella dedicated to her bore the name Egalgasu, which originally referred to her shrine in Girsu.[67]
Elsewhere in the
While Bau was not yet worshiped in Uruk in the Neo-Babylonian period,[86] she is mentioned in a text describing the procession of deities who took part in the akītu festival which was celebrated in this city in the Seleucid period.[87] She also occurs in a single theophoric name from this location.[88]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h Sibbing-Plantholt 2022, p. 139.
- ^ a b Selz 1995, p. 26.
- ^ a b Böck 2015, p. 330.
- ^ a b Marchesi 2002, p. 165.
- ^ Marchesi 2002, p. 161.
- ^ Marchesi 2002, pp. 161–163.
- ^ a b Marchesi 2002, p. 164.
- ^ Marchesi 2002, p. 163.
- ^ Marchesi 2002, p. 172.
- ^ Rubio 2010, pp. 38–39.
- ^ Metcalf 2019, p. 24.
- ^ Ceccarelli 2009, p. 31.
- ^ Peterson 2009, p. 49.
- ^ a b Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013, p. 54.
- ^ a b c d e Sibbing-Plantholt 2022, p. 140.
- ^ Sibbing-Plantholt 2022, p. 142.
- ^ a b Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013, p. 84.
- ^ a b Böck 2015, p. 329.
- ^ Sibbing-Plantholt 2022, p. 45.
- ^ Sibbing-Plantholt 2022, p. 1.
- ^ Sibbing-Plantholt 2022, p. 157.
- ^ a b Sibbing-Plantholt 2022, p. 158.
- ^ Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013, p. 204.
- ^ Sibbing-Plantholt 2022, p. 104.
- ^ Sibbing-Plantholt 2022, p. 130.
- ^ a b Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013, p. 189.
- ^ a b Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013, p. 190.
- ^ a b Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013, p. 205.
- ^ Sibbing-Plantholt 2022, p. 141.
- ^ Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013, pp. 204–205.
- ^ Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013, p. 266.
- ^ a b Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013, p. 209.
- ^ a b Selz 1995, p. 102.
- ^ Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013, p. 63.
- ^ a b Samet 2014, p. 81.
- ^ Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013, p. 61.
- ^ Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013, p. 190-191.
- ^ Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013, p. 191.
- ^ a b c d Sibbing-Plantholt 2022, p. 143.
- ^ Selz 1995, pp. 102–103.
- ^ Kobayashi 1992, p. 78.
- ^ Selz 1995, p. 141.
- ^ a b c d Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013, p. 78.
- ^ Sallaberger 2016, p. 164.
- ^ a b Sallaberger 2016, p. 167.
- ^ Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013, p. 38.
- ^ a b Sibbing-Plantholt 2022, pp. 139–140.
- ^ Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013, pp. 53–54.
- ^ a b Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013, p. 77.
- ^ Metcalf 2019, p. 19.
- ^ Metcalf 2019, p. 18.
- ^ Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013, pp. 192–193.
- ^ Samet 2014, pp. 81–82.
- ^ Ceccarelli 2009, p. 32.
- ^ Böck 2015, p. 331.
- ^ Ceccarelli 2009, pp. 39–40.
- ^ Sibbing-Plantholt 2022, pp. 144–145.
- ^ Sibbing-Plantholt 2022, p. 160.
- ^ Sibbing-Plantholt 2022, p. 74-75.
- ^ a b Sibbing-Plantholt 2022, p. 75.
- ^ Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013, p. 100.
- ^ Sibbing-Plantholt 2022, p. 12.
- ^ Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013, p. 116.
- ^ Sibbing-Plantholt 2022, p. 101.
- ^ Sibbing-Plantholt 2022, p. 97.
- ^ Sibbing-Plantholt 2022, p. 87.
- ^ a b George 1993, p. 89.
- ^ George 1993, p. 148.
- ^ George 1993, p. 157.
- ^ Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013, p. 202.
- ^ George 1993, p. 134.
- ^ George 1993, p. 149.
- ^ Selz 1995, pp. 83–96.
- ^ Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013, p. 59.
- ^ Selz 1995, p. 96.
- ^ Selz 1995, pp. 98–99.
- ^ Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013, p. 19.
- ^ Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013, p. 66.
- ^ a b Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013, p. 203.
- ^ Otto 2016, p. 124.
- ^ a b c Sallaberger 2016, p. 166.
- ^ Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013, pp. 21–22.
- ^ a b Sibbing-Plantholt 2022, p. 144.
- ^ Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013, p. 124.
- ^ George 1993, p. 155.
- ^ Krul 2018, p. 73.
- ^ Krul 2018, p. 68.
- ^ Krul 2018, p. 71.
Bibliography
- Asher-Greve, Julia M.; Westenholz, Joan G. (2013). Goddesses in Context: On Divine Powers, Roles, Relationships and Gender in Mesopotamian Textual and Visual Sources (PDF). Academic Press Fribourg. ISBN 978-3-7278-1738-0.
- Böck, Barbara (2015). "Ancient Mesopotamian Religion: A Profile of the Healing Goddess". Religion Compass. 9 (10). Wiley: 327–334. S2CID 145349556.
- Ceccarelli, Manuel (2009). "Einige Bemerkungen zum Synkretismus BaU/Ninisina". In Negri Scafa, Paola; Viaggio, Salvatore (eds.). Dallo Stirone al Tigri, dal Tevere all'Eufrate: studi in onore di Claudio Saporetti (in German). Roma: Aracne. OCLC 365061350.
- George, Andrew R. (1993). House most high: the temples of ancient Mesopotamia. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns. OCLC 27813103.
- Kobayashi, Toshiko (1992). "On Ninazu, as Seen in the Economic Texts of the Early Dynastic Lagaš". Orient. 28. The Society for Near Eastern Studies in Japan: 75–105. S2CID 191496612.
- Krul, Julia (2018). The Revival of the Anu Cult and the Nocturnal Fire Ceremony at Late Babylonian Uruk. Brill. ISBN 9789004364936.
- Marchesi, Gianni (2002). "On the Divine Name dBA.Ú". Orientalia. 71 (2). GBPress- Gregorian Biblical Press: 161–172. JSTOR 43076783. Retrieved 2021-08-04.
- Metcalf, Christopher (2019). Sumerian Literary Texts in the Schøyen Collection. Penn State University Press. S2CID 241160992.
- Otto, Adelheid (2016). "Professional Women and Women at Work in Mesopotamia and Syria (3rd and early 2nd millennia BC): The (rare) information from visual images". The Role of Women in Work and Society in the Ancient Near East. De Gruyter. pp. 112–148. ISBN 9781614519089.
- Peterson, Jeremiah (2009). God lists from Old Babylonian Nippur in the University Museum, Philadelphia. Münster: Ugarit Verlag. OCLC 460044951.
- Rubio, Gonzalo (2010). "Reading Sumerian Names, I: Ensuhkešdanna and Baba". Journal of Cuneiform Studies. 62. American Schools of Oriental Research: 29–43. S2CID 164077908. Retrieved 2021-08-04.
- Sallaberger, Walther (2016), "Zababa", Reallexikon der Assyriologie (in German), retrieved 2022-09-14
- Samet, Nili (2014). The lamentation over the destruction of Ur. Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns. OCLC 884593981.
- Selz, Gebhard (1995). Untersuchungen zur Götterwelt des altsumerischen Stadtstaates von Lagaš (in German). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Museum. OCLC 33334960.
- Sibbing-Plantholt, Irene (2022). The Image of Mesopotamian Divine Healers. Healing Goddesses and the Legitimization of Professional Asûs in the Mesopotamian Medical Marketplace. Boston: OCLC 1312171937.