Kubaba

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This article is about a legendary queen of Kish. For the Hurro-Hittite goddess, see Kubaba (goddess).
Kubaba
Queen of Kish
SuccessorPuzur-Suen
IssuePuzur-Suen
House3rd Dynasty of Kish

Kubaba (Sumerian: 𒆬𒀭𒁀𒌑, kug-Dba-u₂) was a legendary Mesopotamian queen who according to the Sumerian King List ruled over Kish for a hundred years before the rise of the dynasty of Akshak. It is typically assumed that she was not a historical figure.[1]

Name

Kubaba's name was written in

romanized as Ku-Baba, with a hyphen separating the elements and the first letter of the theonym capitalized.[2][3] The first sign can be transcribed as kug rather than ku, which is reflected by the title of the corresponding entry in the Reallexikon der Assyriologie, Ku(g)-Baba.[4] This name can be translated from Sumerian as "radiant Baba"[3] or "silver of Baba".[5] The correct reading of the last sign in the theonym used as the second element of this theophoric name remains a matter of debate, with /u/ and /wu/ proposed in addition to /ba/.[6] The name of the queen can accordingly be alternatively romanized as Kug-Bau[7] or Kug-Bawu.[1]

Queen Kubaba and goddess Kubaba

Due to spatial and temporal differences, a connection between the names of Kubaba and the similarly named goddess Kubaba cannot be established.[8] Gonzalo Rubio stresses that the name of the latter has no clear etymology and cannot be interpreted as originating in either Sumerian or any of the Semitic languages.[9] It was written in cuneiform as dku-ba-ba or dku-pa-pa.[8]

Historicity

Arguments have been made that Kubaba might have been a historical ruler, though this view is not regarded as plausible today.

Ur III period, and placing a ruler bearing one of them in the Early Dynastic period constitutes an anachronism.[1] Claus Wilcke points out that in the Sumerian King List Kubaba's reign is supernaturally long, lasting 100 years.[11] It has been pointed out that the SKL does not accurately reflect Early Dynastic history, as indicated by the complete omission of Lagash, which was a major political power, especially during the reign of Eannatum.[12] Kubaba is also not mentioned in any of the discovered inscriptions of historical Early Dynastic rulers.[3] Martel Stol concludes that texts mentioning Kubaba should only be interpreted as speculation about traditional folk stories.[13]

Attestations in literary texts

Sumerian King List

Kubaba is mentioned in the

Ur III period.[19] While names of some rulers, for example Mesannepada, were likely sourced from votive inscriptions, others, like Bazi and Zizi, might have been ordinary given names copied from lexical lists, such as the Early Dynastic so-called Names and Professions List, or outright inventions.[20] Early versions of the SKL do not contain anecdotes about individual rulers, including Kubaba, which indicates they most likely were a later invention.[21] The compilers used few, if any, historical accounts.[22] Accordingly, Kubaba's background is treated as fantastical, and has been compared to other unusual stories or members of various professions becoming kings in the same composition, including the fuller Susuda, the sailor Mamagal, and the stone worker Nanniya.[21]

Other texts

In the so-called Weidner Chronicle, which is considered a derivative of the Sumerian King List,[23] the order of Kubaba's dynasty and the dynasty of Akshak is switched around, with Puzur-Niraḫ [pl] reigning before her rather than later on.[24] The section dedicated to her is poorly preserved.[25] It relays how Kubaba was granted kingship by Marduk after he delivered an offering of fish to his temple Esagil.[26] The composition is focused on conveying the message that kings who neglected to worship Marduk were rendered powerless, and to that end employs a number of anachronisms,[27] this account being one of them.[13] It is known from Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian copies, and was originally composed no earlier than around 1100 BCE.[27]

References to Kubaba are also known from texts focused on

androgynous being with both a penis and a vagina.[10] It is possible the birth of a sheep rather than a human is meant.[2] Such an event is said to foretell that "the country of the king shall be ruined".[10] Marten Stol argues that its negative character reflected a negative perception of a woman fulfilling a typically masculine role, that of a ruler.[2] Other omens preserve a tradition according to which Kubaba was a warrior.[10]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Marchesi 2004, p. 167.
  2. ^ a b c d e Stol 2000, p. 164.
  3. ^ a b c Frayne 2009, p. 52.
  4. ^ Edzard 1983, p. 299.
  5. ^ Marchesi 2010, p. 242.
  6. ^ Marchesi 2002, p. 161.
  7. ^ a b Steinkeller 2017, p. 181.
  8. ^ a b Hawkins 1983, p. 257.
  9. ^ Rubio 2010, p. 39.
  10. ^ a b c d e f Stol 2016, p. 462.
  11. ^ Wilcke 1988, p. 123.
  12. ^ Steinkeller 2017, pp. 192–193.
  13. ^ a b Stol 2016, p. 463.
  14. ^ Glassner 2004, p. 66.
  15. ^ Marchesi 2010, pp. 242–243.
  16. ^ Wilcke 1988, p. 131.
  17. ^ Glassner 2004, p. 123.
  18. ^ Steinkeller 2017, p. 184.
  19. ^ Steinkeller 2017, p. 171.
  20. ^ Steinkeller 2017, pp. 41–42.
  21. ^ a b Steinkeller 2017, p. 41.
  22. ^ Steinkeller 2017, p. 42.
  23. ^ Steinkeller 2017, p. 182.
  24. ^ Wilcke 1988, p. 130.
  25. ^ Wilcke 1988, p. 132.
  26. ^ Glassner 2004, p. 267.
  27. ^ a b Glassner 2004, p. 263.
  28. ^ Pongratz-Leisten 2015, p. 366.

Bibliography

Preceded by
En-shag-kush-ana of Uruk
Queen of Sumer

Legendary 		Succeeded by
King of Akshak
Preceded by
(unknown)
 Ruler of Kish
Legendary 		Succeeded by
(unknown)
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