Mār-bīti

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Mār-bīti
Warrior god
Major cult centerMalgium, Der, Borsippa

Mār-bīti was a

Kalhu. A number of temples dedicated to him are mentioned in known texts, but their ceremonial names in most cases remain unknown. Two kings of Babylonia bore theophoric names invoking him, Mār-bīti-apla-uṣur and Mār-bῑti-aḫḫē-idinna
.

Name and character

The theonym Mār-bīti (dDUMU-É, dA-É) can be literally translated as "son of the house", though the last sign in this context refers to a temple instead.[1] Due to the fact that in known sources the name appears in association with a similar circle of deities regardless of the city, it is presumed that there was only one god named Mār-bīti.[2]

Mār-bīti's character is poorly known, though it is agreed he was regarded as a warlike deity.[3] He could be described as a "terrifying hero".[4] Nebuchadnezzar II in an inscription highlighting this function refers to him as the "lord who breaks the weapon of my enemy".[5] Ritual texts indicate he was armed with a bow, arrows and a quiver.[6] An astronomical commentary states that a star known as Harrow was "the weapon of Mār-bīti, within which one sees the subterranean water" (mul.gišGÁN.ÙR gišTUKUL šá dA-É šá ina lìb-bi-šú ABZU IGI.KÁR).[7] It is possible that this astral body can be found in eastern part of the constellation Vela.[8]

A possible depiction of Mār-bīti has been identified on a stele from Borsippa (VaS 1 36) dated to the reign of Nabu-shuma-ishkun.[9] Two goddesses depicted on it alongside the male figure who is presumed to represent him might be Nanaya and Sutītu.[10]

Associations with other deities

Both in Borsippa and in Der Mār-bīti was associated with Nanaya, Bēlet-balāṭi and Kurunītu.[2] In texts pertaining to the former of these cities he also appears alongside members of Nanaya's court such as Lisin and Uṣur-amāssu.[11] A single text pairs him with Sutītu,[12] one of the goddesses first attested in the first millennium BCE who represented specific ethnic or linguistic groups (in this case Suteans).[13] According to Joan Goodnick Westenholz, a group consisting of these two deities and Nanaya is attested as a "special sub-unit in the local pantheon of Borsippa".[10]

In

Mesopotamian pantheon.[15]

Raphael Kuthscher speculated that two hypostases of Mār-bīti mentioned in a text from the reign of Shamshi-Adad V, Mār-bīti-ša-pān-bīti ("in the front of the house"[2] ) and Mār-bīti-ša-birīt-nāri ("in the middle of the river"[2]), might correspond to earlier Dan-bītum and Rašub-bītum,[16] two lions whose statues were placed at the entrance of the temple of Ulmašītum in Malgium during the reign of the local king Takil-iliššu.[17] However, this proposal is regarded as implausible by Manfred Krebernik.[2]

Worship

While a single votive inscription mentioning Mār-bīti (of unknown

Assyriological publications is now considered to be an erroneous reading, and the deity meant was most likely Ilaba instead.[5]

Mār-bīti's main cult centers were

Neo-Assyrian period,[16] though an Old Babylonian inscription indicates that its tutelary deities were Ea and Damkina.[19] Manfred Krebernik tentatively speculates that Mār-bīti might have originated in Malgium but his cult was at some point transferred to Der.[2] During the reign of Shamshi-Adad V, Assyrian troops attacked said city and carried away the statue of Mār-bīti alongside those of other locally worshiped deities, such as Ištaran, Urkittu and Saĝkud of Bubê.[20] It was returned by Ashurbanipal, and in one of the inscription of this king Mār-bīti is mentioned among the deities brought to the freshly rebuilt Edimgalkalamma,[21] "house, great bond of the land", the temple of Ištaran.[22] An administrative text from the reign of Sargon II mentions that a sangû priest of Mār-bīti was present in Der.[2]

A further eastern city where Mār-bīti might have been venerated was Eshnunna.[14] A commentary on Enūma Eliš, known from copies from seventh century BCE Assur and from the library of Ashurbanipal (located in Nineveh),[23] makes an allusion to "Mār-bīti of Eshnunna"[24] and mentions a cultic race (lismu) dedicated to him, but there is no other evidence that he was a member of the local pantheon.[14]

At least since the reign of Nabu-shuma-ishkun, Mār-bīti was also worshiped in Borsippa, where he is first mentioned in a kudurru (boundary stone) inscription from this period.[2] In the Neo-Babylonian period, a night vigil took place in his temple located there thrice a year.[25] The rebuilding of this house of worship is mentioned in inscriptions of Nebuchadnezzar II,[26] but its ceremonial name is unknown.[27] Colophons of texts from the Parthian period, as well as an unpublished hymn to the city of Borsippa, mention a temple named Emaḫgirlzal, "exalted house of joy", which was located in the proximity of either this city or Babylon.[28] It is treated as separate from the nameless temple in Borsippa by Rocío Da Riva and Gianluca Galetti.[3] In Babylon Mār-bīti was worshiped in the Esagil temple complex.[2] Furthermore, according to the tablet BM 41239, a religious calendar, the sanctuary of Mandanu in Babylon was a stop in a procession of Mār-bīti and Ninurta from Borsippa to Kish which took place in the month of Šabāṭu.[29] A temple dedicated to him also existed in Ilip.[26] It is mentioned in the text BM 77433, a Neo-Babylonian or later list of temples located in Babylon and nearby smaller settlements.[30] Its ceremonial name is not listed in this source.[31]

An oath formula from

Kalhu from the reign of Sinsharishkun mentions Mār-bīti in a context indicating he was also worshiped in Assyria in association with Nabu, similarly as in Borsippa.[2]

Examples of theophoric names invoking Mār-bīti are known from Babylonia, including those of kings Mār-bīti-apla-uṣur (who likely originated in eastern Mesopotamia) and Mār-bῑti-aḫḫē-idinna.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b Krebernik 1987, p. 355.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Krebernik 1987, p. 356.
  3. ^ a b Da Riva & Galetti 2018, p. 221.
  4. ^ Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013, p. 281.
  5. ^ a b c Krebernik 1987, p. 357.
  6. ^ Da Riva & Galetti 2018, pp. 221–222.
  7. ^ Wee 2016, p. 167.
  8. ^ Wee 2016, p. 157.
  9. ^ Westenholz 2014, p. 178.
  10. ^ a b Westenholz 2014, p. 180.
  11. ^ Da Riva & Galetti 2018, p. 216.
  12. ^ Zadok & Zadok 2005, p. 643.
  13. ^ Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013, p. 104.
  14. ^ a b c d Frahm & Jiménez 2015, p. 326.
  15. ^ Pomponio 1998, p. 21.
  16. ^ a b Kutscher 1987, p. 304.
  17. ^ Kutscher 1987, p. 301.
  18. ^ Bartelmus 2017, p. 259.
  19. ^ Kutscher 1987, p. 303.
  20. ^ Frahm 2009, p. 52.
  21. ^ Frahm 2009, p. 57.
  22. ^ George 1993, p. 76.
  23. ^ Frahm & Jiménez 2015, p. 298.
  24. ^ Frahm & Jiménez 2015, p. 312.
  25. ^ Krul 2018, p. 129.
  26. ^ a b George 1993, p. 167.
  27. ^ George 1993, p. 61.
  28. ^ George 1993, p. 121.
  29. ^ George 1992, p. 304.
  30. ^ George 1992, p. 222.
  31. ^ George 1992, p. 225.

Bibliography

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