Mīšaru

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Mīšaru
Divine personification of
Adad and Shala
SiblingsUṣur-amāssu, Šubanuna, Menunesi, Namašmaš
SpouseIšartu
Equivalents
Ugaritic equivalentMêšaru
Phoenician equivalentMisor

Mīšaru (Misharu), possibly also known as Ili-mīšar, was a

Kittu. He is first attested in sources from the Ur III period. In the Old Babylonian period, he was regarded as the tutelary deity of Dūr-Rīmuš, a city in the kingdom of Eshnunna. He was also worshiped in other parts of Mesopotamia, for example in Mari, Assur, Babylon, Sippar and in the land of Suhum. In the Seleucid period he was introduced to the pantheon of Uruk
.

A deity with a cognate name, Mêšaru, also belonged to the

Ugaritic pantheon. It is assumed that like his Mesopotamian counterpart, he was regarded as a divine judge. Further possibly analogous deity, Misor, is also attested in the writings of Philo of Byblos
.

Name and character

Mīšaru's name means "justice,"

Old Babylonian period.[6]

It has been proposed that the deity Ili-mīšar, attested in the god list An = Anum (tablet V, line 29) as the sukkal (attendant deity) of Imzuanna (dNi-zu-an-na) might be a variant of Mīšaru.[7] Daniel Schwemer notes that the addition to the same prefix to various theonyms is well attested, and cites Ilumēr and Ilulāya as two other examples.[8]

It has been proposed that on

scales, though this theory has yet to be proved.[1]

Associations with other deities

Mīšaru was regarded as a son of the weather god

Kittu among deities who could receive offerings while an oracle was performed.[13] He also appears as a member of the circle of deities associated with his father both in the Weidner god list [14] and in An = Anum.[15] While the connection is also affirmed by inscriptions from many cities, Mīšaru is nonetheless also attested in contexts where no relation to the weather god is indicated in texts from Sippar and [Assur, where he was seemingly treated as a divine judge associated with Kittu.[12]

The goddess Išartu formed a pair with Mīšaru, and together they represented the idea of law and order.[10] Julia Krul notes she seemed to be his feminine counterpart.[16] An = Anum refers to her as his spouse.[17]

Worship

The oldest evidence of the worship of Mīšaru comes from the

Ur III period.[12] He received offerings in Bad-tibira during the reign of king Shu-Sin.[18] He is also attested in Akkadian theophoric names, such as Puzur-Mīšar.[12]

Old Babylonian sources mention a single temple of Mīšaru, located close to the city of Dūr-Rīmuš in the Diyala area.[12] It is assumed that he was the tutelary deity of this settlement.[19] One of the inhabitants of Dūr-Rīmuš apparently dedicated a seal to him for the health of the Eshnunnean king Ipiq-Adad II after it was incorporated into his kingdom.[20] He is also attested in an offering list from Mari (ARM 24 263), in which he appears alongside the deity Išar,[21] presumed to correspond to Išartu.[17]

In a copy of an

Kittu.[24] In the Ešara temple complex in Assur he was worshiped alongside Latarak in the lobby of the structure.[25]

In Babylon, Mīšaru was worshiped alongside his father Adad in the Esagil temple complex.[10] A temple dedicated to him is also mentioned in documents from Dūr-Abī-ešuḫ, though no ceremonial name is given.[26]

Attestations of veneration of Mīšaru are known from Suhum as well.[27] An akitu temple dedicated to him and Adad existed in Udada.[28] It was rebuilt by Ninurta-kudurri-usur,[29] a local ruler from the eighth century BCE.[30]

On one of the cylinders of Nabonidus, in an inscription pertaining to the Ebabbar temple in Sippar, Mīšaru is mentioned alongside Kittu and Dayyānu as the deities "seated in front of Shamash."[31]

While Mīšaru was not yet worshiped in

Seleucids.[32] He was worshiped in Eḫenunna, "house of abundance," a temple of Adad.[33][3] The text TU 39 mentions that on the fifth day of the month Araḫsamna, Mīšaru had to leave the temple to partake in rites taking place elsewhere.[34] It has been pointed out that in addition to him and Shala spouses, children or courtiers of many other deities were also introduced to Uruk at the same time.[35]

Ugaritic Mêšaru

A deity whose name is a cognate of Mīšaru's is attested in Ugarit as well.[4] The theonym was rendered as mšr in the local alphabetic script,[12] and can be vocalized as Mêšaru ("rectitude," "uprightness").[36] It is presumed that he was regarded as a divine judge.[12] He was paired with Ṣidqu ("righteousness").[37] They appear together in a single religious text (RS 24.271, line 14), which is presently the only certain attestation of Mêšaru.[36] A possible theophoric name, written as mšrn in the alphabetic script and as Me-ša-ra-nu or Me-ši-ra-nu in standard syllabic cuneiform, has also been identified.[4] Elsewhere in the Ugaritic texts the word mšr is attested as a common noun.[36]

Further possible cognates

Wilfred G. E. Watson proposes that the Ugaritic Mêšaru and Ṣidqu correspond to Misor and

Taautos, derived from Egyptian Thoth, as the son of Misor.[38] It also has been suggested that passages in the Hebrew Bible using the term mîšôr("equity"), such as Psalm 9:9, Psalm 45:7 and Isaiah 45:19 are echoes of the worship of a further deity with a cognate name, who was originally regarded as a subordinate of Yahweh but later came to be demythologized, but this is less certain and no passage directly supports this view.[39]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiggermann 1987, p. 9.
  2. ^ a b Schwemer 2007, p. 146.
  3. ^ a b Krul 2018, p. 67.
  4. ^ a b c d Watson 1999, p. 577.
  5. ^ Pongratz-Leisten 2015, p. 211.
  6. ^ Pongratz-Leisten 2015, p. 58.
  7. ^ Litke 1998, p. 171.
  8. ^ Schwemer 2001, pp. 32–33.
  9. ^ Schwemer 2008, p. 567.
  10. ^ a b c Krebernik 2008, p. 356.
  11. ^ Schwemer 2001, pp. 67–68.
  12. ^ a b c d e f g Schwemer 2001, p. 67.
  13. ^ Anor & Cohen 2021, p. 62.
  14. ^ Schwemer 2001, p. 13.
  15. ^ Schwemer 2001, p. 24.
  16. ^ Krul 2018, p. 68.
  17. ^ a b Schwemer 2001, p. 68.
  18. ^ Sallaberger 2021, p. 363.
  19. ^ Frayne 1990, p. 548.
  20. ^ Frayne 1990, pp. 548–549.
  21. ^ Sasson 2015, p. 237.
  22. ^ Krebernik 2008, p. 358.
  23. ^ Krebernik 2008, pp. 358–359.
  24. ^ Pongratz-Leisten 2015, p. 397.
  25. ^ George 1993, p. 156.
  26. ^ Gabbay & Boivin 2018, p. 37.
  27. ^ Frame 1995, p. 290.
  28. ^ Schwemer 2001, p. 626.
  29. ^ Frame 1995, p. 299.
  30. ^ Frame 1995, p. 275.
  31. ^ Krebernik 2008, p. 354.
  32. ^ Krul 2018, p. 72.
  33. ^ George 1993, p. 98.
  34. ^ Krul 2018, p. 141.
  35. ^ Krul 2018, p. 75.
  36. ^ a b c Pardee 2002, p. 281.
  37. ^ Pardee 2002, p. 284.
  38. ^ Watson 1999, pp. 577–578.
  39. ^ Watson 1999, p. 578.

Bibliography

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