Nin-MAR.KI
Nin-MAR.KI | |
---|---|
Goddess of oaths, cattle and long distance trade | |
Major cult center | Guabba, later Ašdubba |
Parents | Nanshe and Nindara |
Nin-MAR.KI was a
Guabba, a city in the territory of Lagash which functioned as a sea port, was Nin-MAR.KI's main cult center. She was also venerated in other settlements in the same area, such as Girsu. In later periods, she was venerated in Ašdubba, possibly also located in the same area. Attestations from other parts of Mesopotamia are infrequent. After the decline of her cult centers, she is only attested in god lists and laments, such as Lament for Ur.
Name
The reading of the
While a phonetic reading of the name, Ninmarki, can be found in
Much like its reading, the meaning of the name Nin-MAR.KI is uncertain.
The uncertain reading of Nin-MAR.KI's name is also responsible for the fact that an early ensi of Eshnunna is referred to as both Ur-Ninmar and Ur-Ninmarki in modern scholarship.[22]
It is possible that in one of the Temple Hymns Nin-MAR.KI appears under the name Ninĝagia,
Character and iconography
Many texts attest an association existed between Nin-MAR.KI and
It is possible that due to the association between Nin-MAR.KI and Nanshe, the symbols of the latter, birds, could also accompany depictions of the former too.[30] A possible example of the association between the former and these animals is a seal with a depiction of an unidentified large bird inscribed with her name.[31]
Associations with other deities
Nin-MAR.KI was considered to be a daughter of Nanshe.[2] She was directly referred to as her first child (dumu saĝ).[7] While this familial relation is mentioned for the first time in texts from the reign of Gudea, it is assumed it was older.[29] Her father was Nanshe's husband Nindara,[32] though Walther Sallaberger notes that he appears to play no specific role in relation to her in known sources.[7]
In Nina, Nin-MAR.KI was worshiped alongside deities such as Hendursaga and Dumuzi-abzu,[33] and it is possible a special, though not fully understood, connection existed between her and the latter.[34] She also often appears in offering lists alongside the deity dNin-MÙŠ-bad,[33][21] who might have functioned as her husband, though no direct evidence for this common modern assumption is available in any known primary sources.[35] Sallaberger argues that he might have been viewed as another of Nanshe's children at an early point in time.[21] Other deities worshiped alongside Nin-MAR.KI include Nadua, the deification of a stele, and Igiamaše, whose name means "before the mother,"[25] who according to Selz might have been her daughter,[35] though Sallaberger considers this relation to be uncertain.[21]
The god list
No known sources indicate that Nin-MAR.KI was ever equated with any other deities, and she never developed strong connections with any members of the Mesopotamian pantheon from outside of the Lagash area.[38]
Worship
The worship of Nin-MAR.KI is best attested in sources from the territory of Lagash.
A temple of Nin-MAR.KI also existed in Girsu.[14] It was considered the second most important sanctuary dedicated to her.[7] It bore the ceremonial name Emunusgisa, "house of the bejeweled woman."[42] Kings who mention it in their inscriptions include Ur-Ningirsu I, Gudea and Shulgi.[7] It was rebuilt by the first and last of them.[42] Attested members of clergy associated with it include a temple administrator and, during the reign of Gudea, lamentation singers.[40] Nin-MAR.KI was also worshiped elsewhere in the state of Lagash, in its eponymous capital, as well as Nina and various dependencies of Guabba, such as Guabba-gula, Pa-Enku and Ḫurim.[7] Her temple in the last of these settlements might have been the Ebarasiga, "house, low dais," though it cannot be ruled out that it was dedicated to another goddess worshiped there, referred to simply as Lamma.[43]
Nin-MAR.KI is already attested in theophoric names from Lagash from the Early Dynastic period, such as Nin-MAR.KI-amamu ("Nin-MAR.KI is my mother") or Ur-Nin-MAR.KI.
According to Walther Sallaberger, the only attestations of active worship of Nin-MAR.KI from outside the territory of Lagash are available from Larsa and Ur.[7] However, according to Joan Goodnick Westenholz in the Early Dynastic period she was also venerated in Shuruppak.[45] References to oath sworn by Nin-MAR.KI are known from Larsa, though the available attestations often pertain to the temple in Ašdubba.[27] During the reign of the Larsa dynasty, a deity named dNin-é-NIM-ma (reading of the name uncertain), possibly a member of the entourage of Ningal of indeterminate gender or a secondary name of this goddess, was worshiped in a shrine within a temple of Nin-MAR.KI,[15] which according to Antoine Caivngeaux and Manfred Krebernik was located in Ur.[18] This conclusion is supported by other authors,[8] though Odette Boivin notes that there is no indication in known texts that a temple of this goddess existed in said city, and argues that it might have been located in Guabba instead.[15]
While Nin-MAR.KI's mother Nanshe was later worshiped in the Sealand, there is no indication in known sources that any of her children also belonged to the local pantheon.[46] Seemingly after the decline of Guabba and other settlements where Nin-MAR.KI was originally worshiped god lists, laments and other similar texts were the only sources preserving her name.[38]
Miscellaneous textual sources
Nin-MAR.KI appears in a number of god lists, including the
The composition Lament for Sumer and Ur, which was most likely inspired by the fall of the Third Dynasty of Ur,[48] states that during the widespread destruction it describes, Nin-MAR.KI lost her temple in Guabba and that "boats were carrying off its silver and lapis lazuli."[49] The same passage deals with the fate of Nanshe and the province of Lagash as a whole.[50] She is also present in the Lament for Ur, where she similarly appears among deities from the pantheon of Lagash,[21] such as Nanshe, Gatumdug and Dumuzi-abzu.[10]
References
- ^ a b c Selz 1995, p. 256.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Sallaberger 1998, p. 463.
- ^ Peterson 2009, p. 56.
- ^ a b c Whiting 1985, p. 1.
- ^ Sallaberger 1998, pp. 463–464.
- ^ Selz 1995, pp. 256–257.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Sallaberger 1998, p. 464.
- ^ a b c d Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013, p. 54.
- ^ a b Black 2006, p. 363.
- ^ a b Samet 2014, p. 57.
- ^ Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013, p. 6.
- ^ Whiting 1985, pp. 1–3.
- ^ a b Whiting 1985, p. 3.
- ^ a b c George 1993, p. 36.
- ^ a b c Boivin 2018, p. 230.
- ^ Peterson 2009, pp. 56–57.
- ^ a b c Cavigneaux & Krebernik 1998, p. 328.
- ^ a b Cavigneaux & Krebernik 1998a, p. 349.
- ^ a b c Cavigneaux & Krebernik 1998b, p. 352.
- ^ Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013, p. 165.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Sallaberger 1998, p. 465.
- ^ Wende 2014, p. 435.
- ^ Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013, p. 73.
- ^ Cavigneaux & Krebernik 1998b, pp. 351–352.
- ^ a b c d e Sallaberger 1998, p. 468.
- ^ Sallaberger 1998, pp. 466–467.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Sallaberger 1998, p. 467.
- ^ Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013, pp. 192–193.
- ^ a b Selz 1995, pp. 260–261.
- ^ Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013, pp. 205–206.
- ^ Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013, p. 211.
- ^ Selz 1995, p. 301.
- ^ a b c Selz 1995, p. 260.
- ^ Selz 1995, p. 118.
- ^ a b Selz 1995, p. 261.
- ^ George 1993, p. 6.
- ^ Gabbay 2014, pp. 138–139.
- ^ a b Sallaberger 1998, pp. 467–468.
- ^ George 1993, p. 64.
- ^ a b Sallaberger 1998, p. 466.
- ^ Selz 1995, p. 258.
- ^ a b George 1993, p. 128.
- ^ George 1993, p. 72.
- ^ George 1993, p. 169.
- ^ Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013, p. 58.
- ^ Boivin 2018, p. 215.
- ^ Sallaberger 1998, pp. 464–465.
- ^ Black 2006, p. 128.
- ^ Black 2006, p. 132.
- ^ Black 2006, pp. 132–133.
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). ISBN 978-3-7278-1738-0.
- Black, Jeremy A. (2006). The Literature of Ancient Sumer. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-929633-0. Retrieved 2022-10-01.
- Boivin, Odette (2018). The First Dynasty of the Sealand in Mesopotamia. De Gruyter. ISBN 978-1-5015-0782-3.
- Cavigneaux, Antoine; Krebernik, Manfred (1998), "Ninanzu", Reallexikon der Assyriologie (in German), retrieved 2022-10-01
- Cavigneaux, Antoine; Krebernik, Manfred (1998a), "dNin-é-NIM-ma", Reallexikon der Assyriologie (in German), retrieved 2022-10-01
- Cavigneaux, Antoine; Krebernik, Manfred (1998b), "Nin-ĝagia", Reallexikon der Assyriologie (in German), retrieved 2022-10-01
- Gabbay, Uri (2014). "The Balaĝ Instrument and Its Role in the Cult of Ancient Mesopotamia" (PDF). Music in Antiquity. Walter de Gruyter GmbH. pp. 129–147. ISBN 978-3-11-034026-6.
- George, Andrew R. (1993). House most high: the temples of ancient Mesopotamia. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns. OCLC 27813103.
- Peterson, Jeremiah (2009). God lists from Old Babylonian Nippur in the University Museum, Philadelphia. Münster: Ugarit Verlag. OCLC 460044951.
- Sallaberger, Walther (1998), "Nin-MAR.KI", Reallexikon der Assyriologie (in German), retrieved 2022-10-01
- Samet, Nili (2014). The Lamentation over the Destruction of Ur. Penn State University Press. ISBN 978-1-57506-883-1.
- Selz, Gebhard J. (1995). Untersuchungen zur Götterwelt des altsumerischen Stadtstaates von Lagaš (in German). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Museum. OCLC 33334960.
- Wende, Janine (2014), "Ur-Ninmarki", Reallexikon der Assyriologie (in German), retrieved 2022-10-01
- Whiting, Robert M. (1985). "The Reading of the Divine Name dNin-MAR.KI". Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und Vorderasiatische Archäologie. 75 (1). Walter de Gruyter GmbH: 1–3. ISSN 0084-5299.
External links
- Lament for Sumer and Ur in the Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature
- Lament for Ur in the ETCSL