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162-449: While no myths focusing on Utu are known, he often appears as an ally of other figures in both Sumerian and Akkadian compositions. According to narratives about Dumuzi 's death, he helped protect him when the galla demons tried to drag him to the underworld. In various versions of the Epic of Gilgamesh and in earlier Gilgamesh myths, he helps this hero defeat the monstrous Humbaba . In

324-601: A ziggurat dedicated to the city's tutelary god also existed in Sippar. It was known as Ekunankuga (Siumerian: "house, pure stairway to heaven"). It was rebuilt by Samsu-iluna, Ammi-Saduqa, Neriglissar and Nabonidus. The position of Sippar and its tutelary god has been compared to that of Nippur and Enlil - while both of these gods were high-ranking members of the pantheon, and their cities were centers of religious and scholarly activity, they never constituted major political powers in their own right. It has been suggested that

486-519: A battle between deities. The attendant deity is sometimes interpreted as Bunene . In some cases Inanna is shown watching the battle or partaking in it on Utu's side. It has been suggested that it is a symbolic representation of a conflict between day and night, or that the deities confronted by Utu and his allies are rebellious mountain gods. Wilfred G. Lambert suggested that in some cases figures from battle scenes with rays emanating from their shoulders might be representations of Enmesharra rather than

648-508: A birth incantation erroneously identifies him as a moon god and Narundi as a sun deity, explaining their names as, respectively, Sin and Shamash. The main cult centers of the sun god were Larsa and Sippar , specifically Sippar-Ahrurum (Abu Habbah). The latter city was regarded as older in Mesopotamian tradition, and in lists of temples tends to be mentioned before Larsa. In both cities, the main temple dedicated to Utu and his spouse Aya

810-489: A border conflict between Umma and Lagash. Theophoric names invoking Utu are well attested in texts from this area. Examples include Shubur-Utu, Utu-amu and Utu-kiag. A temple of Utu, Ehili ("house of luxuriance") also existed in Ur. It was rebuilt by Enannatumma, the daughter of Ishme-Dagan , whose inscriptions refer to it as the god's "pure storeroom." A town located near this city, most likely somewhere between it and Larsa, bore

972-469: A change of heart, and Sirtur , Dumuzid's mother. The three goddesses mourn continually until a fly reveals to Inanna the location of her husband. Together, Inanna and Geshtinanna go to the place where the fly has told them they will find Dumuzid. They find him there and Inanna decrees that, from that point onwards, Dumuzid will spend half of the year with her sister Ereshkigal in the Underworld and

1134-553: A colorful allalu bird (possibly a European or Indian roller ), whose wing has been broken and now spends all his time "in the woods crying 'My wing!'" (Tablet VI, section ii, lines 11–15). Gilgamesh may be referring to an alternative account of Dumuzid's death, different from the ones recorded in extant texts. Anton Moortgat has interpreted Dumuzid as the antithesis of Gilgamesh: Gilgamesh refuses Ishtar's demand for him to become her lover, seeks immortality, and fails to find it; Dumuzid, by contrast, accepts Ishtar's offer and, as

1296-406: A connection with light. He is attested in multiple theophoric names, chiefly from Sippar. Some researchers, including Antoine Cavigneaux and Manfred Krebernik, consider the reading of the second element of his name to be uncertain due to variable orthography, and transcribe it as Nin-PIRIG. The pair Nigzida and Nigsisa, whose names mean "law" and "order," respectively, are identified as the "vizier of

1458-683: A deity's melam has on a human is described as ni , a word for the " physical creeping of the flesh ". Both the Sumerian and Akkadian languages contain many words to express the sensation of ni , including the word puluhtu , meaning "fear". Deities were almost always depicted wearing horned caps, consisting of up to seven superimposed pairs of ox-horns. They were also sometimes depicted wearing clothes with elaborate decorative gold and silver ornaments sewn into them. The ancient Mesopotamians believed that their deities lived in Heaven , but that

1620-565: A deity's cult statue would be transported to the location of a battle so that the deity could watch the battle unfold. The major deities of the Mesopotamian pantheon were believed to participate in the "assembly of the gods", through which the gods made all of their decisions. This assembly was seen as a divine counterpart to the semi-democratic legislative system that existed during the Third Dynasty of Ur ( c. 2112 BC – c. 2004 BC). The Mesopotamian pantheon evolved greatly over

1782-660: A demon in Book I of John Milton 's Paradise Lost , lines 446–457: THAMMUZ came next behind, Whose annual wound in LEBANON allur'd The SYRIAN Damsels to lament his fate In amorous dittyes all a Summers day, While smooth ADONIS from his native Rock Ran purple to the Sea, suppos'd with blood Of THAMMUZ yearly wounded: the Love-tale Infected SION'S daughters with like heat, Whose wanton passions in

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1944-413: A farmer named Enkimdu . At first, Inanna prefers the farmer, but Utu and Dumuzid gradually persuade her that Dumuzid is the better choice for a husband, arguing that, for every gift the farmer can give to her, the shepherd can give her something even better. In the end, Inanna marries Dumuzid. The shepherd and the farmer reconcile their differences, offering each other gifts. Samuel Noah Kramer compares

2106-422: A frightening dream he has experienced. Then the galla demons arrive to drag Dumuzid down into the Underworld as Inanna's replacement. Dumuzid flees and hides. The galla demons brutally torture Geshtinanna in an attempt to force her to tell them where Dumuzid is hiding. Geshtinanna, however, refuses to tell them where her brother has gone. The galla go to Dumuzid's unnamed "friend", who betrays Dumuzid, telling

2268-643: A god's statue was a physical embodiment of the god himself. As such, cult statues were given constant care and attention and a set of priests were assigned to tend to them. These priests would clothe the statues and place feasts before them so they could"eat". A deity's temple was believed to be that deity's literal place of residence. The gods had boats, full-sized barges which were normally stored inside their temples and were used to transport their cult statues along waterways during various religious festivals . The gods also had chariots , which were used for transporting their cult statues by land. Sometimes

2430-401: A lament. The intelligible part of the poem describes Inanna pining after her husband Dumuzid, who is in the steppe watching his flocks. Inanna sets out to find him. After this, a large portion of the text is missing. When the story resumes, Inanna is told that Dumuzid has been murdered. Inanna discovers that the old bandit woman Bilulu and her son Girgire are responsible. She travels along

2592-579: A letter dated to the year 395 AD that "Bethlehem... belonging now to us... was overshadowed by a grove of Tammuz, that is to say, Adonis, and in the cave where once the infant Christ cried, the lover of Venus was lamented." This same cave later became the site of the Church of the Nativity . The church historian Eusebius , however, does not mention pagans having ever worshipped in the cave, nor do any other early Christian writers. Peter Welten has argued that

2754-590: A ma-ra-ju 10 ma-a gal 4 -la-ju 10 du 6 du 8 -du 8 -a a ma-«a»-ra ki-sikil-jen a-ba-a ur 11 -ru-a-bi gal 4 -la-ju 10 ki duru 5 a ma-ra ga-ca-an-jen gud a-ba-a bi 2 -ib 2 -gub-be 2 ... ga sig 7 -a-ma-ab mu-ud-na-ju 10 ga sig 7 -/a\-[ma-ab] mu-ud-na-ju 10 me-e ga de 3 -e-da-/na 8 \-[na 8 ] am dumu-zid ga sig 7 -a-ma-/ab\ mu-ud-na-ju 10 me-e ga de 3 -/e-da\-[na 8 -na 8 ] ga ud 5 -da-ke 4 amac [...] nin car 2 -ra dugcakir kug-ja 2 sug 4 -[...] dumu-zid ga am-si-har-ra-/an\-[na ...] My vulva,

2916-462: A more recent publication that the logogram commonly designates Shamash in the middle Euphrates area, and syllabic writings of his name are uncommon there, though he also states that Shimige cannot be ruled out as a possible reading in some cases. In texts from Susa , Haft Tepe and Malamir in Elam the name of the sun god was usually written logographically as UTU and it is uncertain when it refers to

3078-402: A number of them were daughters or sisters of kings. Both Zimri-Lim of Mari and Hammurabi of Babylon had nadītu of Shamash among their female family members. A ceremony called lubuštu was established in Sippar by Nabu-apla-iddina. It involved providing the statues of Shamash, Aya and Bunene with new garments at specific dates throughout the year. Records indicate it was still celebrated in

3240-516: A result of her love, is able to spend half the year in Heaven, even though he is condemned to the Underworld for the other half. Mehmet-Ali Ataç further argues that the "Tammuz model" of immortality was far more prevalent in the ancient Near East than the "Gilgamesh model". In a chart of antediluvian generations in Babylonian and Biblical traditions, William Wolfgang Hallo associates Dumuzid with

3402-487: A river god also known for his association with justice and judgment who represented ordeal by water . A hymn to Utu states that Idlurugu cannot give judgment without his presence. As an extension of his role as a divine judge, Utu could be associated with the underworld, though this connection is not attested before the Old Babylonian period . In exorcisms, he could be implored to help with bringing restless ghosts to

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3564-499: A secondary hypostasis . Occasionally the sun deity's gender had to be indicated directly, and both UTU- munus (female) and UTU- nita (male) are attested. Joan Goodnick Westenholz proposed that Ninkar in Eblaite texts should be interpreted as Ninkarrak rather than the phonetically similar but more obscure Mesopotamian Ninkar. Occasional shortening of Ninkarrak's name to "Ninkar" is known from Mesopotamian sources as well. This theory

3726-431: A similar role. In legal texts from Sippar, the sun god and his wife commonly appear as divine witnesses. The only other divine couple attested in this role in this city are Mamu and Bunene . Buduhudug, a mythical mountain where the sun was believed to set, was regarded as "the entrance of Shamash to Aya" ( nēreb Šamaš <ana> Aya ), the place where they were able to reunite each day after he finished his journey through

3888-531: A son of the moon god in Mesopotamian religion, both in Sumerian and Akkadian texts. They are already attested as father and son in the Early Dynastic god list from Fara . The relation between them could be illustrated by matching epithets, for example in the god list An = Anum Utu is the "small boat of heaven" (Mabanda-anna), while his father Nanna - the "great boat of heaven" (Magula-anna). Ningal

4050-469: A syncretism of Inanna-Ishtar and the West Semitic goddess Astarte . The Song of Songs bears strong similarities to the Sumerian love poems involving Inanna and Dumuzid, particularly in its usage of natural symbolism to represent the lovers' physicality. Song of Songs 6:10 ("Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?")

4212-554: A title of Aya). Craftsmen employed by the Eanna were also responsible for repairing the paraphernalia of the deities of Ebabbar. Such a situation is otherwise unknown, as each temple usually maintained its own workshop. A treasury of Shamash and Aya, distinct from that of the Eanna, is nonetheless attested. Ebabbar most likely remained under control of the temple administration from Uruk in the Hellenistic period , though known names of

4374-452: A tradition in which he was the supreme god of the pantheon did exist, but never found official support and its spread was limited to the clergy in Sippar and to a smaller degree Larsa . Common epithets characterize Utu as a "youth" ( Sumerian šul , Akkadian eṭlu ) and "hero" (Sumerian ursaĝ , Akkadian qarrādu ). As a representation of the sun, he was believed to travel every day through

4536-538: A wife, the scribes interpreted the name of Aya, present in the Sumerian original, as an unconventional writing of Ea . Instead of the Hurrian spelling of Aya, the name Eyan corresponds to him in the Hurrian column and Ugaritic one lists the local craftsman god Kothar-wa-Khasis . The logogram UTU is well attested in Hittite texts. In addition to Utu himself and his Akkadian counterpart, the deities represented by it were

4698-425: Is a single Assyrian inscription in which a man requests Tammuz that, when he descends to the Underworld, he should take with him a troublesome ghost who has been haunting him. The cult of Tammuz was particularly associated with women, who were the ones responsible for mourning his death. The custom of planting miniature gardens with fast-growing plants such as lettuce and fennel , which would then be placed out in

4860-520: Is a text entitled An = Anum , a Babylonian scholarly work listing the names of over 2,000 deities. While sometimes mistakenly regarded simply as a list of Sumerian gods with their Akkadian equivalents, it was meant to provide information about the relations between individual gods, as well as short explanations of functions fulfilled by them. In addition to spouses and children of gods, it also listed their servants. Various terms were employed to describe groups of deities. The collective term Anunnaki

5022-458: Is additionally equated with Lugalbanda in it, most likely because the Hurrian pantheon was smaller than that enumerated in Mesopotamian lists, creating the need to have a single Hurrian deity correspond to multiple Mesopotamian ones. The same list also attests the equivalence between Utu, Shimige and the Ugaritic sun goddess Shapash (Šapšu). Apparently to avoid the implications that Shapash had

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5184-544: Is agreed that the role of the sun and deities representing it in Mesopotamian religion was not comparable to that known from ancient Egyptian religion . Based on the attestations of theophoric names such as Shamash-bel-ili ( Akkadian : "Shamash is the lord of the gods"), Shamash-Enlil-ili ("Shamash is the Enlil of the gods") and Shamash-ashared-ili ("Shamash is the foremost of the gods"), Wilfred G. Lambert proposed that

5346-589: Is almost certainly a reference to Inanna-Ishtar. The myth of Inanna and Dumuzid later became the basis for the Greek myth of Aphrodite and Adonis . The Greek name Ἄδωνις ( Adōnis , Greek pronunciation: [ádɔːnis] ) is derived from the Canaanite word ʼadōn , meaning "lord". The earliest known Greek reference to Adonis comes from a fragment of a poem by the Lesbian poet Sappho , dating to

5508-490: Is also accepted by Archi, who notes it makes the widespread worship of Ninkar easier to explain. The Hurrian sun god, Shimige , is already represented by the logogram UTU in an inscription of Atalshen, an early king of Urkesh . It is the oldest known reference to him. He is directly equated with Utu in the trilingual Sumero-Hurro- Ugaritic version of the Weidner god list from Ugarit . It has been argued that his character

5670-579: Is assumed that the sign UD should be understood as a writing of Utu's name without the divine determinative (a cuneiform sign preceding names of deities), which is also attested in some theophoric names from the Early Dynastic period. However, no evidence exists that Marduk was ever viewed as a member of the family of any sun deity in Sippar, Larsa or any other location in Mesopotamia, which lead Wilfred G. Lambert to suggest this etymology

5832-446: Is dead and declares that he is not in the "grass which shall grow for his mother again", nor in the "waters which will rise". Damu's mother blesses him and Amashilama dies to join him in the Underworld. She tells him that "the day that dawns for you will also dawn for me; the day you see, I shall also see", referring to the fact that day in the world above is night in the Underworld. In the myth of Adapa, Dumuzid and Ningishzida are

5994-643: Is divided into seven tablets. The surviving version of the Enûma Eliš could not have been written any earlier than the late second millennium BC, but it draws heavily on earlier materials, including various works written during the Akkadian, Old Babylonian, and Kassite periods in the early second millennium BC. A category of primordial beings common in incantations were pairs of divine ancestors of Enlil and less commonly of Anu. In at least some cases these elaborate genealogies were assigned to major gods to avoid

6156-465: Is first attested during the reign of Gudea ( c. 2144 – 2124 BC) and the Third Dynasty of Ur. This term usually referred to the major deities of heaven and earth, endowed with immense powers, who were believed to "decree the fates of mankind". Gudea described them as " Lamma (tutelary deities) of all the countries." While it is common in modern literature to assume that in some contexts

6318-454: Is her loyal servant and that she had rightfully mourned for her while she was in the Underworld. They next come upon Shara, Inanna's beautician, who is still in mourning. The demons attempt to take him, but Inanna insists that they may not, because he had also mourned for her. The third person they come upon is Lulal, who is also in mourning. The demons try to take him, but Inanna stops them once again. Finally, they come upon Dumuzid, who

6480-404: Is lavishly clothed and resting beneath a tree, or sitting on Inanna's throne, entertained by slave-girls. Inanna, displeased, decrees that the demons shall take him, using language which echoes the speech Ereshkigal gave while condemning her. The demons then drag Dumuzid down to the Underworld. The Sumerian poem The Dream of Dumuzid (ETCSL 1.4.3 ) begins with Dumuzid telling Geshtinanna about

6642-577: Is left unspecified: Eantasurra ("house which twinkles from heaven;" not to be confused with an identically named temple of Ningirsu built by Akurgal somewhere near Girsu), Ekukina ("pure house, bechamber"), Enamtarkalamma ("house of the destinies of the land") and Enugalanna (reading and translation uncertain, possibly "house of the great light of heaven"). Dumuzi Dumuzid or Dumuzi or Tammuz ( Sumerian : 𒌉𒍣 , romanized:  Dumuzid ; Akkadian : Duʾūzu, Dûzu ; Hebrew : תַּמּוּז , romanized :  Tammūz ), known to

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6804-544: Is not plausible on theological grounds. Multiple deities who could be regarded as the sukkal (attendant deity) of Utu are known, and more than one could appear in this role at a time. Bunene , also known under the name Papnunna, was considered his chariot driver. Frans Wiggermann notes that his name and character (as well as these of other well attested sukkals of major city gods: Ninshubur , Alammush , Nuska and Isimud ) do not appear to show direct connection with these of his master, which means that he cannot be considered

6966-498: Is particularly well attested in the Old Babylonian period, and it has been argued that the institution first developed around 1880 BCE, during the reign of Sumu-la-El of Babylon. Nadītu lived in a building referred to as gagûm , conventionally translated as " cloister ," and Tonia Sharlach notes they can be compared to medieval Christian nuns . They are sometimes described as "priestesses" in modern literature, but while it

7128-639: Is running, he falls into a river. Near an apple tree on the other bank, he is dragged into the Underworld, where everything simultaneously "exists" and "does not exist", perhaps indicating that they exist in insubstantial or immaterial forms. A collection of lamentations for Dumuzid entitled In the Desert by the Early Grass describes Damu, the "dead anointed one", being dragged down to the Underworld by demons, who blindfold him, tie him up, and forbid him from sleeping . Damu's mother tries to follow him into

7290-537: Is typically depicted in the first row of symbols, next to the eight-pointed star representing Inanna (Ishtar) and the crescent representing Nanna (Sin). Additionally the symbol of a winged sun came to be associated with the sun god in Assyria in the first millennium BCE. Some depictions of it add a bird tail as well. It only arrived in Babylonia during the reign of Nabonidus . The sun god was traditionally viewed as

7452-456: Is uncertain if it was identical with Ebabbar of Assur mentioned in a later topographical text. Additionally, Ehulhuldirdirra ("house of surpassing joys"), while primarily dedicated to Sin , was also associated with Shamash, as attested in building inscriptions of Ashur-nirari I , Tukulti-Ninurta I and Ashurnasirpal II . A sanctuary in Nippur known in Akkadian as bīt dalīli , "house of fame,"

7614-446: Is well attested that they were considered to be dedicated to a specific deity, there is little evidence for their involvement in religious activities other than personal prayer. It is not impossible they were understood as a fully separate social class. Family background of individual nadītu varied, though they came predominantly from the higher strata of society. While many came from families of craftsmen, scribes or military officials,

7776-405: The Epic of Gilgamesh . Manfred Krebernik argues that in early sources, his chariot was drawn by lions, but this has been questioned by Marco Bonechi. Nathan Wasserman in his translation of a fragment of a hymn to Utu mentioning the animals only refers to them as "beasts." Sunrise and sunset were described as the sun god passing through cosmic gates situated on twin mountains on the opposite ends of

7938-462: The galla demons to drag him down to the Underworld as her replacement. Inanna later regrets this decision and decrees that Dumuzid will spend half of the year in the Underworld, but the other half of the year with her, while his sister Geshtinanna stays in the Underworld in his place, thus resulting in the cycle of the seasons. In the Sumerian poem Inanna Prefers the Farmer , Dumuzid competes against

8100-696: The Achaemenid period, during the reign of Darius I . The Ebabbar in Larsa is mentioned for the first time in a text from the reign Eannatum . It was rebuilt, expanded or repaired by Ur-Nammu of Ur , Zabaya , Sin-Iddinam , Hammurabi, one of the two rulers bearing the name Kadashman-Enlil ( Kadashman-Enlil I or Kadashman-Enlil II ), Burnaburiash I , Nebuchadnezzar II and Nabonidus. Other rulers who have patronized it at some point include Gungunum , Abisare , Sumuel , Nur-Adad , Sin-Iqisham , Kudur-Mabuk , Warad-Sin and Rim-Sîn I . Odette Boivin notes that

8262-586: The Arameans viewed the solar deity as male, like Sumerians and Akkadians. According to Manfred Krebernik, the name Amna, attested as a synonym of Utu in the god list An = Anum and used to refer to the sun god in an inscription of Nabonidus , might be either connected to the toponym Sippar-Amnanum or to a root attested in Northwest Semitic languages , ' -m-n , which can be translated as "to be reliable" or "to be firm." The most common writing of

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8424-565: The Eblaite sun deity was represented with the logogram UTU. Manfred Krebernik assumes that it should be read as Shamash, that the deity was male, and that the goddess Ninkar also attested in texts from Ebla was his spouse. Alfonso Archi instead concludes that the deity was primarily female based on lexical evidence, but points out that the Eblaites were definitely aware of the male eastern sun god, and seemingly adopted him into their pantheon as

8586-605: The Kassite period , Uruk most likely gained influence over it, and in the Neo-Babylonian period , the Ebabbar was functionally a subordinate temple of Eanna . Multiple letters attest that the latter was responsible for providing commodities required for the performance of various rites in the former, for example sacrificial animals or wool for garments of divine statues of Shamash and Belet Larsa ("Lady of Larsa," most likely

8748-476: The Neo-Babylonian period, but its style has been described as "archaizing," and most likely was inspired by motifs found in presentation scenes from the Ur III period . It shows three individuals, an intercessory minor goddess ( lamma ) and two men, possibly the king Nabu-apla-iddina and the priest Nabu-nadin-shumi, facing Shamash. While other anthropomorphic depictions of the sun god are known from Assyria from

8910-475: The Sargonic period , he could be depicted climbing over two mountains, which has been interpreted as a representation of sunrise. He was also commonly depicted traveling in a boat. This motif is the single best attested type of cylinder seal image from the third millennium BCE, with over fifty examples presently known. Another recurring image is a depiction of Utu, sometimes accompanied by another god, partaking in

9072-598: The Sumerians as Dumuzid the Shepherd ( Sumerian : 𒌉𒍣𒉺𒇻 , romanized:  Dumuzid sipad ) and to the Canaanites as Adon ( Phoenician : 𐤀𐤃𐤍 ; Proto-Hebrew : 𐤀𐤃𐤍), is an ancient Mesopotamian and Levantine deity associated with agriculture and shepherds , who was also the first and primary consort of the goddess Inanna (later known as Ishtar ). In Sumerian mythology, Dumuzid's sister

9234-513: The Sun goddess of Arinna (UTU Arinna ), the Sun goddess of the Earth ( taknaš UTU), the male Sun god of Heaven ( nepišaš UTU, UTU AN, UTU ŠAME), as well as Luwian Tiwat , Palaic Tiyaz and Hurrian Shimige. Gary Beckman notes that the Hittite conception of solar deities does not show any Indo-European influence, and instead was largely similar to that known from Mesopotamia. He points out even

9396-540: The galla exactly where Dumuzid is hiding. The galla capture Dumuzid, but Utu , the god of the Sun, who is also Inanna's brother, rescues Dumuzid by transforming him into a gazelle . Eventually, the galla recapture Dumuzid and drag him down into the Underworld. In the Sumerian poem The Return of Dumuzid , which begins where The Dream of Dumuzid ends, Geshtinanna laments continually for days and nights over Dumuzid's death, joined by Inanna, who has apparently experienced

9558-414: The stocks and torture him using hot pokers. They strip him naked, do "evil" to him, and cover his face with his own garment . Finally, Dumuzid prays to Utu for help. Utu transforms Dumuzid into a creature that is part eagle and part snake, allowing him to escape back to Geshtinanna. In the text known as The Most Bitter Cry , Dumuzid is chased by the "seven evil deputies of the netherworld" and, as he

9720-686: The Adonis River located in what is now Lebanon (renamed the Abraham River ) ran red with blood. In Greece, the myth of Adonis was associated with the festival of the Adonia , which was celebrated by Greek women every year in midsummer. The festival, which was evidently already celebrated in Lesbos by Sappho's time, seems to have first become popular in Athens in the mid-fifth century BC. At

9882-576: The Anunnaki as a distinct group have yet been discovered, although a few depictions of its frequent individual members have been identified. Another similar collective term for deities was Igigi , first attested from the Old Babylonian Period ( c. 1830 BC – c. 1531 BC). The name Igigi seems to have originally been applied to the "great gods", but it later came to refer to all the gods of Heaven collectively. In some instances,

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10044-629: The Ebabbar in Sippar served as a treasury housing particularly rare objects, as excavations of the Neo-Babylonian level of the structure revealed a number of vases from the Early Dynastic and Sargonic periods, some with signs of repair, as well as the votive statue of Ikun-Shamash, a fragment of a monolith of Manishtushu, a macehead of Shar-Kali-Sharri , a whetstone of Tukulti-Mer of Hana , and other objects from earlier periods of Mesopotamian history. A special group connected to Shamash in Sippar were women referred to as nadītu . Their existence

10206-1113: The Elder Siamun Psusennes II Twenty-third Dynasty of Egypt Harsiese A Takelot II Pedubast I Shoshenq VI Osorkon III Takelot III Rudamun Menkheperre Ini Twenty-fourth Dynasty of Egypt Tefnakht Bakenranef ( Sargonid dynasty ) Tiglath-Pileser Shalmaneser Marduk-apla-iddina II Sargon Sennacherib Marduk-zakir-shumi II Marduk-apla-iddina II Bel-ibni Ashur-nadin-shumi Nergal-ushezib Mushezib-Marduk Esarhaddon Ashurbanipal Ashur-etil-ilani Sinsharishkun Sin-shumu-lishir Ashur-uballit II Mesopotamian pantheon Deities in ancient Mesopotamia were almost exclusively anthropomorphic . They were thought to possess extraordinary powers and were often envisioned as being of tremendous physical size. The deities typically wore melam , an ambiguous substance which "covered them in terrifying splendor" and which could also be worn by heroes, kings, giants, and even demons. The effect that seeing

10368-594: The God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength, therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shalt set it with strange slips: In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish: but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow. This passage may be describing the miniature gardens that women would plant in honor of Tammuz during his festival. Isaiah 1:29–30 , Isaiah 65:3 , and Isaiah 66:17 all denounce sacrifices made "in

10530-689: The Levant and to Greece, where he became known under the West Semitic name Adonis . The cult of Ishtar and Tammuz continued to thrive until the eleventh century AD and survived in parts of Mesopotamia as late as the eighteenth century. Tammuz is mentioned by name in the Book of Ezekiel (e.g., Ezek. 8:14–15 ) and possibly alluded to in other passages from the Hebrew Bible . In late nineteenth and early twentieth century scholarship of religion , Tammuz

10692-447: The Mesopotamian deity, and when to local Nahhunte . It is possible that in legal texts, when UTU occurs next to Elamite deities Inshushinak , Ruhurater or Simut , the latter option is correct. While the god list An=Anum does mention Nahhunte, he is not explicitly labeled as a counterpart of Utu, and only appears as a member of a group called the "Divine Seven of Elam," associated with the goddess Narundi . A Mesopotamian commentary on

10854-652: The Middle East borrowed elements from poems of Ishtar mourning over the death of Tammuz into their own retellings of the Virgin Mary mourning over the death of her son Jesus . The Syrian writers Jacob of Serugh and Romanos the Melodist both wrote laments in which the Virgin Mary describes her compassion for her son at the foot of the cross in deeply personal terms closely resembling Ishtar's laments over

11016-496: The Queen of Heaven. These cakes would be baked in ashes and several clay cake molds discovered at Mari, Syria reveal that they were also at least sometimes shaped like naked women. According to the scholar Samuel Noah Kramer , towards the end of the third millennium BC, kings of Uruk may have established their legitimacy by taking on the role of Dumuzid as part of a " sacred marriage " ceremony. This ritual lasted for one night on

11178-410: The Underworld, but Damu is now a disembodied spirit, "lying in" the winds, "in the lightnings and in tornadoes". Damu's mother is also unable to eat the food or drink the water in the Underworld, because it is "bad". Damu travels along the road of the Underworld and encounters various spirits. He meets the ghost of a small child, who tells him that it is lost; the ghost of a singer agrees to accompany

11340-540: The archetype of a " dying-and-rising god " found throughout all cultures. Frazer and others also saw Tammuz's Greek equivalent Adonis as a "dying-and-rising god". Origen discusses Adonis, whom he associates with Tammuz, in his Selecta in Ezechielem ( “Comments on Ezekiel”), noting that "they say that for a long time certain rites of initiation are conducted: first, that they weep for him, since he has died; second, that they rejoice for him because he has risen from

11502-448: The association with judgment to be most likely. The saw's presence is often used to identify depictions of gods as Utu. He could also be depicted holding the rod-and-ring symbol , commonly associated with major deities. In some cases he is shown handing them to human rulers. Utu was commonly depicted on cylinder seals as early as in the third millennium BCE. Multiple motifs recur on them, some not known from textual sources. On seals from

11664-528: The banks of the Tigris river. Tammuz is still the name for the month of July in Iraqi Arabic . The late nineteenth-century Scottish anthropologist Sir James George Frazer wrote extensively about Tammuz in his monumental study of comparative religion The Golden Bough (the first edition of which was published in 1890) as well as in later works. Frazer claimed that Tammuz was just one example of

11826-609: The cave was never dedicated to Tammuz and that Jerome misinterpreted Christian mourning over the Massacre of the Innocents as a pagan ritual over Tammuz's death. Joan E. Taylor has countered this contention by arguing that Jerome, as an educated man, could not have been so naïve as to mistake Christian mourning over the Massacre of the Innocents as a pagan ritual for Tammuz. During the sixth century AD, some early Christians in

11988-471: The child. Damu asks the spirits to send a message to his mother, but they cannot because they are dead and the living cannot hear the dead's voices. Damu, however, manages to tell his mother to dig up his blood and chop it into pieces. Damu's mother gives the congealed blood to Damu's sister Amashilama, who is a leech. Amashilama mixes the congealed blood into a brew of beer, which Damu must drink in order to be restored to life. Damu, however, realizes that he

12150-471: The city's inhabitants from this period are predominantly Greek, rather than Mesopotamian. Utu was among the deities worshiped in the territory of Lagash in the Early Dynastic period . A dais dedicated to him existed in Namnuda-kigarra. It was originally erected by Eannatum, then destroyed by Ur-Lumma of Umma , and finally rebuilt by Entemena . It is possible that these events took place during

12312-675: The coming of the Chaldeans and belonged to an ancient Mesopotamian tribe called Ganbân. On rituals related to Tammuz in his time, he adds that the Sabaeans in Harran and Babylonia still lamented the loss of Tammuz every July, but that the origin of the worship had been lost. Ibn Wahshiyya's version of the Tammuz myth is also cited by Maimonides in his Guide for the Perplexed . In

12474-684: The composite half-man, half-fish counselor or culture hero ( Apkallu ) An-Enlilda, and suggests an equivalence between Dumuzid and Enoch in the Sethite Genealogy given in Genesis chapter 5. The cult of Ishtar and Tammuz may have been introduced to the Kingdom of Judah during the reign of King Manasseh and the Old Testament contains numerous allusions to them. Ezekiel 8:14 mentions Tammuz by name: "Then he brought me to

12636-408: The course of its history. In general, the history of Mesopotamian religion can be divided into four phases. During the first phase, starting in the fourth millennium BC, deities' domains mainly focused on basic needs for human survival. During the second phase, which occurred in the third millennium BC, the divine hierarchy became more structured and deified kings began to enter the pantheon. During

12798-798: The cult of Tammuz preserved in the Bible and in Greco-Roman literature brought the story to the attention of western European writers. The story was popular in Early Modern England and appeared in a variety of works, including Sir Walter Raleigh 's History of the World (1614), George Sandys 's Dictionarium Relation of a Journey (1615), and Charles Stephanus's Dictionarium Historicam (1553). These have all been suggested as sources for Tammuz's most famous appearance in English literature as

12960-399: The cult of Tammuz. There is no external evidence to support this reading, however, and it is much more probable that this epithet is merely a jibe at Antiochus's notorious cruelty towards all the women who fell in love with him. The Hebrew Bible also contains references to Tammuz's consort Inanna-Ishtar. Jeremiah 7:18 and Jeremiah 44:15–19 mention "the Queen of Heaven", who is probably

13122-434: The date palm represented stability, because it was one of the few crops that could be harvested all year, even during the dry season. In some Sumerian poems, Dumuzid is referred to as "my Damu", which means "my son". This name is usually applied to him in his role as the personification of the power that causes the sap to rise in trees and plants. Damu is the name most closely associated with Dumuzid's return in autumn after

13284-399: The dead ( apo nekrôn anastanti )." Tammuz's categorization as a "dying-and-rising god" was based on the abbreviated Akkadian redaction of Inanna's Descent into the Underworld , which was missing the ending. Since numerous lamentations over the death of Dumuzid had already been translated, scholars filled in the missing ending by assuming that the reason for Ishtar's descent was because she

13446-579: The death of Tammuz. Tammuz is the month of July in Iraqi Arabic and Levantine Arabic (see Arabic names of calendar months ), as well as in the Assyrian calendar and Jewish calendar , and references to Tammuz appear in Arabic literature from the 9th to 11th centuries AD. In what purports to be a translation of an ancient Nabataean text by Qūthāmā the Babylonian, Ibn Wahshiyya (c. 9th-10th century AD), adds information on his own efforts to ascertain

13608-523: The deities of Larsa were apparently well represented in the pantheon of the First Sealand dynasty . She suggests that those kings might have associated their position both with Larsa and with its tutelary god. The Larsean form of the sun god was also worshiped in Uruk and a close connection between these two cities is well documented. At an unknown point in time after Larsa's loss of status, possibly in

13770-542: The door of the gate of the Lord's house which was toward the north; and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz. Then said he unto to me, 'Hast thou seen this, O son of man? turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these." Ezekiel's testimony is the only direct mention of Tammuz in the Hebrew Bible , but the cult of Tammuz may also be alluded to in Isaiah 17:10–11 : Because thou hast forgotten

13932-430: The dry season has ended. This aspect of his cult emphasized the fear and exhaustion of the community after surviving the devastating summer. Dumuzid had virtually no power outside of his distinct realm of responsibilities. Very few prayers addressed to him are extant and, of those that are, almost all of them are simply requests for him to provide more milk, more grain, more cattle, etc. The sole exception to this rule

14094-516: The earliest Sumerian sources Ishkur, who was analogous to Adad, was not associated with divination, it is possible that it was based on the association between Hadad and the solar deity in Ebla and possibly elsewhere in Syria and Upper Mesopotamia . According to a late ritual text, Shamash and Adad were responsible for teaching divination to the mythical king Enmeduranki . Subsequently, he taught it to

14256-654: The fact that the Sun god of Heaven was believed to travel in a quadriga drawn by horses, similar to Greek Helios , is not necessarily an example of the former, as deities traveling in chariots are already depicted on Mesopotamian seals from the Sargonic period. The logogram UTU also designated the sun deity or deities in Emar in the late Bronze Age . According to Gary Beckman, the Mesopotamian, West Semitic, Hurrian and Hittite sun deities might all be potentially represented by it in texts from this city. Eduardo Torrecilla notes in

14418-584: The farmer Enkimdu for Inanna's hand in marriage. Gilgamesh references Tammuz in Tablet VI of the Epic of Gilgamesh as the love of Ishtar's youth, who was turned into an allalu bird with a broken wing. Dumuzid was associated with fertility and vegetation and the hot, dry summers of Mesopotamia were believed to be caused by Dumuzid's yearly death. During the month in midsummer bearing his name , people all across Mesopotamia would engage in public, ritual mourning for him. The cult of Dumuzid later spread to

14580-466: The former are poorly understood, and various interpretations have been proposed, for example that it was a representation of the first ray of sunshine of the day, that it was associated with judgment, perhaps as a weapon used to behead criminals, or that the sun god used it to break through the mountains during his daily journey. Christopher Woods points out that both in Sumerian and Akkadian, judgments had to be "cut" ( kud / parāsum ), and therefore considers

14742-521: The gardens", which may also be connected to the cult of Tammuz. Another possible allusion to Tammuz occurs in Daniel 11:37 : "Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all." The subject of this passage is Antiochus IV Epiphanes and some scholars have interpreted the reference to the "one desired by women" in this passage as an indication that Antiochus may have persecuted

14904-423: The god list An = Anum Gula, Ninkarrak and Nintinugga all figure as separate deities with own courts. Dogs were associated with many healing goddesses and Gula in particular is often shown in art with a dog sitting beside her. Various civilizations over the course of Mesopotamian history had many different creation stories . The earliest accounts of creation are simple narratives written in Sumerian dating to

15066-554: The gods," possibly reflecting the existence of a similar belief connected to him among his clergy too, though unlike the doctrine of supremacy of the moon god, accepted by Nabonidus , it found no royal support at any point in time. In Zabban, a city in the northeast of Babylonia, Hadad was the head of the pantheon. In the first millennium BCE Marduk became the supreme god in Babylonia, and some late sources omit Anu and Enlil altogether and state that Ea received his position from Marduk. In some neo-Babylonian inscriptions Nabu 's status

15228-428: The growth of plants. Ancient Near Eastern peoples associated Dumuzid with the springtime, when the land was fertile and abundant, but, during the summer months, when the land was dry and barren, it was thought that Dumuzid had "died". During the month of Dumuzid, which fell in the middle of summer, people all across Sumer would mourn over his death. This seems to have been the primary aspect of his cult. In Lagash,

15390-426: The heat of the summer sun. The plants would sprout in the sunlight, but wither quickly in the heat. Then the women would mourn and lament loudly over the death of Adonis, tearing their clothes and beating their breasts in a public display of grief. The third century BC poet Euphorion of Chalcis remarked in his Hyacinth that "Only Cocytus washed the wounds of Adonis". The Church Father Jerome records in

15552-523: The horn, The Boat of Heaven, Is full of eagerness like the young moon. My untilled land lies fallow. As for me, Inanna, Who will plow my vulva? Who will plow my high field? Who will plow my wet ground? As for me, the young woman, Who will plow my vulva? Who will station the ox there? Who will plow my vulva? ... Make your milk sweet and thick, my bridegroom. My shepherd, I will drink your fresh milk. Wild bull, Dumuzi, make your milk sweet and thick. I will drink your fresh milk. Let

15714-430: The hot sun to sprout before withering in the heat, was a well-attested custom in ancient Greece associated with the festival of Adonia in honor of Adonis , the Greek version of Tammuz; some scholars have argued based on references in the Hebrew Bible that this custom may have been a continuation of an earlier oriental practice. The same women who mourned the death of Tammuz also prepared cakes for his consort Ishtar,

15876-508: The identity of Tammuz, and his discovery of the full details of the legend of Tammuz in another Nabataean book: "How he summoned the king to worship the seven (planets) and the twelve (signs) and how the king put him to death several times in a cruel manner Tammuz coming to life again after each time, until at last he died; and behold! it was identical to the legend of St. George ." Ibn Wahshiyya also adds that Tammuz lived in Babylonia before

16038-414: The land of the dead. In this capacity he could be associated with the deified legendary king Gilgamesh , commonly portrayed in a similar role. Shamash and Adad were jointly regarded as gods of divination , especially extispicy . The connection between the sun god and the weather god is well attested in Mesopotamian sources and goes back to the Old Babylonian period. Its origin is uncertain, but since in

16200-630: The late third millennium BC. These are mostly preserved as brief prologues to longer mythographic compositions dealing with other subjects, such as Inanna and the Huluppu Tree , The Creation of the Pickax , and Enki and Ninmah . Later accounts are far more elaborate, adding multiple generations of gods and primordial beings. The longest and most famous of these accounts is the Babylonian Enûma Eliš , or Epic of Creation , which

16362-423: The left" and "vizier of the right" in the god list An = Anum . Nigsisa alone is mentioned by Ninsun as Shamash's sukkal in the Epic of Gilgamesh . Nigzida could be equated with Niggina, another goddess regarded as the sun god's sukkal, though the latter deity's role varies between that of a servant and oldest daughter in known copies of the god list An = Anum . Her Akkadian counterpart was Kittum, whose name has

16524-414: The middle of the month of Tammuz. Women bewailed the death of Tammuz at the hands of his master who was said to have "ground his bones in a mill and scattered them to the wind." Consequently, women would forgo the eating of ground foods during the festival time. The same festival is mentioned in the eleventh century by Ibn Athir , who recounts that it still took place every year at the appointed time along

16686-513: The milk of the goat flow in my sheepfold. Fill my holy churn with honey cheese. Lord Dumuzi, I will drink your fresh milk. Towards the end of the epic poem Inanna's Descent into the Underworld (ETCSL 1.4.1 ), Dumuzid's wife Inanna escapes from the Underworld, but is pursued by a horde of galla demons, who insist that someone else must take her place in the Underworld. They first come upon Inanna's sukkal Ninshubur and attempt to take her, but Inanna stops them, insisting that Ninshubur

16848-572: The month of Dumuzid was the sixth month of the year. This month and the holiday associated with it was later transmitted from the Sumerians to Babylonians and other East Semitic peoples, with its name transcribed into those languages as Tammuz . A ritual associated with the Ekur temple in Nippur equates Dumuzid with the snake-god Ištaran , who in that ritual, is described as having died. Dumuzid

17010-506: The myth Inanna and An , he helps his sister acquire the temple Eanna . In How Grain Came to Sumer , he is invoked to advise Ninazu and Ninmada . The two most common names of the sun god used in Mesopotamian texts are Sumerian Utu and Akkadian Shamash. A further relatively commonly attested name is Amna, whose origin is uncertain. The name Shamash is a cognate of Akkadian terms šamšu ("sun") and šamšatu (" solar disc "), as well as

17172-732: The myth to the Biblical story of Cain and Abel because both accounts center around a farmer and a shepherd competing for divine favor and, in both stories, the deity in question ultimately chooses the shepherd. A vast number of erotic love poems celebrating the consummation of Inanna and Dumuzid have survived. Two excerpts from a representative example are translated below: gal 4 -la jar-ra ne-en GAG X [...] si-gin 7 mar gal-e /kece 2 \ [...] ma 2 an-na ne-en ec 2 la 2 [...] ud-sakar gibil-gin 7 hi-li /gur3\-[ru-ju 10 ] kislah ne-en edin-na cub -[...] a-cag 4 ? uz ne-en uz dur 2 -[ra]-/ju 10 \ a-cag 4 an-na ne-en

17334-463: The name Kar-Shamash, KAR.UTU. Most likely a temple dedicated to the eponymous god existed there as well. In Babylon, Shamash was worshiped in the temple Edikukalamma ("house of the judge of the land"), first attested in the Old Babylonian period and still mentioned in inscriptions from the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II. He was also one of the many gods worshiped in the Esagil temple complex, where his seat

17496-484: The name was most likely Śameš, though many variant syllabic spellings are attested. Additionally, the name for the sun in Mandaean cosmology , Shamish ( Mandaic language : ࡔࡀࡌࡉࡔ ), is derived from Akkadian Shamash. Utu was understood as a masculine deity. According to Manfred Krebernik, this most likely also resulted in his Akkadian counterpart being viewed as such, even though in the majority of Semitic languages both

17658-712: The names of his wife Aya ), Nimindu (possibly related to the name of the goddess Nimintabba ), Si'e ("who shines forth"), Ṣalam (possibly a name referring to a winged sun symbol) and U'e ("sunrise"). The sun god was one of the principal deities of the Mesopotamian pantheon . In the Early Dynastic god list from Fara , he is the sixth among the deities listed, after Anu , Enlil , Inanna , Enki and Nanna . In later god lists, for example in An = Anum , he and his circle appears between Nanna (Sin) and Ishkur (Adad). The Old Babylonian Nippur god list instead places him between Ishkur and Ninurta . Despite Utu's typical high status, it

17820-406: The nearby village of Kuara and to have been the consort of the goddess Inanna. As Dumuzid sipad ("Dumuzid the Shepherd"), Dumuzid was believed to be the provider of milk , which was a rare, seasonal commodity in ancient Sumer due to the fact that it could not easily be stored without spoiling . In addition to being the god of shepherds, Dumuzid was also an agricultural deity associated with

17982-470: The only available evidence are early ambiguous theophoric names, which according to him do not necessarily point at the existence of female Shamash, and might omit prepositions necessary to identify the gender of the deity invoked in them. Manfred Krebernik notes that a well known example of a female deity in what he deems the "cuneiform cultural sphere" is Shapash . At the same time, both the Amorites and

18144-412: The other half of the year in Heaven with her, while Geshtinanna takes his place in the Underworld. Other texts describe different and contradictory accounts of Dumuzid's death. The text of the poem Inanna and Bilulu (ETCSL 1.4.4 ), discovered at Nippur, is badly mutilated and scholars have interpreted it in a number of different ways. The beginning of the poem is mostly destroyed, but seems to be

18306-507: The people of Sippar, Nippur and Babylon . Whether referred to as Utu or Shamash, the sun god had identical iconography. Due to distinct attributes, he is considered one of the few Mesopotamian deities who can be identified in art with certainty. Depictions of him are known from many sites, for example Eshnunna, Tell al-Rimah , Sippar , Ur and Susa . His best attested attributes are a large saw ( šaššaru ) and rays of light emanating from his shoulders. The reasons behind associating him with

18468-464: The personification of the effect of the corresponding major deity's actions (unlike such deities as Nabium, deified flame and sukkal of the fire god Girra or Nimgir, deified lightning and sukkal of the weather god Ishkur ) or a divine personifications of specific commands (unlike such deities as Eturammi, "do not slacken," the sukkal of Birtum ). Ninpirig was referred to as Utu's sukkalmah ("great sukkal"). It has been proposed that his name might hint at

18630-411: The rainbow goddess Manzat is referred to as Shamash's sister and as a daughter of Sin and Ningal. The sun god's wife was invariably the goddess of dawn and light, usually known under the name Aya , though the forms Ninkar, Sudaĝ, Sherida and Sudgan are also well attested. Typically they were worshiped together, though sometimes Shamash shared his temples with other gods instead. Utu/Shamash and Aya are

18792-567: The reign of Rim-Sîn I , a king of Larsa well known for his devotion to Ninshubur. Many deities belonging to the court of Utu were regarded as divine judges. They could be grouped together, and collective labels such as "Eleven Standing Gods of Ebabbar" or "Six Judges of Shamash" are known from various sources. One well known example of such a deity is Ishmekarab , who could also be associated with Inshushinak and Lagamal . Kusarikku (bull-men, or, as argued by Frans Wiggermann, bison -men) were frequently associated with Utu, and especially through

18954-425: The road to Edenlila and stops at an inn, where she finds the two murderers. Inanna stands on top of a stool and transforms Bilulu into "the waterskin that men carry in the desert", forcing her to pour the funerary libations for Dumuzid. Dumuzid and Geshtinanna begins with demons encouraging Inanna to conquer the Underworld. Instead, she hands Dumuzid over to them. They put Dumuzid's feet, hands, and neck in

19116-1977: The sacred Porch EZEKIEL saw, when by the Vision led His eye survey'd the dark Idolatries Of alienated JUDAH. And then each pigeon spread its milky van, The bright car soared into the dawning sky And like a cloud the aerial caravan Passed over the Ægean silently, Till the faint air was troubled with the song From the wan mouths that call on bleeding Thammuz all night long ( Shamshi-Adad dynasty 1808–1736 BCE) (Amorites) Shamshi-Adad I Ishme-Dagan I Mut-Ashkur Rimush Asinum Ashur-dugul Ashur-apla-idi Nasir-Sin Sin-namir Ipqi-Ishtar Adad-salulu Adasi (Non-dynastic usurpers 1735–1701 BCE) Puzur-Sin Ashur-dugul Ashur-apla-idi Nasir-Sin Sin-namir Ipqi-Ishtar Adad-salulu Adasi ( Adaside dynasty 1700–722 BCE) Bel-bani Libaya Sharma-Adad I Iptar-Sin Bazaya Lullaya Shu-Ninua Sharma-Adad II Erishum III Shamshi-Adad II Ishme-Dagan II Shamshi-Adad III Ashur-nirari I Puzur-Ashur III Enlil-nasir I Nur-ili Ashur-shaduni Ashur-rabi I Ashur-nadin-ahhe I Enlil-Nasir II Ashur-nirari II Ashur-bel-nisheshu Ashur-rim-nisheshu Ashur-nadin-ahhe II Second Intermediate Period Sixteenth Dynasty Abydos Dynasty Seventeenth Dynasty (1500–1100 BCE) Kidinuid dynasty Igehalkid dynasty Untash-Napirisha Twenty-first Dynasty of Egypt Smendes Amenemnisu Psusennes I Amenemope Osorkon

19278-410: The same meaning, "truth." In An = Anum Kittum is instead male and a brother of Niggina. She had a sukkal of her own, Iqbi-damiq . None of Utu's sukkals known from other sources are present in documents from the archive of the First Sealand dynasty . Odette Boivin proposes that in local tradition, this role was instead fulfilled by the deities Lugal-namtarra and SUKKAL, who frequently appear alongside

19440-441: The same period, in Babylonia he came to be usually portrayed in the form of a symbol instead. The symbolic representation of Utu was the sun disc , typically represented as a four-pointed star with wavy lines placed between the points. It is attested as early as in the Sargonic period, and continued to be represented in art through the rest of history of ancient Mesopotamia. It is well known from kudurru (boundary stones), where it

19602-458: The second millennium BCE were commonly depicted as members of his court, for example as standard bearers. Similarly, the human-headed bull ( alima ) could accompany the solar disc in art, and a reference to its head serving as an emblem of Utu is known. It is possible that the association between bison-like mythical beings and the sun god was based on their shared connection to eastern mountains. A further type of apotropaic creature associated with Utu

19764-453: The seventh century BC, in which a chorus of young girls asks Aphrodite what they can do to mourn Adonis's death. Aphrodite replies that they must beat their breasts and tear their tunics. Later recensions of the Adonis legend reveal that he was believed to have been slain by a wild boar during a hunting trip. According to Lucian 's De Dea Syria , each year during the festival of Adonis,

19926-419: The single most common divine couple in cylinder seal inscriptions from Sippar , with only the number of dedications to Ishkur and Shala being comparably high. Aya was believed to intercede with her husband on behalf of worshipers, which is a function also well attested for other divine spouses, such as Ninmug and Shala. It has also been pointed out that in the case of Inanna, her sukkal Ninshubur fulfilled

20088-410: The sky every day he was believed to see everything that happened in the world. He could be assisted in this role by his father Nanna , his sister Inanna , and various minor judge deities. At least in the third millennium BCE, Ishtaran was regarded as a divine judge equal in rank to Utu, and a fragment of a myth from Ebla mentions a divine tribunal in which they both partake alongside Idlurugu (ÍD),

20250-461: The sky from east to west, and at night in the opposite direction through AN.ŠAG 4 , a "nether sky" located directly above the underworld , though the notion of a night journey only developed later, and in sources from the third millennium BCE Utu usually rests at night. A reference to the latter tradition is also known from the "Standard Babylonian" version of the Epic of Gilgamesh , where Shamash meets with his wife Aya after sunset. Utu's vehicle

20412-399: The sky. The deities counted among Utu's children include the dream goddess Mamu (as well as two other, male, dream deities, Sisig and Zaqar ), Šumugan , a god associated with animals, Niggina ( Kittum ), the deified concept of truth , according to Jacob Klein regarded as his principal daughter, and Ishum . In myths both about himself and about Lugalbanda , the legendary king Enmerkar

20574-405: The start of the festival, the women would plant a "garden of Adonis", a small garden planted inside a small basket or a shallow piece of broken pottery containing a variety of quick-growing plants, such as lettuce and fennel , or even quick-sprouting grains such as wheat and barley . The women would then climb ladders to the roofs of their houses, where they would place the gardens out under

20736-596: The sun god in anthropomorphic form has been identified among works of art from Babylonia from the first millennium BCE, the so-called Sun God Tablet . It is commonly discussed in scholarship, and has been described as "one of the masterpieces of ancient Near Eastern art." It was discovered by Hormuzd Rassam in December 1880 during his excavations in Abu Habbah in modern Iraq . Its discovery subsequently made it possible to identify this site with Sippar. It dates to

20898-476: The sun god's name was the logogram UTU, which could be read as Utu, Shamash, or, as attested in the god list An = Anum , as Amna. Syllabic spellings of all three of these names are also known. A further logographic spelling used the numeral 20, which was associated with him. Dozens of other variant names, epithets or possibly minor deities who came to be seen as synonymous with Utu are attested in god lists. Examples include Karkara (possibly related to Ninkar, one of

21060-416: The sun god, and that the former functioned as his sukkal during his nightly journey through the underworld, while the latter fulfilled the same role during the day. Lugal-namtarra is otherwise sparsely attested and might be analogous to Namtar . Boivin speculates that SUKKAL developed from the male version of Ninshubur, and assumes it is plausible a connection between the latter and the sun god developed during

21222-403: The sun god, as in a tradition known from a late myth, Enmesharra's Defeat, he was their original owner. In the second millennium BCE, Utu was typically portrayed in front of worshipers, either standing or seated on a throne. One well known example of such an image is a stele of Hammurabi of Babylon , inscribed with his legal code . Anna Kurmangaliev points out that only a single depiction of

21384-463: The tenth century AD, the Arab traveler Al-Nadim wrote in his Kitab al-Fehrest that "All the Sabaeans of our time, those of Babylonia as well as those of Harran , lament and weep to this day over Tammuz at a festival which they, more particularly the women, hold in the month of the same name." Drawing from a work on Syriac calendar feast days, Al-Nadim describes a Tâ'ûz festival that took place in

21546-518: The tenth day of the Akitu , the Sumerian new year festival, which was celebrated annually at the spring equinox . As part of the ritual, it was thought that the king would engage in ritualized sexual intercourse with the high priestess of Inanna, who took on the role of the goddess. In the late twentieth century, the historicity of the sacred marriage ritual was treated by scholars as more-or-less an established fact, but in recent years, largely due to

21708-402: The term was applied to a class of distinct, Hurrian, gods instead. Anunnaki are chiefly mentioned in literary texts and very little evidence to support the existence of any distinct cult of them has yet been unearthed due to the fact that each deity which could be regarded as a member of the Anunnaki had his or her own individual cult, separate from the others. Similarly, no representations of

21870-460: The term was instead applied to chthonic Underworld deities, this view is regarded as unsubstantiated by assyriologist Dina Katz, who points out that it relies entirely on the myth of Inanna's Descent , which doesn't necessarily contradict the conventional definition of Anunnaki and doesn't explicitly identify them as gods of the Underworld. Unambiguous references to Anunnaki as chthonic come from Hurrian (rather than Mesopotamian) sources, in which

22032-449: The terms Anunnaki and Igigi are used synonymously. Samuel Noah Kramer , writing in 1963, stated that the three most important deities in the Mesopotamian pantheon during all periods were the deities An , Enlil , and Enki . However, newer research shows that the arrangement of the top of the pantheon could vary depending on time period and location. The Fara god list indicates that sometimes Enlil, Inanna and Enki were regarded as

22194-466: The text Return of Dumuzid , translated in 1963. The Assyriologists Jeremy Black and Anthony Green describe the early history of Dumuzid's cult as "complex and bewildering". According to the Sumerian King List ( ETCSL 2.1.1 ), Dumuzid was the fifth antediluvian king of the city of Bad-tibira . Dumuzid was also listed as an early king of Uruk , where he was said to have come from

22356-499: The third phase, in the second millennium BC, the gods worshipped by an individual person and gods associated with the commoners became more prevalent. During the fourth and final phase, in the first millennium BC, the gods became closely associated with specific human empires and rulers. The names of over 3,000 Mesopotamian deities have been recovered from cuneiform texts. Many of these are from lengthy lists of deities compiled by ancient Mesopotamian scribes. The longest of these lists

22518-556: The three most significant deities. Inanna was also the most important deity in Uruk and a number of other political centers in the Uruk period. Gudea regarded Ninhursag , rather than Enki, as the third most prominent deity. An Old Babylonian source preserves a tradition in which Nanna was the king of the gods, and Anu, Enlil and Enki merely his advisers, likely a view espoused by Nanna's priests in Ur , and later on in Harran . An Old Babylonian personal name refers to Shamash as "Enlil of

22680-455: The two doorkeepers of Anu , the god of the heavens, who speak out in favor of Adapa , the priest of Ea , as he stands trial before Anu. In Tablet VI of the standard Akkadian Epic of Gilgamesh , Ishtar (Inanna) attempts to seduce the hero Gilgamesh , but he rebuffs her, reminding her that she had struck Tammuz (Dumuzid), "the lover of [her] youth", decreeing that he should "keep weeping year after year". Gilgamesh describes Tammuz as

22842-456: The underworld was later found in the text Return of Dumuzid , translated in 1963. Biblical scholars Paul Eddy and Greg Boyd argued in 2007 that this text does not describe a triumph over death because Dumuzid must be replaced in the underworld by his sister, thus reinforcing the "inalterable power of the realm of the dead". However, other scholars have cited this as an example of a god who was previously dead and risen again. The references to

23004-639: The underworld"), built by Yahdun-Lim . An inscription of Nebuchadnezzar II might indicate that the sun god's manifestation from Larsa was also worshiped in Ekarra ("house of the quay"), a temple located in Dilmun , on the Failaka Island , which was dedicated to the local deities Inzak and Meskilak . The Canonical Temple List , which dates to the Kassite period, mentions further temples, whose location

23166-476: The word referring to the sun itself and names of solar deities are grammatically feminine . Julia M. Asher-Greve considers this the oldest attested example of a Mesopotamian deity's gender being impacted by syncretism . However, not all researchers agree with the assumption that the name Shamash was ever understood as referring to a female deity in Akkadian-speaking areas. Christopher Woods argues that

23328-439: The words referring to sun in other Semitic languages , such as Arabic šams and Hebrew šemeš . The linguistic connection between the name of the god and the corresponding celestial body has been compared to that between Adad (and Syrian Hadad) and the word addu , "storm." The Amorite form of the name is Samsu, as attested for example in the theophoric name Samsu-iluna ("Samsu is our god"). The ancient Aramaic form of

23490-470: The world. It was believed that his daily journey let him see everything happening on earth. He was also responsible for protection of travelers. Formulas common in both prayers and literary compositions indicate that he was likely often invoked outside temples, presumably as an astral body. Early morning was likely regarded as the most appropriate time for imploring him for help. Utu was also the primary god of justice, presumably because due to traveling through

23652-510: The worship of Shamash in the third millennium BCE is available from the entire Akkadian-speaking area, from Mari and western Mesopotamian cities like Sippar, through Agade , to the Diyala area. Celebrations related to the sun god took place on the eighth, fifteenth, twentieth and possibly first day of each month. In the Early Dynastic period kings of Mari most likely visited the Ebabbar in Sippar to pay homage to its deity. In later periods, it

23814-421: The writings of Pirjo Lapinkivi, some scholars have rejected the notion of an actual sex ritual, instead seeing "sacred marriage" as a symbolic rather than a physical union. The poem "Inanna Prefers the Farmer" (ETCSL 4.0.8.3.3 ) begins with a rather playful conversation between Inanna and her brother Utu , who incrementally reveals to her that it is time for her to marry. Dumuzid comes to court her, along with

23976-458: Was Geshtinanna , the goddess of agriculture, fertility, and dream interpretation. In the Sumerian King List , Dumuzid is listed as an antediluvian king of the city of Bad-tibira and also an early king of the city of Uruk . In Inanna's Descent into the Underworld , Inanna perceives that Dumuzid has failed to properly mourn her death and, when she returns from the Underworld , allows

24138-520: Was a solar chariot , which was pulled by four animals bearing the Sumerian names Uhegalanna ("the abundant light of heaven"), Uhushgalanna ("the terrifying great light of heaven"), Usurmurgalanna ("the dreadful great light of heaven") and Unirgalanna ("the noble light of heaven"). Their species is not entirely consistent, though in most cases the sun chariot is apparently associated with equids : "choice steeds" ( niskum ) in an inscription of Gudea , horses in various prayers and incantations, and mules in

24300-467: Was also identified with the god Ama-ušumgal-ana ( 𒀭𒂼𒃲𒁔𒀭𒈾 ama-ušumgal-an-na ), who was originally a local god worshipped in the city of Lagash . In some texts, Ama-ušumgal-ana is described as a heroic warrior. As Ama-ušumgal-ana, Dumuzid is associated with the date palm and its fruits. This aspect of Dumuzid's cult was always joyful in character and had no associations with the darker stories involving his death. To ancient Mesopotamian peoples,

24462-477: Was believed to be the planet Venus , Utu was believed to be the Sun, and Nanna was the Moon. However, minor deities could be associated with planets too, for example Mars was sometimes called Simut , and Ninsianna was a Venus deity distinct from Inanna in at least some contexts. Eventually Gula became the preeminent healing goddess, and other healing goddesses were sometimes syncretised with her, though in

24624-459: Was equal to that of Marduk. In Assyria, Assur was regarded as the supreme god. The number seven was extremely important in ancient Mesopotamian cosmology. In Sumerian religion , the most powerful and important deities in the pantheon were sometimes called the "seven gods who decree": An , Enlil , Enki , Ninhursag , Nanna , Utu , and Inanna . Many major deities in Sumerian mythology were associated with specific celestial bodies: Inanna

24786-421: Was going to resurrect Dumuzid and that the text could therefore be assumed to end with Tammuz's resurrection. Then, in the middle of the twentieth century, the complete, unabridged, original Sumerian text of Inanna's Descent was finally translated, revealing that, instead of ending with Dumuzid's resurrection as had long been assumed, the text actually ended with Dumuzid's death . The rescue of Dumuzid from

24948-504: Was influenced at least in part by his Mesopotamian counterpart. Gary Beckman goes as far as suggesting that at least in Hittite texts, he "cannot (yet?) be distinguished sufficiently" from the latter. Due to this association, Aya was regarded as his spouse in Hurrian tradition, as attested in sources from Hattusa and Ugarit. In the trilingual god list, Bunene (transcribed as wu-u-un-ni-nu-wa-an ) appears in association with Shimige. Shimige

25110-468: Was jointly dedicated to Nisaba , Kusu , Ningal , Shamash and Bēl-āliya. In the Old Babylonian period, Shamash was worshiped in Susa in Elam , where the local pantheon consisted out of both Elamite deities, such as Inshushinak and Simut , and Mesopotamian ones. He appears in oath formulas and theophoric names. In Mari, Shamash was worshiped in a temple named Egirzalanki ("house of the joy of heaven and

25272-465: Was known as Ebabbar. Less important temples dedicated to him, located in Girsu and Assur , bore the same name. It means "shining white house "in Sumerian . The oldest attested votive objects dedicated to Utu (or Shamash) are a mace head from Ur offered by a king named Anbu or Anunbu, and a statuette from Sippar from the reign of Ikun-Shamash of Mari . Both predate the Sargonic period . Evidence for

25434-595: Was referred to as a son of Utu. However, in the Sumerian King List Utu is instead his grandfather, and his father is a human ruler, Meškiağašer . Unlike other legendary kings of Uruk, namely Lugalbanda and Gilgamesh , Enmerkar was not deified, despite the existence of a tradition attributing divine ancestry to him. In various sources, Utu seems to serve as a special protector to several of Uruk's other kings. AMAR.UD, an early writing of Marduk 's name, can be translated as "bull calf of Utu," as long as it

25596-517: Was regarded as Utu's mother, and Inanna as his sister. Hymn to the Queen of Nippur refers to them as twins. Due to her identification with Ishtar (Inanna) the Hurrian and Elamite goddess Pinikir is referred to as a twin sister of Shamash and daughter of Sin (Nanna) and Ningal in a text written in Akkadian but found in a corpus of Hurro - Hittite rituals. In a single Maqlû incantation,

25758-631: Was renovated by multiple rulers, including Naram-Sin of Akkad (who installed his daughter Šumšani as ēntum-priestess), Sabium of Babylon , Samsu-iluna of Babylon, who called himself "beloved of Shamash and Aya," one of the Kassite rulers bearing the name Kurigalzu ( Kurigalzu I or Kurigalzu II ), Ashurbanipal , Shamash-shum-ukin , Nebuchadnezzar II and Nabonidus . Many other kings are known to have patronized or visited it at some point, including Manishtushu , Apil-Sin , Hammurabi , Abi-Eshuh , Ammi-Ditana , Ammi-Saduqa , Samsu-Ditana , Simbar-shipak and Nabu-apla-iddina . In addition to Ebabbar,

25920-533: Was the girtablullu ("scorpion man"). In the Standard Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh , a scorpion man and a scorpion woman guard the mountain of sunrise. According to Christopher Woods, it is possible that in a single case the minor serpentine god Nirah is attested as a member of the court of Shamash. He proposes that it was a result of the well attested association between the sun god and Ishtaran , whose servant Nirah usually was. The name of

26082-564: Was the E-ešbaranki ("house of decisions of heaven and the underworld"). A socle dedicated to him called Edikugal ("house of the great judge") was also present in Erabriri, most likely the temple bearing this name located in Babylon which was dedicated to Mandanu . In Assur, a temple of Shamash was refounded by king Arik-den-ili , though as no name is given in sources mentioning this event it

26244-408: Was widely seen as a prime example of the archetypal dying-and-rising god , but the discovery of the full Sumerian text of Inanna's Descent in the mid-twentieth century appeared to disprove the previous scholarly assumption that the narrative ended with Dumuzid's resurrection and instead revealed that it ended with Dumuzid's death. However, the rescue of Dumuzid from the underworld was later found in

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