Mandanu

Template:Short description Template:Template otherTemplate:Wikidata imageTemplate:Compare image with Wikidata Mandanu or MadanuTemplate:Sfn was a Mesopotamian god associated with justice. It has been proposed that he was a divine representation of places of judgment. He is known chiefly from sources postdating the Old Babylonian period, and older documents, such as the Nippur god list, do not mention him. He was worshiped mostly in the north of Babylonia, especially in the city of Babylon itself. He was regarded as one of the deities belonging to the circle of Marduk.

Character

Mandanu's name was written as either ^dma-da-nu or ^dman-da-nu, with the latter spelling considered a secondary development. It is most likely derived from the word diānum, "to judge."Template:Sfn The logographic writing ^dDI.KU₅ is also attested, though the same signs could also be read as the theonym Ištaran.Template:Sfn His primary role was that of a divine judge.Template:Sfn Manfred Krebernik proposes he might have originally been understood as the deification of places of judgment.Template:Sfn

According to the god list An = Anum and the incantation series Šurpu, Mandanu belonged to the circle of Marduk, in whose court he fulfilled the role of guzalû, variously translated as "throne-bearer,"Template:Sfn "chamberlain"Template:Sfn or "herald."Template:Sfn Manfred Krebernik argues that the contexts in which this term appears would indicate that it was associated with judicial power.Template:Sfn

Associations with other deities

In two passages of the topographical text Tintir = Babilu, Mandanu appears alongside the god Muštēšir-ḫablim, elsewhere described as "the ugallu (a lion-like mythical being) of Babylon."Template:Sfn It has been proposed that he was a similar judge deity.Template:Sfn He might have represented one of Marduk's weapons.Template:Sfn In Šurpu, Mandanu instead appears alongside Enlil's guzalû Ennugi.Template:Sfn

Andrew R. George proposes that in Babylon, Mandanu functioned as the spouse of Gula.Template:Sfn Irene Sibbing-Plantholt notes that apparently he took the role of Ninurta in relation to this goddess in Babylon.Template:Sfn

Manfred Krebernik argues that while well attested as a courtier of Marduk, Mandanu might have originally belonged to the circle of Enlil, citing the occasional equation with Nuska as possible evidence.Template:Sfn

Worship

The oldest attestations of Mandanu postdate the end of the Old Babylonian period, with only a single uncertain mention in an earlier text from Larsa.Template:Sfn A single theophoric name invoking him has been identified in the text corpus from Kassite Nippur.Template:Sfn He was worshiped chiefly in northern Babylonia, though attestations from the southern city of UrukTemplate:Sfn and from Assyria are known too.Template:Sfn Additionally, an inscription of Šamaš-reš-uṣur indicates that he introduced Mandanu to the city Āl-gabbāri-bānî in Suhum.Template:Sfn

In inscriptions of Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal, Mandanu appears among the principal deities of the city of Babylon.Template:Sfn He had a temple in this city,Template:Sfn possibly located in the proximity of the Esagil.Template:Sfn It bore the ceremonial Sumerian name Erabriri, "house of the shackle which holds in check," also applied to temples of Pabilsag and Ennugi in lexical lists.Template:Sfn A cella of Mandanu bearing the same name also existed in Kish.Template:Sfn Andrew R. George points out that Mandanu and Ennugi occupied the same position in the respective courts of Marduk and Enlil, which according to him might explain the identical names of their temples.Template:Sfn A gate located in Babylon, the Gate of Praise (ká ka-tar-ra), could also be referred to as the Gate of the Entry of Madanu (ká né-rib ^dDI.KU₅), presumably in reference to a formal occasion during which he was believed to leave the city, according to Wilfred G. Lambert perhaps to be connected with a reference to this god "going to Ḫursagkalamma" (Kish) known from a commentary on the Enūma Eliš.Template:Sfn According to Andrew R. George, this structure was the gate of his temple.Template:Sfn A socle dedicated to Madanu, the Enigerimnudib, "house which lets not evil pass,"Template:Sfn was located in the grand court (kisalmaḫ) of the Esagil temple complex in Babylon, probably to the south of the main structure itself.Template:Sfn Another socle of Mandanu located elsewhere within it, in the A-suda, was known as Edumununna, "house of the son of a prince."Template:Sfn It is also possible that the Epirig, "house of the lion," which was located in the same complex, was dedicated to him.Template:Sfn

While Mandanu is absent from the Weidner god list or the Nippur god list,Template:Sfn tablet VII of An = Anum contains only various names attributed to him or to Marduk.Template:Sfn It is assumed that it was a late addition.Template:Sfn