Ninegal

Template:Short description Template:Template otherTemplate:Wikidata imageTemplate:Compare image with Wikidata Ninegal (also spelled NinegallaTemplate:Sfn) or Belat Ekalli (Belet-ekalli) was a Mesopotamian goddess associated with palaces. Both her Sumerian and Akkadian name mean "lady of the palace."Template:Sfn

From Mesopotamia the worship of Ninegal spread to Elam in the east and to Syria and the Hittite Empire in the west. She was particularly venerated in Mari and Qatna, and due to her presence in the pantheon of ancient Syria she was also incorporated into Hurrian religion. The Hurrians transcribed her name as Pentikalli (Pendigalli).

Especially in literary works, Ninegal could function as an epithet of Inanna, and they could be also associated with each other in other contexts. However, it is now generally assumed that they were distinct deities in origin. Additionally, Ninegal could be associated with the goddess of prisons, Nungal.

Character

While in the past it has been proposed that Ninegal was a form of Inanna in origin, or, as argued by Thorkild Jacobsen, that the name designated Inanna in a proposed hieros gamos ceremony, today it is considered more plausible that she originally developed as a distinct minor goddess, who served as the tutelary deity of palaces of kings and governors, and whose role was to guarantee their sovereignty.Template:Sfn She only started to function as an epithet in literary works in the second and first millennia BCE.Template:Sfn It has been pointed out that various cultic objects associated with Ninegal according to administrative texts, such as jewelry, are not identical with these dedicated to Inanna.Template:Sfn The oldest source identifying Ninegal with Inanna might be a building inscription from the Isin-Larsa period which refers to her as a daughter of Sin.Template:Sfn In god lists Ninegal usually appears near groupings of Inanna manifestations, though in the Nippur god list she and Ninsianna are placed together in a different section.Template:Sfn

Belat Ekalli/Ninegal could be implored to act as an intermediary between a praying worshiper and her husband Urash, similar to other divine wives (Aya, Shala) in the case of their respective husbandsTemplate:Sfn or the attendant goddess Ninshubur in the case of Inanna.Template:Sfn

Worship

The oldest known attestation of Ninegal comes from a god list from Early Dynastic Tell Fara, in which she appears between two deities the reading of whose names is uncertain.Template:Sfn Other early references include a dedicatory inscription of a servant of Nammaḫ-abzu, an ensi of Nippur, and a month name in the local calendar of Ur.Template:Sfn During the reign of Gudea, Ninegal was worshiped in Lagash, where she had a temple.Template:Sfn Evidence for popular devotion to her from that city includes two minor officials who referred to themselves as "servant (arad) of Ninegal."Template:Sfn

Multiple attestations are known from the Ur III period, and it is assumed Ninegal was worshiped in all of the major cities of southern Mesopotamia at the time.Template:Sfn There is evidence that the first kings of the Ur III dynasty, Ur-Namma and Shulgi, were active participants in the cult of Ninegal.Template:Sfn She also appears in offering lists from Nippur and Puzrish-Dagan.Template:Sfn A temple dedicated to her, Egalmah (Sumerian: "exalted palace"), possibly built by Ur-Namma, existed in Ur.Template:Sfn It is possible that Warad-Sin later rebuilt it as a temple of the medicine goddess Ninisina.Template:Sfn Another temple of Ninegal existed in Umma. In this city she was apparently closely associated with offerings for deceased ensis.Template:Sfn Further evidence for worship of this goddess in the Ur III period is a detailed list of cultic paraphernalia dedicated to her from Eresh.Template:Sfn

Her Akkadian name, Belet Ekalli, is attested for the first time in the Ur III period texts from Assur.Template:Sfn She had a temple in this city, Ekinam (Sumerian: "house, place of destinies"), first mentioned in an inscription of Zariqqu, a governor during the reign of Amar-Sin, who rebuilt it.Template:Sfn In the Middle Assyrian period, it was repaired by Adad-Nirari I.Template:Sfn A month named after her is mentioned in Old Assyrian texts from Kanesh.Template:Sfn

It is unclear when Ninegal started to be worshiped in Dilbat, though it is possible she already belonged to the pantheon of this city in the Ur III period.Template:Sfn Her temple in this city was Esapar (Sumerian: "house of the net"), possibly a part of E-ibbi-Anum, the temple of the local god Urash, rather than a fully separate building.Template:Sfn However, in a document listing various temples Esapar is instead said to be the name of a temple of Nungal, with no location listed.Template:Sfn As these two goddesses were associated, it is possible that there was only one Esapar.Template:Sfn

Ninegal continued to be worshiped in the Old Babylonian period, especially in Ur and in Larsa, where a temple dedicated to her, E-a-ag-ga-kilib-ur-ur (Sumerian: "house which gathers all the instructions") was rebuilt by queen Simar-Eshtar, wife of Rim-Sîn I.Template:Sfn She is however only sporadically mentioned in letters, compared to deities popular in the sphere of personal worship, such as Aya, Gula or Ishtar.Template:Sfn

A late reference to Belet-Ekalli can be found in a letter from Babylon, in which a certain Mār-isar relays to the neo-Assyrian king Esarhaddon that a statue of Belet Ekallim meant for the Esagil temple complex was not yet finished.Template:Sfn

Both the forms NinegalTemplate:Sfn and Belet Ekallim are attested in theophoric names.Template:Sfn

Outside Mesopotamia

In the second millennium BCE the worship of Ninegal/Belet Ekallim spread from Mesopotamia to other areas in the ancient Near East. from the Hittite Empire in the west to Elam in the east.Template:Sfn

Earliest attestations of Ninegal from outside Mesopotamia come from Mari, and indicate she might have been introduced to this city as early as in the Ur III period.Template:Sfn It is possible that she was the tutelary deity of the ruling house in the Old Babylonian period.Template:Sfn There is evidence that during Zimri-Lim's during some festivals she received the same number of sacrifices as the eight other most honored gods: the local tutelary god Itūr-Mēr, Dagan, Annunitum, Nergal, Shamash, Ea, Ninhursag and Addu.Template:Sfn In a letter Zimri-Lim's wife Šibtu enumerated Dagan, Shamash, Itūr-Mēr, Belet Ekalli and Addu as "the allies for me" and the deities who "go by my lord's side."Template:Sfn In offering lists she appears between Ninhursag and Ningal.Template:Sfn

In addition to Mari, in Syria Belet Ekalli was also closely associated with Qatna, where the played the role of the city goddess.Template:Sfn Some attestations are also known from Emar, where she was among the deities worshiped during the zukru festival.Template:Sfn She is also attested in a god list, in which Belet Ekalli in the Akkadian column corresponds to ^dWe_e-el-ti-ga-li in the Hurrian one.Template:Sfn

According to Alfonso Archi, in Hurrian sources Ninegal was referred to as Pentikalli.Template:Sfn The name is also sometimes transcribed as Pendigalli.Template:Sfn Archi assumes that the Hurrians received her from Syria, and that her importance in Mari played a role in her spread.Template:Sfn Marie-Claude Trémouille describes her as a goddess from the circle of Hebat from Halab (modern Aleppo).Template:Sfn In Hurrian texts, she is designated as a concubine of Teshub.Template:Sfn She was assimilated with Pithanu, described as a goddess who sits on Teshub's throne.Template:Sfn The later name likely meant "daughter from Hanu," and should be understood as a sign of her association with the middle Euphrates area.Template:Sfn Depictions of Pentikalli are mentioned in texts from Hattarina and Lawazantiya.Template:Sfn She is also known from texts from Ugarit, where her name is spelled alphabetically as pdgl, and possibly appears in a personal name, annpdgl, theoretically reconstructed as Anani-Pendigalli.Template:Sfn It has also been proposed that the Ugaritic goddess b'lt btm/nhtm, "lady of the house," was derived from Belet Ekalli.Template:Sfn

A triad consisting of ^dNIN.E.GAL, Nergal and Ea is attested in economic texts from Susa.Template:Sfn A dossier of texts dealing with the sale of sheep from the same city mentions a "scribe in the service of Ninegal."Template:Sfn In Susa Ninegal also occurs in an inscription of Atta-hushu, written in Akkadian, though it has been proposed in this case the name might be a logogram representing Pinikir.Template:Sfn Furthermore, a deity whose name was written logographically as ^dNIN.E.GAL was one of the many Mesopotamian and Elamite gods and goddesses worshiped at Chogha Zanbil, built by Untash-Napirisha.Template:Sfn

While Volkert Haas assumed that Hittite references to ^dNIN.E.GAL can be understood as indication of presence of the Mesopotamian goddess in Anatolia, Piotr Taracha argues that the name was only a logographic representation of the goddess Tešimi, concubine of the Weather god of Nerik, in whose circle the presumed logogram occurs.Template:Sfn In the treaty between Hittite king Šuppiluliuma I and Mitanni king Šattiwaza Ninegal appears after the couples Enlil and Ninlil and Anu and Antu in a list of "primeval gods" meant to serve as divine witnesses.Template:Sfn

Associations with other deities

It is presently uncertain which deities were worshiped with Ninegal in her earliest history.Template:Sfn In a tradition originating in Dilbat, the local agricultural god Urash was regarded as her husband.Template:Sfn In a god list from neo-Babylonian period they are followed by Lagamal,Template:Sfn who was regarded as a son of Urash.Template:Sfn In a ritual text, also from the neo-Babylonian period, Ninegal and Urash appear in a formula alongside Nanaya,Template:Sfn a goddess referred to as "firstborn of the god Urash."Template:Sfn A single inscription pairs Ninegal/Belet Ekalli with Amurru (^dMAR.TU).Template:Sfn It is one of five similar Kassite period seals, which invoke either couples of deities (Marduk and Sarpanit, Ninurta and Gula) or individual deities (Ishtar or Marduk) to secure success and material wealth for the seal owner.Template:Sfn According to Wilfred G. Lambert, unless an otherwise unknown tradition identified Amurru with Urash, he has nothing in common with Ninegal, making this specific inscription unusual.Template:Sfn

According to the god list An = Anum, the sukkal (divine attendant) of Ninegal was the minor deity Dikum.Template:Sfn

Wolfgang Heimpel proposes that in Mari, Ninegal was closely associated with Annunitum, possibly due to their shared connection with Inanna/Ishtar.Template:Sfn

Ninegal as an epithet

The name Ninegal could function as an epithet of Inanna and other goddesses,Template:Sfn sometimes impossible to identify.Template:Sfn Examples of texts where the identification of Ninegal with Inanna explicit include the so-called Ninegalla hymn, in which the names occur in parallel.Template:Sfn

In the Hymn to Nungal the eponymous goddess is apparently referred to as Ninegal.Template:Sfn This association is also attested in a fragment of another, presently unidentified, hymn, and in two proverbs.Template:Sfn

While the use of the name as an epithet was common in literary texts, the Shulgi hymns seem to be an exception, as they treat Ninegal as a distinct goddess.Template:Sfn

Further reading

• Template:Cite thesis
• Hymn to Inana as Ninegala (Inana D) in the Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature
• A hymn to Nungal in the Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature