Ningirida

Template:Short description Template:Template otherTemplate:Wikidata imageTemplate:Compare image with Wikidata Ningirida was a Mesopotamian goddess regarded as the wife of Ninazu and mother of Ningishzida. Little is known about her character beyond her relation to these two gods.

Name and character

The correct reading of Ningirida's name relies on the syllabic spelling from the Ur III period, ^dNin-gi-ri-da.Template:Sfn According to Wilfred G. Lambert, the element girid is a Sumerian noun referring to a type of hair clasp used by women, and therefore does not provide any information about her individual character beyond her gender.Template:Sfn In the myth Enki and Ninhursag, the name is reinterpreted as "the lady born of nose,"Template:Sfn ^dNin-kìri-e-tu, but this is only a folk etymology.Template:Sfn

Little is known about Ningirida's individual role beyond her associations with deities regarded as members of her family.Template:Sfn Jeremy Black assumed that she was associated with the underworld.Template:Sfn She appears alongside Ninazu starting in the Ur III period.Template:Sfn However, it is possible older attestations are available, as the deity ^dGÍRID known from the Early Dynastic period might correspond to later Ningirida.Template:Sfn Theophoric names from Lagash from this period sometimes feature the element ^dGÍRID.KI, which might indicate that the name was derived from a real or mythical toponym, as the sign KI could function as a determinative designating place names.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

An attested alternate name of the same goddess is Ninsiskurra.Template:Sfn

Associations with other deities

Ningirida was regarded as the wife of Ninazu.Template:Sfn The relation between them is directly confirmed by the myth Enki and Ninhursag, as well as in a hymn to Ninazu (which addresses her as "Your wife, the young girl, the lovely woman, the lady"), the god list An = Anum, and the so-called Emesal Vocabulary.Template:Sfn However, she is not attested in association with her husband's northern cult center, Eshnunna, which might indicate the tradition involving her was exclusive to the south.Template:Sfn

Ningishzida, the son of Ninazu, was also regarded as the son of Ningirida.Template:Sfn

A single god list from the first millennium BCE equates Ningirida with Gula.Template:Sfn According to Thomas Richter, an association between her and another medicine goddess, Ninisina is attested in earlier periods.Template:Sfn

No evidence exists in favor of the view that Ningirida was confused with Ningirima, despite the similarity between their names.Template:Sfn

Worship

Ningirida already appears in offering lists from the Ur III period alongside Ninazu and Ningishzida.Template:Sfn The myth Nanna-Suen's Journey to Nippur recognizes Enegi as her main cult center.Template:Sfn A single reference to her and Ninazu receiving offerings in Nippur is known.Template:Sfn According to a document from Ur, she receives offerings alongside Ninazu, Ningishzida, Ninazimua and Alla.Template:Sfn

The Canonical Temple List, dated to the Kassite period,Template:Sfn mentions two temples of Ningirida, but both their locations and ceremonial Sumerian names are not preserved.Template:Sfn

Mythology

In the myth Enki and Ninhursag, Ningirida appears as one of the eight deities created by Ninhursag to relay Enki of his pain, the other seven being Abu, Ninsikila (MeskilakTemplate:Sfn), Ninkasi, Nanshe, Azimua, Ninti and Ensag (Inzak).Template:Sfn Dina Katz notes this group of deities does not reflect a specific theological concept, and was merely selected for the sake of puns on names of body parts.Template:Sfn The spellings used are unique and assign new meanings to the names.Template:Sfn In the end, destiny is proclaimed for each of the deities, with Ningirida's lot being to marry Ninazu.Template:Sfn

In Nanna-Suen's Journey to Nippur, Nigirida is one of the goddesses who try to convince Nanna, who is traveling to meet his parents (Enlil and Ninlil) to leave his cargo in her city instead of taking it to Nippur, but she fails.Template:Sfn Her residence in this myth is Enegi.Template:Sfn

A hymn to Ningishzida describes Ningirida breastfeeding him in his infancy.Template:Sfn References to goddesses raising their children,Template:Sfn and to the childhood of deities in general, are otherwise very rare in Mesopotamian literature.Template:Sfn Another narrative focused on this god which also mentions his mother is Descent of Ningishzida to the Nether World.Template:Sfn She bribes a demonic "constable" (gallu) escorting her son with silver, and instructs him to use an exorcistic formula to get Ereshkigal's permission to restore him to life.Template:Sfn

External links

• Enki and Ninhursag in the Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature