Ningishzida

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Template:Short description Script error: No such module "Infobox".Template:Template otherScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".Template:Wikidata imageTemplate:Compare image with Wikidata Ningishzida (Sumerian: 𒀭𒊩𒌆𒄑𒍣𒁕 DNIN.G̃IŠ.ZID.DA, possible meaning "Lord [of the] Good Tree") was a Mesopotamian deity of vegetation, the underworld and sometimes war. He was commonly associated with snakes. Like Dumuzi, he was believed to spend a part of the year in the land of the dead. He also shared many of his functions with his father Ninazu.

In myths he usually appears in an underworld setting, though in the myth of Adapa he is instead described as one of the doorkeepers of the sky god Anu.

Name

Thorkild Jacobsen proposed that the Sumerian name Ningishzida can be explained as "lord of the good tree." This translation is still accepted by other Assyriologists today.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Various syllabic spellings are known, including dNi-gi-si-da, dNin-nigi-si-da, dNin-ki-zi-da and dNin-gi-iz-zi-da.Template:Sfn

While "nin" can be translated as "lady" in some contexts, it was grammatically neutral in Sumerian and can be found in the names of many deities, both male (Ningishzida, Ninazu, Ninurta, etc.) and female (Ninlil, Ninkasi etc.).Template:Sfn

Ningishzida could also be called Gishbanda ("little tree").Template:Sfn

Functions

Ningishzida's titles connect him to plants and agriculture.Template:Sfn He was frequently mentioned in connection with grass, which he was believed to provide for domestic animals.Template:Sfn The death of vegetation was associated with his annual travel to the underworld.Template:Sfn The "tree" in his name might be vine according to some Assyriologists, including Wilfred G. Lambert, and an association between him and alcoholic beverages (specifically wine) is well attested, for example one text mentions him alongside the beer goddess Ninkasi, while one of his titles was "lord of the innkeepers."Template:Sfn

Like his father Ninazu, he was also associated with snakes, including the mythical mushussu, ushumgal and bashmu and in one case Nirah.Template:Sfn He was also an underworld god, and in this role was known as the "chair bearer (or chamberlain) of the underworld."Template:Sfn Frans Wiggermann on the basis of these similarities considers him and his father to be members of the group of "Transtigridian snake gods," who according to him shared a connection with the underworld, justice, vegetation and snakes.Template:Sfn A further similarity between Ningishzida and his father was his occasional role as a warrior god, associated with victory (and as a result with the goddess Irnina, the personification of it).Template:Sfn However, not all of their functions overlapped, as unlike Ninazu, Ningishzida never appears in the role of a divine healer.Template:Sfn

According to Frans Wiggermann, Ningishzida's diverse functions can be considered different aspects of his perception as a "reliable god," well attested in Mesopotamian texts.Template:Sfn

The constellation Hydra could serve as his symbol, though it was also associated with Ishtaran and Ereshkigal.Template:Sfn

Worship

The worship of Ningishzida is attested for the first time in the Early Dynastic III period.Template:Sfn His main cult center was Gishbanda,Template:Sfn likely a rural settlementTemplate:Sfn located somewhere between Lagash and Ur.Template:Sfn His main temple was known simply as E-Gishbanda,Template:Sfn "house of Gishbanda," and it was commonly listed alongside the main temple of his father Ninazu, E-Gidda.Template:Sfn

He also had a temple in Lagash, the E-badbarra, "house, outer wall."Template:Sfn Yet another one was built in Girsu by Gudea, though its name is unknown.Template:Sfn This ruler considered him to be his personal god.Template:Sfn In one of his inscriptions, Ningishzida is named a participant in a festival celebrating the marriage between Ningirsu and Bau.Template:Sfn In another, he is credited with helping Gudea with building new temples.Template:Sfn In a later incantation which served as a part of temple renovation rituals, referred to as The First Brick by Wilfred G. Lambert,Template:Sfn Ningishzida is mentioned in a similar context alongside many other deities, such as Lisin, Gukishbanda, Kulla, Lahar and Ninshar.Template:Sfn

In Ur he was worshiped in the temple E-niggina, "house of truth," known from an inscription of Sin-Iqisham stating it was rebuilt during his reign.Template:Sfn He is attested in offering lists from that city from the Ur III and Old Babylonian periods, sometimes alongside Ningubalaga.Template:Sfn In later sources, up to the reign of the Persian emperor Darius I, he sometimes appears in theophoric names, likely due to association with Ninazu, who retained a degree of relevance in the local pantheon.Template:Sfn Much like in the case of his father, some of them used the dialectical Emesal form of his name, Umun-muzida.Template:Sfn It is presumed that the cause of this was the role lamentation priests, who traditionally memorized Emesal compositions, played in the preservation of cults of underworld gods in Ur.Template:Sfn

As early as the Ur III period, Ningishzida was introduced to Uruk.Template:Sfn He was also present in Kamada, possibly located nearby, as attested in documents from the reign of Sin-kashid.Template:Sfn During the reign of Marduk-apla-iddina I, he was worshiped in a chapel in the Eanna complex that was originally built during the reign of the Old Babylonian king Anam.Template:Sfn He continued to appear in theophoric names from neo-Assyrian, neo-Babylonian and Hellenistic Uruk, though only uncommonly.Template:Sfn

Ningishzida was also worshipped in Isin, which was primarily the cult center of the medicine goddess Ninisina, but had multiple houses of worship dedicated to underworld deities as well. Other deities worshipped at Isin included Nergal, Ugur, and an otherwise unknown but most likely chthonic goddess, Lakupittu, who according to Andrew R. George was likely the tutelary deity of Lagaba near Kutha.Template:Sfn

Further locations where he was worshipped include Umma, Larsa, Kuara, Nippur, Babylon, Eshnunna and Kisurra.Template:Sfn From most of these places, evidence is only available from the Ur III or Old Babylonian periods, though in Babylon he still had a small cult site in Esagil by the neo-Babylonian period.Template:Sfn A single object inscribed with a dedication to Ningishzida is also known from Susa, though it might have been brought there as booty from some Mesopotamian polity.Template:Sfn

Associations with other deities

Ningishzida was the son of Ninazu and his wife Ningiridda.Template:Sfn One of the only references to goddesses breastfeeding in Mesopotamian literature is a description of Ningirida and her son.Template:Sfn His sisters were Amashilama and Labarshilama.Template:Sfn

References to Ningishzida as a "scion" of Anu are probably meant to indicate the belief in a line consisting out of Anu, Enlil, Ninazu and finally Ningishzida, rather than the existence of an alternate tradition where he was the son of the sky god.Template:Sfn

Multiple traditions existed regarding the identity of Ningishzida's wife, with the god list An = Anum listing two, Azimua (elsewhere also called NinazimuaTemplate:Sfn) and Ekurritum (not attested in such a role anywhere elseTemplate:Sfn), while other sources favor Geshtinanna, identified with Belet-Seri.Template:Sfn However, Azimua shared Gesthinanna's role as an underworld scribe,Template:Sfnand her name could also function as a title of Geshtinanna, attested in contexts where she was identified as Ningishzida's wife.Template:Sfn At the same time, Belet-Seri could also function as an epithet of Ashratum, the wife of Amurru, or of her Sumerian counterpart Gubarra, in at least one case leading to conflation of Amurru and Ningishzida and to an association between the former and Azimua and Ekurritum.Template:Sfn In one case Ekurritum was simply identified as an alternate name of Ashratum as well.Template:Sfn The tradition in which Gesthinanna was Ningishzida's wife had its origin in Lagash, and in seals from that city she is sometimes depicted alongside a mushussu, symbol of her husband, to indicate they're a couple.Template:Sfn One inscription of Gudea refers to her as Ningishzida's "beloved wife."Template:Sfn

Ningishzida's sukkal was Alla,Template:Sfn a minor underworld god,Template:Sfn depicted as a bald beardless man, without the horned crown associated with divinity.Template:Sfn Wilfred G. Lambert notes that he was most likely another Dumuzi-like deity whose temporary death was described in laments.Template:Sfn He is also attested in lists of so-called "seven conquered Enlils,"Template:Sfn deities associated with Enmesharra.Template:Sfn Another deity also identified as Ningishzida's sukkal was Ipahum or Ippu, a viper god, also known as the sukkal of his father Ninazu.Template:Sfn Other deities who belonged to his court include Gishbandagirizal, Lugalsaparku, Lugalshude, Namengarshudu, UshegTemplate:Sfn and Irnina.Template:Sfn

Ningishzida could be associated with Dumuzi, on account of their shared character as dying gods of vegetation.Template:Sfn A lamentation text known as "In the Desert by the Early Grass" lists both of them among the mourned deities.Template:Sfn The absence of both of them was believed to take place each year between mid-summer and mid-winter.Template:Sfn The association is also present in astrological treatises.Template:Sfn Some lamentations go as far as regarding Ningishzida and Dumuzi as one and the same.Template:Sfn As dwellers of the underworld, both of them could be on occasion associated with Gilgamesh as well.Template:Sfn

Another temporarily dying god Ningishzida could be associated with was Damu.Template:Sfn

In some inscriptions of Gudea, Ningishzida was associated with Ningirsu, with one of them mentioning that he was tasked with delivering gifts for the latter's wife Bau.Template:Sfn Such a role was customarily associated with trusted associates and close friends in ancient Mesopotamian culture, indicating that despite originally being unrelated, these two gods were envisioned as close to each other by Gudea.Template:Sfn

Mythology

In the Middle Babylonian myth of Adapa, Ningishzida is one of the two doorkeepers of Anu's celestial palace, alongside Dumuzi.Template:Sfn This myth appears to indicate that these two gods are present in heaven rather than underworld when they are dead, even though other Sumerian and Akkadian myths describe Ningishzida's journey to the underworld.Template:Sfn Little is known about the circumstances of his annual return, though one text indicates an unidentified son of Ereshkigal was responsible for ordering it.Template:Sfn

A reference to Ningishzida is present in the Epic of Gilgamesh.Template:Sfn The eponymous hero's mother Ninsun mentions to Shamash that she is aware her son is destined to "dwell in the land of no return" with him.Template:Sfn In another Gilgamesh myth, Death of Gilgamesh, the hero is promised a position in the underworld equal to that of Ningishzida.Template:Sfn

Gallery

References

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Bibliography

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External links

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