Šubula

Šubula was a minor god.[1] It is assumed that the name is etymologically connected with the Akkadian word ābalu(m), "to dry" or "to be dry."[2] A less likely proposal instead derives it from wābalu(m), "to carry."[2] He was most likely associated with the underworld.[3] In known sources he is often mentioned alongside other gods of the underworld. In an offering list from Puzrish-Dagan from the Ur III period concerned with rites of Kutha he appears alongside Tadmuštum, Laṣ and Meslamtaea.[3] On a kudurru (boundary stone) of Marduk-apla-iddina I (the "land grant to Munnabittu kudurru") he appears alongside Nergal, his wife Laṣ, Šar-ṣarbati, the pair Lugal-irra and Meslamta-ea and Mammitum.[4] This is the only known kudurru inscription mentioning him, and he appears on the thirty third place among the deities invoked.[5] In Šurpu he appears alongside Nergal, Ishum and Šar-ṣarbati (Bēl-ṣarbi).[6] In the Nippur god list, he appears after Nergal and Mammitum.[7]

Many researchers assume that Šubula was Nergal's son. Among the supporters of this interpretation are Andrew R. George,[8] Frans Wiggermann[2] and Julia Krul.[9] It has been argued that such a connection could be a reflection of the location of his cult center, Ṣupur-Šubula, in the proximity of Nergal's city, Kutha.[10] However, as noted by Jeremiah Peterson, it is unclear if the god list An = Anum, usually used to support this theory, recognizes him as Nergal's son, as the corresponding section contains a lacuna.[2] Another possible restoration would instead make him the son of Ishum.[2] Those two gods appear together very commonly in known sources, but the nature of the connection between them is not certain.[6] In one text, Ishum and Šubula are called the "gods of Tigris and Euphrates."[6]

According to the god list An = Anum, Šubula's wife was Tadmuštum, who was also an underworld deity.[11]

In a bilingual Akkadian-Amorite lexical list dated to the Old Babylonian period,[12] Šubula's Amorite counterpart was Ġalamu (ḫa-la-mu), whose name is presumed to be a cognate of Ugaritic ġlm, literally "boy, youth", but as an epithet also metaphorically "the noble".[13] Presumably this figure was a minor deity in the Amorite pantheon.[14] A connection with Ḫalmu and Ḫalamu, a pair of sparsely attested primordial ancestral deities known from the lexical list Diri from Old Babylonian Nippur, has been ruled out.[13]

In the Reallexikon der Assyriologie und Vorderasiatischen Archäologie, Piotr Michalowski describes Šubula as "known only from Ur III and early Isin sources",[3] but more recent publications show that he is also attested in documents from later periods.[15] He was still worshiped under the rule of the Seleucid Empire in the late first millennium BCE.[9]

The village Ṣupur-Šubula, located near Kutha, was a cult center of Šubula, and a temple dedicated to him was located in it.[10] Locally he was invoked in oath formulas alongside Shamash and Marduk.[10] According to documents from the archive of Ubarum, a soldier who lived in Ṣupur-Šubula in the Old Babylonian period, the temple served as a place for signing contracts and resolving legal disputes for the local community.[16] There is also evidence that it was responsible for collecting taxes from the inhabitants on behalf of the ruler.[17] He was also worshiped in Lagaba,[8] a small town located in northern Babylonia known only from records from the reigns of Hammurabi and Samsu-iluna.[18] It is possible that it was also located near Kutha, as deities worshiped in the later settlement, such as Laṣ, appear in theophoric names from Lagaba.[18] A temple of Šubula is also mentioned in the so-called Canonical Temple List, but its name and location are lost.[19] A feast of Šubula is mentioned in a document from Old Babylonian Sippar.[20]

In Seleucid Uruk, Šubula was worshiped during the akītu festival alongside Nergal.[9] However, he is absent from legal texts and no theophoric names invoke him.[21] There is also no evidence that he was worshiped there in the neo-Babylonian period.[21] Julia Krul proposes that he was only introduced to the pantheon of the city late and entirely due to his connection with Nergal, similar to Ishum and the Sebitti.[22]

Šubula is attested as a family deity in cylinder seal inscriptions.[1] A single reference to an unknown individual making his subordinates swear an oath by Šubula because he was his family god is known. [23] He appears in both Sumerian and Akkadian theophoric names, such as Šu-Šubula and Ur-Šubula.[3] One man bearing the latter name was a high-ranking official during the reign of Ishbi-Erra of Isin.[24] It is also present in model contracts which formed a part of scribal school curriculum in Old Babylonian Nippur.[2] Two theophoric names invoking Šubula are also known from documents from this city from the Kassite period.[15]