Kabta

Kabta, inscribed dkab-ta, dka-ab-ta, dTA-gu-nû, or later dTAxMI, was a rather obscure Mesopotamian deity who appears in texts and seals of the second and first millennium BC. He is frequently paired with Ninsi’anna, the “Red Lady of the Heavens” or Venus star, who immediately follows him on the Weidner god-list.[1]

Provenance

He was first attested during the Ur III period, sometimes under the Sumerian name Maḫdianna, inscribed dmaḫ-di-an-na, the “Lofty one of heaven.”[2] This suggests an astral character and explains his pairing with “Ištar (of) the star” (Ninsi’anna). Unfortunately, due to a break in the god-list An = Anum, further elucidation is unavailable and even the god’s gender is uncertain.[3] Lambert suggested that he was her spouse[4] and seal impressions from Larsa during the Isin-Larsa period seem to confirm this.[5] Kabta appears as the theophoric element in several names of the Old Babylonian and Kassite period,[3] such as Nūr-Kabta, Amat-Kabta, Kabta-naṣir and Šu-Kabta.

Kabta is often confused with Kulla, the brick-god, in literature, probably due to a misreading of line 337 from 'Enki and the World Order' by Samuel Noah Kramer, published in his work “Sumerian Mythology”, although Lambert blamed Dietz Otto Edzard for this error.[4]

References
  1. Ernst F. Weidner (1925). "Altbabylonische Götterlisten. (Schluß)". Archiv für Keilschriftforschung. 2: 78. JSTOR 41552166.
  2. M. Krebernik (1999). "Maḫdianna". In Dietz Otto Edzard (ed.). Reallexikon der Assyriologie und Vorderasiatischen Archäologie: Libanukasabas - Medizin (Vol 7). Walter de Gruyter. p. 255.
  3. W. G. Lambert (1999). "Kabta". In Erich Ebeling, Bruno Meissner (ed.). Reallexikon der Assyriologie und Vorderasiatischen Archäologie, Volume 5, Ia - Kizzuwatna. Walter de Gruyter. p. 284.
  4. W. G. Lambert (Spring 1966). "Ancient near Eastern Seals in Birmingham Collections". Iraq. 28 (1): 73–74. doi:10.2307/4199796. JSTOR 4199796.
  5. Joan Goodnick Westenholz (2006). Daily Rites In the Temples of Larsa. Bible Lands Museum. p. 28.
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