Mamu (deity)

Mamu's name is derived from the word mamu, which means "dream" in Sumerian.[2] As noted by Annette Zgoll, Sumerian has two words with that meaning which are not fully interchangeable.[2] While the word mašĝi could designate any type of dream, mamu was specifically a meaningful dream, which was regarded as capable of influencing the future.[2] The Assur Dream Ritual Compendium describes Mamu as dingir mamuda, "deity of dreams."[2] In Mesopotamian religion, dream deities could act as messengers of other gods, and as such were believed to manifest in dreams to convey information, including visions of the future.[3]

Wilfred G. Lambert argued that Mamu's gender in sources such as the god list An = Anum, where she is directly described as dumu.munus, "daughter," was most likely influenced by the feminine grammatical gender of the Akkadian translation of her name, šuttu.[4] References to male Mamu are also known.[4] Julia M. Asher-Greve proposes that Mamu was primarily seen as a female deity, and the references to male Mamu should be treated as a late change as in the case of Ninkasi or Ninmug.[5]

Mamu's father was the sun god Utu (Shamash)[6] whose wife was Aya.[7] The god list An = Anum labels Mamu as the "Utu of dreams" (^dUtu ma-mú-da-ke₄).[8] It has been suggested that the connection between the sun god and dream deities was based on his well attested role in divination.[9] According to An = Anum, Mamu's siblings were Niggina (the personification of truth), Kittum (uncommonly treated as male and distinct from Niggina, despite usually simply being the Akkadian form of her name) and Sisig,[6] a male dream deity.[10] In the earlier Weidner god list, Mamu appears alongside Utu and Aya but without the relation being specified.[11] According to Manfred Krebernik, she is linked with the deity Nin-PIRIG in this source.[11]

Mamu's husband was Bunene, the sukkal (divine vizier) of her father.[1]

Wilfred G. Lambert proposed that the goddess Mumudu might be one and the same as Mamu based on the similarity of their names.[12] In the myth Enki and Ninmah, she appears as one of the seven helpers of the eponymous goddess, the other six being Ninimma, Shuzianna, Ninmada, Ninshar, Ninmug and Ninniginna.[13] These deities do not appear together elsewhere,[12] but in this myth they are identified as Šassūrātu, a group of assistants of Ninmah.[14]

A temple of Mamu and Bunene existed in Sippar.[1] They received offerings together according to administrative texts from this city.[15] For example, Iltani, daughter of Sin-Muballit, offered mirsu cakes to both of them twice in the twenty first year of Hammurabi's reign.[16] Theophoric names invoking Mamu are attested in documents from the same city, examples include Warad-Mamu[17] and Amat-Mamu.[18] In contracts she appears alongside Bunene as a divine witness, similar to how Shamash and Aya appear together.[7] No other divine couples appear in documents from that city in similar roles.[19] Mamu also appears as a witness on her own, which is only attested for Aya and Annunitum otherwise when it comes to goddesses worshiped in Sippar.[20] It has been proposed that a goddess depicted frontally on some seals from Sippar might be Mamu, but it is also possible that she should be identified as Aya.[1]

A sanctuary dedicated to Mamu alone was built by the Assyrian king Assurnasirpal II in Imgur-Enlil (modern Balawat) next to the royal palace,[21] but according to Wilfred G. Lambert, in this location the deity was viewed as male.[4] Male Mamu is also attested in some Akkadian prayers.[4]