Ninildu

Ninildu (Sumerian: 𒀭𒊩𒌆𒅆𒉄𒁍, dNin-IGI.NAĜAR.BU; also read Ninduluma[1]) was a Mesopotamian god associated with carpentry. He was chiefly worshiped in the city of Zabalam and in its proximity. He appears in a number of literary texts, such as the Epic of Erra.

Ninildu
God of carpentry
Major cult centerZabalam, Duluma

Name and character

The oldest writing of the name is dNin-NAĜAR.BU, attested in the god lists from Abu Salabikh and Fara and in the zami hymns from the Early Dynastic period, though later on dNin-IGI.NAĜAR.BU was employed.[1] A logographic writing, dNAĜAR, is attested in the god list An = Anum.[2] While the name is commonly rendered as Ninildu in Assyriological literature, the alternate reading Ninduluma has been proposed based on an unpublished incantation from Meturan, which reportedly uses a phonetic spelling.[1] Jeremiah Peterson renders the name as Ninildum due to the presence of an apparent auslaut in a number of sources.[3] It is agreed the deity was male.[4]

Ninildu was associated with carpentry.[1] One source (tablet K 3248) directly calls him ilu ša nāgarri, "the god of the carpenters."[5] He could be called the "chief carpenter,"[6] or the "great carpenter of Anu."[7]

An incantation states that Ninildu was one of the deities created by Ea with clay from the Apsu,[8] and that he was tasked with the construction of temples alongside Ninsimug and Arazu.[9] Lexical lists also attest the existence of a tradition in which he was equated with Enki (Ea), though it is agreed that it represented a secondary development.[1] A Mîs-pî ritual refers to him as "Ea of the carpenters."[9]

Attestations

The worship of Ninildu in Zabalam is well attested in sources from the third millennium BCE, such as administrative texts from Umma.[10] He also had a cult center in the direct proximity of the former of these two cities.[11] Douglas Frayne states it was named Dulum, in accordance with the reading of the name of the god he uses.[4] It might correspond to modern (Tell) Salbuḫ.[11] In the third millennium BCE Ninildu is also attested in the names of two individuals from Adab and in a list of offerings from the Old Akkadian period which might have originated in the same city. [12]

A text from the reign of Nabu-apla-iddina describing the preparation of a new statue of Shamash mentions Ninildu among the deities aiding Ea in the process, alongside Kusigbanda, Ninkurra and Ninzadim.[13] In a first millennium BCE bilingual incantation from Assur, Ninildu is invoked alongside Ninagal during the production of a new royal throne.[6] An inscription of Esarhaddon lists Ninildu among the deities connected to the rites of Ekazaginna, the temple of Ea in Babylon.[13]

Literary texts describing Ninildu's functions include the Curse of Agade and the Epic of Erra.[1] In the former, he is implored to hinder the growth of trees.[3] According to the latter, he was equipped with a "glittering hatchet."[14] In a late composition, known only from a copy found in Kuyunjik, Ninildu and Sirsir are responsible for constructing the boat of Enki.[15]

References
  1. Cavigneaux & Krebernik 1998, p. 340.
  2. Krebernik 1998, p. 74.
  3. Peterson 2009, p. 73.
  4. Frayne 2008, p. 358.
  5. Lambert 2013, p. 378.
  6. Gadotti 2014, p. 46.
  7. Walker & Dick 1999, p. 81.
  8. Lambert 2013, p. 381.
  9. Walker & Dick 1999, p. 62.
  10. Cavigneaux & Krebernik 1998, p. 341.
  11. Frayne 2008, pp. 358–359.
  12. Such-Gutiérrez 2005, pp. 26–27.
  13. George 1992, p. 302.
  14. Foster 2005, p. 888.
  15. Frayne 1997, pp. 286–287.

Bibliography
  • Cavigneaux, Antoine; Krebernik, Manfred (1998), "Nin-duluma", Reallexikon der Assyriologie (in German), retrieved 2022-10-11
  • Foster, Benjamin R. (2005). Before the muses: an anthology of Akkadian literature. Bethesda, Md.: CDL Press. ISBN 1-883053-76-5. OCLC 57123664.
  • Frayne, Douglas (1997). Ur III Period (2112-2004 BC). RIM. The Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia. University of Toronto Press. doi:10.3138/9781442657069. ISBN 978-1-4426-5706-9.
  • Frayne, Douglas (2008). Pre-Sargonic Period. RIM. The Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. doi:10.3138/9781442688865. ISBN 978-1-4426-8886-5.
  • Gadotti, Alhena (2014). Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld and the Sumerian Gilgamesh Cycle. De Gruyter. doi:10.1515/9781614515456. ISBN 978-1-61451-708-5.
  • George, Andrew R. (1992). Babylonian Topographical Texts. Orientalia Lovaniensia analecta. Departement Oriëntalistiek. ISBN 978-90-6831-410-6. Retrieved 2022-10-11.
  • Krebernik, Manfred (1998), "NAĜAR", Reallexikon der Assyriologie (in German), retrieved 2022-10-11
  • Lambert, Wilfred G. (2013). Babylonian creation myths. Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns. ISBN 978-1-57506-861-9. OCLC 861537250.
  • Peterson, Jeremiah (2009). God lists from Old Babylonian Nippur in the University Museum, Philadelphia. Münster: Ugarit Verlag. ISBN 978-3-86835-019-7. OCLC 460044951.
  • Such-Gutiérrez, Marcos (2005). "Untersuchungen zum Pantheon von Adab im 3. Jt". Archiv für Orientforschung (in German). Archiv für Orientforschung (AfO)/Institut für Orientalistik. 51: 1–44. ISSN 0066-6440. JSTOR 41670228. Retrieved 2022-10-11.
  • Walker, Christopher; Dick, Michael B. (1999). "The Induction of the Cult Image in Ancient Mesopotamia: The Mesopotamian mis pî Ritual". Born in Heaven, Made on Earth. Penn State University Press. doi:10.1515/9781575065120-003.
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