Ningirida

Ningirida was a Mesopotamian goddess regarded as the wife of Ninazu and mother of Ningishzida. Little is known about her character beyond her relation to these two gods.

Ningirida
Major cult centerEnegi
Personal information
SpouseNinazu
ChildrenNingishzida

Name and character

The correct reading of Ningirda's name relies on the syllabic spelling from the Ur III period, dNin-gi-ri-da.[1] According to Wilfred G. Lambert, the element girid is a Sumerian noun referring to a type of hair clasp used by women, and therefore does not provide any information about her individual character beyond her gender.[2] In the myth Enki and Ninhursag, the name is reinterpreted as "the lady born of nose,"[3] dNin-kìri-e-tu, but this is only a folk etymology.[4]

Little is known about Ningirida's individual role beyond her associations with deities regarded as members of her family.[2] Jeremy Black assumed that she was associated with the underworld.[5] She appears alongside Ninazu starting in the Ur III period.[6] However, it is possible older attestations are available, as the deity dGÍRID known from the Early Dynastic period might correspond to later Ningirida.[1] Theophoric names from Lagash from this period sometimes feature the element dGÍRID.KI, which might indicate that the name was derived from a real or mythical toponym, as the sign KI could function as a determinative designating place names.[7][1]

An attested alternate name of the same goddess is Ninsiskurra.[8]

Associations with other deities

Ningirida was regarded as the wife of Ninazu.[9] The relation between them is directly confirmed by the myth Enki and Ninhursag, as well as in a hymn to Ninazu (which addresses her as "Your wife, the young girl, the lovely woman, the lady"), the god list An = Anum, and the so-called Emesal Vocabulary.[10] However, she is not attested in association with her husband's northern cult center, Eshnunna, which might indicate the tradition involving her was exclusive to the south.[11]

Ningishzida, the son of Ninazu, was also regarded as the son of Ningirida.[12]

A single god list from the first millennium BCE equates Ningirida with Gula.[13] According to Thomas Richter, an association between her and another medicine goddess, Ninisina is attested in earlier periods.[14]

No evidence exists in favor of the view that Ningirida was confused with Ningirima, despite the similarity between their names.[15]

Worship

Ningirida already appears in offering lists from the Ur III period alongside Ninazu and Ningishzida.[4] The myth Nanna-Suen's Journey to Nippur recognizes Enegi as her main cult center.[4] A single reference to her and Ninazu receiving offerings in Nippur is known.[16] According to a document from Ur, she receives offerings alongside Ninazu, Ningishzida, Ninazimua and Alla.[17]

The Canonical Temple List, dated to the Kassite period,[18] mentions two temples of Ningirida, but both their locations and ceremonial Sumerian names are not preserved.[19]

Mythology

In the myth Enki and Ninhursag, Ningirida appears as one of the eight deities created by Ninhursag to relay Enki of his pain, the other seven being Abu, Ninsikila (Meskilak[20]), Ninkasi, Nanshe, Azimua, Ninti and Ensag (Inzak).[21] Dina Katz notes this group of deities does not reflect a specific theological concept, and was merely selected for the sake of puns on names of body parts.[3] The spellings used are unique and assign new meanings to the names.[22] In the end, destiny is proclaimed for each of the deities, with Ningirida's lot being to marry Ninazu.[23]

In Nanna-Suen's Journey to Nippur, Nigirida is one of the goddesses who try to convince Nanna, who is traveling to meet his parents (Enlil and Ninlil) to leave his cargo in her city instead of taking it to Nippur, but she fails.[24] Her residence in this myth is Enegi.[4]

A hymn to Ningishzida describes Ningirida breastfeeding him in his infancy.[25] References to goddesses raising their children,[25] and to the childhood of deities in general, are otherwise very rare in Mesopotamian literature.[26] Another narrative focused on this god which also mentions his mother is Descent of Ningishzida to the Nether World.[27] She bribes a demonic "constable" (gallu) escorting her son with silver, and instructs him to use an exorcistic formula to get Ereshkigal's permission to restore him to life.[8]

References
  1. Krebernik 1998, p. 362.
  2. Lambert 1990, p. 296.
  3. Katz 2008, p. 336.
  4. Krebernik 1998, p. 363.
  5. Black 2006, p. 368.
  6. Wiggermann 1998, p. 331.
  7. Selz 1995, p. 138.
  8. Lambert 1990, p. 295.
  9. Sibbing-Plantholt 2022, p. 43.
  10. Cohen 1993, pp. 465–467.
  11. Sibbing-Plantholt 2022, p. 42.
  12. Katz 2003, pp. 392–393.
  13. Sibbing-Plantholt 2022, p. 34.
  14. Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013, p. 86.
  15. Krebernik 1998, p. 365.
  16. Cohen 1993, p. 468.
  17. Katz 2003, p. 398.
  18. George 1993, p. 6.
  19. George 1993, p. 167.
  20. Krebernik 1997, p. 94.
  21. Katz 2008, pp. 336–337.
  22. Katz 2008, p. 337.
  23. Katz 2008, p. 338.
  24. Black 2006, pp. 150–151.
  25. Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013, p. 144.
  26. Black 2006, p. 250.
  27. Black 2004, p. 215.

Bibliography
  • Asher-Greve, Julia M.; Westenholz, Joan G. (2013). Goddesses in Context: On Divine Powers, Roles, Relationships and Gender in Mesopotamian Textual and Visual Sources (PDF). ISBN 978-3-7278-1738-0.
  • Black, Jeremy (2004). "Ning̃išzida and Ninazimua". Orientalia. GBPressb- Gregorian Biblical Press. 73 (2): 215–227. ISSN 0030-5367. JSTOR 43076898. Retrieved 2022-08-15.
  • Black, Jeremy A. (2006). The Literature of Ancient Sumer. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-929633-0. Retrieved 2022-08-15.
  • Cohen, Mark E. (1993). The cultic calendars of the ancient Near East. Bethesda, Md.: CDL Press. ISBN 1-883053-00-5. OCLC 27431674.
  • George, Andrew R. (1993). House most high: the temples of ancient Mesopotamia. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns. ISBN 0-931464-80-3. OCLC 27813103.
  • Katz, Dina (2003). The Image of the Netherworld in the Sumerian Sources. Bethesda, MD: CDL Press. ISBN 1-883053-77-3. OCLC 51770219.
  • Katz, Dina (2008). "Enki and Ninhursaga, Part Two". Bibliotheca Orientalis. Peeters Publishers. 65 (3): 320–342. doi:10.2143/bior.65.3.2033365. ISSN 0006-1913.
  • Krebernik, Manfred (1997), "Meskilak, Mesikila, Ninsikila", Reallexikon der Assyriologie (in German), retrieved 2022-09-26
  • Krebernik, Manfred (1998), "Nin-girida", Reallexikon der Assyriologie (in German), retrieved 2022-08-15
  • Krebernik, Manfred (1998a), "Nin-girima I. Beschwörungsgöttin", Reallexikon der Assyriologie (in German), retrieved 2022-08-15
  • Lambert, Wilfred G. (1990). "A New Babylonian Descent to the Netherworld". Lingering over Words: Studies in Ancient Near Eastern Literature in Honor of William L. Moran. Brill. doi:10.1163/9789004369559_018.
  • Selz, Gebhard (1995). Untersuchungen zur Götterwelt des altsumerischen Stadtstaates von Lagaš (in German). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Museum. ISBN 978-0-924171-00-0. OCLC 33334960.
  • Sibbing-Plantholt, Irene (2022). The Image of Mesopotamian Divine Healers. Healing Goddesses and the Legitimization of Professional Asûs in the Mesopotamian Medical Marketplace. Boston: Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-51241-2. OCLC 1312171937.
  • Wiggermann, Frans A. M. (1998), "Nin-azu", Reallexikon der Assyriologie, retrieved 2022-08-15
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