| Ištaran | |
|---|---|
God of justice | |
 | |
| Major cult center | Der |
| Symbol | snake (Nirah) |
| Genealogy | |
| Spouse | Šarrat-Deri orManzat |
| Children |
|
Ištaran (Ishtaran;Sumerian:𒀭𒅗𒁲) was aMesopotamian god who was thetutelary deity of the city ofDer, a city-state located east of theTigris, in the proximity of the borders ofElam. It is known that he was a divine judge, and his position in the Mesopotamian pantheon was most likely high, but much about his character remains uncertain. He was associated with snakes, especially with the snake godNirah, and it is possible that he could be depicted in a partially or fully serpentine form himself. He is first attested in the Early Dynastic period in royal inscriptions and theophoric names. He appears in sources from the reign of many later dynasties as well. When Der attained independence after the Ur III period, local rulers were considered representatives of Ištaran. In later times, he retained his position in Der, and multiple times his statue was carried away by Assyrians to secure the loyalty of the population of the city.
Ištaran's name could be written incuneiform asdKA.DI ordMUŠ.[1] In the case of the first of these logograms, the reading Ištaran has been established as correct byWilfred G. Lambert in 1969.[2] Other, now obsolete, proposals included Sataran, Satran,[3] Gusilim,[4] and Eatrana.[5] Also attested are a variant form, Iltaran, and anEmesal one, Ezeran (or Ezzeran).[4] The latter logogram could also designate the messenger (šipru) of Ištaran,[1]Nirah,[6] as well as the tutelary god ofSusa,Inshushinak,[7] the tutelary god ofEshnunna,Tishpak,[8] and the primordial river deityIrḫan.[1] With a different determinative,mulMUŠ, it referred to the constellationHydra, which could be associated with Ištaran.[9] SometimesdDI.KU was used to render the name Ištaran as well, though these signs were also used to designate other judge deities, such asMandanu and Diku (the deification of theSumerian word "judge").[10]
It is commonly assumed that Ištaran's name originated in aSemitic language.[11] It has been proposed that it was etymologically related toIshtar.[12] Christopher Woods suggests that the suffix-an should be understood as plural, and translates the name as "the two Ishtars", which he assumes might have been a way to refer to themorning and evening star.[6] He suggests that Ištaran was formed throughsyncretism of an Ishtar-like deity and a local snake god.[6] However, the linguistic association between the names Ištaran and Ishtar is not universally accepted.[13] Richard L. Litke instead assumed that Ištaran's name wasElamite in origin due to the location ofDer, and that it was difficult to render for Mesopotamian scribes as a result.[5]
Ištaran could also be called Anu Rabû or AN.GAL, "GreatAnu".[1] In Elamite sources, the signs AN.GAL instead designate the godNapirisha, in the past incorrectly believed to be the same deity asHumban.[14] Wouter Henkelman proposes a connection between these two deities based on this similarity, as well as their shared affinity with snakes and the fact that Der was located close to Elam.[15]
Ištaran's character is poorly understood,[16] even though he belonged to a "very high level in thepantheon".[4] It is known that he was primarily viewed as a divine judge.[17] His just character was regarded asproverbial,[16] and kings such asGudea ofLagash andShulgi ofUr compared themselves to him in inscriptions to present themselves as equally just.[17] AnOld Babylonianadab song makes a similar comparison withNergal in place of a king.[18]
Based on Ištaran's placement in the proximity ofEreshkigal in the god listAn = Anum it has been suggested that he was associated with theunderworld.[19] It is also known that he could be viewed as one of theDumuzi-like mourned "dying gods", as attested in Sumerian litanies and in a late ritual fromAssur, according to which his death took place in the summer.[16] The latter text states that his corpse was beaten and the blood reached the underworld.[16] In a single text, he and Dumuzi are outright equated with each other.[20] Irene Sibbing-Plantholt argues he could also be associated with healing.[21] She notes that in a text fromMalgium the theophoric name Ištarān-asû occurs,[22]asû being a term translated either as "physician" or more broadly "healer".[23] Based on Ištaran's alternate name, Anu Rabû, it has also been proposed that he was associated with the sky.[24] It has been argued that inart his possible celestial aspect might have been represented by rays coming out of his shoulders.[25] In one of theTemple Hymns, he is referred to aslugal dubur anna, "lord of the base of heaven".[26]
According toWilfred G. Lambert, Ištaran's face was regarded as beautiful.[4] A lament refers to him as "bright-eyed".[27] He was also associated with snakes.[16] In theTemple Hymns, the entrance to his temple is said to be decorated with an image of intertwinedmušḫuššu andhorned viper (muš-šag4-tur3).[28] It is also possible that depictions of snakes onkudurru (boundary stones) represented Ištaran as a judge deity resolving conflicts over land.[29] Frans Wiggermann additionally assumes that a god depicted with the upper body of a human and the lower body of a snake, known fromcylinder seals from theSargonic period, might be Ištaran.[12] Christopher Woods instead proposes that this figure isNirah.[6] Wiggermann argues this is implausible, as Nirah was a servant deity, while the snake god according to him is depicted as an "independent lord".[12] He also notes a similar figure, though seated on a serpent throne rather than directly partially serpentine himself, is also present on seals fromSusa, and might representInshushinak.[30] He argues that both of these gods, as well as other deities, such asNinazu,Ningishzida,Tishpak and the so-calledboat god belonged to a group he refers to as "transtigridian snake gods" due to their similar character and iconography and the location of their cult centers.[31] He assumes all of them developed on the boundary between Mesopotamian and Elamite culture.[19]
Ištaran could be viewed as a son ofAnu andUrash, and as a result theOld BabylonianNippur god list associates him withUruk.[32] Marten Stol assumes that both Ištaran andInshushinak were regarded as sons ofTishpak by the compiler of the god listAn = Anum.[33] A list of city gods fromUr groups them together.[19] A late ritual known fromAssur addressesIshtar as Ištaran's sister.[16]
InAn = Anum, Ištaran appears without a wife, but in an inscription ofEsarhaddon this role is assigned to the goddess Šarrat-Deri, "Queen of Der". or Deritum, "she of Der".[4] There is also some evidence thatManzat, a goddess regarded as the divine representation of the rainbow, was viewed as his wife.[6] Irene Sibbing-Plantholt notes that based on the reference to this tradition in a syncretistic hymn toNanaya it can be assumed that she was worshiped in Der alongside him in either the late second millennium BCE or in the first millennium BCE.[25]
Nirah was the messenger (šipru) of Ištaran.[6] He could also be viewed as his son.[6] The god Zīzānu was either another son of Ištaran or a son of Qudma,[34] hissukkal (attendant deity).[10] Further members of his court include the deities Rāsu, Turma and Itūr-mātiššu.[4]
In an Old BabylonianbilingualAkkadian-Amorite god list, Ištaran's counterpart in the Amorite column isaš-ti-ul-ḫa-al-ti.[35]Andrew R. George andManfred Krebernik [de] note that this name might have anElamite origin, and that the presence of such a deity in theAmorite pantheon is not impossible, as they inhabited the area ofEmutbalum close to Der andElam, and the well known Amorite leaderKudur-Mabuk and his father Simti-Šilḫak both bore Elamite names.[36]
AbilingualHurro-Akkadian version of theWeidner god list fromEmar seemingly regards Ištaran, misspelled asdKA.DI.DI (possibly an example ofdittography, an error involving reduplication of a sign) andKumarbi (usually associated withEnlil or SyrianDagan) as equivalents.[37] Frank Simons assumes that this connection might be based on their shared association with the underworld, on shared perception as the "Father of Gods" (a prayer toNisaba refers todMUŠ as "father of the gods," though direct references to Ištaran in such a role are not known), or possibly on an unknown myth about Ištaran which resembled theHurrian myths pertaining to Kumarbi's dethroning.[20]
It is possible that in the late first millennium, attempts at syncretising Ištaran and Anu were made during a period of cooperation between the theologians from Uruk, Nippur and Der, but direct evidence is presently lacking.[38]
A late god list equating various deities withMarduk mentions Anu Rabû among them, but the translation of the explanatory line is uncertain.[39]
In tablet III of the "Epic ofAnzû," Ištaran is listed as one of the names ofNinurta along with other names of deities that are claimed to be equivalents of him in this composition, namelyZababa,Pabilsag,Inshushinak (described asbēl pirišti, "lord of secrets"),[40]Ninazu, Panigara (an alternate spelling of the namePanigingarra),[41] Ḫurabtil (labeled as an Elamite god),Lugal-Marada, and evenLugalbanda (a legendary king of Uruk) andPapsukkal (a messenger god,sukkal of Zababa).[40] Andrew R. George suggests that based on their placement in documents such as theCanonical Temple List, it is possible that some of these gods - Ištaran, Inshushinak, Zababa and Lugal-Marada - could be seen as "local manifestations" of Ninurta by the ancient theologians responsible for compilation of such texts.[42] Michael P. Streck emphasizes that such associations would be typical mostly for late theology.[40]
Ištaran was the tutelary god ofDer.[32] Histemple located there was known under the ceremonialSumerian name Edimgalkalamma, "House, Great Bond of the Land".[43] A library was attached to it, and it is known the scribes of Der were in contact with those fromUruk andBabylon.[44] However, as of 2010, only seven tablets whosecolophons state they originate in Der are known.[44]
Oldest attestations of Ištaran are royal inscriptions from theEarly Dynastic period fromLagash andUmma, and one of such texts attributed toEntemena relays howMesalim ofKish at the command of Ištaran demarcated the border between these two states,[4] represented by their godsNingirsu andShara.[45] It has been proposed that Ištaran was understood as a neutral party, similarly to howDagan was portrayed in similar texts from contemporary Syria, and as such as a suitable deity to ask for resolution of such conflicts.[46] Another Early Dynastic ruler,Lugalzagesi, called himself a "beloved friend of Ištaran".[47]Theophoric names invoking Ištaran also first appear in sources from the Early Dynastic period.[4]
Evidence for the worship of Ishtaran in theSargonic period includes a mace head dedicated to him byNaram-Sin of Akkad, found inUr,[48] and theophoric names fromAdab, such as Ur-Ištaran.[11]Gudea, who reigned after the fall of the Akkadian Empire, in an inscription compared himself to Ištaran, asserting that like him he would declare just judgments not only for Sumerians and Akkadians, but even for "a brute fromGutium".[49] In the followingUr III period, kingShulgi patronized the Edimgalkalamma.[43] A Sumerian text from the third millennium BCE found in Susa, where it was presumably brought in the aftermath of an Elamite raid, also mentions work undertaken in his temple in Der, might predate his dynasty, but the name of the ruler responsible for it is lost.[50] One of Shulgi's daughters bore the name ME-Ištaran (reading of the first element uncertain), as attested in documents from theGaršana archive, which detail matters related to her estate located there and mention her marriage to a certain Shu-Kabta, a man who was apparently both a physician and a military official.[51]
The formula "favorite of Ištaran, beloved ofInanna" (migir Ištaran, naram Inanna) was used by the viceroys of Der Ilum-muttabil (also read Anum-muttabil),[52] Nidnuša,[53] and a third holder of this office whose name is not preserved.[54] They reigned during Der's period of independence after the fall of theThird Dynasty of Ur.[55] In this period the rulers of Der were considered representatives of Ištaran on earth, which is presumed to parallel the development of similar models of rulership inEshnunna andAssur, where the local rulers similarly were believed to act as governors on behalf ofTishpak andAshur, respectively.[56] An inscription of Ilum-Muttabil indicates that he dedicated a new construction project to Ištaran too, but it is unknown if it refers to a temple.[57] Eckhart Frahm notes that it is not impossible repairs of Edimgalkalamma are described in it, though he due to their poor preservation of the text cannot be established with certainty.[50]
In a royal inscription preserved on a clay cylinder found inUr,Sin-Iddinam of Larsa recorded that after defeating and taking captive an enemy ruler, Warassa, he entrusted him to Ištaran and released his imprisoned troops, and states that the king declared he took these actions "In order that my name is mentioned in Der in remote (days)".[58] Warassa might have ruled over either Der itself, much like his namesake known from sources contemporary with the reign ofHammurabi ofBabylon, or nearbyMalgium; the third proposed location he might have hailed from,Eshnunna, is considered unlikely, as Sin-Iddinam refers to him aslugal, rather thanensi2, the typical title of Eshnunnean rulers.[59] An inscription of theAssyrian kingIlu-šūma mentions Ištaran and his city in passing.[60] This text is the oldest known reference to cities other thanAssur in Assyrian royal inscriptions.[61] In theOld Babylonian period, a man bearing the theophoric name Ištaran-nasir was a merchant active inCarchemish and was in contact withZimri-Lim, the king ofMari, informing him about events such as a festival ofNubandag and the death of kingAplahanda.[62]
In theKassite period, Edimgalkalamma was rebuilt during the reign of one of the two kings bearing the Kurigalzu (Kurigalzu I orKurigalzu II).[43] The 1920 discovery of a text documenting this event contributed towards identifying its findspot, Tell Aqar, as the location of Der.[50] He is also referenced in an inscription from Susa from the reign of one of the Kurigalzua, and possibly in another from Babylon also attributed to one of them.[63] Furthermore, he appears in eleven theophoric names fromNippur from the Kassite period, with further five invoking "Anu Rabû".[64] He is also one of the few Mesopotamian gods attested in linguisticallyKassite theophoric names, which usually invokedKassite deities rather than Mesopotamian ones.[65] Multiple people bearing theophoric names invoking Ištaran (dKA.DI or AN.GAL) are also attested in the documents of theFirst Sealand dynasty, and Ran Zadok proposes that these individuals originally came from Der.[66] He is also invoked in the Elamite name Kuk-Ištaran, "protection of Ištaran".[67]
An inscription of kingMarduk-nadin-ahhe of theSecond Dynasty of Isin mentions Anu Rabû as the last god in a long sequence of deities, immediately afterIšḫara.[68]
In later periods Ištaran was worshiped in the treasury of the Ešarra temple in Assur.[69] Assyrians also intervened a number of times in the religious affairs of Der, and repeatedly carried off and returned the statue of Ištaran in order to ensure the loyalty of local inhabitants.[70] During the reign ofShamshi-Adad V, statues of the deities of Der, including Ištaran, as well as Šarrat-Deri,Mār-bīti,Urkitum,Saĝkud of Bubê and others, were seized by the Assyrian army which attacked the city, as documented in a letter of this king addressed to the god Ashur.[71] They were later returned byAdad-nirari III.[72] The city god was however subsequently taken away once more on the orders ofSennacherib to punish the local population for their earlier support of the Elamite kingḪallušu-Inšušinak [de], who campaigned in Mesopotamia againstAššur-nādin-šumi, the Assyrian ruler's son and governor ofBabylonia.[73] However, he was once again returned whenEsarhaddon ascended to the throne, which was a part of a broader process of reversal of his predecessor's policy towards southern cities.[74] He also renovated the Edmigalkalamma, which was damaged in an Elamite invasion during the reign ofEnlil-nadin-šumi.[43] Esarhaddon's efforts were subsequently continued by his sonAshurbanipal, as documented in three texts fromNineveh.[75] Most likely the work in Der was stretched over the course of multiple years, starting before 652 BCE and concluding at some point between 647 and 645 BCE.[70] A text from Ashurbanipal's reign also mentions Ištaran (under the nameAnu Rabû) as one of the deities who aided this king during a campaign against Elam (653 BCE) alongside Ashur,Lugal-asal,Marduk,Nabu andShamash.[76]
Ištaran most likely continued to be worshiped in Der until the city was deserted in either theSeleucid orParthian period.[4] While in the past it was assumed that theophoric names invoking him stopped being used after the Kassite period,[4] more recent research shows that scribes from Der still bore such names in the late first millennium BCE.[9]
A fragmentary text knownAbu Salabikh[77] andEbla mentions a group consisting ofShamash, Ištaran, the river goddÍD[78] andNammu.[77] The connection between Ištaran and Shamash was based on their shared association with justice, and later recurs for example in inscriptions of Gudea.[79] Like them,dÍD was a divine judge, and Nammu's presence might be the result of association between him and this goddess attested elsewhere.[77]
TheHymn toNanshe mentions Ištaran in his role of a divine judge, possibly in association withNingishzida.[17]
Ištaran is also mentioned in theEpic of Erra, where he forsakes the inhabitants of Der after they start acting violently.[80] He is also the only deity to resistErra's destructive rampage.[81]
ANeo-Assyrian copy of a lament originally dealing only with the death ofDamu contains the names of nine deities who met the same fate,[82] including Ištaran.[83]
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