| Geshtinanna | |
|---|---|
Scribe of the Underworld | |
 Fragment of a marble bowl fromUruk inscribed with the name of Geshtinanna, currently housed in theBritish Museum | |
| Major cult center | Sagub |
| Genealogy | |
| Parents | Duttur |
| Siblings | Dumuzi,Belili |
| Consort |
|
| Equivalents | |
| Akkadian | Belet-Seri |
Geshtinanna was aMesopotamian goddess best known due to her role in myths about the death ofDumuzi, her brother. It is not certain what functions she fulfilled in the Mesopotamian pantheon, though her association with the scribal arts and dream interpretation is well attested. She could serve as a scribe in theunderworld, where according to the mythInanna's Descent she had to reside for a half of each year in place of her brother.
Evidence for the worship of Geshtinanna is mostly available from theEarly Dynastic state ofLagash, where she had her own cult center, Sagub. She was also present in the pantheons of other cities, for example inUruk andTell al-Rimah. She ceased to be venerated after theOld Babylonian period, though even later on she was still mentioned in god lists and in literary texts, some of which were still copied during the period ofSeleucid rule overMesopotamia.
The oldest writing of Geshtinanna's name was Amageshtin or Amageshtinanna, as attested in documents fromLagash from theEarly Dynastic period.[1] There is no agreement over whether Amageshtin was a shortened form of Amageshtinanna or if thesuffix -anna was added to a pre-existing name, but Manfred Krebernik argues the latter is more likely, as Amageshtin is attested as an ordinary personal name in the Early Dynastic period.[2] In later sources, the form "Geshtinanna" was the most commonly used one.[1] It might have developed due to the prefixama (Sumerian: "mother") being considered anepithet.[2] InEmesal, a dialect of Sumerian, the name was rendered as Mutinanna.[1] The conventional translation of the standard form of the name is "grapevine of heaven", though it is possible that the wordgeštin also had the metaphorical meaning "sweet" or "lovely".[2]
A further variant of the name was Ningeshtinanna.[3] Thecuneiform signNIN can be translated as "lady", "queen" or "mistress" when used in the names of female deities, and it could sometimes be added as a prefix to names of established goddesses, in addition to Geshtinanna for exampleAruru orAya.[3] This form of Geshtinanna's is attested for example in theCanonical Temple List[4] and in the name of a skin disease, hand of Ningeshtinanna.[5] A shorter form also including the sign NIN, Ningeshtin ("lady of the vine") is known from inscriptions on seals from theKassite period.[6]
It has additionally been pointed out that Ninedina, a direct Sumerian equivalent of theAkkadian nameBelet-Seri, which designated a goddess who corresponded to Geshtinanna, can be found in the earlyFara god list already, but it is unknown if this goddess was one and the same as Geshtinanna.[1]
Andrew R. George argues that inBad-tibira, the cult center ofDumuzi, Geshtinanna was known under the name Ninsheshegarra.[7] He points out the existence of a reference to such a goddess being worshiped in the temple Esheshegarra ("house established by the brother") in this city.[7]
Geshtinanna's functions remain unclear.[8] It is known that she was thedubsar-mah aralike, "chief scribe of theunderworld".[9] This role is described in detail in one of theUdug-hul incantations.[9] She was believed to be responsible for keeping track of the dead, and for permitting them to enter the underworld.[9] However, it is possible her association with the underworld was only a secondary development.[8] Her association with scribal arts and surveying is also attested in other contexts, where she is a heavenly, rather than underworld, deity.[6] The mythDumuzi's Dream describes her as the "scribe proficient in tablets" and "singer expert in songs" and highlights her wisdom.[10] Similar associations are present in various poems from the reign ofShulgi.[8]
She was also associated with dream interpretation,[11] though this function could generally be assigned to female deities.[8] Tonia Sharlach additionally argues that she was connected with vegetation,[12] but it is not known if her name has any relation to her role.[8]
Her iconography is unknown,[8] but it is possible that the depictions of a goddess accompanied by amushussu known from Lagash can be identified as her, with the mythical beast serving as a representation ofNingishzida, her husband in the local tradition.[13] The mushussu was portrayed looking at the goddess in such works of art.[14]
The worship of Geshtinanna is attested for the first time in theEarly Dynastic period.[15][8] However, she was a goddess of minor importance overall.[12] An early center of her cult was Sagub, a settlement located nearLagash.[16] At least two references togudu priests connected to her cult in the state of Lagash are known.[17] Under the name Amageshtin, she appears in an inscription ofUrukagina.[18] She had a temple inGirsu, built byUr-Baba.[19] It is possible that another temple dedicated to her, the Esagug, was located in Sagub.[16] It was rebuilt byEnannatum I, and subsequently desecrated during a raid ofLugalzaggesi.[16] He reportedly plundered the precious metals andlapis lazuli the statue of Geshtinanna was decorated with, and then threw it into a well.[17] A later ruler of Lagash, Gudea, dedicated multiple statues to Geshtinanna.[13] While he invoked many members of the Mesopotamian pantheon in his inscriptions, three of them - Geshtinanna,Nanshe andNingirsu - were singled out as those who "turned theirzi gaze" to him, a term apparently normally referring to the way they looked at other deities.[13]
Geshtinanna was also worshiped aroundUruk as one of the deities associated withInanna andDumuzi.[20] However, her connection with this city was not as pronounced as that between her and the territory of Lagash.[21] It is possible that the temple Esheshegarra inBad-tibira was dedicated to her.[7] It was built byUr-gigir of Uruk, son ofUr-nigin.[7] A temple dedicated jointly to her and Dumuzi, the Eniglulu, "house of teeming flocks," is also attested, but its location is unknown.[4] The Sumerian termniglulu often appears in compositions about Dumuzi and refers to his herds.[22]
Later sources show that Geshtinanna continued to be worshiped through theUr III period, as attested in documents from Girsu,Puzrish-Dagan andUmma.[23] Those from the last of these cities identify the center of her local cult as KI.ANki, a nearby town which was associated withShara.[24] The Puzrish-Dagan texts indicate she was worshiped in one of the royal palaces, though not necessarily in a fixed location, withUr, Uruk andNippur all being possibilities.[25] One of the royal celebrations dedicated to her might have been related to the funerary cult and involved a visit of the goddess in the palace.[25] A single document mentions offerings made to her alongside those toNinisina,Dagan andIšḫara.[26] A references to Geshtinanna being celebrated in the temple ofNinsun inKuara is also known.[27] An unusual phenomenon attested in this period was the apparent identification ofShulgi's mother SI.A-tum (reading uncertain[28]) as a manifestation of Geshtinanna.[12] No other queen from theThird Dynasty of Ur was deified in any way, nor wasUr-Nammu,[12] its founder and Shulgi's father.[29]
In theOld Babylonian period, Geshtinanna was worshiped inIsin, Nippur, Uruk[8] andTell al-Rimah (Qattara).[30] References to her are known from personal letters from this period, though they are uncommon.[31] The frequency of her appearances in them is lower than that of popular deities, such as Ishtar,Annunitum,Aya,Ninsianna orGula, and comparable toNinmug's,Ninkarrak's orNinegal's.[31]
Only a fewtheophoric names invoking Geshtinanna are known.[32] Examples include Gu-Geshtinannaka, Geme-Geshtinanna, Lu-Geshtinanna and Ur-Geshtinanna.[32] Only a single attestation of one of them, specifically Ur-Geshtinanna, occurs in documents from Early Dynastic Lagash.[17]
Active worship of Geshtinanna ceased after the Old Babylonian period, but she continued to appear in god lists and especially in literary texts about Dumuzi[11] as late as in theSeleucid period.[8]
Geshtinanna's brother wasDumuzi.[1] It has been argued that she was imagined as older than him, since she could be referred to with epithets such asama ("mother") andumma ("old woman" or "wise woman").[11][8] Their mother wasDuttur.[32][33] An alternate tradition, attested in a hymn ofShulgi, refers toAnu and his wifeUrash as Geshtinanna's parents.[34]Belili was regarded as a sister of Geshtinanna[8] and Dumuzi.[35] It has been suggested that she could be viewed as an equivalent of Geshtinanna.[11] However, Manfred Krebernik discusses Belili and Gesthinanna as two independent goddesses each of whom could be described as Dumuzi's sister.[36] They also both appear in the mythDumuzi's Dream, each in a separate role.[37]
Due to Dumuzi's marriage toInanna, Geshtinanna was thesister-in-law of this goddess.[8] She is directly referred to as her "beloved sister-in-law" in the composition labeled asInanna D in modern literature, though she is only listed after the members of her immediate family (Ningal,Suen,Utu, Dumuzi) andNinshubur, addressed as the "belovedvizier."[38]
A network ofsyncretic relations existed between Geshtinanna,Azimua,Belet-Seri and, by extension, withAshratum (also known under the Sumerian name Gubarra).[39] From the reign ofGudea of Lagash to theUr III period, it was common for Geshtinanna to be identified withAzimua, who the wife ofNingishzida.[1] In a tradition originating in Lagash, Geshtinanna came to be viewed as Ningishzida's spouse herself.[13] However, inOld Babylonian god list she is kept apart from Ningishzida.[40] From the same period onward,[11] Belet-Seri started to be recognized as theAkkadian counterpart of Geshtinanna.[6] However, Belet-Seri also functioned as an epithet of Ashratum.[39] In a handful of cases Geshtinanna is therefore listed as the wife ofAmurru instead of her.[41] Julia M. Asher-Greve cites two examples ofcylinder seals from Old BabylonianSippar where Geshtinanna is paired withdMAR.TU (Amurru).[42]
In the mythDumuzi's Dream, Geshtinanna is assisted by the goddess Geshtindudu, described as her "adviser and girlfriend."[43] The relationship between Geshtinanna and Geshtindudu is regarded as unique due to being based on friendship.[44] It has been suggested that some works of art showing a pair of goddesses stands side by side might represent Geshtinanna and Geshtindudu.[44]
In theWeidner god list, Geshtinanna is placed near the circle of deities associated withIshkur, after his wifeShala, their sonMisharu,Išḫara and the deitydMAŠ-da-ad.[45] Daniel Schwemer based on a later text assumesdMAŠ-da-ad was a form of the weather god himself worshiped in the city of Pada,[46] but Manfred Krebernik argues it should be read as Pardat, "the dreadful," the name of a sparsely attested goddess also known from the god listAn = Anum.[47] He proposes that she, Išḫara and Geshtinanna were placed one after another because of their shared association with the underworld.[48] The association between Geshtinanna and Ishkur is not attested in any later god lists, but they are invoked together in some blessing formulas in letters fromTell al-Rimah.[46] There is however no indication that they were regarded as a couple, and it is likely Geshtinanna appears in these texts due to being the personal deity of one of the writers.[49]
Geshtinanna commonly appears in compositions about the death ofDumuzi, where she is one of the three most frequently recurring mourning goddesses, next toInanna andDuttur.[50] Occasionally she also appears in texts about the death of other similar gods, for exampleDamu, normally mourned by his motherNinisina and sisterGunura instead.[51]
InDumuzi's Dream, Geshtinanna interprets the eponymous dream and informs Dumuzi that it foretells his death.[52] She refers to the assailants as bandits, indicating that in this composition belonged to the tradition in which Dumuzi's death was caused by an attack of evil men,[53] rather than any events pertaining to Inanna.[54] However, Geshtinanna also identifies the attackers asgalla.[55] It is possible she uses the term in its historical, rather than mythical, sense, which is supported by the description of the assailants as inhabitants of specific Mesopotamian cities, though it is also possible that a secondary source used by the compiler belonged to a tradition involving demons of the underworld.[56] The historicalgalla were most likely officials of the judiciary, possibly analogous topolicemen ordeputies, but in literary texts they can be described not only as agents of law, as bandits and finally as demons.[57] While Dumuzi is in hiding, Geshtinanna and her adviser Geshtindudu wait for thegalla to arrive to warn him.[43] Later thegalla try to bribe her to offer them information about Dumuzi's whereabouts, but she refuses.[58] They leave her alone and instead approach Dumuzi's unnamed friend instead.[58] While with the help ofUtu andBelili Dumuzi manages to escape them for a time, they eventually catch him when he returns to Geshtinanna's sheepfold.[59]
Another myth involving Geshtinanna isDumuzi and Geshtinanna, though Dina Katz remarks that despite its conventional title this text focuses chiefly on thegalla and the roles of Geshtinanna, Dumuzi, and Inanna are passive.[60] Dumuzi hides in Geshtinanna's dwelling after being offered as a substitute to thegalla by Inanna, who in this case was apparently approached by the demons in Uruk and handed her husband over out of fear.[60] Thegalla torture Geshtinanna, but she refuses to disclose her brother's location.[60] Katz points out that some elements of this myth overlap with Inanna's Descent, but the similarity is limited, because the "journey to the netherworld is twisted and presented as a conspiracy of thegalla to dispatch [Inanna] there against her will."[60] Furthermore, the account of Geshtinanna's torture finds no parallel in any other text.[61]
InInanna's Descent to the Underworld, Geshtinanna is not addressed by name,[8] but it is assumed that she eventually replaces Dumuzi for half of each year in the underworld, where he was himself placed as a replacement for Inanna.[62]
Geshtinanna also appears in the fragmentary mythDumuzi and his sisters,[63] which has been compared to various compositions focused onNingishzida.[64] It involves two sisters, one younger and one older, mourning Dumuzi, who was seized by demons.[64] Geshtinanna, the younger sister,[63] mentions her attempts at confronting one of the captors and pours a funerary libation for her brother, though she eventually concludes this is in vain because he will not be able to receive it.[64]
According toWilfred G. Lambert, it is possible that a goddess named Ningestinna known from the late mythTheogony of Dunnu corresponds to Geshtinanna.[65] The name of the deity she is paired with is not preserved, and due to the unusual nature of this text it is possible that he was not one of the gods usually associated with her.[66]
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