Belet-Seri was aMesopotamian goddess who served as a scribe in the court of the underworld goddessEreshkigal. She could be regarded as theAkkadian counterpart ofSumerianGeshtinanna, but the name could also function as a title ofAšratum, the wife ofAmurru, or as a fully independent deity.
The name Belet-Seri means "mistress of the steppe."[1] The Akkadian wordṣēru, in addition to its literal meaning, could also refer to theunderworld.[2]Old Babylonian incantations, such asUdug-hul, attest that Belet-Seri was envisioned as a scribe of the underworld (ṭupšarrat arallê).[3] It has been proposed that she was meant to server as a mirror of the royal scribe (ṭupšar ekalli) in the underworld court ofEreshkigal.[4] She was most likely believed to hold a list containing the names of the dead, on the basis of which they were admitted to the underworld.[5] Her role is described in theEpic of Gilgamesh whenEnkidu has a vision of the underworld in a dream.[3] In the incantation seriesMaqlû,Šurpu, andBīt Mēseri she is asked to bind demons and witches and prevent them from leaving the underworld.[3]
At an undetermined point in the second millennium BCE, Belet-Seri developed an association with the goddessGula and by extension with medicine.[6]
Julia Krul proposes that inHellenisticUruk Belet-Seri came to be seen as the vizier (sukkal) of Ereshkigal and perhapsAnu, as she received offerings alongsidePapsukkal, well attested in such a role.[7] She also proposes that she could be associated with Ningishzida, whose cult was still present in this city in late sources.[8]
Belet-Seri commonly functioned as an Akkadian name ofGeshtinanna, though it could also be applied toAšratum, the wife ofAmurru, and to her Sumerian counterpart Gubarra.[9] It has however been proposed that in the later case the term can be understood as a reference to an ordinary steppe, rather than a euphemism for the land of the dead.[10] Belet-Seri could also function as an independent deity, for example in theneo-Assyrian pantheon.[11] Furthermore,Ningishzida's wifeAzimua,syncretised with Geshtinanna, could be described as a scribe of the underworld too.[12]
Belet-seri was worshiped inNippur and inAssur in temples of Gula.[13] She was also associated with Dunnu-sa'idi, a town located betweenBabylon andSippar.[6] In Assur, she was worshiped in the temple of Gula.[11]
In oath formulas accompanying some neo-Assyrian contracts, Belet-Seri appears with a deity named Adad-milki, who seemingly served as her consort.[11]
She was among the most celebrated deities in late sources from Uruk.[14] After the year 484 BCE, the pantheon of this city was restructured due to collapse of theEanna temple in the aftermath of the failed Babylonian rebellion against the rule of Persian kingXerxes.[15] Her cult was only introduced there in this period.[16]Joan Goodnick Westenholz proposed that she andŠarrāḫītu, also not attested in earlier sources from Uruk, replacedUrkayītu andUṣur-amāssu in the local pantheon.[1] Belet-Seri had her own temple, which was apparently surrounded by an orchard.[17] According to documents from theSeleucid period, it bore the nameé.gal edin, "palace of the steppe."[18]
A text dealing with the types of meat various gods should receive states that fowl was viewed as unsuitable offering for Belet-Seri.[19]
Theophoric names invoking Belet-Seri are known from documents from Hellenistic Uruk.[20] Most individuals bearing them were people of low social standing, including slaves, former slaves and free menial workers.[21]