| Inzak | |
|---|---|
God ofDilmun | |
 | |
| Major cult center | Agarum |
| Genealogy | |
| Spouse | Meskilak ordPA.NI.PA[2] |
Inzak (alsoEnzag,Enzak,[3]Anzak;[1] in older publicationsEnshag[4]) was the main god of the pantheon ofDilmun. The precise origin of his name remains a matter of scholarly debate. He might have been associated withdate palms. His cult center wasAgarum, and he is invoked as the god of this location in inscriptions of Dilmunite kings. His spouse was the goddessMeskilak. A further deity who might have fulfilled this role wasdPA.NI.PA, known from texts fromFailaka Island.
Evidence of the worship of Inzak is also available fromMesopotamia, where he appears for the first time in an inscription of kingGudea. He is attested in theophoric names from locations such asUr,Lagaba and theSealand. Mesopotamians at some point came to perceive him as analogous to the god Nabu. He also appears as an independent deity in the myth Enki and Ninhursag, in which he is referred to as the "lord of Dilmun." A temple dedicated to Inzak also existed inSusa inElam. He was either worshiped there alongsideEa andInshushinak, or functioned as an epithet of the latter god in this city.
Inzak was one of the two main deities ofDilmun, the other beingMeskilak.[5] It has been proposed that he was associated withdate palms.[6] The spelling of his name shows a degree of variety, with forms such as Enzag, Enzak[3] and Anzak also attested.[1] The form beginning with thecuneiform signin predominates in sources from Dilmun itself.[7] The origin of the name is a subject of scholarly dispute.[8] Gianni Marchesi assumes that due to the antiquity of the contacts between Dilmun andMesopotamian polities, which based on archeological finds go back to theUbaid period, it is plausible that Inzak hadSumerian origin, and tentatively etymologies his name asnin-za-ak, "lord of the beads."[9] Piotr Steinkeller also considers thistheonym to have Sumerian origin, and assumes it might have originally developed due to Mesopotamian cultural influence spreading to other areas during the so-called "Uruk Expansion."[10] However, the view that Inzak's name was linguistically Sumerian has been criticized byKhaled al-Nashef [de].[7]Joan Goodnick Westenholz argued that many theonyms attested in Mesopotamian texts which end with the signak, including Inzak, Meskilak,Tishpak andLatarak, are unlikely to be Sumerian, and according to her it is implausible to assume it was used in these cases as agenitive ending.[11]Jean-Jacques Glassner notes that while various spellings of Inzak's name attested in Mesopotamian texts might reflect ancient attempts at providing it with an invented etymology, it is unlikely that they reflect the genuine origin of the name.[12]
In contrast with Mesopotamian sources, which typically label Inzak as a god of Dilmun, the Dilmunites themselves typically referred to him as the god ofAgarum.[2] According to Khaled al-Nashef, the only possible exception is a copy of anOld Babylonian description mentioning "Inzak of Dilmun," which might have originated in this area, onBahrain orFailaka Island.[13] It is commonly presumed that Agarum was the original location Inzak was worshiped in, and that it corresponds to historical Hagar (modernHofuf), though the latter assumption is not universally accepted.[14] A different interpretation has been suggested byStephanie Dalley, who connects thistoponym with theHajar Mountains located in modernOman andUnited Arab Emirates.[15] However, Gianni Marchesi notes that she provided no evidence in favor of this proposal, and incorrectly assumed that Inzak's association withcopper in an inscription ofGudea means that he was worshiped inMagan (Oman), rather than that Dilmun functioned as a center of copper trade.[16] A third possibility is that Agarum corresponds to Failaka Island,[17] where Inzak was also worshiped.[18] Marchesi notes that theGreek name of the island,Ikaros, might have been a reinterpretation of Agarum based on aHellenisticfolk etymology.[19] This proposal has also been subsequently accepted by Dalley.[1] A singleAramaic inscription from Tell Khazneh on Failaka mentions an otherwise unknown deity namedBL ‘KR, who might be a late form of Inzak, with BL being the epithetbēl, "lord," and ‘KR - a toponym analogous to Agarum.[20][21]
Inzak is also mentioned incuneiform inscriptions ofYagli-El, found during recent excavations inA'ali in Bahrain in a structure designated asRoyal Mound 8 by archeologists.[22] He is referred to as a deity of Agarum in these texts.[23] A similar inscription of another ruler, Rīmum, was already known earlier from theDurand Stone,[1] and similarly associates him with this toponym.[24] Marchesi suggests that the use of the phrase "servant of Inzak of Agarum" as a title by both of these Dilmunite monarchs might indicate that the local royal ideology was similar to the "theocratic model of kingship" known from the kingdoms ofAssyria andEshnunna in Mesopotamia, where the tutelary god of the state was also worshiped as its ruler, and human kings only acted as his representatives.[25] He also suggests that if his theory is correct, the Dilmunite royal ideology might have influenced the position of laterSabaeanmukarribs, who interceded between the ordinary inhabitants of Saba and the main local god,Almaqah.[26]
Mesopotamian texts indicate that a temple dedicated jointly to Enzak and Meskilak which bore the ceremonial Sumerian name Ekarra, "house of thequay," existed in Dilmun.[27] It already appears inMiddle Assyrian sources, though they do not list the names of the deities worshiped in it.[28] It is also mentioned in an inscription ofNebuchadnezzar II from Failaka, which according toAndrew R. George indicatesShamash ofLarsa was another deity worshiped there.[29] Other documents indicate that a temple of Inzak located on Failaka was referred to as Egalgula ("great palace") or Egal-Inzak ("palace of Inzak").[30]
Varioustheophoric names invoking Inzak are attested in sources from sites associated with Dilmunite culture, including feminine Baltī-Inzak.[2]
Inzak's wife was the goddessMeskilak.[31]Jeremy Black and Anthony Green proposed that she might have been alternatively viewed as his mother.[32]
A seal inscription from Failaka links Inzak withdPA.NI.PA, who according to Manfred Krebernik might be the same deity as Meskilak.[33] However,Jean-Jacques Glassner instead assumes they were two separate goddesses who fulfilled the role of Inzak's partner in two separate locations.[2] Gianni Marchesi assumes thatdPA.NI.PA, whose name he renders phonetically as Panipa, was Inzak's spouse on Failaka.[16] A seal from this location which might have belonged to a member of local clergy dedicated to her refers to her as "she who knows the seed of Inzak of Agarum."[21]
A possible association between Inzak andEnki is attested in sources from Dilmun, though it possible that the Mesopotamian god's name was simply used to represent that of the local one, and he was not worshiped himself in this area.[34] Andrew R. George notes that the presumed association between Enki and Inzak matches the Mesopotamian sources, in which the latter deity was sometimes linked to Dilmun.[35] It is possible that an analogous connection existed between Meskilak and Enki's spouseDamgalnunna.[36]
Inzak is also attested in sources from Mesopotamia.[32] The oldest example occurs on one of theGudea cylinders,[37] where his name is rendered asdNin-zà-ga,[31] "lord of the sanctuary."[37] The inscription states that theMesopotamian godNingirsu instructed him to provideGudea with a large amount of copper during the construction ofEninnu.[38]
In twotheophoric names from Ur the variant spelling Nininzak can be found.[39] One of them belonged to Idin-Nininzak, who was one of thealik Tilmun,[40] "Dilmun traders."[41] It is assumed he was a Dilmunite himself.[42] The other name is not fully preserved.[39] Spelling the name as Nininzak, literally "lord Inzak," might reflect an attempt at assimilating the god into the local pantheon.[13] A person from Dilmun bearing the name Inzak-gamil is attested in a text fromLagaba from the reign ofSamsu-iluna.[40] A variant spelling of Inzak's name, Anzak, appears in theophoric names present in documents from the archive of theFirst Sealand dynasty, such as Anzak-gamil, Anzak-iddina, Anzak-rabi, Anzak-rabiat and Arad-Anzakti.[15] Ran Zadok presumed they belonged to Dilmunites.[43] Stephanie Dalley instead argues that since the names are linguisticallyAkkadian aside from the theonym invoked in them, it is possible Inzak was incorporated into the local pantheon of the Sealand and had a hitherto unidentified cult center somewhere in Mesopotamia, though she also points out he appears to be absent from known offering lists.[15]
Inzak, paired with Meskilak and like her referred to as one of the "deities of Dilmun," appears in greeting formulas of the letters exchanged between Ili-liya, apparently a nickname of Enlil-kidinnī, thegovernor ofNippur during the reigns ofKassite kingsBurnaburiash II andKurigalzu II, and a certainIlī-ippašra.[44] It has been proposed the latter originated in Mesopotamia, but at some point came to live in Dilmun instead.[45] Both of the Dilmunite deities are invoked to guard the well-being of the recipient.[46]
In the incantation seriesŠurpu, Inzak appears in a passage which begins with the invocation of the goddLUGAL.A.AB.BA (Lugala'abba), the "king of the sea."[15] The full sequence of deities mentioned in it consists of Lugala'abba, Lugalidda,Laguda, Inzak and Meskilak.[31]
In the lategod listAn = Anu ša amēli Inzak is equated withNabu.[31] A text in which Inzak's name (spelled as Enzag) is used to represent Nabu in a context in which other major gods are mentioned under alternate or cryptographic names is also known.[47] According to Manfred Krebernik this association might also implicitly indicate that Meskilak was equated with Nabu's wifeTashmetum.[31]
A single bilingual Sumero-Akkadian hymn dedicated toNanaya considers Inzak and Meskilak to be two names of a single male deity in this context identified with Nabu, and lists a goddess named Šuluḫḫītum as his spouse.[48]
Stephanie Dalley maintains that references to Inzak being treated as a female deity analogous toNinsianna are also known.[15]
Inzak appears in the mythEnki andNinhursag.[49] The writing of his name used by the Mesopotamian compilers of this text is rendered by modern authors as Enzag[2] or Ensag.[49] Older publications use the form Enshag.[4] This reinterpretation of the theonym can be translated as "lord of the side."[2] Other possible explanations are "lord who makes beautiful," "lord who brings beauty"[30] or "sweet lord."[50] In this composition he is one of the eight deities created to soothe the pains experienced by Enki, the other seven beingAbu, Ninsikila (Meskilak[31]), Ningiritud (Ningirida),Ninkasi,Nanshe,Azimua andNinti.[51] He is the last of them to be mentioned, and his appearance is preceded by Enki declaring his flank hurts him.[49] After being healed, the latter god assigns roles to the newborn deities, with Inzak being declared the "lord of Dilmun."[52]
Inzak was also worshiped inSusa in the west ofElam.[41][15] Khaled al-Nashef has argued that it cannot be established if he was introduced there from Dilmun or if he was originally worshiped in this area, and rules out the possibility that he reached Elam through Mesopotamian intermediaries.[36] Theophoric names invoking Inzak are attested in sources from Susa from the Old Babylonian period, but according to Ran Zadok they might belong to people from Dilmun, rather than local inhabitants.[53] Examples listed by Daniel T. Potts and Soren Blau include Inzaki, Kūn-Inzaki, Idin-Inzaku and Watar-Inzak, additionally a man bearing a linguisticallyAmorite name, Milki-El, is identified as a son of a Dilmunite named Tem-Enzag.[40]
In Elam, Inzak was associated withInshushinak andEa.[54] A temple in Susa dated to the early second millennium BCE and a paved walkway from the same time were apparently dedicated jointly to these gods.[3] It is known from an inscription mentioning the kings Tempti-Agun and Kutir-Nahhunte, preserved as a copy from the reign ofShilhak-Inshushinak.[55] It is sometimes proposed that in Elam Inshushinak, Inzak and Ea were equated,[54] and the latter two were understood as epithets of the local god.[3][56]
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