| Saĝkud | |
|---|---|
Divine tax collector | |
| Major cult center | Der, Bubê |
| Genealogy | |
| Spouse | Ninpamulesi |
Saĝkud was aMesopotamian god who might have been regarded as a divinetax collector or as a warrior deity. He belonged to the court ofAnu, though an association between him andNinurta is also attested. He is first attested in theEarly Dynastic period, and appears in a variety oftheophoric names from sites such asLagash and later onSippar. In the first millennium BCE he was worshiped inDer and Bubê. In the past it was assumed thatskwt ("Sakkuth") mentioned in theBook of Amos might be the same deity, but this conclusion is no longer universally accepted.
The correct reading of thetheonym written incuneiform asdSaĝ-kud has been established based on syllabic spellings such assag-gu-ud andsa-ak-ku-ud in sources postdating the earliestEarly Dynastic attestations.[1][2] Romanizations such as Sakkud[3] and Sakkut can also be found in contemporary scholarly literature.[4] It is possible that the name can be explained as "he who collects first" or "he who collects best".[1] Other translations include "tax collector"[5] or terms such as "shark" (in the metaphorical sense), "cutthroat",[4] "head chopper".[2][6]Gebhard J. Selz [de] considers him one of the deities who should be understood as divine representations of specific professions, in this case specifically that of a tax collector.[5] Ryan D. Winters suggest he functioned as a warrior god.[6]
Aseal from theOld Babylonian period describes Saĝkud as "foremost in heaven and earth, wrapped in divine splendour" (pa4 gal an-ki-a ní me-lám gú è-a).[7] He might have been understood as an astral deity.[8] However, the old theory that he was associated with the planetSaturn is no longer accepted today, as it relied on a faulty reading of an enumeration of deities inŠurpu.[9] Identification as a divine representation ofSirius has been suggested based on association between him andNinurta, but it remains speculative.[6] A text describing him as the resident of a swamp is also known.[4] According toManfred Krebernik [de] most of the other figures mentioned in it are likelyasakku demons.[7]
A text presumably pertaining to rites of theāšipu states that two types of stones used in magical rituals,pappardilû andengiša, were associated with Saĝkud.[10]
Manfred Krebernik suggests that the goddess Gula, who appears after Saĝkud in theEarly Dynastic god list fromAbu Salabikh, might have been viewed as his wife.[2] She is to be distinguished from the homophonous medicine goddessGula, and usually it is assumed that her spouse was the godAbu.[11] According to the god listAn = Anum, the goddess Ninpamulesi was regarded as Saĝkud's wife.[7] Her name can be explained as "the lady who sparkles red in thePleiades".[12] An alternate proposal is that the elementpa-mul might refer to tree branches.[6]
It is presumed that Saĝkud belonged to the court ofAnu.[13]An = Anum refers to him aszabar-dab-an-na-ke, "zabbardabbû official of Anu" or "zabbardabbû official of heaven".[1] Krebernik argues this title can be explained as "chamberlain" or "cupbearer".[14] However, Ryan D. Winters points out that based on its literal meaning, "keeper of bronze", possibly implicitly "keeper of bronze weapons", this position might have had a military character, which would match Saĝkud's proposed role as a warrior god.[6]
An association between Saĝkud andNinurta is also attested.[13] However, only a single text directly equates them with each other.[7] TheWeidner god list places him between two related deities,Ningirsu andPisangunug.[13] Two late copies of this text equate him with the god Etallak, in this context explained as a divinejailer.[7]
According to Gebhard J. Selz, the deitydLugal-kud-da known from Early DynasticZame Hymns might be related to Saĝkud.[1]
Saĝkud is already attested in texts fromEarly DynasticFara andLagash, though in the latter corpus he only appears in a singletheophoric name, Amar-Saĝkud ("bull calf of Saĝkud").[1] In theUr III period he is attested in the name Ur-Saĝkud, many further examples are also known from theOld Babylonian period: Ibni-Saĝkud, Puzur-Saĝkud, Saĝkud-muballiṭ (all three fromSippar), Nūr-Saĝkud, Saĝkud-balāṭī, Saĝkud-bāni and Saĝkud-tajjār, with a bearer of the last of them also designated as a servant of Saĝkud on a seal.[7] Atemple dedicated to him existed inUr during the reign ofRim-Sîn I, but its ceremonial name is not known.[7]
In theNeo-Assyrian period, a hypostasis of Saĝkud associated with the city of Bubê was worshiped inDer.[15] Bubê was presumably located nearby,[16] in Araši or Raši, which according to Eckhart Frahm was a buffer state between Mesopotamia andElam.[15] It is also mentioned in the myth ofAnzû (tablet III, line 150), which indicates that a temple named Enimmanku was located there.[17]
According toAndrew R. George, this ceremonial name can be translated as "high house of pure heaven", but it is not known what deity was worshiped in it, with "Ninurta or a similar deity" being a plausible assumption.[16] Texts from the reign ofShamshi-Adad V indicate that during a campaign against Der, either in 815 or 814 BCE, Assyrian troops carried away the statue of Saĝkud of Bubê alongside those of other local deities, such asIštaran,Mār-bīti and Šarrat-Deri.[3] They were later returned byEsarhaddon.[18]
In a trilingual version of theWeidner god list fromUgarit, both in theUgaritic andHurrian columns the deity corresponding to Saĝkud isAnat.[19] However, it has been called into question if this text accurately reflects traditions pertaining to theUgaritic andHurrian pantheons, and it is assumed it does not indicate an equation between the deities mentioned.[20]
It has been suggested that Sakkuth, mentioned in theBook of Amos 5:26, might be the same deity as Mesopotamian Saĝkud.[4] TheMasoretic Text vocalizes the name, written inHebrew asskwt, assikkût, ahapax legomenon.[21] The conclusion that a deity is meant is not universally accepted, and as an alternative it has been proposed that the correct reading might be a common noun such assukkat, "hut", or a derivative of the termsikkāntu, "stele".[22]
Riekele Borger pointed out that aŠurpu passage formerly used to support the identification ofskwt with Saĝkud was misread, and the sequence of words in it does not resemble the biblical passage, nor is Saĝkud anywhere associated withKayyamānu, sometimes presumed to be related to Amos'Kewan.[23] This conclusion is also accepted byManfred Krebernik [de] inReallexikon der Assyriologie und Vorderasiatischen Archäologie.[7]
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