| Shala | |
|---|---|
Mesopotamian goddess of the weather and grain | |
 Impression of a Syrian cylinder seal showing a goddess riding on a bull and spreading her dress. Similar images have been tentatively identified as depictions of Shala.[1] | |
| Major cult center | Karkar, Zabban |
| Symbol | lightning bolts, ear of the corn |
| Mount | a lion-dragon chimera or a bull |
| Genealogy | |
| Consort | Adad |
| Children | Halbinunna, Namashmash, Minunesi,Misharu,Uṣur-amāssu |
| Equivalents | |
| Sumerian | Medimsha |
Shala (Šala) was aMesopotamian goddess of weather and grain and the wife of the weather godAdad. It is assumed that she originated innorthern Mesopotamia and that her name might haveHurrian origin. She was worshiped especially inKarkar and in Zabban, regarded as cult centers of her husband as well. She is first attested in theOld Babylonian period, but it is possible that an analogous Sumerian goddess, Medimsha, was already the wife of Adad's counterpart Ishkur in earlier times.
Both in a number of relatively late Mesopotamian texts and in modern scholarship she is sometimes conflated or confused withShalash, a Syrian goddess regarded as the spouse ofDagan.
It is accepted that Shala's name has no plausibleAkkadian etymology,[2] and it is possible that it was derived from the Hurrian wordšāla, daughter.[3] Researchers attributing Hurrian origin to Shala includeGary Beckman[4] and Daniel Schwemer.[5] A theory regarded as less plausible considers it to be acognate of theHebrew wordšālah, "to be carefree" or "to be unconcerned."[6] Frans Wiggermann proposes that it had its origin in aSemitic language and that it might mean "well-being."[7]
Sumerian and Akkadian texts spell the name asdŠa-la.[8] A variant spelling with a long vowel,dŠa-a-la, is also attested.[9]Logographic spellings of the name are very rare, though one text attestsdME.DIM.ŠA as a logogram meant to be read as "Shala."[10]
In the god listAn = Anum, the alternate names of Shala include Medimsha (Sumerian: "possessing lovely limbs"[11]), Shuzabarku (Sumerian: "she with a shiningbronze hand"[12]), Mushmehush, Kinnusum and Enmelulu.[13] Only the first two of these names are attested outside god lists.[14] In one case in a bilingual text Shala appears in the Akkadian version and Shuzabarku in Sumerian.[8] A further name known from bilingual sources is Muhuranki.[15] Abalag song from thelibrary of Ashurbanipal lists Minunesi and Shubanuna among her names.[8] The same composition also addresses her by the epithetdumu-é-a,[8] translated as "child of the house"[16] or "daughter of the house,"[17] which was also applied to the love goddessNanaya and toGunura, daughter of the medicine goddessNinisina.[8] In a late explanatory text, Shuzabarku is defined as "Shala of wisdom," Medimsha as "Shala of totality," and Shala under her primary name as "Shala of people anddew."[18]
Shala's genealogy is unknown.[19] She always appears alongside her husband Adad in known sources, and her character was largely defined by this connection.[20] Texts commonly refer to her as his "great wife" or "beloved wife who gladdens the heart."[21] In abalag song from the library of Ashurbanipal, written in first person, Shala/Medimsha (both names are used in the same text in this case) describes herself as the righteous wife of Adad/Ishkur.[8] Shala and Ishkur are the second most commonly invoked divine couple in cylinder seal inscriptions from Sippar afterAya andShamash.[22] However, no attestations of Shala are known from the third millennium BCE,[23] and it is assumed she most likely originated in the eastern part ofUpper Mesopotamia[24] in the Old Babylonian period.[14] Further west, in Halab (modernAleppo) and presumably the middleEuphrates area, the wife of the weather god, Hadad, was instead the goddessHebat.[25] Hebat was also incorporated intoHurrian religion as the wife of his counterpartTeshub.[3] She is absent from laterAramaic sources from the same areas, where the wife of the weather god is also Shala like in Mesopotamia.[26]
Medimsha, treated as an alternate name of Shala in later periods,[11] was initially a different goddess, who appears already in sources from theFara period though they don't provide any information about her role.[27] Daniel Schwemer suggests that it is not unlikely that she was already viewed as the wife of Ishkur and lack of direct evidence for such a relation between them, known from later god lists, is the result ofpreservation bias.[14] He additionally proposes that some depictions of a naked rain goddess oncylinder seals might be Medimsha.[28] It has also been proposed that some of such images might represent the Hurrian goddessShaushka,[29] typically regarded as the sister of Teshub in known sources postdating the pairing of the Hurrian weather god with Syrian Hebat and never labeled as his spouse, though the earlier nature of their relationship is impossible to discern.[30]
The daughters of Shala[29][31] and Adad were Shubanuna, Namashmash (or Nabarbar; reading of the name is uncertain[32]) and Minunesi.[33] While there is presently no evidence for them ever existing as independent deities outside god lists,[34] according to Frans Wiggermann it is possible that they were depicted in a fashion similar to their mother and shared her functions.[29] In art groups of three Shala-like naked goddesses which he argues can be identified with them tend to be accompanied by a sheep-like mythical creature, most likely of astral character, whose name is presently unknown.[29] The etymology of Namashmash and Minunesi is not known, while Shubanuna's name means "the princelyšuba",[34]šuba being a type of unidentifiedprecious stone orshell associated with deities such asIshtar and Shamash.[35] In onebalag song Menunesi and Shubanuna are epithets of Shala rather than her daughters.[34] Namashmash and Shubanuna are also attested in a god list in what is assumed to be an enumeration of epithets of Ishtar[34] orIshara.[36] Shubanuna might also be attested in the name of a month from the local calendar ofAdab from the third millennium BCE.[37] This assumption remains uncertain as she is otherwise absent from the city, while a deifiedšuba stone (dŠuba) is present in theophoric names from between theSargonic and Ur III periods, and therefore it would not be impossible for it to also be invoked in a month name.[37]
Further children attested in the sections of god lists dedicated to Shala and Adad includeMisharu ("justice;" he could be accompanied by his spouseIšartu, "righteousness") andUṣur-amāssu ("heed his word").[33] While Uṣur-amāssu is regarded as a male deity in god lists, there is evidence for the worship of a goddess bearing the same name inUruk in the first millennium BCE, and in at least one case she is referred to asbukrat Adad, "daughter of Adad."[38]
A further deity belonging to the court of Adad and Shala in god lists was Nimgir ("lightning"), thesukkal of Adad/Ishkur.[33]
It is possible that on at least one seal Shala and Adad are accompanied by Aya, possibly acting as a divine representative ofSippar.[39]
In modern scholarship, Shala is sometimes confused with Shalash, a similarly named Syrian goddess who was the wife ofDagan.[40] According to Daniel Schwemer, while a degree of confusion between the two goddesses is also present in some ancient sources, it is largely limited to scholarly Mesopotamian texts, and no older than the fourteenth century BCE.[3] According to Lluis Feliu, most evidence for it comes from the first millennium BCE.[41]
In some copies of the god listAn = Anum, Shalash is listed as one of the alternate names of Shala.[13] In an explanatory text Ninkusi, glossed as "Shalash," is addressed as "Shala of the western steppe."[42] Ninkusi ("lady of gold"[15]) is recognized as a synonym of Shalash, rather than Shala, inAn = Anum, where the name appears in the section dedicated to Dagan and his spouse rather than to Adad and Shala.[42] The same god list equates Shalash separately withNinlil, to match the equation between her husband andEnlil.[42] Additionally, two names are only attested in relation to Shalash, not Shala: Ninudishara ("Mistress who amazes the world") and Ninsuhzagina ("Mistress diadem of lapis lazuli").[43]
In a single copy of aMaqlû ritual fromAssur, Shala occurs in place of Shalash, present in other known copies of the same text.[41]
Lluis Felieu rejects the possibility that the two goddesses were originally the same, and especially that the confusion between them was caused by Dagan being aweather god himself and thus analogous to Adad.[41] He also notes that Shala is well attested in art as a goddess associated with the weather, while the character of Shalash, based on parallels with the wives of heads of other pantheons of theancient Near East (for example Ninlil, wife of Enlil andAthirat, wife ofEl), would be unlikely to resemble that of the wife of the Mesopotamian weather god.[44] Additionally, the spelling of the name of the goddess paired with Adad in devotional inscriptions is consistent between various time periods and languages, and never ends with asibilant.[45] Unlike Shala Shalash is also unlikely to have Hurrian origin, as she is attested in theEbla texts, which predate the arrival ofHurrians in Syria.[46]
There is very little evidence for confusion of the two goddesses in Hurrian andHittite sources.[47] Daniel Schwemer considers a treaty of kingShattiwaza to be one example.[5] Lluis Felieu proposes that for Hurrians and Hittites the source of confusion might have been the fact the final -š in the name of Shalash name could be interpreted as a case ending in their languages,[48] but he also remarks that the only possible instances might represent scribal mistakes.[47] This reasoning is also accepted by Daniel Schwemer.[49]
Less commonly modern authors also confuse Shala withShuwala, a Hurrian underworld goddess.[10]
Similar to spouses of other deities, Shala was believed to intercede on behalf of human supplicants with her husband.[50]
Like her husband, Shala was a weather deity.[51] She was commonly depicted spreading her dress[52] or naked.[7] Texts frequently highlight her charm and beauty.[52] In art she often holds symbols associated with rain, such as lightning bolts.[41] Sometimes she stands on the back of a bull or lion-dragon chimera pulling her husband's chariot.[52] Such images are known from both Syria and Mesopotamia.[1]
Shala was also a goddess of agricultural produce.[3] Grain was metaphorically regarded as the product of a sexual union between her and Adad, and some artwork depicts romantic scenes between them alongside humans ploughing their fields.[53] An ear of corn was a symbol of her, especially on kudurru.[54] A star associated with her, Šer'u ("Furrow"; identified as one of the stars in the constellationVirgo), was depicted as a woman holding an ear of corn in an astronomical tablet from theSeleucid period.[55] Occasionally birds were also associated with Shala in her agricultural role,[56] and on at least one cylinder seal a bird presumably symbolizing Shala accompanies a lightning bolt representing her husband.[39]
Maurits van Loon proposes that a "gate" symbol accompanying Adad and Shala on some seals could represent the rainbow,[57] though he notes his theory does not take into account that in Mesopotamian and Elamite pantheons the rainbow was also represented by a separate goddess,Manzat.[57] He points out that the temple of Shala and Adad atChogha Zanbil was adjacent to that of Manzat.[57] He considers it a possibility that figures of naked women cupping their breasts found at this site might represent a weather goddess (Shala or Manzat), and their jewelry - the rainbow.[57]
Earliest evidence for the worship of Shala comes from Old BabylonianNippur, where she appears in offering lists alongside Adad.[58] One of the year names of the Babylonian kingHammurabi indicates that a statue was dedicated to Shala by him.[9] Aqadištum priestess of Shala is attested in documents from Sippar.[31]
A hymn toNanaya which enumerates various goddesses regarded as either city goddesses or wives of city gods mentions Shala in association withKarkar,[51] located close toUmma andAdab.[59] Indirect evidence indicates that it was associated with the cult of her husband's Sumerian counterpart Ishkur as early as in theUruk period.[60] According to a list of temples, her sanctuary, most likely located in that city, was the Edurku ("house, pure abode"), which might had been a part of Eugalgal[61] ("house of great storms"), a well attested temple of Adad.[62]
The worship of Shala and Adad as a couple is attested in bothAssyria andBabylonia in multiple time periods.[63] Shala appears in lateAramaic sources as well, for example in a bilingual inscription fromTell Fekheriye.[63] In the first millennium BCE Zabban was the location of an important temple of Adad and Shala, seemingly connected in some way with Sippar.[64] She was also venerated inGuzana.[26] An Assyrian temple of Adad and Shala was also located inKalhu according to a document from the reign ofAshurnasirpal II.[65] An inscription of the neo-Assyrian kingSinsharishkun might indicate that Shala was worshiped in the joint temple ofAnu and Adad inAssur.[21] Other sites where she was worshiped alongside Adad includeNineveh, Kurba'il,Ekallatu, Urakka,Suhu andBabylon.[31] InAchaemenid andSeleucid Uruk Shala was one of the goddesses accompanyingAntu during a parade of deities celebrating the New Year festival.[66]
Multiple theophoric names indicating the worship of Shala are known, with Ipqu-Shala, translated as "friendly hug of Shala" by Daniel Schwemer, being particularly common.[67] Other names, with fewer attestations, include Amat-Shala ("servant of Shala"), Apil-Shala ("son of Shala"), Nur-Shala ("light of Shala"), Sha-Shala-rema ("the actions of Shala are merciful"), Shala-damquat ("Shala is good"), Shala-sharrat ("Shala is a queen"), Shala-ummi ("Shala is my mother"), Shimat-Shala ("fate determined by Shala") and Shu-Shala ("he of Shala").[68] Some of them are attested west of Mesopotamia, inMari.[69]
In incantations Shala was invoked against dogs.[70]
Shala was also worshiped inElam alongside her husband.[71] While names of presumed Elamite weather deities (Kunzibami, Šihhaš and Šennukušu) appear in Mesopotamian god lists, so far none of them were found inElamite and Akkadian inscriptions from Elam,[72] and it is assumed that Adad (dIM) and his wife were worshiped under their Mesopotamian names and were not merely stand-ins for the names of deities of Elamite origin.[71] They had a joint temple at Chogha Zanbil,[73] referred to with the termsilin, for which various translations have been proposed ("rain water," "abundance," "prosperity," "growth").[74] Like a number of other terms used to describe temples forming the Chogha Zanbil complex it is ahapax legomenon.[75] Most of the evidence for worship of the pair comes from the lowlands (especiallySusa).[76] Other deities whose worship is known mostly from that part of Elam includePinikir,Lagamal and Manzat.[77]
Only the so-calledPersepolis Fortification Archive from earlyAchaemenid times undeniably confirms the spread of Adad's cult further east.[76] It is also possible that a theophoric name attesting the worship of Shala in the highlands is known from Tall-i Malyān (ancientAnshan).[76]
Shala Mons, amountain on Venus, is named after Shala. Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature in the corresponding entry incorrectly identifies her as a "Canaanite" goddess, rather than a Mesopotamian one.[78]