| Ninegal | |
|---|---|
Goddess of palaces | |
| Other names | Belet Ekalli, Pentikalli |
| Major cult center | Ur,Dilbat,Mari,Qatna |
| Genealogy | |
| Consort | |
| Children | possiblyNanaya andLagamal |
| Equivalents | |
| Hittite | possibly Tešimi |
Ninegal (also spelledNinegalla[1]) orBelat Ekalli (Belet-ekalli) was aMesopotamian goddess associated with palaces. Both herSumerian andAkkadian name mean "lady of the palace."[2]
FromMesopotamia the worship of Ninegal spread toElam in the east and toSyria and theHittite Empire in the west. She was particularly venerated inMari andQatna, and due to her presence in the pantheon of ancient Syria she was also incorporated intoHurrian religion. TheHurrians transcribed her name asPentikalli (Pendigalli).
Especially in literary works, Ninegal could function as an epithet ofInanna, and they could be also associated with each other in other contexts. However, it is now generally assumed that they were distinct deities in origin. Additionally, Ninegal could be associated with the goddess of prisons,Nungal.
While in the past it has been proposed that Ninegal was a form of Inanna in origin, or, as argued byThorkild Jacobsen, that the name designated Inanna in a proposedhieros gamos ceremony, today it is considered more plausible that she originally developed as a distinct minor goddess, who served as the tutelary deity of palaces ofkings and governors, and whose role was to guarantee their sovereignty.[2] She only started to function as an epithet in literary works in the second and first millennia BCE.[3] It has been pointed out that various cultic objects associated with Ninegal according to administrative texts, such as jewelry, are not identical with these dedicated to Inanna.[4] The oldest source identifying Ninegal with Inanna might be a building inscription from theIsin-Larsa period which refers to her as a daughter ofSin.[4] In god lists Ninegal usually appears near groupings of Inanna manifestations, though in theNippur god list she andNinsianna are placed together in a different section.[5]
Belat Ekalli/Ninegal could be implored to act as an intermediary between a praying worshiper and her husbandUrash, similar to other divine wives (Aya,Shala) in the case of their respective husbands[6] or the attendant goddessNinshubur in the case of Inanna.[7]
The oldest known attestation of Ninegal comes from a god list fromEarly DynasticTell Fara, in which she appears between two deities the reading of whose names is uncertain.[2] Other early references include a dedicatory inscription of a servant of Nammaḫ-abzu, anensi ofNippur, and a month name in the local calendar ofUr.[2] During the reign ofGudea, Ninegal was worshiped inLagash, where she had a temple.[4] Evidence for popular devotion to her from that city includes two minor officials who referred to themselves as "servant (arad) of Ninegal."[4]
Multiple attestations are known from theUr III period, and it is assumed Ninegal was worshiped in all of the major cities of southern Mesopotamia at the time.[2] There is evidence that the first kings of the Ur III dynasty,Ur-Namma andShulgi, were active participants in the cult of Ninegal.[2] She also appears in offering lists from Nippur andPuzrish-Dagan.[8] A temple dedicated to her, Egalmah (Sumerian: "exalted palace"), possibly built by Ur-Namma, existed in Ur.[9] It is possible thatWarad-Sin later rebuilt it as a temple of the medicine goddessNinisina.[2] Another temple of Ninegal existed inUmma. In this city she was apparently closely associated with offerings for deceased ensis.[4] Further evidence for worship of this goddess in the Ur III period is a detailed list of cultic paraphernalia dedicated to her fromEresh.[4]
Her Akkadian name, Belet Ekalli, is attested for the first time in the Ur III period texts fromAssur.[5] She had a temple in this city, Ekinam (Sumerian: "house, place of destinies"), first mentioned in an inscription of Zariqqu, a governor during the reign ofAmar-Sin, who rebuilt it.[10] In theMiddle Assyrian period, it was repaired byAdad-Nirari I.[11] A month named after her is mentioned inOld Assyrian texts fromKanesh.[2]
It is unclear when Ninegal started to be worshiped inDilbat, though it is possible she already belonged to the pantheon of this city in the Ur III period.[11] Her temple in this city was Esapar (Sumerian: "house of the net"), possibly a part of E-ibbi-Anum, the temple of the local god Urash, rather than a fully separate building.[11] However, in a document listing various temples Esapar is instead said to be the name of a temple ofNungal, with no location listed.[12] As these two goddesses were associated, it is possible that there was only one Esapar.[12]
Ninegal continued to be worshiped in theOld Babylonian period, especially in Ur and inLarsa, where a temple dedicated to her,E-a-ag-ga-kilib-ur-ur (Sumerian: "house which gathers all the instructions") was rebuilt by queen Simar-Eshtar, wife ofRim-Sîn I.[4] She is however only sporadically mentioned in letters, compared to deities popular in the sphere of personal worship, such as Aya,Gula or Ishtar.[13]
A late reference to Belet-Ekalli can be found in a letter fromBabylon, in which a certain Mār-isar relays to theneo-Assyrian kingEsarhaddon that a statue of Belet Ekallim meant for theEsagil temple complex was not yet finished.[14]
Both the forms Ninegal[4] and Belet Ekallim are attested intheophoric names.[14]
In the second millennium BCE the worship of Ninegal/Belet Ekallim spread from Mesopotamia to other areas in theancient Near East. from theHittite Empire in the west toElam in the east.[5]
Earliest attestations of Ninegal from outside Mesopotamia come fromMari, and indicate she might have been introduced to this city as early as in the Ur III period.[11] It is possible that she was the tutelary deity of theruling house in the Old Babylonian period.[11] There is evidence that duringZimri-Lim's during some festivals she received the same number of sacrifices as the eight other most honored gods: the local tutelary godItūr-Mēr,Dagan,Annunitum,Nergal,Shamash,Ea,Ninhursag andAddu.[15] In a letter Zimri-Lim's wifeŠibtu enumerated Dagan, Shamash, Itūr-Mēr, Belet Ekalli and Addu as "the allies for me" and the deities who "go by my lord's side."[16] In offering lists she appears between Ninhursag andNingal.[11]
In addition to Mari, in Syria Belet Ekalli was also closely associated withQatna, where the played the role of the city goddess.[11] Some attestations are also known fromEmar, where she was among the deities worshiped during thezukru festival.[11] She is also attested in a god list, in which Belet Ekalli in the Akkadian column corresponds todWee-el-ti-ga-li in theHurrian one.[17]
According to Alfonso Archi, in Hurrian sources Ninegal was referred to as Pentikalli.[18] The name is also sometimes transcribed as Pendigalli.[17] Archi assumes that the Hurrians received her from Syria, and that her importance in Mari played a role in her spread.[19] Marie-Claude Trémouille describes her as a goddess from the circle ofHebat from Halab (modernAleppo).[17] In Hurrian texts, she is designated as a concubine ofTeshub.[20] She was assimilated with Pithanu, described as a goddess who sits on Teshub's throne.[21] The later name likely meant "daughter from Hanu," and should be understood as a sign of her association with the middleEuphrates area.[14] Depictions of Pentikalli are mentioned in texts from Hattarina andLawazantiya.[21] She is also known from texts fromUgarit, where her name is spelledalphabetically aspdgl, and possibly appears in a personal name,annpdgl, theoretically reconstructed as Anani-Pendigalli.[17] It has also been proposed that the Ugaritic goddessb'lt btm/nhtm, "lady of the house," was derived from Belet Ekalli.[5]
A triad consisting ofdNIN.E.GAL, Nergal and Ea is attested in economic texts fromSusa.[5] A dossier of texts dealing with the sale of sheep from the same city mentions a "scribe in the service of Ninegal."[22] In Susa Ninegal also occurs in an inscription of Atta-hushu, written in Akkadian, though it has been proposed in this case the name might be a logogram representingPinikir.[23] Furthermore, a deity whose name was written logographically asdNIN.E.GAL was one of the many Mesopotamian andElamite gods and goddesses worshiped atChogha Zanbil, built byUntash-Napirisha.[24]
WhileVolkert Haas assumed that Hittite references todNIN.E.GAL can be understood as indication of presence of the Mesopotamian goddess inAnatolia, Piotr Taracha argues that the name was only a logographic representation of the goddess Tešimi, concubine of theWeather god of Nerik, in whose circle the presumed logogram occurs.[25] In the treaty between Hittite kingŠuppiluliuma I andMitanni kingŠattiwaza Ninegal appears after the couplesEnlil andNinlil andAnu andAntu in a list of "primeval gods" meant to serve as divine witnesses.[26]
It is presently uncertain which deities were worshiped with Ninegal in her earliest history.[2] In a tradition originating inDilbat, the local agricultural godUrash was regarded as her husband.[11] In a god list fromneo-Babylonian period they are followed byLagamal,[11] who was regarded as a son of Urash.[27] In a ritual text, also from the neo-Babylonian period, Ninegal and Urash appear in a formula alongsideNanaya,[28] a goddess referred to as "firstborn of the god Urash."[29] A single inscription pairs Ninegal/Belet Ekalli withAmurru (dMAR.TU).[30] It is one of five similarKassite period seals, which invoke either couples of deities (Marduk andSarpanit,Ninurta and Gula) or individual deities (Ishtar or Marduk) to secure success and material wealth for the seal owner.[31] According toWilfred G. Lambert, unless an otherwise unknown tradition identified Amurru with Urash, he has nothing in common with Ninegal, making this specific inscription unusual.[32]
According to the god listAn = Anum, thesukkal (divine attendant) of Ninegal was the minor deity Dikum.[33]
Wolfgang Heimpel proposes that in Mari, Ninegal was closely associated withAnnunitum, possibly due to their shared connection with Inanna/Ishtar.[34]
The name Ninegal could function as anepithet of Inanna and other goddesses,[3] sometimes impossible to identify.[4] Examples of texts where the identification of Ninegal with Inanna explicit include the so-calledNinegalla hymn, in which the names occur in parallel.[5]
In theHymn to Nungal the eponymous goddess is apparently referred to as Ninegal.[5] This association is also attested in a fragment of another, presently unidentified, hymn, and in two proverbs.[5]
While the use of the name as an epithet was common in literary texts, the Shulgi hymns seem to be an exception, as they treat Ninegal as a distinct goddess.[4]
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