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Papsukkal

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Papsukkal
Messenger god
Major cult centerKish,laterUruk
Symbolstaff, walking bird
Genealogy
Parents
SpouseAmasagnudi
ChildrenPappap, Hedu, Ninhedu, Ninkita, Mišaga

Papsukkal(𒀭𒉽𒈛) was aMesopotamian godregarded as thesukkal(attendant deity) ofAnuand his wifeAntuinSeleucidUruk.In earlier periods he was instead associated withZababa.He acquired his new role throughsyncretismwithNinshubur.

Character

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Papsukkal was originally thesukkal(attendant and messenger deity) ofZababa,the tutelary god ofKish.[1]His name is a combination of theSumerianwordspap,"older brother," and sukkal.[2]Papsukkal's eventual rise to prominence at the expense of other similar figures, such asNinshubur,as well asKakkaandIlabrat,was likely rooted simply in the presence of the word sukkal in his name.[3]In the context of the so-called "antiquarian theology" relying largely on god lists, which developed inUrukunderAchaemenidandSeleucidrule,[4]he was fully identified with Ninshubur and thus became Anu's sukkal and one of the eighteen major deities of the city.[5]In the Seleucid period he was regarded as the sukkal of both Anu andAntu.[6]Papsukkal was also a protector of theparakku,the seat of Anu.[7]

While Papsukkal could be depicted as a deity holding a staff, a typical attribute of a sukkal, he also had an individual symbol, a walking bird.[8]He was represented by it onkudurru(inscribed boundary stones).[9]An omen text associates him with thefrancolin(Akkadian:ittidû), though a variant instead has the name of the godKakkain place of Papsukkal.[10]The constellationOrion,known in ancient Mesopotamia as Sipazianna,[11]"the true shepherd of heaven,"[12]was regarded as the astral symbol of Papsukkal, as well as Ninshubur andIlabrat.[11]

Associations with other deities

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Frans Wiggermann proposes that Papsukkal was initially viewed as the son ofZababa.[9]In late sources, his father was Anu.[13]A prayer to Papsukkal additionally calls him "offspring ofEnmesharra,"possibly indicating that a tradition in which Enmesharra was an ancestor of Anu existed.[14]In one case, Papsukkal is listed right behind Enmesharra in a list of vanquished gods.[15]In another similar list, he was equated withMummu,according to Wilfred G. Lambert most likely based on their shared status as divine viziers (sukkals).[16]

Papsukkal's wife was the sparsely attested goddessAmasagnudi.[17]Three possibilities have been proposed regarding her origin: that she was the original sukkal of Anu, replaced in this role byInanna's sukkal Ninshubur; that she was an epithet of Ninshubur; or that she was the wife of the male form of Ninshubur.[7]References to Amasagnudi from before the Seleucid period are incredibly rare, and according toPaul-Alain Beaulieuas of 1992 known examples were limited to the god listAn = Anumand a single lexical text.[18]More recent research revealed a further occurrence of Amasagnudi in the second millennium BCE in an Akkadian incantation againstLamashtuknown from a copy fromUgarit,in which she appears alongside Papsukkal.[19]

The god listsAn = Anumin a section dedicated to Papsukkal lists five daughters: Pappap,[9]Hedu, Ninhedu, Ninkita and Mišaga.[20]PAP.PAP, written without a "divine determinative"sign, is first attested as a name or title of queen Baranamtara, wife ofLugalanda,and it is not impossible that the name of the daughter of Papsukkal was derived from it.[21]The primary meaning of the name Hedu and the elementheduin Ninhedu was "may it befit," but it was later reinterpreted as ahomophonousword meaning "architrave,"possibly because the alternate name of Papsukkal's wife Amasagnudi was Ninkagal," lady of the gate. "[7]Ninkita's name possibly means "lady of the doorstep."[22]Frans Wiggermann notes that while the section dedicated to them uses the name Ninshubur to refer to their father, there is no evidence they were ever regarded as the daughters of the older female version of Ninshubur attested as the sukkal of Inanna in the third millennium BCE.[13]

Papsukkal and other messenger deities

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While Papsukkal's origin was distinct from both Ninshubur's and Ilabrat's,[23]he came to be identified with both of them, as well as with Kakka.[3]However, the conflation of Ninshubur and Papsukkal was only finalized in the Seleucid period in Uruk.[5]The earlier Weidner god list does not equate Papsukkal with Ninshubur, and instead places him next to Zababa andIlaba.[23]The god listAn = Anu ša amēliexplains the syncretism between them in following terms:dnin-šubur =dpap-sukkal ša da-nim,"Ninshubur is Papsukkal when Anu is concerned."[24]

The late syncretic Papsukkal was not regarded as the sukkal of Anu and Ishtar like Ninshubur, but rather of Anu and his wife Antu.[6]He also takes Ninshubur's role in an Akkadian adaptation ofInanna's Descent,[9]but unlike her he is not directly designated as Ishtar's servant, and the text states that he serves "the great gods" as a group.[25]

A god list fromEmaridentifies Papsukkal with theHurriansukkalTašmišu.[26]

Worship

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The oldest evidence for the worship of Papsukkal comes fromKishfrom theOld Babylonian period.[23]In later times a temple in this city dedicated to him was also known as E-Akkil, originally the name of Ninshubur's temple in her cult center Akkil, located nearBad-tibira.[9]

A ritual known from a text fromSultantepemeant to solve "door troubles" (lumun dalti) involved making offerings to Papsukkal and Ninhedu.[7]

In the first millennium BCE, Papsukkal was worshiped in Kish,Babylon(where he had a temple[27]),Arbela,Assurand Bīt-Bēlti.[8]Additionally, a city named Dur-Papsukkal existed nearDer.[28]It is mentioned in a document according to which it was besieged by the Assyrian kingShamshi-Adad V,opposed by Babylonian kingMarduk-balassu-iqbiand hisElamiteallies.[28]

Papsukkal was also worshiped in Uruk, but he was only introduced there in theSeleucidperiod,[8]when the entire pantheon of this city was restructured.[29]Ishtar,Nanayaand their court, encompassing deities such asUṣur-amāssu,were surpassed in prominence by Anu and Antu.[29]While Anu was not completely absent from Uruk at any point in time between the third and first millennium BCE,[29]his position was that of a "figurehead" and "otiose deity" according toPaul-Alain Beaulieu.[17]He proposes that Anu's rise was the result of Babylon losing its influence afterPersianconquest, which resulted in the development of a new local theology relying on the god listAn = Anum(which starts the divine hierarchy with Anu), meant to enhance local pride.[30]A side effect of the process was the introduction of deities connected with Anu, such as Papsukkal and his wife Amasagnudi, to the pantheon of the city.[17]In Seleucid Uruk, Papsukkal was believed to guard the main gate of Bīt Rēš, the temple complex of Anu.[2]A socle dedicated to him located within it was known as the E-gubiduga, "house whose voice is pleasing."[31]A festival dedicated to him, which took the form of a ceremonial meal, took place each year on the seventeenth day of the month Tašritu.[32]

Theophoric names invoking Papsukkal are well attested from the Neo-Babylonian period.[33]However, in Seleucid Uruk he is only attested in a single one, which belonged to a scribe.[33]They were also rare in the Old Babylonian period, and unlike Ninshubur he was rarely chosen as a family deity.[10]

References

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  1. ^Beaulieu 1992,p. 61.
  2. ^abKrul 2018,p. 149.
  3. ^abBeaulieu 1992,p. 64.
  4. ^Beaulieu 1992,pp. 57–59.
  5. ^abAsher-Greve & Westenholz 2013,p. 132.
  6. ^abBeaulieu 1992,p. 63.
  7. ^abcdBeaulieu 1992,p. 65.
  8. ^abcKrul 2018,p. 150.
  9. ^abcdeWiggermann 1998,p. 493.
  10. ^abWiggermann 1998,p. 494.
  11. ^abWiggermann 1998,p. 500.
  12. ^Horowitz & Oelsner 1997,p. 179.
  13. ^abWiggermann 1998,p. 495.
  14. ^Lambert 2013,p. 284.
  15. ^Lambert 2013,p. 212.
  16. ^Lambert 2013,p. 221.
  17. ^abcBeaulieu 1992,p. 68.
  18. ^Beaulieu 1992,p. 53.
  19. ^del Olmo Lete 2014,p. 44.
  20. ^Beaulieu 1992,p. 50.
  21. ^Krebernik 2005,p. 328.
  22. ^Wiggermann 1998,p. 496.
  23. ^abcWiggermann 1998,p. 492.
  24. ^Beaulieu 1992,p. 62.
  25. ^Lambert 1976,p. 13.
  26. ^Schwemer 2001,p. 553.
  27. ^George 1993,p. 139.
  28. ^abPotts 1999,p. 263.
  29. ^abcBeaulieu 1992,p. 54.
  30. ^Beaulieu 1992,pp. 67–68.
  31. ^George 1993,p. 97.
  32. ^Beaulieu 1992,p. 60.
  33. ^abKrul 2018a,p. 353.

Bibliography

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