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Ishum

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Ishum
Divine night watchman
Symbolpossibly a torch
Genealogy
Parents
SpouseNinmug
ChildrenpossiblyShubula
Equivalents
Sumerian equivalentHendursaga

Ishum(Išum;possibly themasculineform ofAkkadianišātum,"fire"[1]) was aMesopotamian godofAkkadianorigin. He is best attested as a divinenight watchman,tasked with protecting houses at night, but he was also associated with variousunderworlddeities, especiallyNergal(orErra) andShubula.He was associated with fire, but was not exclusively a fire god unlikeGibil.While he was not considered to be one of the major gods, he was commonly worshiped and appears in manytheophoric names.In bilingual texts he could be associated withSumerianHendursaga,but this equation is only attested for the first time in theOld Babylonian period,and the rationale behind it remains uncertain. Both of those gods could be regarded as the husband of the goddessNinmug,though she was primarily associated with Ishum and only secondarily with Hendursaga.

Character

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Ishum has been characterized as a "benevolent fire-god".[2]It has been proposed that his name was related to theAkkadianwordišātum,"fire",cognatesof which are present in multipleSemitic languages,both extinct and extant.[3]Andrew R. Georgeproposes that his name was simply the masculine form ofišātum.[1]However, there is no clear evidence that he was exclusively a fire god likeGibil(Girra).[4]A possible reference to Ishum as a fire god is present in theEpic of Erra,where he is called a "firebrand" (diparu).[1]He was frequently described as a divine night watchman.[5]Many of his epithets refer to this role, including "Herald (nimgir) of the Street, "" Headman of the Street, "" Hero who Goes about at Night, "" Minister (sukkal) of the Night, "" Herald of the Night, Lord of the Street. "[6]He could be worshiped as a protective god of the household.[7]However, as noted byAndrew R. George,he should be differentiated from gods of the household in the proper sense, as he was believed to protect houses from without by patrolling the streets at night, not from within.[1]

No pictorial representations of Ishum have been identified, and it is uncertain if any specific symbol served as his attribute.[4]However, based on textual sources it is considered possible that he was associated with torches.[8]

Worship

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The oldest evidence for the worship of Ishum aretheophoric names,already attested in sources from theEarly Dynastic period.[9]They are common in sources from theUr III period,[10]and retained popularity through the later periods of Mesopotamian history.[3]He is also common in inscriptions oncylinder seals,and according toDietz-Otto Edzard,Ishum's popularity in these two types of displays of personal devotion can be compared to that of major gods of theMesopotamian pantheon.[9]Ishum's importance grew further in theNeo-Assyrian period,possibly because his character made him a suitable deity in times of political instability and war.[11]

According to aMiddle Babylonianmetrologicaltext, a shrine of Ishum existed inNippur.[12]He was also worshiped inTarbiṣuin Assyria, where he received offerings alongsideNergalandLaṣ.[10]

Associations with other deities

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According toJoan Goodnick Westenholz,Ishum's mother was Sudaĝ,[2]one of the names of the wife of Shamash (Aya).[13]Due to an association between Sudaĝ and Sud (Ninlil), a myth lists the latter as his mother instead.[2]Manfred Krebernik considers this to be the result of confusion between the names, rather than syncretism.[13]Ishum's father was Shamash.[14]

After the Old Babylonian period, Ishum came to be seen as thesukkal(attendant deity) of Nergal, replacingUgur.[15]The god listAn = Anumis the only source which explicitly refers to Ishum as Nergal's sukkal,[16]but his activity in literary texts is often related to this function.[17]He often appears in enumerations of deities of the underworld, for example inŠurpu(alongside Nergal,ShubulaandŠar-ṣarbati) and on akudurru(boundary stone) ofMarduk-apla-iddina I,the "land grant to Munnabittu kudurru"(alongside Nergal, his wife Laṣ, Shubula and the pairLugal-irra and Meslamta-ea).[9]Shubula appears alongside him particularly commonly in known sources, but the nature of the connection between them is not certain.[9]While it is commonly assumed that Shubula was Nergal's son, Jeremiah Peterson remarks that in the light of recent research it is possible that he was Ishum's son instead.[18]In one text, Ishum and Shubula are called the "gods ofTigrisandEuphrates."[9]

When first introduced to the Mesopotamian pantheon, Ishum was not conflated with any Sumerian god of analogous character, similar to other minor gods of Akkadian origin, such asShullat and Hanish.[19]Starting in the Old Babylonian period, he came to be equated withHendursagain bilingual contexts, with the former appearing in Akkadian and the latter in Sumerian formulas.[20]They were also equated with each other in the Weidner andNippurgod lists,[20]and possibly inAn = Anum,though due to state of preservation and possible scribal errors the last case is uncertain.[14]However, the reasons behind the association between these two gods are presently unknown.[4]Another god closely related to both of them was Engidudu, who was the divine guardian of the Tabira Gate in the city ofAssur.[21]In theEpic of Erra,Engidudu is used as an alternate name of Ishum.[22]In a bilingual Akkadian-Amoritelexical listdated to the Old Babylonian period,[23]Ishum s Amorite counterpart is a deity whose name is not fully preserved, a-a-[x]-um.[24]While full reconstruction is not possible,Andrew R. GeorgeandManfred Krebernik[de]suggest that the most plausible interpretation is that the name is a derivative of therootʔwr,"to shine", and thus a cognate of Akkadianurrum,"dawn, daytime",Ugariticảr,"light", andHebrewʔōr,"to shine" andʔōr,"light".[25]On this basis they suggest the restorationa-a-[ru]-⸢um⸣,pronounced as /ʔārum/.[26]Presumably this figure was a minor god in theAmorite pantheon.[27]

Ishum's wife wasNinmug,a goddess of crafts and birth originally worshiped in Kisiga.[28]They are first attested as a couple in the Old Babylonian period.[28]As in the case of other divine wives, such as Aya andShala,Ninmug was invoked to intercede with her husband on behalf of worshipers.[29]No children of this couple are known.[9]Ninmug could also be regarded as the wife of Hendursaga, but this was a secondary development based on the equation between him and Ishum.[28]It is possible that in the third millennium BCE, Hendursaga's wife was insteadDumuziabzu,the tutelary goddess of Kinunir (Kinirsha), a city in the state ofLagash,though in that period family relations between deities were often particularly fluid or uncertain.[30]

Mythology

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Erra and Ishum

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Ishum is one of the main characters of the compositionErra and Ishum,[31]also known asEpic of Erra.[32]While the other eponymous god is referred to as Erra, in literary texts this name was considered to be interchangeable with Nergal's.[32]

The oldest known copies come from the Assyrian city ofNinevehand have been dated to the seventh century BCE, but it has been argued that the composition is between 100 and 400 years older than that based on possible allusions to historical events which occurred during a period of calamity which Babylonia experienced roughly between eleventh and eighth centuries BCE.[31]Based on acolophon,it was compiled by a certain Kabti-ilāni-Marduk.[33]Attribution of the text of a myth to a specific author was uncommon in ancient Mesopotamia.[33]It is assumed that the beginning of the poem designates Ishum as the god who revealed the text of the poem to Kabti-ilāni-Marduk in a dream.[1]

Ishum is introduced trying to stop his master Erra and his servants, theSebitti,from waging war on the inhabitants ofBabylonia.[34]Erra dismisses him, noting that it is necessary to regain respect in the eyes of humans, and embarks on a destructive campaign.[35]The following bloodshed is described from the perspective of Ishum, who explains that the chaos wrought by Erra surpasses the capability of other gods or mortal kings.[36]These sections of the poem do not celebrate Erra, but rather focus on the suffering of his victims.[37]Ishum eventually manages to bring an end to the bloodshed by waging a war himself on the inhabitants of Mount Sharshar, seemingly a site associated with the origin of a period of chaos in the history of late second and early first millennium BCE Babylonia which likely inspired this myth. Ishum's war is described in very different terms to Erra's, and with its end the period of instability comes to a close.[38]Erra is seemingly content with the actions of his sukkal and with hearing the other gods acknowledge the power of his rage. The narrative ends with him instructing Ishum to spread the tale of his rampage, but also to make it clear that only thanks to his calming presence the world was spared.[39]Andrew R. George notes that Ishum appears to play the role of Erra's conscience through the entire duration of the story.[40]

Other myths

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In a fragment of an Old Babylonian poem, Ishtar explains the circumstances of Ishum's birth toEnlil.[41]In this composition, he was abandoned on the street before she found him, which might be a mythical justification of his role as a divine watchman.[42]Andrew R. George notes that the mention of Ishtar temporarily taking care of the young god is unusual, as she "was consistently described as not at any age temperamentally disposed to care for a baby," though he proposes that it might have been a nod to stars lighting up the night, the primary time of Ishum's activity.[43]Similarly, the fact that Ishum's parents according to this composition were Shamash and Ninlil is regarded as unusual[9]and likely results from confusion between alternate names of Ninlil and Shamash's wife Aya.[2]

Ishum also appears in the textUnderworld Vision of an Assyrian Prince.[4]The eponymous figure, Kummâ (relation to any historical figures is uncertain), avoids being killed by Nergal, who is convinced that he insulted his wife, only thanks to the intervention of Ishum.[44]

References

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  1. ^abcdeGeorge 2015,p. 4.
  2. ^abcdAsher-Greve & Westenholz 2013,p. 77.
  3. ^abEdzard 1980,pp. 213–214.
  4. ^abcdEdzard 1980,p. 214.
  5. ^George 2015,p. 3.
  6. ^George 2015,pp. 2–3.
  7. ^Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013,p. 240.
  8. ^George 2013,p. 50.
  9. ^abcdefgEdzard 1980,p. 213.
  10. ^abWeiershäuser 2010,p. 355.
  11. ^Weiershäuser 2010,p. 372.
  12. ^George 1993,p. 165.
  13. ^abKrebernik 2013,p. 242.
  14. ^abGeorge 2015,p. 2.
  15. ^Wiggermann 1998,p. 220.
  16. ^Weiershäuser 2010,p. 368.
  17. ^Weiershäuser 2010,p. 371.
  18. ^Peterson 2009,p. 54.
  19. ^Beaulieu 2004,p. 166.
  20. ^abGeorge 2015,p. 1.
  21. ^George 2015,pp. 3–4.
  22. ^George 2015,p. 5.
  23. ^George & Krebernik 2022,p. 114.
  24. ^George & Krebernik 2022,p. 118.
  25. ^George & Krebernik 2022,pp. 118–119.
  26. ^George & Krebernik 2022,p. 119.
  27. ^George & Krebernik 2022,p. 139.
  28. ^abcAsher-Greve & Westenholz 2013,p. 55.
  29. ^Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013,p. 273.
  30. ^Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013,p. 61.
  31. ^abGeorge 2013,p. 47.
  32. ^abWiggermann 1998,p. 217.
  33. ^abGeorge 2013,p. 61.
  34. ^George 2013,pp. 51–53.
  35. ^George 2013,p. 53.
  36. ^George 2013,pp. 54–55.
  37. ^George 2013,p. 56.
  38. ^George 2013,pp. 57–58.
  39. ^George 2013,pp. 59–61.
  40. ^George 2013,p. 62.
  41. ^George 2015,p. 7.
  42. ^George 2015,pp. 7–8.
  43. ^George 2015,p. 8.
  44. ^Loktionov 2016,p. 41.

Bibliography

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  • Asher-Greve, Julia M.; Westenholz, Joan G. (2013).Goddesses in Context: On Divine Powers, Roles, Relationships and Gender in Mesopotamian Textual and Visual Sources(PDF).ISBN978-3-7278-1738-0.
  • Beaulieu, Paul-Alain (2004). "Mesopotamia".Religions of the Ancient World.Harvard University Press.doi:10.4159/9780674264823-017.
  • Edzard, Dietz-Otto (1980),"Išum",Reallexikon der Assyriologie(in German),retrieved2022-05-11
  • Foster, Benjamin (1996).Before the muses: an anthology of Akkadian literature.Potomac, MD: CDL Press.ISBN1-883053-23-4.OCLC34149948.
  • George, Andrew R. (1993).House most high: the temples of ancient Mesopotamia.Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns.ISBN0-931464-80-3.OCLC27813103.
  • George, Andrew R. (2013)."The Poem of Erra and Ishum: A Babylonian Poet's View of War"(PDF).Warfare and Poetry in the Middle East.I.B.Tauris.doi:10.5040/9780755607969.ch-002.ISBN978-1-78076-362-0.
  • George, Andrew R. (2015)."The Gods Išum and Ḫendursanga: Night Watchmen and Street-lighting in Babylonia".Journal of Near Eastern Studies.74(1). University of Chicago Press: 1–8.doi:10.1086/679387.ISSN0022-2968.
  • George, Andrew; Krebernik, Manfred (2022). "Two Remarkable Vocabularies: Amorite-Akkadian Bilinguals!".Revue d'assyriologie et d'archéologie orientale.116(1). CAIRN: 113–166.doi:10.3917/assy.116.0113.ISSN0373-6032.
  • Krebernik, Manfred (2013),"Sudaĝ",Reallexikon der Assyriologie(in German),retrieved2022-05-11
  • Loktionov, Alexandre Alexandrovich (2016)."An" Egyptianising "Underworld Judging an Assyrian Prince? New Perspectives on VAT 10057"(PDF).Journal of Ancient Near Eastern History.3(1). Walter de Gruyter GmbH: 39–55.doi:10.1515/janeh-2016-0012.ISSN2328-9554.
  • Peterson, Jeremiah (2009).God lists from Old Babylonian Nippur in the University Museum, Philadelphia.Münster: Ugarit Verlag.ISBN978-3-86835-019-7.OCLC460044951.
  • Weiershäuser, Frauke (2010). "Weiser Išum, der du den Göttern vorangehst".Von Göttern und Menschen(in German). BRILL. pp. 351–376.doi:10.1163/9789004187474_019.
  • Wiggermann, Frans A. M. (1998),"Nergal A. Philological",Reallexikon der Assyriologie,retrieved2022-05-11
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