Jump to content

Manungal

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected fromNungal)
Nungal
Goddess of prisons
A tablet with part of the hymn to Nungal inscribed.Oriental Institute Museum,University of Chicago
Other namesManungal
Major cult centerNippur
Genealogy
ParentsEreshkigalandAnu
ConsortBirtum
ChildrenDullum
Equivalents
Dilbat equivalentNinegal

Nungal(Sumerian:𒀭𒎏𒃲dNun-gal,"great princess" ), also known asManungaland possiblyBēlet-balāṭi,was theMesopotamian goddessofprisons,sometimes also associated with theunderworld.She was worshiped especially in theUr III periodin cities such asNippur,LagashandUr.

Her husband wasBirtum,and she was regarded as a courtier and daughter in lawEnlil.Texts also associate her with deities such asEreshkigal,NintinuggaandNinkasi.

Much of the available information about her role in Mesopotamian beliefs comes from a Sumerian hymn which was a part of the scribal curriculum in theOld Babylonian period.

Name

[edit]

Nungal's name means "Great Princess" in Sumerian.[1]A plural form of the name attested in some documents can be regarded as analogous to one of the collective terms for Mesopotamian deities,Igigi.[1]

An alternate form of the name, Manungal, was possibly a contraction of the phraseama Nungal,"mother Nungal."[1]It is first attested in documents from the Ur III period, while in later times it commonly appears in place of the base form in texts written inAkkadianor in theEmesaldialect of Sumerian.[1]A number of variant spellings of the name are attested in sources fromUgarit,for exampledNun-gal-la,dMa-ga-la,dMa-nun-gal-laordMa-nun-gal-an-na.[2]

In the hymnNungal in the Ekur,and in a fragment of an otherwise unknown composition,Ninegalfunctions as an epithet of Nungal.[3]This name is otherwise attested either as an epithet of various goddesses, especiallyInanna,[4]or as an independent minor deity, associated with royal palaces.[5]

It is possible that Bēlet-balāṭi, "mistress of life," a goddess known from sources from the first millennium BCE, was a late form of Manungal.[6]

Character

[edit]

Jeremiah Peterson describes punishment and detention as the primary domain of Nungal.[7]Her character is described in the hymnNungal in the Ekur,known from a large number of Old Babylonian copies[8]thanks to its role in the scribal school curriculum.[9]Miguel Civilproposed that it was originally composed by a scribe accused of a crime which would warrant a severe penalty.[9]It describes the fate of those who find themselves under the auspice of Nungal.[10]According to this composition, the prison maintained by this goddess separates the guilty from the innocent, but also gives the former a chance to be redeemed, which is metaphorically compared to refining silver and to being born.[11]The text likely reflected views about the idealized purpose and results of imprisonment, a punishment well attested in Mesopotamian records.[12]The use of temporary imprisonment as part of the judicial process meant to help with determining if a person is guilty is also attested in theCode of Ur-Nammu.[13]

Despite being the goddess of prisons, Nungal was regarded as a compassionate deity.[14]Imprisonment was presumably viewed as compassionate compared to the death penalty,[14]and it is likely that the goddess was regarded as capable of reducing the most severe punishments.[7]She was also portrayed in various less fearsome roles, for example as a goddess of justice or as one associated with medicine and perhaps birth.[15]

Nungal was also an underworld goddess, as evidenced by her association with Ereshkigal and by the epithetNinkurra,"lady of the underworld," applied to her in incantations.[7]

Worship

[edit]

Wilfred G. Lambertproposed that originally Manungal and her spouse Birtum were worshiped in a presently unknown city which declined in the third millennium BCE, leading to the transfer of its tutelary deities to Nippur.[16]An analogous process likely occurred also when it comes to other deities, such asNisaba,whose cult was transferred from Eresh, which disappears from records after the Ur III period, to Nippur.[17]

While Nungal is already attested in theEarly Dynasticgod list fromFara,[1]worship of her is best attested in the Ur III period, when she was worshiped inLagash,Nippur, Umma,Susa,Urand possiblyUruk.[15]In Nippur she was worshiped as one of the deities belonging to the court and family ofEnlil,[18]while in Ur she received offerings as one of the members of the circle ofGulainstead.[19]A single attestation of Nungal receiving offerings in an Inanna temple, alongsideAnu,Ninshubur,Nanaya,GeshtinannaandDumuziis known too.[20]There are also records of offerings being made to her alongside Inanna, Ninegal andAnnunitum.[21]

According toMiguel Civil,it is unlikely that the Ekur mentioned in theHymn to Nungalwas one and the same as thetemple of Enlil in Nippur,contrary to early assumptions in scholarship.[22]Other locations proposed for it include the Egalmah temple in Ur, or the city of Lagash.[3]

In the Old Babylonian period she was also worshiped inSippar,where she had a temple, as well as a city gate named in her honor,[21]and possibly inDilbat.[23]In the last location there was a temple known as Esapar, "house of the net," dedicated to Ninegal.[24]However, in a document listing various temples Esapar is instead said to be the name of a temple of Nungal, with no location listed.[23]Due to the existence of a well attested association between these two goddesses it is possible that there was only one Esapar.[23]

Under the name Bēlet-balāṭi Nungal continued to be worshiped in Nippur in the first millennium BCE, for example in the temple of the local goddessNinimma.[6]She is also attested in sources linked toBabylon,Borsippa,Derand Uruk.[25]According to an economic document from the late first millennium BCE, in the last of those cities she was worshiped in the temple Egalmah (Sumerian: "exalted palace" ), which instead appears in association withNinisinain an inscription of kingSîn-kāšidfrom the Old Babylonian period.[26]In the so-called "Standard Babylonian" version of theEpic of Gilgameshit is described as a temple ofNinsun.[26]According toAndrew R. George,it is possible to reconcile the different accounts by assuming all three of these goddesses were connected withGulaand possibly functioned as her manifestations.[26]

Theophoric names invoking Nungal are known from records from the Ur III period, one example being Ur-Manungal.[21]

Associations with other deities

[edit]

Nungal's spouse wasBirtum,whose name means "fetter" or "shackle" in Akkadian.[15]While the word is grammatically feminine, the deity was regarded as male.[15]Birtum also appears among underworld gods linked toNergalin god lists.[15]As Nungal is called a daughter in law of Enlil, Birtum was likely his son.[27]Nungal was also called the "true stewardess of Enlil,"agrig-zi-dEn-lil-lá.[28]In the god listAn = Anumthe deity Dullum, whose name has been translated as "serfdom"(" Frondienst ") by Antoine Cavigneaux and Manfred Krebernik, appears as Nungal's son.[15]According to theHymn to Nungal,her mother isEreshkigal,[7]while her father is Anu, though it is possible the later statement is not literal.[29]

Various courtiers of Nungal are attested in Sumerian and Akkadian texts. Hersukkal(attendant deity) was Nindumgul ( "lady/lordmooringpole "[30]), possibly regarded as a female deity.[15]She appears to play the role of a prosecutor in theHymn to Nungal.[30]Another of her courtiers wasIgalimma,a god who originated as a son ofNingirsuin the pantheon ofLagash.[28]The deity Eḫ (Akkadian: Uplum), a deification of thelouse,also appears in her circle, for example in the Nippur god list.[31]It is also assumed that the goddessBizila,associated with the love goddessNanaya,occurs in the court of Nungal in some sources too,[15]though Jeremiah Peterson considers it possible that there might have been two deities with similar names, one associated with Nungal and the other with Nanaya.[32]

In theIsin,An = Anumand Weidner god lists Nungal is classified as one of theunderworlddeities.[33]A fragmentary literary texts associates her withNintinuggaand Ereshkigal.[34]With the exception ofNungal in the Ekurand this fragment she is very rare in known works of Mesopotamian literature.[7]TheWeidner god listplaces the beer deitiesNinkasiandSirašbetween Maungal andLaṣ,the wife of Nergal, who was also a deity associated with the underworld.[35]Similarly, the goddessdKAŠ.DIN.NAM, most likely to be read as Kurunnītu,[36]who is assumed to be a late form of Ninkasi[37]appears in association with Bēlet-balāṭi.[6]It has been proposed that the possible connection between beer and underworld deities was meant to serve as a reflection of negative effects of alcohol consumption.[38]

The textNin-Isinaand the Godsappears to syncretise Nungal with the eponymous goddess.[39]Similarly, Bēlet-balāṭi is attested as a form or member of the entourage of another medicine goddess,Gula.[40]

Nungal appears in the description of a cultic journey ofPabilsagto Lagash.[41]It has been proposed that he was associated with her as a judge deity, but it is also possible that he acquired a connection to the underworld because of her.[42]

References

[edit]
  1. ^abcdeCavigneaux & Krebernik 1998,p. 615.
  2. ^Cavigneaux & Krebernik 1998,p. 616.
  3. ^abBehrens & Klein 1998,p. 345.
  4. ^Behrens & Klein 1998,p. 344.
  5. ^Behrens & Klein 1998,pp. 342–343.
  6. ^abcBeaulieu 2003,p. 312.
  7. ^abcdePeterson 2009,p. 236.
  8. ^Sjöberg 1973,p. 19.
  9. ^abCivil 2017,p. 573.
  10. ^Sjöberg 1973,pp. 20–21.
  11. ^Reid 2015,p. 596.
  12. ^Reid 2016,pp. 99–101.
  13. ^Reid 2016,p. 108.
  14. ^abCivil 2017,p. 584.
  15. ^abcdefghCavigneaux & Krebernik 1998,p. 617.
  16. ^Lambert 1980,p. 63.
  17. ^Michalowski 1998,p. 576.
  18. ^Sjöberg 1973,pp. 21–22.
  19. ^Sjöberg 1973,p. 25.
  20. ^Sjöberg 1973,pp. 25–26.
  21. ^abcSjöberg 1973,p. 26.
  22. ^Civil 2017,pp. 577–578.
  23. ^abcCavigneaux & Krebernik 1998,p. 618.
  24. ^Behrens & Klein 1998,p. 346.
  25. ^Beaulieu 2003,pp. 312–313.
  26. ^abcGeorge 1993,p. 88.
  27. ^Sjöberg 1973,p. 21.
  28. ^abSjöberg 1973,p. 22.
  29. ^Sjöberg 1973,pp. 22–23.
  30. ^abCivil 2017,p. 577.
  31. ^Peterson 2009a,p. 57.
  32. ^Peterson 2009,p. 239.
  33. ^Cavigneaux & Krebernik 1998,pp. 615–616.
  34. ^Peterson 2009,p. 234.
  35. ^Krebernik 1998,p. 443.
  36. ^Beaulieu 2003,p. 321.
  37. ^Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013,p. 124.
  38. ^Krebernik 1998,p. 444.
  39. ^Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013,p. 86.
  40. ^Beaulieu 2003,p. 313.
  41. ^Krebernik 2005,p. 163.
  42. ^Krebernik 2005,pp. 166–167.

Bibliography

[edit]
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Manungal&oldid=1187778158"