Ninazu
Jul 5, 2008 13:14:07 GMT -5
Post by us4-he2-gal2 on Jul 5, 2008 13:14:07 GMT -5
Ninazu
Ninazu is an interesting deity who is also not without his particular complexities. First I have made a few extracts from the
Ningishzida thread; I have stopped short or summing everything of relevance from that thread however.
Ninazu's Genealogy
Ninazu > son of Ereskigal [variant tradition, of Enlil/Ninlil]> Ninazu is the Spouse of Ningirda (a daughter of Enki)
Ningishzida> son of Ninazu/Ningirda > Ningishzida is the Spouse of Ninazimua*
Damu> son of Ningishzida/Ninazimua
Ningishzida> son of Ninazu/Ningirda > Ningishzida is the Spouse of Ninazimua*
Damu> son of Ningishzida/Ninazimua
Cunningham's note about Ninazu as Snake god, and use in incantations
Cunningham: "Ninazu - whose name (Lord Physician) suggests an involvement with healing - is a chthonic god associated with the underworld. Thus one tradition refers to him the "šita of the underworld, given birth by Ereškigal; ('šita-ki-gal-la dereš-ki-gal-la-ke4 tu-dal')7. Snakes are also associated with the underworld: for example, one royal inscription requests the underworld goddess Ninki to punish a transgressor by sending 'a snake from the underworld' (muš ki-ta)8. The Chthonic god has associations with the chthonic animal: for example, on $ulgi hymn relates Ninazu, in a broken content, to 'the fearsome snake' (muš-ḫuš)9 and another describes him as 'born on the kurmušša (possibly snake mountain)' ('kur-muš-ša tu-da-a')10. The deity is therefore appropriately invoked in Text 58 which is directed against the mythical ušumgal snake. This incantation confirms Ninazu's association with snakes given that its speaker addresses the ušumgal: 'Snake your king has sent me to you, your king Ninazu has sent me to you you' ('muš lugal-zu mu-ši-gi4 lugal-zu dnin-a-zu mu-ši-gi4').
Ninazu's must be understood as a deity of differing associations from one period to another and from one local to another. We have recently seen that Wiggermann's examination (see pg.2 of the Ningishzida thread) has it that the Ophidian traits of Ninazu were not depicted in the south, in the Sumerian local of Enegi, until the last 3rd millennium. This disposition to depict Ninazu as a Snake god.,which Cunningham emphasizes above, probably was inherited from Ninazu's larger Semitic cult centre to the north, Eshnunna (which was in turn influenced by the religious devotion to Snake gods that creep its way west from the Iranian plateau.)
When we regard Enegi in the south, located between Ur and Larsa, we have a small locality which nonetheless featured substantially in myth. As has been noted already, Enegi features in the [url=http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=t.4.80.1&display=Crit&charenc=gcirc&lineid=
t4801.179]Temple Hymns, [/url] where it was called the "libation pipe to the underworld of Ereškigala" and "Gudua (Entrance to the nether world) of Sumer where mankind is gathered."
About the second phrase, Gudua in transliteration appears as gu2-du8-a - according to Katz 2003 this is a phonetic rendering of the name of Nergal's cult center Kutha in the north.. in other words Gudua = Kutha. As Katz explains, It must be remembered that the Temple Hymns were most likely written by the Semitic priestess Enheduanna, who would have been first familiar with the Semitic theology of the north - and in her lifetime Nergal was a northern god. Thus, when she looked to the south and saw a underworld deity like Nergal, she called Enegi 'the Kutha of the south' or "Gudua of Sumer."
Enegi in the South
About the first phrase which I have highlighted, this line firmly places Ninazu within the Southern Sumerian model of Netherworld theology - his cult center is a libation pipe to the underworld and to his mother Ereškigala. It also stands to illustrate the primay character of Enegi: Libation pipes were reed tubes that extended below the earth at grave sites, carrying offerings to the dead and Enegi was the a center for the cult of the dead. However very little is preserved to detail this cult.
Ninazu as dieing god:
Katz hits on a very important and interesting observation of this aspect of the god in her treatment of a certain lamentation text entitled Edina-usagake .
We know that in the south there was a group of gods, to include Ninazu, Ningishzida, Damu and Dumuzi who were chthonic gods - each god while having his own characteristics, at one point became tied in to the mythology of the dieing god, their deaths in turn representing the coming and going of the fertile season and as such these gods were important for explaining the agricultural cycle. The lamentation text Edina-usagake the author explains, is the only surviving text we have which directly indicates Ninazu in his role as dieing god, and is thus important for an understanding of Enegi and Ninazu of the South. The relevant portion of this text reads:
12. "And now I, the lad, go to the road of no return."
13. Oh lad, the warrior Ninazu,
14. Oh lad, my lad, my Damu,
15. [Oh] lad, [the son Ningishzida],
16. [Oh] lad, Alla the lord of the net],
17. [Oh] lad, the her[ald Ununšudi],
18. [Oh] lad, Ištara[n the shining eyes],
19. [Oh] lad, Mulusir[anna],
20. [Oh] lad, Amaušumgal[anna],
21. [Oh] lad, the brother of mother Geštin[anna]
23. He goes, he goes to the depth of the netherworld.
25. He ... : $amaš removed him down to the land of the death.
27. He was full of grief on the day he fell into misfortune,
29. (With)in a month, which does not complete its year.
31. To the road that terminates humankind: sooth humanity,
33. To the wailing of the lord.
35. The lad to the far-off land that is not seen.
13. Oh lad, the warrior Ninazu,
14. Oh lad, my lad, my Damu,
15. [Oh] lad, [the son Ningishzida],
16. [Oh] lad, Alla the lord of the net],
17. [Oh] lad, the her[ald Ununšudi],
18. [Oh] lad, Ištara[n the shining eyes],
19. [Oh] lad, Mulusir[anna],
20. [Oh] lad, Amaušumgal[anna],
21. [Oh] lad, the brother of mother Geštin[anna]
23. He goes, he goes to the depth of the netherworld.
25. He ... : $amaš removed him down to the land of the death.
27. He was full of grief on the day he fell into misfortune,
29. (With)in a month, which does not complete its year.
31. To the road that terminates humankind: sooth humanity,
33. To the wailing of the lord.
35. The lad to the far-off land that is not seen.
We see here that this lamentation, Edina-usugake, unfortunately does not focus specifally on Ninazu as dieing god, nor does it focus on any one deity in that role; rather it refers to them all. The issue is that it is an earlier period in which we suspect Ninazu was best seen in this role, yet our cuneiform sources date largely to the Old Babylonian times when other deities compete or overcome Ninazu as dieing god, thus he is scarly attested as such. However Katz points out an indirect attestation which in fascinating for a number of reasons - we sometimes reads of Ninazu's mother, Ereshkigal, as a mourning women. The reason for her grief is not obvious, but when we consider her son as a dieing god, her grief takes on the form of the typical mourning mother. See for example the lines 199-204 in
Gilgamesh, Enkidu and the Netherworld
"199-204. "She who lies there, she who lies there, Ninazu's mother who lies there -- her pure shoulders are not covered with a garment, and no linen is spread over her pure breast. She has fingers like a pickaxe, she plucks her hair out like leeks."
This observation helps bring to the fore an aspect of the early Sumerian netherworld theology which has been obscured by time, by latr scribal tradition and competeing religious concepts.