Texts mentioning Sarpanit/Zarpanit/Sarpanitum

[hukkana]

I have been trying to research the personage of Sarpanit, however I have found almost no research papers and alsmot period texts directly refferencing her, excluding one, which gives barely a mention. Consider the position of Sarpanit as the wife of Marduk, I find this highly puzzling.

[ninshubur]

The article Some Remarks about the Beginnings of Marduk by Andreas Johandi sums everything about her up in one paragraph (p. 554 - 555):

Marduk’s consort Zarpanitum (or Ṣarpānītu(m)) is first mentioned in the year-name 24 of Sumulael: “The year: he made the statue of Zarpanitum.” According to the name of year 19 of Samsu-iluna, the king constructed thrones for the temple of Marduk and Zarpanitum. In later texts Zarpanitum was also known under her byname Panunanki that in the forerunner to the later god list An = Anum designated the consort of Asalluḫi who was then probably not yet identified with Marduk. Under another name Erūa, Zarpanitum was worshipped as the goddess of pregnancy. In the folk-etymology her name might have been reinterpreted as Zēr-bānītu, “the creatress of seed.” Another possibility offered is that the divine name Ṣarpānītu comes from, thus far, an unknown town called Ṣarpan.

In a footnote the author also adds:

In the forerunner to An = Anum god list, Erūa appears as a byname for Panunanki (TCL 15, no. 10, line II 43) and is not yet a byname of Zarpanitum (TCL 15, no. 10, line III 9).

So the only clue about her character seems to be a folk etymology inspired by an epithet borrowed from another deity. Seems it's not a matter of your choices being incomplete but of genuine obscurity of the deity?

Rellexikon's Zarpanit entry is sadly not yet available digitally, I wonder if that might have more detailed insights to offer.

[hukkana]

May 19, 2021 15:00:58 GMT -5 ninshubur said:

The article Some Remarks about the Beginnings of Marduk by Andreas Johandi sums everything about her up in one paragraph (p. 554 - 555):

Marduk’s consort Zarpanitum (or Ṣarpānītu(m)) is first mentioned in the year-name 24 of Sumulael: “The year: he made the statue of Zarpanitum.” According to the name of year 19 of Samsu-iluna, the king constructed thrones for the temple of Marduk and Zarpanitum. In later texts Zarpanitum was also known under her byname Panunanki that in the forerunner to the later god list An = Anum designated the consort of Asalluḫi who was then probably not yet identified with Marduk. Under another name Erūa, Zarpanitum was worshipped as the goddess of pregnancy. In the folk-etymology her name might have been reinterpreted as Zēr-bānītu, “the creatress of seed.” Another possibility offered is that the divine name Ṣarpānītu comes from, thus far, an unknown town called Ṣarpan.

In a footnote the author also adds:

In the forerunner to An = Anum god list, Erūa appears as a byname for Panunanki (TCL 15, no. 10, line II 43) and is not yet a byname of Zarpanitum (TCL 15, no. 10, line III 9).

So the only clue about her character seems to be a folk etymology inspired by an epithet borrowed from another deity. Seems it's not a matter of your choices being incomplete but of genuine obscurity of the deity?

Rellexikon's Zarpanit entry is sadly not yet available digitally, I wonder if that might have more detailed insights to offer.

Thanks for the response : D It's really odd how the consort of Marduk is someone who remains relatively so obscure, despite powerful, important and active Goddesses being part of the general Mesopotamian religious landscape.

I did read through all of RL and I don't think it's entry on Zarpanit was really that insightful, if I remember right.