anzu
dubsartur (junior scribe)
Posts: 9
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Manzat
Jun 20, 2019 17:49:56 GMT -5
Post by anzu on Jun 20, 2019 17:49:56 GMT -5
I'd like to know more about the Akkadian Goddess Manzat.
I know she was seen as the sister to the Sun God Shamash, and held a very prominent role in Akkadian magic and incantation, given her role in the Early Short version of the Maqlu text.
I know name means "rainbow" in Akkadian. She went on to be adopted by the Elamites during the Akkadian occupation, and became one of the most important Goddesses there.
However it's her Akkadian beginnings I'm interested in. In the Green and Black book her name is only mentione in footnotes, which I find disappointing. and she doesnt even get a mention in Leik's ANE myth dictionary. All it seems to say is that her Akkadian name was written dma-an-za-at, and her Sumerian name was dTir-anna, meaning "Bow of Heaven"
Any information, links or thoiughts would be most appreciated.
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Manzat
Jun 22, 2019 12:45:31 GMT -5
Post by sheshki on Jun 22, 2019 12:45:31 GMT -5
Go here and search for Manziʾat (should be Volume 7/p344)
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Manzat
Jun 27, 2019 12:20:58 GMT -5
Post by us4-he2-gal2 on Jun 27, 2019 12:20:58 GMT -5
Hello anzu: Well, this Manzât is somewhat interesting. I hadn't really taken too much notice of this goddess, certainly haven't seen the name that often. Here is a comment which the late Prof. Frayne made about the goddess, which is really a summary of the information he has read in the sources he lists below:
Manziṣat, Manzât, Mazziṣat, Mazzât, Mazzêt (Akkadian), Tir-ana (Sumerian) (M) A goddess primarily of Elam. Wife of Šimut, an Underworld and herald god, with whom she often had a joint temple or shrine. Lugal-gida was her son, and the goddess Sililitu(m) her vizier. Her name is Akkadian for “Rainbow,” as is the Sumerian Tir-ana, literally “Bow of Heaven.” She had a sanctuary at Nippur and four shrines in Babylon. Manziṣat was also a manifestation of Ištar and part of the constellation Andromeda. Tir-ana, “Rainbow,” was a scholarly/literary name for the city of Uruk. (Black and Green 2003: 75, 153; Litke 1998 (1958): 166,167; George 1993: 166 #1353-1354; Tallqvist 1974 (1938): 361; Lambert in Reallexikon VII: 334-346)
Of the sources Frayne lists, we are familiar with the Lambert, this is the Reallexikon entry that Sheshki links above. A good discussion, three pages, is given there by Lambert, fortunately in English. In Black and Green p. 75, the entry for the husband of Manzât, Šimut, is one sentence "a herald god, and his wife Manzât (see rainbow)." On page 153, under the heading "rainbow" one gets "the crown for the god Ninurta was described as a rainbow. Manzât, the Akkadian word for rainbow, was also the name of a goddess and of a star in the constellation Andromeda. The star may be illustrated on a kudurru as a rainbow arching over a horse's head. (A star called the horse was located near the Rainbow). 'Rainbow' is also a literary name for the city of Uruk." Overall, Black and Green's entries are minimalistic and not very helpful for an investigation of this goddess.
Tallqvist is far too outdated to use today. Litke is simply a treatment of the god list, which can be an important consideration but certainly can't stand alone. About the reference George 1993, titled House Most High this is a book which lists cultic topography, i.e. temple names and so forth throughout Babylonia. The entry Frayne references simply lists Manzât's known cultic sanctuaries: a sanctuary at Nippur and four shrines in Babylon. This means that the only substantial discussion of Manzât to date would be the one made by Lambert in the Reallexikon. In 2010, D. Potts wrote a chapter entitled "Elamite Temple-Building" which appeared in the volume "From the Foundations to the Crenellations: Essays on Temple Building in the Ancient Near East and Hebrew Bible" edited by Boda and Novotny. Potts translates several short brick inscriptions which mention the goddess Manzât, usually just stating that king X restored temple X for deity X. On page 437, Potts summarizes one such text as follows: "The text states that Igi-Halki restored the old high temple (kukunnum) of baked brick for Manzât-Ištar (or the "goddess Manzât") and gave it to the goddess so that Manzat might give him long life and a happy reign." Interesting here is the indication of some sort of connection with Ištar, which may be the justification for Frayne's statement "Manzât was a manifestation of Ištar."
In summary, I think your information was basically correct. I haven't seen an indication that she was the sister of Shamash unless this is via a syncretism with Ishtar (who was the sister of Shamash). This association is somewhat flimsy, coming from a single brick-inscription mentioned above. In fact, the goddess is little documented anywhere, and what there is seems mainly to come from Elam, although she was also a Mesopotamian goddess as indicated by the sanctuary at Nippur and place in a Mesopotamian god list. T As is indicated by the fact that her name is Akkadian, and one assumes the goddess was borrowed into Elamite religion (and not borrowed from Elam into Mesopotamian religion). Despite this, the extant Mesopotamian literature is largely silent about Manzat: the rainbow is mentioned mainly in astronomical texts according to the CAD entry for Manzât - as in 'should the rainbow be seen in the sky' it means X. On a religious level, the Mesopotamian would of course understand this to at the same time be the goddess Manzât. Outside of astronomical texts, she is attested in a small scattering of texts, a few late incantations and a godlist etc. Whether the Elamites made a bigger deal of her or not, it seems unlikely that she was that important to Mesopotamian religion - her role in Mesopotamian magic seems to me to have been minor, whether or not she makes a brief appearance in the Maqlu text.
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Manzat
Jun 17, 2021 5:43:56 GMT -5
Post by ninshubur on Jun 17, 2021 5:43:56 GMT -5
The notion that Manzat was Shamash's sister appears to be independent from any hypothetical syncretism with Ishtar - which as far as I can is not attested outside of the Elamite "Manzat-Ishtar" votive inscription which D. T. Potts translated as "the goddess Manzat" M. Krebernik mentions that Manzat was sometimes viewed as the sister of Shamash in the "Sonnengott A. I. In Mesopotamien. Philologisch" entry in the Reallexikon (vol. 12, p. 602), and gives the source as "Maqlu IV 110, s. TUFT NF 4, 158." Edit: There's a sample of T. Abusch's book on maqlu here which does confirm that's indeed mentioned in an incantation (page 11 - number 4 line 110 like Krebernik wrote; it's mentioned once more in the same incantation too): However her role here pretty clearly isn't "prominent" lest we want to refer to the likes of Kanisurra as "prominent" because they show up in the same context once or twice.
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Manzat
Jun 21, 2021 3:54:06 GMT -5
Post by hukkana on Jun 21, 2021 3:54:06 GMT -5
The notion that Manzat was Shamash's sister appears to be independent from any hypothetical syncretism with Ishtar - which as far as I can is not attested outside of the Elamite "Manzat-Ishtar" votive inscription which D. T. Potts translated as "the goddess Manzat" M. Krebernik mentions that Manzat was sometimes viewed as the sister of Shamash in the "Sonnengott A. I. In Mesopotamien. Philologisch" entry in the Reallexikon (vol. 12, p. 602), and gives the source as "Maqlu IV 110, s. TUFT NF 4, 158." Edit: There's a sample of T. Abusch's book on maqlu here which does confirm that's indeed mentioned in an incantation (page 11 - number 4 line 110 like Krebernik wrote; it's mentioned once more in the same incantation too): However her role here pretty clearly isn't "prominent" lest we want to refer to the likes of Kanisurra as "prominent" because they show up in the same context once or twice. Such slander ! Good hairdressing is quite important you know. I did actually look into Kanisurra now, and am astounished at her semi obscurity, in truth.
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Manzat
Mar 6, 2022 11:39:37 GMT -5
Post by ninshubur on Mar 6, 2022 11:39:37 GMT -5
I recently finished rewriting the Manzat article on a certain popular site and found some information from recent publications I haven't seen brought up here or in the Reallexikon entry so I figured I'll share: 1. The First Dynasty of the Sealand in Mesopotamia by Odette Boivin: Manzat was present in the pantheon of Old Babylonian Larsa, and later she shows up in offering lists from Sealand in association with Inanna of Larsa. Simut, her presumed Elamite husband, is there too, curiously, though only in personal names. While Boivin does not suggest that, could this be where her association with Shamash present in Maqlu came from? 2. The other gods who are: studies in Elamite-Iranian acculturation based on the Persepolis fortification texts by Wouter Henkelman + Elamite Temple building by Daniel T. Potts: the main cult center of Manzat in Elam seems to be Deh-e Now, which was identified with Hubshen/Hubshal by Lambert in the 1980s already if my memory serves me well. Manzat is associated with a deity whose name hides behind the logogram NIN.DAR.A there, who is simply Simut according to Henkelman but a female deity according to Potts. To complicate things further, sources from Assyria speak of a "Nergal and Aia [Aya?] of Hubshal." Is this Aia Manzat, considering Nergal of Hubshen/Hubshal being Simut is a theory Henkelman seems to advocate pretty vigorously...? Of course, if Hubshal is not Hubshen (Lambert treated them as the same place name and so does Henkelman) this might be completely irrelevant. Also, I've seen two other identifications of Nergal of Hubshal, Ugur (Nergal's sukkal who in the west shows up on his own or with Hurrian Shuwala [not Hittite Shuwaliyat, the female one], Nupatik, Astabi etc.) - this is the option favored by Volkert Haas - and a presently unknown Hurrian god; this is the theory of Hartmut Kühne. 3. A further connection I'm surprised Lambert didn't make: he notes that Manzat's epithets show up among "mother goddess names" in a single source; while according to George's House Most High, there was a temple named E-Tiranna in Kesh, presumably dedicated to Ninhursag. Could this be the reason behind the confusion? Manzat's character does not seem to exactly be motherly elsewhere (weird speculation from Heidemarie Koch nonwithstanding).
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Manzat
Mar 20, 2022 15:17:02 GMT -5
Post by us4-he2-gal2 on Mar 20, 2022 15:17:02 GMT -5
Ninshubur: This is an excellent post as was your earlier post on this Manzat thread as were others. All of them merit a full response. As for Manzat - a truly obscure topic which makes sense as everyone reading here has a strange commitment to pursuing elusive but academically interpretable data. In any case, you demonstrate quite a tenacity with investigating difficult material especially that with an Elamite connection. I assume you must have access to a university library or have discovered library genesis which is a partial substitute. A large part of the academic investigation of ancient religion is precisely what you are doing in these posts, of course, collecting studies on a subject and sifting the literature for compelling advancements in data and interpretation. As for the information that Manzat is attested in the divine pantheon at Larsa presented by Boivin (Boivin used to be one of my co-students), and that Manzat is associated with Larsa in godlists from the Sealand dynasty, this is important for the history of Manzat. As Larsa was the southern seat of the sun-god (the northern Semitic seat being Sippar), we would expect the family of the sun-god, including his sister Manzat, to feature prominently at Larsa. As Lambert 1975 (The Historical Development of the Mesopotamian Pantheon) lays out, each city-state in Mesopotamia had a chief (or a patron) deity, and the local pantheon that then operates around that chief deity is structured and imagined to function in the roles of the family and the royal court of that chief deity. It is of course the divine counterpart to the earthly royal hierarchy (a mirroring which shows the limits of human imagination). As Lambert lays it out on page 191 (I've inserted a few words in square brackets for better clarity): Although each city had a patron deity, "it must not be supposed that only one deity was known and worshipped in each place. In historical times we know that a variety of gods and goddesses were worshipped in each place. Often, however, they were well integrated in the worship of the city patron [deity], in that he [the patron deity of the city] had the personnel of a king around him: divine family and divine courtiers. One may suspect that many of these [gods who took on the role of family and courtiers] were gods who had been at home in the place [the city in question] for centuries back, and when the principle of one patron deity one city was being worked up they received a lesser place in that arrangement." In any case, yes we would expect Manzat to be the theological byproduct of just such a situation at Larsa. Either imagined up in order to fulfill the role of the sister of the sun-god at Larsa, or perhaps she had some other affiliation and this status was developed secondarily at the point the sun-god assumed the role of patron deity at Larsa. As for the point about the occurrence of an e2-tir.an.na "house of the rainbow" which is mentioned in George's House Most High (p. 150), yes George states that it is a part of, or an epithet of, the main temple at Kesh, therefore somehow the rainbow (possibly alluding to Manzat) is associated with that temple and with the mothergoddess Ninhursag (who is the patron deity of Kesh and the deity whose seat was this temple). As you mention, this is an interesting note to take in connection with Lambert's RlA 7 entry on Manzat which yes, mentions that her names occur on a godlist "as mothergoddess names." Unfortunately I don't understand his qualification here, at the moment it isn't clear to me what causes him to make the mothergoddess names statement. It's notable that the occurrence of e2-tir-an-na is from the Keš Temple Hymn, a text extent in Old Babylonian copies but which was likely to have been composed in the 3rd millennium - see - see etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=t.4.80.2# . However, the godlist is extent on texts that date considerably later (Lambert gives the source as K 2109+, K standing for Kuyunjik, so Nineveh in the 1st millennium).
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