the Archaic Pantheon: Reflections on Steinkeller

[us4-he2-gal2]

Orientation:



Following the interesting discussions on enenuru concerning the proposals from Steinkeller 1999 (see the focus of the month board here) I wrote a paper on the topic to satisfy the requirements of an independent studies course.

As the paper had to be 30 pages in length it was fairly challenging for me, as an undergraduate - it was also a learning experience. While the paper got a good mark, if I have one regret is was that the time constraint and quantity of material forced me to produce a thesis statement somewhat hastily - in the end I come across more critically of Steinkeller's proposals than I would like. With more time and resource, I would like to have contributed to a more even keeled assessment. In the conclusion however, I state and honestly feel that Steinkeller has opened up a bold and interesting avenue of research, despite that my initial reading points to areas of concern here.

The paper attempts to give the reader some bearing on what to expect when dealing with the question - did goddesses dominate the early pantheon? Scholarship on goddesses in the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods is considered and some perspectives on Uruk religion are presented before moving on to assess the situation in Early Dynastic literature - particular attention is paid to the gender of city gods as attested in the temple hymns of the OB and ED periods. Finally, the theology of the ED Lagaš state is examined in an attempt to qualify a key example of Steinkeller's "twin capitals" model.


While I have talked about and shared some of the data from this paper here on enenuru before, this is the first time I am uploading the paper in its entirety.



Class:
NMC 497 - Independent Studies

Subject[/]:
Investigating the Archaic Pantheon - Reflections on Steinkeller 1999

Problems:
Due to lack time resource, concerns outweigh hopes for the proposals under consideration. Following the advice of G. Selz, future research on the topic with datasets from Fara and Adab may yield further support for twin capitals model.

[us4-he2-gal2]

To Download the paper, please visit the enenuru.net link here

[Šarraku]

Interesting read, and good work; I need to read up more on these theories of prehistoric matriarchies before coming to a personal conclusion.

This paper also brought up something I was always curious about -- the presence of 'Nin' in the names of many clearly-male deities and figures, which your paper and other sources translate as "lord", but as "lady", "queen", or "sister" in any other context. On the other hand, our knowledge of Sumerian is incomplete and the language had many homophones and homonyms.

One possible example of this is Ninshubur, the priestess of Inanna who figured heavily in her descent to the underworld; definitely female in the earliest writings that mention her before transitioning to male by the rise of Akkad. However, the only source I can find is a letter by Diane Wolkstein here, criticizing a review of her book, "Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth". Is this really the case?

[us4-he2-gal2]

Šarraku:


Thanks for reading over my paper, it's the longest and densest one I have written so far so it would take quite a bit of time to consider. (So I don't think many people have read it )


As for the problem of the nin element in divine names and its occurence in male and female divine names, certainly the article by Heimpel which is cited in my article is a good place for commentary on this issue. Also there is a thread on enenuru going back to 2007 which has comments from several MA students and a (at the time) phd student. No firm decision can be reached on the matter to my knowledge.

enenuru.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=general&thread=12&page=1


About Ninshubar: yes, this is the case that this deity is female and then male in later contexts. And maybe even female again after that. If I remember correctly, scholars suggest that the reason is because this vizier serves first one than another deity according to what period. The change of gender is likely because a vizier tends to match the gender of the deity he/she serves.


Sadly, an obituary for Diane Wolkstein was sent out this week on the fields official mailing list called Agade. You could probably join this mailing list if you haven't yet, whether or not you're with an institution. It's run by Jack Sasson. I can give you further directions here if you would like.

If you haven't read Wolkstein's book yet, Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth, I would steer clear of it. I considered the book on an enenuru thread some years ago, and still find the complaints of SʿN. Kramer, the books co-author, to be good reason not to read the book.


enenuru.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=selfdiscombobulationetc&action=display&thread=82