Išartu was a Mesopotamian goddess regarded as the divine hypostasis of righteousness. She was closely associated with a deity of similar character, Mīšaru, and in the god list An = Anum they are described as a couple. Evidence of the worship of Išartu includes early Akkadian theophoric names, offering lists from Mari and late religious texts from Uruk.
| Išartu | |
|---|---|
Divine personification of righteousness | |
| Major cult center | Mari |
| Genealogy | |
| Spouse | Mīšaru |
Character
editIšartu functioned as the divine hypostasis of righteousness.[1] Julia Krul describes her as the feminine equivalent of Mīšaru.[2] Volkert Haas assumed that in Mariote tradition they were regarded as twins.[3] In the god list An = Anum (tablet III, line 247) she is described as his spouse.[4] Manfred Krebernik argues that the pair represented the concept of law and order.[5]
Like Mīšaru, Išartu belonged to the circle of deities associated with Adad.[5] Paul-Alain Beaulieu notes that both of them show affinity with another deity from this group, Uṣur-amāssu, and presumes the latter's own association with justice was influenced by this.[6] Two known instances of the word išartu being used as an epithet of Shala, a balag composition and an eršaḫunga prayer, are presumed to be related to Išartu's presence in Adad s circle too.[4]
Išartu should not be confused with the theonym dI-šìr-tu4 known from a single late god list, which is instead assumed to mean "the ten gods."[4]
Worship
editThe deity Išar, presumed to be identical with Išartu, first appears in Old Akkadian theophoric names.[4] She was worshiped in Bad-tibira during the reign of Shu-Sin of the Third Dynasty of Ur[7] and appears in an offering list from Mari (ARM 24 263) alongside Mišaru.[8] In the latter city both forms of the name were used,[4] with the longer one attested in the offering list ARM 23 264, between Dagan and Yakrub-El.[9] A possible reference to her is also present in the Old Babylonian god list from Isin, but the signs are damaged and the name cannot be restored with certainty.[4]
According to Daniel Schwemer, the only source of evidence regarding the worship of Išartu in later periods are documents from Uruk.[4] She was a member of the local pantheon in the Seleucid period, but she is not attested in earlier sources from this city.[10] She is one of the deities mentioned in a description of a parade accompanying Ishtar during the akitu celebrations; among other participants are chiefly figures typically associated with this goddess or the city of Uruk, such as Nanaya, Ninsianna, Ninigizibara or Ninmeurur.[1] Despite her presence in religious texts, Išartu is not attested in legal formulas or theophoric names from the late Uruk text corpus.[10]
References
edit- ^ a b Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013, p. 126.
- ^ Krul 2018, p. 68.
- ^ Haas 2015, p. 564.
- ^ a b c d e f g Schwemer 2001, p. 68.
- ^ a b Krebernik 2008, p. 356.
- ^ Beaulieu 2014, p. 511.
- ^ Sallaberger 2021, p. 363.
- ^ Sasson 2015, p. 237.
- ^ Sasson 2015, p. 236.
- ^ a b Krul 2018, p. 73.
Bibliography
edit- Asher-Greve, Julia M.; Westenholz, Joan G. (2013). Goddesses in Context: On Divine Powers, Roles, Relationships and Gender in Mesopotamian Textual and Visual Sources (PDF). ISBN 978-3-7278-1738-0. Retrieved 2022-10-25.
- Beaulieu, Paul-Alain (2014), "Uṣur-awāssu (Akkadischer Gott) · Uṣur-awāssu (Akkadian god)", Reallexikon der Assyriologie, retrieved 2022-10-25
- Haas, Volkert (2015) [1994]. Geschichte der hethitischen Religion. Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section 1: The Near and Middle East (in German). Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-29394-6. Retrieved 2022-10-25.
- Krebernik, Manfred (2008), "Richtergott(heiten)", Reallexikon der Assyriologie (in German), retrieved 2022-10-25
- Krul, Julia (2018). The Revival of the Anu Cult and the Nocturnal Fire Ceremony at Late Babylonian Uruk. BRILL. doi:10.1163/9789004364943_004. ISBN 9789004364936.
- Sallaberger, Walther (2021). "Uruk in der Frühen Bronzezeit: Zu dessen Königen und Göttern und zur Lage von Kulaba". In van Ess, Margarete (ed.). Uruk - altorientalische Metropole und Kulturzentrum (in German). Wiesbaden. ISBN 978-3-447-11368-7. OCLC 1255365039.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Sasson, Jack M. (2015). From the Mari archives: an anthology of old Babylonian letters. Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns. ISBN 978-1-57506-830-5. OCLC 907931488.
- Schwemer, Daniel (2001). Die Wettergottgestalten Mesopotamiens und Nordsyriens im Zeitalter der Keilschriftkulturen: Materialien und Studien nach den schriftlichen Quellen (in German). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. ISBN 978-3-447-04456-1. OCLC 48145544.