Annunitum
Annunitum was a Mesopotamian goddess associated with warfare. She was initially an epithet of Ishtar of Akkad exemplifying her warlike aspect, but by the late third millennium BCE she came to function as a distinct deity. She was the tutelary goddess of the cities of Akkad and Sippar-Amnanum, though she was also worshiped elsewhere in Mesopotamia.
Name
As attested in cuneiform texts from the Old Akkadian period onward, Annunitum's name was typically written as an-nu-ni-tum. Starting with the Old Babylonian period it was prefaced with the "divine determinative". While an-nu-ni-tum remained the most common spelling in the Kassite period as well, in sources from the first millennium BCE a-nu-ni-tum, already known from a single Old Babylonian text and from a late Kassite inscription of king Meli-Shipak, became standard. An Old Babylonian prayer additionally preserves the shortened form a-nu-na, romanized by Wilfred G. Lambert as Anūna. There is no certainty whether the original pronunciation is better reflected by romanization with a single or double n.It is presumed that Annunitum's name is derived from the root ‘nn, "warlike". It can be translated as "skirmisher" or "the martial one". Etymological connections with phonetically similar theonyms Anu, Antu and Anunna have been ruled out.
Origin
Annunitum was originally an epithet of Ishtar as the tutelary goddess of the city of Akkad. However, later it came to be viewed as a theonym, rather than an epithet, and developed into a distinct deity. It is assumed the process of separation of Annunitum from Ishtar started during the reign of Shar-Kali-Sharri, though it is possible a passage from the reign of Naram-Sin already refers to them as a pair of distinct goddesses as opposed to a singular Ishtar-Annunitum. By the end of the third millennium BCE, Annunitum was widely recognized as a separate goddess. In the Ur III period, she was worshiped separately from Ishtar in Nippur, Ur and Uruk, and by the Old Babylonian period both of them had separate temples in Sippar, respectively the E-ulmaš and E-edina.Spencer J. Allen refers to the phenomenon of epithets of Mesopotamian deities becoming distinct figures as "divine splintering". Other comparable cases of an epithet of Ishtar becoming a distinct deity include Dīrītu, Urkayītu and Arbilītu. Tonia Sharlach in her study of Annunitum and other goddesses worshiped in the court of Shulgi notes that it might be more accurate to refer to the names Ishtar and Inanna as "something of an umbrella term" designating multiple interconnected deities. For example, a collection of hymns from the Ur III period treats Inanna of Uruk, Inanna of Zabalam and Inanna of Ulmaš as three separate deities, with separate compositions dedicated to each of them. Sharlach suggests that to accommodate this information, the study of "forms" of Ishtar in Mesopotamian sources requires relying on a methodology developed by Gary Beckman for the purpose of study of deities designated by the logogram dIŠTAR in Hittite texts, such as the Hurrian Šauška. As summarized by Beckman, "in some respects Ištar-figures partake of a common essence, while in others they are distinct". He also notes that "any special features of the varieties will become apparent only if each is initially studied in isolation".
Character and iconography
Annunitum was regarded as a warlike goddess. She could be addressed as the lady of battle. She originally exemplified the martial side of Ishtar. An inscription of Nabonidus describes her as armed with a bow and arrows. An earlier cylinder seal from Sippar assumed to depict her in the company of another goddess, likely Aya, shows her holding a trident-like weapon. Another possible depiction of Annunitum on a cylinder seal shows her standing on the back of two addorsed lion-griffons. Other seals from Sippar indicate she could be depicted in a robe leaving one shoulder and breast exposed, similarly to Ishtar and Aya. It is assumed that this garment was meant to highlight beauty, charm and sex appeal.In Mesopotamian astronomy Annunitum's name was used to refer to a constellation corresponding to part of Pisces, specifically the eastern fish. An ikribu prayer dedicated to her in this role is known. However, she was usually not described as an astral deity, in contrast with Ishtar.
A curse formula on a kudurru from the Kassite period indicates that Annunitum was among the deities regarded as capable of inflicting oath-breakers with leprosy, a role shared with deities such as Sin, Shamash, Ishtar, Anu and Enlil.
Associations with other deities
Annunitum could be regarded as a daughter of Sin, though references to this association are entirely limited to Nabonidus' inscriptions. It is presumed that this tradition is an extension of presenting Sin as the father of Ishtar. A unique passage from Nabonidus' cylinder simultaneously referring to Enlil and Sin as Annunitum's fathers is presumed to reflect the so-called "theology of the moon", an idea attested in Neo-Assyrian in Neo-Babylonian texts according to which Sin possessed the powers of Enlil, Anu and Ea while the moon was waxing. In this context, Enlil was redefined as a designation of the gibbous moon.When regarded as distinct from Ishtar, Annunitum could be regarded as a member of her entourage, as already attested in the Ur III period.
Annunitum was closely associated with Ulmašītum, another martial hypostasis of Ishtar, originally associated with the temple E-ulmaš in Akkad. Spencer J. Allen assumes the connection between them originally developed in this location. Tonia Sharlach notes that while distinct from each other, they appear in sources from the Ur III period together frequently and compares them to a pair of twins. She also points out in the archive of Shulgi-simti they effectively form a quartet with Belet-Šuḫnir and Belet-Terraban.
Wolfgang Heimpel proposes that in Old Babylonian Mari Annunitum was closely associated with Belet Ekallim, possibly due to their shared connection with Ishtar. Additionally, a text from this city refers to a belief that after his annual resurrection Dumuzi entered the temple of Annunitum, though it has been noted he was only occasionally associated with any deities belonging to the Mariote pantheon.
A fragmentary omen list refers to Eturammi as the messenger of Annunitum. This name is also attested in the god list An = Anum, though there this deity is assigned a similar role in association with Birtum instead.
Worship
Akkad
In the Old Akkadian period Ishtar-Annunitum was considered the tutelary goddess of the city of Akkad, and it has been described as the main cult center of Annunitum as a distinct deity as well. A temple dedicated to her existed in this city, but its full ceremonial name is not known. It is mentioned in the Khorsbad temple list, which is known from only one exemplar and focused on houses of worship located in the north of Mesopotamia, including the Diyala basin and Transtigridian regions. Annunitum was adopted as a personal deity by Naram-Sin of Akkad, and apparently after his deification he was considered to be married to her.By the Ur III period Akkad ceased to be considered an important city, but Annunitum's cult spread across Mesopotamia. Through the Old Babylonian period she remained one of the goddesses most commonly invoked in personal letters, and appears in them with comparable frequency to Aya, Gula, Ninsianna and Zarpanitum, though less commonly than Ishtar. She continued to be worshiped across Mesopotamia up to the Neo-Babylonian period.
Sippar
Old Babylonian period
Annunitum was considered an important deity in Sippar. As already attested in the Old Babylonian period, she could be referred to with the epithet Šarrat-Sipparim, :queen of Sippar", though it was also applied to Ishtar. She was the tutelary goddess of Sippar-Amnanum, modern Tell ed-Der, located next to ancient Sippar-Yahrurum, modern Abu Habbah, which in antiquity was a cult center of Shamash and Aya. She was worshiped in a temple beating the ceremonial name E-ulmaš, similarly as the temple of Ishtar in Akkad. Its meaning remains unknown; Paul-Alain Beaulieu notes that while It has been proposed that this might reflect a situation in which a major deity was superimposed over a preexisting one whose name was only preserved in the name of the temple, this theory lacks evidence other than the presence of names with phrases like Ulmaš seemingly functioning as a theophoric element, which can be explained as the temple name itself being regarded as divine, rather than as proof of the existence of otherwise unattested deity Ulmaš. The temple has not been excavated yet, and its full history remains uncertain.Tonia Sharlach speculatively suggests Sippar already became Annunitum's main cult center in the Ur III period. Jennie Myers suggests that Annunitum might have become its tutelary goddess during the reign of the Sargonic dynasty based on the name of her temple. However, she acknowledges that there is no evidence for the existence of this house of worship before the Old Babylonian period and that the oldest reference to Annunitum being worshiped in Sippar is a text from the reign of Sabium. Alexa Bartelmus and Jon Taylor stress there is no unambiguous evidence for the existence of Sippar-Amnanum before the Ur III period, and that later rulers like Nabonidus do not claim the temple of Annunitum was founded during the Old Akkadian period, which makes the early dating implausible.
The worship of Annunitum in the Old Babylonian is well documented in the archive of Ur-Utu who served as her chief lamentation priest. She is one of the only three goddesses attested as divine witnesses in legal texts from Sippar, the other two being Aya and Mamu. A street, a gate and a canal named after her existed in Sippar-Amnanum. The number of theophoric names invoking her increased after the reign of Hammurabi, rising from 1% in early Old Babylonian sources to over 6%.
After the reign of Ammi-Saduqa Sippar-Amnanum was destroyed in a fire and remained uninhabited for around 200 years. The cult of Annunitum was most likely transferred to Sippar-Yahrurum as a result.