Nanshe
Nanshe was a Mesopotamian goddess in various contexts associated with the sea, marshlands, the animals inhabiting these biomes, namely bird and fish, as well as divination, dream interpretation, justice, social welfare, and certain administrative tasks. She was regarded as a daughter of Enki and sister of Ningirsu, while her husband was Nindara, who is otherwise little known. Other deities who belonged to her circle included her daughter Nin-MAR.KI, as well as Hendursaga, Dumuzi-abzu and Shul-utula. In Ur she was incorporated into the circle of Ningal, while in incantations she appears alongside Ningirima or Nammu.
The oldest attestations of the worship of Nanshe come from the Uruk period. Her cult center was Tell Zurghul, known in antiquity as Nina. Another place associated with her, Sirara, was likely a sacred district in this city. She was also worshiped elsewhere in the state of Lagash. Sanctuaries dedicated to her existed in its eponymous capital, as well as in Girsu, Gu'abba and other settlements. She is also attested in a number of other cities in other parts of Mesopotamia, including Adab, Nippur, Umma, Ur and Uruk, but her importance in their local pantheons was comparatively smaller. Her cult declined after the Ur III period. She was later adopted as a dynastic tutelary deity by the kings of the Sealand, and also came to be worshiped in the Esagil temple complex in Babylon. She was still venerated in the sixth century BCE.
Multiple literary texts focused on Nanshe are known. Nanshe and the Birds focuses on her relation with her symbolic animal, the u5 bird. Its species is a matter of dispute, with proposed identifications including goose, swan, cormorant, gull and pelican. In the myth Enki and Ninhursag, she appears as one of the deities created by Ninhursag to cure Enki's illness. Other compositions deal with her relation to the sea, fish or dream interpretation.
Name
The meaning of Nanshe's name is unknown, and it is agreed it has no plausible Sumerian etymology. It was written in cuneiform with the signs dAB×ḪA, with the dingir sign being a determinative designating names of the deities, while AB✕ḪA is a combination of the words "shrine" and "fish", with the latter written inside the former. A common phonetic variant, dna-zi, first appears in texts from Ebla, for example in the theophoric names of two Mariote singers, ur-na-zi and ur-na-zi-a, and by the Old Babylonian period came to be used equally commonly in lexical lists. In texts from the Sealand, it is the typical spelling. It is also present in An = Anum and in the myth Enki and Ninhursag. It has been proposed that it reflects a speculative variant form of the name, Nassi. It has also been interpreted as a possible emesal spelling. In the Nippur god list, the traditional spelling and dna-zi are juxtaposed as two orthographies of a single theonym. Further syllabic spellings are also known, for example dna-áš, na-an-še and na-aš-še. The last of them occurs in the Old Babylonian lexical list "Diri Nippur."It is possible that dšar-ra-at-ni-na, "queen of Nina", was an alternate name of Nanshe. However, this name is only attested in a list of deities from the Sealand, and an alternative proposal is that it refers to Ishtar of Nineveh, though this proposal is not universally accepted either.
Andrew R. George notes that in the Canonical Temple List Sirara, a toponym associated with Nanshe, might have been reinterpreted as an alternate name of her.
Character and iconography
Nanshe's functions have been described as "heterogeneous", and a variety of roles and presumed iconographic attributes are attested for her in primary sources.Water, fish and birds
Nanshe was associated with water. Wolfgang Heimpel argues she was believed to reside in the open sea, and points out individual texts allude to her playing with the waves and sea foam, or being born on the waterfront. However, the term ab, "sea", was also used to refer to marshlands in Sumerian and Nanshe has been described as the goddess of this biome. She was associated with the animals inhabiting it, namely fish and birds. The text Nanshe and the Birds calls her "the one who loves fish and fowl". These two groups of animals were commonly associated with each other in Sumerian literary texts. The inscription on one of the Gudea cylinders states that Nanshe's emblem was an u5-ku, agreed to be a type of bird, though there is no single agreed upon translation, and proposals include "white swan", "sacred seagull", "holy goose" and "pure cormorant". In the past it was sometimes assumed this term referred to a part of a ship, perhaps prow or cabin, but this view is no longer accepted today. Various works of art depicting Nanshe in the company of birds presumed to be geese or swans are known. It is also possible images of a goddess sitting on a large bird known from seals from Lagash can be identified as representations of her. In at least one text, a fish appears to be referred to as an emblem of Nanshe as well. In two hymns, she appears in company of various fish, presumed to be marine or anadromous: the "scepter fish," which she holds like the object it was named after; the "sandal fish;" the "fire fish," which provides light for her in the depths; the bellowing "bull fish;" and the "swallow fish." However, Bendt Alster noted there is no agreement among researchers if all of these names referred to real animals. The myth Enki and the World Order states that she was responsible for providing Enlil with fish as well.Dream interpretation
Nanshe was also associated with dream interpretation, prophecies and divination. Gudea referred to her as the "dream interpreter of the gods." Niek Veldhuis argues that this role might be only valid for Nanshe understood as the divine mother of the kings of Lagash, as she does not appear as a dream interpreter in other contexts, and female relatives of the protagonist were often responsible for it in Mesopotamian literary works, as attested in the Epic of Gilgamesh, where Ninsun interprets the dreams of her son, or in narratives focused on Dumuzi, where it is the task of his sister Geshtinanna. Gebhard J. Selz presumes that Nanshe's attested association with wisdom also pertains to divinatory arts. It has also been pointed out that the fact that geese were associated with both wisdom and premonition might have influenced her presumed connection to them.Administration and social welfare
Certain administrative tasks, such as weighing and measuring, were also believed to be among Nanshe's responsibilities. She was said to demarcate boundaries, and this role is still attested for her in the Gula Hymn of Bulluṭsa-rabi, where she is called bēlet kudurri, "lady of the boundary stone". She was considered a deity of justice and social welfare. She functioned as the divine protector and benefactor of various disadvantaged groups, such as orphans, widows or people belonging to indebted households. Wolfgang Heimpel notes that the emphasis on this aspect of her character in one of the hymns dedicated to her indicates that it was a fundamental element of her character, rather than just an extension of the typical roles of any tutelary deity of a Mesopotamian city, and points out that a single administrative text lists grain rations for a widow alongside these meant for Nanshe's clergy.Lamma
Texts from Lagash might indicate that Nanshe could fulfill the role of a so-called Lamma. This term can be translated as "protective goddess." According to Gina Konstantopoulos, the responsibility of any deity considered to be a Lamma was to "maintain a protected space around an individual, creating a space wherein no harm, be it of demonic origin or otherwise, can threaten whomever they are protecting." Julia M. Asher-Greve notes they could also protect specific locations, for examples temples or private buildings, rather than individuals.Associations with other deities
Family and court
Like other deities considered to be major members of the Mesopotamian pantheon, Nanshe was believed to have various relatives, as well as a divine court. Enki was regarded as her father, while her mother was his wife Damgalnuna. The text inscribed on the Gudea cylinders calls her the "daughter of Eridu". The myth Enki and the World Order refers to Enlil as her father, but this tradition is only known from this source, and the text still presents Enki as responsible for determining her destiny. Nanshe's brother was Ningirsu, who likely initially was also viewed as Enki's child. The connection between them was meant to reflect Nanshe's importance in the local pantheon. They are attested together in various texts from Lagash, for example Entemena mentions border dikes dedicated to them both, while Gudea credits them with facilitating the arrival of goods from distant lands.Nanshe's spouse was the god Nindara. An annual festival celebrated their marriage. Nindara's character is poorly known, and it is presumed that he was primarily worshiped due to his association with Nanshe. Their daughter was the goddess Nin-MAR.KI. Walther Sallaberger notes she had much in common with her mother, for example the location of their respective cult centers, the use of birds as symbols of them both in art, and the connection to the sea. He also suggests that the deity dNin-MÙŠ-bad, who was worshiped alongside Nin-MAR.KI, might have been initially seen as her brother and Nanshe's son. A further deity closely associated with Nanshe was Hendursaga. He was believed to act as her herald and overseer of her estate. Dumuzi-abzu, who often appears in association with Nin-MAR.KI, as well as Shul-utula, the family god of Ur-Nanshe's dynasty, were further more deities who belonged to Nanshe's circle. Additional members of the pantheon mentioned in association with her in hymns include Nisaba, Haya, Ningublaga, Ningishzida and Ištaran, though in the case of the last two the context in which they appear is unclear.
None of the deities associated with Nanshe in Lagash appear in the texts from the Sealand, with the exception of Ningirsu, who is only present in a single offering list. Their absence might indicate that the earlier tradition of this state had no bearing on the new dynasty who came to worship Nanshe, or that the latter only controlled a small part of the former Lagashite territory. While the god list An = Anum equates Nanshe's spouse Nindara with Sin, she does not appear in relation with the moon god in this corpus, which according to Odette Boivin indicates this tradition was not related to her role in the local pantheon of the Sealand.