Ningirsu
Ninĝirsu was a Mesopotamian god regarded as the tutelary deity of the city of Ĝirsu, and as the chief god of the local pantheon of the state of Lagash. He shares many aspects with the god Ninurta. Ninĝirsu was identified as a local hypostasis of Ninurta in a syncretism that is documented at the latest by the time of Gudea in the late third millennium BC. Assyriologists are divided on the question of whether they were originally two manifestations of the same god, or two separate deities.
Ninĝirsu's two main aspects were that of a warlike god, and that of a god connected with agricultural fertility. In Lagash, he was particularly associated with a composite emblem depicting the Anzû bird over two lions. It could sometimes represent him in cultic contexts.
Ninĝirsu was an important local god from the Early Dynastic Period until the old Babylonian period. He was regarded as the son of Enlil and Ninhursag; several scholars have proposed that in an older tradition he was regarded as a son of Enki. Ninĝirsu's sister was Nanshe; she was the second main deity in the pantheon of Lagash. His wife was Bau; it has been argued that from the time of Gudea she replaced Nanshe as the highest ranking goddess, and was elevated to equal rank with her husband. Their children were the gods Igalim and Shulshaga, and seven goddesses including Ḫegirnuna and Urnunta-ea.
The decline of the region of origin of Ninĝirsu participated in the decline of his cult, and his identity was subsumed by Ninurta. This is notably attested by the presence of Ninĝirsu as the protagonist of Old Babylonian versions of the myths Lugale and the Epic of Anzû, while the Standard Babylonian version features Ninurta instead. The influence of local Lagashite mythology on Lugale has been interpreted either as evidence of the syncretism between Ninurta and Ninĝirsu at the time of its composition, or as evidence that Ninĝirsu was the protagonist of the myth in an older tradition.
Ninĝirsu and Ninurta
The question of whether Ninĝirsu and Ninurta were originally two separate deities or two aspects of the same god is a subject of debate in Assyriology. Michael P. Streck points out that they appear separately in the early god lists. Ninurta appears in a higher position in the Fāra god list and Ninĝirsu appears in a higher position in the Abu Salabikh god list. He suggests that this could indicate two originally separate deities that were syncretized at some point in the second half of the third millennium BC due to the similarities between their characters.Thorkild Jacobsen interpreted Ninurta and Ninĝirsu as two names of the same god, and theorized that he was originally identical to the Anzû bird that he is often associated with. Jerrold S. Cooper also sees Ninĝirsu as a local manifestation of Ninurta and underlines his connection with Nippur, Ninurta's cult center, in Early Dynastic texts from Lagash. Scholars holding the opposite opinion include Adam Falkenstein, who saw indications that Ninĝirsu and Ninurta initially had different genealogies, and that Ninĝirsu was a son of Enki in an older tradition. J. Van Dijk argues that Ninĝirsu and Ninurta had partially different attributes before they were syncretized, and Jeremy Black also interpreted them as two gods from different cult centers in origin.
The majority of scholars agree that syncretism between Ninĝirsu and Ninurta is attested at least by the time of Gudea, when local mythology began to be reinterpreted as national mythology. This is notably suggested by the parallels between the weapons and trophies of Ninĝirsu in the Gudea Cylinders and the ones of Ninurta in the myths Angim and Lugale. A syncretism dating to the Akkadian period has been proposed. After the decline of his region of origin, mentions of Ninĝirsu become rarer. He is substituted by Ninurta in the first millennium versions of the myths Lugale and the Epic of Anzu.
Name and attributes
The name of the god, commonly written in cuneiform as ???? dnin-ĝír-su, means ‘’Lord of Ĝirsu.’’ Ĝirsu was the capital of the state of Lagash in historical times, and the principal cult center of Ninĝirsu. As tutelary god of Ĝirsu and its region, Ninĝirsu was believed to be the owner of the land, and the mortal ruler was believed to administer his domain on his behalf.In the earliest sources, the most characteristic attribute of Ninĝirsu was that of a warlike god. A common epithet of his was ‘’warrior of Enlil’’. It is first attested in the Early Dynastic Period inscriptions of the rulers of Lagash in the context of their multigenerational border war with the rival state of Umma. Ninĝirsu was believed to appoint the rulers of Lagash to defend his territory against claims of the ruler of Umma. He could be described as intervening personally on the battlefield in their favour. In the inscriptions of Gudea,Ninĝirsu appears chiefly as a warlike deity. His destructive aspect was frequently compared to forces of nature such as storms and floods. Gudea envisioned the god
Because of this association with storms and floods Thorkild Jacobsen interpreted Ninurta/Ninĝirsu as a god of thunderstorms. He theorized that the Anzû bird that this god was often associated with was originally a divine representation of a stormcloud and that they were initially identical. However, Michael P. Streck remarks that metaphors relating to forces of nature are attested for other warlike deities, and Frans Wiggermann instead theorizes that the Anzû bird was originally the symbol of the god Enlil, and that it came to be associated with Ninĝirsu because he acted under the supervision of Enlil's authority.
In the inscriptions of Gudea Sharur is identified as the main weapon of Ninĝirsu; it was also the main weapon of Ninurta. Claudia E. Suter proposes that Sharur might have been depicted as a giant mace on a fragment of a monument from the time of Gudea.
Ninĝirsu was also a god associated with agricultural fertility. The Sumerian literary text ‘’The Lagash King List’’,dated to the Old Babylonian period, seemingly credits him for the creation of the tools of agriculture, the irrigation system,and for the ensued prosperity for the region of Lagash. In the later version of the Epic of Anzû, it is stated that Ninurta's name in the furrows is Ninĝirsu, and the god is described as a source of abundance who resettles devastated agricultural lands in the syncretistic Hymn to Gula, a literary text perhaps originally composed in the Kassite period. Some researchers presume that this attribute of Ninĝirsu was acquired in the syncretism with Ninurta.
Ninĝirsu received offerings in the context of the cult of the dead; Gebhard J. Selz interprets this as evidence of his role as an underworld deity. Michael P. Streck considers instead that his presence in the offering lists is more likely tied to his role as a city god.
Iconography
Visual depictions of Ninĝirsu usually reflect his function as a warrior deity. On the Stele of the Vultures, the god is depicted as a massive figure intervening on the battlefield in favour of the ruler. He is shown holding a mace and a battle net, in which defeated enemies of the rival state of Umma are imprisoned. On the lower register of the stele he stands on a war chariot pulled by lions.Ninĝirsu was associated with the lion. He shared this symbol with various other warrior deities. A type of iconography restricted to the region of Ĝirsu, from the Neo-sumerian period, depicts a god with lion protomes rising from his shoulders; he is identified as Ninĝirsu.
Another symbol of Ninĝirsu was a composite emblem representing the Anzû bird over lions. It appears on objects dedicated to the god and is rarely seen outside of Lagash. It is represented in Ninĝirsu's hand on the Stele of the vultures, closing his battle net, and on the lower register of the stele, where it is attached to his chariot, separated from the lions. It also appears on a fragment from a stele of Gudea. It could be sometimes used to represent the god in cultic contexts.
Ninĝirsu was often associated with the Anzû bird in both textual and visual sources from the Early Dynastic Period until the Neo Sumerian period, though the mythical creature could also be connected with other deities. The Anzû’s relationship to the god is ambiguous in the Cylinders of Gudea. It is frequently mentioned, twice as his emblem. Ninĝirsu is described as a god resembling the Anzû in the dream of Gudea, and Ninĝirsu's temple E-ninnu is frequently mentioned by its epithet ‘’the White Anzû bird’’. It could be compared to or equated with the mythical creature. The Anzû is absent from the list of Ninĝirsu's trophies, while in the Old Babylonian Epic of Anzû, it is the defeated enemy of Ninĝirsu, and it appears as a trophy of the god in Sumerian literary texts. Frans Wiggerman suggests that the characterization of the Anzû evolved from an ally to a defeated ennemy of the god with time. He also argues that the Anzû was originally the symbol of Enlil, and that the symbol of Ninĝirsu was actually the lion, while his association with the Anzû was connected to his status as the warrior of Enlil.
The sevenfold mace was an attribute of Ninĝirsu in the Neo Sumerian Period. It is mentioned in the Cylinder Inscriptions among the weapons gifted to his temple E-ninnu, and he is depicted wielding it on the seal of the priest Ur-Dun. Eva Andrea Holzinger-Braun proposes that since representations of this type of weapon are only attested in Ĝirsu, images of warrior gods holding the sevenfold mace could be identified as representations of Ninĝirsu.
A kudurru from the Kassite period names the plow as Ninĝirsu's symbol.
Association with other deities
Ninĝirsu's sister was Nanshe. Inscriptions of the rulers of Lagash frequently mention them together; this was a sign of her status as the second main deity in the local pantheon. For example, Enmetena restored the dais at Namnundakigarra ‘’for the master who loves him, the god Ninĝirsu, and for the mistress who loves him, the goddess Nanshe’’, and in his inscriptions Gudea states that he follows the justice ordained by Nanshe and Ninĝirsu. Ninĝirsu was worshipped in the E-nineĝarra, ‘’the House placed by the Sister’’ in Niĝin, Nanshe's cult center, and Nanshe was worshipped in the E-šešeĝarra, ‘’the House placed by the Brother’’ in Ĝirsu.Enlil was regarded as Ninĝirsu's father. In the literary composition inscribed on the Cylinders of Gudea Ninĝirsu calls the god his biological father, and states that Enlil invested him as a warrior. Ninĝirsu's status as the warrior of Enlil dates back to the Early Dynastic Period. In the earliest sources this epithet of the god appears in the context of Lagash's border conflict with the neighbouring state of Umma. Ninĝirsu could be described as enforcing the will of Enlil by fighting forces of the ruler of Umma on the battlefield. While there is no known sources naming Ninĝirsu as the son of Enlil in the Early Dynastic Period, this tradition of filiation already existed at the time. It is attested by the name of a temple of Enlil in the region of Lagash, the é-adda, ‘’the house of the father’’, which is known from the inscriptions of Enmetena.
Several scholars see indications that Ninĝirsu was originally regarded as the son of Enki. They underline the fact that Nanshe, the sister of Ninĝirsu, was regarded as a daughter of Enki. A connection between Enki and Ningirsu has also been proposed based on some Early Dynastic period royal inscriptions. In particular, it has been observed that Urukagina calls Ninĝirsu's wife Bau “daughter in law of Eridu”. Claudia E. Suter suggests that this connection could also potentially be reflected in some passages of the Gudea Cylinders. Michael P. Streck remarks however that there are no known references to Enki as Ninĝirsu's father, which makes the hypothesis uncertain.
Ninhursag was regarded as the mother of Ninĝirsu in the inscriptions of Gudea. An oblique statement on Ninĝirsu's birth refers to her: ‘’Born by the mountain, nursed with the healthy milk of a hind‘’. In Lagash she was Enlil's wife, though in a later tradition she is considered his sister instead. She was already worshipped in early dynastic Lagash.
Ninĝirsu's wife was Bau. They are representative of a type of Mesopotamian divine couple consisting of a warrior god and a healer goddess. Another example is Ninisina and Pabilsag. While in the Early Dynastic Period Nanshe was the highest ranking goddess of the pantheon of Lagash, Julia M. Asher-Greve argues that from the time of Gudea Bau replaced her in this role, and that she was elevated to equal rank with her husband by this ruler. A votive relief to the life of Gudea shows Bau sitting in Ninĝirsu's lap; according to Julia M. Asher-Greve, this kind of depiction emphasized both the pair's ability to act in unison and the ruler's special connection to them. A traditional cultic event in Lagash celebrated their marriage. From the Old Babylonian period the cult of Bau was introduced in Kish, and in this city she was regarded as the wife of the local war god Zababa. Both pairings appear separately in Tablet V of the god list An=Anum, and the pairing of Bau with Zababa eventually became more common from the middle Babylonian period onwards.
The gods Igalim and Shulshaga were the sons of Bau and Ninĝirsu.
In the Cylinder B of Gudea,the goddesses Zazaru, IM-pa'e, Urnunta-ea, Ḫegirnuna, Ḫesaga, Zurmu and Zarmu are regarded as their daughters. They were referred to as Bau's seven daughters and Ninĝirsu's unruly children, as well as Ninĝirsu's beloved lukur-priestesses. Ḫegirnuna was already called ‘’the beloved lukur priestess of Ninĝirsu’’ in the inscriptions of Urukagina. Urnunta-ea could be identified as a child of Lisin in an alternative tradition, as attested by tablet II, line 77 of the god list An=Anum. It has also been suggested that the single divine name Zurmuzarmu in tablet II line 105 of An=Anum in the section of the pantheon of Kesh was directly connected to the earlier goddesses Zurmu and Zarmu.
An was the father in law of Ningirsu. In the Gudea Cylinders, Ninĝirsu states that An invested him with the role of ishib. Some of the dedicatory gifts he is offered at the inauguration of the E-ninnu refer to this role; precious metals and stones, as well as cult vessels to be brought on an offering table.
The goddess Ninsar is called the butcher of Ninĝirsu by Urukagina.
Ningishzida was regarded as a close companion of Ninĝirsu by Gudea. While these gods originally had no relationship to each other, in the inscriptions of this ruler Ningishzida is described as participating in the traditional celebrations of Ninĝirsu's marriage to Bau. He delivers Ninĝirsu's bridal gifts to her, a role usually reserved to friends of the groom.