Ninisina
Ninisina was a Mesopotamian goddess who served as the tutelary deity of the city of Isin. She was considered a healing deity. She was believed to be skilled in the medical arts, and could be described as a divine physician or midwife. As an extension of her medical role, she was also believed to be capable of expelling various demons. Her symbols included dogs, commonly associated with healing goddesses in Mesopotamia, as well as tools and garments associated with practitioners of medicine.
While Ninisina was initially considered to be an unmarried and childless goddess, the god Pabilsag eventually came to be viewed as her husband. Her children were Damu and Gunura, like her considered to be healing deities, as well as Šumaḫ, who also served as her sukkal, a type of divine attendant. Further members of her court included Ninarali, a goddess associated with the underworld, harpist goddesses Ninigizibara and Ninḫinuna, and sometimes Ninshubur. Ninisina also developed associations with various other goddesses of similar character, including Ninkarrak, Gula and Nintinugga. However, while they were often considered analogous, they originated in different areas of Mesopotamia and their individual traits differed. A further goddess connected with her was Bau, who might have developed into a healing goddess because of the association between them. For political reasons, Ninisina also acquired some traits originally belonging to Inanna when the kings of Isin lost control over the cult center of the latter goddess, Uruk.
The oldest evidence of the worship of Ninisina comes from Isin from the Early Dynastic period. She is also attested in a number of texts from the Sargonic period, including an inscription of Manishtushu. Many references to her appear in the archives of the Third Dynasty of Ur. In addition to Isin, she was also worshiped in Larak, Nippur and Lagash in these periods. In the following Isin-Larsa period, she served as the royal goddess of the dynasty of Isin, and was invoked in the titles of kings belonging to it. They also patronized temples dedicated to her. Furthermore, she was introduced to Larsa, Uruk and Ur at this time. In the Old Babylonian period, the construction of temples dedicated to her is mentioned in texts attributed to kings of Babylon and Kish. However, Isin was eventually abandoned during the reign of Samsu-iluna, and was only rebuilt by Kurigalzu I. Not much is known about the veneration of Ninisina after that, though she appears in inscriptions of Adad-apla-iddina and continued to be worshiped as late as in the Neo-Babylonian period.
Many works of Mesopotamian literature mention Ninisina. One of them, Ninisina's Journey to Nippur, which had both monolingual and bilingual versions, is considered unique due to its detailed description of a divine procession. Many hymns were dedicated to her, including some connected to specific rulers, such as Ishbi-Erra of Isin. Multiple laments in which she mourns either the loss of her city, her son Damu, or both are known too. She is also attested in other types of texts, such as prayers and god lists.
Character and iconography
The theonym Ninisina can be translated as "Queen of Isin" or "Mistress of Isin." Sumerian names of deities were often a combination of the cuneiform sign NIN and either a toponym, as in this case, or a term referring to an object or product. Some forty percent of earliest attested Sumerian deities bore names formed following this pattern. While "nin" is often translated as a feminine noble title, it was grammatically neutral and can be found in the names of male deities as well, for example Ningirsu, Ninazu and Ningublaga, in which case it instead means "lord." Multiple variants of the second element of Ninisina's name are attested, leading to spellings such as dNin-ezen or dNin-IN in addition to phonetic ones such as dNin-i3-si-na, but it is agreed that in all cases it refers to the city of Isin. As indicated by her name, she served as the tutelary goddess of this city. In some cases, this role could overshadow her other functions. An inscription of a king of Isin, most likely Enlil-bani, which was found in Nippur refers to Isin as "the city which the gods An and Enlil gave to the goddess Ninisina." Local rulers derived their authority from her, and in art she was depicted handing the "rod-and-ring symbol" over to them, which was a function attributed to major deities in many other polities: Nanna or Inanna in Ur in the Ur III period, Ishtar in Mari during the reign of Zimri-Lim, or Shamash in sources from the reign of Hammurabi. Her importance did not depend on a connection to any other deity. Instead, her growth in prominence was tied to the rise of Isin as a political center.Ninisina was associated with healing, and was believed to be skilled at various medical practices. She could be referred to as an asû. This term is typically translated as "physician." Most likely, this was meant to indicate that she had power over all forms of healing. Surgical procedures performed to her, for example cleaning of wounds and application of bandages, were described in Mesopotamian literature. According to textual sources, she wore a "great robe", possibly a type of protective garment associated with practitioners of medicine. Furthermore, a scalpel could serve as her symbol. A hymn directly describes her using both this tool and a lancet while treating a wound. Her hands were described as "soothing." She could be called šuḫalbi, "cold-handed one," or ama šuḫalbi, "soft-handed mother." Most likely, this reflected the fact that touch was understood as a key element of healing. She was also believed to be familiar with medicinal plants, as well as with the mythical "plant of life," which is well known from the Epic of Gilgamesh. She was also associated with birth, and various texts implore her to take the role of a midwife, with one hymn outright describing her as "the exalted woman, midwife of heaven and earth." However, her role was distinct from that of a goddess of birth, as in Mesopotamia deities who belonged to this category were only believed to shape the fetus, which was compared to various crafts in epithets. The word ama, "mother," is applied to Ninisina as a title in one of the Temple Hymns. However, Julia M. Asher-Greve notes that caution is necessary when evaluating the origin of such epithets, as they did not necessarily refer to motherhood in the biological sense, but rather to a given deity's authority and high position in the pantheon, similar as the analogous masculine ones. According to Manuel Ceccarelli, in Ninisina's case it metaphorically reflects her role as a divine midwife. Texts from the third millennium refer to her as ama arḫuš, "merciful mother," which according to Irene Sibbing-Plantholt also points at a connection with midwifery. This phrase is also attested as an epithet of Gula, Ninkarrak and Bau, and as a name of a separate goddess worshiped in Seleucid Uruk. Sibbing-Plantholt concludes that Ninisina was perceived as a "motherly healer." According to Barbara Böck, the fact that Ninisina was seemingly strongly associated with health problems affecting the digestive tract might reflect the fact that the belly was already a body part associated with her activity due to her connection to infants.
According to Irene Sibbing-Plantholt, a further extension of Ninisina's character as a healing goddess was her association with incantations and ascribing the ability to expel demons to her. A hymn states that she was able to counter the influence of various demonic beings, such as Dimme, Dimmea, Asag and Namtar. Barbara Böck singles out the last of them in particular as her frequent opponent in textual sources. One text lists an "evil lamma," dlama hul, among demons she was believed to expel. Lamma was normally understood as a type of benevolent protective minor goddess, but this reference, while it does not reflect a common tradition, is not unique. Another mention of "evil lamma" is known from an incantation addressed to Hendursaga. Ninisina was believed to intercede with Anu and Enlil on behalf of the personal deities of people attacked by demons as well.
Aside from being a healing deity, Ninisina was also believed to use illnesses to punish transgressions, though known depictions do not portray her as a punishing goddess.
An inscription of Adad-apla-iddina from Isin refers to Ninisina as the "wisest of the gods". A fragmentary hymn states that she was given wisdom, as well as measuring tools meant to let her keep track of levees and ditches, by Enlil and Ninlil, who obliged her to keep track of these structures and additionally to "bring šuʾura bread and beer in front of them." According to Gábor G. Zólyomi, it might have also described other abilities bestowed upon her by them. An additional function attributed to Ninisina was that of a "cadastral director of An."
In art, Ninisina can be identified by the presence of a dog, much like Gula, and in some cases depictions of goddesses accompanied by this animal might represent either of these two deities. It has been proposed that the association between Mesopotamian healing goddesses and dogs was based on the belief in the healing properties of the saliva of these animals. However, as of 2022, no direct references to the presence of dogs in any healing rituals were known, and there is also no textual evidence for any beliefs attributing healing properties to them. An alternate possibility is that dogs were considered liminal beings who were able to interact both with the living and the dead, which would be a property shared with healing goddesses. It is possible that the dogs serving Ninisina were believed to snatch away disease demons exposed by the procedures performed by the goddess.