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Gula (goddess)

March 05, 2023

Gula (Sumerian: "the great"[1]) was a Mesopotamian goddess of medicine, portrayed as a divine physician and midwife. Over the course of the second and first millennia BCE, she became one of the main deities of the Mesopotamian pantheon, and eventually started to be viewed as the second highest ranked goddess after Ishtar. She was associated with dogs, and could be depicted alongside these animals, for example on kudurru (inscribed boundary stones), and receive figurines representing them as votive offerings.

Gula
Divine physician
A healing goddess with a dog on a kudurru
Major cult centerUmma, later Nippur
Symboldog, scalpel
Personal information
SpouseNinurta; Mandanu; Abu
ChildrenDamu and Gunura
Equivalents
Isin equivalentNinisina
Sippar and Terqa equivalentNinkarrak
Nippur equivalentNintinugga
Luwian equivalentKamrušepa

While Gula was initially regarded as unmarried, in the Kassite period she came to be associated with Ninurta. In Babylon his role could also be fulfilled by Mandanu, while the god list An = Anum links Gula with Pabilsag and Abu. The circle of deities closely associated with her also included Damu and Gunura, who eventually started to be regarded as her children, as well as her sukkal (divine vizier) Urmašum, who might have been imagined as a dog-like being. Through various syncretic processes she could be equated with other goddesses of similar character, including Ninisina, Ninkarrak, Nintinugga, Bau and Meme, though all of them were originally separate, and with the exception of the last of them did not entirely cease to be worshiped separately, even though their individual cults did decline. A well known composition dedicated to describing Gula's syncretic associations is the Gula Hymn of Bulluṭsa-rabi, which seemingly was copied by Mesopotamian practitioners of medicine during their formal training.

It is conventionally assumed that Gula originated in Umma, where she is well attested in the Ur III period, though possible older references are present in texts from Adab. In the following centuries, her cult spread to other cities, including Nippur, which eventually came to be regarded as her primary cult center, as well as Uruk, Babylon, Ur and Lagash. After the conquests of Hammurabi, she was also introduced to Larsa, Sippar and Isin. In the Kassite period she started to be worshiped in the newly established royal city of Dur-Kurigalzu. In Assyria Gula only appears for the first time in the Middle Babylonian period. She had temples in Assur, Kalhu, Tabetu and Mardaman. Attestations from outside Mesopotamia, for example from Emar and Ugarit, are largely limited to scholarly texts.

Name

Gula's name has Sumerian origin and is usually understood as "the great."[1][2] Based on context the common word gula could also mean "greater," "greatest," "former," "capital" or "main."[3] In sources from the Ur III period, the word "gula" was sometimes used simply as an epithet added to names of various deities: references to "Inanna-gula," "Ninhursag-gula" or even "Alla-gula" are known.[4] It was also applied to the medicine goddess Ninisina, for example in an offering list from Lagash and in a hymn from the reign of Ishbi-Erra.[5] It has been proposed that the goddess Gula was herself initially an epithet, but gradually morphed into a separate deity.[6] A well known comparable example of a Mesopotamian deity who developed this way is Annunitum,[1] who was initially an epithet of Ishtar.[7]

Gu2-la2

Jeremiah Peterson states that Gula (𒀭𒄖𒆷) and Gu2-la2 (𒀭𒄘𒇲), who frequently appears in god lists in association with Abu, were most likely understood as two orthographies of a single theonym, though he accepts the possibility that they were originally separate deities, and notes they might have continued to be recognized as such as late as in the Old Babylonian period.[8] Researchers who support this proposal include Marcos Such-Gutiérrez,[9] Joan Goodnick Westenholz[5] and Irene Sibbing-Plantholt.[10] Evidence in favor of this possibility includes the location of the respective cult centers of Gula and Gu2-la2 in different parts of Mesopotamia in the Ur III period, lack of any indications that the writing gu2-la2 ever corresponded to the term gula, and separate placement in god lists, though it is not unambiguous.[11] It is also possible that the name of Gu2-la2 had a different etymology, with the verb gu2-la2, "to lean over" or "to embrace," being suggested by Sibbing-Plantholt.[12]

Gu2-la2 is first attested in the Early Dynastic period in the Fara and Abu Salabikh god lists, as well as in theophoric names.[13] However, she is absent from literary texts, and evidence of her cult is not present in any texts postdating the Old Babylonian period.[14] There is no indication that she was a healing goddess in known sources,[12] and her character is unknown.[14] In the later god list An = Anum Gula, rather than Gu2-la2, appears as the spouse of Abu.[15]

A third goddess who due to her name being homophonous could be connected to or confused with Gula and Gu2-la2 was Ukulla, the spouse of Tishpak.[16] Furthermore, Wilfred G. Lambert has identified examples of confusion between the name of Gula and that of the male bricklayer deity Kulla.[17]

Ninnibru

Main article: Ninnibru

Ninnibru, also known under the Akkadian form the name, Bēlet-Nippuri,[18] "the lady of Nippur," was a goddess regarded as the wife of Ninurta who first appears in offering lists from the Ur III period.[19] She eventually came to be understood as a form of Gula, and as such ceased to be regarded as a distinct goddess.[18] It is presently uncertain if she was still worshiped as a distinct deity in the Kassite period, when Ninurta was paired with Gula.[20] As Ninnibru, Gula was worshiped in the Ešumeša,[21] a well attested temple of Ninurta in Nippur.[22]

The epithet Ninnibru was sometimes applied to Ninimma, who was usually not the wife of Ninurta,[18] though an exception can be found in the recently published Hymn to Ninimma for Nanne, Nanne being a little known king mentioned also in the Tummal Inscription.[23] Ninnibru is not to be confused with the similarly named Ungal-Nibru/Šarrat-Nippuri, "the queen of Nippur,"[18] as both of these names could be used in the same texts to designate distinct goddesses, with the latter understood as a form of Ishtar, rather than Gula.[24]

dME.ME

Main article: Meme (Mesopotamian goddess)

While Meme was initially a separate goddess, she came to be eventually absorbed by Gula,[25] and her name started to be used as an alternate writing of the latter theonym.[26] As a result, dME.ME is attested as a logographic representation of Gula's name for example in the Neo-Babylonian Eanna archive from Uruk[27] and other sources from the first millenjnium BCE, though the association might go further back, to Old Babylonian lexical list.[28]

Bēlet-balāṭi

Bēlet-balāṭi is attested both as a theonym, written with the dingir sign which served as a determinative designating names of deities in cuneiform, and as an epithet of Gula.[29] In the latter capacity, it can be found in incantations.[30] Irene Sibbing-Plantholt argues that she should be understood either as a deity syncretised with Gula or as her epithet which came to be treated as a separate manifestation of her.[29] Paul-Alain Beaulieu proposes that she might correspond to Manungal, though he also notes she could be considered a form of Gula or a member of the circle of deities associated with her.[31]

Amaʾarḫuššu

Main article: Ama-arhus

The names Nin-amaʾarḫuššu ("lady merciful mother") and Amaʾarḫuššu ("merciful mother"[32]) are applied to Gula in two copies of an explanatory text.[33] According to Julia Krul, it is possible that the latter also served as a stand-in for Gula's name in theophoric names from Uruk from the Hellenistic period.[34] However, Joan Goodnick Westenholz assumed she was a separate goddess only introduced to the local pantheon in late times, similarly as Amasagnudi or Šarrāḫītu.[35]

Character and iconography

 
Kudurru of Gula, displayed in the Louvre

Like other Mesopotamian medicine goddesses, Gula was regarded as a divine physician.[36] While the earliest sources do not directly mention that she was perceived as such, an association with healing is implied for example by the fact that offers to her were made by Nawir-ilum, Šu-kabta and Ubartum, well attested high ranking individuals from the Ur III period who worked as asû (physicians).[37] Lack of early references to her character might indicate that she was chiefly worshiped as a healing deity in domestic environments at first.[38] A later hymn calls her "the great doctoress."[39] She could be described as equipped with a variety of tools employed by physicians in ancient Mesopotamia, including various herbal remedies, a razor, a scalpel and a number of other knives or lancets.[40] Like other medicine goddesses, Gula was believed to be able to use illnesses as punishment in addition to healing them.[41] However, in contrast with Ninkarrak, she was not specifically invoked to such ends in curses.[42]

Gula already appears in an incantation from the Ur III period dealing with complication from birth, which states that she was responsible for cutting the umbilical cord.[43] She could also be invoked to determine a favorable destiny for the newborn.[44] As an extension of such roles she was regarded as capable of treating diseases of infants, and functioned as an enemy of the demon Lamashtu.[45] Barbara Böck characterizes the latter as the "counter image" of Gula,[46] based on their contrasting roles as respectively a demon killing infants and a divine midwife.[47] Other protective functions could be assigned to Gula too, for example a Namburbi incantation invokes her in domestic context against the evil influence of a fungus (katarru).[29] She was also sometimes associated with the underworld to a degree.[36] The Gula Hymn of Bulluṭsa-rabi goes as far as having the goddess declare "I bring up the dead from the netherworld."[48] In one incantation she is invoked to counter the harmful influence of Allatum (here a name of Ereshkigal, rather than a distinct deity) on a patient.[49]

Gula's prominence in the Mesopotamian pantheon grew over the course of the second half of the second millennium BCE,[50] and she came to be viewed as one of its main goddesses alongside Ishtar, surpassing Ninhursag in the process.[51] She also eventually eclipsed all the other medicine goddesses.[52]

On kudurru (decorated boundary stones) Gula was depicted in an anthropomorphic form, sitting on a throne, rather than in a symbolic way like most other deities.[53] Nanaya (a goddess of love) and Lamma (minor tutelary goddesses) were the only other female deities depicted similarly,[54] though Gula was represented on kudurru more commonly then them.[55] Many figurative depictions of her are also known from Neo-Assyrian seals, on which she is the most commonly appearing goddess.[56]

The nineteenth day of the month was associated with Gula.[57]

Gula and dogs

Gula was associated with dogs,[58] and in art could be accompanied by these animals,[59] though their depictions are relatively uncommon.[41] The origin of the link between dogs and Mesopotamian healing goddesses is uncertain, but it has been proposed that it was either the result of observing that saliva of dogs has healing properties, or an extension of a belief that disease can be transferred magically to an animal if it licks the patient.[45] The connection is already attested in the Ur III period,[60] though the oldest evidence is limited to documents which mention meat meant for dogs alongside offerings to Gula, and she only started to receive votive offerings shaped like these animals in the Old Babylonian period.[61] Depictions of the dogs of Gula Textual sources indicate that they could be invoked in oaths,[62] and that they were believed to assist her in combat against Lamashtu.[45] One of the incantations against this demon contains the formula "We are not just any dog, we are dogs of Gula, poised to flay your face, tear your back to pieces, and lacerate your ankles."[46] One Neo-Assyrian text dealing with Babylonian customs states that a dog which crossed the Esabad (one of Gula's temples) was believed to be a messenger sent by her.[63] Both a text referring to Gula being surrounded by "puppies huddled together" and archeological finds indicate she could be associated with young dogs as well, rather than just with adult animals.[47] This connection is also confirmed by the theophoric name Mūrānu-Gula (from mīrānu, "young dog"), attested in the Neo-Babylonian period.[64]

Other animal associations

In one ritual formula a worm, most likely a leech, is called "the daughter of Gula."[65] It is unclear if this was meant to elevate it to the rank of a demonic creature (similar to how Lamashtu was usually called the "daughter of Anu" and Namtar was occasionally the "son of Enlil")[66] or if it perhaps hints at an otherwise not directly attested medicinal use of leeches in ancient Mesopotamia.[67] There is however no direct evidence of bloodletting being practiced, and the references to it in the Babylonian Talmud are assumed to reflect influence of Greek medicine in the Levant rather than a Mesopotamian tradition.[65] A single incantation (YOS 11, 5:9-14) appears to refer to unspecified worms as "dogs of Gula."[49] Describing other animals as "dogs" is not unparalleled in other Mesopotamian magical texts, as various field pests (including locusts, small birds and caterpillars) were called "dogs of Ninkilim," but no other uses of this figure of speech in relation to Gula are known.[68] Based on these scattered references Nathan Wasserman suggests that a type of worm, possibly a leech, was regarded as Gula's attribute, in addition to the better known association with dogs.[69] This proposal is also supported by Barbara Böck.[70]

The text LKA 20, referred to in scholarship as an the "incantation of burnt material," mentions that transgressions not only against dogs, but also cats, such as refusing to break a fight between the animals or not burying their corpses, could be a taboo (ikkibu) of Gula.[71] As of 2014 this reference remains unique, and no other sources mentioning the connection between Gula and cats are known to researchers.[72]

Associations with other deities

In the earliest sources Gula did not have a spouse,[73] and she continued to be regarded as an unmarried goddess through the Old Babylonian period.[74] In documents from the Kassite period, she is addressed as the wife of Ninurta.[75] However, she does not occur in association with him in texts from the archive of the First Sealand dynasty.[76] The god list An = Anum designates Pabilsag as her husband.[27][77] In Neo-Babylonian Uruk, she could be paired with Ninurta, but also with otherwise unknown deity Bēl-SA-naṣru and with dIGI.DU, whose identity is a matter of debate in scholarship.[78] While dIGI.DU could function as a logographic writing of Nergal's name or apparently as an alternate name of Ninurta (the god list CT 25 explains dIGI.DU as dnin-urta ina NIM, "Ninurta in Elam"), neither explanation is plausible in the context of the Uruk archives, as all three of them could appear side by side as distinct deities.[79] In Babylon in the same period Mandanu apparently fulfilled Ninurta's role in association with Gula.[80]

Damu, and Gunura, whose mother was initially Ninisina, were sometimes regarded as Gula's children.[81] In sources from Ur from the Ur III period, Gula appears alongside both of them, though in the same period these two deities were associated with Ninisina in Isin and with Nintinugga in Nippur.[82] According to Irene Sibbing-Plantholt evidence for a familial relation between Damu and Gula is not yet present in any Old Babylonian texts.[83] The proposal that Ninazu was viewed as a son of Gula, while repeated in Assyriological publications as recently as in the 1990s, is now regarded as unsubstantiated.[84]

According to the god list An = Anum, Gula's sukkals (divine viziers) were Urmašum (Urmaš in the Old Babylonian forerunner), dUR (equated with the former) and Uršabiduga.[85] Urmašum is also attested in this role in a late astrological text,[63] where he is equated with the star mulLam-mu, representing the divine vizier of Bau.[85] The latter role in earlier sources belonged to the goddess Lammašaga.[86] This astral body was also known as Lamma, and most likely corresponds to Vega.[87] A further attestation of Urmašum has been identified on an Old Babylonian seal.[85] Andrew R. George additionally argues that a temple dedicated to him might have been mentioned in a missing section of the Canonical Temple List dedicated to Gula and her court.[88] It has been proposed that Urmašum was a canine being, as his name starts with the cuneiform sign ur, also present in the words urgi (dog), urmaḫ (lion) and urbarra (wolf).[63] Manfred Krebernik suggests that since his name also contains the element maš, "twin," it is possible that Gula's sukkals were envisioned as a pair of dogs, perhaps represented by a pair of figures guarding a gate.[85] Jeremiah Peterson notes that a handful of possible instances of Urmašum being regarded as female are known.[89] A deity named Urmašum, presumably associated with the underworld, appears in the Weidner god list alongside Malik and Laṣ, but his relation to Gula's sukkal is uncertain.[85] Latarak was regarded as Gula's doorkeeper, possibly due to his ability to ward off illness attributed to him.[90]

Gula was also seemingly believed to be able to mediate with Marduk, the city god of Babylon, on behalf of human supplicants.[91] Odette Bovin tentatively suggests that she was also counted among the deities belonging to the circle of Marduk and his wife Zarpanit in the local tradition from the Sealand.[92] An association between Gula and Adad is also attested.[93] An inscription of Nebuchadnezzar I refers to him as the ummatu of these two deities, though the meaning of this term remains uncertain.[94] Proposed translations include "offspring" or "member of a group of cultic personnel."[93] As late as during the Achaemenid period, Gula received offerings alongside Adad and his wife Shala in Sippar.[95]

The goddess Ninĝagia, "mistress of the cloister,"[96] is equated with Gula in an emesal lexical list.[97] Ninĝagia is mentioned in offering lists from the Ur III period, and it has been proposed she had her own sanctuary in Nippur in this period.[98] However, a deity also named Ninĝagia who is described as the "chief housekeeper" (agrig-maḫ) in a temple hymn is instead likely to be Nin-MAR.KI,[99] the daughter of Nanshe.[100] Occasionally Ninazu's spouse Ningirida could be seen as an aspect of Gula,[88] as did Imzuanna, the spouse of Lugal-Marada.[101] A similar association between Gula and Ninsun is also attested, and might have also been the reason behind equating Ninurta with Lugalbanda, though according to Alhena Gadotti the latter development was secondary, and it is implausible to assume that Gilgamesh, the son of Ninsun and Lugalbanda, was ever regarded as a child of Gula and Ninurta.[102]

Two bilingual Akkadian-Kassite lexical lists explain the Kassite goddess Ḫala, otherwise only known from theophoric names from Nippur, Nuzi and possibly Assur, as analogous to Gula, which might indicate she was understood as a healing deity.[93] Luwians seemingly regarded the Anatolian goddess of magic, Kamrušepa, as analogous to Gula, and sometimes magical formulas attributed to the former were direct translations of Mesopotamian ones.[103]

Gula and other Mesopotamian healing goddesses

While Mesopotamian medicine goddesses (Gula, Ninisina, Ninkarrak, Nintinugga, Bau and Meme) formed an interconnected network, they were initially fully separate from each other,[104] as evidenced by the fact that in the so-called Weidner god list Gula, Ninisina and Ninkarrak occur in separate places.[105] Furthermore, references to medicine goddesses traveling to meet each other are known from various texts.[106] All of them initially had separate cult centers.[107] While Gula was worshiped in Umma, Nintinugga was associated with Nippur, Ninisina with Isin,[6] and Ninkarrak with Sippar[108] and Terqa.[109]

The association between Gula and Ninisina is considered particularly close.[110] Opinions of experts regarding the time at which the process of partial syncretism between these two goddesses started vary.[111] It is agreed that the Old Babylonian period, the worship of Ninisina declined, and that at this point she was already syncretised with Gula.[112] Earlier the medicine goddess of Umma, Gula, was sometimes referred to as "Ninisina of Umma," though likely mostly because scribes in Puzrish-Dagan were more familiar with the goddess of Isin and as a result preferred applying her name to other healing deities.[111] Ninisina herself never occurs in texts from Umma.[106] Barbara Böck argues she was eventually fully absorbed by Gula,[113] but Irene Sibbing-Plantholt instead concludes that the only goddess who met such a fate was Meme,[25] and lists a number of texts from the first millennium BCE which still present Ninisina as a distinct deity, among them a Neo-Babylonian inscription in which she and Gula are mentioned separately from each other.[114]

Documents from Sippar mention individuals serving as sanga priests of Ninkarrak and Gula, Ninisina or Gula, or just Gula alone.[115] The merging of their respective cults in that location was likely caused by an influx of immigrants from Isin in Hammurabi's times.[108] The identification between the goddesses was so close in some cases that an individual called Puzur-Ninkarrak in one document but Puzur-Gula in another, though it is not certain which writing reflects how the name was pronounced.[116] Since the worship of Ninkarrak was well established locally, Irene Sibbing-Plantholt suggests Gula was only understood as her cognomen.[117] No similar phenomenon is attested from any other cities.[118] Additionally, in later sources from Sippar Gula and Ninkarrak were seemingly kept apart from each other.[95]

Two further goddesses associated with medicine, Bau and Nintinugga, were not yet associated with Gula in the second millennium BCE.[118] Irene Sibbing-Plantholt proposes that when syncretised with Gula, Nintinugga functioned as an embodiment of her ability to revive the dead.[119] Her name was used as late as during the reign of Cyrus the Great, though at that time it was most likely just an epithet of Gula according to Paul-Alain Beaulieu.[120] Bau might have functioned as an alternate name of Gula in the Middle Assyrian period, for example in colophons and in a local version of the Weidner god list, but they were not always equated, and the former maintained a distinct role as the wife of Zababa.[121] It has been proposed that the phrase Bau ša qēreb Aššur was used to differentiate between Bau as a name of Gula from Bau as a separate goddess.[122] An incantation explicitly refers to them as two separate deities, and states that Gula owed her status to Bau, credited with elevating her to her position.[123] Separation between Bau and Gula is also attested in sources from Hellenistic Uruk.[57]

There is some evidence that Gula and Ninkarrak could both be treated as analogous to Ninisina in bilingual Sumero-Akkadian texts.[124] Bilingual texts where Nintinugga appears in Sumerian and Gula in Akkadian are attested too.[125] Other deities who could serve as the Sumerian translation of Gula include Damu and Meme, though she could also appear under her own name in both versions of a bilingual text.[57]

Gula Hymn of Bulluṭsa-rabi

 
A fragment of a tablet inscribed with the hymn attributed to Bulluṭsa-rabi.

The phenomenon of syncretising other deities with Gula is documented in a hymn describing various identities assigned to her which has been composed by Bulluṭsa-rabi [de] (also spelled Bullussa-rabi[126]) at some point between 1400 BCE and 700 BCE.[124] Based on the initial study of the text undertaken by Wilfred G. Lambert it is assumed it cannot be older, as no similar syncretic hymns are known from the Old Babylonian period, and Ningirsu's description as an agricultural deity included in one of the passages is similarly typical only for later times.[127] Known fragments come chiefly from between the Neo-Assyrian and Seleucid periods, though some might date to Arsacid times.[128] It is considered the best known example of an aretalogy in Mesopotamian literature.[129]

The text consists of 200 lines of cuneiform text, divided into 20 strophes,[130] and it is written in first person, with Gula praising herself and identifying herself with other goddesses.[131] They include Nintinugga, Nanshe, Bau, Ninsun, Ninkarrak, Ungal-Nibru, Ninmadiriga, Ninigizibara, and Ninlil.[130] However, Ninisina is not included among them.[132] The presence of Nanshe and Ninsun has been described as "unexpected" by Joan Goodnick Westenholz, though she also noted both of them are described as fulfilling their distinct roles known from other sources, rather than as medicine goddesses.[133] Irene Sibbing-Plantholt states that the reasons behind presenting Ninlil and Ningizibara as healing goddesses are difficult to explain, as neither is otherwise attested in a healing role,[130] while according to Westenholz the former might be treated as such due to the association between Gula and Sud,[133] and the latter, while chiefly associated with Inanna and described as a harpist rather than a healer, was also connected with Gula in Umma.[134] Furthermore, the strophe focused on the theonym Ungal-Nibru appears to describe temples associated with Ninnibru instead.[18] The goddess' spouse, Ninurta, is identified with various gods too.[130] They include Ningirsu, Zababa, Utulu, Lugalbanda,[27] Pabilsag,[135] as well as Ninazu,[134] whose inclusion might depend on the identification between Gula and Ukulla rather than between him and Ninurta.[136] The number of male theonyms is smaller than that of female ones, since Ninurta and Lugalbanda appear in more than one strophe.[135] Both the names of the goddesses and the spouses were all originally individual theonyms, rather than epithets.[137]

The author's identity is not confirmed by the text itself, where the name is only mentioned in the final lines, which implore Gula for a blessing, but the Catalogue of Texts and Authors from Nineveh attributes not only this hymn but also further, presently unidentified, compositions to this person.[138] The name Bulluṭsa-rabi means "her curing is good,"[139] implicitly referring to Gula.[140] Wilfred G. Lambert assumed that the author of the hymn was male,[135] but Zsombor J. Földi notes that subsequent discoveries indicate that while most bearers of the name Bulluṭsa-rabi in the first millennium BCE were men, in earlier sources from the Kassite period it was seemingly only used by women, which depending on the exact date on composition might also mean this specific individual was a woman.[140]

It is assumed that copying the Gula Hymn of Bulluṭsa-rabi was a part of formal training of professional healers in the first millennium BCE.[141] The fact that Gula attributes her medical knowledge to Ea[142] according to Irene Sibbing-Plantholt might reflect the fact that in royal courts, the position of asû (physicians) was lower than that of the āšipu, who were associated with this god.[143]

Worship

Earliest attestations

It is conventionally assumed that Gula appears for the first time in sources from the reign of the Third Dynasty of Ur,[144] and that the initial center of her cult was Umma.[145] In early documents she is often designated as "Gula of Umma" or "Gula of KI.AN," a nearby settlement.[6] However, according to Irene Sibbing-Plantholt the fact she was not one of the tutelary deities of the city of Umma, unlike Shara and his wife Ninura, might indicate that she originated elsewhere.[146] Gula's cult in Umma in the Ur III period has nonetheless been characterized as "thriving."[14] A festival which took place there was centered on her mourning the temporary death of Damu.[36]

Marcos Such-Gutiérrez suggests that an older reference to Gula might be present in a text from Adab from the Old Akkadian period.[9] Her presence in this source is also accepted a possibility by Joan Goodnick Westenholz[6] and Irene Sibbing-Plantholt in more recent publications, though the latter author concludes that "the evidence (...) does not allow for clear conclusions."[147]

Uruk

Gula is already attested in Uruk in sources from the Ur III period.[14] However, she is absent from texts from the Old Babylonian period, possibly because kings from the dynasty of Isin introduced Ninisina into the local pantheon, leading to the disappearance of Gula,[148] though she was later reintroduced.[57] A temple dedicated to Ninisina, the Egalmaḫ, is mentioned in an inscription of the local king Sîn-kāšid.[27] According to Andrew R. George it is possible that it was later understood as dedicated to a manifestation of Gula, as according to him it instead belongs to Bēlet-balāṭi in a document from the late first millennium BCE.[149] He also notes that the fact in the Epic of Gilgamesh it is the name of the temple of Ninsun might have been influenced by a version of the Weidner god list which equates this goddess with Gula.[150] However, Paul-Alain Beaulieu has questioned George's assumption that the temple name É.GAL.EDIN is simply a scribal mistake for Egalmaḫ, and pointed out that Bēlet-balāṭi was apparently understood as a separate goddess from Gula in Uruk.[151] The assumption that the Egalmaḫ was a temple of Gula is accepted by Julia Krul.[152]

In the Neo-Babylonian period, three manifestations of Gula were worshiped in Uruk: Gula, Gula ša kisalli ("of the courtyard") and Gula of Bīt-Gula, apparently associated with a small settlement located nearby.[27] Her temple was apparently a part of the Eanna complex.[151] Among the offerings she received according to administrative texts were salt, dates, barley (in some cases meant for brewers or bakers in her service), beer and various sacrificial animals (oxen, sheep, ducks, geese and turtledoves).[153]

In Seleucid Uruk Gula was one of the divine participants in a parade held during a New Year festival as a member of entourage of Antu, alongside deities such as Shala, Aya, Amasagnudi, Sadarnunna and Ashratum.[154] However, for uncertain reasons she is entirely absent from theophoric names from the same period.[34] Julia Krul points out that while some deities, for example Nabu, ceased to be invoked in them due to change in political relations between individual cities, it is unlikely that Gula is an example of this phenomenon, as the connection between Uruk and Nippur, her primary cult center in this period, remained close.[32]

Nippur

Gula was introduced to Nippur in the Old Babylonian period, though not much evidence of her early cult in this city exists.[148] She only became a major deity in the local pantheon the Kassite period.[155] At this time, she came to be the second most commonly invoked goddess in theophoric names from this city, which indicates she enjoyed popularity in the sphere of personal religion.[156] In late sources, Nippur was the city she was most strongly associated with,[32] though through much of her history she was not tied to a single specific cult center.[157] She most likely occurs alongside the deities of Nippur, namely Enlil, Ninlil and Ninurta, in an inscription of Marduk-balassu-iqbi.[57] It is possible that a temple bearing the name Egalmaḫ which formed a part of the Ekur complex was dedicated to Gula in the role of the wife of Ninurta.[158] In 1990 Oriental Institute excavators identified a building in area WA as the Temple of Gula, a goddess of healing and consort of Ninurta. The earliest identified construction of the temple was in the Isin-Larsa period, with major rebuilds in the Kassite, Neo-Assyrian, and Neo-Babylonian periods.[159] It is thought that the missing temple of Ninurta is nearby.[160]

Textual sources indicate that in later periods, the temple of Gula in Nippur housed many other deities,[57] including Ninurta, Damu, Kurunnam, Kusu, Urmaḫ, Nuska, Ninimma, Shuzianna, Belet-Seri, the Sebitti, Bēl-āliya, Sirash and Ninĝirzida.[120] Kurunnam or Kurunnitu (dKAŠ.DIN.NAM) was a goddess associated with beer, named after kurunnu, a type of this beverage regarded as high quality, and presented as analogous to Ninkasi in lamentations.[161] Kusu was a purification goddess, the personification of a type of ritual censer, already attested in texts from Lagash.[4] Urmaḫ, the deified lion, was also worshiped in Assur, in this case alongside Sumuqan.[162] Nuska was the divine vizier (sukkal) of Enlil.[163] Ninimma was a goddess associated with writing, though also attested in a Gula-like healing role.[75] Shuzianna was regarded as a secondary wife of Enlil.[164] Belet-Seri was the Akkadian counterpart of Geshtinanna,[165] and also appears in Gula's entourage elsewhere in the first millennium BCE.[32] Sebitti were a group of seven warlike gods usually associated with Nergal.[166] Bēl-āliya has been characterized by Paul-Alain Beaulieu as an "anonymous divine mayor."[120] He remarks that this theonym was most likely a generic title and could designate many deities in various locations, for example Pisangunug in Kullaba.[167] Lists of as many as twelve "divine mayors" are known.[168] Sirash was a deity associated with brewing, often paired with Ninkasi, either as her sister or Akkadian equivalent.[169] Ninĝirzida was a minor goddess whose name can be understood as "lady of the right knife," perhaps to be translated as "scalpel" in this context.[170]

Babylon and Borsippa

In the city of Babylon, Gula was worshiped in a temple initially built by the king Sumu-abum for Ninisina,[171] perhaps to be identified with the Egalmaḫ, "exalted palace," which formed a part of the Esagil complex.[149] She had a second temple there as well,[172] the Esabad, "house of the open ear," which was rebuilt by Ashurbanipal and Nebuchadnezzar II and survived as late as in the Arsacid period.[173] Additionally the name Eḫursagsikila, house, pure mountain,[174] which was usually assigned to a temple of Ninkarrak, is associated with Gula in a few inscriptions instead.[175]

In Borsippa, considered to be interconnected with Babylon in the sphere of religion,[176] Gula is attested at least since the Neo-Assyrian period.[127] Nebuchadnezzar II restored her temple in this city, the Egula, "big house."[177] A secondary manifestation of this goddess worshiped locally, Gula (ša) abbi, most likely to be understood as "Gula of the ancestors," might have been either a remnant of a domestic cult predating Gula's presence in royal inscriptions from Borsippa, or an unidentified local deity who came to be equated with her.[127]

A late cultic calendar presumed to come from either Borsippa or Babylon connects Gula with the mourning rites of Enmesharra:[176] "Gula set up weeping for Enmešarra, who had been defeated."[178]

Other southern cities

Gula was already present in the local pantheon of Ur in the Ur III period, though there is no indication that she belonged to the circle of the city god, Nanna.[146] It has been proposed that a temple built there by Warad-Sin, which according to an inscription was dedicated to Ninisina, in reality belonged to Gula, as the former of these two goddesses is otherwise entirely absent from sources from this city.[148] According to Joan Goodnick Westenholz, sporadic early attestations of Gula are also available from Lagash as well.[6]

It has been argued that in the Old Babylonian period, Gula was overall one of the most popular goddesses, as in sources such a personal letters she appears with comparable frequency to Annunitum, Aya, Ninsianna and Zarpanit, though less commonly than Ishtar.[179] However, despite presumed popularity in the sphere of personal worship, she is rare in Old Babylonian theophoric names.[180]

In Larsa, Gula was only introduced after the city was conquered by Hammurabi of Babylon.[180] Her cult in this city is poorly documented, though her temple has been identified during excavations, and based on its size it is presumed that she was a major deity in the local pantheon.[180] Furthemore, she also appears in documents from Isin for the first time after its conquest by the same king.[180] While the tutelary goddess of the city, Ninisina, continued to be invoked in royal inscriptions, Gula apparently was worshiped more commonly than her after the city was rebuilt by Kurigalzu I.[71] The Egalmaḫ, "exalted palace,"[149] apparently came to be associated with her, despite originally being a temple of Ninisina.[181] During excavations, a dog cemetery which formed a part of its complex has been discovered.[45] Hammurabi also introduced the worship of Gula to Sippar, though her importance there remained minor through the Old Babylonian period[182] and she is similarly scarcely attested there in the Kassite period.[183] Sources dated to the reign of Nabopolassar attest that she had a temple there, the Eulla,[80] "house of rejoicing."[184]

While Gula is the only healing goddess mentioned in the documents of the First Sealand dynasty,[165] her cult only had a marginal importance in its territories.[74]

In the Kassite period, the clergy of Nippur was responsible for establishing the cult of Gula in Dur-Kurigalzu, a new city built by Kurigalzu I to act as his royal residence.[156] She also appears in theophoric names from this site, such as Gula-balāṭa-ēriš and Uballiṭsu-Gula.[185] Furthermore, a possible temple dedicated to her has been discovered during excavations.[71] Temples of Gula also existed in Dūr-Enlilē and Ḫilpu.[50] In the latter city, she was worshiped jointly with Ninurta in the Emupada, "house chosen by name."[183] This city was apparently located between Dur-Kurigalzu and Sippar,[93] on the Euphrates.[186] She was also possibly worshiped in the temple Ezibatila in Marad.[187] Additionally, Egašantina, "house of the lady of life," which is mentioned in an unpublished hymn, might have also been a temple of Gula.[188]

Assyria

Gula is absent from Old Assyrian sources.[148] She was only introduced to Assyria in the second half of the second millennium BCE,[50] when a temple dedicated to her was built in Assur, possibly by Tukulti-Ninurta I, though the only clear evidence is a later inscription of Adad-nirari II which attributes this construction project to him.[189] It bore the name Esabad.[190] While the temple of Assur is also well attested in sources from the Neo-Assyrian period, a new one was also built in Kalhu by Ashurnasirpal II when he made it the new royal residence.[191] A further Assyrian temple of Gula, possibly bearing the name Egalmaḫ, existed in Ṭābetu.[122]

According to documents from the reign of Tukulti-Ninurta I, Mardaman also had a temple of Gula, but it cannot be presently established if it replaced the one belonging to the earlier city goddess, Shuwala.[192] There is no evidence that the latter was still worshiped after the Assyrian conquest of the city.[193] While earlier Old Babylonian texts from Mari indicate Mardaman was known for the presence of skilled practitioners of medicine, its tutelary goddess was not associated with healing.[194] Irene Sibbing-Plantholt proposes that Gula, who was unknown in Upper Mesopotamia before the Middle Assyrian period, was introduced to the city because of the reputation of its healers.[30]

Outside Mesopotamia

It is assumed that attestations of Gula from outside Mesopotamia, specifically scholarly texts from Hattusa, Ugarit and Emar, indicate that she "traveled with scholars to all the corners of the cuneiform world."[195] A man bearing the theophoric name Kidin-Gula resided as a scribal school teacher in the last of these three cities, though it is presumed he arrived there from Mesopotamia.[196] With the exception of theophoric names, the worship of Gula is not attested in Emar,[197] and according to Gary Beckman's survey of the local pantheon the attestations come exclusively from colophons.[198] In Ugarit she appears in an incantation written in Akkadian alongside the goddess Bizilla, here referred to as the "lady of relief,"[199] be-let tap-ši-iḫ-ti.[200]

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  • Lambert, Wilfred G. (1967). "The Gula Hymn of Bulluṭsa-rabi". Orientalia. GBPress - Gregorian Biblical Press. 36 (2): 105–132. ISSN 0030-5367. JSTOR 43074151. Retrieved 2022-09-07.
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  • Westenholz, Joan G. (2010). "Ninkarrak – an Akkadian goddess in Sumerian guise". Von Göttern und Menschen. Brill. pp. 377–405. doi:10.1163/9789004187474_020. ISBN 9789004187481.

March 05, 2023
gula, goddess, gula, sumerian, great, mesopotamian, goddess, medicine, portrayed, divine, physician, midwife, over, course, second, first, millennia, became, main, deities, mesopotamian, pantheon, eventually, started, viewed, second, highest, ranked, goddess, . Gula Sumerian the great 1 was a Mesopotamian goddess of medicine portrayed as a divine physician and midwife Over the course of the second and first millennia BCE she became one of the main deities of the Mesopotamian pantheon and eventually started to be viewed as the second highest ranked goddess after Ishtar She was associated with dogs and could be depicted alongside these animals for example on kudurru inscribed boundary stones and receive figurines representing them as votive offerings GulaDivine physicianA healing goddess with a dog on a kudurruMajor cult centerUmma later NippurSymboldog scalpelPersonal informationSpouseNinurta Mandanu AbuChildrenDamu and GunuraEquivalentsIsin equivalentNinisinaSippar and Terqa equivalentNinkarrakNippur equivalentNintinuggaLuwian equivalentKamrusepaWhile Gula was initially regarded as unmarried in the Kassite period she came to be associated with Ninurta In Babylon his role could also be fulfilled by Mandanu while the god list An Anum links Gula with Pabilsag and Abu The circle of deities closely associated with her also included Damu and Gunura who eventually started to be regarded as her children as well as her sukkal divine vizier Urmasum who might have been imagined as a dog like being Through various syncretic processes she could be equated with other goddesses of similar character including Ninisina Ninkarrak Nintinugga Bau and Meme though all of them were originally separate and with the exception of the last of them did not entirely cease to be worshiped separately even though their individual cults did decline A well known composition dedicated to describing Gula s syncretic associations is the Gula Hymn of Bulluṭsa rabi which seemingly was copied by Mesopotamian practitioners of medicine during their formal training It is conventionally assumed that Gula originated in Umma where she is well attested in the Ur III period though possible older references are present in texts from Adab In the following centuries her cult spread to other cities including Nippur which eventually came to be regarded as her primary cult center as well as Uruk Babylon Ur and Lagash After the conquests of Hammurabi she was also introduced to Larsa Sippar and Isin In the Kassite period she started to be worshiped in the newly established royal city of Dur Kurigalzu In Assyria Gula only appears for the first time in the Middle Babylonian period She had temples in Assur Kalhu Tabetu and Mardaman Attestations from outside Mesopotamia for example from Emar and Ugarit are largely limited to scholarly texts Contents 1 Name 1 1 Gu2 la2 1 2 Ninnibru 1 3 dME ME 1 4 Belet balaṭi 1 5 Amaʾarḫussu 2 Character and iconography 2 1 Gula and dogs 2 2 Other animal associations 3 Associations with other deities 3 1 Gula and other Mesopotamian healing goddesses 3 2 Gula Hymn of Bulluṭsa rabi 4 Worship 4 1 Earliest attestations 4 2 Uruk 4 3 Nippur 4 4 Babylon and Borsippa 4 5 Other southern cities 4 6 Assyria 4 7 Outside Mesopotamia 5 References 5 1 BibliographyName EditGula s name has Sumerian origin and is usually understood as the great 1 2 Based on context the common word gula could also mean greater greatest former capital or main 3 In sources from the Ur III period the word gula was sometimes used simply as an epithet added to names of various deities references to Inanna gula Ninhursag gula or even Alla gula are known 4 It was also applied to the medicine goddess Ninisina for example in an offering list from Lagash and in a hymn from the reign of Ishbi Erra 5 It has been proposed that the goddess Gula was herself initially an epithet but gradually morphed into a separate deity 6 A well known comparable example of a Mesopotamian deity who developed this way is Annunitum 1 who was initially an epithet of Ishtar 7 Gu2 la2 Edit Jeremiah Peterson states that Gula 𒀭𒄖𒆷 and Gu2 la2 𒀭𒄘𒇲 who frequently appears in god lists in association with Abu were most likely understood as two orthographies of a single theonym though he accepts the possibility that they were originally separate deities and notes they might have continued to be recognized as such as late as in the Old Babylonian period 8 Researchers who support this proposal include Marcos Such Gutierrez 9 Joan Goodnick Westenholz 5 and Irene Sibbing Plantholt 10 Evidence in favor of this possibility includes the location of the respective cult centers of Gula and Gu2 la2 in different parts of Mesopotamia in the Ur III period lack of any indications that the writing gu2 la2 ever corresponded to the term gula and separate placement in god lists though it is not unambiguous 11 It is also possible that the name of Gu2 la2 had a different etymology with the verb gu2 la2 to lean over or to embrace being suggested by Sibbing Plantholt 12 Gu2 la2 is first attested in the Early Dynastic period in the Fara and Abu Salabikh god lists as well as in theophoric names 13 However she is absent from literary texts and evidence of her cult is not present in any texts postdating the Old Babylonian period 14 There is no indication that she was a healing goddess in known sources 12 and her character is unknown 14 In the later god list An Anum Gula rather than Gu2 la2 appears as the spouse of Abu 15 A third goddess who due to her name being homophonous could be connected to or confused with Gula and Gu2 la2 was Ukulla the spouse of Tishpak 16 Furthermore Wilfred G Lambert has identified examples of confusion between the name of Gula and that of the male bricklayer deity Kulla 17 Ninnibru Edit Main article Ninnibru Ninnibru also known under the Akkadian form the name Belet Nippuri 18 the lady of Nippur was a goddess regarded as the wife of Ninurta who first appears in offering lists from the Ur III period 19 She eventually came to be understood as a form of Gula and as such ceased to be regarded as a distinct goddess 18 It is presently uncertain if she was still worshiped as a distinct deity in the Kassite period when Ninurta was paired with Gula 20 As Ninnibru Gula was worshiped in the Esumesa 21 a well attested temple of Ninurta in Nippur 22 The epithet Ninnibru was sometimes applied to Ninimma who was usually not the wife of Ninurta 18 though an exception can be found in the recently published Hymn to Ninimma for Nanne Nanne being a little known king mentioned also in the Tummal Inscription 23 Ninnibru is not to be confused with the similarly named Ungal Nibru Sarrat Nippuri the queen of Nippur 18 as both of these names could be used in the same texts to designate distinct goddesses with the latter understood as a form of Ishtar rather than Gula 24 dME ME Edit Main article Meme Mesopotamian goddess While Meme was initially a separate goddess she came to be eventually absorbed by Gula 25 and her name started to be used as an alternate writing of the latter theonym 26 As a result dME ME is attested as a logographic representation of Gula s name for example in the Neo Babylonian Eanna archive from Uruk 27 and other sources from the first millenjnium BCE though the association might go further back to Old Babylonian lexical list 28 Belet balaṭi Edit Belet balaṭi is attested both as a theonym written with the dingir sign which served as a determinative designating names of deities in cuneiform and as an epithet of Gula 29 In the latter capacity it can be found in incantations 30 Irene Sibbing Plantholt argues that she should be understood either as a deity syncretised with Gula or as her epithet which came to be treated as a separate manifestation of her 29 Paul Alain Beaulieu proposes that she might correspond to Manungal though he also notes she could be considered a form of Gula or a member of the circle of deities associated with her 31 Amaʾarḫussu Edit Main article Ama arhus The names Nin amaʾarḫussu lady merciful mother and Amaʾarḫussu merciful mother 32 are applied to Gula in two copies of an explanatory text 33 According to Julia Krul it is possible that the latter also served as a stand in for Gula s name in theophoric names from Uruk from the Hellenistic period 34 However Joan Goodnick Westenholz assumed she was a separate goddess only introduced to the local pantheon in late times similarly as Amasagnudi or Sarraḫitu 35 Character and iconography Edit Kudurru of Gula displayed in the Louvre Like other Mesopotamian medicine goddesses Gula was regarded as a divine physician 36 While the earliest sources do not directly mention that she was perceived as such an association with healing is implied for example by the fact that offers to her were made by Nawir ilum Su kabta and Ubartum well attested high ranking individuals from the Ur III period who worked as asu physicians 37 Lack of early references to her character might indicate that she was chiefly worshiped as a healing deity in domestic environments at first 38 A later hymn calls her the great doctoress 39 She could be described as equipped with a variety of tools employed by physicians in ancient Mesopotamia including various herbal remedies a razor a scalpel and a number of other knives or lancets 40 Like other medicine goddesses Gula was believed to be able to use illnesses as punishment in addition to healing them 41 However in contrast with Ninkarrak she was not specifically invoked to such ends in curses 42 Gula already appears in an incantation from the Ur III period dealing with complication from birth which states that she was responsible for cutting the umbilical cord 43 She could also be invoked to determine a favorable destiny for the newborn 44 As an extension of such roles she was regarded as capable of treating diseases of infants and functioned as an enemy of the demon Lamashtu 45 Barbara Bock characterizes the latter as the counter image of Gula 46 based on their contrasting roles as respectively a demon killing infants and a divine midwife 47 Other protective functions could be assigned to Gula too for example a Namburbi incantation invokes her in domestic context against the evil influence of a fungus katarru 29 She was also sometimes associated with the underworld to a degree 36 The Gula Hymn of Bulluṭsa rabi goes as far as having the goddess declare I bring up the dead from the netherworld 48 In one incantation she is invoked to counter the harmful influence of Allatum here a name of Ereshkigal rather than a distinct deity on a patient 49 Gula s prominence in the Mesopotamian pantheon grew over the course of the second half of the second millennium BCE 50 and she came to be viewed as one of its main goddesses alongside Ishtar surpassing Ninhursag in the process 51 She also eventually eclipsed all the other medicine goddesses 52 On kudurru decorated boundary stones Gula was depicted in an anthropomorphic form sitting on a throne rather than in a symbolic way like most other deities 53 Nanaya a goddess of love and Lamma minor tutelary goddesses were the only other female deities depicted similarly 54 though Gula was represented on kudurru more commonly then them 55 Many figurative depictions of her are also known from Neo Assyrian seals on which she is the most commonly appearing goddess 56 The nineteenth day of the month was associated with Gula 57 Gula and dogs Edit Gula was associated with dogs 58 and in art could be accompanied by these animals 59 though their depictions are relatively uncommon 41 The origin of the link between dogs and Mesopotamian healing goddesses is uncertain but it has been proposed that it was either the result of observing that saliva of dogs has healing properties or an extension of a belief that disease can be transferred magically to an animal if it licks the patient 45 The connection is already attested in the Ur III period 60 though the oldest evidence is limited to documents which mention meat meant for dogs alongside offerings to Gula and she only started to receive votive offerings shaped like these animals in the Old Babylonian period 61 Depictions of the dogs of Gula Textual sources indicate that they could be invoked in oaths 62 and that they were believed to assist her in combat against Lamashtu 45 One of the incantations against this demon contains the formula We are not just any dog we are dogs of Gula poised to flay your face tear your back to pieces and lacerate your ankles 46 One Neo Assyrian text dealing with Babylonian customs states that a dog which crossed the Esabad one of Gula s temples was believed to be a messenger sent by her 63 Both a text referring to Gula being surrounded by puppies huddled together and archeological finds indicate she could be associated with young dogs as well rather than just with adult animals 47 This connection is also confirmed by the theophoric name Muranu Gula from miranu young dog attested in the Neo Babylonian period 64 Other animal associations Edit In one ritual formula a worm most likely a leech is called the daughter of Gula 65 It is unclear if this was meant to elevate it to the rank of a demonic creature similar to how Lamashtu was usually called the daughter of Anu and Namtar was occasionally the son of Enlil 66 or if it perhaps hints at an otherwise not directly attested medicinal use of leeches in ancient Mesopotamia 67 There is however no direct evidence of bloodletting being practiced and the references to it in the Babylonian Talmud are assumed to reflect influence of Greek medicine in the Levant rather than a Mesopotamian tradition 65 A single incantation YOS 11 5 9 14 appears to refer to unspecified worms as dogs of Gula 49 Describing other animals as dogs is not unparalleled in other Mesopotamian magical texts as various field pests including locusts small birds and caterpillars were called dogs of Ninkilim but no other uses of this figure of speech in relation to Gula are known 68 Based on these scattered references Nathan Wasserman suggests that a type of worm possibly a leech was regarded as Gula s attribute in addition to the better known association with dogs 69 This proposal is also supported by Barbara Bock 70 The text LKA 20 referred to in scholarship as an the incantation of burnt material mentions that transgressions not only against dogs but also cats such as refusing to break a fight between the animals or not burying their corpses could be a taboo ikkibu of Gula 71 As of 2014 this reference remains unique and no other sources mentioning the connection between Gula and cats are known to researchers 72 Associations with other deities EditIn the earliest sources Gula did not have a spouse 73 and she continued to be regarded as an unmarried goddess through the Old Babylonian period 74 In documents from the Kassite period she is addressed as the wife of Ninurta 75 However she does not occur in association with him in texts from the archive of the First Sealand dynasty 76 The god list An Anum designates Pabilsag as her husband 27 77 In Neo Babylonian Uruk she could be paired with Ninurta but also with otherwise unknown deity Bel SA naṣru and with dIGI DU whose identity is a matter of debate in scholarship 78 While dIGI DU could function as a logographic writing of Nergal s name or apparently as an alternate name of Ninurta the god list CT 25 explains dIGI DU as dnin urta ina NIM Ninurta in Elam neither explanation is plausible in the context of the Uruk archives as all three of them could appear side by side as distinct deities 79 In Babylon in the same period Mandanu apparently fulfilled Ninurta s role in association with Gula 80 Damu and Gunura whose mother was initially Ninisina were sometimes regarded as Gula s children 81 In sources from Ur from the Ur III period Gula appears alongside both of them though in the same period these two deities were associated with Ninisina in Isin and with Nintinugga in Nippur 82 According to Irene Sibbing Plantholt evidence for a familial relation between Damu and Gula is not yet present in any Old Babylonian texts 83 The proposal that Ninazu was viewed as a son of Gula while repeated in Assyriological publications as recently as in the 1990s is now regarded as unsubstantiated 84 According to the god list An Anum Gula s sukkals divine viziers were Urmasum Urmas in the Old Babylonian forerunner dUR equated with the former and Ursabiduga 85 Urmasum is also attested in this role in a late astrological text 63 where he is equated with the star mulLam mu representing the divine vizier of Bau 85 The latter role in earlier sources belonged to the goddess Lammasaga 86 This astral body was also known as Lamma and most likely corresponds to Vega 87 A further attestation of Urmasum has been identified on an Old Babylonian seal 85 Andrew R George additionally argues that a temple dedicated to him might have been mentioned in a missing section of the Canonical Temple List dedicated to Gula and her court 88 It has been proposed that Urmasum was a canine being as his name starts with the cuneiform sign ur also present in the words urgi dog urmaḫ lion and urbarra wolf 63 Manfred Krebernik suggests that since his name also contains the element mas twin it is possible that Gula s sukkals were envisioned as a pair of dogs perhaps represented by a pair of figures guarding a gate 85 Jeremiah Peterson notes that a handful of possible instances of Urmasum being regarded as female are known 89 A deity named Urmasum presumably associated with the underworld appears in the Weidner god list alongside Malik and Laṣ but his relation to Gula s sukkal is uncertain 85 Latarak was regarded as Gula s doorkeeper possibly due to his ability to ward off illness attributed to him 90 Gula was also seemingly believed to be able to mediate with Marduk the city god of Babylon on behalf of human supplicants 91 Odette Bovin tentatively suggests that she was also counted among the deities belonging to the circle of Marduk and his wife Zarpanit in the local tradition from the Sealand 92 An association between Gula and Adad is also attested 93 An inscription of Nebuchadnezzar I refers to him as the ummatu of these two deities though the meaning of this term remains uncertain 94 Proposed translations include offspring or member of a group of cultic personnel 93 As late as during the Achaemenid period Gula received offerings alongside Adad and his wife Shala in Sippar 95 The goddess Ninĝagia mistress of the cloister 96 is equated with Gula in an emesal lexical list 97 Ninĝagia is mentioned in offering lists from the Ur III period and it has been proposed she had her own sanctuary in Nippur in this period 98 However a deity also named Ninĝagia who is described as the chief housekeeper agrig maḫ in a temple hymn is instead likely to be Nin MAR KI 99 the daughter of Nanshe 100 Occasionally Ninazu s spouse Ningirida could be seen as an aspect of Gula 88 as did Imzuanna the spouse of Lugal Marada 101 A similar association between Gula and Ninsun is also attested and might have also been the reason behind equating Ninurta with Lugalbanda though according to Alhena Gadotti the latter development was secondary and it is implausible to assume that Gilgamesh the son of Ninsun and Lugalbanda was ever regarded as a child of Gula and Ninurta 102 Two bilingual Akkadian Kassite lexical lists explain the Kassite goddess Ḫala otherwise only known from theophoric names from Nippur Nuzi and possibly Assur as analogous to Gula which might indicate she was understood as a healing deity 93 Luwians seemingly regarded the Anatolian goddess of magic Kamrusepa as analogous to Gula and sometimes magical formulas attributed to the former were direct translations of Mesopotamian ones 103 Gula and other Mesopotamian healing goddesses Edit While Mesopotamian medicine goddesses Gula Ninisina Ninkarrak Nintinugga Bau and Meme formed an interconnected network they were initially fully separate from each other 104 as evidenced by the fact that in the so called Weidner god list Gula Ninisina and Ninkarrak occur in separate places 105 Furthermore references to medicine goddesses traveling to meet each other are known from various texts 106 All of them initially had separate cult centers 107 While Gula was worshiped in Umma Nintinugga was associated with Nippur Ninisina with Isin 6 and Ninkarrak with Sippar 108 and Terqa 109 The association between Gula and Ninisina is considered particularly close 110 Opinions of experts regarding the time at which the process of partial syncretism between these two goddesses started vary 111 It is agreed that the Old Babylonian period the worship of Ninisina declined and that at this point she was already syncretised with Gula 112 Earlier the medicine goddess of Umma Gula was sometimes referred to as Ninisina of Umma though likely mostly because scribes in Puzrish Dagan were more familiar with the goddess of Isin and as a result preferred applying her name to other healing deities 111 Ninisina herself never occurs in texts from Umma 106 Barbara Bock argues she was eventually fully absorbed by Gula 113 but Irene Sibbing Plantholt instead concludes that the only goddess who met such a fate was Meme 25 and lists a number of texts from the first millennium BCE which still present Ninisina as a distinct deity among them a Neo Babylonian inscription in which she and Gula are mentioned separately from each other 114 Documents from Sippar mention individuals serving as sanga priests of Ninkarrak and Gula Ninisina or Gula or just Gula alone 115 The merging of their respective cults in that location was likely caused by an influx of immigrants from Isin in Hammurabi s times 108 The identification between the goddesses was so close in some cases that an individual called Puzur Ninkarrak in one document but Puzur Gula in another though it is not certain which writing reflects how the name was pronounced 116 Since the worship of Ninkarrak was well established locally Irene Sibbing Plantholt suggests Gula was only understood as her cognomen 117 No similar phenomenon is attested from any other cities 118 Additionally in later sources from Sippar Gula and Ninkarrak were seemingly kept apart from each other 95 Two further goddesses associated with medicine Bau and Nintinugga were not yet associated with Gula in the second millennium BCE 118 Irene Sibbing Plantholt proposes that when syncretised with Gula Nintinugga functioned as an embodiment of her ability to revive the dead 119 Her name was used as late as during the reign of Cyrus the Great though at that time it was most likely just an epithet of Gula according to Paul Alain Beaulieu 120 Bau might have functioned as an alternate name of Gula in the Middle Assyrian period for example in colophons and in a local version of the Weidner god list but they were not always equated and the former maintained a distinct role as the wife of Zababa 121 It has been proposed that the phrase Bau sa qereb Assur was used to differentiate between Bau as a name of Gula from Bau as a separate goddess 122 An incantation explicitly refers to them as two separate deities and states that Gula owed her status to Bau credited with elevating her to her position 123 Separation between Bau and Gula is also attested in sources from Hellenistic Uruk 57 There is some evidence that Gula and Ninkarrak could both be treated as analogous to Ninisina in bilingual Sumero Akkadian texts 124 Bilingual texts where Nintinugga appears in Sumerian and Gula in Akkadian are attested too 125 Other deities who could serve as the Sumerian translation of Gula include Damu and Meme though she could also appear under her own name in both versions of a bilingual text 57 Gula Hymn of Bulluṭsa rabi Edit A fragment of a tablet inscribed with the hymn attributed to Bulluṭsa rabi The phenomenon of syncretising other deities with Gula is documented in a hymn describing various identities assigned to her which has been composed by Bulluṭsa rabi de also spelled Bullussa rabi 126 at some point between 1400 BCE and 700 BCE 124 Based on the initial study of the text undertaken by Wilfred G Lambert it is assumed it cannot be older as no similar syncretic hymns are known from the Old Babylonian period and Ningirsu s description as an agricultural deity included in one of the passages is similarly typical only for later times 127 Known fragments come chiefly from between the Neo Assyrian and Seleucid periods though some might date to Arsacid times 128 It is considered the best known example of an aretalogy in Mesopotamian literature 129 The text consists of 200 lines of cuneiform text divided into 20 strophes 130 and it is written in first person with Gula praising herself and identifying herself with other goddesses 131 They include Nintinugga Nanshe Bau Ninsun Ninkarrak Ungal Nibru Ninmadiriga Ninigizibara and Ninlil 130 However Ninisina is not included among them 132 The presence of Nanshe and Ninsun has been described as unexpected by Joan Goodnick Westenholz though she also noted both of them are described as fulfilling their distinct roles known from other sources rather than as medicine goddesses 133 Irene Sibbing Plantholt states that the reasons behind presenting Ninlil and Ningizibara as healing goddesses are difficult to explain as neither is otherwise attested in a healing role 130 while according to Westenholz the former might be treated as such due to the association between Gula and Sud 133 and the latter while chiefly associated with Inanna and described as a harpist rather than a healer was also connected with Gula in Umma 134 Furthermore the strophe focused on the theonym Ungal Nibru appears to describe temples associated with Ninnibru instead 18 The goddess spouse Ninurta is identified with various gods too 130 They include Ningirsu Zababa Utulu Lugalbanda 27 Pabilsag 135 as well as Ninazu 134 whose inclusion might depend on the identification between Gula and Ukulla rather than between him and Ninurta 136 The number of male theonyms is smaller than that of female ones since Ninurta and Lugalbanda appear in more than one strophe 135 Both the names of the goddesses and the spouses were all originally individual theonyms rather than epithets 137 The author s identity is not confirmed by the text itself where the name is only mentioned in the final lines which implore Gula for a blessing but the Catalogue of Texts and Authors from Nineveh attributes not only this hymn but also further presently unidentified compositions to this person 138 The name Bulluṭsa rabi means her curing is good 139 implicitly referring to Gula 140 Wilfred G Lambert assumed that the author of the hymn was male 135 but Zsombor J Foldi notes that subsequent discoveries indicate that while most bearers of the name Bulluṭsa rabi in the first millennium BCE were men in earlier sources from the Kassite period it was seemingly only used by women which depending on the exact date on composition might also mean this specific individual was a woman 140 It is assumed that copying the Gula Hymn of Bulluṭsa rabi was a part of formal training of professional healers in the first millennium BCE 141 The fact that Gula attributes her medical knowledge to Ea 142 according to Irene Sibbing Plantholt might reflect the fact that in royal courts the position of asu physicians was lower than that of the asipu who were associated with this god 143 Worship EditEarliest attestations Edit It is conventionally assumed that Gula appears for the first time in sources from the reign of the Third Dynasty of Ur 144 and that the initial center of her cult was Umma 145 In early documents she is often designated as Gula of Umma or Gula of KI AN a nearby settlement 6 However according to Irene Sibbing Plantholt the fact she was not one of the tutelary deities of the city of Umma unlike Shara and his wife Ninura might indicate that she originated elsewhere 146 Gula s cult in Umma in the Ur III period has nonetheless been characterized as thriving 14 A festival which took place there was centered on her mourning the temporary death of Damu 36 Marcos Such Gutierrez suggests that an older reference to Gula might be present in a text from Adab from the Old Akkadian period 9 Her presence in this source is also accepted a possibility by Joan Goodnick Westenholz 6 and Irene Sibbing Plantholt in more recent publications though the latter author concludes that the evidence does not allow for clear conclusions 147 Uruk Edit Gula is already attested in Uruk in sources from the Ur III period 14 However she is absent from texts from the Old Babylonian period possibly because kings from the dynasty of Isin introduced Ninisina into the local pantheon leading to the disappearance of Gula 148 though she was later reintroduced 57 A temple dedicated to Ninisina the Egalmaḫ is mentioned in an inscription of the local king Sin kasid 27 According to Andrew R George it is possible that it was later understood as dedicated to a manifestation of Gula as according to him it instead belongs to Belet balaṭi in a document from the late first millennium BCE 149 He also notes that the fact in the Epic of Gilgamesh it is the name of the temple of Ninsun might have been influenced by a version of the Weidner god list which equates this goddess with Gula 150 However Paul Alain Beaulieu has questioned George s assumption that the temple name E GAL EDIN is simply a scribal mistake for Egalmaḫ and pointed out that Belet balaṭi was apparently understood as a separate goddess from Gula in Uruk 151 The assumption that the Egalmaḫ was a temple of Gula is accepted by Julia Krul 152 In the Neo Babylonian period three manifestations of Gula were worshiped in Uruk Gula Gula sa kisalli of the courtyard and Gula of Bit Gula apparently associated with a small settlement located nearby 27 Her temple was apparently a part of the Eanna complex 151 Among the offerings she received according to administrative texts were salt dates barley in some cases meant for brewers or bakers in her service beer and various sacrificial animals oxen sheep ducks geese and turtledoves 153 In Seleucid Uruk Gula was one of the divine participants in a parade held during a New Year festival as a member of entourage of Antu alongside deities such as Shala Aya Amasagnudi Sadarnunna and Ashratum 154 However for uncertain reasons she is entirely absent from theophoric names from the same period 34 Julia Krul points out that while some deities for example Nabu ceased to be invoked in them due to change in political relations between individual cities it is unlikely that Gula is an example of this phenomenon as the connection between Uruk and Nippur her primary cult center in this period remained close 32 Nippur Edit Gula was introduced to Nippur in the Old Babylonian period though not much evidence of her early cult in this city exists 148 She only became a major deity in the local pantheon the Kassite period 155 At this time she came to be the second most commonly invoked goddess in theophoric names from this city which indicates she enjoyed popularity in the sphere of personal religion 156 In late sources Nippur was the city she was most strongly associated with 32 though through much of her history she was not tied to a single specific cult center 157 She most likely occurs alongside the deities of Nippur namely Enlil Ninlil and Ninurta in an inscription of Marduk balassu iqbi 57 It is possible that a temple bearing the name Egalmaḫ which formed a part of the Ekur complex was dedicated to Gula in the role of the wife of Ninurta 158 In 1990 Oriental Institute excavators identified a building in area WA as the Temple of Gula a goddess of healing and consort of Ninurta The earliest identified construction of the temple was in the Isin Larsa period with major rebuilds in the Kassite Neo Assyrian and Neo Babylonian periods 159 It is thought that the missing temple of Ninurta is nearby 160 Textual sources indicate that in later periods the temple of Gula in Nippur housed many other deities 57 including Ninurta Damu Kurunnam Kusu Urmaḫ Nuska Ninimma Shuzianna Belet Seri the Sebitti Bel aliya Sirash and Ninĝirzida 120 Kurunnam or Kurunnitu dKAS DIN NAM was a goddess associated with beer named after kurunnu a type of this beverage regarded as high quality and presented as analogous to Ninkasi in lamentations 161 Kusu was a purification goddess the personification of a type of ritual censer already attested in texts from Lagash 4 Urmaḫ the deified lion was also worshiped in Assur in this case alongside Sumuqan 162 Nuska was the divine vizier sukkal of Enlil 163 Ninimma was a goddess associated with writing though also attested in a Gula like healing role 75 Shuzianna was regarded as a secondary wife of Enlil 164 Belet Seri was the Akkadian counterpart of Geshtinanna 165 and also appears in Gula s entourage elsewhere in the first millennium BCE 32 Sebitti were a group of seven warlike gods usually associated with Nergal 166 Bel aliya has been characterized by Paul Alain Beaulieu as an anonymous divine mayor 120 He remarks that this theonym was most likely a generic title and could designate many deities in various locations for example Pisangunug in Kullaba 167 Lists of as many as twelve divine mayors are known 168 Sirash was a deity associated with brewing often paired with Ninkasi either as her sister or Akkadian equivalent 169 Ninĝirzida was a minor goddess whose name can be understood as lady of the right knife perhaps to be translated as scalpel in this context 170 Babylon and Borsippa Edit In the city of Babylon Gula was worshiped in a temple initially built by the king Sumu abum for Ninisina 171 perhaps to be identified with the Egalmaḫ exalted palace which formed a part of the Esagil complex 149 She had a second temple there as well 172 the Esabad house of the open ear which was rebuilt by Ashurbanipal and Nebuchadnezzar II and survived as late as in the Arsacid period 173 Additionally the name Eḫursagsikila house pure mountain 174 which was usually assigned to a temple of Ninkarrak is associated with Gula in a few inscriptions instead 175 In Borsippa considered to be interconnected with Babylon in the sphere of religion 176 Gula is attested at least since the Neo Assyrian period 127 Nebuchadnezzar II restored her temple in this city the Egula big house 177 A secondary manifestation of this goddess worshiped locally Gula sa abbi most likely to be understood as Gula of the ancestors might have been either a remnant of a domestic cult predating Gula s presence in royal inscriptions from Borsippa or an unidentified local deity who came to be equated with her 127 A late cultic calendar presumed to come from either Borsippa or Babylon connects Gula with the mourning rites of Enmesharra 176 Gula set up weeping for Enmesarra who had been defeated 178 Other southern cities Edit Gula was already present in the local pantheon of Ur in the Ur III period though there is no indication that she belonged to the circle of the city god Nanna 146 It has been proposed that a temple built there by Warad Sin which according to an inscription was dedicated to Ninisina in reality belonged to Gula as the former of these two goddesses is otherwise entirely absent from sources from this city 148 According to Joan Goodnick Westenholz sporadic early attestations of Gula are also available from Lagash as well 6 It has been argued that in the Old Babylonian period Gula was overall one of the most popular goddesses as in sources such a personal letters she appears with comparable frequency to Annunitum Aya Ninsianna and Zarpanit though less commonly than Ishtar 179 However despite presumed popularity in the sphere of personal worship she is rare in Old Babylonian theophoric names 180 In Larsa Gula was only introduced after the city was conquered by Hammurabi of Babylon 180 Her cult in this city is poorly documented though her temple has been identified during excavations and based on its size it is presumed that she was a major deity in the local pantheon 180 Furthemore she also appears in documents from Isin for the first time after its conquest by the same king 180 While the tutelary goddess of the city Ninisina continued to be invoked in royal inscriptions Gula apparently was worshiped more commonly than her after the city was rebuilt by Kurigalzu I 71 The Egalmaḫ exalted palace 149 apparently came to be associated with her despite originally being a temple of Ninisina 181 During excavations a dog cemetery which formed a part of its complex has been discovered 45 Hammurabi also introduced the worship of Gula to Sippar though her importance there remained minor through the Old Babylonian period 182 and she is similarly scarcely attested there in the Kassite period 183 Sources dated to the reign of Nabopolassar attest that she had a temple there the Eulla 80 house of rejoicing 184 While Gula is the only healing goddess mentioned in the documents of the First Sealand dynasty 165 her cult only had a marginal importance in its territories 74 In the Kassite period the clergy of Nippur was responsible for establishing the cult of Gula in Dur Kurigalzu a new city built by Kurigalzu I to act as his royal residence 156 She also appears in theophoric names from this site such as Gula balaṭa eris and Uballiṭsu Gula 185 Furthermore a possible temple dedicated to her has been discovered during excavations 71 Temples of Gula also existed in Dur Enlile and Ḫilpu 50 In the latter city she was worshiped jointly with Ninurta in the Emupada house chosen by name 183 This city was apparently located between Dur Kurigalzu and Sippar 93 on the Euphrates 186 She was also possibly worshiped in the temple Ezibatila in Marad 187 Additionally Egasantina house of the lady of life which is mentioned in an unpublished hymn might have also been a temple of Gula 188 Assyria Edit Gula is absent from Old Assyrian sources 148 She was only introduced to Assyria in the second half of the second millennium BCE 50 when a temple dedicated to her was built in Assur possibly by Tukulti Ninurta I though the only clear evidence is a later inscription of Adad nirari II which attributes this construction project to him 189 It bore the name Esabad 190 While the temple of Assur is also well attested in sources from the Neo Assyrian period a new one was also built in Kalhu by Ashurnasirpal II when he made it the new royal residence 191 A further Assyrian temple of Gula possibly bearing the name Egalmaḫ existed in Ṭabetu 122 According to documents from the reign of Tukulti Ninurta I Mardaman also had a temple of Gula but it cannot be presently established if it replaced the one belonging to the earlier city goddess Shuwala 192 There is no evidence that the latter was still worshiped after the Assyrian conquest of the city 193 While earlier Old Babylonian texts from Mari indicate Mardaman was known for the presence of skilled practitioners of medicine its tutelary goddess was not associated with healing 194 Irene Sibbing Plantholt proposes that Gula who was unknown in Upper Mesopotamia before the Middle Assyrian period was introduced to the city because of the reputation of its healers 30 Outside Mesopotamia Edit It is assumed that attestations of Gula from outside Mesopotamia specifically scholarly texts from Hattusa Ugarit and Emar indicate that she traveled with scholars to all the corners of the cuneiform world 195 A man bearing the theophoric name Kidin Gula resided as a scribal school teacher in the last of these three cities though it is presumed he arrived there from Mesopotamia 196 With the exception of theophoric names the worship of Gula is not attested in Emar 197 and according to Gary Beckman s survey of the local pantheon the attestations come exclusively from colophons 198 In Ugarit she appears in an incantation written in Akkadian alongside the goddess Bizilla here referred to as the lady of relief 199 be let tap si iḫ ti 200 References Edit a b c Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 133 Sibbing Plantholt 2022 pp 31 32 Bock 2015 p 332 a b Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 69 a b Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 pp 82 83 a b c d e Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 82 Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 71 Peterson 2009 p 58 a b Such Gutierrez 2005 p 17 Sibbing Plantholt 2022 p 43 Sibbing Plantholt 2022 pp 27 28 a b Sibbing Plantholt 2022 p 32 Sibbing Plantholt 2022 p 28 a b c d Sibbing Plantholt 2022 p 30 Sibbing Plantholt 2022 p 44 Sibbing Plantholt 2022 pp 43 44 Lambert 2013 pp 377 378 a b c d e Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 102 Biggs 1998 p 476 Biggs 1998 p 477 Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 104 George 1993 p 147 Peterson 2020 p 131 Beaulieu 1995 p 94 a b Sibbing Plantholt 2022 pp 160 161 Sibbing Plantholt 2022 pp 154 155 a b c d e Beaulieu 2003 p 274 Sibbing Plantholt 2022 p 155 a b c Sibbing Plantholt 2022 p 91 a b Sibbing Plantholt 2022 p 76 Beaulieu 2003 pp 312 313 a b c d Krul 2018a p 353 Cavigneaux amp Krebernik 1998 p 327 a b Krul 2018a pp 353 354 Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 131 a b c Bock 2015 p 329 Sibbing Plantholt 2022 pp 44 45 Sibbing Plantholt 2022 p 50 Westenholz 2010 p 394 Wasserman 2008 p 80 81 a b Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 254 Sibbing Plantholt 2022 p 159 Sibbing Plantholt 2022 pp 48 49 Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 65 a b c d Bock 2015 p 330 a b Bock 2014 p 41 a b Bock 2014 p 44 Wasserman 2008 p 78 a b Wasserman 2008 p 82 a b c Sibbing Plantholt 2022 p 63 Krebernik 1997 p 512 Westenholz 2010 p 396 Lambert 2013 p 233 Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 278 Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 281 Sibbing Plantholt 2022 p 84 a b c d e f Sibbing Plantholt 2022 p 87 Livingstone 1988 p 57 Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 252 Sibbing Plantholt 2022 p 46 Sibbing Plantholt 2022 pp 53 54 Lambert 2013 p 234 a b c Livingstone 1988 p 58 Sibbing Plantholt 2022 p 121 a b Wasserman 2008 p 79 Wasserman 2008 p 79 80 Wasserman 2008 p 80 Wasserman 2008 p 83 Wasserman 2008 p 84 Bock 2014 p 40 a b c Sibbing Plantholt 2022 p 68 Bock 2014 p 39 Sibbing Plantholt 2022 p 45 a b Sibbing Plantholt 2022 p 52 a b Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 96 Boivin 2018 p 214 Westenholz 2010 p 383 Beaulieu 2003 pp 274 275 Beaulieu 2003 p 282 a b Sibbing Plantholt 2022 p 85 Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 84 Sibbing Plantholt 2022 pp 46 47 Sibbing Plantholt 2022 p 61 George 1993 pp 36 37 a b c d e Krebernik 2014a p 421 Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 77 Foxvog Heimpel amp Kilmer 1983 p 453 a b George 1993 p 36 Peterson 2009 p 55 Sibbing Plantholt 2022 p 239 Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 119 Boivin 2018 p 200 a b c d Sibbing Plantholt 2022 p 72 Schwemer 2001 p 425 a b Sibbing Plantholt 2022 p 86 Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 73 Cavigneaux amp Krebernik 1998a p 351 Cavigneaux amp Krebernik 1998a pp 351 352 Cavigneaux amp Krebernik 1998a p 352 Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 206 Schwemer 2001 p 505 Gadotti 2014 pp 43 44 Taracha 2009 p 150 Sibbing Plantholt 2022 p 14 Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 79 a b Sibbing Plantholt 2022 p 47 Bock 2015 p 328 a b Westenholz 2010 p 385 Westenholz 2010 p 387 Sibbing Plantholt 2022 pp 47 48 a b Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 83 Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 56 Bock 2014 p 13 Sibbing Plantholt 2022 p 137 Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 253 Sibbing Plantholt 2022 p 57 Sibbing Plantholt 2022 p 116 a b Sibbing Plantholt 2022 p 160 Sibbing Plantholt 2022 pp 152 153 a b c Beaulieu 1995 p 91 Sibbing Plantholt 2022 p 74 75 a b Sibbing Plantholt 2022 p 75 Sibbing Plantholt 2022 p 97 a b Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 100 Sibbing Plantholt 2022 p 152 Foldi 2019 p 21 a b c Sibbing Plantholt 2022 p 88 Sibbing Plantholt 2022 pp 88 89 Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 114 a b c d Sibbing Plantholt 2022 p 100 Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 pp 114 115 Sibbing Plantholt 2022 p 12 a b Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 116 a b Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 115 a b c Lambert 1967 p 109 Sibbing Plantholt 2022 p 34 Lambert 1967 pp 109 110 Foldi 2019 p 81 Sibbing Plantholt 2022 p 101 a b Foldi 2019 p 83 Sibbing Plantholt 2022 p 102 Sibbing Plantholt 2022 p 278 Sibbing Plantholt 2022 pp 286 287 Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 286 Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 64 a b Sibbing Plantholt 2022 pp 30 31 Sibbing Plantholt 2022 pp 28 29 a b c d Sibbing Plantholt 2022 p 51 a b c George 1993 p 88 George 1992 p 305 a b Beaulieu 2003 p 280 Krul 2018 p 64 Beaulieu 2003 pp 278 279 Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 126 Sibbing Plantholt 2022 p 64 a b Sibbing Plantholt 2022 p 67 Sibbing Plantholt 2022 p 104 George 1993 pp 88 89 1 McGuire Gibson Nippur 1990 The Temple of Gula and a Glimpse of Things to Come Oriental Institute Annual Report 1989 90 Chicago Oriental Inst Press 1990 2 Schneider Bernhard Nippur City of Enlil and Ninurta Naming and Mapping the Gods in the Ancient Mediterranean pp 745 762 2022 ISBN 978 3 11 079649 0 Beaulieu 2003 p 321 Krebernik 2014 p 420 Krul 2018 p 66 Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 63 a b Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 95 Krul 2018 p 68 Beaulieu 2003 p 334 George 1992 p 447 Peterson 2009 p 57 Cavigneaux amp Krebernik 1998b p 367 Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 86 Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 106 George 1993 p 137 George 1993 p 102 Westenholz 2010 p 392 a b Krul 2018 p 133 George 1993 p 96 Lambert 2013 p 285 Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 251 a b c d Sibbing Plantholt 2022 p 53 Sibbing Plantholt 2022 pp 68 69 Sibbing Plantholt 2022 p 56 a b Sibbing Plantholt 2022 p 71 George 1993 p 155 Sibbing Plantholt 2022 pp 67 68 George 1993 p 127 George 1993 p 159 George 1993 p 90 Sibbing Plantholt 2022 pp 73 74 George 1993 p 138 Sibbing Plantholt 2022 p 83 Pfalzner 2020 pp 373 374 Pfalzner 2020 p 372 Sibbing Plantholt 2022 pp 75 76 Sibbing Plantholt 2022 pp 76 77 Sibbing Plantholt 2022 p 77 Beckman 2002 p 50 Beckman 2002 p 43 del Olmo Lete amp Rowe 2014 p 66 del Olmo Lete amp Rowe 2014 p 64 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 Beaulieu Paul Alain 1995 The Brewers of Nippur Journal of Cuneiform Studies American Schools of Oriental Research 47 85 96 ISSN 0022 0256 JSTOR 1359817 Retrieved 2022 08 29 Beaulieu Paul Alain 2003 The pantheon of Uruk during the neo Babylonian period Leiden Boston Brill STYX ISBN 978 90 04 13024 1 OCLC 51944564 Beckman Gary 2002 The Pantheon of Emar Silva Anatolica Anatolian studies presented to Maciej Popko on the occasion of his 65th birthday Warsaw Agade ISBN 83 87111 12 0 OCLC 51004996 Biggs Robert D 1998 Nin Nibru Reallexikon der Assyriologie in German retrieved 2022 08 31 Boivin Odette 2018 The First Dynasty of the Sealand in Mesopotamia De Gruyter doi 10 1515 9781501507823 ISBN 978 1 5015 0782 3 Bock Barbara 2014 The healing goddess Gula towards an understanding of ancient babylonian medicine Leiden Netherlands Brill ISBN 978 90 04 26146 4 OCLC 868971232 Bock Barbara 2015 Ancient Mesopotamian Religion A Profile of the Healing Goddess Religion Compass Wiley 9 10 327 334 doi 10 1111 rec3 12165 hdl 10261 125303 ISSN 1749 8171 S2CID 145349556 Cavigneaux Antoine Krebernik Manfred 1998 Nin amaʾarḫussu Reallexikon der Assyriologie in German retrieved 2022 08 29 Cavigneaux Antoine Krebernik Manfred 1998a Nin ĝagia Reallexikon der Assyriologie in German retrieved 2022 08 29 Cavigneaux Antoine Krebernik Manfred 1998b Nin ĝirzida Reallexikon der Assyriologie in German retrieved 2022 08 29 del Olmo Lete Gregorio Rowe Ignacio Marquez 2014 Incantations and Anti Witchcraft Texts from Ugarit Studies in Ancient Near Eastern Records SANER De Gruyter ISBN 978 1 61451 492 3 Retrieved 2022 09 07 Foxvog Daniel A Heimpel Wolfgang Kilmer Anne D 1983 Lamma Lamassu A I Mesopotamien Philologisch Lamma Lamassu A I Mesopotamia Philological Reallexikon der Assyriologie retrieved 2022 09 18 Foldi Zsombor J 2019 Bullussa rabi Author of the Gula Hymn KASKAL Rivista di storia ambienti e culture del Vicino Oriente Antico Firenze LoGisma editore 16 ISSN 1971 8608 Gadotti Alhena 2014 Gilgamesh Enkidu and the Netherworld and the Sumerian Gilgamesh Cycle De Gruyer doi 10 1515 9781614515456 ISBN 978 1 61451 708 5 George Andrew R 1992 Babylonian Topographical Texts Orientalia Lovaniensia analecta Departement Orientalistiek ISBN 978 90 6831 410 6 Retrieved 2022 08 29 George Andrew R 1993 House most high the temples of ancient Mesopotamia Winona Lake Eisenbrauns ISBN 0 931464 80 3 OCLC 27813103 Krebernik Manfred 1997 Muttergottin A I In Mesopotamien Reallexikon der Assyriologie in German retrieved 2022 08 29 Krebernik Manfred 2014 Urmaḫ Reallexikon der Assyriologie in German retrieved 2022 08 31 Krebernik Manfred 2014a Urmas um Reallexikon der Assyriologie in German retrieved 2022 08 31 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 Krul Julia 2018a Some Observations on Late Urukean Theophoric Names Grenzuberschreitungen Studien zur Kulturgeschichte des Alten Orients Festschrift fur Hans Neumann zum 65 Geburtstag am 9 Mai 2018 Munster Zaphon ISBN 3 96327 010 1 OCLC 1038056453 Lambert Wilfred G 1967 The Gula Hymn of Bulluṭsa rabi Orientalia GBPress Gregorian Biblical Press 36 2 105 132 ISSN 0030 5367 JSTOR 43074151 Retrieved 2022 09 07 Lambert Wilfred G 2013 Babylonian creation myths Winona Lake Indiana Eisenbrauns ISBN 978 1 57506 861 9 OCLC 861537250 Livingstone Alasdair 1988 The Isin Dog House Revisited Journal of Cuneiform Studies American Schools of Oriental Research 40 1 54 60 doi 10 2307 1359707 ISSN 0022 0256 JSTOR 1359707 S2CID 163493207 Retrieved 2021 08 04 Peterson Jeremiah 2009 God lists from Old Babylonian Nippur in the University Museum Philadelphia Munster Ugarit Verlag ISBN 978 3 86835 019 7 OCLC 460044951 Peterson Jeremiah 2020 Christopher Metcalf Sumerian Literary Texts in the Schoyen Collection Volume 1 Literary Sources on Old Babylonian Religion Cornell University Studies in Assyriology and Sumerology 38 review Zeitschrift fur Assyriologie und vorderasiatische Archaologie Walter de Gruyter GmbH 111 1 doi 10 1515 za 2020 0025 ISSN 1613 1150 Pfalzner Peter 2020 Eine Geschichte der Stadt Mardama n Mu zu an za3 se3 kur ur2 se3 ḫe2 g al2 Altorientalistische Studien zu Ehren von Konrad Volk in German Munster Zaphon ISBN 978 3 96327 102 1 OCLC 1222896819 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 Sibbing Plantholt Irene 2022 The Image of Mesopotamian Divine Healers Healing Goddesses and the Legitimization of Professional Asus in the Mesopotamian Medical Marketplace Boston Brill ISBN 978 90 04 51241 2 OCLC 1312171937 Such Gutierrez Marcos 2005 Untersuchungen zum Pantheon von Adab im 3 Jt Archiv fur Orientforschung in German Archiv fur Orientforschung AfO Institut fur Orientalistik 51 1 44 ISSN 0066 6440 JSTOR 41670228 Retrieved 2022 08 30 Taracha Piotr 2009 Religions of Second Millennium Anatolia Harrassowitz ISBN 978 3447058858 Wasserman Nathan 2008 On Leeches Dogs and Gods in Old Babylonian Medical Incantations Revue d Assyriologie et d archeologie orientale Presses Universitaires de France 102 71 88 doi 10 3917 assy 102 0071 ISSN 0373 6032 JSTOR 23281369 Retrieved 2021 08 05 Westenholz Joan G 2010 Ninkarrak an Akkadian goddess in Sumerian guise Von Gottern und Menschen Brill pp 377 405 doi 10 1163 9789004187474 020 ISBN 9789004187481 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Gula goddess amp oldid 1136710890, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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