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Gunura

March 23, 2023

Gunura was a Mesopotamian goddess, best known as a daughter and member of the entourage of the medicine goddess Ninisina. She was also associated with other similar goddesses, Gula and Nintinugga. Her original cult center is unknown, though she was worshiped in Isin, Nippur, Ur, Babylon and Assur. She is attested in a number of laments, in which she mourns the death of her brother Damu, and in a narrative about a journey of her mother Ninisina to Nippur.

Gunura
Major cult centerIsin
Personal information
ParentsNinisina and Pabilsag
SiblingsDamu and Šumaḫ

Character

The etymology of Gunura's name is unknown, and early attempts at explaining it relied on the incorrect reading dGu-šir5-ra rather than dGu-nu-ra.[1] She was considered to be a daughter of the medicine goddess Ninisina and her husband Pabilsag, and sister of Damu and Šumaḫ.[2] Alternatively, she could be associated with other similar goddesses, such as Gula[3] or Nintinugga.[4] Three texts from Nippur from the Ur III period attest an association between her and latter deity.[5] She also appears alongside her in an Old Babylonian incantation against the evil eye.[6] Furthermore, a liturgical text from the same period lists her after both Ninisina and Nintinugga, and before Kusu.[4] However, as pointed out by Joan Goodnick Westenholz, Gunura does not appear in connection with another closely related goddess, Ninkarrak, in any known sources, with the exception of a single bilingual text.[7] It is a variant of Ninisina s Journey to Nippur in which Ninkarrak appears in the Akkadian version as a translation of the eponymous goddess.[8]

In the past, it has been argued that Gunura's individual character cannot be established, as in known texts she always appears alongside other members of her family.[9] According to Irene Sibbing-Plantholt today it is assumed that she was a deity associated with healing.[10] She suggests Gunura might have originally arisen as an independent healing deity, and was only incorporated into the circles of medicine goddesses for that reason.[5] When associated with Ninisina, Gunura also functioned as one of the deities of Isin, though this role is not attested for her in contexts where she appears with Gula instead.[11] An example can be found in the document SAT 3 127, which lists her, Damu, Šumaḫ and their mother Ninisina as the deities of Isin.[5]

The epithet dumu-é-a, translated as "child of the house"[4] or "daughter of the house," could be applied to Gunura.[1] It is also attested as a title of the weather goddess Shala and the love goddess Nanaya.[12] According to Dietz-Otto Edzard, it might reflect the fact that she was worshiped in the temple of her mother Ninisina, and did not have one of her own.[1] However, according to Andrew R. George a temple of Gunura might have been mentioned in a lost section of the Canonical Temple List,[13] a lexical list compiling the ceremonial names of sanctuaries located in Babylonia, presumed to come from the second half of the Kassite period.[14]

Worship

The earliest attestations of Gunura come from the Ur III period.[1] She is best known from the pantheon of Isin,[1] though she did not necessarily originate in this city,[15] and it is presently impossible to establish what was her original cult center.[5] Dina Katz proposes that she was originally worshiped in the same unidentified location as Damu, and that at some point their cult center was destroyed, leading to the transfer of their cult to Isin and incorporation into the circle of Ninisina.[16] She was worshiped in the temple of this goddess located there,[1] and appears in an early Old Babylonian offering list from the same location alongside this goddess, Damu, Ninšarnuna, Ninigizibara, Utu and Urmašum.[17] Documents from the archives of the Third Dynasty of Ur indicate that sometimes offerings to her were made by practitioners of medicine (asû), with historically notable members of this profession who performed them including Šu-kabta, Nawir-ilum and Ubartum.[18] She also worshiped in Ur in a temple of Gula.[19] She is attested in two offering lists from this city.[20]

According to the Neo-Assyrian takultu text Gunura was also worshiped in Assur in association with Gula.[1] A seat of Gunura, the Eankuga, "house of pure heaven," existed in one of the temples bearing the name Erabriri, according to Andrew R. George located in Babylon.[21] It belonged to the god Mandanu, and additionally housed similar shrines of Gula, Pabilsag, Urmašum and Damu.[22] A text from the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II mentions a statue of Gunura located in the Esabad, a temple of Gula located in the same city.[23] Gunura is also mentioned alongside Ninisina, Nintinugga, Damu and Bau in the text AO 17622, which might be an Achaemenid period copy of a Neo-Babylonian original.[1]

Examples of theophoric names invoking Gunura are known, one example being Ur-Gunura, "man of Gunura."[1]

Literature

Gunura is attested in a number of literary compositions, in which she usually appears alongside members of her family.[1] For example, in the composition Edina-Usagake ("In the Desert by the Early Grass"[24]) she is mentioned in a list of mourning deities alongside Ningishzida's sister Amašilama and his wife Ninazimua.[25] Dina Katz suggests that due to the presence of members of families of multiple dying gods this text, known from Old Babylonian copies though possibly related to rituals performed in the Ur III period already, might have been based on a number of originally separate laments.[26] She also appears in a similar role in another lament, MAH 16016.[27]

In Ninisina's Journey to Nippur Gunura appears alongside her brother Damu, and both of them either collectively act as a "good protective spirit", Alad-šaga, or are accompanied by a being bearing this name.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Edzard 1971, p. 701.
  2. ^ a b Wagensonner 2008, p. 279.
  3. ^ Sibbing-Plantholt 2022, pp. 147–148.
  4. ^ a b c Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013, p. 84.
  5. ^ a b c d Sibbing-Plantholt 2022, p. 47.
  6. ^ Sibbing-Plantholt 2022, p. 150.
  7. ^ Westenholz 2010, p. 383.
  8. ^ Wagensonner 2008, p. 284.
  9. ^ Edzard 1971, pp. 701–702.
  10. ^ Sibbing-Plantholt 2022, p. 9.
  11. ^ Sibbing-Plantholt 2022, pp. 46–47.
  12. ^ Schwemer 2001, p. 171.
  13. ^ George 1993, p. 36.
  14. ^ George 1993, pp. 5–6.
  15. ^ Sibbing-Plantholt 2022, p. 124.
  16. ^ Katz 2003, p. 5.
  17. ^ Sibbing-Plantholt 2022, p. 126.
  18. ^ Sibbing-Plantholt 2022, p. 147.
  19. ^ Sibbing-Plantholt 2022, p. 31.
  20. ^ Sibbing-Plantholt 2022, p. 46.
  21. ^ George 1993, p. 67.
  22. ^ George 1992, p. 304.
  23. ^ George 1992, p. 332.
  24. ^ Katz 2003, p. 309.
  25. ^ Katz 2003, pp. 155–156.
  26. ^ Katz 2003, p. 310.
  27. ^ Delnero 2020, p. 478.

Bibliography

  • 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.
  • Delnero, Paul (2020). How To Do Things With Tears. De Gruyter. doi:10.1515/9781501512650. ISBN 978-1-5015-1265-0.
  • Edzard, Dietz-Otto (1971), "Gunura", Reallexikon der Assyriologie, retrieved 2022-09-12
  • George, Andrew R. (1992). Babylonian Topographical Texts. Orientalia Lovaniensia analecta. Departement Oriëntalistiek. ISBN 978-90-6831-410-6. Retrieved 2022-09-12.
  • George, Andrew R. (1993). House most high: the temples of ancient Mesopotamia. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns. ISBN 0-931464-80-3. OCLC 27813103.
  • Katz, Dina (2003). The Image of the Netherworld in the Sumerian Sources. Bethesda, MD: CDL Press. ISBN 1-883053-77-3. OCLC 51770219.
  • 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 Asûs in the Mesopotamian Medical Marketplace. Boston: Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-51241-2. OCLC 1312171937.
  • Wagensonner, Klaus (2008). "Nin-Isina(k)s Journey to Nippur. A bilingual divine journey revisited". Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes. Department of Oriental Studies, University of Vienna. 98: 277–294. ISSN 0084-0076. JSTOR 23861637. Retrieved 2022-09-12.
  • Westenholz, Joan G. (2010). "Ninkarrak – an Akkadian goddess in Sumerian guise". Von Göttern und Menschen. Brill. doi:10.1163/9789004187474_020.

March 23, 2023
gunura, mesopotamian, goddess, best, known, daughter, member, entourage, medicine, goddess, ninisina, also, associated, with, other, similar, goddesses, gula, nintinugga, original, cult, center, unknown, though, worshiped, isin, nippur, babylon, assur, atteste. Gunura was a Mesopotamian goddess best known as a daughter and member of the entourage of the medicine goddess Ninisina She was also associated with other similar goddesses Gula and Nintinugga Her original cult center is unknown though she was worshiped in Isin Nippur Ur Babylon and Assur She is attested in a number of laments in which she mourns the death of her brother Damu and in a narrative about a journey of her mother Ninisina to Nippur GunuraMajor cult centerIsinPersonal informationParentsNinisina and PabilsagSiblingsDamu and Sumaḫ Contents 1 Character 2 Worship 3 Literature 4 References 4 1 BibliographyCharacter EditThe etymology of Gunura s name is unknown and early attempts at explaining it relied on the incorrect reading dGu sir5 ra rather than dGu nu ra 1 She was considered to be a daughter of the medicine goddess Ninisina and her husband Pabilsag and sister of Damu and Sumaḫ 2 Alternatively she could be associated with other similar goddesses such as Gula 3 or Nintinugga 4 Three texts from Nippur from the Ur III period attest an association between her and latter deity 5 She also appears alongside her in an Old Babylonian incantation against the evil eye 6 Furthermore a liturgical text from the same period lists her after both Ninisina and Nintinugga and before Kusu 4 However as pointed out by Joan Goodnick Westenholz Gunura does not appear in connection with another closely related goddess Ninkarrak in any known sources with the exception of a single bilingual text 7 It is a variant of Ninisina s Journey to Nippur in which Ninkarrak appears in the Akkadian version as a translation of the eponymous goddess 8 In the past it has been argued that Gunura s individual character cannot be established as in known texts she always appears alongside other members of her family 9 According to Irene Sibbing Plantholt today it is assumed that she was a deity associated with healing 10 She suggests Gunura might have originally arisen as an independent healing deity and was only incorporated into the circles of medicine goddesses for that reason 5 When associated with Ninisina Gunura also functioned as one of the deities of Isin though this role is not attested for her in contexts where she appears with Gula instead 11 An example can be found in the document SAT 3 127 which lists her Damu Sumaḫ and their mother Ninisina as the deities of Isin 5 The epithet dumu e a translated as child of the house 4 or daughter of the house could be applied to Gunura 1 It is also attested as a title of the weather goddess Shala and the love goddess Nanaya 12 According to Dietz Otto Edzard it might reflect the fact that she was worshiped in the temple of her mother Ninisina and did not have one of her own 1 However according to Andrew R George a temple of Gunura might have been mentioned in a lost section of the Canonical Temple List 13 a lexical list compiling the ceremonial names of sanctuaries located in Babylonia presumed to come from the second half of the Kassite period 14 Worship EditThe earliest attestations of Gunura come from the Ur III period 1 She is best known from the pantheon of Isin 1 though she did not necessarily originate in this city 15 and it is presently impossible to establish what was her original cult center 5 Dina Katz proposes that she was originally worshiped in the same unidentified location as Damu and that at some point their cult center was destroyed leading to the transfer of their cult to Isin and incorporation into the circle of Ninisina 16 She was worshiped in the temple of this goddess located there 1 and appears in an early Old Babylonian offering list from the same location alongside this goddess Damu Ninsarnuna Ninigizibara Utu and Urmasum 17 Documents from the archives of the Third Dynasty of Ur indicate that sometimes offerings to her were made by practitioners of medicine asu with historically notable members of this profession who performed them including Su kabta Nawir ilum and Ubartum 18 She also worshiped in Ur in a temple of Gula 19 She is attested in two offering lists from this city 20 According to the Neo Assyrian takultu text Gunura was also worshiped in Assur in association with Gula 1 A seat of Gunura the Eankuga house of pure heaven existed in one of the temples bearing the name Erabriri according to Andrew R George located in Babylon 21 It belonged to the god Mandanu and additionally housed similar shrines of Gula Pabilsag Urmasum and Damu 22 A text from the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II mentions a statue of Gunura located in the Esabad a temple of Gula located in the same city 23 Gunura is also mentioned alongside Ninisina Nintinugga Damu and Bau in the text AO 17622 which might be an Achaemenid period copy of a Neo Babylonian original 1 Examples of theophoric names invoking Gunura are known one example being Ur Gunura man of Gunura 1 Literature EditGunura is attested in a number of literary compositions in which she usually appears alongside members of her family 1 For example in the composition Edina Usagake In the Desert by the Early Grass 24 she is mentioned in a list of mourning deities alongside Ningishzida s sister Amasilama and his wife Ninazimua 25 Dina Katz suggests that due to the presence of members of families of multiple dying gods this text known from Old Babylonian copies though possibly related to rituals performed in the Ur III period already might have been based on a number of originally separate laments 26 She also appears in a similar role in another lament MAH 16016 27 In Ninisina s Journey to Nippur Gunura appears alongside her brother Damu and both of them either collectively act as a good protective spirit Alad saga or are accompanied by a being bearing this name 2 References Edit a b c d e f g h i j Edzard 1971 p 701 a b Wagensonner 2008 p 279 Sibbing Plantholt 2022 pp 147 148 a b c Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 84 a b c d Sibbing Plantholt 2022 p 47 Sibbing Plantholt 2022 p 150 Westenholz 2010 p 383 Wagensonner 2008 p 284 Edzard 1971 pp 701 702 Sibbing Plantholt 2022 p 9 Sibbing Plantholt 2022 pp 46 47 Schwemer 2001 p 171 George 1993 p 36 George 1993 pp 5 6 Sibbing Plantholt 2022 p 124 Katz 2003 p 5 Sibbing Plantholt 2022 p 126 Sibbing Plantholt 2022 p 147 Sibbing Plantholt 2022 p 31 Sibbing Plantholt 2022 p 46 George 1993 p 67 George 1992 p 304 George 1992 p 332 Katz 2003 p 309 Katz 2003 pp 155 156 Katz 2003 p 310 Delnero 2020 p 478 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 Delnero Paul 2020 How To Do Things With Tears De Gruyter doi 10 1515 9781501512650 ISBN 978 1 5015 1265 0 Edzard Dietz Otto 1971 Gunura Reallexikon der Assyriologie retrieved 2022 09 12 George Andrew R 1992 Babylonian Topographical Texts Orientalia Lovaniensia analecta Departement Orientalistiek ISBN 978 90 6831 410 6 Retrieved 2022 09 12 George Andrew R 1993 House most high the temples of ancient Mesopotamia Winona Lake Eisenbrauns ISBN 0 931464 80 3 OCLC 27813103 Katz Dina 2003 The Image of the Netherworld in the Sumerian Sources Bethesda MD CDL Press ISBN 1 883053 77 3 OCLC 51770219 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 Wagensonner Klaus 2008 Nin Isina k s Journey to Nippur A bilingual divine journey revisited Wiener Zeitschrift fur die Kunde des Morgenlandes Department of Oriental Studies University of Vienna 98 277 294 ISSN 0084 0076 JSTOR 23861637 Retrieved 2022 09 12 Westenholz Joan G 2010 Ninkarrak an Akkadian goddess in Sumerian guise Von Gottern und Menschen Brill doi 10 1163 9789004187474 020 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Gunura amp oldid 1109874743, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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