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Shara (god)

January 08, 2023

Shara (Sumerian: 𒀭𒁈, dšara2) was a Mesopotamian god associated with the city of Umma and other nearby settlements. He was chiefly regarded as the tutelary deity of this area, responsible for agriculture, animal husbandry and irrigation, but he could also be characterized as a divine warrior. In the third millennium BCE his wife was Ninura, associated with the same area, but later, in the Old Babylonian period, her cult faded into obscurity and Shara was instead associated with Usaḫara or Kumulmul. An association between him and Inanna is well attested. In Umma, he was regarded as the son of Inanna of Zabalam and an unknown father, while in the myth Inanna's Descent to the Underworld he is one of the servants mourning her temporary death. He also appears in the myth of Anzû, in which he is one of the three gods who refuse to fight the eponymous monster.

Shara
Tutelary god of Umma
Stele depicting a man named Ushumgal, described as a priest of Shara, dated to the first stage of the Early Dynastic Period (c. 2900-2700 BCE).[1] Presently in the collection of Metropolitan Museum of Art.[1]
Major cult centerUmma, KI.ANki, Anzu-babbar
Symbolbarbed arrow and possibly a lion
ParentsInanna of Zabalam and an unknown father
Consort

Character

While the original etymology of Shara's name is unknown, according to Fabienne Huber Vuillet, in Akkadian it was reinterpreted as a derivative of the word šārum, "wind."[2]

Shara was the god of the city of Umma,[3] corresponding to the modern Tell Jokha in Iraq.[4] Documents from this city also record the existence of multiple secondary local manifestations of him.[5] It is assumed he was the main god in the pantheon of the area under the influence of his cult center,[6] and his position in the Early Dynastic god list from Shuruppak (Tell Fara) might reflect his status as a major deity.[2] His primary function was that of a tutelary deity of the area believed to belong to him. As such, he was responsible for agriculture, animal husbandry and maintaining the irrigation network. This role was exemplified by his epithet gugal-An-negara, "canal inspector appointed by An."[7] A plow dedicated to him (gišapin-dŠará-da-sù-a, possibly to be understood as "the plow named 'Marching with Shara'") is attested in documents from Umma.[8] He could also be described as a warrior deity, in which case his attribute was a barbed arrow.[3]

It has been proposed that lions present on seals from Umma might be an emblem of the city, and that a lion accompanying the figure of a god on seals from this city might designate it as a representation of Shara.[9] Similarly, goddesses accompanied by lions might represent Shara's spouse Ninura.[10]

In god lists from the first millennium BCE, Shara could be reinterpreted as a female deity.[2]

Worship

 
Votive plaque of queen Bara-irnun. Louvre.

Shara's principal temple was the Emaḫ, whose ceremonial Sumerian name means "exalted house."[11] It is first attested in an inscription of Bara-irnun, the wife of Giššakidu of Umma,[11] who reigned in the Early Dynastic period, most likely as a contemporary of Enannatum II and Enentarzi of the First Dynasty of Lagash.[12] Textual sources also mention the existence of a ziggurat dedicated to him which bore the name Sigkuršaga,[6] "brick, mountain of the heart."[13] Both the temple and the ziggurat were located in KI.ANki (reading uncertain), a site in the proximity of Umma.[14] It has been proposed that while Umma was the main cult center of Shara in historical times, KI.ANki was the settlement originally associated with him, while Umma's tutelary deity was at first Ninura, his wife.[15] Ebursasa, "the house which prepares the jars," was either its another alternate name of Emaḫ or a designation of a specific part of it.[16] The name might specifically refer to bursasa, a type of vessel into which wine or honey were poured during rituals.[17] Another temple of Shara, located in Umma itself, was the Ešagepadda,[14] "house chosen in the heart," known from inscriptions of Shu-Sin and Ibbi-Sin, who both rebuilt it.[18]

Shara is invoked on steles from the reign of Lugalzagesi delineating the border of the kingdom of Umma.[3] He also represents Umma in an inscription of Entemena, according to which the border between him and Ningirsu, representing the state of Lagash, had to be demarcated by Enlil, and subsequently measured and confirmed by the historical king Mesalim of Kish at the command of the god Ištaran.[19]

Shara was also worshiped in various smaller settlements in the proximity of Umma, often in his own temples. AKA-sal (reading of the first half of the name uncertain) and Anzu-babbar (part of the territory which was an object of conflicts between Umma and nearby Lagash) are particularly well attested.[14] Kings of the Third Dynasty of Ur, especially Shulgi, worshiped Shara in the latter of these two locations.[3] Two temples of Shara which are attested in the Canonical Temple List, but whose location is unknown, are the Eburdudu, "house which prepares the jars,"[16] and the Eusakarra, "house of the crescent."[20]

Clergy of Shara is well attested, and included various types of priests, as well as purification specialists, singers, flutists and snake charmers.[14] Also attested is a class of priestesses referred to as lukur.[21] Evidence regarding this group is scarce, but according to Tonia Sharlach they were most likely expected to remain unmarried, and were recruited chiefly from among daughters of lesser clergy, clerks of the state administration, animal husbandry specialists and even farmers.[22] She considers it possible that they were similar to naditu of Shamash and Aya from Sippar, but admits not enough data is available to make a definite statement regarding their role.[23] References to some of the lukur fleeing from their posts are known, but the reasons behind this are unknown, and there is no indication that they were slaves.[23] There is also no indication that the role of priestesses described with the same term from other cities was similar, for example there is no indication that the lukur of Ningirsu from Girsu were expected to remain unmarried and both wives and mother are attested among them, while lukur of Ninurta from Nippur came from families of very high status and functioned more like en priestesses of other gods.[24]

Some attestations of Shara come from outside Umma and its immediate surroundings. He was apparently worshiped in Girsu and Nippur as a deity from the circle of Inanna.[25] He is also attested in sources from Ur.[26] However, according to Ran Zadok theophoric names invoking him are largely limited to Umma.[27] Lu-Shara is a particularly common example.[23] In the past it was also assumed that a temple of Shara existed in Tell Agrab, despite the location of this settlement making his presence in the local pantheon implausible, but subsequent studies showed that the excavated house of worship belonged to the local god Iluma'tim, while the theonym written as dLAGABxIGI-gunû on a fragment of a vase should most likely be read as Ishara instead.[28]

Umma's loss of political influence resulted in the decline in the worship of Shara as well, which mirrors processes attested in the case of other cities of Mesopotamia and their deities, for example Girsu and Ningirsu, NINA and Nanshe or Shuruppak and Sud.[29] According to Fabienne Huber Vulliet, the last reference to Shara as an actively worshiped deity in a text of known provenance comes from a document from Old Babylonian Ur which mentions a temple in an unspecified location.[3] However, according to Andrew R. George a temple of Shara located in Babylon is attested in the late school exercise Tintir = Babylon,[30] which based on the Marduk-centric theology its compilers ascribed to most likely is no older than the reign of Nebuchadnezzar I.[31] It bore the name Ebursasa, which was associated with a temple in Umma in earlier periods.[16] A reference to either a joint temple of Shara and Belili[32] or an instance of pairing the Shara temple from Tintir = Babylon with one dedicated to this goddess[33] is also present in a fragment of a topographical text[34] which is most likely no older than the Neo-Babylonian period, though its provenance is unknown.[35] Belili was a sparsely attested goddess who was regarded as one of Dumuzi's sisters, and in most known cases she was instead worshiped in temples of her brother.[32] No other references to a temple of Shara in Babylon are known.[17]

Outside Mesopotamia

Theophoric names invoking Shara are attested in documents from Susa in Elam from the Old Babylonian period, which might indicate their bearers or their families originally came from Umma, either as immigrants or as prisoners of war, possibly as early as in the Ur III period.[27] An analogous argument has been made for people with names invoking Nasi (Nanshe) and her respective cult center.[27] Shara is also attested as a divine witness in legal texts from Susa, though only rarely.[36]

Associations with other deities

Shara's original wife was the goddess Ninura, who was associated with the place name Ĝiša (GIŠ.KUŠU2), and in the Early Dynastic document referred to as the City Gazetteer in modern scholarship she is described as its "birthing mother" (ama-tu-da Ĝišaki).[37] It is often assumed Ĝiša (or Ĝišša) is simply an alternate name of Umma.[15] Hartmut Waetzoldt proposes that originally it was Ninura who was the tutelary deity of Umma, while Shara was primarily associated with the nearby settlement KI.ANki.[15] A possible depiction of Ninura is present on the seal Ninḫilia, who was the wife of Aakala, who served as the governor of Umma during the reign of Shu-Sin.[38] Her cult already had a small scope in this period,[38] and she is absent from later sources.[39] In sources from the Old Babylonian period, Shara's spouse is instead the goddess Usaḫara.[40] Fabienne Huber Vuillet proposes that her name might mean "dust day" or "dust storm."[2] It has also been pointed out that it resembles the Sumerian term usakar and its Akkadian form uskāru, both of which refer to the crescent, and that it shows phonetic similarity to the name of Ishara.[40] She was referred to as the "child of the nu-gig woman (dumu nu-gig-ga).[40] A further goddess who could appear alongside Shara as his wife was Kumulmul (also spelled Kumul), and the Old Babylonian forerunner of the god list An = Anum places both of them alongside Shara at once.[3]

Inanna of Zabalam was regarded as Shara's mother.[38] Julia M. Asher-Greve notes that it is possible Shara was assigned as a son to Inanna, usually regarded as childless, only to make it possible to apply the epithet ama ("mother") to her.[41] She states that its primary purpose was to serve as a "metaphor for divine authority, particularly over cities and states."[41] According to Manuel Molina, it simply reflected the close political relation between Umma and Zabalam.[42] The latter city corresponds to modern Tell Ibzeikh in Iraq.[4] Next to Inanna of Uruk, Nisaba and Ezina, its tutelary deity is one of the oldest goddesses attested in Sumerian texts.[43] Joan Goodnick Westenholz concluded that the tutelary goddess of Zabalam most likely initially had distinct character from Inanna.[44] She proposed that the goddess Nin-UM (reading and meaning of the second sign are unknown), who in an Early Dynastic zame hymn is identified with Inanna of Zabalam, might have been the original deity of this city.[45] Nin-UM also shows affinity with the god of Der, Ištaran.[45] In a later collection of temple hymns, Inanna of Zabalam, Inanna of Uruk, and "Inanna of Ulmaš" (Ishtar of Agade, whose temple was the E-Ulmaš) are treated as separate goddesses.[46] At the same time, Inanna of Zabalam was associated with Ninshubur and Nanaya in Umma, much like Inanna of Uruk was in her city.[15] Both Inanna of Zabalam and Shara were also worshiped alongside Dumuzi.[3] An association between this god and Shara is also attested in a ritual text from the Ur III period, but its character is unknown.[3] The identity of Shara's father in the tradition of Umma cannot be determined with a certainty, as the most direct reference to him, the phrase aia DINGIR ù-TU-zu in a hymn, has two possible translations: "your father An who engendered you," or "your divine father who engendered you."[3]

In god lists, Shara consistently occurs in the circle of Inanna and Dumuzi after the Ur III period.[2] The Old Babylonian forerunner of An = Anum places him next to a group of deities associated with the steppe: Lulal, Latarak and Lugaledinna.[2] A single Neo-Babylonian god list equates him with Adad.[2] According to Daniel Schwemer, it is presently impossible to tell what this equation relied on.[47] While in an Old Babylonian god list from Nippur dŠa-ra is placed right after the weather god, according to Fabienne Huber Vuillet the deity meant in this case is his similarly named wife Shala, not Shara.[2]

Mythology

Both Shara himself and a location associated with him, the Sigkuršaga, appear in the myth Inanna's Descent to the Underworld.[6] When Inanna looks for a substitute after being released from the underworld, Shara is one of the candidates she considers, but since much like Ninshubur and Lulal he was properly mourning her death, she tells the demons accompanying her to spare him.[48] According to Andrew C. Cohen, in this composition he is represented as Inanna's servant like the other two aforementioned deities.[48]

In the myth of Anzû, Shara is the final of the three gods who decline to fight the eponymous monster, the other two being Adad and Girra.[49]

Shara is briefly referenced in Lugalbanda and the Anzud bird, where during a meeting with Inanna the eponymous hero, Lugalbanda, is compared both to him and to Dumuzi.[50]

References

  1. ^ a b Beaulieu 2018, p. 35.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Huber Vulliet 2011, p. 31.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Huber Vulliet 2011, p. 32.
  4. ^ a b Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013, p. 10.
  5. ^ Cohen 1993, pp. 168–170.
  6. ^ a b c Waetzoldt 2014, p. 321.
  7. ^ Huber Vulliet 2011, pp. 32–33.
  8. ^ Cohen 1993, p. 84.
  9. ^ Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013, pp. 202–203.
  10. ^ Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013, p. 203.
  11. ^ a b George 1993, p. 119.
  12. ^ Tavernier 2021, p. 489.
  13. ^ George 1993, p. 141.
  14. ^ a b c d Huber Vulliet 2011, p. 33.
  15. ^ a b c d Waetzoldt 2014, p. 322.
  16. ^ a b c George 1993, p. 73.
  17. ^ a b George 1992, p. 325.
  18. ^ George 1993, p. 143.
  19. ^ Wang 2011, pp. 78–79.
  20. ^ George 1993, p. 153.
  21. ^ Sharlach 2008, p. 177.
  22. ^ Sharlach 2008, p. 180.
  23. ^ a b c Sharlach 2008, p. 181.
  24. ^ Sharlach 2008, pp. 181–182.
  25. ^ Huber Vulliet 2011, pp. 33–34.
  26. ^ Huber Vulliet 2011, p. 34.
  27. ^ a b c Zadok 2018, p. 155.
  28. ^ Marchesi & Marchetti 2011, p. 227.
  29. ^ Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013, pp. 21–22.
  30. ^ George 1992, p. 29.
  31. ^ George 1992, p. 6.
  32. ^ a b Krebernik 2003, p. 161.
  33. ^ George 1992, p. 327.
  34. ^ George 1992, p. 225.
  35. ^ George 1992, p. 222.
  36. ^ Zadok 2018, p. 154.
  37. ^ Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013, p. 53.
  38. ^ a b c Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013, p. 202.
  39. ^ Cavigneaux & Krebernik 1998, p. 510.
  40. ^ a b c Rudik 2014, p. 504.
  41. ^ a b Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013, p. 140.
  42. ^ Molina 2016, p. 172.
  43. ^ Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013, p. 44.
  44. ^ Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013, p. 42.
  45. ^ a b Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013, p. 50.
  46. ^ Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013, p. 62.
  47. ^ Schwemer 2001, p. 87.
  48. ^ a b Cohen 2005, p. 46.
  49. ^ Foster 1996, p. 458.
  50. ^ Woods 2012, p. 92.

Bibliography

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  • Beaulieu, Paul-Alain (2018). A History of Babylon, 2200 BC - AD 75. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-1-4051-8898-2. Retrieved 2022-05-30.
  • Cavigneaux, Antoine; Krebernik, Manfred (1998), "Nin-ura", Reallexikon der Assyriologie (in German), retrieved 2022-05-30
  • Cohen, Andrew C. (2005). Death rituals, ideology, and the development of early Mesopotamian kingship: toward a new understanding of Iraq's royal cemetery of Ur. Leiden Boston: Brill Academic Publishers. ISBN 978-90-04-14635-8. OCLC 61260809.
  • Cohen, Mark E. (1993). The cultic calendars of the ancient Near East. Bethesda, Md.: CDL Press. ISBN 1-883053-00-5. OCLC 27431674.
  • Foster, Benjamin (1996). Before the muses: an anthology of Akkadian literature. Potomac, MD: CDL Press. ISBN 1-883053-23-4. OCLC 34149948.
  • George, Andrew R. (1992). Babylonian Topographical Texts. Orientalia Lovaniensia analecta. Departement Oriëntalistiek. ISBN 978-90-6831-410-6. Retrieved 2022-05-31.
  • George, Andrew R. (1993). House most high: the temples of ancient Mesopotamia. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns. ISBN 0-931464-80-3. OCLC 27813103.
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  • Krebernik, Manfred (2003). "Drachenmutter und Himmelsrebe? Zur Frühgeschichte Dumuzis und seiner Familie" (PDF). In Sallaberger, Walther; Volk, Konrad; Zgoll, Annette (eds.). Literatur, Politik und Recht in Mesopotamien: Festschrift für Claus Wilcke (in German). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. ISBN 3-447-04659-7. OCLC 51728225.
  • Marchesi, Gianni; Marchetti, Nicolo (2011). Royal Statuary of Early Dynastic Mesopotamia. Penn State University Press. doi:10.1515/9781575066516. hdl:11585/105395. ISBN 978-1-57506-651-6.
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  • 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.
  • Sharlach, Tonia (2008). "Priestesses, Concubines and the Daughters of Men: Disentangling the Meaning of the Term Lukur in Ur III Times". In Michalowski, Piotr (ed.). On the Third Dynasty of Ur: studies in honor of Marcel Sigrist. Boston: The American Schools of Oriental Research. ISBN 978-0-89757-034-3. OCLC 861793053.
  • Tavernier, Jan (2021). "Ur and Other Cities in Some Sumerian and Akkadian Personal Names: The Pre-Sargonic and Sargonic Periods". Ur in the Twenty-First Century CE. Penn State University Press. pp. 485–502. doi:10.1515/9781646021512-034. ISBN 9781646021512.
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  • Woods, Christopher (2012). "Sons of the Sun: The Mythological Foundations of the First Dynasty of Uruk". Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions. Brill. 12 (1): 78–96. doi:10.1163/156921212x629473. ISSN 1569-2116.
  • Zadok, Ran (2018). "The Peoples of Elam". The Elamite world. Abingdon, Oxon. ISBN 978-1-315-65803-2. OCLC 1022561448.

External links

January 08, 2023
shara, shara, sumerian, 𒀭𒁈, dšara2, mesopotamian, associated, with, city, umma, other, nearby, settlements, chiefly, regarded, tutelary, deity, this, area, responsible, agriculture, animal, husbandry, irrigation, could, also, characterized, divine, warrior, th. Shara Sumerian 𒀭𒁈 dsara2 was a Mesopotamian god associated with the city of Umma and other nearby settlements He was chiefly regarded as the tutelary deity of this area responsible for agriculture animal husbandry and irrigation but he could also be characterized as a divine warrior In the third millennium BCE his wife was Ninura associated with the same area but later in the Old Babylonian period her cult faded into obscurity and Shara was instead associated with Usaḫara or Kumulmul An association between him and Inanna is well attested In Umma he was regarded as the son of Inanna of Zabalam and an unknown father while in the myth Inanna s Descent to the Underworld he is one of the servants mourning her temporary death He also appears in the myth of Anzu in which he is one of the three gods who refuse to fight the eponymous monster SharaTutelary god of UmmaStele depicting a man named Ushumgal described as a priest of Shara dated to the first stage of the Early Dynastic Period c 2900 2700 BCE 1 Presently in the collection of Metropolitan Museum of Art 1 Major cult centerUmma KI ANki Anzu babbarSymbolbarbed arrow and possibly a lionParentsInanna of Zabalam and an unknown fatherConsortNinura in the third millennium BCE Usaḫara or Kumulmul in the Old Babylonian period Contents 1 Character 2 Worship 2 1 Outside Mesopotamia 3 Associations with other deities 4 Mythology 5 References 5 1 Bibliography 6 External linksCharacter EditWhile the original etymology of Shara s name is unknown according to Fabienne Huber Vuillet in Akkadian it was reinterpreted as a derivative of the word sarum wind 2 Shara was the god of the city of Umma 3 corresponding to the modern Tell Jokha in Iraq 4 Documents from this city also record the existence of multiple secondary local manifestations of him 5 It is assumed he was the main god in the pantheon of the area under the influence of his cult center 6 and his position in the Early Dynastic god list from Shuruppak Tell Fara might reflect his status as a major deity 2 His primary function was that of a tutelary deity of the area believed to belong to him As such he was responsible for agriculture animal husbandry and maintaining the irrigation network This role was exemplified by his epithet gugal An negara canal inspector appointed by An 7 A plow dedicated to him gisapin dSara da su a possibly to be understood as the plow named Marching with Shara is attested in documents from Umma 8 He could also be described as a warrior deity in which case his attribute was a barbed arrow 3 It has been proposed that lions present on seals from Umma might be an emblem of the city and that a lion accompanying the figure of a god on seals from this city might designate it as a representation of Shara 9 Similarly goddesses accompanied by lions might represent Shara s spouse Ninura 10 In god lists from the first millennium BCE Shara could be reinterpreted as a female deity 2 Worship Edit Votive plaque of queen Bara irnun Louvre Shara s principal temple was the Emaḫ whose ceremonial Sumerian name means exalted house 11 It is first attested in an inscription of Bara irnun the wife of Gissakidu of Umma 11 who reigned in the Early Dynastic period most likely as a contemporary of Enannatum II and Enentarzi of the First Dynasty of Lagash 12 Textual sources also mention the existence of a ziggurat dedicated to him which bore the name Sigkursaga 6 brick mountain of the heart 13 Both the temple and the ziggurat were located in KI ANki reading uncertain a site in the proximity of Umma 14 It has been proposed that while Umma was the main cult center of Shara in historical times KI ANki was the settlement originally associated with him while Umma s tutelary deity was at first Ninura his wife 15 Ebursasa the house which prepares the jars was either its another alternate name of Emaḫ or a designation of a specific part of it 16 The name might specifically refer to bursasa a type of vessel into which wine or honey were poured during rituals 17 Another temple of Shara located in Umma itself was the Esagepadda 14 house chosen in the heart known from inscriptions of Shu Sin and Ibbi Sin who both rebuilt it 18 Shara is invoked on steles from the reign of Lugalzagesi delineating the border of the kingdom of Umma 3 He also represents Umma in an inscription of Entemena according to which the border between him and Ningirsu representing the state of Lagash had to be demarcated by Enlil and subsequently measured and confirmed by the historical king Mesalim of Kish at the command of the god Istaran 19 Shara was also worshiped in various smaller settlements in the proximity of Umma often in his own temples AKA sal reading of the first half of the name uncertain and Anzu babbar part of the territory which was an object of conflicts between Umma and nearby Lagash are particularly well attested 14 Kings of the Third Dynasty of Ur especially Shulgi worshiped Shara in the latter of these two locations 3 Two temples of Shara which are attested in the Canonical Temple List but whose location is unknown are the Eburdudu house which prepares the jars 16 and the Eusakarra house of the crescent 20 Clergy of Shara is well attested and included various types of priests as well as purification specialists singers flutists and snake charmers 14 Also attested is a class of priestesses referred to as lukur 21 Evidence regarding this group is scarce but according to Tonia Sharlach they were most likely expected to remain unmarried and were recruited chiefly from among daughters of lesser clergy clerks of the state administration animal husbandry specialists and even farmers 22 She considers it possible that they were similar to naditu of Shamash and Aya from Sippar but admits not enough data is available to make a definite statement regarding their role 23 References to some of the lukur fleeing from their posts are known but the reasons behind this are unknown and there is no indication that they were slaves 23 There is also no indication that the role of priestesses described with the same term from other cities was similar for example there is no indication that the lukur of Ningirsu from Girsu were expected to remain unmarried and both wives and mother are attested among them while lukur of Ninurta from Nippur came from families of very high status and functioned more like en priestesses of other gods 24 Some attestations of Shara come from outside Umma and its immediate surroundings He was apparently worshiped in Girsu and Nippur as a deity from the circle of Inanna 25 He is also attested in sources from Ur 26 However according to Ran Zadok theophoric names invoking him are largely limited to Umma 27 Lu Shara is a particularly common example 23 In the past it was also assumed that a temple of Shara existed in Tell Agrab despite the location of this settlement making his presence in the local pantheon implausible but subsequent studies showed that the excavated house of worship belonged to the local god Iluma tim while the theonym written as dLAGABxIGI gunu on a fragment of a vase should most likely be read as Ishara instead 28 Umma s loss of political influence resulted in the decline in the worship of Shara as well which mirrors processes attested in the case of other cities of Mesopotamia and their deities for example Girsu and Ningirsu NINA and Nanshe or Shuruppak and Sud 29 According to Fabienne Huber Vulliet the last reference to Shara as an actively worshiped deity in a text of known provenance comes from a document from Old Babylonian Ur which mentions a temple in an unspecified location 3 However according to Andrew R George a temple of Shara located in Babylon is attested in the late school exercise Tintir Babylon 30 which based on the Marduk centric theology its compilers ascribed to most likely is no older than the reign of Nebuchadnezzar I 31 It bore the name Ebursasa which was associated with a temple in Umma in earlier periods 16 A reference to either a joint temple of Shara and Belili 32 or an instance of pairing the Shara temple from Tintir Babylon with one dedicated to this goddess 33 is also present in a fragment of a topographical text 34 which is most likely no older than the Neo Babylonian period though its provenance is unknown 35 Belili was a sparsely attested goddess who was regarded as one of Dumuzi s sisters and in most known cases she was instead worshiped in temples of her brother 32 No other references to a temple of Shara in Babylon are known 17 Outside Mesopotamia Edit Theophoric names invoking Shara are attested in documents from Susa in Elam from the Old Babylonian period which might indicate their bearers or their families originally came from Umma either as immigrants or as prisoners of war possibly as early as in the Ur III period 27 An analogous argument has been made for people with names invoking Nasi Nanshe and her respective cult center 27 Shara is also attested as a divine witness in legal texts from Susa though only rarely 36 Associations with other deities EditShara s original wife was the goddess Ninura who was associated with the place name Ĝisa GIS KUSU2 and in the Early Dynastic document referred to as the City Gazetteer in modern scholarship she is described as its birthing mother ama tu da Ĝisaki 37 It is often assumed Ĝisa or Ĝissa is simply an alternate name of Umma 15 Hartmut Waetzoldt proposes that originally it was Ninura who was the tutelary deity of Umma while Shara was primarily associated with the nearby settlement KI ANki 15 A possible depiction of Ninura is present on the seal Ninḫilia who was the wife of Aakala who served as the governor of Umma during the reign of Shu Sin 38 Her cult already had a small scope in this period 38 and she is absent from later sources 39 In sources from the Old Babylonian period Shara s spouse is instead the goddess Usaḫara 40 Fabienne Huber Vuillet proposes that her name might mean dust day or dust storm 2 It has also been pointed out that it resembles the Sumerian term usakar and its Akkadian form uskaru both of which refer to the crescent and that it shows phonetic similarity to the name of Ishara 40 She was referred to as the child of the nu gig woman dumu nu gig ga 40 A further goddess who could appear alongside Shara as his wife was Kumulmul also spelled Kumul and the Old Babylonian forerunner of the god list An Anum places both of them alongside Shara at once 3 Inanna of Zabalam was regarded as Shara s mother 38 Julia M Asher Greve notes that it is possible Shara was assigned as a son to Inanna usually regarded as childless only to make it possible to apply the epithet ama mother to her 41 She states that its primary purpose was to serve as a metaphor for divine authority particularly over cities and states 41 According to Manuel Molina it simply reflected the close political relation between Umma and Zabalam 42 The latter city corresponds to modern Tell Ibzeikh in Iraq 4 Next to Inanna of Uruk Nisaba and Ezina its tutelary deity is one of the oldest goddesses attested in Sumerian texts 43 Joan Goodnick Westenholz concluded that the tutelary goddess of Zabalam most likely initially had distinct character from Inanna 44 She proposed that the goddess Nin UM reading and meaning of the second sign are unknown who in an Early Dynastic zame hymn is identified with Inanna of Zabalam might have been the original deity of this city 45 Nin UM also shows affinity with the god of Der Istaran 45 In a later collection of temple hymns Inanna of Zabalam Inanna of Uruk and Inanna of Ulmas Ishtar of Agade whose temple was the E Ulmas are treated as separate goddesses 46 At the same time Inanna of Zabalam was associated with Ninshubur and Nanaya in Umma much like Inanna of Uruk was in her city 15 Both Inanna of Zabalam and Shara were also worshiped alongside Dumuzi 3 An association between this god and Shara is also attested in a ritual text from the Ur III period but its character is unknown 3 The identity of Shara s father in the tradition of Umma cannot be determined with a certainty as the most direct reference to him the phrase aia DINGIR u TU zu in a hymn has two possible translations your father An who engendered you or your divine father who engendered you 3 In god lists Shara consistently occurs in the circle of Inanna and Dumuzi after the Ur III period 2 The Old Babylonian forerunner of An Anum places him next to a group of deities associated with the steppe Lulal Latarak and Lugaledinna 2 A single Neo Babylonian god list equates him with Adad 2 According to Daniel Schwemer it is presently impossible to tell what this equation relied on 47 While in an Old Babylonian god list from Nippur dSa ra is placed right after the weather god according to Fabienne Huber Vuillet the deity meant in this case is his similarly named wife Shala not Shara 2 Mythology EditBoth Shara himself and a location associated with him the Sigkursaga appear in the myth Inanna s Descent to the Underworld 6 When Inanna looks for a substitute after being released from the underworld Shara is one of the candidates she considers but since much like Ninshubur and Lulal he was properly mourning her death she tells the demons accompanying her to spare him 48 According to Andrew C Cohen in this composition he is represented as Inanna s servant like the other two aforementioned deities 48 In the myth of Anzu Shara is the final of the three gods who decline to fight the eponymous monster the other two being Adad and Girra 49 Shara is briefly referenced in Lugalbanda and the Anzud bird where during a meeting with Inanna the eponymous hero Lugalbanda is compared both to him and to Dumuzi 50 References Edit a b Beaulieu 2018 p 35 a b c d e f g h Huber Vulliet 2011 p 31 a b c d e f g h i Huber Vulliet 2011 p 32 a b Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 10 Cohen 1993 pp 168 170 a b c Waetzoldt 2014 p 321 Huber Vulliet 2011 pp 32 33 Cohen 1993 p 84 Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 pp 202 203 Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 203 a b George 1993 p 119 Tavernier 2021 p 489 George 1993 p 141 a b c d Huber Vulliet 2011 p 33 a b c d Waetzoldt 2014 p 322 a b c George 1993 p 73 a b George 1992 p 325 George 1993 p 143 Wang 2011 pp 78 79 George 1993 p 153 Sharlach 2008 p 177 Sharlach 2008 p 180 a b c Sharlach 2008 p 181 Sharlach 2008 pp 181 182 Huber Vulliet 2011 pp 33 34 Huber Vulliet 2011 p 34 a b c Zadok 2018 p 155 Marchesi amp Marchetti 2011 p 227 Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 pp 21 22 George 1992 p 29 George 1992 p 6 a b Krebernik 2003 p 161 George 1992 p 327 George 1992 p 225 George 1992 p 222 Zadok 2018 p 154 Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 53 a b c Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 202 Cavigneaux amp Krebernik 1998 p 510 a b c Rudik 2014 p 504 a b Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 140 Molina 2016 p 172 Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 44 Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 42 a b Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 50 Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 62 Schwemer 2001 p 87 a b Cohen 2005 p 46 Foster 1996 p 458 Woods 2012 p 92 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 2018 A History of Babylon 2200 BC AD 75 John Wiley amp Sons ISBN 978 1 4051 8898 2 Retrieved 2022 05 30 Cavigneaux Antoine Krebernik Manfred 1998 Nin ura Reallexikon der Assyriologie in German retrieved 2022 05 30 Cohen Andrew C 2005 Death rituals ideology and the development of early Mesopotamian kingship toward a new understanding of Iraq s royal cemetery of Ur Leiden Boston Brill Academic Publishers ISBN 978 90 04 14635 8 OCLC 61260809 Cohen Mark E 1993 The cultic calendars of the ancient Near East Bethesda Md CDL Press ISBN 1 883053 00 5 OCLC 27431674 Foster Benjamin 1996 Before the muses an anthology of Akkadian literature Potomac MD CDL Press ISBN 1 883053 23 4 OCLC 34149948 George Andrew R 1992 Babylonian Topographical Texts Orientalia Lovaniensia analecta Departement Orientalistiek ISBN 978 90 6831 410 6 Retrieved 2022 05 31 George Andrew R 1993 House most high the temples of ancient Mesopotamia Winona Lake Eisenbrauns ISBN 0 931464 80 3 OCLC 27813103 Huber Vulliet Fabienne 2011 Sara Reallexikon der Assyriologie in French retrieved 2022 05 30 Krebernik Manfred 2003 Drachenmutter und Himmelsrebe Zur Fruhgeschichte Dumuzis und seiner Familie PDF In Sallaberger Walther Volk Konrad Zgoll Annette eds Literatur Politik und Recht in Mesopotamien Festschrift fur Claus Wilcke in German Wiesbaden Harrassowitz ISBN 3 447 04659 7 OCLC 51728225 Marchesi Gianni Marchetti Nicolo 2011 Royal Statuary of Early Dynastic Mesopotamia Penn State University Press doi 10 1515 9781575066516 hdl 11585 105395 ISBN 978 1 57506 651 6 Molina Manuel 2016 Zabala u m Reallexikon der Assyriologie retrieved 2022 05 30 Rudik Nadezda 2014 Usaḫara Reallexikon der Assyriologie in German retrieved 2022 05 30 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 Sharlach Tonia 2008 Priestesses Concubines and the Daughters of Men Disentangling the Meaning of the Term Lukur in Ur III Times In Michalowski Piotr ed On the Third Dynasty of Ur studies in honor of Marcel Sigrist Boston The American Schools of Oriental Research ISBN 978 0 89757 034 3 OCLC 861793053 Tavernier Jan 2021 Ur and Other Cities in Some Sumerian and Akkadian Personal Names The Pre Sargonic and Sargonic Periods Ur in the Twenty First Century CE Penn State University Press pp 485 502 doi 10 1515 9781646021512 034 ISBN 9781646021512 Waetzoldt Hartmut 2014 Umma A Philologisch Reallexikon der Assyriologie in German retrieved 2022 05 30 Wang Xianhua 2011 The metamorphosis of Enlil in early Mesopotamia Munster ISBN 978 3 86835 052 4 OCLC 712921671 Woods Christopher 2012 Sons of the Sun The Mythological Foundations of the First Dynasty of Uruk Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions Brill 12 1 78 96 doi 10 1163 156921212x629473 ISSN 1569 2116 Zadok Ran 2018 The Peoples of Elam The Elamite world Abingdon Oxon ISBN 978 1 315 65803 2 OCLC 1022561448 External links EditA balbale to Sara Sara A in the Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature Inana s Descent to the Nether World in the ETCSL Lugalbanda and the Anzud bird in the ETCSL Stele of Ushumgal and Shara igizi Abzu on the website of the Metropolitan Museum of Art Votive plaque of Bara irnun on the website of the Louvre Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Shara god amp oldid 1124936264, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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