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Ninildu

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Ninildu
God of carpentry
Major cult centerZabalam, Duluma

Ninildu (Sumerian: 𒀭𒊩𒌆𒅆𒉄𒁍, dNin-IGI.NAĜAR.BU; also read Ninduluma[1]) was a Mesopotamian god associated with carpentry. He was chiefly worshiped in the city of Zabalam and in its proximity. He appears in a number of literary texts, such as the Epic of Erra.

Name and character

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The oldest writing of the name is dNin-NAĜAR.BU, attested in the god lists from Abu Salabikh and Fara and in the Zame Hymns from the Early Dynastic period, though later on dNin-IGI.NAĜAR.BU was employed.[1] A logographic writing, dNAĜAR, is attested in the god list An = Anum.[2] While the name is commonly rendered as Ninildu in Assyriological literature, the alternate reading Ninduluma has been proposed based on an unpublished incantation from Meturan, which reportedly uses a phonetic spelling.[1] Jeremiah Peterson renders the name as Ninildum due to the presence of an apparent auslaut in a number of sources.[3] It is agreed the deity was male.[4]

Ninildu was associated with carpentry.[1] One source (tablet K 3248) directly calls him ilu ša nāgarri, "the god of the carpenters."[5] He could be called the "chief carpenter,"[6] or the "great carpenter of Anu."[7]

An incantation states that Ninildu was one of the deities created by Ea with clay from the Apsu,[8] and that he was tasked with the construction of temples alongside Ninsimug and Arazu.[9] Lexical lists also attest the existence of a tradition in which he was equated with Enki (Ea), though it is agreed that it represented a secondary development.[1] A Mîs-pî ritual refers to him as "Ea of the carpenters."[9]

Attestations

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The worship of Ninildu in Zabalam is well attested in sources from the third millennium BCE, such as administrative texts from Umma.[10] He also had a cult center in the direct proximity of the former of these two cities.[11] Douglas Frayne states it was named Dulum, in accordance with the reading of the name of the god he uses.[4] It might correspond to modern (Tell) Salbuḫ.[11] In the third millennium BCE Ninildu is also attested in the names of two individuals from Adab and in a list of offerings from the Old Akkadian period which might have originated in the same city. [12]

A text from the reign of Nabu-apla-iddina describing the preparation of a new statue of Shamash mentions Ninildu among the deities aiding Ea in the process, alongside Kusigbanda, Ninkurra and Ninzadim.[13] In a first millennium BCE bilingual incantation from Assur, Ninildu is invoked alongside Ninagal during the production of a new royal throne.[6] An inscription of Esarhaddon lists Ninildu among the deities connected to the rites of Ekazaginna, the temple of Ea in Babylon.[13]

Literary texts describing Ninildu's functions include the Curse of Agade and the Epic of Erra.[1] In the former, he is implored to hinder the growth of trees.[3] According to the latter, he was equipped with a "glittering hatchet."[14] In a late composition, known only from a copy found in Kuyunjik, Ninildu and Sirsir are responsible for constructing the boat of Enki.[15]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f Cavigneaux & Krebernik 1998, p. 340.
  2. ^ Krebernik 1998, p. 74.
  3. ^ a b Peterson 2009, p. 73.
  4. ^ a b Frayne 2008, p. 358.
  5. ^ Lambert 2013, p. 378.
  6. ^ a b Gadotti 2014, p. 46.
  7. ^ Walker & Dick 1999, p. 81.
  8. ^ Lambert 2013, p. 381.
  9. ^ a b Walker & Dick 1999, p. 62.
  10. ^ Cavigneaux & Krebernik 1998, p. 341.
  11. ^ a b Frayne 2008, pp. 358–359.
  12. ^ Such-Gutiérrez 2005, pp. 26–27.
  13. ^ a b George 1992, p. 302.
  14. ^ Foster 2005, p. 888.
  15. ^ Frayne 1997, pp. 286–287.

Bibliography

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  • Cavigneaux, Antoine; Krebernik, Manfred (1998), "Nin-duluma", Reallexikon der Assyriologie (in German), retrieved 2022-10-11
  • Foster, Benjamin R. (2005). Before the muses: an anthology of Akkadian literature. Bethesda, Md.: CDL Press. ISBN 1-883053-76-5. OCLC 57123664.
  • Frayne, Douglas (1997). Ur III Period (2112-2004 BC). RIM. The Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia. University of Toronto Press. doi:10.3138/9781442657069. ISBN 978-1-4426-5706-9.
  • Frayne, Douglas (2008). Pre-Sargonic Period. RIM. The Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. doi:10.3138/9781442688865. ISBN 978-1-4426-8886-5.
  • Gadotti, Alhena (2014). Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld and the Sumerian Gilgamesh Cycle. De Gruyter. doi:10.1515/9781614515456. ISBN 978-1-61451-708-5.
  • George, Andrew R. (1992). Babylonian Topographical Texts. Orientalia Lovaniensia analecta. Departement Oriëntalistiek. ISBN 978-90-6831-410-6. Retrieved 2022-10-11.
  • Krebernik, Manfred (1998), "NAĜAR", Reallexikon der Assyriologie (in German), retrieved 2022-10-11
  • Lambert, Wilfred G. (2013). Babylonian creation myths. Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns. ISBN 978-1-57506-861-9. OCLC 861537250.
  • Peterson, Jeremiah (2009). God lists from Old Babylonian Nippur in the University Museum, Philadelphia. Münster: Ugarit Verlag. ISBN 978-3-86835-019-7. OCLC 460044951.
  • Such-Gutiérrez, Marcos (2005). "Untersuchungen zum Pantheon von Adab im 3. Jt". Archiv für Orientforschung (in German). 51. Archiv für Orientforschung (AfO)/Institut für Orientalistik: 1–44. ISSN 0066-6440. JSTOR 41670228. Retrieved 2022-10-11.
  • Walker, Christopher; Dick, Michael B. (1999). "The Induction of the Cult Image in Ancient Mesopotamia: The Mesopotamian mis pî Ritual". Born in Heaven, Made on Earth. Penn State University Press. doi:10.1515/9781575065120-003.
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