Nintinugga

Symbol: scalpel; dogs; staff entwined with serpents

Country or culture: Mesopotamian

Mother: Uraš

Father: Anu

Children: Damu; Ninazu; Gunura

Overview

Nintinugga was a goddess of healing associated with the ancient religions of the Mesopotamian region. Her attested origin dates back to the earliest days of written language. She was known by a broad variety of names, including Gula, Azugallatu, Bēlet Balāti, Bau, Ninisinna, and Ninkarrak. In all of these incarnations, she was portrayed as the patron goddess of medicine and doctors. In testament to this, one of her primary symbols was a staff with serpents twisted around its head, an image that was later adopted by the Egyptians and then by the Greeks. The Greeks called this staff the caduceus, which they described as being carried by Hermes. Beginning in the late nineteenth century, many North American groups adopted this symbol as a representation of medicine.

In virtually all of her forms, Nintinugga was linked with health and medicine. She was perceived as an important part of the Assyrian-Babylonian pantheon of gods. Many of her names express the reverence with which she was held. In early medical texts, she was referred to as Bēlet Balāti, “the Great Lady,” while one of her alternate names, Azugallatu, meant “Great Healer.”

In Mythology

The first known reference to Nintinugga was in the Fara god lists found at an archaeological site believed to correspond to the Sumerian city of Šuruppak around 2600 BCE. She later appeared during the First Babylonian Empire (c. 1830-1531 BCE) where her name appears in a series of written hymns praising her. She makes more appearances in three of the five lengthy surviving elegies chanted to various cities’ patron goddesses in remembrance of a destroyed city. Nintinugga is mentioned in several of these chants, including in the Lament for Urim (Ur), the Lament for Sumer and Urim, and the Lament for Nibru (Nippur), which date to about 2000 BCE. Nintinugga is further is attested in the Sumerian stories of Pabsilag’s Journey to Nibru, in which her marriage is recounted; and in Ninisinna and the Gods, where she is placed alongside other gods of the Sumerian city of Isin.

In one of her earliest incarnations, Nintinugga was called Bau or Baba by the Sumerians and was regarded as the patron goddess of dogs. Over time, the early Mesopotamians believed that dogs who licked their injuries healed more quickly, enabling Bau to eventually evolve into Nintinugga, the goddess of healing, her best known incarnation.

During the reign of the Babylonian King Hammurabi in the early eighteenth century BCE, female deities lost much of their status. However, the Nintinugga incarnation of Gula was among the few to retain much of her former power. Among the last known references to Nintinugga occurs during the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar (1125-1104 BCE), in which she is invoked in a curse. Here she is referred to by the ominous titles of “She Who Makes Heaven Tremble” and “Queen of the Tempest.” These descriptions seem to refer to a later incarnation of the goddess in which her healing abilities go hand-in-hand with her powers to bring disasters. These elements of healing and disaster may be demonstrated by her role in restoring humankind after the mythic great flood, which is a recurring story that appears in such legends as the Epic of Gilgamesh.

Origins & Cults

Nintinugga was the daughter of the supreme god Anu, the creator god who had associations with the sky. Anu was the father of all the Assyrian-Babylonian gods and later came to be associated with Enlil, the chief deity of the Sumerians. Her mother was Uraš, who is believed to be the earliest attested consort of Anu. Nintinugga’s primary consort was Pabsilag, the divine judge, who was sometimes depicted as a wild bull with wings. Pabsilag had further links to agriculture, and some scholars have suggested her pairing with him may have been a symbolic connection between the healing powers of herbs and medicine. At times, Nintinugga was also linked to Abu, an agricultural god, or Ninurta, another god of healing. With Pabsilag, she had several children, including her sons, Damu and Ninazu, and her daughter, Gunura. Like their mother, all had affiliations with healing.

Nintinugga was worshipped in her various incarnations in a number of cities. In Nibru, she was known as Ninnibru, while she was worshipped in Lagash as Bau. In Isin, she was known as Ninisinna and had a cult at the é-gal-mah temple. There she was revered as one of the highest order of gods and goddesses. During the height of Isin’s power, she became linked to Inanna, the Sumerian goddess of love and fertility.

Like the Gula and Bau incarnations, Ninisinna was also associated with dogs. Archaeologists have unearthed more than thirty graves of dogs at her é-gal-mah temple. Experts are uncertain of the role of these ritualized dog burials. Many of the discovered skeletons indicated signs of injuries or illness, and it is possible that they were simply animals cared for by devotees to Ninisinna; they may also have been used as ritual sacrifices. It may be possible that the dogs were used in oaths and were regarded as a physical stand-in for deities. Alongside the dog burials were dog sculptures and drawings. Within the é-gal-mah temple complex, there was also a small altar or temple that was translated as “dog house.” The altar was built by King Enlilbani who reigned from about 1798-1775 BCE. The site provides further testament to the presence of a dog cult in connection with the Ninisinna incarnation of Nintinugga. A further sign of her connection to a cult of dogs was demonstrated by the discovery of a series of canine sculptures at her temple in the Assyrian city of Nimrud. Statues like the Nimrud dogs may have been intended to bring luck, as many were found buried in doorways.

Bibliography

Böck, Barbara. The Healing Goddess Gula: Towards an Understanding of Ancient Babylonian Medicine. Brill, 2013.

“Cuneiform Tablet: Gula Incantation, ca. Mid- to Late 1st Millennium B.C.” The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2019, www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/321719. Accessed 29 Apr. 2019.

Heffron, Yaǧmur. “Gula/Ninkarrak (Goddess).” Ancient Mesopotamian Gods and Goddesses, 2016, oracc.museum.upenn.edu/amgg/listofdeities/gulaninkarrak/. Accessed 29 Apr. 2019.

Heffron, Yaǧmur, Adam Stone, and Martin Worthington. “At the Dawn of History.” Ancient Near Eastern Studies in Honour of J.N. Posgate, Eisenbrauns, 2017.

Mark, Joshua J. “Gula.” Ancient History Encyclopedia, 18 Jan. 2017, www.ancient.eu/Gula/. Accessed 29 Apr. 2019.

Ornan, Talley. “The Goddess Gula and Her Dog.” IMSA, 3 (2004): 13-30. www.academia.edu/864981/Tallay‗Ornan‗2004‗The‗Goddess‗Gula‗and‗her‗Dog‗IMSA‗3‗13-30. Accessed 29 Apr. 2019.

Stevens, Kathryn. Ancient Mesopotamian Gods and Goddesses, 1 Apr. 2016, oracc.museum.upenn.edu/amgg/listofdeities/ninisinna/index.html. Accessed 29 Apr. 2019.

Stuckey, Johanna. “Going to the Dogs: Healing Goddesses of Mesopotamia.” MatriFocus: Cross-Quarterly for the Goddess Woman, 5, no. 2 (2006): www.academia.edu/22704183/‗Going‗to‗the‗Dogs‗Healing‗Goddesses‗of‗Mesopotamia. Accessed 29 Apr. 2019.