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Ninhursag
Mother of All Living Things
Ninhursag (queen of the mountains) had many other names: Ninmah (the exalted lady), Nintu (lady who gave birth), Aruru, Mami, and Ki among them. Ki seems to be the oldest name for this goddess. Ki means "(mother) Earth". She was probably an early consort for An "Heaven".
Some of her epithets include: "Mother Goddess", "Goddess of Childbirth", "Mother of All Living Things", "The Exalted Lady", "Mother of All Gods", and "Mother of All Children". Early Sumerian rulers aligned themselves with Ninhursag by claiming to have been "children of Ninhursag" and "constantly nourished by Ninhursag with milk".
She is fourth among the creating dieties, although in earlier days Ninhursag/Ninmah was probably ranked higher than fourth. She often preceded Enki when the four gods (Anu, Enlil, Enki, Ninhursag) were listed together.
Ninhursag doesn't seem to have an "official" consort. She has been aligned with An, Enlil and Enki. Ninurta, the god of the stormy south wind, is her son by Enlil. She also had daughters by Ea/Enki, who in some texts state he is her brother and in others her spouse. "In Dilmun, she (as Nintu) bears the goddess Ninsar from Enki, who in turn bears the goddess Ninkur, who in turn bears Uttu, goddess of plants. Uttu bore eight new trees from Enki. When he then ate Uttu's children, Ninhursag cursed him with eight wounds and dissapears. After being persuaded by Enlil to undo her curse, she bore Enki eight new children which undid the wounds of the first ones." (Kramer 1963 pp. 147-149; Kramer 1961 pp. 54-59)
Although a small temple was built to her in Ur, Ninhursag was the main diety of Adab. In Adab she had a larger temple built in her honor which is named Enamzu. This temple had seven gates and seven doors, each door and gate had a special name such as: "Lofty Gate", "Gate of (divine) Decrees", "Lofty Door", "Door of Refreshing Shade", and so on. (Kramer, The Sumerians pg 51.) Ninhursag was one of the creating dieties. She, Enlil and Enki produced the world's plant and animal life. "Ninhursag ensures fertile fields, but when she cursed her husband for his incestuous affairs (with the plants she gave birth to) and his descend into the underworld, the earth became barren. Only when the hastily assembled gods managed to mollify her, the earth became fertile again and the cycle of the seasons was instituted." Ninhursag Also, she aided Enki in the creation of mankind:
THE CREATION OF MAN
SBV Ea made his voice heard
And spoke to the gods his brothers,
'Why are you blaming them?
Their (the Igigi) work was hard, their trouble was too much.
Everyday the earth (?) [resounded (?)].
The warning signal was loud enough, [we kept hearing the noise.]
There is [ ]
Belet-ili the womb-goddess is present----
Let her create a mortal man
So that he may bear the yoke [( )],
So that he may bear the yoke, [the work of Ellil],
Let man bear the load of the gods!'
....
OBV Nintu made her voice heard
And spoke to the great gods,
'It is not proper for me to make him.
The work is Enki's;
He makes everything pure!
If he gives me clay, then I will do it.'
Enki made his voice heard
And spoke to the great gods,
'On the first, seventh, and fifteenth of the month I shall make a purification by washing.
Then one god should be slaughtered.
And the gods can be purified by immersion.
Nintu shall mix clay
With his flesh and his blood.
Then a god and a man
Will be mixed together in clay.
Let us hear the drumbeat forever after,
Let a ghost come into existence from the god's flesh,
Let her proclaim it as his living sign,
And let the ghost exist so as not to forget (the slain god).'
They answered 'Yes!' in the assembly,
The great Anunnaki who assign the fates.
Enki goes through the "purification by washing" on the first, seventh and fifteenth of the month. Nintu mixes the clay in the flesh and blood of the slain god. The clay was pinched off into fourteen pieces (for the fourteen birth goddesses). She created seven males and seven females.
When the tenth month came,
She slipped in (?) a staff and opened the womb.
Her face was glad and joyful.
She covered her head,
Performed the midwifery,
Put on her belt, said a blessing.
She made a drawing in flour and put down a mud brick:
'I myself have created (?) it, my hands made (it).
And so mankind was created to ease the toils of the Igigi.
*Translations from "Oxford World's Classics" pg.14-17
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