Belet Nagar

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Deities of the ancient Near East
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Belet Nagar ("Lady of Nagar") was the tutelary goddess of the ancient Syrian city Nagar (Tell Brak). She was also worshiped by the Hurrians and in Mesopotamia.

Much like in the case of Ashur and its god, the name of the deity was the same as that of the corresponding city.[1]

Attestations[]

An inscription of the Hurrian king Tish-Atal of Urkesh is the oldest currently known attestation of Belet Nagar.[2] In this context she appears alongside Hurrian deities Lubadag (Nupatik), Šimige and Teshub.[3][4][5]

Many 2nd millennium BCE texts from Mari and Shehkha (Tell Leilan) refer to Belet Nagar. In Mesopotamia she appeared for the first time in documents from the Ur III period, though it is unclear how large her role in official religion was.[6]

Character[]

Belet Nagar's character is not fully known, even though she was most likely among the most significant deities of the region.[7] While in the Old Babylonian period the political importance of Nagar declined, she remained a prominent deity.[8]

In 2nd millennium BCE Shehkha she was the tutelary goddess of the local dynasty.[9] For example, in a letter from a certain Ea-Malik to Till-Abnu, ruler of a small kingdom in the Khabur Triangle centered around Shehkha, the former refers to Belet Nagar as the goddess to whose favor he owes his position as a king.[10] Another function fulfilled by Belet Nagar in Shehkha was that of a divine witness of commercial treaties.[11] Beate Pongratz-Leisten proposes that her introduction in the areas under control of Third Dynasty of Ur was tied to these two functions. She points out that Nagar was never under control of Mesopotamian polities itself, and it is therefore impossible to connect the introduction of its goddess to religious systems of the southern cities to military conquests.[12]

It has been proposed she was a mother goddess, though the sole piece of evidence for this theory is the fact that an Ur III period priest of Ninhursag bore the theophoric name Nawar-šen, Nawar possibly being a variant spelling of Nagar.[13] Daniel Schwemer instead argues that she was an "Ishtar-gestalt" possibly analogous to Shaushka[14] though this view was evaluated critically by Joan Goodnick Westenholz.[15]

Worship[]

During the reign of Shulgi, Belet Nagar received offerings in Ur alongside Ishara.[16] They had a shared temple in that city. In Nippur, "Haburitum" (seemingly a goddess analogous to Belet Nagar) and Ishara were additionally joined by Dagan, another prominent Syrian deity.[17] Wilfred G. Lambert wrongly assumed that Haburitum and Ishara were one and the same as well as the spouse of Dagan, but this theory finds no support in more recent scholarship.[18] The queen Shulgi-simti, one of Shulgi's wives, seemed to be a devotee of a number of foreign or minor deities, including Belet Nagar and Ishara, but also Allatum and Nanaya.[19]

There is a well documented tradition of cultic travels of the statue of Belet Nagar.[20]A letter to king Till-Abnu alludes to a festival during which the goddess was believed to leave her main temple to visit a nearby town, seemingly so that new boundary markers could be set.[21] A letter from Mari refers to this celebration too, identifying the destination as Shehkha/Shubat Enlil.[22]

Identification with other deities[]

According to archaeologist Alfonso Archi Haburitum, a goddess from Ur III period texts, was analogous to the Belet Nagar.[23] He also considers it a possibility that the Hurrian goddess was analogous to Belet Nagar and by extension to Haburitum.[24] The identification of Nabarbi with Belet Nagar is also supported by hittitologist Piotr Taracha.[25]

References[]

  1. ^ A. Cavigneaux, M. Krebernik, NIN-Nagar [in:] Reallexikon der Assyriologie und vorderasiatischen Archäologie vol. 9, 1998, p. 475
  2. ^ D. Matthews, J. Eidem Tell Brak and Nagar, IRAQ 55, 1993, p. 203
  3. ^ B. Pongratz-Leisten, Assyrian royal discourse between local and imperial traditions at the Hābūr, Revue d'Assyriologie et d'Archéologie Orientale 105, 2011, p. 114
  4. ^ A. Archi, The West Hurrian Pantheon and Its Background [in:] B. J. Collins, P. Michalowski, Beyond Hatti. A tribute to Gary Beckman, 2013, p. 8
  5. ^ G. Wilhelm, The Hurrians, 1989, p. 11
  6. ^ J. Eidem, Nagar [in:] Reallexikon der Assyriologie und vorderasiatischen Archäologie vol. 9, 1998, p. 76
  7. ^ P. Steineller, Texts, Art and Archaeology: An Archaic Plaque from Mari and the Birth-goddess Ninhursag [in:] G. Chambon, M. Guichard, A.-I. Langlois, T. Römer, N. Ziegler (eds.), De l'Argile au Numerique: Melanges assyriologiques en l'honneur de Dominique Charpin, 2019, p. 981
  8. ^ J. M. Sasson, The Vow of Mutiya, King of Shekhna [in:] G. D. Young, M. W. Chavalas, R. E. Averbeck (eds.), Crossing Boundaries and Linking Horizons. Studies in Honor of Michael C. Astour on His 80th Birthday, p. 476
  9. ^ J. Eidem, Nagar [in:] Reallexikon der Assyriologie und vorderasiatischen Archäologie vol. 9, 1998, p. 76
  10. ^ J. M. Sasson, The Vow of Mutiya, King of Shekhna [in:] G. D. Young, M. W. Chavalas, R. E. Averbeck (eds.), Crossing Boundaries and Linking Horizons. Studies in Honor of Michael C. Astour on His 80th Birthday, p. 475-476
  11. ^ B. Pongratz-Leisten, Comments on the Translatability of Divinity: Cultic and Theological Responses to the Presence of the Other in the Ancient near East [in:] C. Bonnet (ed.), Les Représentations des Dieux des Autres, 2010, p. 97
  12. ^ B. Pongratz-Leisten, Comments on the Translatability of Divinity: Cultic and Theological Responses to the Presence of the Other in the Ancient near East [in:] C. Bonnet (ed.), Les Représentations des Dieux des Autres, 2010, p. 86-87
  13. ^ A. Cavigneaux, M. Krebernik, NIN-Nagar [in:] Reallexikon der Assyriologie und vorderasiatischen Archäologie vol. 9, 1998, p. 475
  14. ^ D. Schwemer, Die Wettergottgestalten Mesopotamiens und Nordsyriens im Zeitalter der Keilschriftkulturen, Materialien und Studien nach den schriftlichen Quellen, 2001, p. 273-274; 445
  15. ^ J. M. Asher-Greve, J. G. Westenholz, Goddesses in Context: On Divine Powers, Roles, Relationships and Gender in Mesopotamian Textual and Visual Sources, 2013, p. 71
  16. ^ A. Cavigneaux, M. Krebernik, NIN-Nagar [in:] Reallexikon der Assyriologie und vorderasiatischen Archäologie vol. 9, 1998, p. 475
  17. ^ A. Archi, Formation of the West Hurrian Pantheon: The Case of Išḫara [in:] K. Aslihan Yener, H. A. Hoffner (eds.), Recent Developments in Hittite Archaeology and History: Papers in Memory of Hans G. Güterbock, 2002,p. 29-30
  18. ^ L. Felieu, The God Dagan in Bronze Age Syria, 2003, p. 54-55
  19. ^ T. Sharlach, Shulgi-simti and the Representation of Women in Historical Sources [in:] M. Feldman, J. Cheng (eds.), Ancient Near Eastern Art in Context: Studies in Honor of Irene Winter, 2007, p. 365
  20. ^ L. Felieu, The God Dagan in Bronze Age Syria, 2003, p. 123
  21. ^ J. M. Sasson, The Vow of Mutiya, King of Shekhna [in:] G. D. Young, M. W. Chavalas, R. E. Averbeck (eds.), Crossing Boundaries and Linking Horizons. Studies in Honor of Michael C. Astour on His 80th Birthday, p. 488
  22. ^ D. Matthews, J. Eidem Tell Brak and Nagar, IRAQ 55, 1993, p. 204
  23. ^ A. Archi, The Gods of Ebla [in:] J. Eidem, C.H. van Zoest (eds.), Annual Report NINO and NIT 2010, 2011, p. 6
  24. ^ A. Archi, The West Hurrian Pantheon and Its Background [in:] B. J. Collins, P. Michalowski, Beyond Hatti. A tribute to Gary Beckman, 2013, p. 7
  25. ^ P. Taracha, Religions of Second Millennium Anatolia, 2009, p. 121
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