ACTA UNIVERSITATIS UPSALIENSIS Historia Religionum 35 The World of the Sumerian Mother Goddess An Interpretation of Her Myths Therese Rodin Dissertation presented at Uppsala University to be publicly examined in Ihresalen, Tun- bergsvägen 3L, Uppsala, Saturday, 6 September 2014 at 10:00 for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. The examination will be conducted in English. Faculty examiner: Professor Britt- Mari Näsström (Gothenburg University, Department of Literature, History of Ideas, and Religion, History of Religions). Abstract Rodin, T. 2014. The World of the Sumerian Mother Goddess. An Interpretation of Her Myths. Historia religionum 35. 350 pp. Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. ISBN 978-91-554- 8979-3. The present study is an interpretation of the two myths copied in the Old Babylonian period in which the Sumerian mother goddess is one of the main actors. The first myth is commonly called “Enki and NinপXUVDƣa”, and the second “Enki and Ninmaপ”. The theoretical point of departure is that myths have society as their referents, i.e. they are “talking about” society, and that this is done in an ideological way. This study aims at investigating on the one hand which contexts in the Mesopotamian society each section of the myths refers to, and on the other hand which ideological aspects that the myths express in terms of power relations. The myths are contextualized in relation to their historical and social setting. If the myth for example deals with working men, male work in the area during the relevant period is dis- cussed. The same method of contextualization is used regarding marriage, geographical points of reference and so on. Also constellations of mythical ideas are contextualized, through comparison with similar constellations in other Mesopotamian myths. Besides the method of contextualization, the power relations in the myths are investigated. According to this latter method, the categories at issue, their ranking, as well as their changed ranking, are noted. The topics of the myths is issues important for the kingship and the country, such as irriga- tion, trade, health and healing, birth, collective work, artisanry and rivalry. All these aspects are used in order to express what the power relations between the goddess NinপXUVDƣD1LQPDপ and the god Enki look like. The relations are negotiated and recalibrated, which leads to the goddess getting a lowered status. Part of the negotiations and recalibrations is gender behavior, which is related to historical developments in society. The present work points to the function of these myths as tools of recalibrating not only deities, but also men and women in society. Keywords: Sumerian mother goddess, Mesopotamia, myth, NinপXUVDƣD1LQPDপ, Enki, king- ship, midwifery, birth-giving, creation, death, sexual intercourse, gender, ideology, contextu- alization Therese Rodin, Department of Theology, History of Religions, Box 511, Uppsala University, SE-75120 Uppsala, Sweden. © Therese Rodin 2014 ISSN 0439-2132 ISBN 978-91-554-8979-3 urn:nbn:se:uu:diva- KWWSXUQNEVHUHVROYH"XUQ XUQQEQVHXXGLYD-228932) For my mother Inger Emma Eufrosyne Rodin Contents Preface .......................................................................................................... 13 Abbreviations ................................................................................................ 15 List of figures ................................................................................................ 18 List of tables .................................................................................................. 19 1. Introduction ............................................................................................... 23 1.1. Aim and questions ............................................................................. 25 1.2. Theoretical framework ...................................................................... 26 1.2.1. Myth as ideology ....................................................................... 26 1.2.2. Summary of the theoretical framework ..................................... 30 1.3. Method .............................................................................................. 31 1.4. Central concepts ................................................................................ 34 1.4.1. Mother goddess .......................................................................... 34 1.4.2. Pantheon .................................................................................... 38 1.4.3. Patriarchy/patriarchal society .................................................... 40 1.4.4. Gender ....................................................................................... 43 1.4.5. Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian, Assyrian and Mesopotamian ..................................................................................... 43 1.5. Sources .............................................................................................. 44 1.6. Previous Research ............................................................................. 46 ³(QNLDQG1LQপXUVDƣD´ .............................................................. 46 ³(QNLDQG1LQPDপ´ .................................................................... 48 1.6.3. Patriarchy and gender scholarship ............................................. 50 1.6.4. My contribution ......................................................................... 52 2. Historical setting and context of the myths ............................................... 54 2.1. History of early Mesopotamia ........................................................... 54 2.1.1. Development of states and script ............................................... 54 2.1.2. The historical change of the status of goddesses and women .... 58 2.1.2.1. The successive subordination of goddesses ....................... 58 2.1.2.2. The status of queens and royal women over time .............. 59 2.1.2.3. The status of priestesses over time ..................................... 64 2.1.2.4. Ordinary women ................................................................ 69 2.1.2.5. The enslaved working women ........................................... 74 2.1.2.6. Conclusions on the status of goddesses and women .......... 75 2.2. The context of the Sumerian myths ................................................... 77 2.2.1. The physical context: evidence from the texts themselves ........ 78 2.2.2. Literature and performance ........................................................ 79 2.2.3. The eduba and scribal education ................................................ 80 2.2.3.1. The relationship between scribes and the state ..................80 2.2.3.2. The teachers and their status ..............................................83 2.2.3.3. The pupils and their status..................................................86 2.2.3.4. The function of the eduba ..................................................88 3. The protagonists of the myth ....................................................................90 1LQপXUVDƣD1LQPDপ ..........................................................................90 3.1.1. Cultic cities, dates of attestations and godlists ..........................90 3.1.2. Birth-giver, midwife, wet-nurse and nurturer............................95 3.1.3. Family relations .........................................................................99 3.1.4. Relation to power and kingship ...............................................100 3.1.5. Traces of cultic expressions.....................................................102 3.1.6. Natural environment ................................................................105 3.1.7. Destruction...............................................................................107 3.2. Enki ................................................................................................. 109 3.2.1. Enki’s element: water ..............................................................109 3.2.2. The wise Enki ..........................................................................110 3.2.3. Enki’s competition with the mother goddess...........................111 3.2.4. The family relations of Enki....................................................112 3.2.5. Enki’s relation to power and kingship .....................................113 3.2.6. Enki’s relation to the me:s and the destinies............................114 (QNLDQG1LQপXUVDƣD...............................................................................115 4.1. Introduction .....................................................................................115 3URYHQLHQFHRIWKHVRXUFHVWR³(QNLDQG1LQপXUVDƣD´ ............115 4.1.2. A short summary of the content of the myth ...........................116 4.2. Dilmun, the setting of the myth.......................................................117 4.2.1. Contextualization of Dilmun ...................................................117 4.2.2. Ideological aspects of Dilmun .................................................118 4.3. The role of Utu ................................................................................119 4.3.1. Contextualization of Utu..........................................................119 4.3.2. Ideological aspects of the role of Utu ......................................123 7KH5ƯP-Sîn interpolation...............................................................124 &RQWH[WXDOL]DWLRQRIWKH5ƯP-Sîn interpolation.......................124 ,GHRORJLFDODVSHFWVRIWKH5ƯP-Sîn