Ishtar of Nineveh and her collaborator, Ishtar of Arbela, in the reign of Assurbanipal

Abstract

In a hymn written for Assurbanipal (K. 1290, cited here from Alasdair Livingstone's recent edition), the king describes how Ishtar of Nineveh and Ishtar of Arbela have collaborated in helping him during his reign. The text is described in its colophon as a song of Assurbanipal for “the Lady of Nineveh”, a title reserved for Ishtar of Nineveh. Although this suggests that the text may have been copied out on this tablet to serve as a guide for performance of the text for Ishtar of Nineveh, the text itself is quite clearly a two-goddess hymn. It opens by urging listeners to glorify the Lady of Nineveh and magnify the Lady of Arbela “who have no equal among the gods” (1. 3: šá-ni-na la i-šá-a). Significantly, the verb “have” appears here in the feminine plural form. The praises that follow similarly employ feminine plural pronominal suffixes: “Their names (1. 4: zi-kir-ši-na) are most precious among the goddesses, their cult centers (1. 5: ma-ha-za-ši-na) have no equal”, and “the word from their lips (1. 6: zi-kir šap-te-ši-na) is blazing fire”. The grammar makes it unmistakably clear that we are dealing here with two separate and distinct goddesses, each named Ishtar.