The Problem of the Origin and Early History of the Deity Nin-Ib (Nin-Urta, Nin-Urash)

Abstract

THE DEITY Nin-IB, whose name is explained in syllabaries as Nin-ur-ta,1 Ni[ur] -ta,2 and Nin-u-ra-as,3 was one of the most popular deities in ancient Babylonia. Historically, however, he is one of the most elusive. The syllabaries identify him with many deities, and the religious literature ascribes to him many and varied functions. He is equated with Ningirsu, Ningishzida, Ninshakh, Dunpae, Lugalbanda, Zababa, Marduk, and Ashur, and a number of others. He is regarded as intercessor, protector, warrior, god of life, god of oracles, god of the chase, as sun-god, storm-god, weather-god, and as judge. He is son of Enlil, of Ea, of Ashur, and of other gods. He is consort of the goddesses Bau and Gula. He is identified with the sun, with Saturn, and with Venus. It is no wonder, then, that the opinions of scholars have differed widely as to his origin and functions, and even as to his name. To mention but a few of these: I myself thought in 1902 1 that Nin-IB was simply a later name for the god Ningirsu of Lagasha name by means of which that god was divested of local associations so that he might be worshipped in other cities. Jastrow thought 6 that Nin-IB was an epithet that was applied to many different deities. It was thus that he accounted for the ubiquity and the manifold character of the god. Clay, who discovered that in the Persian period in Aramaic his name was nwlm, held that Nin-IB was but one of the manifold forms assumed by the god Amurru,7 who was for Clay one of the earliest, if not the earliest, of Semitic deities, and the original from which most historical Semitic deities sprung. Dhorme 8 regards Nin-urash as the origi-