Gula (goddess)
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| Gula | |
|---|---|
Divine physician | |
 A healing goddess with a dog on a kudurru | |
| Major cult center | Umma, later Nippur |
| Symbol | dog, scalpel |
| Genealogy | |
| Spouse | Ninurta; Mandanu; Abu |
| Children | Damu and Gunura |
| Equivalents | |
| Isin | Ninisina |
| Sippar and Terqa | Ninkarrak |
| Nippur | Nintinugga |
| Luwian | Kamrušepa |
Gula (Sumerian: "the great"[1]) was a Mesopotamian goddess of medicine, portrayed as a divine physician and midwife. Over the course of the second and first millennia BCE, she became one of the main deities of the Mesopotamian pantheon, and eventually started to be viewed as the second highest ranked goddess after Ishtar. She was associated with dogs, and could be depicted alongside these animals, for example on kudurru (inscribed boundary stones), and receive figurines representing them as votive offerings.
While Gula was initially regarded as unmarried, in the Kassite period she came to be associated with Ninurta. In Babylon his role could also be fulfilled by Mandanu, while the god list An = Anum links Gula with Pabilsag and Abu. The circle of deities closely associated with her also included Damu and Gunura, who eventually started to be regarded as her children, as well as her sukkal (divine attendant) Urmašum, who might have been imagined as a dog-like being. Through various syncretic processes she could be equated with other goddesses of similar character, including Ninisina, Ninkarrak, Nintinugga, Bau and Meme, though all of them were originally separate, and with the exception of the last of them did not entirely cease to be worshiped separately, even though their individual cults did decline. A well known composition dedicated to describing Gula's syncretic associations is the Gula Hymn of Bulluṭsa-rabi, which seemingly was copied by Mesopotamian practitioners of medicine during their formal training.
It is conventionally assumed that Gula originated in Umma, where she is well attested in the Ur III period, though possible older references are present in texts from Adab. In the following centuries, her cult spread to other cities, including Nippur, which eventually came to be regarded as her primary cult center, as well as Uruk, Babylon, Ur and Lagash. After the conquests of Hammurabi, she was also introduced to Larsa, Sippar and Isin. In the Kassite period she started to be worshiped in the newly established royal city of Dur-Kurigalzu. In Assyria Gula only appears for the first time in the Middle Babylonian period. She had temples in Assur, Kalhu, Tabetu and Mardaman. Attestations from outside Mesopotamia, for example from Emar and Ugarit, are largely limited to scholarly texts.
Gu2-la2
Gula's name has Sumerian origin and is usually understood as "the great."[1][2] Based on context the common word gula could also mean "greater," "greatest," "former," "capital" or "main."[3] In sources from the Ur III period, the word "gula" was sometimes used simply as an epithet added to names of various deities: references to "Inanna-gula," "Ninhursag-gula" or even "Alla-gula" are known.[4] It was also applied to the medicine goddess Ninisina, for example in an offering list from Lagash and in a hymn from the reign of Ishbi-Erra.[5] It has been proposed that the goddess Gula was herself initially an epithet, but gradually morphed into a separate deity.[6] A well known comparable example of a Mesopotamian deity who developed this way is Annunitum,[1] who was initially an epithet of Ishtar.[7]
Jeremiah Peterson states that Gula (𒀭𒄖𒆷) and Gu2-la2 (𒀭𒄘𒇲), who frequently appears in god lists in association with Abu, were most likely understood as two orthographies of a single theonym, though he accepts the possibility that they were originally separate deities, and notes they might have continued to be recognized as such as late as in the Old Babylonian period.[8] Researchers who support this proposal include Marcos Such-Gutiérrez,[9] Joan Goodnick Westenholz[5] and Irene Sibbing-Plantholt.[10] Evidence in favor of this possibility includes the location of the respective cult centers of Gula and Gu2-la2 in different parts of Mesopotamia in the Ur III period, lack of any indications that the writing gu2-la2 ever corresponded to the term gula, and separate placement in god lists, though it is not unambiguous.[11] It is also possible that the name of Gu2-la2 had a different etymology, with the verb gu2-la2, "to lean over" or "to embrace," being suggested by Sibbing-Plantholt.[12]
Gu2-la2 is first attested in the Early Dynastic period in the Fara and Abu Salabikh god lists, as well as in theophoric names.[13] However, she is absent from literary texts, and evidence of her cult is not present in any texts postdating the Old Babylonian period.[14] There is no indication that she was a healing goddess in known sources,[12] and her character is unknown.[14] In the later god list An = Anum Gula, rather than Gu2-la2, appears as the spouse of Abu.[15]
A third goddess who due to her name being homophonous could be connected to or confused with Gula and Gu2-la2 was Ukulla, the spouse of Tishpak.[16] Furthermore, Wilfred G. Lambert has identified examples of confusion between the name of Gula and that of the male bricklayer deity Kulla.[17]
Ninnibru
Ninnibru, also known under the Akkadian form the name, Bēlet-Nippuri,[18] "the lady of Nippur," was a goddess regarded as the wife of Ninurta who first appears in offering lists from the Ur III period.[19] She eventually came to be understood as a form of Gula, and as such ceased to be regarded as a distinct goddess.[18] It is presently uncertain if she was still worshiped as a distinct deity in the Kassite period, when Ninurta was paired with Gula.[20] As Ninnibru, Gula was worshiped in the Ešumeša,[21] a well attested temple of Ninurta in Nippur.[22]
The epithet Ninnibru was sometimes applied to Ninimma, who was usually not the wife of Ninurta,[18] though an exception can be found in the recently published Hymn to Ninimma for Nanne, Nanne being a little known king mentioned also in the Tummal Inscription.[23] Ninnibru is not to be confused with the similarly named Ungal-Nibru/Šarrat-Nippuri, "the queen of Nippur,"[18] as both of these names could be used in the same texts to designate distinct goddesses, with the latter understood as a form of Ishtar, rather than Gula.[24]
dME.ME
While Meme was initially a separate goddess, she came to be eventually absorbed by Gula,[25] and her name started to be used as an alternate writing of the latter theonym.[26] As a result, dME.ME is attested as a logographic representation of Gula's name for example in the Neo-Babylonian Eanna archive from Uruk[27] and other sources from the first millenjnium BCE, though the association might go further back, to Old Babylonian lexical list.[28]
Bēlet-balāṭi
Bēlet-balāṭi is attested both as a theonym, written with the dingir sign which served as a determinative designating names of deities in cuneiform, and as an epithet of Gula.[29] In the latter capacity, it can be found in incantations.[30] Irene Sibbing-Plantholt argues that she should be understood either as a deity syncretised with Gula or as her epithet which came to be treated as a separate manifestation of her.[29] Paul-Alain Beaulieu proposes that she might correspond to Manungal, though he also notes she could be considered a form of Gula or a member of the circle of deities associated with her.[31]
Amaʾarḫuššu
The names Nin-amaʾarḫuššu ("lady merciful mother") and Amaʾarḫuššu ("merciful mother"[32]) are applied to Gula in two copies of an explanatory text.[33] According to Julia Krul, it is possible that the latter also served as a stand-in for Gula's name in theophoric names from Uruk from the Hellenistic period.[34] However, Joan Goodnick Westenholz assumed she was a separate goddess only introduced to the local pantheon in late times, similarly as Amasagnudi or Šarrāḫītu.[35]
Character and iconography
Like other Mesopotamian medicine goddesses, Gula was regarded as a divine physician.[36] While the earliest sources do not directly mention that she was perceived as such, an association with healing is implied for example by the fact that offers to her were made by Nawir-ilum, Šu-kabta and Ubartum, well attested high ranking individuals from the Ur III period who worked as asû (physicians).[37] Lack of early references to her character might indicate that she was chiefly worshiped as a healing deity in domestic environments at first.[38] A later hymn calls her "the great doctoress."[39] She could be described as equipped with a variety of tools employed by physicians in ancient Mesopotamia, including various herbal remedies, a razor, a scalpel and a number of other knives or lancets.[40] Like other medicine goddesses, Gula was believed to be able to use illnesses as punishment in addition to healing them.[41] However, in contrast with Ninkarrak, she was not specifically invoked to such ends in curses.[42]
Gula already appears in an incantation from the Ur III period dealing with complication from birth, which states that she was responsible for cutting the umbilical cord.[43] She could also be invoked to determine a favorable destiny for the newborn.[44] As an extension of such roles she was regarded as capable of treating diseases of infants, and functioned as an enemy of the demon Lamashtu.[45] Barbara Böck characterizes the latter as the "counter image" of Gula,[46] based on their contrasting roles as respectively a demon killing infants and a divine midwife.[47] Other protective functions could be assigned to Gula too, for example a Namburbi incantation invokes her in domestic context against the evil influence of a fungus (katarru).[29] She was also sometimes associated with the underworld to a degree.[36] The Gula Hymn of Bulluṭsa-rabi goes as far as having the goddess declare "I bring up the dead from the netherworld."[48] In one incantation she is invoked to counter the harmful influence of Allatum (here a name of Ereshkigal, rather than a distinct deity) on a patient.[49]
Gula's prominence in the Mesopotamian pantheon grew over the course of the second half of the second millennium BCE,[50] and she came to be viewed as one of its main goddesses alongside Ishtar, surpassing Ninhursag in the process.[51] She also eventually eclipsed all the other medicine goddesses.[52]
On kudurru (decorated boundary stones) Gula was depicted in an anthropomorphic form, sitting on a throne, rather than in a symbolic way like most other deities.[53] Nanaya (a goddess of love) and Lamma (minor tutelary goddesses) were the only other female deities depicted similarly,[54] though Gula was represented on kudurru more commonly then them.[55] Many figurative depictions of her are also known from Neo-Assyrian seals, on which she is the most commonly appearing goddess.[56]
The nineteenth day of the month was associated with Gula.[57]
Gula and dogs
Gula was associated with dogs,[58] and in art could be accompanied by these animals,[59] though their depictions are relatively uncommon.[41] The origin of the link between dogs and Mesopotamian healing goddesses is uncertain, but it has been proposed that it was either the result of observing that saliva of dogs has healing properties, or an extension of a belief that disease can be transferred magically to an animal if it licks the patient.[45] The connection is already attested in the Ur III period,[60] though the oldest evidence is limited to documents which mention meat meant for dogs alongside offerings to Gula, and she only started to receive votive offerings shaped like these animals in the Old Babylonian period.[61] Depictions of the dogs of Gula Textual sources indicate that they could be invoked in oaths,[62] and that they were believed to assist her in combat against Lamashtu.[45] One of the incantations against this demon contains the formula "We are not just any dog, we are dogs of Gula, poised to flay your face, tear your back to pieces, and lacerate your ankles."[46] One Neo-Assyrian text dealing with Babylonian customs states that a dog which crossed the Esabad (one of Gula's temples) was believed to be a messenger sent by her.[63] Both a text referring to Gula being surrounded by "puppies huddled together" and archeological finds indicate she could be associated with young dogs as well, rather than just with adult animals.[47] This connection is also confirmed by the theophoric name Mūrānu-Gula (from mīrānu, "young dog"), attested in the Neo-Babylonian period.[64]
Other animal associations
In one ritual formula a worm, most likely a leech, is called "the daughter of Gula."[65] It is unclear if this was meant to elevate it to the rank of a demonic creature (similar to how Lamashtu was usually called the "daughter of Anu" and Namtar was occasionally the "son of Enlil")[66] or if it perhaps hints at an otherwise not directly attested medicinal use of leeches in ancient Mesopotamia.[67] There is however no direct evidence of bloodletting being practiced, and the references to it in the Babylonian Talmud are assumed to reflect influence of Greek medicine in the Levant rather than a Mesopotamian tradition.[65] A single incantation (YOS 11, 5:9-14) appears to refer to unspecified worms as "dogs of Gula."[49] Describing other animals as "dogs" is not unparalleled in other Mesopotamian magical texts, as various field pests (including locusts, small birds and caterpillars) were called "dogs of Ninkilim," but no other uses of this figure of speech in relation to Gula are known.[68] Based on these scattered references Nathan Wasserman suggests that a type of worm, possibly a leech, was regarded as Gula's attribute, in addition to the better known association with dogs.[69] This proposal is also supported by Barbara Böck.[70]
The text LKA 20, referred to in scholarship as an "incantation of burnt material," mentions that transgressions not only against dogs, but also cats, such as refusing to break a fight between the animals or not burying their corpses, could be a taboo (ikkibu) of Gula.[71] As of 2014 this reference remains unique, and no other sources mentioning the connection between Gula and cats are known to researchers.[72]
