Išartu | |
---|---|
Divine personification of
righteousness | |
Major cult center | Mari |
Personal information | |
Spouse | Mīšaru |
Išartu was a Mesopotamian goddess regarded as the divine hypostasis of righteousness. She was closely associated with a deity of similar character, Mīšaru, and in the god list An = Anum they are described as a couple. Evidence of the worship of Išartu includes early Akkadian theophoric names, offering lists from Mari and late religious texts from Uruk.
Išartu functioned as the divine hypostasis of righteousness. [1] Julia Krul describes her as the feminine equivalent of Mīšaru. [2] Volkert Haas assumed that in Mariote tradition they were regarded as twins. [3] In the god list An = Anum (tablet III, line 247) she is described as his spouse. [4] Manfred Krebernik argues that the pair represented the concept of law and order. [5]
Like Mīšaru, Išartu belonged to the circle of deities associated with Adad. [5] Paul-Alain Beaulieu notes that both of them show affinity with another deity from this group, Uṣur-amāssu, and presumes the latter's own association with justice was influenced by this. [6] Two known instances of the word išartu being used as an epithet of Shala, a balag composition and an eršaḫunga prayer, are presumed to be related to Išartu's presence in Adad s circle too. [4]
Išartu should not be confused with the theonym dI-šìr-tu4 known from a single late god list, which is instead assumed to mean "the ten gods." [4]
The deity Išar, presumed to be identical with Išartu, first appears in Old Akkadian theophoric names. [4] She was worshiped in Bad-tibira during the reign of Shu-Sin of the Third Dynasty of Ur [7] and appears in an offering list from Mari (ARM 24 263) alongside Mišaru. [8] In the latter city both forms of the name were used, [4] with the longer one attested in the offering list ARM 23 264, between Dagan and Yakrub-El. [9] A possible reference to her is also present in the Old Babylonian god list from Isin, but the signs are damaged and the name cannot be restored with certainty. [4]
According to Daniel Schwemer, the only source of evidence regarding the worship of Išartu in later periods are documents from Uruk. [4] She was a member of the local pantheon in the Seleucid period, but she is not attested in earlier sources from this city. [10] She is one of the deities mentioned in a description of a parade accompanying Ishtar during the akitu celebrations; among other participants are chiefly figures typically associated with this goddess or the city of Uruk, such as Nanaya, Ninsianna, Ninigizibara or Ninmeurur. [1] Despite her presence in religious texts, Išartu is not attested in legal formulas or theophoric names from the late Uruk text corpus. [10]
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