Ninsianna

Ninsianna was a divine representation of the planet Venus.[4] Many of her epithets highlight a connection to light and radiance.[1] A text from Sippar-Amnanum addresses Ninsianna as ilum elum, "radiant god."[5] A late source from Uruk calls her "mistress who illuminates heaven."[6]

Due to her astral character, it has been proposed that she was depicted on cylinder seals as a goddess with a star either on her crown or above it.[7]

Ninsianna was occasionally associated with haruspicy, like a number of other astral deities.[1]

Ninsianna’s gender varies between primary sources.[8] Two texts appear to indicate that it is possible Ninsianna, as a personification of Venus, was viewed as female at sunset and male at sunrise.[5] It has been proposed that she was originally a female deity, but her gender became variable due to contact between Sumerians and speakers of Semitic languages who represented the same celestial body as a male deity.[1]

It is generally accepted that in Sippar, Ninsianna was worshiped as a male deity.[9] Similar evidence is known from Ur and Girsu.[10] Rim-Sin of Larsa on at least one occasion referred to Ninsianna as a male deity, referring to him as a “king” (lugal) who helped him against his enemies.[11] However, some evidence in favor of interpreting Ninsianna as a god rather than a goddess (for example an inscription of Iddin-Sin of Simurrum[5] ) is uncertain, as it is possible that the Akkadian word ilu might be employed in inscriptions as a gender neutral term, similar to Sumerian dingir.[5]

Sources from Kassite archives appear to present Ninsianna as a goddess, rather than a god.[12]

The god list An = Anum states that Ninsianna was regarded as “Ishtar of the star,” Ishtar kakkabi.[11] The association between Ninsianna and Ishtar/Inanna goes back at least to the late third or early second millennium BCE.[1] In the Isin-Larsa period, Inanna was partially syncretised with Isin’s dynastic goddess Ninisina, with the justification relying partially on the similarity between the names of Ninsianna and Ninisina.[4] However, at the same time in Larsa Ninsianna and Inanna were regarded as distinct goddesses without overlap between their cults.[4]

A deity named Kabta (“star”) or Mahdianna (“lofty one of heaven”) was frequently associated with Ninsianna.[2] A certain Sin-ishmeanni described himself as “servant of Ninsianna and Kabta” on a cylinder seal.[13] However, the exact nature of the relationship between these two deities, and even Kabta’s gender, remain uncertain due to lack of sources.[2] Wilfred G. Lambert considered it possible that the deity was male and functioned as the spouse of Ninsianna,[2] but there is also evidence in favor of viewing Kabta as a goddess.[1]

A god list from Emar indicates that the Hurrians viewed Pinikir as an equivalent of Ninsianna.[3] Much like Ninsianna's, Pinikir's gender varies in Hurrian religious texts.[3]

A temple dedicated to Ninsianna, É-Eshbarzida ("House of True Decisions") is known from an inscription from Ur, but its location is uncertain.[1] Another temple of this deity was located in Nippur.[14]

While worship of Ninsianna is already attested from the period of Third Dynasty of Ur, she only grew in prominence in the following Isin-Larsa and Old Babylonian periods.[1] She is one of the deities most commonly mentioned in personal letters from the latter period.[15] While less common than Ishtar, she appears with comparable frequency to Aya or Gula.[15] In sources from the city of Babylon itself she is one of best attested goddesses in various documents, next to Ishtar, Inanna of Zabalam, Annunitum and Sarpanit.[9] Monarchs who left behind evidence of personal devotion to Ninsianna include Rim-Sin of Larsa and Iddin-Dagan of Isin.[1]

She continued to be worshiped in the Kassite period.[16]

In Hellenic Uruk she was regarded as one of the goddesses accompanying Ishtar during the New Year festival, alongside Nanaya and various minor goddesses of the city.[17]

Ninsianna only sporadically appears as a theophoric element in personal names.[11] There is nonetheless a lot of evidence for personal devotion to both female and male Ninsianna.[1]