1. Damgalnuna, known as Damkina, was a Mesopotamian goddess regarded as the wife of the god Enki.
17 Facts About Damgalnuna
1. 2.
Damgalnuna's character is poorly defined in known sources, though it is known that like her husband she was associated with ritual purification and that she was believed to intercede with him on behalf of supplicants.
3.
Damgalnuna was worshiped in other settlements, such as Nippur, Sippar and Kalhu, and possibly as early as in the third millennium BCE was incorporated into the Hurrian pantheon.
4.
Damgalnuna appears in a number of myths, including the Enuma Elis, though only a single composition, Damkina's Bond, is focused on her.
5.
The theonym Damgalnuna can be translated as "the great wife of the prince," the "prince" implicitly being Enki.
6.
Damgalnuna was believed to intercede with him on behalf of human supplicants, which has been compared to an analogous role attested for Adad's wife Shala, Shamash's wife Aya, Ishum's wife Ninmug or Inanna's attendant Ninshubur.
7.
In Mesopotamian astronomy, Damgalnuna was identified with the constellation Wagon of Heaven, corresponding to Ursa Minor.
8.
Deities considered to be children of Enki and Damgalnuna include Nanshe, Asalluhi, Marduk and Enbilulu.
9.
The worship of Damgalnuna is attested in all periods of history of ancient Mesopotamia, though the scope of her cult gradually declined.
10.
Damgalnuna is listed as one of its deities in the Code of Hammurabi.
11.
An inscription with Ashurnasirpal II indicates that Damgalnuna shared a temple with her husband in Kalhu.
12.
Damgalnuna was incorporated into Hurrian religion, where she similarly fulfilled the role of Ea's wife.
13.
Damgalnuna is mentioned in the treaty between Sattiwaza and Suppiluliuma I, in which she appears near the end of the list of divine witnesses, between Belet-ekalli and Ishara.
14.
Damgalnuna was worshiped alongside other Hurrian deities in the Hittite capital, Hattusa, and in Nerik.
15.
Only a single myth in which Damgalnuna plays a central role is known.
16.
Damgalnuna appears in it under the name Damkianna, though it has been suggested that in this context it might refer to Zarpanit.
17.
The forces of Nippur lose, and the conflict is eventually resolved through Damgalnuna's intervention, prompted by a message about the battle delivered to her by Neretagmil, the sukkal of the god Naru.