11 Facts About Nikkal

Nikkal's was derived from the Sumerian Ningal, and like her forerunner was regarded as the spouse of a moon god, whose precise identity varied between locations.

Nikkal was derived from the Sumerian goddess Ningal, wife of the moon god Nanna, whose worship, similar to other eastern deities such as Ea, Damkina, Aya and Pinikir, was introduced from Mesopotamia to Hurrian areas possibly as early as in the third millennium BCE.

Hurrian texts feature Nikkal paired with the moon god under both of his names, Kusuh and Umbu, while in Ugarit she was regarded as married to the local moon god Yarikh.

Areas in which the worship of Nikkal is attested include Kizzuwatna, Ugarit and the Hittite Empire.

One document pertaining to the cult of Nikkal in Ugarit is a tablet inscribed with a Hurrian hymn dedicated to her, accompanied by notation.

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In Hurro-Hittite sources Nikkal appears in the offering lists of the circle of the goddess Hebat.

Nikkal's was among the deities depicted in the Yazilikaya sanctuary, where she appears as the figure designated as number 54 by modern authors, between Damkina and Aya.

Nikkal is not attested in non-Hurrian non-Ugaritic sources from bronze age western Syria.

In Egypt Nikkal is only attested in Leiden Magical Papyrus I, in which she appears as a foreign deity implored to heal a specific affliction.

Nikkal is referred to with two epithets, with the first being agreed to mean "king of summer" or "king of the summer fruit, " while the meaning of the second is regarded as connected to the institution of marriage.

Nikkal is assumed to be a deity of Hurrian origin, and it is possible that his name might mean "he of the mountain Hiri, " and end with the suffix -bi (Hiribi).