Ninhursag was a goddess in ancient Mesopotamian religion who watched over towns. Because she could have any kind of child, especially a wild donkey, she was worshiped as a fertility goddess. In ancient Mesopotamia, Ninhursag was a goddess of towns who was respected by the people who lived there. Her energy gave birth to animals, especially wild donkeys, because she was a goddess of breeding.
Ninmah, which is how Ninhursag’s name was first written, means “Magnificent Queen.” Ninurta, her son, changed her name from Ninmah to Ninhursag after he made the mountains. Nintu, which means “mother of creation,” and Belet-ili, which means “lady of the gods,” were two other names for her. In ancient Babylonia, she was called Ninmenah and played a big role in putting the king in power. The Sumerian goddess of fertility was also called Damgalnuna, and she was the beau of the prince. Damkina meant “real wife,” which made her role as Enki’s (the god of knowledge and creation) wife even clearer. “Goddess of the womb” is how her name, Shassuru, comes from, since she is so important to giving birth. Tabsut-ili, which means “mother of the gods,” was given to her because all other gods were thought to have come from her.
Ninhursag was linked to the Sumerian goddess of the earth Ki. Ninmah and Ninmenna were gods in ancient Babylon. They had devoted followers and holy places named after them. But as time went on and the two societies mixed, the Ninhursag goddess ate everything up.
Before she became the goddess of all of Mesopotamia, Ninhursag was the prosperity goddess of the town of Mal gum. In those places, people called her Damalguna and Damkina. Her husband was the god Sul-pa-e, and their home was the underworld. Malgum Ninhursag was the mother of three gods: Asgi, Lisin, and Lil. She was the goddess of prosperity. Not long after, Ninhursag began to be worshiped instead of Nammu, who was the goddess of the land’s prosperity. During the Ubaid Period, the Sumerians had already been worshiping a prosperity goddess for a long time, as shown by records from Mesopotamia. During Sumerian history, many female gods played the part of Mother Goddess.
In mythology, mother goddesses are female gods who are linked to life-giving events like birth, reproduction, and creation. After some time, another mother goddess stood in her place. From 2600 to 2334 B.C.E., Sumer worshiped Nammu as the goddess of fertility. Ninhursag, the mother goddess, probably took power around 2600 B.C. Ninhursag was once respected as Ki. You could also call her Kishar. She was the Sumerian goddess of the earth mother. Many people believed that she made babies in the womb, so most of her followers were mothers who prayed to her as Kishar for help taking care of their new babies.
The god of magic and understanding, Enki, is said to have married Ninhursag. Nisar is the plant god. He is the child of Enki and Ninhursag. Enki and Ninsar had a daughter named Ninkurra, who was the god of meadow. Enki and Ninkura had two daughters. The second was Uttu, who was known as the Queen of Weaving.
Uttu left because she thought Enki didn’t love her, and she never came back. Her great-grandmother Ninhursag told her to put Enki’s seed in the ground. The first eight plants to ever grow came from those seeds. In the end, the eight plants gave rise to eight more gods. People worshiped eight different gods: Abu, Nintulla, Ninkasi, Nanshe, Azimua, Emshag, and Ninti. People respected Abu, the god of plants, and Nintulla, the god of the Sumerian region of Makan. Ninsitu, Ninti, and Azimua are goddesses of healing. Ninkasi is a goddess of beer, and Nanshe is a goddess of magic and knowledge. People in Dilmun, which is in eastern Arabia, worshiped Enshag as their god.
Ninhursag used a mark that looked a lot like the Greek letter Omega. In most pictures of her, she had hairstyles that were based on the omega sign or a crown with the omega sign in the middle. There were several reasons given for why Ninhursag decided to use the omega symbol. Some scholars think that the upside-down belly, which represents the Omega, showed that she was a mother. It was normal to hold up a knife next to the omega symbol to show that it was the knife used to cut the umbilical cord during birth. Sometimes she is shown holding an omega-shaped staff and a leash with a lion cub connected to it. She has wings and a skirt with layers.
The goddess was the one who made both gods and people. She was an important goddess in almost all Sumerian stories, and she was one of four groups of creator goddesses in the Sumerian universe. The Sumerians thought that Ninhursag was the “Great Mom” who was in charge of everything and helped people grow. She is one of the four gods who are said to have created the world. She was a mother, so one of her main jobs was to keep other women and children safe. In addition, she was in charge of the whole birth process, from getting pregnant to giving birth. Figurines of her were made with a baby on her left breast. Many women prayed to her for help while they were pregnant, and many saw her as a protecting goddess.
She is best known for making people and gods, as we now know. She was often shown as an equal author who grew and developed the plot. To put it simply, she played a big role in making all living things. Ninhursag’s job was to shape eggs into babies inside women who were pregnant.
The story of Ninhursag and Enki says that the world began in a garden called Dilmun. It was like being in the Garden of Eden in Dilmun. The code says that after Ninhursag helped make the world, he went back to the park in the winter to rest. Enki was the god of magic and science, and Ninhursag was young and full of life when she met him. The two fell in love.
As soon as spring came around, Ninhursag went back to being the maker and left Enki and their daughter alone. Enki started to miss his wife Ninhursag because of this. One day, Enki was walking through the woods when he saw his daughter. He felt lustful for her right away. His wife Ninhursag came back to him in the form of Ninsar, he thought. He has been trying to get her to marry him for a few days before Ninsar finds out she is pregnant. Ninsar’s father eventually got her pregnant, and she and her husband named their daughter Ninkurra, after the Hindu goddess of mountain plants.
Ninkurra became a woman after only nine days, just like her mother did. Ninkura’s beauty made Enki fall in love with her right away. He tried to seduce them because the young Ninkurra made him think of his wife. Not long after that, Ninkurra got pregnant. She and her husband named their daughter Uttu.
It only took Uttu nine days to become an adult, and Enki had no trouble swaying him. Uttu was confused by Enki, who thought she was Ninhursag, his wife. Enki left Uttu behind when he learned she wasn’t Ninhursag and went back to Earth to do his job there. Uttu, whose heart was broken, turned to Ninhursag for comfort. Ninhursag told Uttu that she could help Uttu by getting some of Enki’s seeds ready to plant at Dilmun. Eight plants with different looks grew from the source. Enki saw the plants as he walked by and told Isimud, his vizier, to choose one. It was Ninhursag who asked for the rest of the crop after tasting the first plant and liking it.
Ninhursag was very angry when she got back because Enki had been eating all the plants. Ninhursag cursed her husband and ran away from the yard and everyone else. After that, Enki got very sick, and no amount of medical care could save him. As his health got worse, the other gods started to cry over him. She was the only one who could heal him, but no one knew where she was. A fox, which was one of Ninhursag’s animals, rescued the goddess Ninhursag out of the blue. When she got back, she was touched by how her husband’s health was getting worse. She sat down next to Enki and asked him where he was hurt.
The pain that Ninhursag took from Enki’s body at the spot where he felt it became a new god. Eight times of this were done, and one of Enki’s illnesses turned into an unknown Creator. The eight gods that were born from them were Abu, Nintulla, Ninsitu, Nanshe, Azimua, Emshag, and Ninti.
In response, Enki asks the people of Uttu to forgive him for eating their plants and getting the women to sleep with him. Ninhursag doesn’t care about Enki’s laziness or sexual urges. Enki and Ninhursag made peace with each other and went back to their jobs as gods of creation. The Sumerians thought Ninhursag was so powerful that he could both sicken and heal Enki, who was seen as a god.
Experts have found links between the Ninhursag and Enki story and the story of how the world was made in the Bible. It is thought that the Sumerian story and the Bible’s account of how the world was made are related. People say that Dilmun, which was a garden haven, was like the Garden of Eden. People thought that the story of Ninti being born from Enki’s rib gave them the idea for Eve being born from Adam’s rib.
It was in Enki’s ribs that he got sick, and Ninhursag made the god Ninti to ease the pain. Ninety-Two and Eve both mean “one who brings life.” Because of these similarities, some people think that the story of Ninhursag may have had an effect on the Hebrew author of Genesis.
The two origin stories are very different, though. As an example, Adam and Eve did not have heavenly or creative powers like gods like Enki and Ninhursag. In the Sumerian story of how the world began, Enki had children by seduction, but Adam did not. Adam’s mistake meant that he needed to be forgiven, but it didn’t make him sick and in need of treatment.
Another famous creation story in Babylonia was the story of Enki and Ninmah. It has been looked into a lot that Ninmah was also the name of Ninhursag. Ninhursag’s status in the story of Enki and Ninmah went down over time until she was finally pushed to second place, behind Enki. It got old for the smaller gods in the story to do all kinds of things all day and night.
Some of these jobs were digging, farming, and gathering. All of these weaker gods were worn out and begged Enki for help. Enki was resting because he was tired from his artistic work and wasn’t hearing their screams. So, Nammu, Enki’s mother, woke him up when she heard the smaller gods crying out.
After she brought the younger gods’ plea to Enki, he agreed to their terms. Along with Ninmah and other fertile gods, Enki told his mother to give birth to people. People were made to help the gods with their daily tasks. While the gods were still making people, Enki threw a big party.
The gods thanked Enki at the event for coming up with new ideas that made their lives easier. There was a table that Ninmah and Enki shared where they drank beer. While they were both drunk, Ninmah challenged Enki to a game. The task was simple: Ninmah would create something that wasn’t right, and Enki would have to fix it.
Since Ninhursag had made the man with crippled hands, Enki made his luck better by helping the king. This meant he didn’t have to steal to take care of himself. Ninhursag then made a man who was blind, but Enki made his life better by teaching him how to play music for the king. No matter how many times they go up against each other, Enki always wins.
Ninhursag finally made a humanoid that didn’t have any parts and challenged Enki to smile at it. Enki took the man up on his dare and made him a barber in the king’s court. Ninmah threw her clay on the floor because she didn’t like Enki’s answers. Enki then took the clay as a dare from Ninhursag.
In response, Enki challenged Ninhursag to find a way to make the future better for whatever creature he had made. The trouble began when he summoned a being and sickened it with different things. In the beginning, Ninmah tried to feed the thing but failed. That same night, she tries everything she can to make it work, but it doesn’t. Ninhursag gave up after a long fight and started yelling about Enki’s creation, saying it wasn’t alive or dead. She told Enki that he was being unfair when he set such a high standard that could not be met.
Then Enki told him about all the times she had put him to the test and he had done well every time. The part of the story where Ninhursag answers Enki has been lost to history. The rest of the story, though, says that Enki won and Ninmah gave up. Ninmah lost her position as a co-deity with Enki when she did this. Even so, her followers still saw her as a strong goddess they could pray to in times of trouble.
An old Akkadian tale called the Atrahasis talks about Ninhursag as the Great Mother who created people. Her main art form was pottery, which she improved with things like understanding and blood that she got from God. According to Akkadian legend, Enki made people to serve the lesser gods. The story says that the god Enlil let out the Great Flood, which destroyed everything. Ninhursag is shown in the Atrahasis crying over the death of her children.
There were stories that said Ninhursag was Anu, the sky-good wife and co-creator. In other myths, the god is linked to the Akkadian god Kishar. During her growth, Ninhursag was seen as one of the most important gods.
Ninhursag’s worship was so common that her temples sprang up all over Sumeria. Ninhursag had two temples in ancient Sumeria. One was in the town of Adab, and the other was in the city of Kesh, where she was known as Belet-ili of Kesh. She also had temples in Mari, Ur, Uruk, Lagash, and Ashur, all of which were important towns at the time. There wasn’t a weekly ceremony to honor the god’s worship. But every year, celebrations were held to honor the goddess. Her fans quietly praised her at home and only let everyone know how much they loved her at festivals. In the first thousand years B.C.E., both the Ninhursag faith and the worship of female gods went downhill.
In Mesopotamian faith, male gods started to take the lead around this time. The rise of male gods like Ashur made the female spirits Innana and Ereshkigal less important. People have always looked up to these women as powerful gods. Things in the Ninhursag cult started to slow down around 612 BCE.
