Bau (goddess)
Template:Short description Template:Infobox deity
Bau (cuneiform: 𒀭𒁀𒌑 dBa-U2; also romanized as Baba or Babu) is a Mesopotamian goddess. The reading of her name is a subject of debate among researchers, though Bau is considered the conventional spelling today.Template:Sfn While initially regarded simply as a life-giving deity, in some cases associated with the creation of mankind, over the course of the third and second millennia BCE she also acquired the role of a healing goddess. She could be described as a divine midwife. In art she could be depicted in the company of waterfowl, scorpions, and dogs.
In sources from Lagash and Girsu, Bau's husband was the god Ningirsu. Among their children were deities such as Igalim, Shulshaga and Ḫegir. While they could still be regarded as a couple in later sources, from the Old Babylonian period onwards Bau was also viewed as the wife of Zababa, the tutelary god of Kish. Another deity associated with her was her attendant goddess Lammašaga. Most likely for political reasons, Bau also came to be associated, and partially syncretised, with the medicine goddess Ninisina. In the late second millennium BCE she also came to be associated with Gula, and could be equated with her, though texts where they are two separate goddesses are known too. In one case, Bau is described as the deity who bestowed Gula's position upon her.
The earliest evidence indicates that Bau's initial cult center was Girsu, and that early on she also came to be worshipped in Lagash. Multiple kings of this city left behind inscriptions which mention her, and some of them, for example Uru'inimgina, referred to her as their divine mother. She is also attested in the theophoric names of many ordinary people. While the area where she was initially worshipped declined in the Old Babylonian period, she was transferred to Kish, and continued to be venerated there as late as in the Neo-Babylonian period. She is also attested in texts from Uruk dating to the Seleucid period.
Name
Bau is considered the conventional romanization today.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn However, it has been historically been a subject of debate in Assyriology, and various other possibilities have been proposed, including Baba, Bawu and Babu.Template:Sfn Due to the uncertainties surrounding the reading of the name, some experts favor romanizing it as BaU or Ba-U2, including Manuel Ceccarelli,Template:Sfn Jeremiah Peterson,Template:Sfn Julia M. Asher-Greve and Joan Goodnick Westenholz.Template:Sfn While "Baba" is a common romanization in publications from the twentienth century, the evidence both in favor and against it is inconclusive.Template:Sfn Edmond Sollberger considered "Bawa" to be the original formof the name, with "Baba" being a latter pronunciation, similar to the shift from Huwawa to Humbaba.Template:Sfn Maurice Lambert assumed Baba was the Akkadian reading and argued that in scholarship it should be only employed in discussion of Akkadian sources.Template:Sfn Giovani Marchesi notes that it is not certain if the phonetic spelling "Baba" found in a few Old Akkadian texts corresponds to this goddess or another deity, though he remarks it does seem that "Baba" and "Bau" were interchangeable in the writing of theophoric names, for example in the case of the legendary queen Kubaba/Ku-Bau.Template:Sfn He concludes that Bau was most likely the original pronunciation at the time when the orthography of the name was standardized in the third millennium BCE.Template:Sfn Gonzalo Rubio disagrees with Marchesi's conclusions and argues that the reading Baba would match the structure of a number of other names of Mesopotamian deities with no clear Sumerian or Semitic etymologies, such as Alala, Bunene or Zababa.Template:Sfn However, Ryan D. Winters states that the fact the name was written phonetically and not logographically, with two different symbols, makes it implausible it was originally pronounced as Baba, a reduplication of a single syllable.Template:Sfn Christopher Metcalf notes that the reading "Bau" is also supported by the attestations of the dative form dBa-U2-ur2.Template:Sfn
The meaning of Bau's name is unknown.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Thorkild Jacobsen's proposal that it was "an imitation of dog's bark, as English 'bowwow'" is regarded as erroneous today, as unlike other healing goddesses (Gula, Ninisina, Nintinugga and Ninkarrak) Bau was not associated with dogs.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
Character and iconography
The earliest sources represent Bau as a "life-giving" and "motherly" deity.Template:Sfn A hymn from the reign of Ishme-Dagan preserves a tradition according to which she was believed to be the mother of mankind.Template:Sfn While not a healing goddess at first, Bau acquired traits of this class of deities at some point in the third millennium BCE.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn In sources from the third millennium BCE Bau is the only goddess belonging to this group referred to as an asû,Template:Sfn "physician".Template:Sfn At the same time, there is no evidence that physicians were involved in her cult, in contrast with the cults of Gula, Ninisina and Nintinugga.Template:Sfn This might indicate her healing role was associated with domestic religious practices.Template:Sfn As a healing goddess Bau was associated with midwifery.Template:Sfn She could be described as (ama) arḫuš, "merciful (mother)".Template:Sfn It has been proposed that this epithet reflected "the knowledge of the female body," and that it designated deities bearing it as midwives.Template:Sfn A hymn praising Bau as a divine midwife was composed to celebrate the birth of the child of queen Kubatum, wife of Shu-Sin.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
Bau was also regarded as a goddess of abundance, and as such was depicted with a vase with flowing streams of water in art.Template:Sfn Furthermore, she was believed to be capable of mediating with other deities on behalf of supplicants.Template:Sfn
A depiction of Bau accompanied by a snake is known from a seal, and according to Julia M. Asher-Greve might indicate this animal was perceived as her symbol in the role of a healing deity.Template:Sfn This interpretation has been questioned by Irene Sibbing-Plantholt, who points out that while the owner of the seal, a certain Ninkalla, was a midwife, there is no other evidence for the association between Bau and snakes, and the animal therefore might fulfill a general apotropaic role.Template:Sfn In other contexts, presumably pertaining to her role as a wife or mother, Bau could be depicted with scorpions (associated with marriage), swans or miscellaneous waterfowl.Template:Sfn The various symbols assigned to her indicate that she was a multifaceted deityTemplate:Sfn with a fluid sphere of influence.Template:Sfn However, identifying depictions of Bau in art postdating the end of the third millennium BCE is difficult.Template:Sfn
Associations with other deities
Bau's father was An, as already attested in an inscription of Gudea.Template:Sfn She was described as his firstborn daughter sometimes.Template:Sfn According to Ryan D. Winters in the third millennium BCE in Lagash Gatumdug was regarded as Bau's mother.Template:Sfn However, this role could also be fulfilled in Abba or Abau (the latter form can also be romanized as Ababa; the romanization of the name is uncertain similarly as in the case of Bau), attested in the Lamentation over the Destruction of Ur and in the god list An = Anum.Template:Sfn In the latter source both Abau and Gatumdug appear, but only the former is described as Bau's mother (tablet V, line 58), while the latter is instead equated with Bau (tablet V, line 60).Template:Sfn Another deity named Abau, known from An = Anum passage and first millennium BCE lamentations, was instead male and could be described as a son of Bau.Template:Sfn In An = Anum he appears separately from Bau and is described as the husband of Gula (tablet V, line 52).Template:Sfn This deity is presumed to be identical with Abu from the myth of Enki and Ninhursag.Template:Sfn
Bau's husband was initially Ningirsu.Template:Sfn One of the few known reliefs showing a god with his wife sitting in his lap is most likely a depiction of this couple from the reign of Gudea (another similar one is instead interpreted as a depiction of Nanna and Ningal from the reign of Ur-Namma).Template:Sfn Such images were meant to highlight that the divine couples, depicted as loving spouses, act in unison, and that the corresponding kings had a special relation to them.Template:Sfn References to Bau and Ningirsu as a couple are also known from later sources, for example two curse formulas inscribed on kudurru (boundary stones).Template:Sfn In sources from Lagash, the siblings Igalim and Shulshaga were regarded as their sons.Template:Sfn Furthermore, an inscription of Gudea labels the goddess Ḫegir as their daughter.Template:Sfn The composition preserved on the Gudea cylinders states she was a member of a group referred to as "the seven lukur priestesses of Ningirsu" or "the septuplets of Bau".Template:Sfn Another goddess from this group, Urnunta-ea, could be addressed as a daughter of Bau and Ningirsu as early as during the reigns of Urukagina and Ur-Ningirsu I, though she is also attested as a child of Lisin (An = Anum tablet II, line 77).Template:Sfn Furthermore, Ryan D. Winters suggests that the deity Zurmuzarmu, who occurs in An = Anum (tablet II, line 105) in a context indicating association with Kesh, is a later reflection of the names of two other of the seven lukur, Zurmu and Zarmu.Template:Sfn It is possible that this reflects a degree of interchange between the circles of deities regarded as members of Bau's court and those associated with the local pantheon of Kesh.Template:Sfn
In Kish, where Bau was introduced in the Old Babylonian period,Template:Sfn she was regarded as the spouse of Zababa,Template:Sfn a local war god.Template:Sfn An early reference to Bau and Zababa as a couple is known from the Lament for Sumer and Ur.Template:Sfn Joan Goodnick Westenholz argues that initially Zababa was the husband of Ishtar of Kish (regarded as separate from Ishtar of Uruk), but after the Old Babylonian period she was replaced in the role of his spouse by Bau, though she continued to be worshiped independently.Template:Sfn However, as pointed out by Ryan D. Winters, while this assumption can be found in other modern publications as well, no primary sources identify Zababa and Ishtar of Kish as spouses; he states that even if a connection other than sharing a cult center existed between them, there is no certainty it was marital.Template:Sfn In An = Anum, Bau occurs both as the wife of Zababa (tablet V, line 48) and Ningirsu (tablet V, line 56).Template:Sfn Winters notes that at the time of this text's composition pairing her with Ningirsu represented a stronger tradition.Template:Sfn However, references to her and Zababa as a couple are common from the Middle Babylonian period onward.Template:Sfn They appear together in various religious texts, including the incantation series Šurpu, a hymn to Nanaya, and various compositions from the north of Babylonia.Template:Sfn The tradition presenting them as a couple is also known from Assyrian sources, for example from a treaty of Ashur-nirari V.Template:Sfn
An association between Bau and Nergal is attested in Old Babylonian sources from Ur and in a single text from Larsa.Template:Sfn
Bau's divine vizier (sukkal) was the goddess Lammašaga, "good guardian angel (lamma)", lamma being a class of tutelary and intercessory minor goddesses in Mesopotamian religion.Template:Sfn She had a temple of her own in Lagash,Template:Sfn and hymns dedicated to her are known from the curriculum of scribal schools.Template:Sfn In the past, attempts were sometimes made to prove she was a manifestation of Bau rather than a separate goddess, but this view is no longer considered plausible.Template:Sfn A hymn formerly believed to be a praise of Bau, while sometimes referred to as Bau A according to the ETCSL naming system, has been subsequently identified as a composition dedicated to Lammašaga instead.Template:Sfn Bau herself was possibly sometimes addressed as a lamma in Lagash.Template:Sfn In a handful of inscriptions, Bau's mother, left nameless in them, is also designated as such a deity.Template:Sfn Furthermore, in An = Anum a goddess named Lamma-Bau is described as Bau's daughter (tablet V, line 186).Template:Sfn
Bau and medicine goddesses
A degree of syncretism occurred between Bau and Ninisina,Template:Sfn and the former is explained as the name of the latter used in Girsu in the composition Ninisina and the Gods.Template:Sfn A hymn composed on behalf of Ishme-Dagan describes Bau with epithets which normally belonged to Ninisina.Template:Sfn It is possible that the development of a connection between these goddesses was politically motivated and was supposed to help the kings of Isin with posing as rightful successors of earlier influential dynasties.Template:Sfn According to Manuel Ceccarelli it developed in parallel with the connection between their respective husbands, Ningirsu and Pabilsag.Template:Sfn The character of Bau and Ninisina was however not identical, for example the former typically does not appear in incantations and was not invoked as an opponent of demons, unlike the latter.Template:Sfn Bau's lack of association with dogs, which sets her apart from other healing goddesses, might be related to this difference.Template:Sfn
Another medicine goddess associated with Bau was Gula,Template:Sfn though they were not closely connected with each other until the late second millennium BCE.Template:Sfn They were likely regarded as analogous in the Middle Assyrian period, with examples including the interchangeable use of their names in colophons and direct equation in a local Assurian recension of the Weidner god list, but they were not always viewed as identical.Template:Sfn Irene Sibbing-Plantholt suggests that the title Bau ša qēreb Aššur might have been used to differentiate Bau as a name of Gula and Bau as an independent goddess.Template:Sfn In the Gula Hymn of Bulluṭsa-rabi, composed at some point between 1400 and 700 BCE,Template:Sfn Bau is listed as one of the names of the eponymous goddess.Template:Sfn This composition, despite equating various goddesses with Gula, nonetheless preserves information about the individual character of each of them.Template:Sfn The section dedicated to Bau highlights her role as a life-giving deity.Template:Sfn However, a late Babylonian incantation states that Gula was "exalted by the command of Bau", which indicates they were viewed as separate.Template:Sfn They also occur separately from each other in sources pertaining to a festival held in Uruk in the first millennium BCE.Template:Sfn Bau's association with Zababa was also exclusive to her.Template:Sfn
Worship
Third millennium BCE
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While the oldest attestations of Bau come from scribal school texts from Shuruppak from the Early Dynastic period, her original cult center was Girsu.Template:Sfn Her main shrine bore the ceremonial name Egalgasu, "house filled with counsel", and was a part of the Etarsirsir,Template:Sfn a temple dedicated to her located in the Uru-ku,Template:Sfn the "sacred quarter" of the city.Template:Sfn References to this house of worship are already known from the reign of Ur-Nanshe.Template:Sfn Bau was also worshiped in the Eninnu,Template:Sfn which was primarily a temple of Ningirsu.Template:Sfn The name Etarsirsir also referred to Bau's temple in the city of Lagash,Template:Sfn though she was not yet worshiped there in the Early Dynastic period.Template:Sfn It has been suggested that this might indicate she was initially not a separate goddess, but a secondary name of Lagashite Gatumdug, but this explanation is not considered plausible.Template:Sfn Attested members of the staff of Bau's temples from the Early Dynastic period include various types of clergy (for example gudu and gala); temple administrators (sanga); writers (dub-sar); musicians (nar); housekeepers (agrig); various artisans; shepherds; fishermen; and more.Template:Sfn Multiple kings of Lagash dedicated votive offerings to Bau, with particularly many being known from the reign of Uru'inimgina.Template:Sfn Some of the Lagashite rulers, including him, as well as Eanatum and Lugalanda, referred to Bau as their divine mother, though sometimes this role was fulfilled by Gatumdug instead, for example in the case of Enanatum I and Enmetena.Template:Sfn Bau's association with kings extended to the cult of deceased rulers as well.Template:Sfn She appears frequently in theophoric names from Lagash.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Examples include Bau-alša ("Bau shows mercy"), Bau-amadari ("Bau is the eternal mother"), Bau-dingirmu ("Bau is my deity"), Bau-gimabaša ("Who is merciful like Bau?"), Bau-ikuš ("Bau takes care"), Bau-menmu ("Bau is my crown"), Bau-umu ("Bau is my light"), Gan-Bau ("servant of Bau"; the first element is feminine), Geme-Bau ("maid of Bau"), Lu-Bau ("man of Bau"), and more.Template:Sfn
Bau's importance grew further during the reign of the Second Dynasty of Lagash (Template:Circa 2230-2110 BCE) due to her association with Ningirsu.Template:Sfn Gudea elevated her to a rank equal with him, and referred to her as the "queen who decides the destiny in Girsu".Template:Sfn This reform made her the highest ranking goddess of the local pantheon of Lagash,Template:Sfn which was previously the position of Nanshe.Template:Sfn During the subsequent reign of the Third Dynasty of Ur, Bau was the second most notable goddess worshiped chiefly in association with her respective husband after Ninlil.Template:Sfn The highest cultic official of Bau in the province of Lagash, and as a result one of the most powerful political figures in it was an ereš-dingir priestess.Template:Sfn One of the holders of this office was a certain Geme-Lamma, who is known from inscription on a number of seals.Template:Sfn While servants and scribes are depicted led by minor goddesses to meet with Bau on seals, she was depicted interacting with the goddess directly.Template:Sfn In the same period Bau came to be worshiped in Nippur, though neither she not her husband Ningirsu were major members of the local pantheon.Template:Sfn According to Walther Sallaberger, she received offerings in the Ešumša, the temple of Ninurta.Template:Sfn
Later attestations
Kings from the dynasty of Isin, in particular Ishme-Dagan, showed interest in the cult of Bau, though she was not introduced to the pantheon of Isin itself, and in documents from it she only appears in theophoric names.Template:Sfn Evidence for the worship of Bau from the Old Babylonian period is scarce.Template:Sfn In Ur she is only attested near its end, always in association with Nergal.Template:Sfn While the original Lagashite cult of Bau declined alongside the city (a situation analogous to that of Ningirsu as an independent deity, as well as other southern deities such as Shara and Nanshe),Template:Sfn she continued to be worshiped in Kish in northern Babylonia.Template:Sfn Old Babylonian evidence for the presence of her worshipers in this city includes a record from the reign of Ammi-Ditana which mentions a woman serving as a courtyard purifier (kisalluḫḫatum) of this goddess, and a seal from Hammurabi's time whose owner referred to herself as a servant of Zababa and Bau.Template:Sfn She remained a major goddess of that city as late as the Neo-Babylonian period.Template:Sfn An inscription from the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II mentions the rebuilding of the local temple Edubba for both the city god, Zababa, and for Bau.Template:Sfn A cella dedicated to her bore the name Egalgasu, which originally referred to her shrine in Girsu.Template:Sfn
Elsewhere in the Middle Babylonian period and beyond, Bau retained a degree of popularity, and next to Ishtar and Gula she was the most commonly invoked goddess in theophoric names.Template:Sfn One historically notable example is Bau-asītu, a daughter of Nebuchadnezzar II.Template:Sfn In Babylon, "Bau of Kish" was celebrated during certain festivals in the temple of Gula.Template:Sfn According to Andrew R. George, the temple Eulšarmešudu, "house of jubilation and perfect me", possibly located in Der and known from an unpublished hymn, might have been dedicated to Bau.Template:Sfn Her cult is also attested in Assyria, and a temple dedicated jointly to her and Zababa existed in Assur.Template:Sfn
While Bau was not yet worshiped in Uruk in the Neo-Babylonian period,Template:Sfn she is mentioned in a text describing the procession of deities who took part in the akītu festival which was celebrated in this city in the Seleucid period.Template:Sfn She also occurs in a single theophoric name from this location.Template:Sfn
References
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