#ningal

[sag-dab-sar]

IzkurEreškigal's Modern Epithets Masterpost

Sumerian Polytheism & Hellenic Polytheism

Please see the original blog of this so you can see ALL the new ones, tumblr has changed the way "read more" updates.

Note: I use modern Greek when making epithets unless adapting an ancient epithet to a different Theos.

Alphabetical Order by Gods' name

A Note About Modern "Locality" Epithets - Link

Hellenic Theoi

🔹Athena Panhellênia | Αθηνά Πανελληνια

Athena of All the Greeks

Link

Historical epithet of Zeus and Hera

🔹Athena Phrónēsis | Αθηνά Φρόνησις

Athena of Practical Wisdom

Link

Also mention idea of Athena Sophíā

Academic aspect

🔹Hera Oikos | Ἥρα Οίκος

Hera of the Household

Link

Also discuss idea of "Hera Oikogéneia" and "Zeus Oikogéneia" meaning "Of Family."

Household Worship Aspect

Sumerian Diĝirene

🔹Ninĝu Ereškigal'am 𒎏𒈬𒀭𒊩𒌆𒆠𒃲𒀀𒀭

My Queen Ereškigal

Link

Personal Epithet as Ereškigal is my Sumerian Personal Diĝir

🔹Namma Amadiĝirdiĝira 𒀭𒇉𒂼𒀭𒀭𒀝

Namma Mother of The Gods

Link

About Namma Link

🔹Ningal Si'iminbi 𒀭𒊩𒌆𒃲𒋛𒐌𒁉

Ningal Light of The Pleiades

Link

Modern Interpretation of a real historical epithet/name

Astral Aspect

🔹Nam Ninĝirsu'a | 𒉆𒀭𒎏𒄈𒋢𒀝

Ninĝirsu of The Order

Link

Based on myth of saving Tablet of Destinies from the Anzû Bird & lesser extent defeating Asag

🔹Nisaba Geštug 𒀭𒉀𒄑𒌆𒉿

Nisaba of Wisdom

Link

Technically this is historical as shown in the link

Knowledge & Scribal Aspect

🔹Nisaba Gunida 𒀭𒉀𒉭

Nisaba as Grain

Link is same as above

"As" to emphasize immanence over transcendence Link (English only distinction not in Sumerian)

Grain Aspect

🔹Ninšubur-ĝuruš 𒀭𒎏𒋚𒄨

Ninšubur in masculine form

Link

Sukkal of An role

🔹Ninšubur-munus 𒀭𒎏𒋚𒊩

Ninšubur in feminine form

Link is same as above

Sukkal of Inana role

🔹Utu Ĝešnudikuda Zalage 𒀭𒌓 𒄑𒉢𒁲𒋻𒌓𒂊

Ĝešnudikuda Zalage Utu'am 𒄑𒉢𒁲𒋻𒌓𒂊 𒀭𒌓𒀀𒀭

First; Utu Shining Light of Justice, this is tacked on like a Greek epithet.

Second: Utu Is The Shining Light of Justice, this is a proper Sumerian sentence

Link

Combining his sun and justice aspects

[doctorstrangereview]

0230: Doctor Strange (vol. 2) #36

Cover Date: August 1979 On-Sale Date: May 8, 1979

We come near the end of our Dweller In Darkness saga. This penultimate installment sees the return of the great Gene Colan on penciling duties while Dan Green applies his inker's brush. I usually don't mention inkers, but I can't imagine Gene was easy art to ink and Dan Green does him justice. We'll get the reintroduction of a couple of characters from Marvel's horror past and Victoria Bentley shows her face again after too long an absence. I like Victoria! On with the spookiness!

Last issue we left off with Murdoch Adams making his way to the Sanctum Sanctorum and asking for Stephen Sanders. "Uh oh!" thinks Wong. "He shouldn't know that name!" Our many questions about this don't get answered right away as re-enter the story with Doc and company aboard an airplane. Doc has gone ghost and he's checking out the ominous clouds around them as the weather report says they shouldn't be there. Weather reports are wrong all the time in 2025. I'm sure they were of questionable accuracy 45 years ago. However, Doc's instincts prove to be good. He gets attacked.

"Whoa!" you might be thinking. Ningal looked like a bird thing last issue. Now he looks like the product of Zeus seducing that annoying orange tabby cat that won't go away or shut up. What the heck happened? I imagine the correct response is "artistic license." Gene chose to portray him like this. Another explanation is he's a shapeshifter. Ningal is actually an ancient Mesopotamian goddess. Perhaps he's pulling a Loki decades before the concept was introduced in Thor. Whatever the reason, I'm partial to gingers with big beards. Thanks, Gene! The battle catches the attention of one of the passengers who then has a flashback on how he got in this sort of ridiculous situation.

As the tale goes, Murdoch was tracking down Ningal and discovers him with the body of his girlfriend. He attacks the demon and, because of some talisman Murdoch is wearing, they get caught in that mystic amber we saw last issue. Next thing Murdoch knows, he's on the streets of Greenwich Village. Arriving at the Sanctum, Wong introduces him to Doc and Doc then explains the whole Sanders thing.

We get to see Doc in his "superhero" duds and he goes on to explain the whole, I accidently blurted my name out to a huge crowd in Times Square on New Year's Eve. My buddy Eternity created the false identity of Stephen Sanders because in 1969 identity theft wasn't the big deal it is now. I repaid the huge favor by retiring until Mordo stole my old identity and I now see that identity theft is a big deal. The Ancient One, not yet one with the universe, gave me back my powers and somehow reversed the will of an all-powerful godlike being who literally encompasses the universe. Murdoch still remembers Sanders because he was trapped elsewhere when the old guy cast his spell. Eternity should really be more thorough if he needs to do this again.

Back to the flight, Clea checks on their cargo. This happens to be the reassembled body of Dane Whitman, a.k.a. The Black Knight. All seems well there so Clea sends a mental telegram to Doc asking if he needs a hand.

He might. Fortunately, magic in the Marvel Universe has progressed beyond astral bodies punching each other in mid-air. Doc uses the All-Purpose Amulet to dispatch Ningal and thus, doesn't need Clea to come to his rescue. Still, Doc thinks it was too easy.

It turns out that the Dweller dude summoned Ningal away, much to the Zeus-looking demon's annoyance. Dweller explains it's really a mental game we're playing here.

I do like Gene's rendition of the Dweller. He's as creepy as the image Tom Sutton gave us back in issue #30, but has Gene's unique touch. Dweller asks Ningal if his worthless followers have made the preparations and Ningal says they have.

Doc and company have landed. They are met by Marcia Trent who throws her arms around Murdoch. If we go by the "he know Sanders" timeline it's a good seven or eight years since they've seen each other. Marcia is introduced to Doc and Clea. Doc explains a bit about Marcia's family history.

Murdoch and Marcia part from Doc and Clea. Our mystical couple gets to ride in a fancy old car.

Doc secretly gives Murdoch a charm to wear just in case, then they head off to The Black Knight's Garrett Castle where they are greeted by the too long absent Victoria Bentley. Victoria immediately tries to make Clea jealouse. Doc is fairly aloof and tells Victoria they need to go down to the basement and do stuff.

While Doc and Clea float around the stabbed brazier, Victoria goes back upstairs to received the delivery of the Knight's petrified body. Our girl has always been a bit curious and after the deliverymen leave, she takes a peek in the crate.

Hearing the scream, Doc immediately heads upstairs while Clea takes a moment to be jealous again. Upstairs they find Ningal has possessed the Black Knight's body and has an unconscious or dead Victoria in his arms.

That was certainly interesting. The issue is more of an info-dump and moving the chess pieces into their best positions, but a very enjoyable read nonetheless. Roger and Ralph know how to infuse the characters with lots of humanity. Doc and Clea's relationship has had some rough patches lately. Heaping the Victoria Bentley cattiness on top of that is great. Roger will continue this when he introduces Morgana Blessing and there will be more permanent consequences.

As we have seen all along, the Dweller isn't just some elemental force heaping loads of raw power at our favorite sorcerer supreme. He is both subtly and not-so-subtly manipulating things. He doesn't just want Doc dead. He wants him broken. It's more complex than Dormammu picking a pawn, juicing them up and setting them loose on Doc. It's good to see the wheels turning.

Last issue's Ludi seemed to be a standard demon in the employ of a more powerful demon, but Ningal isn't just about overwhelming strength. He's a bit of a dirty bastard about to use Victoria in a rotten way. He's also got some other things in motion which will coalesce next issue.

So we got one battle without a definitive victor, lots of info thrown our way, a plot thread in Murdoch and Marcia waiting to be picked up next issue and a set up for a grand finale. Yup, I liked this one!

[browsethestacks]

Demons

The Official Handbook Of The Marvel Universe #03 (1983)

Art by Dave Simons And Joe Rubinstein

[merrymarvelite]

Cover of the Day: Doctor Strange #36 (August, 1979) Art by Gene Colan

[queenthomyris]

Mother and Daughter

Ningal and Inanna

[yoga-onion]

Sumerian Mythology - The earliest deities of ancient Mesopotamia (67)

The Lament for Sumer and Ur – Poem 4: Mourning Nanna and the restoration of Ur

Enlil then answered his son Nanna (Suen, Sin): "The judgment uttered by the assembly cannot be reversed. The word of An and Enlil knows no overturning. Ur was indeed given kingship but it was not given an eternal reign. From time immemorial, since the Land was founded, until people multiplied, who has ever seen a reign of kingship that would take precedence for ever? The reign of its kingship had been long indeed but had to exhaust itself. O my Nanna, do not exert yourself in vain, abandon your city."

Nanna who loves his city left his city. Nanna took an unfamiliar path away from his beloved Ur. In order to go as an exile from her city to foreign territory, Ningal quickly clothed herself and left the city.

Laments sounded all along its city wall. Daily there was slaughter before it. Large axes were sharpened in front of Ur. The spears, the arms of battle, were prepared. The large bows, throw-sticks and shields gathered together to strike. The barbed arrows covered its outer side like a raining cloud. The people of Ur, who had once stood up to the enemy, but had no strength to take up arms, and who had not died of starvation or from weapons, were forced to follow suit.

(...followed by a grisly description of a collapsing city... omitted)

…The statues that were in the shrine were cut down. The cook, the dream interpreter, and the seal keeper did not perform the ceremonies properly. They stood by submissively and were carried off by the foreigners. The priests of the holy uzga shrine and the sacred lustrations, the linen-clad priests, forsook the divine plans and sacred divine powers, they went off to a foreign city.

In his grief Nanna went down on his knee in front of Enlil, the father who begot him: "O father who begot me, how long will the enemy eye be cast upon my account? O Father Enlil who begot me,  the fate that you have decreed cannot be explained, as for my hairstyle of lordship and the diadem with which I was crowned." …… he put on a garment of mourning.

Enlil then provided a favourable response to his son Suen Nanna: "My son, the city built for you in joy and prosperity was given to you as your reign. Destroying the city, overthrowing its great wall and battlements: all this too is part of that reign. …… the black, black days of the reign that has been your lot. As for dwelling in your home, …… indeed Ur shall be rebuilt in splendour, the people shall bow down to you. There is to be bounty at its base, there is to be grain. There is to be splendour at its top, the sun shall rejoice there. Let an abundance of grain embrace its table. May Ur, the city whose fate was pronounced by An, be restored for you." Having pronounced his blessing, Enlil raised his head toward the heavens: "May the land, south and highland, be organised for Nanna. May the roads of the mountains be set in order for Suen. Like a cloud hugging the earth, they shall submit to him. By order of An and Enlil it shall be conferred."

Thus the youth Suen Nanna could enter again into the E-kiš-nu-ĝal.  In Ur Ningal  could enter again into her E-kiš-nu-ĝal.

シュメール神話～古代メソポタミア最古の神々(67)

シュメールとウルの滅亡哀歌〜第4歌：服喪するナンナ神とウルの復権

エンリル神は息子のナンナ神（スエン、シン）に答えた：「アンとエンリルの言葉は、覆すことができない。ウルは確かに王権を与えられたが、永遠の支配権を与えられたわけではない。太古の昔、国ができてから、人々が増えるまでの間、永遠に優先される王権の統治を見た人はいるだろうか？その王権の統治は実に長かったが、それを使い果たさなければならなかった。ナンナよ、無駄な努力をせず、その都市を捨てよ」

自分の都市を愛するナンナ神は、その都市を離れた。ナンナは愛するウルから離れて、慣れない道を歩んだ。ニンガル女神は、自分の都市から異国の地へ亡命者として行くために、すぐに服を着てその都市を出た。

ウルの市壁周辺では嘆き声が響いた。毎日のように殺戮が行われ、大きな斧が振り回され、戦いの武器である槍（やり）が準備された。大弓、投石器、盾が集まって攻撃をして、雲霞（うんか）のごとく弓矢が張り巡らされた。かつては敵に立ち向かったウルの人々も、武器をとる力もなく、餓えや武器によって死ななかった人々も後追いをするしかなかった。

（…都市の崩壊する無惨な描写が続く…中略）

...神殿にあった像は破壊され、料理人、夢占い師、玉璽保管役は、儀式を行えなかった。彼らは従順に傍観し、異邦人に連れ去られた。神聖なウズガ神殿の神官と神聖な除霊師、リネンを着た神官は、神の計画と神聖な神の力を見捨てて、異国の都市に行ってしまった。

悲しみに暮れたナンナ神は、自分を生んだ父エンリル神の前でひざまづいた：「私を生んだ父よ、いつまで私のせいで敵の目が向けられるのか。私を生んだ父エンリルよ、あなたが定めた運命は、私の貴族の髪型や冠をかぶった髪飾りを見ても、説明がつきません」...... 彼は喪服を着た。

次にエンリル神は、息子のスエン・ナンナ神に好意的な回答をした。「我が息子よ、そなたの喜びと繁栄のうちに建設された都市は、そなたの統治のために与えられたものだ。都市を破壊し、その長大な壁や城壁を破壊することも、すべてはその統治の一部である。...... 統治の黒い、黒い日々があなたに与えられた。そなたが自分の家に戻ることについては、...... 確かにウルは華麗に再建され、人々はそなたにひれ伏すだろう。その土台には恵みがあり、穀物があるはずだ。その頂には輝きがあり、太陽はそこで祝賀するだろう。豊かな穀物でその食卓を包み込ませよう。アン神に運命を宣告された都市、そなたのウルが回復するように」

祝福の言葉を述べた後、エンリルは天に向かって頭を上げた。「南と高地の国がスエン・ナンナ神のために統制されますように。スエン・ナンナ神のために、山道が整えられますように。雲が大地を包み込むように、人々は彼に服従するだろう。アン神とエンリル神の定めにより、それは授与されるであろう」

こうして青年スエン・ナンナ神はエキシュヌガルに戻ることができた。  ウルではニンガル女神も再びエキシュヌガルに入ることができた。

[ace-of-anunnaki]

Nanna & Ningal

Most of what I know about them comes from Treasures of Darkness, a very old book about Mesopotamian religion by Thorkild Jacobsen. Their marriage, according to him, went like this:

“Having set his heart on Ningal, (he) proposed to her, united with her, and married her without asking her fathers consent.”

After this occurs in my version, Enlil steps in and holds an official wedding for them to save face. (That’s what’s going on in the bottom panel)

[cgbcomics]