MEDICINE AND THE INTERPRETATION
OF DREAMSThere are several names of goddesses who are connected with the care and healing of
the sick and possibly also with the interpretation of dreams. In the Ur III period, the
main healing goddesses were known as Gula, Nintinugga (Edzard 2001 : 506 ) and
Ninisinna (Edzard 2001 ) and, specifically in Nippur, the Goddess Ningagia may be
added to this group (Cavigneaux and Krebernik 2001 : 351 f.) All three have certainly
been venerated as one type of goddess with the same tasks to fulfil and probably as
one goddess. The differentiation in names should then be understood as different
cultic representations of the same goddess in local styles of hair-dressing, clothes,
other cultic paraphernalia, other physiognomy. The name Gula means ‘Greater one’
or ‘the Greatest’ (Groneberg 2000 b). Like Nun-gal, ‘Great Princess’, such appellations
indicate reverence and contain no clear indication as to a deity’s function.
In Mesopotamian thinking the concepts of healing and death are closely related.
Each serious illness was a likely precursor of an imminent death and subsequent
voyage to the underworld. This may help explain the name of the healing goddess
Nintinugga, ‘Mistress who revives the dead’. The name Nin-gagia, ‘Mistress of the
Monastery’, seems to be a mis-reading as indicated by an alternative spelling of her
name, Nin-egia, ‘Mistress young lady’. This title, which is often applied to Gula,
suggests the possibility that here we have yet another name for Gula (Cavigneaux
and Krebernik 2001 : 351 f.). The fact that Nin-gagia (or Nin-egia) received offerings
from rich people, that she possessed a special storehouse, that she had an altar in
Enlil’s main temple, and that she probably had her own messenger-god (Such-Gutiérrez
2003 : 270 – 273 ) strengthens the hypothesis that, indeed, she is no other than Gula.
Outside the city of Nippur the most important therapeutic goddess is called Gula
(Such-Gutiérrez 2003 : 246 – 248 ; ibid. to gú-lá). Within the city itself, this healing
deity was worshipped under a specific local name as Gula-Umma, ‘Gula of (the city)
Umma’ (Such-Gutiérrez 2003 : 330 ). She was the owner of a harp, which was placed
in the royal palace. This instrument is perceived as her symbol, it carries the name
Ninegalesi and was worshipped as if it were the deity herself. In literary traditions
Inanna-Ishtar and Gula seem to get rather close to each other: they seem to merge.
Both are called Nin-Nibru. The goddess Gula was still worshipped in temples of her
own during the last centuries of the second millennium (George 1993 : Nos. 544 ,
812 , 946 ). Judging by the number of her cult-places she seems to have become a
rather important goddess at the time of some Neo-Babylonian and later kings.
The main healing goddess in the city of Nippur was, however, Nintinugga, who
possessed a temple complex complete with stables (Such-Gutiérrez 2003 : 289 – 296 )
certainly in Tummal, sanctuary of the goddess Ninlil, but apparently also in Nippur
itself. This may be interpreted as a sign that large offerings were made from her own
livestock, and that her clientele was of high social status. In addition there is mention
of an Apsû ‘water-cleansing-basin’ and we know that the king and one of his daughters
attended one of the cleansing ceremonies. Nintinugga was also served by her own
gala lamentation-singer. In her temple we find also the king’s personal protective
deity, the Goddess Lama-lugal (Such-Gutiérrez 2003 : 295 ). This may be interpreted
as a sign that Nintinugga herself guarded the king’s health and well-being. The king’s
personal deity represented the well-being of the state. In times of great hardship
— The role and function of goddesses in Mesopotamia —