Alla (Mesopotamian god)

Mesopotamian god

Alla

Sukkal of Ningishzida

Major cult center| Esagi
Symbols| staff

Alla or Alla-gula was a Mesopotamian god associated with the underworld. He functioned as the sukkal (attendant deity) of Ningishzida, and most likely was a dying god similar to Dumuzi and Damu, but his character is not well known otherwise. He had his own cult center, Esagi, but its location is presently unknown.

## Name and character[edit]

Alla's name was written in cuneiform either syllabically (dAl-la or dAl-lá) or logographically (dNAGAR).[1] A variant form, Alla-gula, "Alla the great," is also attested.[2] Additionally, the god list An = Anum indicates that he could be referred to with the Sumerian epithet Lugal-sapar,[3] "lord of the net."[4] The net is well attested as a divine weapon.[4]

The character of Alla is poorly understood, but it is agreed that he was associated with the underworld.[5] He belonged to the circle of deities connected with Ninazu and Ningishzida,[6] and functioned as the sukkal (divine attendant) of the latter.[7] He is also well attested as one of the dying gods mentioned in lamentations, and on this basis it has been argued he was viewed as comparable to better known Dumuzi.[8] According to Wilfred G. Lambert, a single Old Babylonian text seemingly outright equates them with each other.[5] Comparisons with Damu have also been made in modern literature.[9]

In art, Alla was depicted as a bald beardless man, and known representations do not wear the horned crown associated with divinity in Mesopotamian art.[10] Frans Wiggermann argues that he was additionally portrayed holding a staff, well attested as a badge of office of the sukkal.[7]

### Alla and Allatum[edit]

Wilfred G. Lambert proposed in 1980 that the goddess Allatum was the Akkadian feminine counterpart of Alla.[8] However, in 1989 Gernot Wilhelm noted that no plausible Akkadian etymology has been proposed for her name, and the most likely possibility is that it was simply a variant spelling of Allani, the Hurrian goddess of the dead, whose name is related to the Hurrian word allai, mistress.[11] This view has been accepted by Tonia Sharlach[2] and Alfonso Archi in subsequent studies of this goddess .[12] Sharlach entirely rules out a connection between Alla and Allatum/Allani based on their different roles and origin.[9]

## Worship[edit]

Alla is attested chiefly in sources from the Ur III and Old Babylonian periods.[6] The settlement Esagi is identified as his cult center in texts pertaining to dying deities, but its location is unknown.[8] There is evidence that he was worshiped in Gišbanda, the cult center of Ningishzida, and it is possible a statue of him was located in the temple of that god in Lagash as well.[10] He was also venerated in Ur, where he appears in offering lists alongside Ninazu, Ningirida, Ningishzida, Azimua and Ninpumuna.[13][14] Additionally, the worship of "Alla-gula" is well attested in sources from Nippur from the Ur III period pertaining to the activities of queen Shulgi-simti.[15]

## Late sources[edit]

In a bilingual myth (tablet KAR 4 and duplicates), mankind is created from the blood of a plurality of deities referred to with the logogram dNAGAR, variously interpreted as either Alla or Lamga in modern literature.[6] According to Wilfred G. Lambert based on context the later option is implausible as the reading relies on the explanation lam-ga dNAGAR = d30 in a lexical list, which refers to a name of the moon god Sin.[5] Manfred Krebernik notes that the account resembles the scene in Atrahasis where the blood of dW-e(-i-la) is used instead.[6]

In late sources, Alla is also attested in lists of so-called "seven conquered Enlils"[6] alongside figures such as Mummu and Alalu.[16] In this context, the theonym Enlil is used as a generic label.[17] The deities designated by it were associated with Enmesharra.[17]

## References[edit]

1. ^ Lambert 1980, pp. 63–64.
2. ^ a b Sharlach 2002, p. 99.
3. ^ Peterson 2009, p. 96.
4. ^ a b Lambert 1987, p. 151.
5. ^ a b c Lambert 2013, p. 223.
6. ^ a b c d e Krebernik 1998, p. 74.
7. ^ a b Wiggermann 1987, p. 8.
8. ^ a b c Lambert 1980, p. 64.
9. ^ a b Sharlach 2017, p. 264.
10. ^ a b Wiggermann 1998, p. 369.
11. ^ Wilhelm 1989, p. 55.
12. ^ Archi 2013, p. 17.
13. ^ Cohen 1993, p. 468.
14. ^ Katz 2003, p. 398.
15. ^ Sharlach 2017, p. 249.
16. ^ Lambert 2013, p. 212.
17. ^ a b Lambert 2013, p. 216.

### Bibliography[edit]

* Archi, Alfonso (2013). "The Anatolian Fate-Goddesses and their Different Traditions". Diversity and Standardization. De Gruyter. doi:10.1524/9783050057576.1.
* Cohen, Mark E. (1993). The cultic calendars of the ancient Near East. Bethesda, Md.: CDL Press. ISBN 1-883053-00-5. OCLC 27431674.
* Wilhelm, Gernot (1989). The Hurrians. Warminster, England: Aris & Phillips. ISBN 978-0-85668-442-5. OCLC 21036268.
* Katz, Dina (2003). The Image of the Netherworld in the Sumerian Sources. Bethesda, MD: CDL Press. ISBN 1-883053-77-3. OCLC 51770219.
* Krebernik, Manfred (1998), "NAĜAR", Reallexikon der Assyriologie (in German), retrieved 2022-08-15
* Lambert, Wilfred G. (1980). "The Theology of Death". Death in Mesopotamia. Copenhagen: Akademisk Forlag. ISBN 87-500-1946-5. OCLC 7124686.
* Lambert, Wilfred G. (1987), "Lugal-sapar", Reallexikon der Assyriologie, retrieved 2022-08-15
* Lambert, Wilfred G. (2013). Babylonian creation myths. Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns. ISBN 978-1-57506-861-9. OCLC 861537250.
* Peterson, Jeremiah (2009). God lists from Old Babylonian Nippur in the University Museum, Philadelphia. Münster: Ugarit Verlag. ISBN 3-86835-019-5. OCLC 460044951.
* Sharlach, Tonia (2002). "Foreign Influences on the Religion of the Ur III Court". General studies and excavations at Nuzi 10/3. Bethesda, Md: CDL Press. ISBN 1-883053-68-4. OCLC 48399212.
* Sharlach, Tonia (2017). An Ox of One's Own: Royal Wives and Religion at the Court of the Third Dynasty of Ur. Studies in Ancient Near Eastern Records. De Gruyter. doi:10.1515/9781501505263. ISBN 978-1-5015-0526-3.
* Wiggermann, Frans A. M. (1987). "The Staff of Ninšubura: Studies in Babylonian Demonology II". Ex Oriente Lux. Brill. 29.
* Wiggermann, Frans A. M. (1998), "Nin-ĝišzida", Reallexikon der Assyriologie, retrieved 2022-08-15