Amat-Mamu

{{Short description|Babylonian scribe}}

{{For|the nadītu priestess involved in an inheritance dispute|Amat-Mamu (daughter of Sin-ilum)}}

Amat-Mamu ({{circa|1764 BC|1711 BC}}) was a Babylonian nadītu priestess. She lived in a closed nadītu community in Sippar, where she worked as a scribe.

Amat-Mamu was born {{circa|1764 BC}},{{Sfn|Leick|2002|p=12}} and she was consecrated as a Babylonian nadītu, a priestess of the god Shamash. Her name translates to "woman servant of Mamu", Mamu being the daughter of Shamash.{{Sfn|Lion|2011|p=99}} As a nadītu, Amat-Mamu lived in a walled quarter in Sippar, the gagûm, which was separated from the rest of the city. She was allowed to own land, but not to marry or have children.{{Sfn|Lion|2011|p=99}}

Amat-Mamu worked as a scribe in the gagûm.{{Sfn|Lion|2011|p=99}} Though scribes were traditionally men in Sippar, the nadītu rarely interacted with men. Because of this, Amat-Mamu was one of several women in the community who was taught to read and write so she could work as a scribe when no men were present. Archeologists know of her role as a scribe because they were expected to sign their names to tablets that they produced.{{Sfn|Lion|2011|p=100}} Three known documents that Amat-Mamu produced were under three different kings—Hammurabi, Samsu-iluna, and Abi-Eshuh—indicating that she worked as a scribe for at least 40 years.{{Sfn|Harris|1962|pp=1–2}} She died {{circa|1711 BC}}.{{Sfn|Leick|2002|p=12}} Though works to female scribes were common under the reigns of Hammurabi and Samsu-iluna, Amat-Mamu is the only female scribe to have a surviving work by the time of Abi-Eshuh.{{Sfn|Lion|Robson|2005|p=49}}

Amat-Mamu was one of the women whose names were written on the Heritage Floor of the installation artwork The Dinner Party.{{Sfn|Brooklyn Museum}}