Išartu
{{short description|Mesopotamian goddess personifying righteousness}}
{{Infobox deity
| type = Mesopotamian
| name = Išartu
| deity_of = Divine personification of righteousness
| cult_center = Mari
| spouse = Mīšaru
}}
Išartu was a Mesopotamian goddess regarded as the divine hypostasis of righteousness. She was closely associated with a deity of similar character, Mīšaru, and in the god list An = Anum they are described as a couple. Evidence of the worship of Išartu includes early Akkadian theophoric names, offering lists from Mari and late religious texts from Uruk.
Character
Išartu functioned as the divine hypostasis of righteousness.{{sfn|Asher-Greve|Westenholz|2013|p=126}} Julia Krul describes her as the feminine equivalent of Mīšaru.{{sfn|Krul|2018|p=68}} Volkert Haas assumed that in Mariote tradition they were regarded as twins.{{sfn|Haas|2015|p=564}} In the god list An = Anum (tablet III, line 247) she is described as his spouse.{{sfn|Schwemer|2001|p=68}} Manfred Krebernik argues that the pair represented the concept of law and order.{{sfn|Krebernik|2008|p=356}}
Like Mīšaru, Išartu belonged to the circle of deities associated with Adad.{{sfn|Krebernik|2008|p=356}} Paul-Alain Beaulieu notes that both of them show affinity with another deity from this group, Uṣur-amāssu, and presumes the latter's own association with justice was influenced by this.{{sfn|Beaulieu|2014|p=511}} Two known instances of the word išartu being used as an epithet of Shala, a balag composition and an eršaḫunga prayer, are presumed to be related to Išartu's presence in Adad s circle too.{{sfn|Schwemer|2001|p=68}}
Išartu should not be confused with the theonym dI-šìr-tu4 known from a single late god list, which is instead assumed to mean "the ten gods."{{sfn|Schwemer|2001|p=68}}
Worship
The deity Išar, presumed to be identical with Išartu, first appears in Old Akkadian theophoric names.{{sfn|Schwemer|2001|p=68}} She was worshiped in Bad-tibira during the reign of Shu-Sin of the Third Dynasty of Ur{{sfn|Sallaberger|2021|p=363}} and appears in an offering list from Mari (ARM 24 263) alongside Mišaru.{{sfn|Sasson|2015|p=237}} In the latter city both forms of the name were used,{{sfn|Schwemer|2001|p=68}} with the longer one attested in the offering list ARM 23 264, between Dagan and Yakrub-El.{{sfn|Sasson|2015|p=236}} A possible reference to her is also present in the Old Babylonian god list from Isin, but the signs are damaged and the name cannot be restored with certainty.{{sfn|Schwemer|2001|p=68}}
According to Daniel Schwemer, the only source of evidence regarding the worship of Išartu in later periods are documents from Uruk.{{sfn|Schwemer|2001|p=68}} She was a member of the local pantheon in the Seleucid period, but she is not attested in earlier sources from this city.{{sfn|Krul|2018|p=73}} She is one of the deities mentioned in a description of a parade accompanying Ishtar during the akitu celebrations; among other participants are chiefly figures typically associated with this goddess or the city of Uruk, such as Nanaya, Ninsianna, Ninigizibara or Ninmeurur.{{sfn|Asher-Greve|Westenholz|2013|p=126}} Despite her presence in religious texts, Išartu is not attested in legal formulas or theophoric names from the late Uruk text corpus.{{sfn|Krul|2018|p=73}}
References
{{reflist}}
=Bibliography=
- {{cite book|last1=Asher-Greve|first1=Julia M.|last2=Westenholz|first2=Joan G.|url=https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/135436/1/Asher-Greve_Westenholz_2013_Goddesses_in_Context.pdf|title=Goddesses in Context: On Divine Powers, Roles, Relationships and Gender in Mesopotamian Textual and Visual Sources|year=2013|isbn=978-3-7278-1738-0|access-date=2022-10-25}}
- {{citation|last=Beaulieu|first=Paul-Alain|entry=Uṣur-awāssu (Akkadischer Gott) · Uṣur-awāssu (Akkadian god)|encyclopedia=Reallexikon der Assyriologie|year=2014|entry-url=http://publikationen.badw.de/en/rla/index#12324|access-date=2022-10-25}}
- {{cite book|last=Haas|first=Volkert|title=Geschichte der hethitischen Religion|publisher=Brill|series=Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section 1: The Near and Middle East|year=2015|orig-year=1994|isbn=978-90-04-29394-6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EOh5DwAAQBAJ|language=de|access-date=2022-10-25}}
- {{citation|last=Krebernik|first=Manfred|entry=Richtergott(heiten)|encyclopedia=Reallexikon der Assyriologie|entry-url=http://publikationen.badw.de/en/rla/index#10032|year=2008|language=de|access-date=2022-10-25}}
- {{cite book|last=Krul|first=Julia|title=The Revival of the Anu Cult and the Nocturnal Fire Ceremony at Late Babylonian Uruk|url=https://www.academia.edu/36775866|publisher=BRILL|date=2018|doi=10.1163/9789004364943_004|isbn=9789004364936}}
- {{cite book|last=Sallaberger|first=Walther|editor-last=van Ess |editor-first=Margarete|title=Uruk - altorientalische Metropole und Kulturzentrum|chapter=Uruk in der Frühen Bronzezeit: Zu dessen Königen und Göttern und zur Lage von Kulaba|chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/86512592|publication-place=Wiesbaden|date=2021|isbn=978-3-447-11368-7|oclc=1255365039|language=de}}
- {{cite book|last=Sasson|first=Jack M.|title=From the Mari archives: an anthology of old Babylonian letters|publisher=Eisenbrauns|publication-place=Winona Lake, Indiana|year=2015|isbn=978-1-57506-830-5|oclc=907931488}}
- {{cite book|last=Schwemer|first=Daniel|title=Die Wettergottgestalten Mesopotamiens und Nordsyriens im Zeitalter der Keilschriftkulturen: Materialien und Studien nach den schriftlichen Quellen|url=https://www.academia.edu/16999070|publisher=Harrassowitz|publication-place=Wiesbaden|year=2001|isbn=978-3-447-04456-1|oclc=48145544|language=de}}