Kilili
{{Short description|Mesopotamian demon}}
{{About||the politician|Gregorio Sablan}}
{{Mesopotamian myth|expanded=5}}
In ancient Mesopotamian religion, Kilili, ki.li.li; was a female demon of Sumerian origin, likely associated with owls. She is also attested as a minor goddess who functioned as a servant of Ishtar.
Function and Associations
Kilili's name is that of a bird, most likely an owl.{{sfn|Lambert|1980|p=591}} In one document she is equated with dab-ba-šú-šú, meaning "she who leans on the window" in Sumerian.{{sfn|Lambert|1980|p=591}} She could be called as "queen of the windows", "the one of haunted places" and it assumed she was imagined as an owl-demoness.{{sfn|Wiggermann|2011|p=315}}
She was usually affiliated with Ishtar. Direct identification between them, while attested,{{sfn|Wiggermann|2007|p=114}} is limited to a single late esoteric explanatory text.{{sfn|Beaulieu|2003|p=320}} In the god list An = Anum she is one of Ishtar's eighteen messengers (lúkin-gi-a),{{sfn|Lambert|1980|p=591}} alongside other similar figures such as Barīrītu ("she who comes at dusk") and Abtagigi.{{sfn|Wiggermann|2007|p=112}} Kilili under the name dab-ba-šú-šú could be considered as a complement to the goddess Abtagigi, whose name means "retiring through the window."{{sfn|Wiggermann|2007|p=112}} Kilili can be considered as having a connection to sex due to her link with Ishtar, however the "window" in her name is likely not implicating prostitution, unlike for the succubus Kisikil-lila (also called Ardat-lilî).{{sfn|Wiggermann|2007|p=112}} The phrase "spilling through the window" can also reference various evils, and Kilili's name has no clear connection to that of Kisikil-lila.{{sfn|Wiggermann|2007|p=112}}
Worship
According to the Tākultu text from the Neo-Assyrian period, she was also worshiped in one of the temples of the goddess Gula,{{sfn|Lambert|1980|p=591}} located in Assur.{{sfn|Wiggermann|2007|p=113}} She was also present in neo-Babylonian Uruk, as indicated by a document mentioning offerings of dates to her and a number of pieces of jewelry dedicated to her.{{sfn|Beaulieu|2003|p=320}} She continued to be worshiped there in the Seleucid period.{{sfn|Beaulieu|2003|p=320}} There is also evidence that she was worshipped elsewhere at a temple of Bēlet-Ninua in the neo-Babylonian period.{{sfn|Wiggermann|2007|p=113}}
Possible Depiction in The Burney Relief
File:British Museum Queen of the Night.jpg
The Burney Relief, also known as The Queen of the Night relief, is a terracotta panel from the Old Babylonian Period depicting a nude female figure, standing upon two lions flanked by owls.{{sfn|Finkel|2021|p=161}} The goddess possesses wings and birdlike talons, and wears a horned tiara.{{sfn|Finkel|2021|p=161}} Several theories as to which deity the relief depicts have been proposed, most commonly Inanna/Ishtar, due to the presence of her symbols (lions), the nudity, and the possible connection between the relief and the myth Inanna's Descent to the Netherworld.{{sfn |Finkel|2021|p=161}} Frans Wiggermann, who has done a number of in-depth studies on Mesopotamian demons, asserts that the evidence for the figure as Kilili is the most compelling.{{sfn|Wiggermann|2007|p=113}} The figure on the relief is a goddess, associated with Ishtar (the presence of the lions), has birdlike qualities (linking to Kilili), and contains owls as well, the bird affiliated with her.{{sfn|Wiggermann|2007|p=113}} Unaccounted for are the "loop-ring" symbols held in the hands of the goddess, though this is equally a mystery for any other identification of the goddess.{{sfn|Wiggermann|2007|p=113}}
References
{{reflist|20em}}
Works cited
{{refbegin|35em}}
- {{citation|last=Lambert|first=Wilfred G.|entry=Kilili|encyclopedia=Reallexikon der Assyriologie|year=1980|entry-url=http://publikationen.badw.de/en/rla/index#6488|access-date=2022-05-17}}
- {{cite book|last=Beaulieu|first=Paul-Alain|title=The pantheon of Uruk during the neo-Babylonian period|publisher=Brill STYX|publication-place=Leiden Boston|year=2003|isbn=978-90-04-13024-1|oclc=51944564}}
- {{cite book | last=Finkel | first=Irving L. | title=The first ghosts : most ancient of legacies | publication-place=London | date=2021 | isbn=978-1-5293-0326-1 | oclc=1090201481}}
- {{cite journal | last=Wiggermann | first=Frans | title=The Mesopotamian Pandemonium | journal=SMSR 77/2 | date=2011-01-01 | url=https://www.academia.edu/2393427 | access-date=2022-05-17}}
- {{cite book | last=Wiggermann | first=Frans | editor-last=Groneberg | editor-first=Brigitte | editor-last2=Spieckermann | editor-first2=Hermann | title=Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft | chapter=Some Demons of Time and their Functions in Mesopotamian Iconography |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/508597| publisher=Walter de Gruyter | publication-place=Berlin, New York | date=2007 | pages=102–116 | issn=0934-2575 | doi=10.1515/9783110204155.1.102| isbn=978-3-11-019463-0 }}
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