Mamitu

Mammitum, Mammitu or Mammi was a Mesopotamian goddess viewed as the wife of Nergal, the god of death.[1][2] Mammitum's name might mean “oath” or “frost” (based on similarity to the Akkadian word mammû, "ice" or "frost").[3] In the earliest sources she is Nergal's most commonly attested wife, but from the Kassite period onward she was often replaced in this role by the goddess Laṣ.[4]

As her name is homophonous with Mami, a goddess of birth or "divine midwife,"[5] some researchers assume they are one and the same.[2] However, it has been proven that they were separate deities,[5] and they are kept apart in ancient Mesopotamian god lists.[3] A goddess named Mamma known from Mari is most likely related to the divine midwife Mami rather than to Mammitum.[6] Another being from Mesopotamian beliefs with a homophonous name was māmītu, a type of underworld demon with a goat's head and human hands and feet, known from the late text Underworld Vision of an Assyrian Prince and absent from other sources.[7] Unlike deities, who were generally fully antropomorphic in Mesopotamian beliefs, demonic beings were often hybrids.[8]

Mammitum was worshiped in Kutha, where she was likely introduced alongside Erra, a god syncretised with Nergal.[2] She also received offerings in the Ekur temple complex in Nippur alongside her husband.[9]

The god list An = Anum mentions both Mamitum and Laṣ, and equates them with each other.[2] However, in the so-called Nippur god list Laṣ occurs separately from Nergal,[1] while Mammitum is listed alongside him.[9] In at least one text, a description of a New Year ritual from Babylon during which the gods of Kish (Zababa), Kutha (Nergal) and Borsippa (Nabu) and their entourages were believed to visit Marduk (at the time not yet a major god), both she and Laṣ appear side by side as two separate goddesses.[10]

In the Epic of Erra, Mammitum appears as the wife of the eponymous god,[11] who is referred both as Erra and Nergal at various points in the known manuscripts.[12]