Ninatta and Kulitta

Ninatta and Kulitta were two goddesses always invoked together who were the handmaidens of the Hurrian goddess Shaushka,[1][2] the Hurrian counterpart of Mesopotamian Ishtar.[3]

Ninatta and Kulitta
Musician goddesses
A relief of Ninatta and Kulitta from Yazılıkaya
AffiliationShaushka

Functions

Ninatta and Kulitta were regarded as divine musicians.[4] In a myth known as Song of Ḫedammu, part of the so-called Kumarbi Cycle, they assist their mistress during her attempt at subduing the eponymous monster with a love potion.[5]

The origin of their names is unknown, though it has been proposed that Kulitta's name might have Anatolian etymology[1] and that Ninatta's might be derived from the place name Ninêt (Ni-ne-etki) or Nenit (Ne-en-itki) known from documents from Mari and Tell al-Rimah, possibly an Amorite spelling of Nineveh.[6] Occasional references to a goddess called "Ishtar of Ninêt" are known from these locations, and Joan Goodnick Westenholz tentatively connects her with Shaushka, Ishtar of Nineveh and Ninatta, though she states it is presently not possible to ascertain the relationship between these deities and their names in the earliest periods.[6]

In ritual texts other deities were grouped with Ninatta and Kulitta as members of Shaushka's entourage.[5] Examples include Šintal-wuri (Hurrian: "seven-eyed"), Šintal-irti ("seven-breasted"), Šinan-tatukarni ("twofold at [?] love")[4] and Namrazunna (from Akkadian namru, shining, and Zunna, a Hurrianized spelling of Suen; unlike him Namrazunna was female).[7] However Ninatta and Kullita were not identified as Shaushka's sukkals, as this position instead belonged to the deity Undurumma, attested with certainty in only one document,[8] which also mentions other Hurrian sukkals: Immanzizi, Ḫupuštukar, Tenu, Lipparuma and Mukišanu.[9]

Worship
Ninatta and Kulitta (figures 36 and 37) among other Hurrian gods on the Yazılıkaya reliefs

Ninatta and Kulitta are presently known only from western Hurrian sources from Ugarit and Hattusa.[10] In Ugarit they are attested in a ritual text (KTU 1.116) which, while dedicated to the local goddess Ashtart, involved Shaushka and other Hurrian deities.[10]

Like many Hurrian deities they were incorporated into the Hittite pantheon, and are among the gods depicted in the Yazilikaya sanctuary.[5][11]

The veneration of Ninatta and Kulitta as a pair is an example of a process common in Hurrian religion, in which pairs of related deities was believed to act as a unity and were therefore venerated together.[12] Some of the other examples include Allani and Ishara or Hutena and Hutellura.[12]

Later relevance

In the first millennium BCE Ninatta and Kulitta are attested in the entourages of Ishtar of Arbela,[13] Ishtar of Assur,[4] and Ishtar of Nineveh.[5] The Akkadian spellings of their names known from neo-Assyrian sources are dNi-ni-tum and dKu-li-it-tum.[5]

References
  1. Frantz-Szabó 1983, p. 303.
  2. Taracha 2009, p. 123.
  3. Trémouille 2011, p. 99.
  4. Wilhelm 1989, p. 52.
  5. Frantz-Szabó 1983, p. 304.
  6. Westenholz 2004, pp. 15–16.
  7. Frantz-Szabó 1998, p. 141.
  8. Wilhelm 2014, p. 335.
  9. Kammenhuber 1972, p. 370.
  10. Bachvarova 2013, p. 27.
  11. Taracha 2009, p. 95.
  12. Taracha 2009, p. 128.
  13. MacGinnis 2020, p. 109.

Bibliography
  • Bachvarova, Mary R. (2013). "Adapting Mesopotamian Myth in Hurro-Hittite Rituals at Hattuša: IŠTAR, the Underworld, and the Legendary Kings". In Collins, B. J.; Michalowski, P. (eds.). Beyond Hatti: a tribute to Gary Beckman. Atlanta: Lockwood Press. ISBN 978-1-937040-11-6. OCLC 882106763.
  • Frantz-Szabó, Gabrielle (1983), "Kulitta, Ninatta und", Reallexikon der Assyriologie (in German), retrieved 2022-03-11
  • Frantz-Szabó, Gabrielle (1998), "Namrazunna", Reallexikon der Assyriologie (in German), retrieved 2022-03-11
  • Kammenhuber, Annelies (1972), "Ḫešui, Ḫišue", Reallexikon der Assyriologie (in German), retrieved 2022-03-11
  • MacGinnis, John (2020). "The gods of Arbail". In Context: the Reade Festschrift. Archaeopress Publishing Ltd. doi:10.2307/j.ctv1ddckv5.12. S2CID 234551379. Retrieved 2022-03-05.
  • Taracha, Piotr (2009). Religions of Second Millennium Anatolia. Harrassowitz. ISBN 978-3447058858.
  • Trémouille, Marie-Claude (2011), "Šauška, Šawuška A. Philologisch", Reallexikon der Assyriologie (in French), retrieved 2022-03-11
  • Westenholz, Joan Goodnick (2004). "The Old Akkadian Presence in Nineveh: Fact or Fiction". Iraq. British Institute for the Study of Iraq. 66: 7–18. doi:10.2307/4200552. ISSN 0021-0889. JSTOR 4200552. Retrieved 2022-03-11.
  • Wilhelm, Gernot (1989). The Hurrians. Warminster, England: Aris & Phillips. ISBN 978-0-85668-442-5. OCLC 21036268.
  • Wilhelm, Gernot (2014), "Undurumma(n)", Reallexikon der Assyriologie (in German), retrieved 2022-03-11
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