Kabta

'''Kabta''', inscribed ^d''kab-ta'', ^d''ka-ab-ta'', ^d<small>TA</small>''-gu-nû'', or later ^d<small>TAxMI</small>, was a rather obscure Mesopotamian deity who appears in texts and seals of the second and first millennium BC. He is frequently paired with Ninsianna, the “Red Lady of the Heavens” or Venus star, who immediately follows him on the Weidner god-list.<ref>{{ cite journal | title = Altbabylonische Götterlisten. (Schluß) | author = Ernst F. Weidner | journal = Archiv für Keilschriftforschung | volume = 2 | year = 1925 | jstor = 41552166 | page = 78 }}</ref>

==Provenance==

He was first attested during the Ur III period, sometimes under the Sumerian name Maḫdianna, inscribed ^d''maḫ-di-an-na'', the “Lofty one of heaven.”<ref>{{ cite book | title = Reallexikon der Assyriologie und Vorderasiatischen Archäologie: Libanukasabas - Medizin (Vol 7) | chapter= Maḫdianna | author = M. Krebernik | editor = Dietz Otto Edzard | publisher = Walter de Gruyter | year = 1999 | page = 255 }}</ref> This suggests an astral character and explains his pairing with “Ištar (of) the star” (Ninsi’anna). Unfortunately, due to a break in the god-list An = Anum, further elucidation is unavailable and even the god’s gender is uncertain.<ref name=kabta>{{ cite book | title = Reallexikon der Assyriologie und Vorderasiatischen Archäologie, Volume 5, Ia - Kizzuwatna | chapter = Kabta | author = W. G. Lambert | editor = Erich Ebeling, Bruno Meissner | publisher = Walter de Gruyter | year = 1999 | page = 284 }}</ref> Lambert suggested that he was her spouse<ref name=seals>{{ cite journal | title = Ancient near Eastern Seals in Birmingham Collections | author = W. G. Lambert | journal = Iraq | volume = 28 | number = 1 | date = Spring 1966 | jstor = 4199796 | pages = 73–74 | doi=10.2307/4199796}}</ref> and seal impressions from Larsa during the Isin-Larsa period seem to confirm this.<ref>{{ cite book | title = Daily Rites In the Temples of Larsa | author = Joan Goodnick Westenholz | author-link = Joan Goodnick Westenholz | publisher = Bible Lands Museum | year = 2006 | page = 28 }}</ref> Kabta appears as the theophoric element in several names of the Old Babylonian and Kassite period,<ref name=kabta/> such as Nūr-Kabta, Amat-Kabta, Kabta-naṣir and Šu-Kabta.

Kabta is often confused with Kulla, the brick-god, in literature, probably due to a misreading of line 337 from 'Enki and the World Order' by Samuel Noah Kramer, published in his work “Sumerian Mythology”, although Lambert blamed Dietz Otto Edzard for this error.<ref name=seals/>

==References==

{{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kabta}} Category:Mesopotamian gods