{{short description|Mesopotamian goddess}} {{Infobox deity | type = Mesopotamian | name = Urkayītu | deity_of = Goddess of Uruk | member_of = the pentad of Uruk | cult_center = Uruk }} '''Urkayītu''',{{sfn|Asher-Greve|Westenholz|2013|p=104}} also known as '''Urkītum''',{{sfn|Krebernik|2014|p=418}} was a Mesopotamian goddess who likely functioned as the divine representation of the city of Uruk. Her name was initially an epithet of Inanna, but later she came to be viewed as a separate goddess. She was closely associated with Uṣur-amāssu, and like her belonged to the pentad of main goddesses of Uruk in the Neo-Babylonian period. She also continued to be worshiped in this city under Achaemenid and Seleucid rule.
==Name== The theonym Urkayītu is an Akkadian nisba{{sfn|Beaulieu|2014|p=452}} and can be translated as "the Urukean."{{sfn|Asher-Greve|Westenholz|2013|p=104}} Names of Mesopotamian goddesses which were etymologically adjectives derived from the names of corresponding cities are common, and the earliest examples are known from the third millennium BCE.{{sfn|Asher-Greve|Westenholz|2013|p=133}} The earliest attested form of Urkayītu's name is Urkītum.{{sfn|Krebernik|2014|p=418}} According to Manfred Krebernik, a late school text from Babylon still lists this version of the name as one of the two "Daughters of E-Ningublaga" alongside Mannu-šāninšu,{{sfn|Krebernik|2016|p=353}} but according to Andrew R. George{{sfn|George|2000|p=295}} and Joan Goodnick Westenholz the second theonym in this passage should be restored as Larsam-iti, ''<sup>d</sup>Larsam(UD.UNU.KI)-i-ti''.{{sfn|Asher-Greve|Westenholz|2013|p=113}}
The spelling of Urkayītu's name in cuneiform shows a degree of variety in known sources.{{sfn|Beaulieu|2003|p=256}} While in texts from the first millennium BCE the name of the city of Uruk is typically written with logograms (UNUG<sup>ki</sup>, <sup>uru</sup>UNUG<sup>ki</sup>, TIR.AN.NA<sup>ki</sup>), and syllabic spellings are rare, the opposite is true for the theonym derived from it.{{sfn|Beaulieu|2014|p=452}} Examples of partially logographic spellings are nonetheless known, for example <sup>d</sup>UNUG<sup>ki</sup>''-i-tú'' or <sup>d</sup>UNUG<sup>ki</sup>''-a-ti''.{{sfn|Beaulieu|2003|p=256}} In Neo-Assyrian sources, the attested syllabic spellings are ''<sup>d</sup>Ur-kit'' and ''<sup>d</sup>Ur-kit-tú''.{{sfn|Beaulieu|2003|p=255}} Neo-Babylonian variants include, among others, ''<sup>d</sup>Uš-ka-a-a-i-tu<sub>4</sub>'' and ''<sup>d</sup>Áš-ka-a-a-i-tu<sub>4</sub>''.{{sfn|Beaulieu|2003|p=256}} It has been proposed that an earlier logographic theonym, AN.<sup>d</sup>INANNA(-Unu<sup>ki</sup>), was read as Urkītum in Akkadian,{{sfn|Krebernik|2014|p=419}} though there is no agreement regarding this problem in scholarship and which deity or deities it refers to remains uncertain.{{sfn|Asher-Greve|Westenholz|2013|p=91}}
==Character== It has been proposed that Urkayītu can be understood as a ''theos eponymos'' of Uruk, a divine representation of the city.{{sfn|Asher-Greve|Westenholz|2013|p=104}} It is presumed that originally the theonym Urkayītu functioned as an epithet of Inanna, and only developed into a distinct goddess later on.{{sfn|Beaulieu|2003|p=255}} An analogous process is attested for Annunitum.{{sfn|Asher-Greve|Westenholz|2013|p=71}} Inanna's association with the city of Uruk is well documented, and she appears as the goddess of this city in sources from between the fourth millennium BCE and the Parthian period.{{sfn|Beaulieu|2003|p=103}} The god list An = Anum explains Urkayītu as a name of Inanna of Uruk in line 117 on tablet IV: dInanna-Unu7ki = Aš-ka-i-tu.{{sfn|Krebernik|2014|p=418}} In a Neo-Assyrian hymn to Nanaya, Urkayītu instead appears to function as her epithet.{{sfn|Beaulieu|2003|p=255}} However, in sources from Uruk from the Neo-Babylonian period she functions as an independent goddess.{{sfn|Krebernik|2014|p=419}} A lament for Dumuzi from the same period nonetheless still treats this theonym as an epithet of Inanna.{{sfn|Beaulieu|2003|p=255}}
==Worship== The oldest attestations of the theonym Urkayītu (Urkītum) come from the Old Babylonian period,{{sfn|Krebernik|2014|p=418}} though it is impossible to tell if it was already understood as the name of a distinct goddess at this time.{{sfn|Beaulieu|2003|p=255}} A text from Kish mentions a SANGA priest of Urkayītu whose presence in this city was most likely an effect of transfer of cults from Uruk to the north during the reign of Samsu-iluna.{{sfn|Krebernik|2014|p=419}} Theophoric names such as Urkītum-ummī ("Urkayītu is my mother") or Ṣillī-Urkītum ("Urkayītu is my protection") are also known.{{sfn|Krebernik|2014|p=418}}
References to Urkayītu occur in a number of Neo-Assyrian texts.{{sfn|Beaulieu|2003|p=255}} She is listed among deities Shamshi-Adad V took away from Der.{{sfn|Krebernik|2014|p=419}} Ashurbanipal in one of his inscriptions states that he brought her back to Eanna in Uruk from Elam alongside Nanaya and Uṣur-amāssu.{{sfn|Krul|2018|p=98}}
Urkayītu is well represented in texts from Neo-Babylonian Uruk.{{sfn|Beaulieu|2003|p=256}} According to Paul-Alain Beaulieu, she belonged to a group he refers to as the "companions of Ištar," a pentad of goddesses whose other four members were Ishtar/Inanna herself, Nanaya, Bēltu-ša-Rēš and Uṣur-amāssu.{{sfn|Beaulieu|2003|p=179}} She was particularly closely connected with the last of these deities.{{sfn|Asher-Greve|Westenholz|2013|p=103}} In sources from Neo-Babylonian Uruk, they are always paired with each other in offering lists.{{sfn|Beaulieu|2003|p=261}} It also presumed Urkayītu was worshiped in the temple of Uṣur-amāssu.{{sfn|Beaulieu|2003|p=229}} A ''bīt ḫilṣi'' ("house of pressing," likely a pharmacy with a medicinal plant garden) which was a part of the Eanna complex was described as their joint possession.{{sfn|Asher-Greve|Westenholz|2013|p=120}} They also appear together in text about the cleaning of a blanket (''taḫapšu'') which belonged to both of them.{{sfn|Beaulieu|2003|p=230}} The only surviving cultic calendar from Neo-Babylonian Uruk indicates that in the month Kislīmu, a festival referred to as ''kinūnu'' ("brazier" or "fire ceremony") was held in honor of Urkayītu, Uṣur-amāssu and Ishtar.{{sfn|Krul|2018|p=198}} She was also celebrated during a ceremony involving a procession (''tebû'').{{sfn|Beaulieu|2003|p=263}} According to offering lists, she received salt, dates, bread, grain, sesame oil and meat. {{sfn|Beaulieu|2003|pp=259-261}} Additionally, references to a tiara decorated with plant motifs, a diadem decorated with carnelian beads, and various pieces of jewelry regarded as her possessions are known.{{sfn|Beaulieu|2003|pp=257-258}} Two names of watercourses invoking Urkayītu are attested in Neo-Babylonian texts from Uruk, Ḫarru-ša-Urkayītu and Nāru-ša-Urkayītu, though they might refer to the same topographic feature.{{sfn|Beaulieu|2003|p=230}} She is also attested in theophoric names from this city, such as Urkayītu-ṭābat ("Urkayītu is benevolent") and Ina-ṣilli-Urkayītu ("Under the protection of Urkayītu"), and from outside it, for example Urkayītu-ēreš.{{sfn|Beaulieu|2003|p=256}}
A document from the reign of Darius I indicates Urkayītu was still worshiped under Achaemenid rule.{{sfn|Beaulieu|2003|p=256}} Joan Goodnick Westenholz assumed that in the subsequent Seleucid period she and Uṣur-amāssu were replaced by Belet-Seri and Šarrāḫītu in the local pantheon of Uruk.{{sfn|Asher-Greve|Westenholz|2013|p=132}} However, more recently Julia Krul pointed out she is still listed attested in Seleucid sources, and appears among the deities partaking in the ''Akitu'' festival of Ishtar in this period.{{sfn|Krul|2018|pp=68-69}} However, despite still being actively worshiped, she no longer appears in theophoric names in the late texts.{{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|publisher=Academic Press Fribourg |isbn=978-3-7278-1738-0}} *{{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}} *{{citation|last=Beaulieu|first=Paul-Alain|entry=Uruk A. III. Philologisch. Im 1. Jahrtausend · Uruk A. III. Philological. In the 1st millennium B.C.|encyclopedia=Reallexikon der Assyriologie|year=2014|entry-url=http://publikationen.badw.de/en/rla/index#12251|access-date=2022-10-14}} *{{cite book|last=George|first=Andrew R.|title=Wisdom, Gods and Literature: Studies in Assyriology in Honour of W. G. Lambert|chapter=Four Temple Rituals from Babylon|publisher=Eisenbrauns|year=2000|isbn=978-1-57506-004-0|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dRqbe67ChgAC|access-date=2022-10-16}} *{{citation|last=Krebernik|first=Manfred|entry=Urkītum|encyclopedia=Reallexikon der Assyriologie|year=2014|entry-url=http://publikationen.badw.de/en/rla/index#12196|language=de|access-date=2022-10-14}} *{{citation|last=Krebernik|first=Manfred|entry=Zwillingsgottheiten|encyclopedia=Reallexikon der Assyriologie|year=2016|entry-url=http://publikationen.badw.de/en/rla/index#12825|language=de|access-date=2022-10-16}} *{{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|isbn=9789004364936}}
Category:Mesopotamian goddesses Category:Inanna Category:Uruk