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Simut (god)

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Simut
Herald of the gods
PlanetMars
Consortpossibly Manzat
Equivalents
MesopotamianNergal
Deities of the ancient Near East
Ancient Egyptian
Arabian
Eblaite
Elamite
Hurrian and Hittite
Levantine
(Canaanite and Ugaritic)
Mesopotamian
Religions of the ancient Near East

Simut or Šimut (Shimut) was an Elamite god. He was regarded as the herald of the gods, and was associated with the planet Mars. He was also worshiped in Mesopotamia, where he was compared with the war god Nergal.

Name

Various spellings of Simut's name are attested in Elamite sources, including dSi-mu-ut, dŠi-mu-ut-ta, dŠi-mu-ut and dŠi-mut, as well as logographic dMAN/dPAP.[1] The last spelling might be related to one of the Mesopotamian names of Mars, mulMAN-ma, "the strange star."[2] It is also possible that in at least one location another logographic spelling of his name was NIN.DAR.(A).[3]

The spelling "Simut" is the standard in Mesopotamian sources from the Middle Babylonian period, though in earlier, Old Babylonian ones, Šimut (Shimut) appears to be the correct orthography.[4] In neo-Assyrian sources, the name is spelled as "Šumudu" (Shumudu).[5]

Functions

Simut was known as "god of Elam," berir napirra (Elamite: "herald of the gods") and silhak perir nappipir ("mighty one, herald of the gods").[2] It is possible that he was a warrior god, and that the word tentatively translated as "herald" refers to a specific administrative or military position.[6] Like Humban,[7] Simut was associated with the concept of kittin, which can be understood as "(area of) divine protection."[6] He appears in judicial and economic documents from Susa, in at least one case sharing the role of a divine witness and guardian of contracts with Inshushinak and Mesopotamian Shamash.[6]

Simut was frequently associated with the planet Mars in Babylonian astrological texts, and the planet was often called "the star Simut," mulSi-mu-ut.[2]

While Wilfred G. Lambert describes Simut as an "infernal" god in the Reallexikon der Assyriologie und Vorderasiatischen Archäologie,[8] Daniel T. Potts, following the more recent research of Wouter Henekelman, concludes that he had no funerary or underworld associations.[9]

Worship

Like many other gods worshiped in Elam, for example Pinikir, Humban and Manzat, Simut is attested for the first time in the treaty of Naram-Sin with an unknown Elamite monarch, possibly Hita of Awan,[10] where he appears right after Inshushinak.[6] Old Babylonian copies of earlier inscriptions also mention a governor (ensi) of Elam from the Sargonic period bearing the theophoric name Sanam-Shimut.[11]

Historically notable Elamites bearing theophoric names connected to the worship of Simut include Kuk-Simut, chancellor of king Tan-Ruhurater of the Shimashki dynasty,[12] and Simut-wartash from the Sukkalmah period,[13] whose inscriptions were found in Liyan on the coast of the Persian Gulf.[14]

While it is assumed Simut had a main cult center, similar to how Inshushinak was associated with Susa, Ruhurater with Huhnur and Napirisha with Anshan, its name and location are presently unknown.[15]

Multiple temples of Simut are attested in Elamite texts. Untash-Napirisha dedicated temples in Susa and Chogha Zanbil to him.[16] The latter one was shared with the goddess Belet-ali.[17] It was referred to with the term kinin, variously translated in modern literature as "gate," "lock," "fate" or "(divine) help."[18] Like a number of other terms used to describe temples forming the Chogha Zanbil complex it is a hapax legomenon.[18] According to inscriptions of kings Shutruk-Nahhunte and Hutelutush-Inshushinak sites of worship of Manzat and Simut treated as a pair existed in Susa.[19] A temple in Anshan was dedicated jointly to Simut, Kiririsha, Napirisha and Inshushinak.[20] It was built during the reign of Hutelutush-Inshushinak.[20][21]

The Neo-Elamite ruler Hanni of Ayapir left behind an inscription dedicated to Humban, Tepti, Napir and Simut.[22]

Worship of Simut continued in the former Elamite territory under the rule of the Persian Achaemenid dynasty, and he is attested in the so-called Persepolis fortification archive.[6] According to one document, a priest named Appirka received wine from the royal administration to offer it to Simut, Ahura Mazda and Mithra, which indicates that Elamite and Iranian deities were worshiped side by side in this period.[23] At least one theophoric name invoking Simut, Shati-Shimut, appears in this corpus of texts.[24]

In Mesopotamia

Oldest attestations of the worship of Simut in Mesopotamia come from the Old Babylonian period from the reign of Rim-Sîn I of Larsa, when this god starts to appear in theophoric names.[25]

Stephanie Dalley argues that it is possible that Simut had a minor cult center somewhere in Mesopotamia, as another Elamite deity worshiped there and attested in theophoric names, Igishta (dIGI.DU; Igišta) had one in Udannu, a small settlement near Uruk.[25]

Multiple theophoric names indicate that he was among the deities present in the pantheon of the First Sealand dynasty, possibly in association with Manzat.[26] Feminine names are among them, for example Amat-Šimut.[27] Some of these names, as well as other given names from the same area, combine Akkadian and Elamite elements, but according to Ran Zadok it is difficult to speculate about the identity of their bearers.[28] Mixed Akkadian-Elamite names are also common in documents from Susa.[28]

Nine theophoric names indicate that worshipers of Simut were present in Nippur in the Kassite period.[29] He might also be present in an earlier Nippur god list, but this attestation is uncertain.[30]

Connections with other deities

In Elam Simut was likely viewed as the husband of Manzat, the goddess of the rainbow, and is a common assumption in scholarship that they were regarded as a couple.[19][6] Simut was also associated with Belet-ali (Akkadian: "lady of the city"), a goddess most likely analogous to Manzat.[31] According to Wouter Henkelman the deity NIN.DAR.A, who appears with Manzat in some inscriptions, can also be identified with Simut.[3] However, Daniel T. Potts identifies NIN.DAR.A as a goddess.[32] The name Nindara or Nindar originally belonged to a male Mesopotamian deity, the husband of the goddess Nanshe, who was worshiped in Lagash, Girsu and Ki'esa.[33]

In Mesopotamia Simut was frequently associated with Nergal and shared his association with Mars and possibly his warlike character,[2] though unlike him he was not an underworld deity.[9] The two of them are equated in the so-called Weidner god list.[34] In one case Simut appears in a Mesopotamian document alongside Laṣ, the wife of Nergal.[35] Wouter Henkelman additionally proposes that "Nergal of Hubshal (or Hubshan)," known from Assyrian sources, was the same deity as Simut.[2] However, Volkert Haas instead identifies him as Ugur.[36] Hubshan was an area associated with the worship of Manzat, Simut's presumed wife, according to Elamite royal inscriptions.[37] It is presently unknown if "Aya of Hubshen" known from the same Assyrian sources as Nergal of Hubshen is related in any way to Manzat.[3]

Stephanie Dalley proposes that due to their shared role as heralds of the gods, Mesopotamians might had associated Simut with Ishum.[25]

References

  1. ^ Henkelman 2011, pp. 511–512.
  2. ^ a b c d e Henkelman 2011, p. 512.
  3. ^ a b c Henkelman 2008, p. 258.
  4. ^ Zadok 2014, p. 225.
  5. ^ Salo 2021, p. 235.
  6. ^ a b c d e f Henkelman 2011, p. 511.
  7. ^ Henkelman 2008, pp. 364–366.
  8. ^ Lambert 1987, p. 346.
  9. ^ a b Potts 2010, p. 58.
  10. ^ Potts 1999, p. 111.
  11. ^ Potts 1999, p. 102.
  12. ^ Potts 1999, p. 146.
  13. ^ Potts 1999, p. 164.
  14. ^ Potts 1999, p. 180.
  15. ^ De Graef 2018, p. 129.
  16. ^ Potts 2010, p. 68.
  17. ^ Potts 1999, p. 223.
  18. ^ a b Potts 2010, p. 61.
  19. ^ a b Lambert 1987, p. 345.
  20. ^ a b Potts 1999, p. 247.
  21. ^ Henkelman 2008, p. 313.
  22. ^ Henkelman 2008, p. 365.
  23. ^ Potts 1999, p. 346.
  24. ^ Potts 1999, p. 348.
  25. ^ a b c Dalley 2013, p. 181.
  26. ^ Boivin 2018, p. 229.
  27. ^ Boivin 2018, p. 149.
  28. ^ a b Zadok 2014, p. 226.
  29. ^ Bartelmus 2017, p. 310.
  30. ^ Peterson 2009, p. 76.
  31. ^ Lambert 1987, pp. 345–346.
  32. ^ Potts 2010, p. 500.
  33. ^ Edzard 1998, p. 338.
  34. ^ Zaia 2017.
  35. ^ Lambert 1983, p. 507.
  36. ^ Haas 2015, p. 367.
  37. ^ Potts 2010, p. 63.

Bibliography

  • Bartelmus, Alexa (2017). "Die Götter der Kassitenzeit. Eine Analyse ihres Vorkommens in zeitgenössischen Textquellen". Karduniaš. Babylonia under the Kassites. De Gruyter. doi:10.1515/9781501503566-011.
  • Boivin, Odette (2018). The First Dynasty of the Sealand in Mesopotamia. De Gruyter. doi:10.1515/9781501507823. ISBN 978-1-5015-0782-3.
  • Dalley, Stephanie (2013). "Gods from north-eastern and north-western Arabia in cuneiform texts from the First Sealand Dynasty, and a cuneiform inscription from Tell en-Naṣbeh, c.1500 BC". Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy. 24 (2). Wiley: 177–185. doi:10.1111/aae.12005. ISSN 0905-7196.
  • De Graef, Katrien (2018). "The Seal of an Official or an Official Seal? The Use of Court Seals in Old Babylonian Susa and Haft Tepe" (PDF). Journal of the American Oriental Society. 138 (1). American Oriental Society. doi:10.7817/jameroriesoci.138.1.0121. ISSN 0003-0279.
  • Edzard, Dietz-Otto (1998), "Nindar(a)", Reallexikon der Assyriologie, retrieved 2022-03-03
  • Haas, Volkert (2015) [1994]. Geschichte der hethitischen Religion. Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section 1: The Near and Middle East (in German). Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-29394-6. Retrieved 2022-03-03.
  • Henkelman, Wouter F. M. (2008). The other gods who are: studies in Elamite-Iranian acculturation based on the Persepolis fortification texts. Leiden: Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten. ISBN 978-90-6258-414-7.
  • Henkelman, Wouter F. M. (2011), "Šimut", Reallexikon der Assyriologie, retrieved 2022-03-03
  • Lambert, Wilfred G. (1983), "Laṣ", Reallexikon der Assyriologie, retrieved 2022-03-03
  • Lambert, Wilfred G. (1987), "Manziʾat/Mazziʾat/Mazzât/Mazzêt", Reallexikon der Assyriologie, retrieved 2022-03-03
  • Peterson, Jeremiah (2009). God lists from Old Babylonian Nippur in the University Museum, Philadelphia. Münster: Ugarit Verlag. ISBN 3-86835-019-5. OCLC 460044951.
  • Potts, Daniel T. (1999). The Archaeology of Elam. Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/cbo9780511489617. ISBN 978-0-521-56358-1.
  • Potts, Daniel T. (2010). "Elamite Temple Building". From the foundations to the crenellations : essays on temple building in the Ancient Near East and Hebrew Bible. Münster: Ugarit-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-86835-031-9. OCLC 618338811.
  • Salo, Reettakaisa Sofia (2021). "Fremde Götter—eigene Götter: Zu den neuassyrischen Götterbeschreibungen". Law and (Dis)Order in the Ancient Near East (in German). Penn State University Press. doi:10.1515/9781646021208-021.
  • Wiggermann, Frans A. M. (1998), "Nergal A. Philological", Reallexikon der Assyriologie, retrieved 2022-03-03
  • Zadok, Ran (2014). "On Population Groups in the Documents from the Time of the First Sealand Dynasty". Tel Aviv. 41 (2). Maney Publishing: 222–237. doi:10.1179/0334435514z.00000000036. ISSN 0334-4355.
  • Zaia, Shana (2017). "CCP 6.7.B - Weidner's God List B - Cuneiform Commentaries Project". Digital Object Identifier System. Retrieved 2022-03-03.
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