Uttu

Uttu in Sumerian mythology is the goddess of weaving and clothing. She is both the child of Enki and Ninkur, and she bears seven new child/trees from Enki, the eighth being the Ti (Tree of "Life", associated with the "Rib"). When Enki then ate Uttu's children, Ninhursag cursed him with eight wounds and disappears. Uttu in Sumerian means "the woven" and she was illustrated as a spider in a web.

She is sometimes mistaken for Sumerian Utu, the male solar deity.

Uttu in modern literature

Author Anita Diamant tells the story of Uttu, the daughter of Nanna, god of the moon, and of Ninhursag, the mother of the plains, through Bilhah, the wife of Laban, in her book The Red Tent.

References

Diamant, A. (1997). The red tent (pp. 79-80). New York: St. Martin's Press.