Urkayītu,^[1] also known as Urkītum,^[2] 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^[3] and can be translated as "the Urukean."^[1] 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.^[4] The earliest attested form of Urkayītu's name is Urkītum.^[2] 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,^[5] but according to Andrew R. George^[6] and Joan Goodnick Westenholz the second theonym in this passage should be restored as Larsam-iti, ^dLarsam(UD.UNU.KI)-i-ti.^[7]

The spelling of Urkayītu's name in cuneiform shows a degree of variety in known sources.^[8] While in texts from the first millennium BCE the name of the city of Uruk is typically written with logograms (UNUG^ki, ^uruUNUG^ki, TIR.AN.NA^ki), and syllabic spellings are rare, the opposite is true for the theonym derived from it.^[3] Examples of partially logographic spellings are nonetheless known, for example ^dUNUG^ki-i-tú or ^dUNUG^ki-a-ti.^[8] In Neo-Assyrian sources, the attested syllabic spellings are ^dUr-kit and ^dUr-kit-tú.^[9] Neo-Babylonian variants include, among others, ^dUš-ka-a-a-i-tu₄ and ^dÁš-ka-a-a-i-tu₄.^[8] It has been proposed that an earlier logographic theonym, AN.^dINANNA(-Unu^ki), was read as Urkītum in Akkadian,^[10] though there is no agreement regarding this problem in scholarship and which deity or deities it refers to remains uncertain.^[11]

Character

It has been proposed that Urkayītu can be understood as a theos eponymos of Uruk, a divine representation of the city.^[1] It is presumed that originally the theonym Urkayītu functioned as an epithet of Inanna, and only developed into a distinct goddess later on.^[9] An analogous process is attested for Annunitum.^[12] 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.^[13] 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.^[2] In a Neo-Assyrian hymn to Nanaya, Urkayītu instead appears to function as her epithet.^[9] However, in sources from Uruk from the Neo-Babylonian period she functions as an independent goddess.^[10] A lament for Dumuzi from the same period nonetheless still treats this theonym as an epithet of Inanna.^[9]

Worship

The oldest attestations of the theonym Urkayītu (Urkītum) come from the Old Babylonian period,^[2] though it is impossible to tell if it was already understood as the name of a distinct goddess at this time.^[9] 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.^[10] Theophoric names such as Urkītum-ummī ("Urkayītu is my mother") or Ṣillī-Urkītum ("Urkayītu is my protection") are also known.^[2]

References to Urkayītu occur in a number of Neo-Assyrian texts.^[9] She is listed among deities Shamshi-Adad V took away from Der.^[10] Ashurbanipal in one of his inscriptions states that he brought her back to Eanna in Uruk from Elam alongside Nanaya and Uṣur-amāssu.^[14]

Urkayītu is well represented in texts from Neo-Babylonian Uruk.^[8] 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.^[15] She was particularly closely connected with the last of these deities.^[16] In sources from Neo-Babylonian Uruk, they are always paired with each other in offering lists.^[17] It also presumed Urkayītu was worshiped in the temple of Uṣur-amāssu.^[18] 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.^[19] They also appear together in text about the cleaning of a blanket (taḫapšu) which belonged to both of them.^[20] 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.^[21] She was also celebrated during a ceremony involving a procession (tebû).^[22] According to offering lists, she received salt, dates, bread, grain, sesame oil and meat. ^[23] 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.^[24] 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.^[20] 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.^[8]

A document from the reign of Darius I indicates Urkayītu was still worshiped under Achaemenid rule.^[8] 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.^[25] 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.^[26] However, despite still being actively worshiped, she no longer appears in theophoric names in the late texts.^[27]

References