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Baba (goddess)
Patron goddess of Girsu and the city-state of Laga. Beginning in
the second millennium BCEshe became known as a healing goddess.
Functions
Baba's functions are unclear. Her most prominent role is that
ofNingirsu's wife. She is called the"good" or "beautiful woman" and
she is often invoked as a protective or guarding spirit
(dlamasa6-ga "beautiful guardian"). After her syncretism TT (see
below), she became a healinggoddess and continued to be worshipped
as such.
Divine Genealogy and Syncretisms
During the late third millennium Baba was considered to be a
daughter of the godAn, but herdivine genealogy before then is
unclear. She was married to Ningirsu, the main god of thepantheon
of the city-state of Laga. At the city of Ki, Baba was considered
to be the wife of thegod Zababa.
Baba's and Ningirsu's children were the gods ulagana and Igalima
(Bauer 1998: 505).According to inscriptions of king Gudea of Laga,
the "septuplets" of Baba and Ningirsu werealso her children, but
only three of their names are known thus far (Bauer 1998: 505).
In the Old Babylonian period Baba was syncretized with various
healing goddesses such asNinisinna, Gula, and Nintinugga.
Cult Place
Baba's main cult place was her temple -sila-sr-sr in the city
ofGirsu (Selz 1995: 26; the templeis also referred to as
-tar-sr-sr, see George 1993: 148-149). She is also known to have
had ashrine in Nanna's temple at Ur, the Ekinugal.
Time Periods Attested
Baba is first attested in the Early Dynastic period IIIa and
IIIb in the city-state of Laga, whosecapital was Girsu. Her early
cult seems to have had some connections to funerary rites (Selz
1995: 32). Some offerings to her were named "bridal gifts,"
which has led some scholars to infera connection to a sacred
marriage between her and her husband Ningirsu (Sallaberger
1993:289).
In the Ur III period, Baba's cult is attested primarily in the
city of Girsu, but she is also frequentlyinvoked in personal names.
In the Old Babylonian period her cult is attested at the cities
ofNippur, Isin, Larsa, and Ur (Richter 2004).
Only one fragmentary Sumerian hymn in praise of Baba has
survived in the record (ETCSL4.02.1), but several royal hymns were
dedicated to her (ETCSL 2.3.1, an adab-song for Babawith prayers
for king Lumma; ETCSL 2.3.2, a tigi-song for Baba with prayers for
Gudea; ETCSL
2.4.4.1, a bal-bal-e song for Baba mentioning king u-Sin; ETCSL
2.5.4.02, an adab-song forBaba mentioning king Ime-Dagan).
In the first millennium BCE, Baba is mentioned in an Akkadian
hymn (Foster 2005: 583-591), inwhich her aspect as a healing
goddess survives. Baba survived into the Neo-Assyrian,
http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=t.2.4.4.1#http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=t.4.02.1#http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/amgg/bibliography/#george_1993http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/amgg/images/Girsu.jpghttp://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/amgg/bibliography/#Selz_1995http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/amgg/bibliography/#Selz_1995http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/amgg/bibliography/#bauer_1998http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/amgghttp://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/amgghttp://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/amgg/listofdeities/zababa/http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/amgg/bibliography/#foster_2005http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=t.2.5.4.02#http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=t.2.4.4.1#http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=t.2.3.2#http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=t.2.3.1#http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=t.4.02.1#http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/amgg/bibliography/#richter_2004http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/amgg/bibliography/#sallaberger_1993http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/amgghttp://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/amgg/bibliography/#selz_1995http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/amgg/images/Ur.jpghttp://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/amgg/listofdeities/nannasuen/http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/amgg/bibliography/#george_1993http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/amgg/bibliography/#Selz_1995http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/amgg/images/Girsu.jpghttp://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/amgg/listofdeities/gulaninkarrak/http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/amgg/listofdeities/ninisinna/http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/amgg/bibliography/#bauer_1998http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/amgghttp://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/amgg/bibliography/#bauer_1998http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/amgghttp://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/amgg/listofdeities/zababa/http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/amgghttp://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/amgg/listofdeities/an/http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/amgg/technicalterms/#syncretismhttp://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/amgg
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Achaemenid, and Seleucid periods, when she is only rarely
mentioned in scholarly, religious,and historical texts.
Iconography
No images of Baba are attested thus far.
Name and Spellings
The reading of Baba's name has been subject to some controversy
(Marchesi 2002). Her name isspelled dba-, which can be read dba-
ordba-ba6. It has been suggested that the pronunciationbehind this
writing was something like Bawu, but this argument has recently
been refuted on thebasis of phonological evidence (Rubio 2010) as
well as comparative evidence from other divinenames (e.g., dab-ba6,
see Richter 2004: 118-9 n.526).
Written forms:dba-, dba-, dba-ba6,
dba-ba (?), dba-bu (?)
Normalized forms:Baba, Bawu, Bau.
http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/amgg/bibliography/#richter_2004http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/amgg/bibliography/#rubio_2010http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/amgg/bibliography/#marchesi_2002
