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Nergal and Mammitu from Kutha (1)

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01 Religious and ideological doctrines and imagery




 		Keywords
Nergal
Period
Roman Empire 		Channel
Mandean culture

Text
In the Mandaic texts, the ancient god Nergal appears under the name Nirig or Nerig and has a prominent position there. Nerig is usually a heavenly demon, planet Mars and a lord of diverse demons. In the Canonical Prayerbook, Nerig is a war god, “lord of weapons and war” (CP 225.2). In the Mandean Ginza yamina, Nerig is the lord of the netherworld. The early Mandaic texts know several cultic places of Nerig, among them Kutha. Nerig appears in the Mandean texts ambiguously both as positive and a demonic power. Nergal’s spouse Mammitu appears in the Mandaic texts as ˀmˀmyt or mˀmyt, a female deity of the underworld. Amamit also appears in Ginza as the second name of Dlibat or Libat (Venus).

Source (list of abbreviations)
Mandaic Canonical Prayerbook 225.2

Bibliography

Kessler and Müller-Kessler 1999, 78-83Kessler, Karlheinz and Christa Müller-Kessler. “Spätbabylonische Gottheiten in Spätantiken mandäischen Texten.” Zeitschrift für Assyriologie 89 (1999) 65-87.

Amar Annus


URL for this entry: http://www.aakkl.helsinki.fi/melammu/database/gen_html/a0001450.php

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