Šarrāḫītu (Akkadian: "The glorified one"[1]) was a Mesopotamian goddess worshiped chiefly in Uruk from the Achaemenid period onward.[1]
Oldest attestations of Šarrāḫītu come from Babylon, where she was identified with Ašratum, the wife of Amurru.[2] She is mentioned among the deities worshiped in Esagil during Esarhaddon's reign.[3] A late esoteric text explains her name as Ašrat aḫītu, "Ashratum, the foreigner."[4] Ašratum's name was a cognate of that of the Ugaritic goddess Athirat, but they developed separately from each other.[5]
Šarrāḫītu was among the goddesses who were introduced to the pantheon of Uruk in the final centuries of history of ancient Mesopotamia, alongside the likes of Amasagnudi and Ama-arhus.[2] She was associated with Belet-Seri.[1] However, not much is presently known about her significance and the circumstances of her introduction.[6] It has been pointed out that her rise to prominence in Uruk occurred at the same time as relative decline of Uṣur-amāssu and Urkayītu.[7][1]
She is not attested in any known personal names.[6]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013, p. 132.
- ^ a b Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013, p. 131.
- ^ Krebernik 2011, p. 71.
- ^ Wiggins 2007, p. 167.
- ^ Wiggins 2007, pp. 153–154.
- ^ a b Krul 2018, p. 353.
- ^ Krebernik 2011, p. 72.
Bibliography
[edit]- Asher-Greve, Julia M.; Westenholz, Joan G. (2013). Goddesses in Context: On Divine Powers, Roles, Relationships and Gender in Mesopotamian Textual and Visual Sources (PDF). ISBN 978-3-7278-1738-0.
- Krebernik, Manfred (2011), "Šarrāḫītu", Reallexikon der Assyriologie (in German), retrieved 2022-03-13
- Krul, Julia (2018). "Some Observations on Late Urukean Theophoric Names". Grenzüberschreitungen Studien zur Kulturgeschichte des Alten Orients: Festschrift für Hans Neumann zum 65. Geburtstag am 9. Mai 2018. Münster: Zaphon. ISBN 3-96327-010-1. OCLC 1038056453.
- Wiggins, Steve (2007). A reassessment of Asherah: with further considerations of the goddess. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press. ISBN 978-1-59333-717-9. OCLC 171049273.