Hymn to Nisaba: A Praise Song for the Sumerian Goddess of Writing
The Hymn to Nisaba (circa 3rd millennium BCE) is a poem praising Nisaba, the Sumerian goddess of writing and accounts who also served as scribe of the gods. The poem is officially dedicated to Enki, the god of wisdom (sometimes given as her father, sometimes as "patron"), but the majority of the text focuses on Nisaba and her attributes.
Nisaba (also given as Naga, Se-Naga, Nissaba, and Nidaba) was especially popular during the Early Dynastic period in Mesopotamia (circa 2900-2350/2334 BCE), as, according to scholar Jeremy Black:
Without her, harvests could not be calculated, nor bread and beer offerings apportioned since she was the goddess of accounts who made sure records were accurate.
(Literature, 292)
She was also originally a grain goddess associated with fertility, and her power to engender and increase carried over from an agricultural deity who made the crops grow to a literary goddess who inspired written works.
The hymn, which was almost certainly originally sung to musical accompaniment, would have been performed at one of her shrines or sanctuaries, or even at one of the temples dedicated to Enki, but she had no temples of her own. The act of writing seems to have been the primary form of worship for Nisaba, and so it is most likely that the hymn was sung in one of her sanctuaries, which were attached to libraries and scribal houses.
Her association with writing, with these places of learning, as well as her connection with the construction of monuments and temples – which obviously required accounting – link her with the Egyptian goddess of writing, construction, and accounts, Seshat. She is also associated with Nanshe, the Sumerian goddess of social justice, as she kept Nanshe's accounts of which mortals required her assistance and which deserved her wrath.
Her status declined during the Old Babylonian period (circa 1894-1595 BCE), and by that time, the Hymn to Nisaba had become primarily a writing exercise for students to copy to learn simple Sumerian grammar. She was replaced as the goddess of writing by the Babylonian god Nabu during the reign of Hammurabi (1792-1750 BCE), when male deities superseded females overall. The cuneiform tablet of the hymn was found in the ruins of the sacred temple precinct of the city of Lagash in the mid-19th century, when European archaeologists were engaged in concerted efforts at excavating the cities of ancient Mesopotamia.
Nisaba's Family & Scribal Patronage
Writing is thought to have been invented in Sumer circa 3600/3500 BCE to facilitate long-distance trade. Merchants supplying a certain amount of grain, beer, livestock, or any other commodity needed to have some means of communicating clearly, and so writing developed to meet this need. Early pictographs eventually gave way to phonograms (symbols representing sounds) circa 3200 BCE in the city of Uruk and Nisaba, associated with grains – a staple commodity – became linked with written records on grain shipments and then with writing itself.
Nisaba was the spark of inspiration that allowed a scribe to create any written work and came to be known as "The Lady – in the place where she approaches, there is writing," and a tradition developed of students in scribal schools ending a composition with "Praise be to Nisaba!" (Monaghan, 8-9). An early pictograph represents her as an ear of grain in the Early Dynastic period, before she became the goddess of writing, and was then represented as a woman holding a tablet of the heavens and a gold stylus.
By this time, she was regarded as the daughter of Enlil, king of the gods, and his consort Ninlil. During the Ur III period (circa 2112 to circa 2004 BCE), she was associated with the city of Ur before becoming the patron goddess of the city of Eresh (also given as Eres) during the Isin-Larsa period (circa 2025-1763 BCE). She was regularly invoked by the scribes of Ur and students in the scribal schools during the reign of Shulgi of Ur (2094 to circa 2046).
She is sometimes given as the daughter of Enki, however, with Ninlil as her daughter and Enlil as her son-in-law, and this is how some scholars interpret her depiction in the hymn. Enki is seen opening up the House of Learning for her, giving her the lapis lazuli tablet and, in some interpretations, this and other details identify Enki as her father, while in others, he is her patron, who, as the god of wisdom, would naturally encourage literacy. Scholar Paul Kriwaczek notes:
Mesopotamians recognized Enki as the god who brings civilization to humankind. It is he who gives rulers their intelligence and knowledge; he 'opens the doors of understanding'…he is not the ruler of the universe but the gods' wise counsellor and elder brother…
Most importantly, Enki was the custodian of the meh, which the great Assyriologist Samuel Noah Kramer explained as the 'fundamental, unalterable, comprehensive assortment of powers and duties, norms and standards, rules and regulations, relating to civilized life.'
(30)
Whether Enki was her father or patron, then, Nisaba – and so writing itself – was associated with wisdom and the essential elements of civilization. The opening lines of the hymn, however, also identify her as the daughter of the sky god Anu and the earth goddess Uras (also given as Unas), the original divine couple in Sumerian religion who then passed their position to Enlil and Ninlil. Nisaba was therefore identified with the oldest and most prestigious deities in the Sumerian pantheon.
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⇒ Hymn to Nisaba: A Praise Song for the Sumerian Goddess of Writing
