#nisaba

Scribes in Ancient Mesopotamia: The Beginning of History

Scribes in Mesopotamia were initially tasked with recording transactions in trade and keeping records. Eventually, they became an integral part of everyday life and were involved in trade, royal correspondence, record-keeping at the temple complex, military matters, long-distance correspondence, construction of new buildings, and agricultural concerns, among many other tasks. They also composed original compositions and, essentially, created what we know as history.

Read More

Sumerian Polytheism & Hellenic Polytheism

𒀱

Djehuty, the god of scribes, knowledge, wisdom, and the moon

A well-known and ancient deity from the Kemet pantheon, Djehuty manages to seamlessly combine being an academic elitist and being a coward gentle soul that really just dreams of someday living in a perfect world where his fellow deities use their brains, you know, for a change. Such is the challenge of being a god of knowledge and wisdom in a world full of divinized natural forces who tend to act on impulse.

Djehuty is constantly faced with the struggle of knowing better than his more powerful (and violent) peers who apparently cannot fathom the usefulness of a knowledge and wisdom deity. As a result, he tends to slip into a judgmental, short-tempered, and rather condescending attitude when irritated, which is frequently (especially given that Sutekh adores him, about as much as he adores annoying the shit out of him). Djehuty just does not handle frustration all that well, unfortunately. Nor does it help that he is a traditionalist who hates change. Djehuty has to be practically forced into acquiescing to any kind of cultural change and has a loooooong adjustment period.

As one of the oldest gods of the Kemet pantheon, he’s seen a lot of shit, some of it genuinely traumatizing, and he’s well aware of the power difference between himself and more… er, physically powerful deities. But he’s managed to stay alive this long, which is more than he can say for other deities that operate in the cerebral realm, so he must be doing something right. Being under Sutekh’s protection helps a lot, though, and makes foreign envoy trips less stressful for him.

Highlights in his life include:

designing, with the artistic assistance of his close friend Ptah, the hieroglyphic and hieratic writing system (Djehuty can’t draw, unfortunately)

avoiding getting killed during all the major regime changes that have rocked the Kemet pantheon’s stability and its lands

cultivating a dramatic rivalry with his counterpart in Mesopotamia, Nabu, who is apparently incapable of not brutally criticizing everything he publishes (while being overly excited to read it too)

orchestrating an embezzling scheme in Ptah’s temple, though he did get caught by Sokar so he had to stop

trying desperately to befriend Nisaba, the Mesopotamian goddess of scribes, despite the fact that she clearly thinks his vibes are unpleasant

setting into motion the biggest conflict the Kemet pantheon has ever experienced - Djehuty was the catalyst behind Usire’s death, though very few gods know he was the culprit and not Sutekh

writing bad romance stories under a pseudonym, which Sutekh distributes to literate deities in foreign pantheons, thus earning himself royalties that preclude ever having to get wrapped up in an embezzling scheme again (probably)

me and my friend's got too full so have these Alex's I managed to draw while it wasn't severely lagging my phone ajshajsh

ft. a concept sneak peek of his vol 3 design :D

I've also got one more doodle but be warned, for there be boobs behind the curtain

Since there is only a certain level of historical accuracy achievable, at the mercy of the Changing Times (living alone in an apartment with no city temple available) and also Information Scarcity (I do not have access to academic journals about cultus relating to my gods), I am in a constant state of both Learning and Grafting Ideas On that I think are suitable and a bit fun.

I'm mostly interested in Nisaba, mother of scribes, generally wonderful and awesome and partially represented by the literal written word itself.

I am also an extreme Elder Scrolls nerd and the dragon language/Way of the Voice has my attention for obvious reasons. It's obviously rooted in some other concepts (Buddhism maybe? not my area) but worship of language through language is exactly my idea of a good time. Meditating on the importance of words and where they come from, what they mean, why they mean that- that mostly comes down to etymology, but part of me is doing that 24/7 anyway. Silence as a form of worship also interests me. Like fasting from words, emphasizing the importance of them by experiencing their lack. Or, in the case of the Greybeards, only speaking when there is no other choice.

It's part of why I'm motivated to learn ASL, though that's a whole other rant. Suffice it to say that ASL doesn't work to enable someone who's selectively mute if nobody around understands it anyway.

I'm not entirely sure how practical a vow of silence is though, even if I'd just do it for a week or something. Everything everywhere requires speech, from dealing with managers and customers to apologizing for bumping someone in the hall. From what little I know, fasting rules say that you can eat/drink for health and emergency reasons, but what about words? Part of it, I think, is I'm afraid of being so weird that I get fired or excluded from things on sight. Which is hilarious considering how weird I already am.

I want to try some sort of Way Of The Voice mindfulness/silence thing for Nisaba, but the silence part in particular is driving me crazy. It's not supposed to be easy, but there are reasonable limits to "not easy" too, I think. Problem is the only time I actually speak with my mouth is in a drive-through or at work anyway. Maybe social media restriction???

Sumerian Mythology - The earliest deities of ancient Mesopotamia (18)

Nisaba – The Guardian of the Art of Writing

Nisaba was originally a goddess of grain and agriculture, but, starting in the Early Dynastic Period, she developed into a goddess of writing, accounting, and scribal knowledge. She was the daughter of Enlil(Ref1) and the sister of Ningirsu(Ref2). In earlier times, her husband was the god Haya, but, in later times, she came to be regarded as the wife of Nabu, the god of scribes.

Nisaba serves as the scribe of the gods in Sumerian and later Mesopotamian mythology. The god of wisdom, Enki(Ref3), who organized the world after creation, gave each deity a role in the world order. He named Nisaba the scribe of the gods, and Enki then built her a school of learning so that she could better serve those in need. She keeps records, chronicles events, and performs various other bookwork-related duties for the gods. She is also in charge of marking regional borders.

She is the chief scribe of Nanshe. On the first day of the new year, she and Nanshe work together to settle disputes between mortals and give aid to those in need. Nisaba keeps a record of the visitors seeking aid and then arranges them into a line to stand before Nanshe, who will then judge them. Nisaba is also seen as a caretaker for Ninhursag's(Ref4) temple at Kesh, where she gives commands and keeps temple records.

シュメール神話～古代メソポタミア最古の神々(18)

ニサバ〜書記術の守護神

ニサバは、元々は穀物と農業の女神であったが、王朝時代初期から、文字や計算、書記の知識を司る女神へと発展した。彼女はエンリル（参照1）の娘であり、ニンギルス（参照2）の妹である。初期にはハヤ神を夫としていたが、後世になって書記の神ナブの妻とみなされるようになった。

ニサバは、シュメール神話やそれ以降のメソポタミア神話において、神々の書記の役割を果たしている。天地創造の後、世界を整理した知恵の神エンキは、それぞれの神々に世界秩序の中での役割を与えた。エンキ（参照3）はニサバを神々の書記とし、ニサバが困っている人たちにより良いサービスを提供できるよう、学問の学校を建てた。ニサバは記録を残したり、出来事を記録したり、神々のために様々な書物に関する仕事をする。また、地域の境界線を示す役割も担っている。