Английская Википедия:Bizilla
Шаблон:Short description Шаблон:Infobox deity Bizilla (also spelled BizilaШаблон:Sfn) was a Mesopotamian goddess closely associated with Nanaya and like her sometimes listed alongside courtiers of Inanna. However, she is also attested in connection with Ninlil, and it is assumed that she was viewed as the sukkal (attendant deity) of this goddess in Ḫursaĝkalama near Kish.
Name and character
Bizilla's name was written in cuneiform as dNE.NUN.LAL.Шаблон:Sfn According to Joan Goodnick Westenholz, Bizilla's name has a plausible Sumerian etymology, "she who is pleasing."Шаблон:Sfn Gioele Zisa translates it as "lovingly caring", but notes based on a Mesopotamian lexical text it might have been derived from a phrase meaning "to strip".Шаблон:Sfn
It has been proposed that similar to Nanaya, who was closely associated with her, Bizilla was regarded as a goddess of love.Шаблон:Sfn An Emesal vocabulary composed between 1400 and 900 BCE lists Nanaya's Sumerian equivalent as dNIN.TAG.TAG, Ninzilzil.Шаблон:Sfn According to Paul-Alain Beaulieu, the name most likely should be read as Ninzizli, as one document from the Eanna archive adds a gloss to it indicating such a pronunciation: dNIN.TAG.TAGli.Шаблон:Sfn Joan Goodnick Westenholz on the basis of the association between Nanaya and both Nanaya and Ninzizil proposed that dNIN.TAG.TAG and dNE.NUN.LAL, and possibly also a number of similarly spelled names, such as dNE.NUN, dNIN.TAG and dNUN.NUN represent two Sumerian goddesses who eventually coalesced and came to be associated with Nanaya.Шаблон:Sfn dTAG.NUN has also been interpreted as an alternate writing of the name of the weaver goddess Uttu,Шаблон:Sfn though Westenholz did not accept this interpretation.Шаблон:Sfn
Associations with other deities
Bizilla was closely associated with Nanaya.Шаблон:Sfn Andrew R. George proposes that either in Uruk or in Borsippa Bizilla and Nanaya were viewed as members of one family.Шаблон:Sfn They could also be treated as counterparts of each other.Шаблон:Sfn In the Weidner god list, they occur together alongside Kanisurra.Шаблон:Sfn They also appear one after another in the astronomical compendium MUL.APIN.Шаблон:Sfn They also belong to the same group of deities in the Assyrian Tākultu text.Шаблон:Sfn In the Nippur god list, Bizilla appears in the Inanna section like Nanaya, though they are not placed directly next to each other.Шаблон:Sfn One text enumerates Ninshubur, Nanaya, Bizilla and Kanisurra as Inanna's attendants.Шаблон:Sfn Similarly, a trilingual version of the Weidner god list from Ugarit listing the Hurrian and Ugaritic equivalents of Mesopotamian deities places Ninshubur, Nanaya, Bizilla and Kanisurra in sequence.Шаблон:Sfn The name corresponding to Bizilla in the Hurrian column starts with the sign be, but neither the rest of it nor the Ugaritic equivalent are preserved.Шаблон:Sfn
Bizilla most likely was regarded as the sukkal (attendant deity) of Enlil's wife Ninlil in Ḫursaĝkalama, her cult center located near Kish.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn In a star list, Bizilla corresponds to the "star of abundance," mulḫé-gál-a-a, which in turn is labeled as the sukkal of Ninlil in the astronomical compendium MUL.APIN.Шаблон:Sfn In the same source, Bizilla is mentioned alongside Nanaya and her star Corona Borealis, in this text listed among the "palace ladies" of Enlil.Шаблон:Sfn
It is assumed that Bizilla in some sources occurs among deities from the court of the prison goddess Nungal,Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn though Jeremiah Peterson considers it possible that there might have been two deities with similar names, one associated with Nungal and the other with Nanaya.Шаблон:Sfn He proposes the former was named dNE-zi-il-la.Шаблон:Sfn In the two texts in which she appears, the Hymn to Nungal and a fragment describing the journey of this goddess to the underworld in the company of Nintinugga, she is mentioned in connection with Nungal's bed, and in the former she is addressed as the "head barber" (kindagal).Шаблон:Sfn
Worship
Administrative texts from the Ur III period indicate that Bizilla received offerings alongside Nanaya in a ceremony which involved bringing statues of various deities to the royal palace.Шаблон:Sfn She is also attested in an offering list from Mari from the Šakkanakku period, where she appears side by side with Nanaya.Шаблон:Sfn They were most likely introduced from Uruk.Шаблон:Sfn
An explanatory temple list known from Neo-Babylonian Sippar,Шаблон:Sfn arranged according to a geographic principle, states that a temple of Bizilla existed in Ḫursaĝkalama.Шаблон:Sfn A sanctuary of Bizilla, E-duršuanna (possibly "house, bond of lofty strength"), is also known from a single Neo-Babylonian document, though the restoration of the name is not fully certain, and no location is given.Шаблон:Sfn Andrew R. George tentatively proposes identifying it with the nameless temple located in Ḫursaĝkalama, as no other names of houses of worship dedicated to Bizilla are known.Шаблон:Sfn A festival held in Babylon in honor of Gula involved Bizila, as well as Ninlil (who alongside her presumed sukkal acted as a divine representative of Kish), Belet Eanna (Inanna of Uruk), Belet Ninua ("Lady of Nineveh") and the deity dKAŠ.TIN.NAM, possibly to be identified as a late form of the beer goddess Ninkasi.Шаблон:Sfn
According to the Assyrian Tākultu ritual text, Bizilla, as well as Nanaya and Kanisurra, were worshiped in Bīt-Bēlti.Шаблон:Sfn
An Akkadian incantation known from a copy from Ugarit invokes Bizila alongside Gula and refers to her as "lady of relief,"Шаблон:Sfn be-let tap-ši-iḫ-ti.Шаблон:Sfn
dTAG.NUN, according to Joan Goodnick Westenholz possibly connected with Bizilla,Шаблон:Sfn had a temple in Umma in the Early Dynastic period,Шаблон:Sfn built by king Il.Шаблон:Sfn Ninzizli, also linked with Bizilla and Nanaya by Westenholz, is attested in the name of a gate of the temple precinct of Eanna in a document from Neo-Babylonian Uruk.Шаблон:Sfn
References
Bibliography
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