Laguda

Laguda

Laguda

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Laguda (dla-gu-da, rarely dla-gù-dé[1]) was a Mesopotamian god most likely associated with the Persian Gulf.[2]

Character

It is assumed that Laguda was a god of the sea, specifically the Persian Gulf.[2] According to Wilfred G. Lambert, the possibility that Laguda was a god of the sea is supported by his frequent association with other deities of such character.[3] Sirsir, a god mentioned alongside him in Marduk's Address to the Demons, was associated with sailors,[3] and it has been proposed that he can be identified as the so-called "boat god" on cylinder seals.[4] Laguda is also referenced in the incantation series Šurpu, where he is listed alongside the river god Lugalidda and the sea god Lugala'abba.[3]

The currently unpublished god list Anšar = Anum refers to Laguda as a name of Marduk, and associates him with Dilmun.[3] It is possible that he also appears in an enumeration of Marduk's names in another list.[5] However, the text Marduk's Address to the Demons attests that they were separate deities:[6]

I am Asallulḫi whom Sirsir nominates in the upper sea, I am Asallulḫi whom Laguda exalts in the lower sea[3]

Worship

Laguda's cult center was most likely the city Nēmed-Laguda,[7] known from sources from the first millennium BCE.[8] Its precise location is not known, but based on mentions in ancient texts it can be assumed that it was close to cities such as Eridu, Larsa, Uruk and Ur.[8] It was also associated with Ea according to a neo-Babylonian royal letter.[7] At one point, gods of Nēmed-Laguda were returned by Sargon II.[8]

Laguda is also attested in two theophoric names from Nippur from the earlier Kassite period,[9] Tukulti-Laguda and Burra-Laguda.[3] The element burra- in the latter name is Kassite,[10] making Laguda one of the deities who appear in Kassite theophoric names despite belonging to the Mesopotamian, rather than Kassite, pantheon.[11] His name was in this case written with a divine determinative (dingir), a cuneiform sign designating divine names,[10] unlike the names of any Kassite deities other than Shuqamuna and Shumaliya.[12]

References

  1. [1]
    Lambert 1983, p. 430.
  2. [2]
    Lambert 1983, p. 431.
  3. [3]
    Lambert 2013, p. 247.
  4. [4]
    Krebernik 2011, p. 554.
  5. [5]
    Lambert 2013, p. 154.
  6. [6]
    Lambert 1983, pp. 430–431.
  7. [7]
    George 1993, p. 27.
  8. [8]
    Streck 1998, p. 209.
  9. [9]
    Bartelmus 2017, p. 310.
  10. [10]
    Balkan 1954, p. 51.
  11. [11]
    Balkan 1954, p. 101.
  12. [12]
    Bartelmus 2017, p. 247.

Bibliography

  • Balkan, Kemal (1954). Kassitenstudien 1. Die Sprache der Kassiten. New Haven, Connecticut: American Oriental Society.
  • Bartelmus, Alexa (2017). "Die Götter der Kassitenzeit. Eine Analyse ihres Vorkommens in zeitgenössischen Textquellen". Karduniaš. Babylonia under the Kassites. De Gruyter. doi:10.1515/9781501503566-011.
  • George, Andrew R. (1993). House most high: the temples of ancient Mesopotamia. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns. ISBN 0-931464-80-3. OCLC 27813103.
  • Krebernik, Manfred (2011), "Sirsir", Reallexikon der Assyriologie (in German), retrieved 2022-04-10
  • Lambert, Wilfred G. (1983), "Laguda", Reallexikon der Assyriologie, retrieved 2022-04-10
  • Lambert, Wilfred G. (2013). Babylonian creation myths. Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns. ISBN 978-1-57506-861-9. OCLC 861537250.
  • Streck, Michael P. (1998), "Nēmed-Laguda", Reallexikon der Assyriologie (in German), retrieved 2022-04-10
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