Manzat (Manzât), also spelled Mazzi'at, Manzi'at and Mazzêt, sometimes known by the Sumerian name Tiranna (^dTIR.AN.NA)^[1] was a Mesopotamian and Elamite goddess representing the rainbow. She was also believed to be responsible for the prosperity of cities.

In Elam Manzat was worshiped in the lowlands in the proximity of Susa, especially in the area known as Hubshen, associated with the archaeological sites Deh-e Now and Tappeh Horreeye, while in Mesopotamia she was associated with Der, though there is also evidence that she was venerated in Nippur, Larsa and other cities.

Manzat's name is an ordinary Akkadian noun and means "rainbow", though the word's precise etymology is uncertain.^[1] A Sumerian form of this goddess' name, Tir-anna ("bow of heaven") is also known, but it was most likely an artificial construct as the sign TIR generally stands for the Sumerian word qištu, "forest", which only acquired the additional meaning "bow" due to similarity to the Akkadian word qaštu, "bow".^[1] Tiranna is listed as an alternate name of Manzat in the Weidner god list (line 3')^[2] and in An = Anum.^[3] The writing ^dTIR.AN.NA was also used in the offering lists of the First Sealand dynasty,^[4] and sometimes in the writing of theophoric names elsewhere, to logographically represent the theonym Manzat.^[5]

It is generally assumed that Manzat had Akkadian origin.^[1][6][7] Odette Bowin argues that it is possible that she originated in Elam, as the earliest texts indicating she was worshiped in Mesopotamia were initially incorrectly dated to the Akkadian period, but were subsequently discovered to be from the Ur III period.^[4] As such they are more recent than the mention of this goddess in a treaty between the Akkadian Empire and an unspecified Elamite kingdom, and it is therefore possible that Manzat appears there as an Elamite, rather than Mesopotamian, goddess.^[4] However, the gods invoked in it are not exclusively Elamite, as indicated by the presence of Ilaba, Ishara, Ninkarrak and Ninurta.^[6] Additionally, according to Tonia Sharlach there is presently no evidence for the introduction of any Elamite deities in the archives of the Third Dynasty of Ur.^[8] However, Gary Beckman and Piotr Taracha argue that Pinikir, an Elamite astral goddess, was received by Hurrians from a Mesopotamian intermediary in the late third millennium BCE.^[9][10][11]

As a representation of the rainbow, Manzat was a heavenly deity.^[12] Her epithets or alternate names attested in Mesopotamian texts include Ningišḫuranna (Sumerian: "lady of regulations of heaven"), Tabanna ("companion of heaven") and Urualšarra ("she who makes the city flourish"), while the Elamite king Hutelutush-Inshushinak addressed her as zana rišarri, "great lady".^[3] Based on the last of the Mesopotamian epithets and their shared association with Simut, it is assumed Manzat is the same deity as Belet-ali, "lady of the city", and that she was believed to be responsible for the well-being of cities.^[13]

A single text refers to the claws (ri-it-ti) of Manzat.^[14]

Theophoric names attesting the worship of Manzat are known from both Elam and Mesopotamia, examples include Manzat-ili ("Manzat is my god"), Manzat-ummi ("Manzat is my mother"), Danum-Manzat ("Manzat is mighty"), Sha-Manzat ("He of Manzat"), Manzat-rabat ("Manzat is great") and Puzur-Manzat.^[5]

There is some evidence that in Mesopotamia Manzat was viewed as the wife of Ishtaran, the tutelary god of Der.^[12] Frans Wiggermann describes the source documenting this tradition as a "late theological text".^[45]

In Elamite sources Manzat often appears side by side with Simut,^[3] a deity known as "herald of the gods" and associated with the planet Mars, and in Mesopotamia by extension with Nergal.^[46] It is a common assumption in scholarship that they were regarded as a couple.^[3][47] In inscriptions from Deh-e Now Manzat appears with the deity NIN.DAR.A, who Daniel T. Potts identifies as a goddess.^[37] However, Wouter Henkelman assumes that NIN.DAR.A was male and that perhaps he can be identified with Simut.^[48] The name Nindara or Nindar originally belonged to a male Mesopotamian deity, the husband of the goddess Nanshe, who was worshiped in Lagash, Girsu and Ki'esa.^[49] It is uncertain if "Nergal of Hubshen" and "Aya of Hubshen" known from Assyrian sources are related to NIN.DAR.A and Manzat, also associated with this location.^[48]

In the Mesopotamian god list An = Anum Manzat appears without a husband, though an otherwise unknown son, Lugalgidda, as well as a sukkal (attendant deity), Sililitum, are assigned to her.^[3] Only one known copy of the list preserves the lines mentioning these deities, so a degree of textual corruption cannot be ruled out according to Wilfred G. Lambert.^[3] Lugalgidda's name is Sumerian, while Sililitum's is likely Semitic in origin.^[3] Sililitum was a female deity, as indicated by the label ^munusSUKKAL, "female vizier".^[50] She shared her name with the tenth month in the local calendar of Susa^[50] and according to Lambert with a type of bird (šinūnūtu).^[3] The possibility that Sililitum was related to Silili, a deity known exclusively from a single passage in the Epic of Gilgamesh, has been deemed unlikely by Andrew R. George.^[51]

Occasionally an association between Manzat and Ishtar is proposed in scholarship, usually based on the fact that ^(d)Tir-an-na^ki is a late writing of the name of Uruk, but according to Wilfred G. Lambert there is no strong evidence in favor of this theory.^[15] While a goddess known from the Old Assyrian trading colony Kanesh, Ištar-ZA-AT, is sometimes interpreted as "Ishtar of the rainbow"^[52] or outright as Manzat,^[53] it is unlikely that this is the proper reading of the name,^[15] and other interpretations, such as "Ishtar-erbat" have also been proposed.^[53] According to Daniel T. Potts the occurrence of "Manzat-Ishtar" in the Igi-Halki inscription from Deh-e Now is also not an indication of syncretism, and this name should be understood "the goddess Manzat".^[34] The use of ištar or ištarum as a common noun which could refer to any goddess, a synonym of iltum, the feminine form of ilu ("god"), goes back to the Old Babylonian period.^[54] To differentiate it from the name Ishtar, it was consistently written without the so-called "divine determinative".^[55] An example can be found in the brief description of Ishara in Atrahasis.^[56]

In a single Maqlû incantation, Manzat is described as the sister of the Mesopotamian sun god Shamash, and by extension as daughter of his parents, Ningal and Sin.^[57]

In a single Assyrian god list, Manzat's epithets were reassigned to Ninhursag.^[3]

Irene Sibbing-Plantholt argues that due to their similar role in international treaties, such as the treaty of Naram-Sin, Manzat can be compared to Ninkarrak.^[14]