Kubaba
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Kubaba (in the Weidner "Chronicle"), or Kug-Baba, or elsewhere as Kubau, is the name of the only queen in the Sumerian king list. "The house of Kubaba" is mentioned "in the reign of Puzur-Nirah, king of Akšak" (line 38) in the Weidner "Chronicle", a propagandistic letter attempting to predate the shrine of Marduk to an early period: "Kubaba gave bread to the fisherman and gave water, she made him offer the fish to Esagila" (line 43). Her reign as the only "king" of the 3rd Dynasty of Kish was one of peace and prosperity. Her reign is contemporary with the "Early Dynastic III" period of Sumer. Her reign is listed to have lasted for 100 years. If she is a historical ruler, she probably lived in the 23rd to 25th century BC. Shrines in her honour spread throughout Mesopotamia. In the Hurrian area she may be identified with Kebat, or Hepat, one title of the Hurrian Mother Goddess Hannahannah (from Hurrian hannah, "mother"). Abdi-Kheba (= the servant of Kheba), was the palace mayor, ruling Jerusalem at the time of the Amarna Letters (1350 BCE).
Kubaba became the tutelary goddess who protected the ancient Syrian city of Carchemish on the upper Euphrates, in the late Hurrian - Early Hittite period . She plays a role in Luwian texts, and a minor role in Hittite texts, mainly in Hurrian religious rituals. Later, her cult spread, and her name was adapted for the main goddess of the Hittite successor-kingdoms in Anatolia, and later developed into Phrygian Cybele, as Mark Munn has demonstrated in detail (Munn 2004). Phrygian inscriptions with her image in rock-cut sculptures identify her as matar ("mother") and, in one instance matar kubileya[1]. The Phrygian goddess otherwise bears little resemblance to Kubaba, who was a sovereign deity at Sardis, known to Greeks as Kybebe (Herodotus] 5.102.1, noted by Munn 2004)
In the Aramaean period that followed Heba became Hawah, the Syrian snake Goddess and mother of all living, who emerged in the Bible as Eve.
[edit] Notes
- ^ C.H.E.Haspels, The Highlands of Phrygia 1971, I 293 no 13, noted in Walter Burkert, Greek Religion, 1985, III.3.5 notes 17 and 18.
[edit] References
- The Weidner "Chronicle" mentioning Kubaba from A.K. Grayson, Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles (1975)
- Mark Munn, 2004. "Kybele as Kubaba in a Lydo-Phrygian Context": Emory University cross-cultural conference "Hittites, Greeks and Their Neighbors in Central Anatolia" (Abstracts)
| Notable Rulers of Sumer | |
|---|---|
| Legendary Kings: | Alulim Dumuzid Ziusudra |
| First Dynasty of Kish: | Etana Enmebaragesi |
| First Dynasty of Uruk: | Enmerkar Lugalbanda Gilgamesh |
| First Dynasty of Ur: | Meskalamdug Mesannepada Puabi |
| Dynasty of Adab: | Lugal-Anne-Mundu |
| Third Dynasty of Kish: | Kubaba |
| First Dynasty of Lagash: | Ur-Nanshe Urukagina |
| Third Dynasty of Uruk: | Lugal-Zage-Si |
| Dynasty of Akkad: | Sargon Enheduanna Manishtushu Naram-Sin Shar-Kali-Sharri Dudu Shu-turul |
| Second Dynasty of Lagash: | Gudea |
| Fifth Dynasty of Uruk: | Utu-hegal |
| Third Dynasty of Ur: | Ur-Nammu Shulgi Amar-Sin Shu-Sin Ibbi-Sin |
