Ishmekarab

Ishmekarab (Išmekarab) or Ishnikarab (Išnikarab) was a Mesopotamian deity of justice. The name is commonly translated from Akkadian as "he heard the prayer," but Ishmekarab's gender is uncertain and opinions of researchers on whether the deity was male or female vary. In Mesopotamia Ishmekarab was worshiped as a member of various groups of judge deities, including the "standing god of Ebabbar" and three similar groups attested from Assyria from between the period of Erishum I's reign and the era of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. Many attestations are also known from Susa in Elam, where a number of deities of Mesopotamian origin were worshiped. Ishmekarab was a deity of justice, described as a divine judge and in some cases invoked in legal formulas. In this role, as well as in that of an oath deity, Ishmekarab could be associated with Shamash. A curse formula from Susa written in Akkadian mentions the scepter of Ishmekarab as a symbolic deterrent against altering the text it was a part of. Similarly, oath breakers were said to risk having their skull smashed by this weapon. A seal inscription from Susa indicates that Ishmekarab was also believed to repel the utukku demons, not otherwise attested in texts from that city. In Susa, Ishmekarab was associated with Inshushinak and Lagamal. Nathan Wasserman refers to Lagamal and Ishmekarab as a couple. Wouther Henkelman assumes that during judgment in the afterlife attested in texts from Susa, Ishmekarab played the role of advocatus dei, in contrast with Lagamal, who he identifies as advocatus diaboli. Wilfred G. Lambert notes that despite a possible association with the underworld present in so-called Susa funerary texts, Ishmekarab should not be regarded as an underworld deity, and generally appears to be a deity dwelling elsewhere, above ground. It is possible that a minor deity depicted alongside a god on a snake throne (Inshushinak or Napirisha) on Elamite cylinder seals can be identified as Ishmekarab. Milad Jahangirfar notes that the gender of Ishmekarab is uncertain, and there is no consensus among researchers regarding this topic.