Ninkarrak

Ninkarrak (𒀭𒊩𒌆𒋼𒀀𒊏𒀝, dnin-kar-ra-ak) was a goddess of medicine worshiped chiefly in northern Mesopotamia and Syria. It has been proposed that her name originates in either Akkadian or an unidentified substrate language possibly spoken in parts of modern Syria, rather than in Sumerian. It is presumed that inconsistent orthography reflects ancient scholarly attempts at making it more closely resemble Sumerian theonyms. The best attested temples dedicated to her existed in Sippar (in modern Iraq) and in Terqa (in modern Syria). Finds from excavations undertaken at the site of the latter were used as evidence in more precisely dating the history of the region. Further attestations are available from northern Mesopotamia, including the kingdom of Apum, Assyria, and the Diyala area, from various southern Mesopotamian cities such as Larsa, Nippur, and possibly Uruk, as well as from Ugarit and Emar. It is possible that references to "Ninkar" from the texts from Ebla and Nikarawa, attested in Luwian inscriptions from Carchemish, were about Ninkarrak. Like a number of other healing goddesses, Ninkarrak was described as a divine physician. She shared her role in the Mesopotamian pantheon with deities such as Gula, Ninisina, Nintinugga, and Bau. Dogs frequently are found associated with Ninkarrak and are interpreted as a symbol for her as well as foer multiple other of devine physician goddesses. While she was sometimes identified with other similar deities, certain traits were unique to her. Together with the distribution of evidence of her cult they serve as an indication that even if partially syncretised, individual Mesopotamian goddesses of medicine had distinct origins. It is possible that Ninkarrak only developed into a healing goddess due to already being associated with disease in curse formulas, in which she appears frequently as early as in the Akkadian Empire. In the context of those texts she could be paired with Ishara. While the standard spelling of Ninkarrak's name is dnin-kar-ra-ak, it is not attested before the second millennium BCE, and the orthography shows a degree of variety in cuneiform texts.