Ašratum

Ašratum ( dAš-ra-tum, in Larsa dA-ši-ra-tum) was a Mesopotamian goddess of Amorite origin. She was regarded as the wife of the god Amurru. Her name is a cognate of Ugaritic Athirat, but despite likely sharing the same origin these two goddesses occupied different positions in the respective pantheons. Ašratum was a deity of Amorite origin. Her name is a cognate of Ugaritic Athirat, and it is likely they developed from a common source. Multiple etymologies have been proposed for the name, including "holy place" or "sanctuary" (based on the root 'ṯr, "place," attested in both Akkadian and Ugaritic, as well as other Semitic languages) and "wife." However, due to Ašratum's position in the Mesopotamian pantheon and distinct circumstances of her development, information pertaining to her character cannot be necessarily assumed to apply to Athirat, and vice versa. For example, while it is possible Ašratum was associated with eroticism and voluptuousness, no analogous evidence exists for Athirat. In a bilingual Akkadian-Amorite lexical list from the Old Babylonian period which presumably originated in southern Mesopotamia, an Amorite deity named ʔAṯeratum (a-še-ra-tum) is equated with DIĜIR.MAḪ (Bēlet-ilī), but according to Andrew R. George and Manfred Krebernik in this context the name designates the goddess also known from Ugarit. An Old Babylonian votive inscription of a man bearing the name Itur-ašdum is considered to be the most significant source for the study of Ašratum's character. It refers to her as "mistress of voluptuousness and joy" (Sumerian: nin ḫi-li ma-az-bi) and "mistress with patient mercy" (nin ša3-la2-su3). The former epithet might possibly point at erotic connotations. The term ḫili (and its Akkadian equivalent ) denoted a quality of both male and female deities, for example Shamash, Aya, Nanaya and Nisaba. Joan Goodnick Westenholz favors "sensuality" in translations of epithets including it, while Paul-Alain Beaulieu - "voluptuousness." Steve A. Wiggins additionally lists "luxury" as a possible translation.