Ninimma

Ninimma was a Mesopotamian goddess best known as a courtier of Enlil. She is well attested as a deity associated with scribal arts, and is variously described as a divine scholar, scribe or librarian by modern Assyriologists. She could also serve as an assistant of the birth goddess Ninmah, and a hymn describes her partaking in cutting of umbilical cords and determination of fates. It has also been suggested that she was associated with vegetation. In the Middle Babylonian period she additionally came to be viewed as a healing deity. Nippur was Ninimma's main cult center, though she is also known from documents from other cities, such as Adab and Uruk. In various sources, she appears alongside deities such as Nisaba, who like her was associated with scribes, or other members of Enlil's court, such as Shuzianna and Ninkasi. She is sparsely attested in literary texts, with only two hymns dedicated to her presently known. She also appears in the myth Enki and Ninmah and in a variant of Enki and Ninhursag. Ninimma's history has been characterized as long and complex. The meaning of the second element of her name, written in cuneiform as SIG7 (correct reading is confirmed by phonetic spellings in lexical lists and other sources) remains unknown, with past proposals including "green growth," "brick," or a pun on a term referring to the vulva. A further possibility is that the name was understood as dnin-im-ak, "lady of clay" or "lady of the clay tablet." She is well attested as a goddess associated with scribal arts. According to Julia Krul this was the oldest aspect of her character. Christopher Metcalf characterizes her as a goddess associated with wisdom and writing who was "appealing to the mind of an ancient scholar of Sumerian literature." She has been variously described as fulfilling the role of a divine scholar, scribe and librarian by modern authors. A further role attested for Ninimma is that of a goddess of birth. In an Old Babylonian hymn, she is described as a helper of Aruru who partakes in creation of life and assists her in cutting the umbilical cord and determining fates.