Ninshubur- Mesopotamian GodDeity"Sukkal of Inanna"
Also known as: Ilabrat and Ninšubur
Description
When Inanna did not return from the underworld, Ninshubur dressed as a beggar and went to the great gods one by one. Enlil refused. Nanna refused. Enki listened. Her persistence saved Inanna from eternal death. When the galla demons tried to seize Ninshubur as Inanna's substitute, the goddess refused absolutely.
Mythology & Lore
The Descent
Before journeying to the underworld, Inanna gave her sukkal Ninshubur precise instructions: if she did not return within three days, Ninshubur was to beat the drum in the assembly shrine, dress in a single garment like a beggar, and go to the great gods seeking help.
Inanna did not return. Ninshubur obeyed exactly. She went to Enlil, who refused. Inanna had gone where she should not go. She went to Nanna, who also refused. Finally she reached Enki, who was troubled by the news. He created two beings, the kurgarra and galatura, and sent them to the underworld to revive Inanna with the food and water of life.
When Inanna emerged from the underworld, accompanied by galla demons who demanded a substitute to take her place, Ninshubur was the first person she met, still dressed in mourning, still grieving. The galla wanted to seize her. Inanna refused absolutely: this was the one who had walked from god to god begging for her life. Ninshubur was spared.
Defender of the Me
Ninshubur also appears in "Inanna and Enki." When Inanna obtained the me, the divine powers of civilization, from the drunken Enki and loaded them onto her Boat of Heaven, the sobered god sent his sukkal Isimud to recover them. At each stop on the journey from Eridu to Uruk, Isimud caught up with the boat and demanded the me be returned. Seven times he came. Seven times Ninshubur fought him off.
Ninshubur appears as female in Sumerian Inanna traditions and as the male deity Ilabrat, sukkal of Anu, in Akkadian texts.