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Sumerian goddess of grain and writing, patron deity of the city Ere. Nidaba's glory attracted her fall: her scribal functions were usurped by the god Nabu as he rose to power in the Old Babylonian period.
Functions
Nidaba reflects fundamental developments in the creation of Mesopotamian culture, those which take us from agriculture to accounting, to a very fine literary tradition. Nidaba was originally an agricultural deity, more specifically a goddess of grain. The intricate connection between agriculture and accounting/writing implied that it was not long before Nidaba became the goddess of writing. From then on her main role was to be the patron of scribes. She was eventually replaced in that function by the god Nabu.
Cult Place(s)
Nidaba was the patron deity of the city of Ere, which has not yet been identified geographically although it is known to have been in southern Mesopotamia. Two locations have been proposed as possible contenders, namely the mound of Jarin (Jacobsen 1960: 176) and Tell Abu Salabikh (Postgate and Moorey 1976: 161). Not a single temple dedicated to the exclusive worship of Nidaba has yet been recovered archaeologically. Texts provide evidence, however, that sanctuaries dedicated to Nidaba existed across Mesopotamia (George 1993). Nidaba's cult appears to have been carried out most actively at the temple of her daughter Ninlil in Nippur (Michalowski 1998-2001: 578).
blessing (TCL 6, 38: obv. 46-47) and a list attaching her to a temple (SpTU 2, 29: rev. ii 22).
Iconography
Surprisingly we are still missing iconographic evidence for Nidaba, be it as agricultural deity or goddess of writing (see Braun-Holzinger 1998-2001: 579). Various agricultural deities, female and male, are depicted on Old Akkadian cylinder seals and Nidaba could be one of them, but the similarity between figures makes them difficult to identify. No known figural representations approach Nidaba as goddess of writing. A paradox is that Nidaba's physical appearance and attributes as goddess of writing are described in great detail and with consistency in many Mesopotamian literary productions (see, for example, the Sumerian Hymn to Nidaba ETCSL 4.16.1). Van Buren 1952 argues that certain Early Dynastic cylinders seals could be depicting Nidaba as she attends to the construction of a monument, which is one of her scribal duties according to Gudea's Cylinder A (see ETCSL 2.1.7, 134-140). This thesis, although attractive, would require further evidence to be confirmed.