Ancient Mesopotamian Religion: The Healing Goddess

Abstract

In his introduction to Ancient Mesopotamia, A. L. Oppenheim expressed his doubts about the feasibility to write a systematic account of Mesopotamian religion (1977, p. 172; cf. 1950). Indeed, if we understand religion as the sum of individual, conceptual and social concepts and take into account the nature and the state of preservation of the sources, it becomes evident that any description must remain incomplete. This is also the case when portraying the figure of the Ancient Mesopotamian healing goddess or goddesses. As a matter of fact, five deities were associated with the domain of healing and merged together into principally one goddess. Though they are all presented in the following discussion, emphasis is laid on the specific character of the healing goddess.