Bau
Mesopotamian · deity · early dynastic sumer · deity
Bau is the goddess whose household accounts we have. Her temple estate at Girsu kept records — barley rations, wool, personnel, fields — and those tablets are a large part of what anybody knows about the economy of a Sumerian city-state. As a goddess she is An's daughter and Ningirsu's wife, and Gudea's building programme raised her over Nanshe to stand level with her husband. Her emblem is the dog, and she has a healing character, which is why she was eventually absorbed into the Gula complex along with Ninisina and Ninkarrak — the dog-and-healing pattern is consistent across all of them and nobody has explained it satisfactorily.
Parentage
Domains
- tutelary protection
- healing
Relations
- spouse: Ningirsu
Sources
- Oracc, Ancient Mesopotamian Gods and Goddesses, s.v. Baba.
- Reference treatment of Bau: her parentage, her marriage, her rise over Nanshe at Lagash and her healing character.