Bau

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

• parent: Anu

Domains

• tutelary protection
• healing

Relations

• spouse: NingirsuWife of Ningirsu at Lagash. Since Ningirsu and Ninurta are one god by the historical period and Gula is Ninurta's wife at Nippur, this marriage and Gula's are two local faces of the same pairing — which is part of why Bau was drawn into the Gula complex.Oracc AMGG s.v. Baba: in sources from Lagash and Girsu her husband is Ningirsu. (secondary)

Sources

• Bau, also read Baba, is the daughter of An and wife of Ningirsu, chief goddess of Lagash from the time of Gudea, mother of Igalim, Shulshaga and Ḫegir, with healing associations and the dog as emblem.: Oracc, Ancient Mesopotamian Gods and Goddesses, s.v. Baba. (secondary); Reference treatment of Bau: her parentage, her marriage, her rise over Nanshe at Lagash and her healing character. (secondary)