Ninshubur
Mesopotamian · deity · mythic · deity
Ninshubur is the one who does what she was told. Before Inanna goes down to the underworld she gives her sukkal precise instructions: if I have not come back in three days, set up a lament, and go to Enlil, and if he refuses go to Nanna, and if he refuses go to Enki. Ninshubur does exactly that, and Enki is the one who acts. In a story where almost everyone fails Inanna — her husband most of all — she is the exception. The Akkadians rebuilt the role as a male god, Papsukkal, 'chief vizier'; that form is carried here as an alias rather than as a separate record.
Domains
- messengers
Powers
- to go from god to god until one of them will act
Relations
- subordinate to: Inanna
Sources
- Reference treatment of Ninshubur, her role beside Inanna and her Akkadian male counterpart Papsukkal.