Sumerian-Akkadian goddess; "Lady of the Wild Cows" (Nin-sumun(ak)); identified by extensive cow-related epithets and the Akkadian Rīmat-Ninsun ("Wild Cow Ninsun"). Wife of Lugalbanda; mother of Gilgamesh (the defining maternal relationship of Mesopotamian literature); also claimed as mother by the Ur III kings Ur-Nammu and Šulgi, by Sin-Kashid of Uruk, and by Gudea of Lagash. In the Standard Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh she actively interprets Gilgamesh's dreams (Tablet I), petitions Shamash to protect him on his Humbaba-expedition (Tablet III), and accepts Enkidu as a member of her family. Her main cult center was at KI.KAL; Sin-Kashid built the É-KI.KAL temple for her and Lugalbanda together in Old Babylonian Uruk. Ur-Nammu built the Emah ("Magnificent Temple") for her in Ur. Some traditions equate her with the medicine-goddess Gula in syncretic hymns.