Nisaba

Nisaba holds grain and writing in the same hands, which is exactly right for a civilisation whose script began as a way of counting barley. Scribes invoked her, the schools were hers, and a great many Sumerian compositions close with the formula 'Nisaba be praised' — the ancient equivalent of a colophon. Her attribute is a tablet of lapis lazuli on which measures and stars are recorded. Her cult sat at Eresh and later at Nippur, and her consort is Haya.

Children

• Ninlil

Domains

• writing
• harvest

Powers

• to hold the tablet of lapis lazuli on which the measures and the stars are written

Relations

• spouse: HayaHer husband, the god of scribes and divine accountant — the administrative half of the same office she holds.Oracc, Ancient Mesopotamian Gods and Goddesses, s.v. Haya: a god of scribes, husband of Nisaba. (secondary)

Sources

• Nisaba is the Mesopotamian goddess of writing and grain, with cult at Eresh and later Nippur and Haya as consort, invoked by the scribal schools and praised at the close of Sumerian compositions.: Reference treatment of Nisaba, her spheres, her cult centres and her consort. (secondary)