Meskilak appears in sources from
Mesopotamia as well. In texts from this area, her name could be transcribed as Ninsikila, written
dNin-sikil-a ("the lady of the pure") on one of the
Gudea cylinders and
dNin-sikil-la in the myth
Enki and Ninhursag. A deity with a
homophonous name,
Ninsikila, was the spouse of the
Mesopotamian goddess Lisin, and it is possible that the similarity of his name to Meskilak's was in part responsible for the fact he later came to be viewed as a goddess. An inscription on one of the cylinders of
Gudea is the oldest known reference to Meskilak in a Mesopotamian source. It states that at the orders of the Mesopotamian god
Ningirsu she delivered three types of wood -
ḫalub,
ebony and "wood of the sea" (
giš-ab-ba-bi) to the aforementioned ruler for the construction of
Eninnu. The deities of Dilmun, Meskilak and
Inzak, are referenced in greeting formulas in letters exchanged between Enlil-kidinnī (also known under the name Ili-liya), the
governor of
Nippur during the reigns of
Kassite kings
Burnaburiash II and
Kurigalzu II, and
Ilī-ippašra, possibly a Mesopotamian who came to reside in Dilmun. Both of the deities are asked to guard the life of the inhabitant of Nippur in these documents. Meskilak also appears in the incantation series
Šurpu, where she is one of the deities invoked in a passage which begins with the invocation of the god
Lugala'abba, the "lord of the sea," and ends with her. The other three deities present in it are Lugalidda,
Laguda and Inzak.
Associations with other deities Manfred Krebernik argues that the equation between Inzak and
Nabu in the late god list
An = Anu ša amēli might indicate an analogous equation between their wives, Meskilak and
Tashmetum. A bilingual hymn treats Meskilak as a male deity identical with Inzak, and identifies him as the counterpart of Nabu and spouse of a goddess named Šuluḫḫītum. It has been proposed that she might have originated as an
Akkadian counterpart of Meskilak based on the reinterpretation of her name as Ninsikila, to be understood as "the one related to purification rites," though this view is not universally accepted. The name Nintilmun, "lady of Dilmun," mentioned in the
Inanna section of the god list
An = Anum, might also plausibly refer to Meskilak. A connection between her and Laḫamun is even more uncertain. The latter deity occurs in god lists as an alternate name of
Zarpanit explained as originating in Dilmun. It is possible that Dilmunites themselves associated Meskilak with
Damgalnunna, analogously to the connection between their respective spouses
Enki and Inzak.
Mythology Meskilak appears in the myth
Enki and Ninhursag under the name Ninsikila. She is introduced in the beginning of the narrative as the goddess of Dilmun, and asks Enki for help, as the land she rules over, which he assigned to her, is a desert. While it is sometimes assumed that she is synonymous with
Ninhursag in this passage, this interpretation is not universally accepted. Enki promises to provide Dilmun with clear water, and subsequently does so, which is most likely meant to highlight his role as a deity associated with water. The early proposal that Dilmun is presented as a paradise in this section of the myth, initially suggested by
Samuel Noah Kramer in the 1940s, is no longer considered plausible. Gianni Marchesi notes that a variant of the text known from
Ur and dated to the period of
Rim-Sîn I's reign emphasizes Dilmun's character as a trade hub through an additional passage in which Enki blesses Meskilak and states that her land will be the destination for precious resources from various distant locations, including
Tukriš,
Magan,
Meluhha,
Elam and
Marhasi. It has been argued that the toponyms listed reflect the "contemporary commercial horizons of
Babylonia." The entire section of the myth focused on Meskilak might have originally been a separate narrative. A goddess also named Ninsikila subsequently reappears as one of the eight deities who are meant to relive Enki from the pains he was experiencing. According to Dina Katz, it is possible that a different deity than Meskilak was meant in this case, perhaps Ninsiki, who was associated with wool who appears alongside
Lahar in god lists, though the copy of
Enki and Ninhursag from Nippur according to her "does create the impression that the two [Ninsikilas] are the same goddess." Manfred Krebernik also assumes that the latter Ninsikila is Meskilak. The other seven deities mentioned in the same passage are
Abu,
Ningirida,
Ninkasi,
Nanshe,
Azimua,
Ninti and
Inzak. The name Ninsikila is reinterpreted as "lady bearing hair" to reflect the problem she was meant to deal with. After Enki is healed, all the deities are assigned new roles, and she is put in charge of Magan. This toponym referred to the area corresponding to modern
Oman in the third and second millennium BCE, though in the first millennium BCE it instead came to designate
Egypt, with Qadû becoming the new name for the former place. Meskilak also appears as Ninsikila in the myth
Enki and the World Order, in which the eponymous god entrusts her with maintaining Dilmun. According to Dina Katz, this passage might have influenced the role she plays in the beginning of the myth
Enki and Ninhursag. ==References==