Meslamtaea
Meslamtaea, meaning "he who has come out of Meslam", was originally used as an alternative name of Nergal in the southern part of Lower Mesopotamia up to the Ur III period. It has been proposed that it was euphemistic and reflected the fact that Nergal initially could not be recognized as a ruler of the underworld in the south due to the existence of Ninazu and Ereshkigal, and perhaps only served as a war deity. With time Meslamtaea also came to be used as the name of a separate deity.
↻ synthesized from 5 sources
When
- First attested
- 2100 BCE
- Attested period
- -2100 – 0
- Historical notes
- Attested in a hymn from the reign of Ibbi-Sin.
Relationships
- co occurs with
- Zhong Kui, Đầu Trâu, Mặt Ngựa, Alexiares, Anicetus, Gozu Tennō, Kushiel, Zabaniyya, Alammuš, Šarur, Šargaz, Ninnisig, Erragal, Sebitti, Aški, Ḫuškia, Taški(m)-Mamma, Alammuš, Ninurima, Alla, Ninpumuna, Bitu, Amar-Sin, Ningirida, Ninazimua, Gašru, Ku'annesi, Zi-mingi, dZi-MU, Almu, Ninurta, Ningublaga, Igišta, Chenghuangshen, Meng Po, Heibai Wuchang, Shullat, Hanish, Sin, Enlil, Birdu, Nanshe, Ningal, Shamash, Inanna, Lases, Erra, Ereshkigal, Gilgamesh, Allatum, Belet-Šuḫnir, Bau, Ningishzida, Ninsun, Geshtinanna, Haya, Ninazu
- sibling of
- Lugalirra
- serves
- Nergal
- manifests as
- Nergal
- has aspect
- Maštabba
- served by
- Ḫar
Mentioned by
- Zi-ĝara
- Alamu
- Šarrabu
- Ninurta
- Ningublaga
- Igišta
- Chenghuangshen
- Meng Po
- Heibai Wuchang
- Shullat
- Hanish
- Sin
- Enlil
- Birdu
- Nanshe
- Ningal
and 18 more
Sources
Source passages
“Meslamtaea, "he who has come out of Meslam", was originally used as an alternative name of Nergal in the southern part of Lower Mesopotamia up to the Ur III period. It has been proposed that it was euphemistic and reflected the fact that Nergal initially could not be recognized as a ruler of the underworld in the south due to the existence of Ninazu”
#13613 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001
“An = Anum also refers to her as the wife of Meslamtaea, though in this context he is directly identified with Nergal.”
#37106 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001
“a priestess of Meslamtaea is stated to be responsible for offering sheep to Ninpumuna...she received an offering of sacrificial animals alongside deities such as...Meslamtaea”
#37183 · extracted by anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5