Ninimma

Ninimma was regarded either as a daughter of Enlil (and as such was referred to as a sister of Ninurta), or less commonly as a daughter of Enki and Ninkurra.[3]

Ninimma was regarded as a deity serving Enlil as a scribe and scholar.[4] In the god list An-Anum she is also said to be a nurse of his children,[5] notably Suen.[6] Joan Goodnick Westenholz noted that such direct references to goddesses breastfeeding are rare in Mesopotamian literature.[7]

In a myth Ninimma appears as one of multiple birth goddesses.[8]

Sometimes she was also regarded as a healing goddess.[9]

A temple of Ninimma existed in Nippur.[10]

She appears on seals and in prayers from Kassite Babylonia, but not in the role of a goddess of birth, which in this period was reserved for Ninmah.[11]

References to Ninimma being part of a procession of deities during a festival dedicated to Gula are also known.[12]

A relatively common name of Babylonian scribes included Ninimma as a theophoric element.[13]

According to Frans Wiggermann Ninimma was sometimes confused with the obscure creator goddess Nammu; the latter was as a result referred to as "true housekeeper of Ekur" sporadically.[14] Wilfred G. Lambert instead considered it possible that Nammu and Ninimma were related, rather than merely confused to each other, and that Ninimma known from Nippur was at some point in time at least to a degree analogous to Nammu, and also regarded as a primordial creator deity.[15]

• A song to Ninimma