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Shala
EntityQ390973· pop 12· linked from 118 articles

Shala (Šala) was a Mesopotamian goddess of weather and grain and the wife of the weather god Adad. It is assumed that she originated in northern Mesopotamia and that her name might have Hurrian origin. She was worshiped especially in Karkar and in Zabban, regarded as cult centers of her husband as well. She is first attested in the Old Babylonian period, but it is possible that an analogous Sumerian goddess, Medimsha, was already the wife of Adad's counterpart Ishkur in earlier times.

Key facts

Deity.type
Mesopotamian
Deity.name
Shala
Deity.image
Syrian_-_Cylinder_Seal_with_Worshippers_before_a_Goddess_-_Walters_42450_-_Impression.jpg
Deity.caption
Impression of a Syrian cylinder seal showing a goddess riding on a bull and spreading her dress. Similar images have been tentatively identified as depictions of Shala.
Deity.god_of
Mesopotamian goddess of the weather and grain
Deity.symbol
lightning bolts, ear of the corn
Deity.consort
Adad
Deity.children
Halbinunna, Namashmash, Minunesi, Misharu, Uṣur-amāssu
Deity.mount
a lion-dragon chimera or a bull
Deity.cult_center
Karkar, Zabban
Deity.equivalent1_type
Sumerian
Deity.equivalent1
Medimsha

via Wikipedia infobox

~15 min read

Article

9 sections
Contents
  • Name
  • Associations with other deities
  • Shala and Shalash
  • Iconography and functions
  • Worship
  • In Elam
  • Later relevance
  • References
  • Bibliography

Shala (Šala) was a Mesopotamian goddess of weather and grain and the wife of the weather god Adad. It is assumed that she originated in northern Mesopotamia and that her name might have Hurrian origin. She was worshiped especially in Karkar and in Zabban, regarded as cult centers of her husband as well. She is first attested in the Old Babylonian period, but it is possible that an analogous Sumerian goddess, Medimsha, was already the wife of Adad's counterpart Ishkur in earlier times.

Both in a number of relatively late Mesopotamian texts and in modern scholarship she is sometimes conflated or confused with Shalash, a Syrian goddess regarded as the spouse of Dagan.

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