Also known as: Nanse, Nance,

Hailed as : “Lady of the Storeroom”, “Divine Soothsayer”, “Divine Interpreter of Dreams”, “Patron of Fish and Fishing”, “Goddess of Social Justice”.

Pray to her for: Justice, fighting unfairness, redressing wrongs when you have been cheated or deprived of what is yours by right, strength for the single woman, well-being of the child, care for the refugee, overcoming feelings of abandonment and isolation, also to interpret dreams, to receive messages in dreams for prophecy.

Invoke her with: A ring of iron kept on a small round mirror, placed so that the ring is reflected on the surface.

Nanshe cared for those who were alone and abandoned; those whom the world ignored and did not care for. To them she gave strength and nurturing. She cared for widows, orphans and refugees. She held out her hand and watched over the downtrodden and the oppressed.

Nanshe was also the patron goddess of soothsayers and prophets. She could interpret dreams and give messages from the gods through them.

She also watched over measurements and trade to ensure that they are accurate and fair. She ensured that weights and measures were correct and no one was cheated in the marketplace. In ancient Mesopotamia, the practice was that if someone wanted to purchase an amount of grain, it was placed on a scale balanced against a certain amount of weight to determine the price. These weights could be tampered with if a seller wanted to reflect a different amount in weight than it actually was and so cheat a customer in paying more for less. Nanshe was invoked as protection against such practices and also in swearing oaths that one was trading fairly. Oaths to Nanshe were usually kept because though she was compassionate and caring goddess, her wrath was terrible and she would stand for no transgressions.

She also oversaw fish, fresh water, birds and fertility. She was responsible for the waters of the Persian Gulf and all the living creatures of that water. That is why Nanshe is associated with symbols of water, fish and the pelican.  The fish connects her with water but also stands for prosperity and life, while the pelican, who, in legend, is said to sacrifice itself to feed its young, symbolized her ability to give of her divine self for the downtrodden and the abandoned.

New Year Festival at the Temple of Nanshe

The first day of the New Year saw large gatherings of people who had come from all over the land. It was a day for a great festival in the temple courtyard of the goddess Nanshe. The supplicants would first ritually cleanse themselves and then submit to the tradition of the Ordeal.

The Ordeal was a common practice in ancient Mesopotamia by which the innocence or guilt of a person was established by the gods through divine means. It was a simple method. The accused was thrown into a river, and if they survived, then they were innocent. Supplicants who wanted to enter the inner chambers and appeal to Nanshe for setting right their troubles, had to go through the Ordeal before they could go in. Some wanted to settle legal disputes. Some wanted a vision of the future. They would first have to prove themselves pure of heart by going through the Ordeal.

The Story of Gudea’s Dream

 

Gudea , the governor of Lagash, dreamt of a strange man, huge in stature. He wore a crown of divinity and had wings of a lion-headed bird, and there were lions crouched beside him. The lower part of his body was like a "flood wave". In his dream, this man  commanded Gudea to build his temple, but before he could comprehend the instructions and understand his words, in his dream, day broke, and he next saw a woman studying a clay tablet on which markings were made. He looked closer and could make out the depiction of the star studded heavens. In her free hand, she held a  stylus, which glowed and seemed to be alive.  Then appeared another man , in whose hands was a heavy tablet of dark blue lapis lazuli. The man held this tablet flat and seemed to quickly sketch a form on it, much like the plan of a house or a large building. He also placed bricks in a mould which stood before Gudea, together with a basket. Gudea was also aware in the dream, of a special male donkey pawing the ground.  Anxious to know the meaning of his dream, Gudea undertook the journey to the temple of Nanshe. It was in a place called Nina and required journey by waterways, and so he set off. Gudea reached the temple after stopping at many sacred shrines on the way, and there at the temple of Nanshe, made many offerings, poured libation, said prayers and begged the goddess to interpret his dream.

And so Gudea learnt that the man of high stature, who he dreamt of, with the crown on his head, was her brother Ningirsu, who wished Gudea to build the temple Eninnu. The sudden breaking of day in the dream was Ningishzida, Gudea’s personal god. The woman holding the stylus and clay tablet was Nisaba, the goddess of writing and calculations, who indicated that the temple be built in accordance with celestial signs and the ‘holy stars’. The man etching the plan of a house on the lapis lazuli tablet was Nindub, the architect god. The brick in the mould showed the ‘brick of fate’, or the laying of the first brick for the temple. The donkey pawing the ground stood for Gudea, eager to begin work.

This story has been interpreted from the famed Gudea Cylinders, an extract from which is given below.

The Building of Ningirsu’s Temple

( Taken from the Gudea Cylinders A and B)

Extract – Nanshe’s interpretation as told to Gudea

My shepherd, I will explain your dream for you in every detail. The person who, as you said, was as enormous as the heavens, who was as enormous as the earth, whose head was like that of a god, whose wings, as you said, were like those of the Anzud bird, and whose lower body was, as you said, like a flood storm, at whose right and left lions were lying, was in fact my brother Ninĝirsu. He spoke to you about the building of his shrine, the E-ninnu.

The daylight that had risen for you on the horizon is your personal god Ninĝišzida, who will rise for you as the daylight on the horizon.

The young woman … sheaves, who held a stylus of refined silver in her hand who had placed it on a tablet with propitious stars and was consulting it, was in fact my sister Nisaba. She announced to you the holy stars auguring the building of the house.

The second one, who was a warrior and whose arm was bent, holding a lapis lazuli tablet in his hand, was Nindub, putting the plan of the house on the tablet.

As regards the holy basket standing in front of you, the holy brick mould which was ready and the fated brick placed in the mould, this part of the dream concerns the good brick of the E-ninnu.

As regards the fine ildag tree standing before you, in which, as you said, tigidlu birds were spending the day twittering, this means that the building of the house will not let sweet sleep come into your eyes.

As regards that part when the right-side donkey stallion of your master, as you said, pawed the ground for you; this refers to you, who will paw the ground for the E-ninnu like a choice steed.

Let me advise you and may my advice be taken. Direct your steps to Ĝirsu, the foremost house of the land of Lagaš, open your storehouse up and take out wood from it; build a chariot for your master and harness a donkey stallion to it; decorate this chariot with refined silver and lapis lazuli and equip it with arrows that will fly out from the quiver like sunbeams, and with the an-kar weapon, the strength of heroism; fashion for him his beloved standard and write your name on it, and then enter before the warrior who loves gifts, before your master Lord Ninĝirsu in E-ninnu-the-white-Anzud-bird, together with his beloved balaĝ drum Ušumgal-kalama, his famous instrument to which he keeps listening. Your requests will then be taken as if they were commands; and the drum will make the inclination of the lord -- which is as inconceivable as the heavens -- will make the inclination of Ninĝirsu, the son of Enlil, favourable for you so that he will reveal the design of his house to you in every detail. With his powers, which are the greatest, the warrior will make the house thrive for you.

 

Invocations to Nanshe

Hymn To Nanshe

Extract

There is a city, there is a city whose powers are apparent. Nijin is the city whose powers are apparent. The holy city is the city whose powers are apparent. The mountain rising from the water is the city whose powers are apparent. Its light rises over the secure temple; its fate is determined. There is perfection in the city; the rites of mother Nance are performed accordingly. Its lady, the child born in Eridug, Nance, the lady of the precious divine powers, is now to return.

She is beer mash, the mother is yeast, Nance is the cause of great things: her presence makes the storehouses of the land prosper  and makes the honey ... like resin in the storerooms. Because of her, there stand vessels with ever-flowing water; because of Nance, the baskets containing the treasures of the Land cover the ground like the silt of the river.

She is concerned for the orphan and concerned for the widow. She does not forget the man who helps others, she is a mother for/to the orphan; Nance, a carer for the widow, who always finds advice for the debt-slave; the lady who gives protection for refugees. She seeks out a place for the weak. She swells his collecting basket for him; she makes his collecting vessel profitable for him. For the righteous maiden who has taken her path, Nance chooses a young man of means. Nance raises a secure house like a roof over the widow who could not remarry.

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