*2.2. Moon Imagery, Womb and Compassion*

In the ancient Near East time was defined according to the lunar calendar, marking the beginning of the month by the first sighting of the thin moon crescent. Therefore, the moon god was the most important deity of the three luminary siblings. The moon god Nanna/Suen/Sin was the big brother of the sun god Utu/Shamash and Venus (Inanna/Ishtar), his little brother and little sister (Horowitz 2012, p. 9).11 In art, the moon was depicted as the thin recumbent new moon crescent as observed in the Middle Eastern sky, like a bowl or a boat. The lunar crescent, Akkadian: *uskaru*, from Sumerian U4.SAKAR = Nanna (*CAD* U/W 278–79; Krebernik 1995, p. 360), was the moon god's most common attribute and his epithet (Collon 1992, pp. 20–21).

At the beginning of the month, Sin rises with horns (cusps), associating the moon waxing with cattle and with the herdsmen and referring to the astral and pastoral aspects of the god (Jacobsen 1976, p. 124; Veldhuis 1991, p. 1). In Mesopotamian literature, the moon god Nanna/Suen/Sin, was referred to as the "astral holy bull calf" who shines in the heavens and spreads bright light in the night. The horns of the moon god (crescent) carry the bovine metaphor (Rochberg 2010b, p. 352), with the white brightness recalling milk (Verderame 2014, p. 93). Because of his horns, the moon god is *b¾l qarni* "Lord of the Horns", (*CAD* Q: 137, *qarnu* 3a). A sealing from Choga Mish dating from the late fourth millennium BCE depicts a large figure seated on a bull (-throne), while a squatting small figure behind him touches a crescent moon standard (Kantor and Delougaz 1996: pl. 151:B).

<sup>10</sup> Halos surrounding the sun and the moon can be an indication of rainstorms (Rochberg 2016, pp. 142, 187).

<sup>11</sup> In the Sumerian tradition Nanna was the father of Inanna and Utu (Black and Green 1992, p. 182).

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The month (Akkadian: (*w*)*arٰu*) lasted from the evening of the first visibility of the new moon ((Akkadian: (*w*)*arٰu*) *CAD* A/2: 259–263, *arٰu* A)12 after a night or two when the moon is invisible until the next new moon crescent was seen, and lasted 29 or 30 days. Calculating an average month close to 29½ days, and the twelve new moons calendar equal to about 354 days, the lunar calendar is 11¼ days short of the solar year. To achieve synchronization between the solar year and the lunar month and keep pace with the major festivals that are connected to the agricultural seasons, an extra intercalary lunar month is necessary, slightly more often than once every three years (Hunger 2009; Steele 2011; Horowitz 2012).

The unevenness of a 29½ day-lunar cycle was corrected in the early third millennium BCE, when archaic administrative accounts were based on a 30-day month and a 360-day year (Bauer et al. 1998, pp. 121, 126). Thirty, the number of days in the ideal month was used to write the name of the Mesopotamian moon god, d30 (Black and Green 1992, p. 135). The writing d30 for labeling the moon god spreads westward and is attested in the second millennium at Emar for Šaggar (also written <sup>d</sup>ᏤAR, Fleming 2000, p. 32), god of the moon (Dalley and Teissier 1992, p. 90). The god Šaggar also occurs at Ugarit, in god lists (Pardee 2002, pp. 17, 19 line 14 dᏤAR= Šaggar, 46 line 31) and in the Baal Cycle (Smith 1997, p. 145).13

The moon god's name 30, referring to the lunar cycle, brings to mind the moon god's title *inbu b¾l arٰi* "fruit, lord of the new month", referring to the cyclical self-begettal of the child-moon from the old moon of the last month (Lambert 1987, pp. 2, 29).14 The lunar cycle of 29–30 days was therefore associated with the menstrual cycle (Verderame 2014, p. 93) as well as with the fruit of the womb. Small wonder, therefore, that new-moon crescent shaped ornaments, Akkadian: *uskaru* (*CAD* U/W: 278, c) Hebrew: *ïah©rçn* ʯʖʸʏʤ ʔˈ (Isaiah 3:18), were a popular piece of female adornment (Golani 2013, pp. 157–59), and were connected with birth giving and nursing (Figures 12a and 14) (Beck 2002, pp. 385–91; Ornan 2007).15

<sup>12</sup> Compare the West Semitic root ʧʸʩ used to designate "month" and "moon" (Rendsburg 2009, p. 170).

<sup>13</sup> At Emar, the god Šaggar had a significant role in promoting the welfare of the herds (Fleming 2000, pp. 156– 57). It has been connected with Hebrew *šeger* (ʸʓʢ ʓˇ) in the Aramean Ballam text from Deir ȆAlla (ʸʺʹʲʥ ʸʢʹ). In the Bible, ʸʢʹ refers to the firstling of cattle drop and sheep flocks (ʪʰʠʶ ʺʥʸʺʹʲʥ ʪʩʴʬʠ ʸʢʹ), and parallels the issue of the human womb (ʭʧʸ) (Exodus 13: 12) and (ʯʨʡ ʩʸʴ) (Deuteronomy 7:13, 28:4, 8,51). There may be a connection between the name Šaggar and the Sumerian logogram U4. SAKAR, Akkadian uskaru "lunar crescent" or Sin. Thus, it may refer to the moon metaphorically as a young bull. The same moon god appears at Ebla in the third millennium in a literary text as dSa-nu-ga-ru corresponding to I ITI "one month"/new moon" in a parallel text and is preceded by 2 SI, perhaps "two horns", which reinforces the metaphor of the new moon as a young bull (Dalley and Teissier 1992, pp. 90–91).

<sup>14</sup> In Mesopotamian love lyrics, *inbu* had sexual overtones "fruit, flower, sexual appeal" (Krebernik 1995, pp. 361, 366).

<sup>15</sup> For New Kingdom feeding bottles in the shape of a woman wearing a crescent pendant, nursing a baby, or pressing her breast to collect the milk in a vessel, see (Brunner-Traut 1970: Figures 5 and 10). For crescent pendants worn by male figures in the Bronze and Iron Ages Near East, see (Ilan 2016). Iconography as well as archaeological finds confirm the use of crescent pendants by women, children and animals (as charms to promote harmonious growth) since ancient Egypt. In Greece, they go back to the Mycenaean period (Dasen 2003, p. 280); when buried with the dead, crescent pendants carried the hope of re-birth (Ziffer 1990, pp. 82\*, 116).

**Figure 14.** Revadim plaque figurine of a naked woman with babies wearing a crescent pendant (Ornan 2007: Figure 3).

Another name of the Nanna/Suen, dGIŠ.NU11.GAL "alabaster", suggests the lustrous white appearance of the moon crescent (Rochberg 2010a, p. 326). Yet another name of the moon god was DILIM2.BABBAR "shining bowl", a loanword from Akkadian *tilimtu*, which was considered to be an attribute of the moon god. Moreover, the *tilimtu* bowl was shaped as a boat, another metaphor for the moon god (Steinkeller 2016). Among the surviving finds which may be connected with *tilimtu* "shining bowl", are the gold and silver bowls that were found in the tomb of Puabi, moonlike and boat-like (Woolley 1934, pls. 164, 171b with bull's head engraved on side).16 Picturing the moon god as a shining bowl brings to mind Song of Songs 7:3: ʤʕʢ˒ʱʭʩ ʑ˔ ʑʧʺ ʔʮ ʒʸʏˆ˂ʒʰ ʍʑ ˎʢʓʦ ʕ˙ ʔʤʸ ʔʱ ʍʧʓʩ-ʬ ʔʠʸ ʔʤ ʔ˛ ʔʤʯʔˏ ʔʠ˂ ʒʸ ʍʸ ʕˇ ʭʩʑ˚ ʔˇˣˉʔˎ "Your navel is a rounded bowl—may it not lack mixed wine! Your belly, a heap of wheat encircled with lilies". Literally, the navel (*LXX*: omphalos) is like a half-moon bowl *'©gan hassahar* (Jastrow 1903, p. 960 ʸʤʱ).

In the Bible, the belly,ʯʓʓˎ(here swollen like a heap of wheat) is synonymous with the womb, ʭ ʓʧ ʓʸ, for example Isaiah 49: 15 ˑʕʰ ʍʑ ˎʯˎʭʓ ʒʧ ʔʸ ʒʮˑʬ˒ʲʤ ʕ ʕˉ ʑ ʠʧʔ˗ ʍˇ ʑʺʏʤ and Jeremiah 1:5˃ʩ ʑˢ ʍˆ ʔʣ ʍʩʯʓʓˎ ʔʡ˃ ʍʸ ʕ˞ʠʭ ʓʸ ʓʍˎ ˃ʩ ʑˢ ʍˇ ʔː ʍʷ ʑʤʭʓʧ ʓʸ ʒʮʠ ʒʒˢʭ ʓʸ ʓʍ ʡ˒ The fruit of the womb is a metaphor for baby, for example, Deuteronomy 7:13 (Erbele 1999, p. 138). The Aramaic root *b-ڒ-n* appears as a noun "womb" and as a verb "to be

<sup>16</sup> Stol (1992, p. 249) concludes that the moon as bowl, boat and fruit represent the moon in all stages of growth, particularly the last one, which is the brightest.

pregnant", "pregnant woman", "pregnancy" and "conception" (ʠʰʡ ʩʧʸʩ "the nine months of pregnancy") (Jastrow 1903, p. 158; Sokoloff 1990, p. 91; Sokoloff 2009, p. 137; Tal 2000, p. 94).17

The womb is a metaphor for a virgin. At Ugarit, the noun *r٭m* signifies the "womb" and by metonymy also "nubile girl, damsel", said of the goddess Anat (Del Olmo Lete and Sanmartín 2003, p. 737; Smith 1997, p. 121), *r٭m Ȇnt* and *r٭my*, Raᒒmay is a goddess' name (Smith 2006, p. 20, lines 13, 16; 89–90). *r٭mt*, a nubile woman, appears in the Mesha inscription, describing the king's massacre at Nebo of "seven thousand men and boys, women and girls and maidens" (Na'aman 2007, p. 147): ʧʷʠʥ ʤʺʮʸʧʤ ʹʮʫ ʸʺʹʲʬ ௷ʧ ʍ ʸʥ ʺʩʫʺʮ @ʸ> ʢʥ ʺʸʡ ʥʢ ʯʸʢʥ ʯʸ ʢ@ʡ> >@ ʯʴʬʠʺʲʡʹ (Donner and Röllig 2002, pp. 41–42, no. 181: 16–17) and in Judges 5:30 "Are they not finding, are they not dividing the spoil? A damsel, two damsels (ʭ ʑʩ ʔʺ ʕʮʏʧ ʔʸʭʔʧ ʔʸ) to every man".

In Semitic languages, the root *r-٭-m* is multivalent. Derived from the root are the noun "womb", the verb "to pity" and the noun "pity, mercy". Thus, Akkadian *r¾mu*, *rÎmu*, *rêmu* (*CAD* R: 262–265) denotes "womb" "uterus", written syllabically or with the Sumerian logogram ARᏤUŠ, which by extension means "pity, compassion" (Attinger 1993, p. 441 §275); Ugaritic *r٭m* "womb" and "to have feelings, to be compassionate"; Hebrew ʭ ʓʧ ʓʸ *re٭em*, ʭ ʒʧ ʔʸ ʍʬ "to have pity" and the noun ʭʩ ʍʮʏʧ ʔʸ *ra٭©mîm* (Jenni and Westermann 1976, pp. 762–68; Maier 2014, pp. 182–89). In Qumran Aramaic and Samaritan Aramaic ʭʧʸ denotes "womb", "to love", "love", and ʯʩʮʧʸ denotes "mercy" (Cook 2015, pp. 221–22; Tal 2000, p. 828). In Arabic ϢΣ˶ έ˴ ϢΣ˸ έ˶ *raٰim*, *riٰm* denote "womb", and by metonymy "relationship, kinship". From the same root are the verb ˴ ϢΣ˶ έ˴ "to have mercy, to have compassion", and έ˴ Δ˴ϣΣ *raٰmah* "pity, compassion, sympathy" (Wehr 1980, pp. 331–32). The Semitic roots indicate that birthing/motherhood and mercy are connected. Dorothea Erbele argued that ʭʧʸ "womb" is a gendered term, the singular form reserved for the womb of women, and ʭʩʮʧʸ, the abstract plural, refers to the inner site of compassionate emotions (Erbele 1999, p. 136; Levine 2002, pp. 338–39).

Moreover, Gary Rendsburg has demonstrated that the Semitic root *r-٭-m* occasionally bore the meaning "rain" in the Bible (Isaiah 49:10; Hosea 2:23–25; Psalms 110:3) as well as South Arabian (Rendsburg 1983, p. 361; Johnstone 1977, p. 103) and Ethiopian (Rendsburg 1983, p. 357; Leslau 1991, p. 336).

The multiple meanings associated with the root *r-٭-m* may be traced in the visual evidence. As mentioned above, Akkadian *r¾mu*, *rÎmu* may be written with the logogram ÁRUŠ. The archaic sign is composed of the signs TÙR "cow pen" with inscribed MUNUS "woman". TÙRxMUNUS also means *littu* "cow". The sign TÙR = Akkadian *tarbaڍu* "cow pen" closely resembles the reed hut from which calves and newborn sheep emerge in Uruk art (Figure 15a,b). In ancient Mesopotamia, TÙR = *tarbaڍu* "cow pen", also denoted "halo" (Figure 16). The lunar halo, TÙR *ša Sin*, alluded not only to the closed circle of the cattle pen, but was also related the moon god's association with animal husbandry and the pastoral and bovine world (Verderame 2014, pp. 92–93).18 Notably, in the midthird millennium BCE, a crescent moon appears on the pen lintel above the open door (Figure 17a,b). The image renders the concept of the inner, protected place, the womb, enclosing the embryo, the open door expressing the child's release at birth. The crescent may represent the image the fetus moving like a boat along the birth canal (Couto-Ferreira 2014, pp. 294–95).

<sup>17</sup> (Sharvit 1972) on the oriental version (Genizah, Cochin and Singili, India) of "Eᒒad mi yodea" song in the Passover Haggadah, employing the Aramaic term for the nine months of pregnancy.

<sup>18</sup> Compare ʸʤʱ "an enclosed place, especially the enclosure for cattle near a dwelling" (Jastrow 1903, p. 960).

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**Figure 15.** (**a**) Cylinder seal depicting cows emerging from the cow pen (Delougaz 1968: Figure 11). (**b**) Archaic sign TÙR, cow pen.

**Figure 16.** Babylonian *kudurru*-relief (11th century BCE), depicting the lunar halo: crescent enclosed within a sphere (Seidl 1989: Figure 13).

**Figure 17.** (**a**) Ubaid temple inlaid frieze: cow pen with lunar crescent (Delougaz 1968: Figure 15). (**b**) Seal impression showing cow pen with lunar crescent from Konar Sandal (Pittman 2012: Figure 5b).

The Sumerian goddess responsible for both human and animal fertility was Nintur, literally "mistress birth hut". The element TUR in her name was written with the sign TUR5, TU(D), which seems to have been originally the "birth hut" of the cow pens and sheepfolds, picturing a hut with a reed bundle on top (Figure 18), where cows were taken when they were ready to calve. Metaphorically, it designated the human womb, Sumerian ŠÀ.TÙR, "inside the cow-pen", Akkadian *šassuru*, signifying the inner, sheltered place in the woman's body, from which the baby emerges (Jacobsen 1976, pp. 107, 250 n. 130; Stol 2000, p. 75; Steinert 2017, pp. 205–6), as well as the birth goddesses' name, the personified womb (*CAD* Š: 146, *šassuru* Ac). This explains the meaning of the sign TUR5, TU(D) "to give birth", Akkadian (*w*)*al¬du*. The birth goddess was also named *b¾let r¾me* "lady of the womb" and her attribute was the omega-shaped sign, interpreted after Egyptian parallels as a representation of a cow's uterus (Frankfort 1944). The omega sign was also associated with the moon as evidenced by a Middle Assyrian seal found at Samsat, depicting the moon god in a boat, holding a crescent standard and an omega symbol, connecting him with conception and childbirth (Collon 1992, p. 25) (Figure 19).19

**Figure 18.** Archaic sign TUR5.

<sup>19</sup> The configuration of the crescent with the omega symbol has its antecedents in the art of the Middle Bronze Age in Babylonia and Syria (Keel 1989): Figures 34–36. Ulrike Steinert concludes that the omega symbol could stand for the womb and birth, a sign for divine mercy and good fortune, as well as an apotropaic sign (Steinert 2017, pp. 206–23).

**Figure 19.** Seal from Samsat: Moon god in a boat, holding crescent and omega signs (Özgüç 1987, p. 436, no. 13).

Calving became a metaphor for human delivery. The incantation "A Cow of Sin", which goes back to the Ur III period, was recited for the woman in travail. It relates that moon god Sin lusted for a cow, mounted her and impregnated her. When the cow was due to give birth, labor pangs gripped her and became too exhausted and unable to deliver the calf until the moon god sent two spirits to assist her and she finally gave birth. The supplication is that like the cow, the woman in labor should give birth easily. Niek Veldhuis drew attention to the word-play in the incantation, *littu* "cow" a pun for *¬littu* "childbearing woman", and *arٰu* "cow" placed in chiastic position to the homonym *arٰu* "month" (Veldhuis 1991, pp. 22, 37, 49). Birth incantations of the Cow of Sin, or incantations containing references to cows and cattle pens used during childbirth to accelerate the delivery and protect the newborn child, are attested in the second millennium BCE, not only in Mesopotamia but also in Ugarit and Anatolia (Couto-Ferreira 2014, p. 296). The reference to the cow must reflect observations of calving, which has the potential of being very exhausting and strenuous for the cow, and it is possible that the cow gives up on the delivery. Soon after the calf is born, it is up and nurses. An Akkadian seal found, at Tell Brak, graphically picturing the stages of calving and nursing could easily have served as a prophylactic amulet for childbirth (Figure 20). The image of the cow-sucklingcalf became a metaphor for motherly love and care of which an Egyptian tableau on the sarcophagus of queen Kawit (c. 2051–2030) from Deir el-Bahri is a visual manifestation. In this milking scene, the cow sheds a tear in distress, because she cannot suckle the newborn calf, tied to her left front leg, while a herdsman milks her for his own purposes (Keel 1980, pp. 48–49, Figure 6). From the New Kingdom on, the Egyptian expression "to feel compassion, to love" 3mï was written with the cowsuckling-calf signifier (Keel 1980, pp. 82, 84, Figure 46), a "mute" hieroglyph that provided additional information about the word (Goldwasser and Grinevald 2012, p. 17), namely the phenomenon of the cow's feelings for her calf as a graphic icon for love. Telling is the passage in the Baal myth, where the loving virgin Anat *(r٭m Ȇnt*) longing for Baal is described in terms of a cow's love for calf or a ewe's love for her lamb (Smith 1997, p. 155). The design of an Old Babylonian seal picturing the storm god on his lion dragon, brandishing the lightning fork, together with the cow-suckling-calf alludes to the god's dispensing rains, thus assuring the fertility of the land, as well as the procreation of animals and humans alike (Figure 21).

**Figure 20.** Akkadian stamp seal from Tell Brak, depicting the calving process (Delougaz 1968: Figure 18).

**Figure 21.** Old Babylonian cylinder seal with storm god on a lion dragon holding a forked lightning and a cow-suckling-calf. CC Metropolitan Museum of Art CS1987.96.6.
