Editing Nintinugga (section)

==Associations with other deities==
According to a late medical incantation, Nintinugga's father was [[Ninazu]].{{sfn|Wiggermann|1998|p=331}} Despite the association between her and Ninisina, she was never referred to as a daughter of [[Anu]].{{sfn|Sibbing-Plantholt|2022|p=151}} Barbara Böck argues that Nintinugga and [[Ninurta]] were regarded as a couple,{{sfn|Böck|2015|p=331}} but Irene Sibbing-Plantholt in a more recent publication concludes that this view, also present elsewhere in [[Assyriological]] literature, is not supported by textual evidence, which is limited to Nintinugga receiving offerings in Ninurta's [[É (temple)|temple]], Ešumeša, which is attested for most members of the local pantheon and does not indicate a spousal relationship.{{sfn|Sibbing-Plantholt|2022|p=151}} According to the god list ''[[An = Anum]]'', her husband was Endaga (''<sup>[[dingir|d]]</sup>en-dag-ga''),{{sfn|Edzard|1998|p=506}} a god of unknown character already attested in the [[Shuruppak|Fara]] and [[Abu Salabikh]] god lists from the [[Early Dynastic Period (Mesopotamia)|Early Dynastic period]], but there is no indication in any known sources that the relationship between them was considered significant.{{sfn|Sibbing-Plantholt|2022|p=151}} In a single [[lament]], Nintinugga appears in the role of the mother of [[Damu]].{{sfn|Katz|2003|p=3}} According to Böck the tradition according to which he was her son is known from Ur.{{sfn|Böck|2015|p=329}} Sibbing-Plantholt points out that both Damu and [[Gunura]] appear in association with her in three texts from Nippur dated to the Ur III period.{{sfn|Sibbing-Plantholt|2022|p=47}}

Nintinugga was also associated with [[Enlil]]{{sfn|Edzard|1998|p=506}} and could be designated as his ''šimmu'', translated as "incantation priestess" or "sorcerer" by [[Joan Goodnick Westenholz]],{{sfn|Asher-Greve|Westenholz|2013|p=67}} but as "a type of healer and provider of [[Medicinal plants|medical plants]]" by Sibbing-Plantholt.{{sfn|Sibbing-Plantholt|2022|p=148}} The latter author argues that the common assumption that this term designated a specialist similar to the ''[[ašipu]]'' is based only on sources from the first millennium BCE, and earlier texts instead indicate a role similar to that of a [[herbalist]].{{sfn|Sibbing-Plantholt|2022|p=173}} Another deity connected with Nintinugga was [[Nungal]], the goddess of prisons.{{sfn|Asher-Greve|Westenholz|2013|p=86}} In a fragmentary literary text both of them appear alongside [[Ereshkigal]], the goddess of the underworld, possibly due to all three of them sharing a connection to the land of the dead.{{sfn|Peterson|2009|p=234}} 

===Nintinugga and other healing goddesses===
Various goddesses associated with healing, namely Nintinugga, [[Gula (goddess)|Gula]], [[Ninisina]], [[Ninkarrak]], [[Bau (goddess)|Bau]] and [[Meme (Mesopotamian goddess)|Meme]], formed an interconnected network in [[Ancient Mesopotamian religion|Mesopotamian religion]], either due to analogous functions or shared associations with other deities.{{sfn|Sibbing-Plantholt|2022|p=14}} The existence of multiple similar goddesses responsible for medicine reflected the well attested phenomenon of local pantheons typical for individual cities or regions.{{sfn|Böck|2015|p=328}} However, while a degree of interchangeability is attested,{{sfn|Sibbing-Plantholt|2022|p=156}} Nintinugga was usually regarded as distinct from the other similar goddesses.{{sfn|Westenholz|2010|p=396}} Their individual character was reflected in distinct traditions regarding their parents and spouses, as well as in associations with separate cult centers.{{sfn|Böck|2015|p=328}} For example, while Nintinugga was associated with [[Nippur]], Ninisina was the goddess of [[Isin]], Gula most likely originated in [[Umma]],{{sfn|Asher-Greve|Westenholz|2013|p=82}} and Ninkarrak was worshiped in [[Sippar]].{{sfn|Westenholz|2010|p=385}}

An association between Nintinugga and Ninisina is attested in sources from the Old Babylonian period, and might have been meant to strengthen the ties between their respective cities, Nippur and Isin.{{sfn|Sibbing-Plantholt|2022|pp=150-151}} However, they were not necessarily interchangeable, and references to the former traveling to visit the latter in Isin are known from literary texts.{{sfn|Böck|2015|p=331}}{{sfn|Sibbing-Plantholt|2022|p=148}}

In the ''Gula Hymn of [[Bulluṭsa-rabi]]'', a [[syncretistic]] work composed at some point between 1400 and 700 BCE{{sfn|Asher-Greve|Westenholz|2013|p=100}} which equates the eponymous goddess both with other medicine goddesses and with deities of different character, such as [[Nanshe]] and [[Ninigizibara]] (a minor goddess from the entourage of [[Inanna]], described as a harpist), Nintinugga appears as one of the names assigned to her.{{sfn|Asher-Greve|Westenholz|2013|p=115}} Despite the syncretistic approach, each section focuses on the individual traits of each deity,{{sfn|Asher-Greve|Westenholz|2013|p=116}} and that dedicated to Nintinugga highlights both her character as a healing goddess and her connection to the underworld.{{sfn|Sibbing-Plantholt|2022|p=101}} However, sources from Nippur indicate that local theologians equated Gula with Ninisina, not Nintinugga, possibly due to their respective characters being more similar.{{sfn|Sibbing-Plantholt|2022|p=156}}