Editing Ninhursag (section)

==Function==
As evidenced by the large number of names, epithets, and areas of worship associated with her cult, Ninhursag's function in religion had many different aspects and shifted notably over time. Ninhursag was not the tutelary goddess of any major city, her cult presence being attested first in smaller towns and villages.{{sfn|Asher-Greve|Westenholz|2013|p=59}} It is possible that she was viewed originally more as a nurturing than a birth goddess.{{sfn|Asher-Greve|Westenholz|2013|p=72}} Another theory posits that, along with the goddess [[Nintur]], she was the birth goddess of wild and domesticated animals.{{sfn|Asher-Greve|Westenholz|2013|p=59}} Her connection to the biological process of childbirth in worship is suspected to have developed later, as she began to by syncretized with other 'birth-goddesses', and took on her '' Bēlet-ilī'' name.{{sfn|Asher-Greve|Westenholz|2013|p=141}} In this birth aspect, she is called by the kings of [[Lagash]] as "the midwife who suckled them".{{sfn|Asher-Greve|Westenholz|2013|p=59}} From the third Early Dynastic Period and onward, the most common Ninhursag epithets emphasize her as the supreme "mother of the world".{{sfn|Asher-Greve|Westenholz|2013|p=139}} This term of mother, Julia Asher-Greve and Joan Westenholz argue, was analogous to the generic 'father' used for gods such as Anu and Enki, and therefore transcends the biological concept of motherhood.{{sfn|Asher-Greve|Westenholz|2013|p=139}} Later in the Neo-Sumerian Period she became more associated with the physical process of birth. (i.e. her offerings including umbilical cord cutters).{{sfn|Asher-Greve|Westenholz|2013|p=140}} In the [[Old Babylonian Period]] some posit a decline in her worship, as she loses her high status as part of the four supreme deities of the pantheon.{{sfn|Asher-Greve|Westenholz|2013|p=140}} However Westenholz posits that her cult continued to be relevant but shifted function, as she became '' Bēlet-ilī''.{{sfn|Asher-Greve|Westenholz|2013|p=141}}

She had a documented role in Sumerian kingship ideology.{{sfn|Asher-Greve|Westenholz|2013|p=137}} The first known royal votive gift, recovered from Kiš, was donated by a king referring to himself as ‘beloved son of Ninḫursaĝa'.{{sfn|Asher-Greve|Westenholz|2013|p=138}} Votive objects dedicated to her ''Diĝirmaḫ'' name were recovered in [[Adab (city)|Adab]], dating to the [[Early Dynastic Period (Mesopotamia)|Early Dynastic Period]].{{sfn|Asher-Greve|Westenholz|2013|p=138}}

She could also be understood not simply as affiliated with mountains, but as a personification of mountain (or earth) as well.{{sfn | Steinkeller | 2019 | p=989}} One text in Sumerian, the ''Disputation between Summer and Winter'', describes the creation of the seasons as a result of the copulation of Ninhursag (the earth) and Enlil.{{sfn | Steinkeller | 2019 | p=989}} Another temple hymn from [[Gudea]] praising Ningirsu (epithet of Ninurta) describes him as having been born by a mountain range.{{sfn | Steinkeller | 2019 | p=990}} She had a connection to the wild animals, particularly deer, who dwell on or around the mountains.{{sfn | Steinkeller | 2019 | p=994}} Stags appear in façade on the walls of her temples, as well as in works containing the lion headed eagle, a symbol of Ninurta.{{sfn | Steinkeller | 2019 | p=996}} One composition, a dedication of Ninhursag's Kes temple, mentions deer, bison, and wild goats in connection to the building.{{sfn | Steinkeller | 2019 | p=995}}

She and her other names could also appear in ritual incantations for a variety of functions, some of which include Damgalnunna to protect from evil demons, and Ninhursaga and Nintur in birth related incantation.{{sfn|Asher-Greve|Westenholz|2013|p=241}} As Ninmah she has appeared occasionally in medical texts, such as one from [[Sultantepe]]{{sfn | ''Mesopotamian Medicine and Magic'' | 2018 | p=779}} which describes a ritual and offerings to be performed for the goddess in order to cure bedwetting.{{sfn | ''Mesopotamian Medicine and Magic'' | 2018 | p=784}} It is suggested that her role in performing healing connects to that of her healing Enki in ''Enki and Ninhursag''.{{sfn | ''Mesopotamian Medicine and Magic'' | 2018 | p=779}}