Dossiers

Hymn to Nungal: A Praise Song for the Sumerian Goddess of Prisons

The Hymn to Nungal (circa 1894-1595 BCE) is a Sumerian poem praising Nungal, the goddess of prisons and rehabilitation (also associated with the underworld), as well as the prison house she presided over. Her name means "Great Princess," and she was also known as Manungal ("Mother Nungal"). The…

A Sumerian hymn framing a prison goddess as a figure of rehabilitation and underworld passage encodes surprisingly nuanced legal-cosmological thinking — a reminder that conceptual sophistication in ancient Mesopotamia runs far deeper than the standard nar
Hymn to Nungal: A Praise Song for the Sumerian Goddess of Prisons
Source: https://www.worldhistory.org/article/2200/hymn-to-nungal/

Original author: Joshua J. Mark

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mesopotamia

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