Nungal (Manungal) is a goddess of prisons in Mesopotamia. She can be empathetic or merciless. She's especially popular in the Ur III period (c. 2200 - 2100 BCE), worshipped in Nippur, Lagash and other major centers.
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Her name Nungal means Great Princess. Along with her husband, Birtum, Nungal is associated with Kur, the Underworld or Great Earth. Her mother is Queen Ereshkigal, Goddess of Death, the Night and the Underworld. Her father is Anu, the oldest god.
Her major cult center is Nippur; she also has temples at Ur and Lagash. Her worship extends throughout the lands and across cultures. She first appears in early Sumerian writings.
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Those in prison pray for her mercy. Families or friends of prisoners bring offerings to her temples for the safety and return of their loved ones.
The House of Nungal brings suffering, starvation, disease, pestilence and victimization upon prisoners. The sorrow of the imprisoned becomes lamentation.
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With their laments prisoners can be purified of their crimes. They beg forgiveness of their personal gods, who act as protectors and also mediate between the punished one and the greater gods.
In ancient Mesopotamia from the Sumerian period on, prisons are holding cells for people awaiting punishment or execution. During the time of Hammurabi (c. 1792 - 1750 BCE) punishment is brutal. Body parts are cut off, bones broken or eyes gouged out.
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The Code states, "If a son strike his father, his hands shall be hewn off. If he break another man's bone, his bone shall be broken." At the same time, the Code decrees a person innocent until proven guilty.
There are no life sentences or long-term jail sentences. People can be sentenced for up to three years for non-payment of debt. Lawbreakers are often sentenced to labor in quarries, mines, on ships or building projects.
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Crime and punishment vary greatly among regions. Death sentences may be given simply for withholding evidence of a crime, especially murder. Prison is brutal even for an interim stay.
Men, women and even children are imprisoned. This is a place of despair and disease but also hope. Goddess of prisons Nungal is also called ama Nungal (Manungal) or mother Nungal. A hymn to her, Nungal in the Ekur, is preserved on clay tablets.
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The hymn is written by a scribe accused of a grievous offense. The scribe is grateful to escape execution. It reads:
"The gate of the great house, which is a furious storm, a flood which covers everybody;
when a man of whom his god disapproves reaches it
he is delivered into the august hands of Nungal, the warden of the prison;
this man is held by a painful grip like a wild bull with spread forelegs"
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This hymn survives the ages because it's studiously copied in scribal schools. In ancient Sumer Nungal is the first known goddess of judgment. Her court includes the god Igalimma, known as the divine bailiff. She may appear with medicine goddess Nintinugga.
The goddess of beer, Nikasi, is sometimes in Nungal's circle. Nikasi personifies both the pleasant and the unpleasant aspects of beer consumption from euphoria to sickness and death.
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She's also accompanied by Eḫ (Akkadian - Uplum), the divine louse, whose mortal equivalents are known to infest prisons and other places of squalor. She's associated with Love Goddess sukkal Bizilla (Bizila), as well as Nayana, Goddess of Erotic Love.
Nungal keeps a tablet with the name of every person in the world. It details the person’s actions in life, categorized as good or bad. In the Underworld, there's no punishment for an evil life led, unlike the Egyptian Underworld, where the heart is weighed and the deceased has to overcome challenges.
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Everyone is equal in death in Kur. Nungal's notations don't apply to the dead - they apply to the living.
Ideally, she shows her compassionate side to those who honor her well and strive for a better life, and those innocent of accusations. She can show mercy to those who repent their actions and those who don't lead a regular life of crime.
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In the area of Dilbat, southeast of Babylonia, Nungal is equated with the name Ninegal, a goddess associated with palaces. Many palaces have on-site prisons. As an epithet Ninegal has been applied to the Queen of the Heavens Inanna as well.
In ancient times, even after the Code of Hammurabi in 1750 BCE no official police force exists until c.1500 BCE, compliments of the Egyptians. Usually private policing is done by citizens, royal or hired security working with the citizens or against them, depending on the ruler.
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In Mesopotamia a national police force forms shortly after the example of Egypt. Citizen police function separately. The concept takes a while to catch on as the land is made of city-states each with its own legal systems.
A palace complex often has the ruler's private administration and security forces. In Rome about the middle of the first millennium BCE the Vigiles, an organized group of men, fight fires and work to enforce the law.
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Nungal's sukkal or divine attendant is Nindumgul, "Lady of the Mooring Pole". With Nungal, her dwelling place is the Underworld Kur. The mooring pole is connected to ships and water.
Although groundwater deities live in Kur, the primary meaning in this case is solidity, strength and security. For traders, merchants and travelers a solid mooring pole is a place to tie up your ship and bring yourself or trade goods safely to shore.
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Under the name Bēlet-balāṭi, Nungal continues to be worshiped in Nippur in the first millennium BCE, in the temple of the local goddess Ninimma. Ninimma is the goddess of scribal arts, considered a divine scholar or librarian.
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