, if not indeed identical with him.

Nisaba (or Nidaba).

In a dream which the gods send to Gudea, he sees among other things, a
goddess, whose name may be read Nisaba or Nidaba.[100] Nina, who
interprets the dream to the ruler of Shirpurla, declares that Nisaba is
her sister. In a text belonging to a still earlier age, the deity is
mentioned as the begetter of a king whose name is read Lugal-zaggisi.[101]
From the manner in which the name of the goddess is written, as well as
from other sources, we know that Nisaba is an agricultural deity. In
historical texts she plays scarcely any role at all, but in incantations
she is often referred to; and from the fact that Nisaba is appealed to,
to break the power of the demons in conjunction with Ea, it would appear
that the position once occupied by her was no insignificant one.
Nin-girsu, it will be recalled, has also traits which connect him with
agricultural life, and Nina being the daughter of Nin-si-a, one of the
forms under which Ningirsu-Ninib appears, we may connect Nisaba directly
with the cults of which Lagash formed the center. Nisaba must have been
the consort of one of the agricultural gods, whose jurisdiction falls
within Gudea's empire. Lugal-zaggisi, as the king of Uruk, assigns to
the goddess a first place. Her origin must, therefore, be sought in this
region. In later days the name of the goddess is used to describe the
fertility of the soil in general. So Ashurbanabal, describing the
prosperity existing in his days, says that grain was abundant through
the 'increase of Nisaba.'[102]

KU(?)-Anna.

A goddess of this name--reading of the first sign doubtful--is mentioned
by Ur-Bau, who builds a temple to her in Girsu. If Amiaud is correct in
his reading of the first sign, the goddess was identified at one time by
the Babylonians with the consort of Ramman--the storm-god. This would
accord with the description that Ur-Bau gives of the goddess. She is the
one who deluges the land with water--belonging therefore to the same
order as Bau.

In a list of deities enumerated by a ruler of Erech, Lugal-zaggisi,[103]
are found (1) a local goddess,

Umu,

designated as the 'priestess of Uruk,'[104] and occupying an inferior
rank to (2) a goddess,

Nin-akha-kuddu,[105]

who is called 'the mistress of Uruk.' The importance of Erech in the
early history of Babylonia is emphasized by the inscriptions from
Nippur, recently published by Dr. Hilprecht. It is