Damgalnuna

Damgalnuna, also known as Damkina, was a Mesopotamian goddess regarded as the wife of the god Enki. Her character is poorly defined in known sources, though it is known that like her husband she was associated with ritual purification and that she was believed to intercede with him on behalf of supplicants. Among the deities regarded as their children were Nanshe and Asalluhi. While the myth Enki and Ninhursag treats her as interchangeable with the goddess mentioned in its title, they were usually separate from each other. The cities of Eridu and Malgium were regarded as Damgalnuna's cult centers. She was also worshiped in other settlements, such as Nippur, Sippar and Kalhu, and possibly as early as in the third millennium BCE was incorporated into the Hurrian pantheon. She appears in a number of myths, including the Enūma Eliš, though only a single composition, ''Damkina's Bond, is focused on her.

==Name, character and iconography== The theonym Damgalnuna can be translated as "the great wife of the prince," the "prince" implicitly being Enki. Joan Goodnick Westenholz pointed out that the writing of her name with the cuneiform sign NUN reflects her connection with the city of Eridu, as it was used as a logographic representation of its name. Shortened writings include ddam-gal and possibly ddam''. It is agreed that the second form of her name, Damkina, developed later. In late sources it could be spelled as Damkianna. This form is attested in Neo-Babylonian letters found in Uruk, according to Paul-Alain Beaulieu originally sent from Eridu. Further variant spellings such as Damnun, Damnuna and Damgalana are also attested. The Hurrian form of the name was Tapkina.