Mamitu

Mamitu (Mammitum, Mammitu, Mammi) was a Mesopotamian goddess associated with the underworld. She was regarded as the wife of Nergal, or sometimes of other gods regarded as analogous to him, such as Erra. Her importance in Mesopotamian religion was minor, and she was most likely worshiped primarily in Kutha, though attestations are available from other cities too. It is possible that she was a forerunner of the Mandean Amamit.

==Name and character== Multiple variants of the theonym Mamitu are attested in cuneiform texts, including (d)ma-ma, dma-mi and dma-mi-tum. As the short form of her name is homophonous with Mami, a goddess of birth or "divine midwife", some researchers treat them as one deity. However, while in theophoric names with elements such as ma-ma the identification of the deity invoked is not always possible, they are kept apart in ancient Mesopotamian god lists, such as the Weidner god list, the Nippur god list and both An = Anum and its Old Babylonian forerunner. Longer forms of the name, such as Mammītu, with the exception of a single passage from the Epic of Gilgamesh were never used to refer to Mami or any analogous deity. The goddess Mammītu who is responsible for the declaration of destiny alongside "Anunnaku, the great gods" in this composition (tablet X, lines 319–322) is commonly identified as Mami rather than Mammitum by modern translators. The opposite approach was common in early editions, but Rim Nurullin points out that the parallel passage in Atrahasis confirms that this interpretation is incorrect.