Amashilama is also sometimes portrayed as a divine leech and the sister of the deity Damu, according to Mesopotamian mythology.
After her brother dies and goes to the underworld, their mother digs out his blood, chops it up, and feeds it to Amashilama along with a beer mixture in the hopes of resurrecting Damu.
Damu, however, understands he is dead after seeing their attempts and says that he is no longer in the "grass that will sprout for his mother again," nor in the "waters that will rise."
His mother blesses him, and Amashilama dies to join him in the afterlife, informing him that "the day that dawns for you will also dawn for me; the day you see, I will see."
Elutil is her given name, which means "the temple (that provides) life to man." é meaning ‘house’ and lú ‘man’ meaning ‘temple’ and tìl meaning ‘life’.
Ninazu and his wife Ningiridda had a son named Ningishzida.
A naccount of Ningirida and her son is one of the rare allusions to deities nursing in Mesopotamian literature.
Amashilama and Labarshilama were his sisters.
Amashilama according to the collection of laments, 'In the Desert by the Early Grass'.
Demons encourage Inanna to conquer the Underworld in 'Dumuzid and Geshtinanna'.
Rather, she surrenders Dumuzid to them.
Dumuzid's feet, wrists, and neck are bound in stocks, and he is tortured with hot pokers.
They strip him down to his underwear, perform "evil" on him, and cover his face with his own clothing.
Finally, Dumuzid asks Utu for assistance.
Utu changes Dumuzid into a half-eagle, half-snake monster, enabling him to return to Geshtinanna.
Dumuzid is pursued by the "seven terrible deputies of the netherworld" in The Most Bitter Cry, and while fleeing, he falls into a river.
He is taken into the Underworld beside an apple tree on the other bank, where everything "exists" and "does not exist," perhaps implying that they exist in insubstantial or immaterial forms.
Damu, the "dead anointed one," is brought down to the Underworld by demons who blindfold him, bind him up, and stop him from resting, according to a collection of lamentations for Dumuzid titled In the Desert by the Early Grass.
Damu's mother attempts to accompany him into the Underworld, but he is now a ghost that "lies in" the winds, "in the lightnings, and in tornadoes." Damu's mother is similarly unable to consume or drink the food or water in the Underworld due to it being "bad."
Damu walks along the Underworld's Highway and meets a variety of ghosts.
He encounters the spirit of a tiny child, who informs him that the child has gone missing; the ghost of a singer offers to follow the child.
Damu requests that the spirits deliver a message to his mother, but they are unable to do so since they are dead, and the living are unable to hear the voices of the dead.
Amashilama, a heavenly leech and the sister of the deity Damu.
Damu dies and goes to the Underworld. Damu's mother digs out his blood and slices it up at her son's request.
She brings the congealed blood to Amashilama, who incorporates it into a beer concoction that Damu must consume in order to resurrect.
Damu, on the other hand, recognizes that he is no longer alive and asserts that he will not be found in the "grass that will grow for his mother again," nor in the "waters that will rise."
Amashilama dies to join Damu in the Underworld after Damu's mother blesses him.
"The day that dawns for you will likewise dawn for me; the day you see, I will also see," she says, alluding to how day in the world above is darkness in the Underworld.
References And Further Reading:
- Auset, P.B., 2009. The goddess guide: Exploring the attributes and correspondences of the divine feminine. Llewellyn Worldwide.
- Ansky, S., 1992. The Harps that Once... In The Harps that Once.... Yale University Press.
- Jacobsen, T., 1987. The Harps that once--: Sumerian poetry in translation. Yale University Press.
- Shushan, G. ed., 2009. Conceptions of the afterlife in early civilizations: universalism, constructivism and near-death experience (Vol. 6). A&C Black.
- Soares, L., 2019. Dicionário De Mitologia Mesopotâmica. Clube de Autores.
