Art in Medicine - October 2025: Ninisina

Nazimaruttash kudurru stone discovered in Susa (Iran) C.A. 1295 BCE, 

Boundary Stone Wellcome Collection

Lucinda Bennett, the Medical Librarian at Ascension St Agnes Hospital in Baltimore, MD,  publishes a regular series on Art in Medicine and The Health Humanities.    

  It's only 1-2 pages with gorgeous images, so it won't take you long to read

... and just might enrich your life.

Ninisina


When we consider the connections between ancient mythology and religion and the field of modern medicine, usually one distinct example comes to mind: Greece. And why not? Ambulances are still emblazoned with the symbol of Asclepius, the Greek god of physicians and medicine. When new doctors take their famous oath upon entering the profession, it is an ancient Greek, Hypocrates, whom they invoke. As our culture took great inspiration from this civilization in particular upon its founding over two-hundred years ago, it is no surprise that such things still remain fairly common to us. However, medicine and religion had been entwined for centuries before Hypocrates, and were just as likely to include female deities alongside their male counterparts. One such goddess is Ninisina.

“Ninisina (Sumerian: "Mistress of Isin") was a Mesopotamian goddess who served as the tutelary deity of the city of Isin. She was considered a healing deity. She was believed to be skilled in the medical arts, and could be described as a divine physician or midwife. As an extension of her medical role, she was also believed to be capable of expelling various demons. Her symbols included dogs, commonly associated with healing goddesses in Mesopotamia, as well as tools and garments associated with practitioners of medicine.” (Wikipedia)

In order to understand the complicated, and often overlooked, pantheons of ancient Mesopotamia and those who worshipped them, let us give a profile of this goddess.

“Ninisinna was the daughter of An and Uraš. She was married to the god Pabilsag, with whom she had a son Damu and a daughter Gunura. During the early second millennium, she was syncretised with the healing goddesses Gula/Ninkarrak, Nintinugga and Baba. She also came to be connected with Inana, probably during the Isin period (2017-1794 BCE) when Ninisinna rose in prominence as goddess of the dynastic capital. This situation is perhaps reflected in Enki and the World Order, where Inana ascribes high status to Ninisinna: "She is to be the mistress of heaven. She is to stand beside An and speak to him whenever she desires" (Penn State)

Syncretism is the practice of combining one cultural aspect with another, it is a term commonly used in art history and archaeology. We see this in deities over time absorbing one another symbols as one nation conquers another, or cultural practices being reused and shared as national boundaries change. In contemporary times, this can seem strange or even disrespectful, but in the ancient world the combination of gods and goddesses with those of another country was common. Of the symbols known to be associated with Ninisina are her scalpel and her dogs. Scholars often describe her as wearing a specific robe that is associated with medical practitioners of the era, refer to her in hymns for healing and midwifery and describe her in inscriptions of surgical procedures as well as the cleaning and bandaging of wounds. The dogs might be considered somewhat of an addition to all this, but we need only look at cultural context to understand why this goddess is a dog person.

Votive dog statuette dedicated by a physician from Lagash to the goddess Ninisina, 'for the life of Sumu-El', king of Larsa

Soapstone, 2nd millenium BCE, Wiki Commons

“Dogs in Mesopotamia were highly respected, and Mesopotamia was one of the few cultures to associate dogs with healing. Elsewhere, dogs in myth tended to be psychopomps, not healers, instead aiding the dead in finding the afterlife. This echoes the journey of domestication. Dogs transformed from wild to tame, so they were believed to move “between the planes of existence” the same way they could move “between the worlds of animals and
humankind.” (Hektoen)

Offerings are common artifacts left at temples, they are the means by which worshippers communicated and prayed to their gods for intervention. In the case of Ninisina, those offerings could take the shape of her dogs. As pictured here, this votive is inscribed with the sick person’s name and their prayer for a healthy life. It was written by the administering
physician on behalf of their patient and contains a vessel for ritual incense or food. Over time, Ninisina became associated with two other healing goddesses: Gula and Nintinuga. Both carry on the symbol and veneration of the canine. We know this from the fascinating discoveries from their temples in multiple cities. 

“Figurines of dogs and human figures in pain were discovered in the strata of the temple, while an inscription explicitly dedicated to Gula secured the identification. Later in the first millennium, Isin became her protected city. When her temple there was unearthed, it established beyond any doubt the association of Gula with dogs. The temple of Gula at Isin was called the e2 ur-gi7-ra ‘the temple/house of dogs’, and about three dozen dog-burials have been found in the vicinity of the temple as well as clay figurines and pendants representing dogs. Dog handlers were documented as receiving animals both destined
explicitly for the dogs and as part of the obligations of the state for the provisioning of Gula’s cult at Ur. These mentioned dogs must have been the property of Gula’s temple and could have resided - if not in - close to her temple. The situation thus could be comparable to Isin, where dozens of dogburials were unearthed in the vicinity of Gula’s temple.” (Cambridge)

Ninisina/Gula/Nintinuga and her devotees might have been onto a theory that is very much proven in our modern era. Keeping pets has been linked to happier, healthier people. Service dogs are now a common sight, working to alert their humans to drops in blood sugar, oncoming seizures and other illnesses. Animals roam hospital wards to offer comfort to patients every day. And these practices might be traced to those ancient physicians at the temples in Mesopotamia keeping dogs to honor these goddesses.


References:
Wikipedia - Ninisina
University of Cambridge
Hektoen International
Penn State

Reprinted with the generous permission of Ms. Bennett.