Article in special issue

Lukur/Nadītum priestesses of Ninurta in Old Babylonian Nippur

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Abstract

Women bearing the title lukur/nadītum have long been studied for Sippar, yet their counterparts in Nippur remain comparatively understudied. Building on earlier scholarship while incorporating a substantially expanded corpus of published documents, this article re-examines the lukur/nadītum priestesses associated with the god Ninurta in Old Babylonian Nippur. It challenges traditional analytical frameworks that treat kinship, temple offices, and lukur status as distinct social institutions, arguing instead that these spheres were deeply intertwined. Rejecting the anachronistic notion of “prebends”, the study reconceptualises temple offices as forms of religious service embedded in kinship networks and communal participation, rather than as alienable property. A micro-historical analysis of approximately seventy-three individually attested priestesses demonstrates that the lukur of Ninurta formed a close-knit social and religious community. These women were economically active, appearing in contracts concerning inheritance, real estate, loans, adoptions, temple offices, and slave ownership, and they received redistributed offerings that attest to their integration into temple administration.

The article further contextualises the ki-lukur-ra (“lukur neighbourhood”) as a preferred residential area rather than a cloistered space. Overall, the study highlights significant changes in temple organisation between the Ur III and Old Babylonian periods and underscores the importance of localised, gender-sensitive approaches to Mesopotamian religious history.

Keywords: lukur, naditum, Old Babylonian Nippur, temple offices, ki-lukur-ra, lukur-neighbourhood

How to Cite:

Brisch, N., (2025) “Lukur/Nadītum priestesses of Ninurta in Old Babylonian Nippur”, Akkadica 146(2), 113-140. doi: https://doi.org/10.21825/akkadica.100531