Shala | |
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Mesopotamian goddess of the weather and grain | |
![]() Impression of a Syrian cylinder seal showing a goddess riding on a bull and spreading her dress. Similar images have been tentatively identified as depictions of Shala.[1] | |
Major cult center | Karkar, Zabban |
Symbol | lightning bolts, ear of the corn |
Mount | a lion-dragon chimera or a bull |
Genealogy | |
Consort | Adad |
Children | Halbinunna, Namashmash, Minunesi, Misharu, Uṣur-amāssu |
Equivalents | |
Sumerian equivalent | Medimsha |
Deities of the ancient Near East |
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Religions of the ancient Near East |
Shala (Šala) was a Mesopotamian goddess of weather and grain and the wife of the weather god Adad. It is assumed that she originated in northern Mesopotamia and that her name might have Hurrian origin. She was worshiped especially in Karkar and in Zabban, regarded as cult centers of her husband as well. She is first attested in the Old Babylonian period, but it is possible that an analogous Sumerian goddess, Medimsha, was already the wife of Adad's counterpart Ishkur in earlier times.
Both in a number of relatively late Mesopotamian texts and in modern scholarship she is sometimes conflated or confused with Shalash, a Syrian goddess regarded as the spouse of Dagan.