Belet-Šuḫnir and Belet-Terraban were a pair of Mesopotamian goddesses best known from the archives of the Third Dynasty of Ur, but presumed to originate further north, possibility in the proximity of modern Kirkuk and ancient Eshnunna.
Both in ancient sources, such as ritual texts, seal inscriptions and god lists, and in modern scholarship, they are typically treated as a pair.
Their character remains poorly understood due to scarcity of sources, though it has been noted that the tone of many festivals dedicated to them was "lugubrious,"[1] which might point at an association with the underworld.
[3] In sources postdating the Ur III period, the first element could be represented logographically with the cuneiform sign NIN,[2] though this alternate writing is only known from Eshnunna.
[5] Douglas Frayne concluded that both cities were located next to each other on the road which lead from the intersection of Jebel Hamrin and the Diyala River to ancient Arrapha.
[10] In the texts of the Ur administration where the two are paired, Belet-Šuḫnir always precedes Belet-Terraban, though in inscriptions from two seals from Eshnunna (Tell Asmar) they are arranged in the opposite order.
[1] Mark E. Cohen has proposed that they might have reflected a myth about their descent to the underworld, which involved them being restrained,[14] but Tonia Sharlach notes that caution is necessary, as it is difficult to determine the individual character of deities only based on the names of festivals during which they were venerated.
[10] Sharlach states that this would place them far ahead of other foreign deities venerated in the royal court at the time,[10] such as Allatum, Belet Nagar, Dagan, Ḫabūrītum or Šauška.
[1] According to Douglas Frayne's proposal they would be located north of the border of the Ur state,[1] but in a more recent publication Sharlach notes that since Eshnunna was a "core province," goddesses originating in its proximity were not necessarily understood as "foreign.
[21] In documents pertaining to the activity of Shulgi-simti, Belet-Šuḫnir and Belet-Terraban typically appear alongside Annunitum and Ulmašītum,[22] who both originated as warlike hypostases of Ishtar.
[2] Šu-ilīya, a contemporary of Ibbi-Sin[25] and Ishbi-Erra,[26] called himself the "beloved" (na-ra-am) of both of these goddesses[27] in a seal inscription in which he also invokes the local god Tishpak.
[13] According to Ran Zadok, the theonym dŠu-nir, known from texts from Susa, corresponds to Belet-Šuḫnir, and therefore she should be considered one of the Mesopotamian deities worshiped in the surrounding area, so-called Susiana, in the Old Akkadian period.