She was associated with dogs, and could be depicted alongside these animals, for example on kudurru (inscribed boundary stones), and receive figurines representing them as votive offerings.

The circle of deities closely associated with her also included Damu and Gunura, who eventually started to be regarded as her children, as well as her sukkal (divine attendant) Urmašum, who might have been imagined as a dog-like being.

It is conventionally assumed that Gula originated in Umma, where she is well attested in the Ur III period, though possible older references are present in texts from Adab.

"[3] In sources from the Ur III period, the word "gula" was sometimes used simply as an epithet added to names of various deities: references to "Inanna-gula," "Ninhursag-gula" or even "Alla-gula" are known.

[7] Jeremiah Peterson states that Gula (𒀭𒄖𒆷) and Gu2-la2 (𒀭𒄘𒇲), who frequently appears in god lists in association with Abu, were most likely understood as two orthographies of a single theonym, though he accepts the possibility that they were originally separate deities, and notes they might have continued to be recognized as such as late as in the Old Babylonian period.

[17] Ninnibru, also known under the Akkadian form the name, Bēlet-Nippuri,[18] "the lady of Nippur," was a goddess regarded as the wife of Ninurta who first appears in offering lists from the Ur III period.

[26] As a result, dME.ME is attested as a logographic representation of Gula's name for example in the Neo-Babylonian Eanna archive from Uruk[27] and other sources from the first millenjnium BCE, though the association might go further back, to Old Babylonian lexical list.

[36] While the earliest sources do not directly mention that she was perceived as such, an association with healing is implied for example by the fact that offers to her were made by Nawir-ilum, Šu-kabta and Ubartum, well attested high ranking individuals from the Ur III period who worked as asû (physicians).

"[39] She could be described as equipped with a variety of tools employed by physicians in ancient Mesopotamia, including various herbal remedies, a razor, a scalpel and a number of other knives or lancets.

[45] Barbara Böck characterizes the latter as the "counter image" of Gula,[46] based on their contrasting roles as respectively a demon killing infants and a divine midwife.

[49] Gula's prominence in the Mesopotamian pantheon grew over the course of the second half of the second millennium BCE,[50] and she came to be viewed as one of its main goddesses alongside Ishtar, surpassing Ninhursag in the process.

"[65] It is unclear if this was meant to elevate it to the rank of a demonic creature (similar to how Lamashtu was usually called the "daughter of Anu" and Namtar was occasionally the "son of Enlil")[66] or if it perhaps hints at an otherwise not directly attested medicinal use of leeches in ancient Mesopotamia.

[67] There is however no direct evidence of bloodletting being practiced, and the references to it in the Babylonian Talmud are assumed to reflect influence of Greek medicine in the Levant rather than a Mesopotamian tradition.

[68] Based on these scattered references Nathan Wasserman suggests that a type of worm, possibly a leech, was regarded as Gula's attribute, in addition to the better known association with dogs.

[70] The text LKA 20, referred to in scholarship as an "incantation of burnt material," mentions that transgressions not only against dogs, but also cats, such as refusing to break a fight between the animals or not burying their corpses, could be a taboo (ikkibu) of Gula.

[88] It has been proposed that Urmašum was a canine being, as his name starts with the cuneiform sign ur, also present in the words urgi (dog), urmaḫ (lion) and urbarra (wolf).

[89] A deity named Urmašum, presumably associated with the underworld, appears in the Weidner god list alongside Malik and Laṣ, but his relation to Gula's sukkal is uncertain.

[102] Two bilingual Akkadian-Kassite lexical lists explain the Kassite goddess Ḫala, otherwise only known from theophoric names from Nippur, Nuzi and possibly Assur, as analogous to Gula, which might indicate she was understood as a healing deity.

[120] Bau might have functioned as an alternate name of Gula in the Middle Assyrian period, for example in colophons and in a local version of the Weidner god list, but they were not always equated, and the former maintained a distinct role as the wife of Zababa.

[9] Her presence in this source is also accepted a possibility by Joan Goodnick Westenholz[6] and Irene Sibbing-Plantholt in more recent publications, though the latter author concludes that "the evidence (...) does not allow for clear conclusions.

[14] However, she is absent from texts from the Old Babylonian period, possibly because kings from the dynasty of Isin introduced Ninisina into the local pantheon, leading to the disappearance of Gula,[148] though she was later reintroduced.

[149] He also notes that the fact in the Epic of Gilgamesh it is the name of the temple of Ninsun might have been influenced by a version of the Weidner god list which equates this goddess with Gula.

[150] However, Paul-Alain Beaulieu has questioned George's assumption that the temple name É.GAL.EDIN is simply a scribal mistake for Egalmaḫ, and pointed out that Bēlet-balāṭi was apparently understood as a separate goddess from Gula in Uruk.

[151] Among the offerings she received according to administrative texts were salt, dates, barley (in some cases meant for brewers or bakers in her service), beer and various sacrificial animals (oxen, sheep, ducks, geese and turtledoves).

[153] In Seleucid Uruk Gula was one of the divine participants in a parade held during a New Year festival as a member of entourage of Antu, alongside deities such as Shala, Aya, Amasagnudi, Sadarnunna and Ashratum.

[160] Textual sources indicate that in later periods, the temple of Gula in Nippur housed many other deities,[57] including Ninurta, Damu, Kurunnam, Kusu, Urmaḫ, Nuska, Ninimma, Shuzianna, Belet-Seri, the Sebitti, Bēl-āliya, Sirash and Ninĝirzida.

[120] Kurunnam or Kurunnitu (dKAŠ.DIN.NAM) was a goddess associated with beer, named after kurunnu, a type of this beverage regarded as high quality, and presented as analogous to Ninkasi in lamentations.

[170] In the city of Babylon, Gula was worshiped in a temple initially built by the king Sumu-abum for Ninisina,[171] perhaps to be identified with the Egalmaḫ, "exalted palace," which formed a part of the Esagil complex.

[6] It has been argued that in the Old Babylonian period, Gula was overall one of the most popular goddesses, as in sources such a personal letters she appears with comparable frequency to Annunitum, Aya, Ninsianna and Zarpanit, though less commonly than Ishtar.

[148] She was only introduced to Assyria in the second half of the second millennium BCE,[50] when a temple dedicated to her was built in Assur, possibly by Tukulti-Ninurta I, though the only clear evidence is a later inscription of Adad-nirari II which attributes this construction project to him.