Ištaran (Ishtaran; Sumerian: 𒀭𒅗𒁲) was a Mesopotamian god who was the tutelary deity of the city of Der, a city-state located east of the Tigris, in the proximity of the borders of Elam.
[12] Christopher Woods suggests that the suffix -an should be understood as plural, and translates the name as "the two Ishtars", which he assumes might have been a way to refer to the morning and evening star.
[13] Richard L. Litke instead assumed that Ištaran's name was Elamite in origin due to the location of Der, and that it was difficult to render for Mesopotamian scribes as a result.
[14] Wouter Henkelman proposes a connection between these two deities based on this similarity, as well as their shared affinity with snakes and the fact that Der was located close to Elam.
[19] It is also known that he could be viewed as one of the Dumuzi-like mourned "dying gods", as attested in Sumerian litanies and in a late ritual from Assur, according to which his death took place in the summer.
[12] He also notes a similar figure, though seated on a serpent throne rather than directly partially serpentine himself, is also present on seals from Susa, and might represent Inshushinak.
[36] A bilingual Hurro-Akkadian version of the Weidner god list from Emar seemingly regards Ištaran, misspelled as dKA.DI.DI (possibly an example of dittography, an error involving reduplication of a sign) and Kumarbi (usually associated with Enlil or Syrian Dagan) as equivalents.
[37] Frank Simons assumes that this connection might be based on their shared association with the underworld, on shared perception as the "Father of Gods" (a prayer to Nisaba refers to dMUŠ as "father of the gods," though direct references to Ištaran in such a role are not known), or possibly on an unknown myth about Ištaran which resembled the Hurrian myths pertaining to Kumarbi's dethroning.
[20] It is possible that in the late first millennium, attempts at syncretising Ištaran and Anu were made during a period of cooperation between the theologians from Uruk, Nippur and Der, but direct evidence is presently lacking.
[38] A late god list equating various deities with Marduk mentions Anu Rabû among them, but the translation of the explanatory line is uncertain.
[40] Andrew R. George suggests that based on their placement in documents such as the Canonical Temple List, it is possible that some of these gods - Ištaran, Inshushinak, Zababa and Lugal-Marada - could be seen as "local manifestations" of Ninurta by the ancient theologians responsible for compilation of such texts.
[4] Evidence for the worship of Ishtaran in the Sargonic period includes a mace head dedicated to him by Naram-Sin of Akkad, found in Ur,[48] and theophoric names from Adab, such as Ur-Ištaran.
[43] A Sumerian text from the third millennium BCE found in Susa, where it was presumably brought in the aftermath of an Elamite raid, also mentions work undertaken in his temple in Der, might predate his dynasty, but the name of the ruler responsible for it is lost.
[50] One of Shulgi's daughters bore the name ME-Ištaran (reading of the first element uncertain), as attested in documents from the Garšana archive, which detail matters related to her estate located there and mention her marriage to a certain Shu-Kabta, a man who was apparently both a physician and a military official.
[50] In a royal inscription preserved on a clay cylinder found in Ur, Sin-Iddinam of Larsa recorded that after defeating and taking captive an enemy ruler, Warassa, he entrusted him to Ištaran and released his imprisoned troops, and states that the king declared he took these actions "In order that my name is mentioned in Der in remote (days)".
[58] Warassa might have ruled over either Der itself, much like his namesake known from sources contemporary with the reign of Hammurabi of Babylon, or nearby Malgium; the third proposed location he might have hailed from, Eshnunna, is considered unlikely, as Sin-Iddinam refers to him as lugal, rather than ensi2, the typical title of Eshnunnean rulers.
[65] Multiple people bearing theophoric names invoking Ištaran (dKA.DI or AN.GAL) are also attested in the documents of the First Sealand dynasty, and Ran Zadok proposes that these individuals originally came from Der.
[67] An inscription of king Marduk-nadin-ahhe of the Second Dynasty of Isin mentions Anu Rabû as the last god in a long sequence of deities, immediately after Išḫara.
[69] Assyrians also intervened a number of times in the religious affairs of Der, and repeatedly carried off and returned the statue of Ištaran in order to ensure the loyalty of local inhabitants.
[70] During the reign of Shamshi-Adad V, statues of the deities of Der, including Ištaran, as well as Šarrat-Deri, Mār-bīti, Urkitum, Saĝkud of Bubê and others, were seized by the Assyrian army which attacked the city, as documented in a letter of this king addressed to the god Ashur.
[72] The city god was however subsequently taken away once more on the orders of Sennacherib to punish the local population for their earlier support of the Elamite king Ḫallušu-Inšušinak [de], who campaigned in Mesopotamia against Aššur-nādin-šumi, the Assyrian ruler's son and governor of Babylonia.
[70] A text from Ashurbanipal's reign also mentions Ištaran (under the name Anu Rabû) as one of the deities who aided this king during a campaign against Elam (653 BCE) alongside Ashur, Lugal-asal, Marduk, Nabu and Shamash.
[9] A fragmentary text known Abu Salabikh[77] and Ebla mentions a group consisting of Shamash, Ištaran, the river god dÍD [78] and Nammu.