Sukkal

Sukkal (conventionally translated from Sumerian as "vizier") was a term which could denote both a type of official and a class of deities in ancient Mesopotamia.

The historical sukkals were responsible for overseeing the execution of various commands of the kings and acted as diplomatic envoys and translators for foreign dignitaries.

The deities referred to as sukkals fulfilled a similar role in mythology, acting as servants, advisors and envoys of the main gods of the Mesopotamian pantheon, such as Enlil or Inanna.

The word sukkal (Akkadian: sukkallu) has Sumerian origin and at first denoted a class of human officials,[1] responsible for the implementation of the commands of the king.

[5] The same word is also conventionally employed as a translation of the name of another, unrelated, office, badalum, used in northern Syrian cities, such as Harran and Abarsal, in the third millennium BCE.

[12] A related office, known from Early Dynastic Girsu[13] and from the administrative texts of the Third Dynasty of Ur, was that of the sukkalmah (GAL.SUKKAL, sukkalmaḫḫu).

[16] Due to more direct evidence present in myths compared to economic and administrative texts, their functions are better known than these of their human namesakes.

[30] One possible depiction of Ninshubur carrying a staff is present on the seal of Lugal-ushumgal, governor of Lagash during the reigns of Naram-Sin of Akkad and his son Shar-Kali-Sharri.

[38] Deities referred to this way include Ninshubur (both male and female),[39] Bunene, Ninpirig,[40] Nabu and Muduggasa'a (in a bilingual text where he occurs as the equivalent of the former),[41] and Innimanizi.

[38] In one case, she was labeled as the "beloved SAL.ḪÚB2 of Inanna," and appears right after Dumuzi in an enumeration of deities associated with her mistress, before some of her family members, for example her sister in law Geshtinanna.

[21] Other seem to be personifications of specific commands, for example Eturammi ("do not slacken"), Nēr-ē-tagmil ("kill, spare not") or Ugur ("destroy").

[21] However, Frans Wiggermann points out that neither explanation is suitable for the sukkals of particularly well established deities: Ninshubur, Nuska, Bunene, Isimud and Alammuš, whose character was independent from that of their masters.

[104] An offering list from Umma from the Ur III period mentions a nameless sukkal of the artisan goddess Ninmug.

[181] Frans Wiggermann argues that based on iconographic evidence it can be assumed that sukkals associated with Nanshe and Ningirsu also existed, though their names are unknown.