Dogs in Religion - Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia

There is a temple in Isin, Mesopotamia, named é-ur-gi7-ra which translates as “dog house” Enlilbani, a king from the Old Babylonian First Dynasty of Isin, commemorated the temple to the goddess Ninisina. Although there is a small amount of detail known about it, there is enough information to confirm that a dog cult did exist in this area. Usually, dogs were only associated with the Gula cult, but there is some information, like Enlilbani’s commemoration, to suggest that dogs were also important to the cult of Ninisina, as Gula was another goddess who was closely associated to Ninisina. More than 30 dog burials, numerous dog sculptures, and dog drawings were discovered when the area around this Ninisina temple was excavated . In the Gula cult, the dog was used in oaths and was sometimes referred to as a divinity.