User:HaniwaEnthusiast/sandbox/Lagamar

Lagamar or Lagamal was a Mesopotamian deity, worshiped chiefly in Dilbat, modern Tell al-Deylam, but prominent in Terqa on the Euphrates and in Susa in Elam as well.

Character
Lagamar's name means "no mercy" in Akkadian. He was associated with the underworld.

Wouter Henkelman describes Lagamar as fulfilling the role of advocatus diaboli in the beliefs pertaining to judgment of souls in the afterlife documented in texts from Susa.

Despite Lagamar's character, the theophoric name Lagamar-gamil, "Lagamar is the one who spares," is attested on seals from Dilbat.

Gender
In the majority of known sources Lagamar is a male.

Walter Hinz, an early researcher of Elamite sources, believed Lagamar to be a female deity, but this conclusion is regarded as incorrect by authorities in the field such as Wilfred G. Lambert.

The only location where Lagamar was regarded as a goddess rather than a god was Terqa.

Association with other deities
Lagamar was regarded as the son of Urash, the tutelary god of Dilbat (not to be confused with the earth goddess). In a neo-Babylonian god list from the temple of Nabu in Babylon Lagamar appears after Urash and his wife Ninegal.

The god list An-Anum equates Lagamar with Nergal.

In Elam Lagamar was associated with Ishme-karab and the underworld judge Inshushinak.

Cult
A temple dedicated to Lagamar was located in Dilbat, and displays of personal devotion, such as using the formula "servant of Lagamar" in documents, are common in documents from this location.

Terqa in Syria was another city where the cult of this deity was widespread. A letter from Mari records a cultic journey of a statue of Lagamar, alongside that of the god Ikshudum, to Terqa.

Statues of Lagamar are attested in documents from Ur during the reign of the Third Dynasty of Ur.

Theophoric names containing Lagamar's name are attested commonly in Dilbat as early as in the Old Babylonian period, but were uncommon elsewhere in Mesopotamia, with the only known examples attested in Sippar (7 attestations; 1 likely referring to a man from Dilbat), Larsa (2), Mari (3 attestations, 2 of them likely referring to one person) and Kisurra (1). Artifacts belong to a man bearing the name Lagamar-gamil, a servant of the king Sumu-la-El, were also found during excavations in Tilmen Höyük in Turkey.

In Elam
Outside Mesopotamia Lagamar is also attested in Elamite sources from Susa. He was introduced there in the second millennium BCE. He was worshiped in a so-called siyan husame, a type of temples which likely had funerary functions.{sfn|Henkelman|2008|p=442}} One of such structures dedicated to him (jointly with Inshushinak) was located in Bit Hulmi.

Shilhak-Inshushinak according to his inscriptions restored a temple of Lagamar in Susa.

An inscription of Shutruk-Nahhunte II mentions an individual bearing the theophoric name Shilhana-hamru-Lagamar,, likely a younger brother of king Hutelutush-Inshushinak and possibly an Elamite ruler in his own right.

Ashurbanipal mentioned a statue of Lagamar among these he carried off from Susa as booty.

Later relevance
It has been proposed that the name of the biblical Elamite king Chedorlaomer is a corrupted form of a hypothetical theophoric name invoking Lagamar.