Mesopotamian

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Mesopotamian

Nanshe

The Lady of Justice

Domain: Social Justice, Fishing & Dreams
Alignment: Lawful Good
Element: Water
Relics of Power: Overflowing Vessel

Speak with Nanshe

The full Codex

5 sections of this entry are open to everyone: the summary, the people, the symbols, the lineage and the sources. The other 9 (Name and epithets, In the ancient sources, The myths, Worship and archaeology, How the god was depicted, What scholars debate, After antiquity, Did you know?, Codex relic) are part of the full Codex: PRO opens the whole study of all 500 deities, and without a subscription you can read one full entry a day, just like in the app.

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The People

People

Sumerians, Akkadians & Babylonians

Region

Mesopotamia (modern Iraq)

Period

c. 3500 – 500 BC

The Mesopotamian gods were worshipped by the Sumerians, Akkadians, Babylonians, and Assyrians in the land between the Tigris and Euphrates, the cradle of writing and cities. Each city raised a ziggurat to its patron god, served by a powerful priestly caste. Their myths, such as the Enuma Elish and the Epic of Gilgamesh, are among the oldest in the world.

The Akitu festival opened the new year with processions along Babylon's Sacred Way, and the sacred marriage rite symbolically united Inanna and Dumuzi to ensure fertility. Lamentations, hymns, and divination by animal livers marked daily religious life.

At a glance

Nanshe (Nanše, spelled "Nance" in the ASCII of the ETCSL) is a Sumerian goddess tied to the cities of Nigin and Sirara in the region of Lagash. The texts I could open show her in four roles: protector of the orphan, the widow and the debt-slave; judge who sees into people's hearts and watches over weights, measures and oaths; interpreter of dreams, who explains to Gudea the vision of Ningirsu's temple; and mistress of the sea and its fish, where her husband Nindara collects the tax. Everything comes from ETCSL translations, with many gaps marked by the translators. I did not consult academic literature.

12 min read · Reviewed on October 14, 2026 · How we research

Sacred symbols

The fish, the water vessel, the scales and the pelican

Family

Parents

Enki Enlil

Siblings

Ningirsu ("my brother", Gudea, lines 124-131)Nisaba

Nanshe

Unions

Nindara ("my husband", Balbale to Nanshe, lines 13-22)

Genealogy according to ETCSL: Hino a Nanshe (t.4.14.1), Balbale a Nanshe (t.4.14.2), Cilindros de Gudea (t.2.1.7), Enki e a ordem do mundo (t.1.1.3)

Sources and further reading

Primary sources

Anonymous (ETCSL translation, University of Oxford), A hymn to Nanshe: translation. translation: ETCSL. read
Anonymous (ETCSL translation, University of Oxford), A balbale to Nanshe (Nanshe B): translation. translation: ETCSL. read
Anonymous (ETCSL translation, University of Oxford), The temple hymns: translation. translation: ETCSL. read
Anonymous (ETCSL translation, University of Oxford), The building of Ningirsu's temple: English prose translation (Gudea Cylinders). translation: ETCSL. read
Anonymous (ETCSL translation, University of Oxford), Enki and the world order: translation. translation: ETCSL. read

Name and epithets

In the texts I read the name appears as Nanše, written "Nance" in the ASCII transliteration of the ETCSL, where "c" stands for "š" and "j" for "ĝ".

In the ancient sources

Hymn to Nanshe (ETCSL t.4.14.1, "A hymn to Nanshe"), The ETCSL page I read does not give a composition date.. The longest and most central source.

The myths

The goddess of Nigin and Sirara: birth, abundance and fate. The Hymn to Nanshe opens with a city "whose powers are apparent".

Worship and archaeology

What is known of the cult comes from the hymn and the cylinders, and it describes a temple with a routine of supply and rules for its staff.

How the god was depicted

The open sources I read give verbal images, not descriptions of objects. In the Balbale to Nanshe she has a fish as a staff, fishes as sandals and a garment of fishes, and sails in a boat with a canopy of gold and cedar…

What scholars debate

Who is the temple's "dream interpreter"?. In the hymn (lines 47-58), "the dream interpreter" enters the sacristy and prepares silver cups, so he seems to be a temple official.

After antiquity

I did not read academic studies or sources from later periods on the reception of Nanshe, so I do not describe what came after the Sumerian texts.

Did you know?

In the hymn, Nanshe sees into the heart of the land "as if it were a split reed" (lines 163-174). The gods of Lagash gather at Sirara to fix the weight of silver, the size of reed baskets and the ban measure common to a…

Codex relic

Overflowing Vessel. The vessel of water and fish, symbol of the abundance she grants to the just and the needy.

The rest of this scroll is sealed

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