Submitted Name Revision History

This was the name of a goddess in Elamite religion. Her name is Akkadian and means "she who has heard the prayer" or "she has heard the supplication". The Elamite form of her name is said to be Išnikarap. The fact that her name is Akkadian rather than Elamite, is possibly due to the fact that Elam had repeatedly been under Akkadian rule and was thus influenced by the Akkadian language and culture. It is not certain whether Ishme-karab was originally an Akkadian goddess that was eventually adopted by the Elamites, or whether she had always been an Elamite goddess but was simply given an Akkadian name (possibly during a period of Akkadian rule) rather than an Elamite one. It should be noted though, that where the first possibility is concerned, there is barely evidence (archeological or otherwise) available of her having been worshipped outside of Elam. Either way, her function in the Elamite pantheon was to support the god Inshushinak in his position as judge of the dead. She did this together with the goddess Lagamar, so in other words, Inshushinak really had two assistants. Some sources say that she also acted as judge of the dead (a co-judge perhaps?), while others say that she acted as a counsel for defence for the newly dead in the underworld (while Lagamar acted as a counsel for prosecution), before Inshushinak made his final judgement about the newly dead. There are also sources who claim that, apart from her function in the underworld, she was also a goddess of oaths - much like Inshushinak himself. Lastly, it should also be noted that there are some sources who claim that Ishme-karab was a male god rather than a female god.