The goddess on a "goose throne“

Reflections on the ambiguity of Mesopotamian bird depictions based on therelationships of female deities to birds

Abstract

Goddesses on birds (Anatidae) are attested from the Akkadian to the Old Babylonian period. No identification has yet found general acceptance. In contrast, contemporaneous texts prove clear correlations between goddesses and certain birds. The interpretation as a type of goddess “partner of the local main god” explains the ambiguity.