was the goddess of beer, and as such was associated with its production, consumption and both positive and negative effects of it. Jeremy Black described her as "one of (...) minor deities without a strongly defined personality who merely symbolise the object or phenomenon that they are associated with." While he also described her as a divine barmaid, Manfred Krebernik argues that she was not connected with the sale of beer and with professions related to it. The proposal that Ninkasi was also associated with wine, common in older literature, is no longer regarded as plausible. While typically regarded as a goddess, in some late sources Ninkasi could appear as a male deity, a phenomenon also attested in the cases of the artisan goddess Ninmug and Ninshubur, the sukkal (attendant deity) of Inanna. It is possible that in art Ninkasi was depicted holding a cup. Furthermore, she might be among the deities shown in banquet scenes on items such as gaming boards and fragments of musical instruments. Worship Ninkasi was already worshiped in the Early Dynastic period, but there is no evidence that she was the tutelary deity of a specific city at any point in time. She was instead worshiped as an "universal" deity in various parts of Mesopotamia. While a city is mentioned in the Hymn to Ninkasi, it should be understood not as a reference to a hitherto unknown cult center, but rather as a poetic indication that any city where beer was drank can be considered a city of Ninkasi. The worship of Ninkasi is attested in Early Dynastic administrative documents from Shuruppak, the cult center of Sud. It is also possible that in the same period she had a sanctuary in Eridu. In the Ur III period, she was worshiped in Umma. She is also well attested as one of the members of the pantheon of Nippur, where she appears for the first time in offering lists from the Ur III period. According to a Middle Babylonian metrological text she had her own temple in this city. Two temples of Ninkasi are mentioned in the Canonical Temple List, but their names are lost and their locations are uncertain. There is also evidence that she was worshiped in Egiparku, a sanctuary of Ningal in Ur. A socle dedicated to her, E-ušumgalanna ("house of the ušumgal," translated by Andrew R. George as "dragon of heaven") was built