from physical and mental pains. Additionally, Frans Wiggermann considers a text describing Ishtar of Nineveh whose "upper parts are Bel, and (...) lower parts are Ninlil" to be evidence of the deity's androgynous character. A further example of Hurrian influence is the fact that in the first millennium BCE Ninatta and Kulitta are attested in the entourages of Ishtar of Arbela, Ishtar of Assur, and Ishtar of Nineveh. The Akkadian spellings of their names known from neo-Assyrian sources are dNi-ni-tum and dKu-li-it-tum. It is also possible that the frequent appearances of Adad side by side with Ishtar in neo-Assyrian treaties were the influence of Hurrian beliefs regarding the close connection between Teshub and Šauška. Sargon II in a single document used the name "Šawuška" to refer to a goddess he called the "dweller in Nineveh." This is assumed to be the last pre-modern mention of her as a distinct figure. Ugaritic Ishtar Hurri and Phoenician Astarte Hurri It has been proposed that a figure known as Ishtar Hurri (the Hurrian Ishtar first attested in texts from Ugarit written in Akkadian, was analogous to Šauška. While other explanations of the epithet Hurri have also been proposed, according to Mark Smith they are not plausible. The "Hurrian Astarte" is known from 8th century BCE Sidon. References Bibliography Hurrian deities Hittite deities Ugaritic deities Mesopotamian goddesses War goddesses Love and lust goddesses Health goddesses Androgyny LGBT themes in mythology Androgynous and hermaphroditic deities Intersex in religion and mythology