Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia

Jeremy Black and Anthony Green, Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia (London: British Museum Press, 1992), s.v. “omega” / related birth-goddess plaques; the Greek-letter nickname is modern, and womb or Ninhursag identifications are not period captions. (British Museum Press)

Supports: Supports the modern ‘omega’ label and competing later readings; does not supply a period name.

ORACC Ancient Mesopotamian Gods and Goddesses: Mother Goddess

Nicole Brisch, “Mother Goddess (Ninmah, Nintud/r, Belet-ili),” Ancient Mesopotamian Gods and Goddesses, Oracc, citing Seidl: the Ω sign is thought to represent a uterus on later/standard iconography; Louvre Sb 22 is the Kassite inverted form of Meli-Šipak. (Oracc / University of Pennsylvania)

Supports: Labels the uterus/Nintur reading as scholarly iconography and flags Sb 22 as Kassite, not this type-object.

Goddesses in Context

Julia M. Asher-Greve and Joan Goodnick Westenholz, Goddesses in Context: On Divine Powers, Roles, Relationships and Gender in Mesopotamian Textual and Visual Sources (Fribourg: Academic Press, 2013): the so-called omega as schematic hair rather than a uterus, with a tentative Nanaya identification. (Academic Press Fribourg)

Supports: Documents a competing later reading (hair/Nanaya) so the device is not locked to Ninhursag/Nintur.

Kudurru of Meli-Šipak (Louvre Sb 22) — discriminator only

Musée du Louvre, kudurru of Meli-Šipak, Sb 22 (ARK cl010174452): Kassite divine-emblem register including later omega forms. Excluded as type-object for this corpus window. (Musée du Louvre)

Supports: Negative evidence: Kassite inverted omega is later and must not stand in for the untitled ED–OB device.