Ninkasi was the Sumerian goddess of beer. Known as ‘the lady who fills the mouth’ an ancient tablet dating to around 1800 BCE contained a hymn to the goddess. [1]   According to scholars like Ian Hornsby, brewing in Mesopotamian society was the only trade presided over by a goddess of some type.[2] 

Residing on Mount Sâbu (‘the mount of the taverner’ or ‘the mount of the retailing’), the goddess apparently had quite a few children, some nine in total, all called after various ‘intoxicating drinks’ or the aftermath of their consumption like ‘he of frightening speech’.[3]

The following is an excerpt from a translation of this Hymn to Ninkasi; to read the rest of the text in its entirety, please check out the source cited below!

It is you who handle the …… and dough with a big shovel, mixing, in a pit, the beerbread with sweet aromatics. Ninkasi, it is you who handle the …… and dough with a big shovel, mixing, in a pit, the beerbread with sweet aromatics.

It is you who bake the beerbread in the big oven, and put in order the piles of hulled grain. Ninkasi, it is you who bake the beerbread in the big oven, and put in order the piles of hulled grain.

It is you who water the earth-covered malt; the noble dogs guard it even from the potentates (?). Ninkasi, it is you who water the earth-covered malt; the noble dogs guard it even from the potentates (?).

It is you who soak the malt in a jar; the waves rise, the waves fall. Ninkasi, it is you who soak the malt in a jar; the waves rise, the waves fall.[4]

 

[1] Ian Hornsby, A History of Beer and Brewing, p. 87.

[2] Hornsby, A History, p. 88.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Black, J.A., Cunningham, G., Fluckiger-Hawker, E, Robson, E., and Zólyomi, G., The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (http://www-etcsl.orient.ox.ac.uk/), Oxford 1998-