The reed stylusThe tabletThe measuring rodThe grain earThe edubba
Mythology Summary
Nisaba, also Nidaba, is the Sumerian goddess of writing, accounting and the scribal school, Lady of the Reed Stylus, who keeps the accounts of the gods and of the temple stores. The Sumerian edubba compositions - the tablet-house texts of the scribal school - praise her, and scribes poured libations to her; in the god lists she is paired with Haya, the god of the grain store. By the first millennium her scribal office had largely passed to Nabu at Borsippa, and some late texts go so far as to give her to him as a consort.
Modern Practice
Nisaba is worked by scribes, students, record-keepers and anyone whose craft is the accurate line, and by those who keep the accounts of a household or a temple. The grain and the tablet belong together in her: measuring and writing are one skill.