Shala: The Goddess of Grain and Compassion
A mountain on Venus called the Shala Mons bears the name of the Sumerian goddess Shala. In Sumerian mythology, agriculture and compassion are intertwined because a plentiful harvest symbolizes the gods' kindness. According to legend, Shala is both Hadad, the storm deity, and Dagon's consort, the fertility god Dagon. She is depicted in drawings from centuries ago wielding a scimitar with a lion's head on occasion and a double-headed mace. Numerous scribes have written about her connections to Virgo, and as a result, Virgo is the constellation it is today.
The lineage of Shala is unknown. She always appears with her spouse Adad in well-known sources, and this pairing helped to shape her personality. Her title as his "wonderful wife" or "beloved wife who gladdens the heart" is frequently used in texts. Shala/Medimsha (both names are used in the same work in this case) identifies herself as the righteous wife of Adad/Ishkur in a balag song from Ashurbanipal's library that is written in the first person. After Aya and Shamash, Shala and Ishkur are the most frequently cited divine couple in cylinder seal inscriptions from Sippar. Although Shala has not been attested since the third millennium BCE, it is believed that she most likely came from the eastern region of Upper Mesopotamia during the Old Babylonian era. That's all about the sixth most influential Goddesses of Mesopotamia in this list.
