Born: 650 BC (circa), Turkey
Died: 17 April 546 BC
Country most active: Turkey
Also known as: Adad-guppi
Addagoppe of Harran was an Assyrian priestess of the moon god Sîn in the northern Assyrian city of Harran, and the mother of King Nabonidus (ruled 556–39 BC) of the Neo-Babylonian Empire.
Historians have discovered two copies of what appears to be her autobiography, which begins with a first-person account by Addagoppe herself and ends with a description of her burial. Because she was buried with the honors of a queen, some historians have suggested that she acted as a regent for Nabonidus when he abandoned Babylon in 552 BCE. Chronologically, this seems unlike – Addagope states that she was born in the 20th year of Assyrian King Assurbanipal (about 648 B.C.), and that she cared for the sanctuaries of the moon god Sîn for 95 years. She would have been approximately 92 years old at her son’s coronation, and 96 years old at his departure to Teima. She apparently died at age 104 (c. 544 BC), of sound body and mind and having seen four generations of descendants.
Addagoppe also states that she received a prophecy from Sîn in a dream regarding future actions of her son as king:
Through you I will bring about the return of the gods [to] the dwelling in Harran, by means of Nabonidus your son. He will construct Ehulhul; he will complete its work. He will complete the city Harran greater than it was before and restore it. He will bring Sîn, Ningal, Nusku, and Sadarnunna in procession back into the Ehulhul.
Her prediction that the god would make her son king so that he could restore Harran seems to have been a major influence on Nabonidus, to the cost of his relationship with the priests of Babylon and their traditional gods, particularly Marduk. He paid special attention to the temples of Sîn in Harran and Ur, and even converted the temple of Marduk in Babylon into a sanctuary for Sîn. This, according to one inscription, caused unrest in many parts of the kingdom.