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The Gods and Goddesses of Sumer
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Sumerian Gods
Is Anu holding the symbolic Holy Grail of a Bloodline he created?
True or false, information about Sumerian Gods and Goddesses is taken from
the Sumerian King List, Sumerian clay tablets, and Sumerian cylinder seals The
Sumerian King List allegedly recorded all the rulers of !arth o"er #$$,$$$ years %ho
%ere said to be gods, demigods, or immortals or one soul &laying all the roles
These Gods %ere called the 'e&hilim 'efilim, !lohim, the Anunnaki
(Those %ho from Hea"en to !arth came(
In Sumerian )ythology the Anunnaki %ere a &antheon of good and e"il gods and
goddesses %ho came to !arth to create the human race According to the some
resources, these gods came from 'ibiru * +,lanet of the -rossing+ The Assyrians and
Babylonians called it +)arduk+, after their chief god Sumerians said one year on
&lanet 'ibiru, a sar, %as e.ui"alent in time to /,0$$ !arth years Anunnaki lifes&ans
%ere 12$ sars %hich is 12$ 3 /,0$$ or #/2,$$$ years According to the King List * 12$
sars had &assed from the time the Anunnaki arri"ed on !arth to the time of the Great
4lood
Creating Bloodlines
According to ancient astronaut 5alien6 theory, the Anunnaki came to !arth and seeded
the human race This research %as lead by 7echarai Sitchin and !rich on
89niken among others, myself included ,hysical e"idence of ancient astronauts is
found through the &lanet, leading one to belie"e different races "isited here at
different &eriods in !arth+s history, or the same aliens return and set u& "arious
&rograms in %hich they could remain and e3&erience These %ould include the
!gy&tians, Hindu, -hinese, Greek, &erha&s Atlanteans and Lemurians, )esoamerican
cultures, among endless others :ill they return in s&ace shi&s one day? )any belie"e
this is so, %hen the &rogram of this &rogram ends
The Alien in the Stargate
'inurta
His father %as !nlil and his mother, 'inlil * both aliens and the same soul
This relief in the British )useum sho% 'inurta in a Gate%ay 5Stargate, ,ortal6 He is
"ery clearly using his inde3 finger to &ush something on the %all His bracelet looks
"ery similar to a modern %rist %atch 5flo%er &etals, no numbers6 * 5(Time(
and 4lo%er of Life meta&hors6 The emblem around his neck matches the design of
the Knight+s Tem&lar
-lose*u& of the %rist %atch %earing bird headed mask
-reating Bloodlines in a Biogenetic !3&eriiment
Kabbalah Sumerian Tree of Life
;m&lalos
Ahura )ad<a * ;"erseer of !arth * Higher !3traterrestrial Intelligence
7oroaster
The Lion+s Tail
Gods -reating Bloodlines
Sumerian Gods -reated a Biogenetic !3&eriment -alled Humans
The Four Primary Gods
Enki
!a stands in his %atery home the A&su
!nki %alks out of the %ater to the land attended by his messenger, Isimud
%ho is readily identifiable by his t%o faces looking in o&&osite directions 5duality6
The Lion+s tail=tale * Age of Leo
!nki stands %ith the Gods and the Initiate
:ater of Life flo%ing into the laboratory glass%are indicates alchemical circulations
The creation of the first human
Laboratory "essels symboli<e the bloodline and the Tree of Life
Handing the %ater=li.uid=blood of life
to a bio*genetically engineered human Humans are a hybrid s&ecies
8uality * >in >ang
)ale*female se&aration of T%in Soul As&ects * ?eunion in 2$12
!nki+s emblem %as t%o ser&ents @t%in human 8'AA ent%ined on a staff * the basis
for the %inged caduceus symbol used by modern :estern medicine and the rod
ofHermes !nki+s sacred number is #$ He %as the leader of the first sons of Anu %ho
came do%n to !arth, &laying a &i"otal role in sa"ing humanity from the 8eluge He
defied the Anunnaki ruling council and told 7iusudra 5the Sumerian 'oah6 ho% to
build a shi& on %hich to sa"e humanity from the blood !a %ould ha"e been o"er 12$
sars old at that time, yet his acti"ity %ith humanity continued to be acti"ely re&orted
for thousands of years thereafter
!nki+s youngest son, 'ingi<<ida, %as Lord of the Tree of Truth, in )eso&otamia He
&layed the role of Thoth in !gy&t The ancient )ystery School Teachings of Thoth
%ere &ast do%n to his Initiates %ho became the &riests They hid the secret kno%ledge
of creation, &assing it do%n through the ages until the e3&eriment %as to end !nki
%as the deity of %ater, intelligence and creation The main tem&le of !nki %as the so*
called B*engur*ra, the (house of the %ater*dee&( in !ridu, %hich %as in the %etlands
of the !u&hrates "alley at some distance from the ,ersian Gulf This takes us to the
-radle of -i"ili<ation
Kundalini
-aduceus ?od of Hermes, 8'A
Alchemy
Lyra of Hermes
Csing the ?od to Slay the 8ragon
;mega ,roDect, !nding the Human 8'A !3&eriment, Leo, Lion
;uroboros ** 2$12
!nki %as a deity in Sumerian mythology, later kno%n as !a in Babylonian
mythology The name !a is of Sumerian origin and %as %ritten by means of t%o signs
signifying (house( and (%ater( !nki %as the deity of %ater, intelligence and creation
The main tem&le of !nki %as the so*called B*engur*ra, the (house of the
5%ater*6dee&(E it %as in !ridu, %hich %as in the %etlands of the !u&hrates "alley at
some distance from the ,ersian Gulf He %as the kee&er of the holy &o%ers called )e
The e3act meaning of his name is not sureF the common translation is (Lord of the
!arth(F the Sumerian en is translated as (lord(, ki as (earth(E but there are theories that
ki in this name has another originHe is the lord of the A&su, the %atery abyss His
name is &ossibly an e&ithet besto%ed on him for the creation of the first man, @Adamu
or Ada&a His symbols included a goat and a fish, %hich later combined into a single
beast, the -a&ricorn, %hich became one of the signs of the <odiac !nki had a
&enchant for beer and a string of incestuous affairs 4irst, he and his consort
'inhursag had a daughter 'insar He then had intercourse %ith 'insar %ho ga"e birth
to 'inkurra 4inally, he had intercourse %ith 'inkurra, %ho ga"e birth to Cttu
According to Sumerian mythology, !nki allo%ed humanity to sur"i"e the 8eluge
designed to kill them After !nlil, An and the rest of the a&&arent -ouncil of 8eities,
decided that )an %ould suffer total annihilation, he co"ertly rescued the human man
7iusudra by either instructing him to build some kind of an boat for his family, or by
bringing him into the hea"ens in a magic boat This is a&&arently the oldest sur"i"ing
source of the 'oah+s Ark myth and other &arallel )iddle !astern 8eluge myths
!nki %as considered a god of life and re&lenishment, and %as often de&icted %ith
streams of %ater emanating from his shoulders Alongside him %ere trees symboli<ing
the male and female as&ects of nature, each holding the male and female as&ects of
the +Life !ssence+, %hich he, as a&&arent alchemist of the gods, %ould masterfully mi3
to create se"eral beings that %ould li"e u&on the face of the !arth
!ridu, meaning (the good city(, %as one of the oldest settlements in the !u&hrates
"alley, and is no% re&resented by the mounds kno%n as Abu Shahrein In the absence
of e3ca"ations on that site, %e are de&endent for our kno%ledge of !a on material
found else%here This is, ho%e"er, sufficient to enable us to state definitely that !a
%as a %ater*deity, lord es&ecially of the %ater under the earth, the A&su :hether !a
5or A*e as some scholars &refer6 re&resents the real &ronunciation of his name %e do
not kno%
;lder accounts sometimes su&&ose that by reason of the constant accumulation of soil
in the !u&hrates "alley !ridu %as formerly situated on the ,ersian Gulf itself 5as
indicated by mention in Sumerian te3ts of its being on the A&su6, but it is no% kno%n
that the o&&osite is true, that the %aters of the ,ersian Gulf ha"e been eroding the land
and that the A&su must refer to the fresh %ater of the marshes surrounding the city
!a is figured as a man co"ered %ith the body of a fish, and this re&resentation, as
like%ise the name of his tem&le !*a&su, (house of the %atery dee&(, &oints decidedly
to his character as a god of the %aters ;f his cult at !ridu, %hich goes back to the
oldest &eriod of Babylonian history, nothing definite is kno%n e3ce&t that his tem&le
%as named !saggila G (the lofty house(, &ointing to a staged to%er 5as %ith the
tem&le of !nlil at 'i&&ur, %hich %as kno%n as !kur G (mountain house(6, and that
incantations, in"ol"ing ceremonial rites, in %hich %ater as a sacred element &layed a
&rominent &art, formed a feature of his %orshi&
:hether !ridu at one time also &layed an im&ortant &olitical role is not certain,
though not im&robable At all e"ents, the &rominence of the !a cult led, as in the case
of 'i&&ur, to the sur"i"al of !ridu as a sacred city, long after it had ceased to ha"e any
significance as a &olitical center )yths in %hich !a figures &rominently ha"e been
found in Assurbani&al+s library, indicating that !a %as regarded as the &rotector and
teacher of mankind He is essentially a god of ci"ili<ation, and it %as natural that he
%as also looked u&on as the creator of man, and of the %orld in general
Traces of this "ie% a&&ear in the )arduk e&ic celebrating the achie"ements of this
god, and the close connection bet%een the !a cult at !ridu and that of )arduk also
follo%s from t%o considerationsF
the name of )arduk+s sanctuary at Babylon bears the same name, !saggila, as
that of !a in !ridu
)arduk is generally termed the son of !a, %ho deri"es his &o%ers from the
"oluntary abdication of the father in fa"or of his son
Accordingly, the incantations originally com&osed for the !a cult %ere re*edited by the &riests of
Babylon and ada&ted to the %orshi& of )arduk, and, similarly, the hymns to )arduk betray
traces of the transfer of attributes to )arduk %hich originally belonged to !a
It is, ho%e"er, more &articularly as the third figure in the triad, the t%o other members
of %hich %ere Anu and !nlil, that !a ac.uires his &ermanent &lace in the &antheon
To him %as assigned the control of the %atery element, and in this ca&acity he
becomes the shar a&si, ie king of the A&su or (the dee&( The A&su %as figured as
the abyss of %ater beneath the earth, and since the gathering &lace of the dead, kno%n
as Aralu, %as situated near the confines of the A&su, he %as also designated as !n*Ki,
ie (lord of that %hich is belo%(, in contrast to Anu, %ho %as the lord of the (abo"e(
or the hea"ens
The cult of !a e3tended throughout Babylonia and Assyria :e find tem&les and
shrines erected in his honor, eg at 'i&&ur, Girsu, Cr, Babylon, Si&&ar and 'ine"eh,
and the numerous e&ithets gi"en to him, as %ell as the "arious forms under %hich the
god a&&ears, alike bear %itness to the &o&ularity %hich he enDoyed from the earliest to
the latest &eriod of Babylonian*Assyrian history
The consort of !a, kno%n as 8amkina, (lady of that %hich is belo%,( or
8amgalnunna, (great lady of the %aters,( re&resents a &ale reflection of !a and &lays
a &art merely in association %ith her lord
An - Anu
In Sumerian mythology and later for Assyrians and Babylonians, Anu %as a sky*god,
the god of hea"en, lord of constellations, king of gods, s&irits and demons, and d%elt
in the highest hea"enly regions It %as belie"ed that he had the &o%er to Dudge those
%ho had committed crimes, and that he had created the stars as soldiers to destroy the
%icked He %as the father of the Anunnaku 5also s&elled Anunnaki6 In art he %as
sometimes de&icted as a Dackal His attribute %as the royal tiara, most times decorated
%ith t%o &airs of bull horns
He %as also called An
In Sumerian mythology, An %as the god %hose name %as synonymous %ith
the sun+s <enith, or hea"en He %as the oldest god in the Sumerian &antheon,
and &art of a triad including !nlil, god of the sky and !nki, god of %ater He
%as called Anu by the Akkadians, rulers of )eso&otamia after the con.uest of
Sumer in 2//# B-! by King Sargon of Akkad
In Sumerian mythology and later for Assyrians and Babylonians, Anu %as a
sky*god, the god of hea"en, lord of constellations, king of gods, s&irits and
demons, and d%elt in the highest hea"enly regions It %as belie"ed that he had
the &o%er to Dudge those %ho had committed crimes, and that he had created
the stars as soldiers to destroy the %icked He %as the father of the Anunnaku
5also s&elled Anunnaki6 In art he %as sometimes de&icted as a Dackal His
attribute %as the royal tiara, most times decorated %ith t%o &airs of bull horns
By "irtue of being the first figure in a triad consisting of Anu, Bel and !a, Anu came
to be regarded as the father and king of the gods Anu is so &rominently associated
%ith the city of !rech in southern Babylonia that there are good reasons for belie"ing
this &lace to ha"e been the original seat of the Anu cult If this be correct, then the
goddess 'ana 5or Ishtar6 of !rech %as &resumably regarded as his consort
The name of the god signifies the (high one( and he %as &robably a god of the
atmos&heric region abo"e the earth**&erha&s a storm god like Adad Ho%e"er this
may be, already in the old*Babylonian &eriod, ie before Khammurabi, Anu %as
regarded as the god of the hea"ens and his name became in fact synonymous %ith the
hea"ens, so that in some cases it is doubtful %hether, under the term, the god or the
hea"ens is meant
It %ould seem from this that the grou&ing of the di"ine &o%ers recogni<ed in the
uni"erse into a triad symboli<ing the three di"isions, hea"ens, earth and the %atery*
dee&, %as a &rocess of thought %hich had taken &lace before the third millennium
To Anu %as assigned the control of the hea"ens, to Bel the earth, and to !a the %aters
The doctrine once established remained an inherent &art of the Babylonian*Assyrian
religion and led to the more or less com&lete disassociation of the three gods
constituting the triad from their original local limitations
An intermediate ste& bet%een Anu "ie%ed as the local deity of !rech 5or some other
centre6, Bel as the god of 'i&&ur, and !a as the god of !ridu is re&resented by the
&rominence %hich each one of the centers associated %ith the three deities in .uestion
must ha"e ac.uired, and %hich led to each one absorbing the .ualities of other gods so
as to gi"e them a controlling &osition in an organi<ed &antheon
4or 'i&&ur %e ha"e the direct e"idence that its chief deity, !n*lil or Bel, %as once
regarded as the head of an e3tensi"e &antheon The sanctity and, therefore, the
im&ortance of !ridu remained a fi3ed tradition in the minds of the &eo&le to the latest
days, and analogy therefore Dustifies the conclusion that Anu %as like%ise %orshi&&ed
in a centre %hich had ac.uired great &rominence
The summing*u& of di"ine &o%ers manifested in the uni"erse in a threefold di"ision
re&resents an outcome of s&eculation in the schools attached to the tem&les of
Babylonia, but the selection of Anu, Bel and !a for the three re&resentati"es of the
three s&heres recogni<ed, is due to the im&ortance %hich, for one reason or the other,
the centers in %hich Anu, Bel and !a %ere %orshi&&ed had ac.uired in the &o&ular
mind
!ach of the three must ha"e been regarded in his centre as the most im&ortant member
in a larger or smaller grou&, so that their union in a triad marks also the combination
of the three distincti"e &antheons into a harmonious %hole In the astral theology of
Babylonia and Assyria, Anu, Bel and !a became the three <ones of the ecli&tic, the
northern, middle and southern <one res&ecti"ely
The &urely theoretical character of Anu is thus still further em&hasi<ed, and in the
annals and "oti"e inscri&tions as %ell as in the incantations and hymns, he is rarely
introduced as an acti"e force to %hom a &ersonal a&&eal can be made His name
becomes little more than a synonym for the hea"ens in general and e"en his title as
king or father of the gods has little of the &ersonal element in it
A consort Antum 5or as some scholars &refer to read, Anatum6 is assigned to him, on
the theory that e"ery deity must ha"e a female associate, but Antum is a &urely
artificial &roduct**a lifeless symbol &laying e"en less of a &art in %hat may be called
the acti"e &antheon than Anu
In Hurrian mythology, Anu %as the &rogenitor of all gods His son Kumarbi bit off his
genitals and s&at out three deities, one of %hom, Teshub, later de&osed Kumarbi He
bit off the genitals of Anu and s&at out three ne% gods ;ne of those, the storm god
Teshub, later de&osed Kumarbi Scholars ha"e &ointed to the remarkable similarities
bet%een this Hurrian creation myth and the story of ;uranos, Kronos, and 7eus from
Greek mythology It+s all recycled in the loo&s of time %ith the same characters
&laying most of the roles * or one character &laying them all
According to the Earth Chronicles series by 7echaria Sitchin, the %ife of Anu %as a
fertility goddess and the mother of the godsE her cult %as centered in )unster
Ho%e"er, Anu %as one of the Anunnaki %ho came from the &lanet 'ibiru 5)arduk6
According to Sitchin+s theories on Sumerian legend and lore, the Anunnaki arri"ed
first on !arth &robably #$$,$$$ years ago, looking for minerals, es&ecially gold,
%hich they found and mined gold in Africa Sitchin may ha"e confused the
)eso&otamian god Anu %ith the Irish goddess Anann * or are they the same?
Ninhursag- Ki
)ilking scenes from the Tem&le of 'inhursag, * Tell al Cbaid, c 2#$$ B-
4rie<e %ith Lion*Headed !agle 5'inhursag6 and Stags, co&&er, Tem&le at Tell al*
Cbaid, 2H$$ B-!, hF 1$I from the !arly 8ynastic * Southern )eso&otamian ,eriod,
2J$$ B-! * 2/H$ B-! * 4ound in Cbaid This co&&er frie<e %as found in the tem&le
at Cbaid, &resumably to be &laced o"er the door%ay It re&resents the storm*god
'inhursag 5lady of the mountain6, sho%n as a lion*headed eagle gras&ing t%o stags
%ith her great talons The &anel has been cast in high relief, %ith the heads of the
three beasts cast se&arately 'ote that the head of the eagle breaks out of the border of
the frie<e
In Sumerian mythology, 'inhursag 5or Ki6 %as the earth and mother*goddess she
usually a&&ears as the sister of !nlil 'inhursag means +Lady of the 4oothills+ She had
many other namesF 'intur +Lady Birth+, 'inmah +Lady August+, 8ingirmah, Aruru, and
as %ife of !nki %as usually called 8amgalnunna
In Akkadian she %as Belit*ili +Lady of the Gods+ and )ama and as %ife to !a, !nki+s
Akkadian counter&art, she %as called 8amkina Her &restige decreased as Ishtar+s
increased, but her as&ect as 8amkina mother of )arduk, the su&reme god of
Babylonia, still held a secure &lace in the &antheon
In union %ith !nki she also bore 'insar, goddess of the &asture She %as the chief
nurse, the one in charge of medical facilities In that role that the Goddess %as called
'I'TI 5lady*life6 She %as considered the )other Goddess She %as nicknamed
+)ammu+ * no% called +mother+ +mom+
'inhursag bore a male child to !nlil His name %as 'I'C?TA 5lord %ho com&letes
the fountain6 He %as the son %ho to do battle for his father using bolts of lightening
In !gy&t she &layed the roles of se"eral creational goddesses * Isis, )aat and Hathor
Enlil
!nlil %as the name of a chief deity in Babylonian religion, &erha&s &ronounced and
sometimes rendered in translations as !llil in later Akkadian The name is Sumerian
and has been belie"ed to mean +Lord :ind+ though a more literal inter&retation is
+Lord of the -ommand+
!nlil %as the god of %ind, or the sky bet%een earth and hea"en ;ne story has him
originate as the e3hausted breath of An 5God of the hea"ens6 and Ki 5goddess of the
!arth6 after se3ual union Another accounts is that he and his sister
'inhursag='inmah=Aruru %ere children of an obscure god !nki +Lord !arth+ 5not the
famous !nki6 by 'inki +Lady !arth+
:hen !nlil %as a young god, he %as banished from 8ilmun, home of the gods, to
Kur, the under%orld for ra&ing a young girl named 'inlil 'inlil follo%ed him to the
under%orld %here she bore his first child, the moon god Sin After fathering three
more under%orld deities, !nlil %as allo%ed to return to 8ilmun
!nlil %as also kno%n as the in"entor of the &icka3e=hoe 5fa"orite tool of the
Sumerians6 and the cause of &lants gro%ing He %as in &ossession of the holy )e,
until he ga"e them to !nki for safe kee&ing, %ho summarily lost them to Inanna in a
drunken stu&or
!nlil+s relation to An +Sky+, in theory the su&reme god of the Sumerian &antheon, %as
some%hat like that of a 4rankish mayor of the &alace com&ared to the king, or that of
a Ka&anese shogun com&ared to the em&eror, or to a &rime minister in a modern
constitutional monarchy com&ared to the su&&osed monarch :hile An %as in name
ruler in the highest hea"ens, it %as !nlil %ho mostly did the actual ruling o"er the
%orld
By his %ife 'inlil or Sud, !nlil %as father of the moon god 'anna 5in Akkadian Sin6
and of 'inurta 5also called 'ingirsu6 !nlil is sometimes father of 'ergal, of 'isaba
the goddess of grain, of ,abilsag %ho is sometimes e.uated %ith 'inurta, and
sometimes of !nbilulu By !reshkigal !nlil %as father of 'amtar
!nlil is associated %ith the ancient city of 'i&&ur, and since !nlu %ith the
determinati"e for (land( or (district( is a common method of %riting the name of the
city, it follo%s, a&art from other e"idence, that !nlil %as originally the &atron deity of
'i&&ur
At a "ery early &eriod * &rior to /$$$ B- * 'i&&ur had become the centre of a &olitical
district of considerable e3tent Inscri&tions found at 'i&&ur, %here e3tensi"e
e3ca"ations %ere carried on during 1LLL*1J$$ by )essrs ,eters and Haynes, under
the aus&ices of the Cni"ersity of ,ennsyl"ania, sho% that !nlil %as the head of an
e3tensi"e &antheon Among the titles accorded to him are (king of lands,( (king of
hea"en and earth( and (father of the gods(
His chief tem&le at 'i&&ur %as kno%n as !kur, signifying +House of the mountain+,
and such %as the sanctity ac.uired by this edifice that Babylonian and Assyrian rulers,
do%n to the latest days, "ied %ith one another in embellishing and restoring !nlil+s
seat of %orshi&, and the name !kur became the designation of a tem&le in general
Grou&ed around the main sanctuary, there arose tem&les and cha&els to the gods and
goddesses %ho formed his court, so that !kur became the name for an entire sacred
&recinct in the city of 'i&&ur
The name (mountain house( suggests a lofty structure and %as &erha&s the
designation originally of the staged to%er at 'i&&ur, built in imitation of a mountain,
%ith the sacred shrine of the god on the to&
:hen, %ith the &olitical rise of Babylon as the centre of a great em&ire, 'i&&ur
yielded its &rerogati"es to the city o"er %hich )arduk &resided, the attributes and the
titles of !nlil %ere largely transferred to )arduk
But !nlil did not, ho%e"er, entirely lose his right to ha"e any considerable &olitical
im&ortance, %hile in addition the doctrine of a triad of gods symboli<ing the three
di"isions * hea"ens, earth and %ater * assured to !nlil, to %hom the earth %as assigned
as his &ro"ince, his &lace in the religious system
It %as no doubt in &art !nlil+s &osition as the second figure of the triad that enabled
him to sur"i"e the &olitical ecli&se of 'i&&ur and made his sanctuary a &lace of
&ilgrimage to %hich Assyrian kings do%n to the days of Assur*bani*&al &aid their
homage e.ually %ith Babylonian rulers
The Sumerian ideogram for !nlil or !llil %as formerly incorrectly read as Bel by
scholars, but in fact !nlil %as not es&ecially gi"en the title Bel +Lord+ more than many
other gods
The Babylonian god )arduk is mostly the god &ersistently called Bel in late Assyrian
and Babylonian inscri&tions and it is )arduk that mostly a&&ears in Greek and Latin
te3ts as Belos or Belus ?eferences in older literature to !nlil as the old Bel and
)arduk as the young Bel deri"e from this error in reading
7iggurat of !nlil at 'i&&ur
Anshar
In Akkadian mythology and Sumerian mythology, Anshar 5also Anshur, Ashur,
Asshur6 is the sky god He is the husband of his sister KisharE they are the children of
Lahmu and Lahamu, and the &arents of Anu and !a 5and, in some traditions, !nlil6
He is sometimes de&icted as ha"ing 'inlil as a consort As Anshar, he is &rogenitor of
the Akkadian &antheonE as Ashur, he is the head of the Assyrian &antheon Anshar led
the gods in the %ar against Tiamat
:inged Assur is &ortrayed looking like the 4ara"ahar or 7oroaster 576
Sumerian Minor Gods and Goddesses
Ereshkigal
In Sumerian and Akkadian 5Babylonian and Assyrian6 mythology, !reshkigal, %ife of
'ergal, %as the goddess of Irkalla, the land of the dead She managed the destiny of
those %ho %ere beyond the gra"e, in the Cnder%orld, %here she %as .ueen
It %as said that she had been stolen a%ay by Kur and taken to the Cnder%orld, %here
she %as made .ueen un%illingly She is actually the t%in sister of !nki !reshkigal
%as the only one %ho could &ass Dudgement and gi"e la%s in her kingdom, and her
name means (Lady of the Great ,lace(, (Lady of the Great !arth(, or (Lady of the
Great Belo%( Her main tem&les %ere at Kutha and Si&&ar
!reshkigal %as also Inanna and Ishtar
Inanna

The goddess Inanna 5Innin, or Innini6 %as the &atron and s&ecial god=goddess of the
ancient Sumerian city of !rech 5Cruk6, the -ity of Gilgamesh As Mueen of hea"en,
she %as associated %ith the !"ening Star 5the &lanet Nenus6, and sometimes %ith the
)oon She may also ha"e been associated the brightest stars in the hea"ens, as she is
sometimes symboli<ed by an eight*&ointed star, a se"en*&ointed star, or a four &ointed
star In the earliest traditions, Inanna %as the daughter of An, the Sky, Ki, the !arth
5both of Cruk, 5:arka66 In later Sumerian traditions, she is the daughter of 'anna
5'arrar6, the )oon God and 'ingal, the )oon Goddess 5both of Cr6
;n either side of her cult statue sho%n abo"e is the ring*&ost, also kno%n as Inanna+s
knot This %as a sacred symbol of Inanna, associated e3clusi"ely %ith her It
re&resents a door*&ost made from a bundle of reeds, the u&&er ends, bent into a loo& to
hold a cross*&ole The ring*&ost is sho%n on many de&ictions of Inanna, including
those of the famed :arka Nase
Inanna
;%l * !ye Symbology
:ings * !"olution of -onsciousness in the Alchemy of Time
,alms * Kesus * Holding ;mega * !ndings * Leo * Lion
T%in Lions * Breast of the S&hin3
Inanna %as one of the most re"ered of goddesses among later Sumerian mythology
Inanna+s 8escent
A %inged goddess %earing a multi*horned cro%n stands %ith her head in the realm of the deities
and their de"otees Her bird*cla%ed feet rest in a &lace, likely the under%orld, inhabited by
strange and demonic creatures This sho%s the duality of her nature * as %ell as our o%n * abo"e
and belo% Some think her to be Lilith, but the cro%n sho%s her to be a great goddess, almost
certainly Inanna )eso&otamian cylinder seal Hematite 2$$$*10$$ B-!
She %as said to descend from the ancient family of the creator goddess 'ammu, %ho
%as her grandmother Inanna held (full &o%er of Dudgment and decision and the
control of the la% of hea"en and earth( Her sacred &lanet %as Nenus, the e"ening
star She %as often symboli<ed as a lioness in battle Along the Tigris and !u&hrates
ri"ers %ere many shrines and tem&les dedicated to Inanna
The tem&le of ! Anna, Inanna+s House of Hea"en, in Cruk, %as the greatest of these
This tem&le %as H$$$ years old and had been built and rebuilt many times to hold a
community of sacred %omen %ho cared for the tem&le lands The high &riestess of
Inanna %ould choose for her bed one she %ould a&&oint as she&herd He %ould
re&resent 8umu<i, sacred son=lo"er of Inanna, if he could &ro"e his %orth
In later times, Inanna+s lost some of her attributes, %hich %ere then said then to ha"e
been gi"en her by !nki, rather than by her grandmother 'ammu and her mother
'ingal
The myth states that Inanna tra"eled to !ridu and %as gi"en the one hundred )es,
%hich %ere the gifts of culture such as truth and Dustice, as %ell as &ractical skills such
as %ea"ing and &ottery*making Though !nki regretted his drunken decision to
release the )es to her and sent mighty sea monsters to sto& her boat as it sailed the
!u&hrates, she %as able to defeat them and bring the kno%ledge back to Cruk
Inanna and 8umu<i
8umu<i in net skirt 5symboli<es grids6 feeding shee&
Inanna+s standards 5(gate&osts(6 that frame the image suggest
that the e"ent is ha&&ening inside her tem&le grounds
)eso&otamian cylinder seal )arble About /2$$*/$$$ B-!
umu!i
Today se"eral "ersions of the Sumerian death of 8umu<i ha"e been reco"ered,
(Inanna+s 8escent to the Cnder%orld(, (8umu<i+s dream( and (8umu<i and the galla(,
as %ell as a tablet se&arately recounting 8umu<i+s death, mourned by holy Inanna, and
his noble sister Gestinanna, and e"en his dog and the lambs and kids in his foldE
8umu<i himself is %ee&ing at the hard fate in store for him, after he had %alked
among men, and the cruel galla of the Cnder%orld sei<e him
A number of &astoral &oems and songs relate the lo"e affair of Inanna and 8umu<id
the she&herd A te3t reco"ered in 1J0/ recounts (The -ourtshi& of Inanna and
8umu<i( in terms that are tender and frankly erotic
According to the myth of Inanna+s descent to the under%orld, re&resented in &arallel
Sumerian and Akkadian tablets, Inanna 5Ishtar in the Akkadian te3ts6 set off for the
nether%orld, or Kur, %hich %as ruled by her sister !reshkigal, &erha&s to take it as her
o%n She &assed through se"en gates and at each one %as re.uired to lea"e a garment
or an ornament so that %hen she had &assed through the se"enth gate she %as entirely
naked 8es&ite %arnings about her &resum&tion, she did not turn back but dared to sit
herself do%n on !reshkigal+s throne Immediately the Anunnaki of the under%orld
Dudged her, ga<ed at her %ith the eyes of death, and she became a cor&se, hung u& on
a nail
Based on the incom&lete te3ts as first found, it %as assumed that Ishtar=Inanna+s
descent into Kur occurred after the death of Tammu<=8umu<id rather than before and
that her &ur&ose %as to rescue Tammu<=8umu<id This is the familiar form of the
myth as it a&&eared in ) Kastro%+s Descent of the Goddess Ishtar into the Lower
World 1J1H, %idely a"ailable on the Internet 'e% te3ts unco"ered in 1J0/ filled in
the story in .uite another fashion, sho%ing that 8umu<i %as in fact consigned to the
Cnder%orld himself, in order to secure Inanna+s release
Inanna+s faithful ser"ant attem&ted to get hel& from the other gods but only %ise
!nki=!a res&onded The details of !nki=!a+s &lan differ slightly in the t%o sur"i"ing
accounts, but in the end, Inanna=Ishtar %as resurrected Ho%e"er, a (conser"ation of
souls( la% re.uired her to find a re&lacement for herself in Kur She %ent from one
god to another, but each one &leaded %ith her and she had not the heart to go through
%ith it until she found 8umu<id=Tammu< richly dressed and on her throne
Inanna=Ishtar immediately set her accom&anying demons on 8umu<id=Tammu< At
this &oint the Akkadian te3t fails as Tammu<+ sister Belili, introduced for the first
time, stri&s herself of her De%elry in mourning but claims that Tammu< and the dead
%ill come back
There is some confusion here The name Belili occurs in one of the Sumerian te3ts
also, but it is not the name of 8umu<id+s sister %ho is there named Geshtinana, but is
the name of an old %oman %hom another te3t calls Bilulu
In any case, the Sumerian te3ts relate ho% 8umu<id fled to his sister Geshtinana %ho
attem&ted to hide him but %ho could not in the end stand u& to the demons 8umu<id
has t%o close calls until the demons finally catch u& %ith him under the su&&osed
&rotection of this old %oman called Bilulu or Belili and then they take him Ho%e"er
Inanna re&ents
Inanna seeks "engeance on Bilulu, on Bilulu+s murderous son Gigrgire and on
Girgire+s consort Shirru (of the haunted desert, no*one+s child and no*one+s friend(
Inanna changes Bilulu into a %aterskin and Girgire into a &rotecti"e god of the desert
%hile Shirru is assigned to %atch al%ays that the &ro&er rites are &erformed for
&rotection against the ha<ards of the desert
4inally, Inanna relents and changes her decree thereby restoring her husband 8umu<i
to lifeE an arrangement is made by %hich Geshtinana %ill take 8umu<id+s &lace in Kur
for si3 months of the yearF (>ou 58umu<i6, half the year >our sister 5Gestinanna6,
half the yearO( This ne%ly*reco"ered final line u&set Samuel 'oah Kramer+s former
inter&retation, as he allo%edF (my conclusion that 8umu<i dies and (stays dead(
fore"er 5cf eg Mythologies of the Ancient World & 1$6 %as .uite erroneousF 8umu<i
according to the Sumerian mythogra&hers rises from the dead annually and, after
staying on earth for half the year, descends to the 'ether :orld for the other half(
Aside from this e3tended e&ic (The 8escent of Inanna,( a &re"iously unkno%n
(-ourtshi& of Inanna and 8umu<i( %as first translated into !nglish and annotated by
Sumerian scholar 'oah Kramer and folklorist 8iane :olkstein %orking in tandem,
and &ublished in 1JL/ In this tale Inanna+s lo"er, the she&herd*king 8umu<i, brought
a %edding gift of milk in &ails, yoked across his shoulders
The name of 8umu<i=Tammu< %as carried by Tammu<h, a Tamil ,andyan king in the
8ra"idian cultural realm of ancient South India, %ho held his ca&ital at Kuadam The
language and cultural term Tamil is an anglicised form of the nati"e name Tami<hi
Inanna
,robably the most im&ortant Sumerian contribution to ci"ili<ation %as the in"ention
and creation of a standard %riting and literatureE the Sumerians also had libraries
Their literary %orks re"eal religious beliefs, ethical ideas, and the s&iritual as&irations
of the Sumerians Among these %orks are the hymns and stories of Inanna **
im&ortant here because they %ere recorded at a time %hen the &atriarchy %as
beginning to take hold, and the &osition of the Goddess, although strong, %as
changing
She &resented the me by !nki The me is the order out of chaos, the great attributes of
ci"ili<ation, the &o%ers of the gods The me %ere conferred by the gods on other gods
or on the king*&riests, %ho as the re&resentati"es of the gods on !arth, ensured the
continuation of ci"ili<ation
The s&ecial &o%ers, contained %ithin the me allo%ed the holy &lan or design 5the gis*
hur6 to be im&lemented on !arth The me %ere contained %ithin s&ecial obDects of
great sacred "alue, such as the royal throne, the sacred bed, the tem&le drum, the
sce&ter, the cro%n, and other s&ecial articles of clothing or De%elry to be %orn, sat on,
lied in, and so forth These things %ere charmed like a talisman Inanna got !nki
drunk on beer and tricked him into gi"ing her the me. They ga"e her many s&ecial
gifts and &o%ers She became Goddess and Mueen of Hea"en and !arth, no% able to
descend into the Cnder%orld and ascend once again
Inanna %as the Mueen of Beasts
The Lion %as her sacred animal
Inanna could be %ily and cunning She %as a &o%erful %arrior, %ho dro"e a %ar
chariot, dra%n by lions In the duality of our reality she is &ortrayed as gentle and
lo"ing, a source of beauty and grace, a source of ins&iration She endo%ed the &eo&le
of Sumer %ith gifts that ins&ired and insured their gro%th as a &eo&le and a culture
She is also de&icted as a &assionate, sensuous lo"er in The -ourtshi& of Inanna and
8amu<i, %hich established the &rinci&le of Sacred )arriage Indeed, one as&ect of
Inanna is as the Goddess of Lo"e, and it is in this as&ect that she embodies creati"ity,
&rocreati"ity, &assion, ra% se3ual energy and &o%er
8uring the time the Goddess Inanna ruled the &eo&le of Sumer, they and their
communities &ros&ered and thri"ed The urban culture, though agriculturally
de&endent, centered u&on the re"erence of the Goddess * a cella, or shrine, in her
honor %as the center&iece of the cities Inanna %as the .ueen of se"en tem&les
throughout Sumer
!rech or Cruk, near modern :arka %as Inanna+s sacred city It %as one of the oldest
cities of Sumer The Bible said that King 'imrod founded it 8umu<i, Inanna+s
consort %as a she&herd king of Cruk, as %as Gilgamesh and his father Lugalbanda
The Tem&le of Inanna %as in !rech Also kno%n as the !*ana or House of Hea"en,
this %as her most im&ortant tem&le The shrine of the Goddess %as built on an
artificial mound some forty feet abo"e the ground le"el and %as reached by a
staircase A statue of the Goddess %as housed %ithin the shrine
Mueen Shub*Ad reigned from the 4irst 8ynasty of Cr Her gra"e %as e3ca"ated by Sir
Leonard :oolley of the British )useum in 1J2J She %as buried %ith her King in a
"ast tomb com&le3 about 2J$$ B-!, %ith the accom&animent of %hat :oolley called
(human sacrifice on a la"ish scale,( for along %ith the King and Mueen, numerous
male and female attendants, soldiers, grooms, handmaidens, ladies in %aiting, etc
%ere also buriedE e"en a har&ist and her golden har&, inlayed %ith la&is -hariots,
carts, and their animals %ere also buried %ith them The Mueen %ore the beautiful
headdress of s&irals of gold, terminating in la&is*centered gold flo%ers 5or stars6 The
Mueen also %ore large golden earrings of lunate sha&e that hung to her shouldersE
la&is amulets of a bull and a calf, and strands of la&is, agate, carnelian and gold beads
The Mueen+s gra"e %as much more elaborate than that of the King, &erha&s indicating
her e.ual or e"en greater im&ortance
Inanna %as Ishtar
Ishtar
Ishtar is the Akkadian counter&art to the Sumerian Inanna and to the cognate
north%est Semitic goddess Astarte Anunit, Astarte and Atarsamain are alternati"e
names for Ishtar Inanna, t%in of Ctu=Shamash, children of 'annar=Sin, first born on
!arth of !nlil The first names gi"en are Sumerian, the second names deri"e from the
Akkadians, %ho are a Semitic &eo&le %ho immigrated into Sumeria Adding an @shA to
a name is ty&ical Akkadian, as Anu to Anush
The goddess re&resents the &lanet Nenus 5A continent on Nenus is named Ishtar Terra
by astronomers today6 The double as&ect of the goddess may corres&ond to the
difference bet%een Nenus as a morning star and as an e"ening star In Sumerian the
&lanet is called ()CL8ILI,AT( meaning (uni.ue star(
The name Inanna 5sometimes s&elled Inana6 means (Great Lady of An(, %here An is
the god of hea"en The meaning of Ishtar is not kno%n, though it is &ossible that the
underlying stem is the same as that of Assur, %hich %ould thus make her the (leading
one( or (chief( In any e"ent, it is no% generally recogni<ed that the name is Semitic
in origin
The Sumerian Inanna %as first %orshi&ed at Cruk 5!rech in the Bible, Cnug in
Sumerian6 in the earliest &eriod of )eso&otamian history In incantations, hymns,
myths, e&ics, "oti"e inscri&tions, and historical annals, Inanna=Ishtar %as celebrated
and in"oked as the force of life But there %ere t%o as&ects to this goddess of life She
%as the goddess of fertility and se3uality, and could also destroy the fields and make
the earth+s creatures infertile She %as in"oked as a goddess of %ar, battles, and the
chase, &articularly among the %arlike Assyrians Before the battle Ishtar %ould a&&ear
to the Assyrian army, clad in battle array and armed %ith bo% and arro% 5com&are
Greek Athena6
;ne of the most striking Sumerian myths describes Inanna &assing through se"en
gates of hell into the under%orld At each gate some of her clothing and her ornaments
are remo"ed until at the last gate she is entirely naked !reshkigal, the .ueen of the
under%orld kills her and hangs her cor&se on a hook on the %all :hen Inanna returns
from the under%orld by intercession of the cle"er god, her uncle, !nki, according to
the rules she must find someone to take her &lace ;n her %ay home she encounters
her friends &rostrated %ith grief at her loss, but in Kulaba, her cult city, she finds her
lo"er 8umu<i, a son of !nki, Tammu< seated in s&lendour on a throne, so she has him
sei<ed and dragged belo% Later, missing him, she arranges for his sister to substitute
for him during si3 months of the year
In all the great centres Inanna and then Ishtar had her tem&lesF !*anna, (house of An(,
in CrukE !*makh, (great house(, in BabylonE !*mash*mash, (house of offerings(, in
'ine"eh Inanna %as the guardian of &rostitutes, and &robably had &riestess*
&rostitutes to ser"e her She %as ser"ed by &riests as %ell as by &riestesses The 5later6
"otaries of Ishtar %ere "irgins %ho, as long as they remained in her ser"ice, %ere not
&ermitted to marry
Inanna %as also associated %ith beer, and %as the &atroness of ta"ern kee&ers, %ho
%ere usually female in early )eso&otamia
Ishtar is also an omni&resent figure in the e&ic of Gilgamesh She a&&ears also on the
Cruk "ase, one of the most famous ancient )eso&otamian artifacts The relief on this
"ase seems to sho% Inanna conferring kingshi& on a su&&licant Narious inscri&tions
and artifacts indicate that kingshi& %as one of the gifts besto%ed by Inanna on the
ruler of Cruk
;n monuments and seal*cylinders Inanna=Ishtar a&&ears fre.uently %ith bo% and
arro%, though also sim&ly clad in long robes %ith a cro%n on her head and an eight*
rayed star as her symbol Statuettes ha"e been found in large numbers re&resenting her
as naked %ith her arms folded across her breast or holding a child
Together %ith the moon god 'anna or Suen 5Sin in Akkadian6, and the sun god Ctu
5Shamash in Akkadian6, Inanna=Ishtar is the third figure in a triad deifying and
&ersonali<ing the moon, the sun, and the earthF )oon 5%isdom6, Sun 5Dustice6 and
!arth 5life force6 This triad o"erlies anotherF An, hea"enE !nlil, earthE and !nki 5!a in
Akkadian6, the %atery dee&
SymbolF an eight or si3teen*&ointed star Sacred numberF 1H Astrological regionF
8ibalt5Nenus6 and the Bo%star 5Sirius6 Sacred animalF lion, 5dragon6
Ishtar Gate
Marduk
)arduk 5Sumerian s&elling in Akkadian A)A?CTC (solar calf(E Biblical
)erodach6 %as the name of a late generation god from ancient )eso&otamia and
&atron deity of the city of Babylon, %ho, %hen Babylon &ermanently became the
&olitical center of the !u&hrates "alley in the time of Hammurabi 51Lth century B-6,
started to slo%ly rise to the &osition of the head of the Babylonian &antheon, &osition
he fully ac.uired by the second half of the second millennium B-!
)arduk+s original character is obscure, but %hate"er s&ecial traits )arduk may ha"e
had %ere o"ershado%ed by the refle3 of the &olitical de"elo&ment through %hich the
!u&hrates "alley &assed and %hich led to imbuing him %ith traits belonging to gods
%ho at an earlier &eriod %ere recogni<ed as the heads of the &antheon
There are more &articularly t%o gods * !a and !nlil * %hose &o%ers and attributes
&ass o"er to )arduk In the case of !a the transfer &roceeds &acifically and %ithout
in"ol"ing the effacement of the older god )arduk is "ie%ed as the son of !a The
father "oluntarily recogni<es the su&eriority of the son and hands o"er to him the
control of humanity This association of )arduk and !a, %hile indicating &rimarily
the &assing of the su&remacy once enDoyed by !ridu to Babylon as a religious and
&olitical centre, may also reflect an early de&endence of Babylon u&on !ridu, not
necessarily of a &olitical character but, in "ie% of the s&read of culture in the
!u&hrates "alley from the south to the north, the recognition of !ridu as the older
centre on the &art of the younger one
:hile the relationshi& bet%een !a and )arduk is thus marked by harmony and an
amicable abdication on the &art of the father in fa"our of his son, )arduk+s absor&tion
of the &o%er and &rerogati"es of !nlil of 'i&&ur %as at the e3&ense of the latter+s
&restige After the days of Hammurabi, the cult of )arduk ecli&ses that of !nlil, and
although during the four centuries of Kassite control in Babylonia 5c 1HI$ B-*11HI
B-6, 'i&&ur and the cult of !nlil enDoyed a &eriod of renaissance, %hen the reaction
ensued it marked the definite and &ermanent trium&h of )arduk o"er !nlil until the
end of the Babylonian em&ire The only serious ri"al to )arduk after ca 1$$$ B- is
Anshar in Assyria In the south )arduk reigns su&reme He is normally referred to as
Bel (Lord(
:hen Babylon became the ca&ital of )eso&otamia, the &atron deity of Babylon %as
ele"ated to the le"el of su&reme god In order to e3&lain ho% )arduk sei<ed &o%er,
!numa !lish %as %ritten, %hich tells the story of )arduk+s birth, heroic deeds, and
becoming the ruler of the gods This can be "ie%ed as a form of )eso&otamian
a&ologetics
In !numa !lish, a ci"il %ar bet%een the gods %as gro%ing to a climatic battle The
Anunnaki gods gathered together to find one god %ho could defeat the gods rising
against them )arduk, a "ery young god, ans%ered the call, and %as &romised the
&osition of head god:hen he killed his enemy he (%rested from him the Tablets of
8estiny, %rongfully his( and assumed his ne% &osition Cnder his reign humans %ere
created to bear the burdens of life so the gods could be at leisure
,eo&le %ere named after )arduk 4or e3am&le, the Biblical &ersonality )ordechai
5Book of !sther6 used this Gentile name in re&lacement of his Hebre% name
BilshanBabylonian te3ts talk of the creation of !ridu by the god )arduk as the first
city, +the holy city, the d%elling of their @the other godsA delight+
'abu, god of %isdom, is a son of )arduk
!temenanki, (The tem&le of the creation of hea"en and earth(, %as the name of a
<iggurat to )arduk in the city of Babylon of the 0th century B- -haldean 5'eo*
Babylonian6 dynasty ;riginally se"en stories in height, little remains of it no% sa"e
ruins !temenanki %as later &o&ularly identified %ith the To%er of Babel
Nammu - Namma
In Sumerian mythology, 'ammu 5more &ro&erly 'amma6 is the Sumerian creation
goddess If the Babylonian creation myth !numa !lish is based on a Sumerian myth,
%hich seems likely, 'ammu='amma is the Sumerian goddess of the &rime"al sea that
ga"e birth to hea"en and earth and the first gods She %as &robably the first
&ersonification of the constellation %hich the Babylonians later called Tiamat and the
Greeks called -etus and re&resented the A&su, the fresh %ater ocean %hich the
Sumerians belie"ed lay beneath the earth, the source of life*gi"ing %ater and fertility
in a country %ith almost no rainfall
As 'ammu='amma is the goddess of the fertile %aters, An is the god of the sky
'ammu='amma and her son !nki created mankind as assistants for the gods !nki is
the god of human culture %ho also &resides o"er the Absu
Nergal
The name 'ergal 5or 'irgal, 'irgali6 refers to a deity in Babylonia %ith the main seat
of his cult at -uthah 5or Kutha6 re&resented by the mound of Tell*Ibrahim 'ergal is
mentioned in the Hebre% bible as the deity of the city of -uth 5-uthah6F (And the
men of Babylon made Succoth*benoth, and the men of -uth made 'ergal( 52 Kings,
1IF/$6
'ergal actually seems to be in &art a solar deity, sometimes identified %ith Shamash,
but a re&resentati"e of a certain &hase only of the sun ,ortrayed in hymns and myths
as a god of %ar and &estilence, 'ergal seems to re&resent the sun of noontime and of
the summer solstice %hich brings destruction to mankind, high summer being the
dead season in the )eso&otamian annual cycle
'ergal %as also the deity %ho &resides o"er the nether*%orld, and %ho stands at the
head of the s&ecial &antheon assigned to the go"ernment of the dead 5su&&osed to be
gathered in a large subterranean ca"e kno%n as Aralu or Irkalla6 In this ca&acity he
has associated %ith him a goddess Allatu or !reshkigal, though at one time Allatu
may ha"e functioned as the sole mistress of Aralu, ruling in her o%n &erson In some
te3ts the god 'ina<u is the son of 'ergal by Allatu=!reshkigal
;rdinarily 'ergal &airs %ith his consort La< Standard iconogra&hy &ictured 'ergal as
a lion, and boundary*stone monuments symbolise him %ith a mace surmounted by the
head of a lion
'ergal+s fiery as&ect a&&ears in names or e&ithets such as Lugalgira, Sharra&u 5(the
burner,( &erha&s a mere e&ithet6, !rra, Gibil 5though this name more &ro&erly belongs
to 'usku6, and Sibitti A certain confusion e3ists in cuneiform literature bet%een
'inurta and 'ergal 'ergal has e&ithets such as the (raging king,( the (furious one,(
and the like A &lay u&on his name se&arated into three elements as 'e*uru*gal 5lord
of the great d%elling6 e3&resses his &osition at the head of the nether*%orld &antheon
In the astral*theological system 'ergal becomes the &lanet )ars, %hile in
ecclesiastical art the great lion*headed colossi ser"ing as guardians to the tem&les and
&alaces seem to symbolise 'ergal, Dust as the bull*headed colossi &robably ty&ify
'inurta
'ergal+s chief tem&le at -uthah bore the name )eslam, from %hich the god recei"es
the designation of )eslamtaeda or )eslamtaea, (the one that rises u& from )eslam(
The name )eslamtaeda=)eslamtaea indeed is found as early as the list of gods from
4ara %hile the name 'ergal only begins to a&&ear in the Akkadian &eriod
The cult of 'ergal does not a&&ear to ha"e s&read as %idely as that of 'inurta Hymns
and "oti"e and other inscri&tions of Babylonian and Assyrian rulers fre.uently in"oke
him, but %e do not learn of many tem&les to him outside of -uthah Sennacherib
s&eaks of one at Tarbisu to the north of 'ine"eh, but significantly, although
'ebuchadne<<ar II 50$0 B- HL0 B-6, the great tem&le*builder of the neo*Babylonian
monarchy, alludes to his o&erations at )eslam in -uthah, he makes no mention of a
sanctuary to 'ergal in Babylon Local associations %ith his original seat Kutha and
the conce&tion formed of him as a god of the dead acted in making him feared rather
than acti"ely %orshi&&ed
Te3t ada&ted from the 1J11
Sama - Ahamash - "tu
Shamash or Sama, %as the common Akkadian name of the sun*god in Babylonia and
Assyria, corres&onding to Sumerian Ctu
The name signifies &erha&s (ser"itor,( and %ould thus &oint to a secondary &osition
occu&ied at one time by this deity Both in early and in late inscri&tions Sha*mash is
designated as the (offs&ring of 'annar,( ie of the moon*god, and since, in an
enumeration of the &antheon, Sin generally takes &recedence of Shamash, it is in
relationshi&, &resumably, to the moon*god that the sun*god a&&ears as the de&endent
&o%er
Such a su&&osition %ould accord %ith the &rominence ac.uired by the moon in the
calendar and in astrological calculations, as %ell as %ith the fact that the moon*cult
belongs to the nomadic and therefore earlier, stage of ci"ili<ation, %hereas the sun*
god rises to full im&ortance only after the agricultural stage has been reached
The t%o chief centres of sun*%orshi& in Babylonia %ere Si&&ar, re&resented by the
mounds at Abu Habba, and Larsa, re&resented by the modern Senkerah At both
&laces the chief sanctuary bore the name !*barra 5or !*babbara6 (the shining house( a
direct allusion to the brilliancy of the sun*god ;f the t%o tem&les, that at Si&&ara %as
the more famous, but tem&les to Shamash %ere erected in all large centres such as
Babylon, Cr, )ari, 'i&&ur and 'ine"eh
The attribute most commonly associated %ith Shamash is Dustice Kust as the sun
dis&erses darkness, so Shamash brings %rong and inDustice to light Hammurabi
attributes to Shamash the ins&iration that led him to gather the e3isting la%s and legal
&rocedures into a code, and in the design accom&anying the code the king re&resents
himself in an attitude of adoration before Shamash as the embodiment of the idea of
Dustice
Se"eral centuries before Hammurabi, Cr*!ngur of the Cr dynasty 5c 20$$ B-6
declared that he rendered decisions (according to the Dust la%s of Shamash(
It %as a logical conse.uence of this conce&tion of the sun*god that he %as regarded
also as the one %ho released the sufferer from the gras& of the demons The sick man,
therefore, a&&eals to Shamash as the god %ho can be de&ended u&on to hel& those
%ho are suffering unDustly This as&ect of the sun*god is "i"idly brought out in the
hymns addressed to him, %hich are, therefore, among the finest &roductions in the
entire realm of Babylonian literature
It is e"ident from the material at our dis&osal that the Shamash cults at Si&&ar and
Larsa so o"ershado%ed local sun*deities else%here as to lead to an absor&tion of the
minor deities by the &redominating one In the systemati<ed &antheon these minor
sun*gods become attendants that do his ser"ice Such are Bunene, s&oken of as his
chariot dri"er, %hose consort is Atgi*makh, Kettu 5(Dustice(6 and )esharu 5(right(6,
%ho are introduced as ser"itors of Shamash
;ther sun*deities, as 'inurta and 'ergal, the &atron deities of im&ortant centres,
retained their inde&endent e3istence as certain &hases of the sun, 'inib becoming the
sun*god of the morning and of the s&ring time, and 'ergal the sun*god of the noon
and of the summer solstice, %hile Shamash %as "ie%ed as the sun*god in general
Together %ith Sin and Ishtar, Shamash forms a second triad by the side of Anu, !nlil
and !a The three &o%ers, Sin, Shamash and Ishtar, symboli<ed the three great forces
of nature, the sun, the moon and the life*gi"ing force of the earth
At times, instead of Ishtar, %e find Adad, the storm*god, associated %ith Sin and
Shamash, and it may be that these t%o sets of triads re&resent the doctrines of t%o
different schools of theological thought in Babylonia %hich %ere subse.uently
harmoni<ed by the recognition of a grou& consisting of all four deities
The consort of Shamash %as kno%n as A She, ho%e"er, is rarely mentioned in the
inscri&tions e3ce&t in combination %ith Shamash
Sin - Nanna
'anna is a god in Sumerian mythology, god of the moon, son of !nlil and 'inlil His
sacred city %as Cr The name 'anna is Sumerian for (illuminater(
He %as named Sin in Babylonia and Assyrian and %as also %orshi&&ed by them in
Harran Sin had a beard made of la&is la<uli and he rode on a %inged bull
His %ife %as 'ingal 5+Great Lady+6 %ho bore him Ctu +Sun+ and Inana and in some
te3ts Ishkur
His symbols are the crescent moon, the bull, and a tri&od 5%hich may be a lam&*
stand6The t%o chief seats of Sin+s %orshi& %ere Cr in the south, and Harran to the
north The cult of Sin s&read to other centres, at an early &eriod, and tem&les to the
moon*god are found in all the large cities of Babylonia and Assyria
He is commonly designated as !n*<u G (lord of %isdom( This attribute clings to him
through all &eriods 8uring the &eriod 5c 20$$*2#$$ B-6 that Cr e3ercised a large
measure of su&remacy o"er the !u&hrates "alley, Sin %as naturally regarded as the
head of the &antheon It is to this &eriod that %e must trace such designations of Sin as
(father of the gods(, (chief of the gods(, (creator of all things(, and the like :e are
Dustified in su&&osing that the cult of the moon*god %as brought into Babylonia by
Semitic nomads from Arabia
The moon*god is &ar e3cellence the god of nomadic &eo&les The moon being their
guide and &rotector at night %hen, during a great &art of the year, they undertake their
%anderings This is Dust as the sun*god is the chief god of an agricultural &eo&le The
cult once introduced %ould tend to &erse"ere, and the de"elo&ment of astrological
science culminating in a calendar and in a system of inter&retation of the mo"ements
and occurrences in the starry hea"ens %ould be an im&ortant factor in maintaining the
&osition of Sin in the &antheon
Sin+s chief sanctuary at Cr %as named !*gish*shir*gal G (house of the great light( His
sanctuary at Harran %as named !*khul*khul G (house of Doys( ;n seal*cylinders he is
re&resented as an old man %ith flo%ing beard %ith the crescent as his symbol In the
astral*theological system he is re&resented by the number /$, and the &lanet Nenus
and his daughter by the number 1H This /$ &robably refers to the a"erage number of
days 5correctly around 2JH/6 in a lunar month as measured bet%een successi"e ne%
moons
The (%isdom( &ersonified by the moon*god is like%ise an e3&ression of the science of
astrology in %hich the obser"ation of the moon+s &hases is so im&ortant a factor The
tendency to centrali<e the &o%ers of the uni"erse leads to the establishment of the
doctrine of a triad consisting of Sin, Shamash and Ishtar, &ersonifying the moon and
the sun and the earth as the life*force
Tiamat - #e$iathan
Tiamat is a &rime"al monster=goddess in Babylonian and Sumerian mythology, and a
central figure in the !numa !lish creation e&ic Kohn - L Gibson, in the Cgaritic
glossary of Canaanite Myths and Legends, notes that (tehom( a&&ears in the Cgaritic
te3ts, c 1#$$*12$$ B-!, sim&ly meaning the (sea( Such a de&ersonali<ed Tiamat
5the *at ending makes her feminine6 is (The 8ee&( 5Hebre% tehom6, &resent at the
beginning of the book of Genesis
A&su 5or Ab<u6 fathered u&on Tiamat the !lder gods Lahmu and Lahamu, the
grand&arents of Anu and !a Lahmu and Lahamu, in turn, %ere the &arents of the
hea"ens 5Anshar6 and the earth 5Kishar6 Tiamat %as the (shining( goddess of salt
%ater %ho roared and smote in the chaos of original creation She and A&su filled the
cosmic abyss %ith the &rime"al %aters She is (Cmmu*Hubur %ho formed all things(
The god !nki 5later !a6, belie"ing correctly that A&su %as &lanning to murder the
younger gods, sle% him This angered Tiamat, %hereu&on she fashioned monsters to
battle the gods These %ere her o%n offs&ring, sea*ser&ents of terrifying si<e, storms
and fish*men and scor&ion*men
Tiamat had the Tablets of 8estiny, and in the &rimordial battle she ga"e them to
Kingu, the god she had chosen for her lo"er But Anu 5re&laced by )arduk, the son of
!a, in the late "ersion that has sur"i"ed6 o"ercame Kingu and then her, armed %ith the
%inds and a net and an in"incible s&ear
Sumerian emi-Gods
Enkidu
!nkidu a&&ears in Sumerian mythology as a mythical %ild*man raised by animalsE his
beast*like %ays are finally tamed by a courtesan named Shamhat Later he ad"entures
%ith Gilgamesh until his death in the !&ic of Gilgamesh ;lder sources sometimes
transliterate his name as !nkimdu, !abani or !nkita
!nkidu is the .uintessential sa"age man in the beginning of the e&icF
(The %hole of his body %as hairy and his 5uncut6 locks %ere like a %oman+s or
the hair of the goddess of grain )oreo"er, he kne% nothing of settled fields or
human beings and %as clothed 5in skins6 like a deity of flocks(
!nkidu roamed %ith the beasts of the %ilderness He &rotected the animals, destroying
the hunters+ tra&s, and lurked around the %atering holes to &rotect the game These
actions %ere much to the chagrin of a local tra&&er The tra&&er %ent to King
Gilgamesh to ask for hel& Gilgamesh offered the ad"ice (Tra&&er, go back, take %ith
you a harlot, a child of &leasure he %ill embrace her and the game of the %ilderness
%ill surely reDect him( The tra&&er did %hat he %as told, and hired the harlot Shamhat
to corru&t the %ild man !nkidu %as immediately taken %ith the harlot and bedded
her ;"er si3 days of lust, !nkidu is tainted by the harlot The animals begin to a"oid
him, the bond he once shared %ith them ha"ing been broken 'o% (he scattered the
%ol"es, he chased a%ay the lions( and the herders could lie do%n in &eace, for !nkidu
%as no% their %atchman
After the abandonment of his animal brethren, !nkidu is introduced to a &astoralist
%ay of life He %orks for the tra&&er and she&herds, hunting and killing the animals
he once ser"ed Soon he gro%s restless, looking for a greater challenge
Shamhat tells of a great king in the city Cruk 5Gilgamesh6 and says, too, that he %ould
be a %orthy challenge for !nkidu Gilgamesh is sur&rised by !nkidu The t%o %restle
fiercely for sometime, until suddenly Gilgamesh gains the u&&er hand and thro%s
!nkidu to the ground Kno%ing his defeat, !nkidu &raises Gilgamesh and both s%ear
an oath of friendshi& 4or the remainder of the e&ic they cohabit, as lo"ers according
to some inter&retations
!nkidu later in the !&ic of Gilgamesh
Gilgamesh and !nkidu killing Humbaba
!nkidu assists Gilgamesh in his fight against Humbaba, the guardian monster of the
-edar forest -ontrary to !nkidu+s conscience, he coo&erates in killing the defeated
Humbaba After%ards, he again assists his com&anion Gilgamesh in slaying the Bull
of Hea"en, %hich the gods ha"e sent as re&risal The goddess Ishtar demands that the
&air should &ay for its destruction Shamash argues to the other gods to s&are both of
them, but could only sa"e Gilgamesh The gods &ass Dudgment that !nkidu had no
Dustification for fighting the Bull of Hea"en and %as interfering %ith the %ill of the
gods !nkidu then is o"ercome by a se"ere illness 'ear death, he has "isions of a
gloomy afterlife, and curses the tra&&er and the harlot for ci"ili<ing him, the act %hich
lead him to this doom
Gilgamesh mourns o"er the body of !nkidu for se"eral des&erate days In a "i"id line
re&eated in the e&ic, Gilgamesh only allo%s his friend to be buried after a maggot falls
out of the cor&se+s nose Gilgamesh+s close obser"ation of rigor mortis and the slo%
decom&osition of !nkidu+s body &ro"ides the hero %ith the im&etus for his .uest for
eternal life, and his "isit to Ctna&ishtim
There is another non*canonical tablet in %hich !nkidu Dourneys into the under%orld,
but many scholars consider the tablet to be a se.uel or add*on to the original e&ic
Historical Analysis
In many %ays, !nkidu+s transformation may re&resent the seducti"e &o%er of the
)eso&otamian city*states His origins u&on the ste&&e and his life as a com&anion of
the %ild beast suggests the hunter*gatherers li"ing on the fringes of the territory of
southern Ira.+s early farmers His subse.uent transformation and acce&tance of life in
Cruk becomes a mythologi<ed account of their slo% a&&roach to and assimilation
%ithin the boundaries of horticultural ci"ili<ation
;n a more &ersonal le"el, the taming of !nkidu by the harlot could be symbolic of the
influence of the ego and material desires on the indi"idual, leading them a%ay from a
natural, and into an artificial e3istence
Gilgamesh
According to the Sumerian king list, Gilgamesh %as the fifth king of Cruk 5!arly
8ynastic II, first dynasty of Cruk6, the son of Lugalbanda Legend has it that his
mother %as 'insun, a goddessAccording to another document, the so*called History
of Tummal, Gilgamesh, and e"entually his son Crlugal, rebuilt the sanctuary of the
goddess 'inlil, located in Tummal, a block of the 'i&&ur city
'inlil, first called Sud, is the daughter of 'ammu and An in Sumerian
mythology She li"ed in 8ilmun %ith her family ?a&ed by her brother and
future husband !nlil, she concei"ed a boy, 'anna, the future moon god After
her death, she became the goddess of the air, like !nlil
In the !&ic of Gilgamesh it is often said that Gilgamesh ordered the creation of the
legendary %alls of Cruk In historical age, Sargon of Akkad claimed to ha"e
destroyed these %alls to &ro"e his military force
4ragments of an e&ic te3t found in )e*Turan 5actual Tell Haddad6 inform that
Gilgamesh at the end of his life %as buried under the %aters of a ri"er The &eo&le of
Cruk de"iated the flo% of the !u&hrates, ri"er crossing Cruk, %ith the &ur&ose to bury
the cor&se of the dead king in the bed of the ri"er
8es&ite the lack of direct e"idence, most scholars do not obDect to consideration of
Gilgamesh as a historical figure, &articularly after inscri&tions %ere found confirming
the historical e3istence of other figures associated %ith himF kings !nmebaragesi and
Aga of Kish If Gilgamesh %as a historical king, he &robably reigned in about the 20th
century B- Some of the earliest Sumerian te3ts s&ell his name as Bilgamesh
In most te3ts, Gilgamesh is %ritten %ith the determinati"e for di"ine beings
58I'GI?6, but there is no e"idence for a contem&orary cult, and the Sumerian
Gilgamesh myths suggest the deification %as a later de"elo&ment 5unlike the case of
the Akkadian god*kings6 Historical or not, Gilgamesh became a legendary
&rotagonist in the !&ic of Gilgamesh
Geshtinasnna
In sumerian mythology she is the daughter of !nki and 'inhursag :hen her brother
8umu<i died, Geshtinanna lamentated days and nights After his death, she "isited
him in the under%orld %ith Inanna, and %as allo%ed to take his &lace there for si3
months out of the year Her time in the under%orld and her &eriodic emergence from
it are linked %ith her ne% di"ine authority o"er the autumn "ines and %ine
Gugalanna
The Bull of Hea"en, according to Kramer he is !reshkigal+s husband After
Gilgamesh s&urned Inanna, she sends the Bull of Hea"en to terrori<e !rech
%u&a&a
Guardian of the cedar of the heart in the the (Land of the li"ing(, Hu%a%a has
dragon+s teeth, a lion+s face, a roar like rushing flood %ater, huge cla%ed feet and a
thick mane He li"ed there in a cedar house He a&&ears to ha"e attacked Gilgamesh,
!nkidu and com&any %hen they felled that cedar They then come u&on Hu%a%a and
Gilgamesh distracts him %ith flatery, then &uts a nose ring on him and binds his arms
Hu%a%a gro"els to Gilgamesh and !nkidu and Gilgamesh almost releases him
!nkidu argues against it and %hen Hu%a%a &rotests, he deca&itates Hu%a%a
:iki&edia Links P ?eferences
Sumerian ?eligion
Sumerian )ythology
Sumer
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