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An = Anum

An = Anum, also known as the Great God List,[1][2] is the longest preserved Mesopotamian god list, a type of lexical list cataloging the deities worshiped in the Ancient Near East, chiefly in modern Iraq. While god lists are already known from the Early Dynastic period, An = Anum most likely was composed in the later Kassite period.

While often mistakenly described as a list of Sumerian deities and their Akkadian equivalents, An = Anum is focused on presenting the familial relationships between deities, as well as their courts and spheres of influence. The first four tablets list the major gods and goddesses (Anu, Enlil, Ninhursag, Enki, Sin, Shamash, Adad and Ishtar) and their courts, arranged according to theological principles, but tablets V and VI do not appear to follow a clear system, and tablet VII is a late appendix listing the names of Marduk and one of his courtiers.

Many other works of ancient scholarship were influenced by An = Anum, including a similar list of temples and various theological commentaries. It has also been proposed that it was the basis for the remodeling of the pantheon of Uruk in the Seleucid period.

History of god lists in ancient Mesopotamia edit

 
Example of a Mesopotamian lexical list

The oldest known god lists come from the Early Dynastic period,[3] and like other cuneiform lexical lists, were presumably copied by scribes as exercises.[4] The first known document of this type is usually called the Fara god list, though it is also known from copies from Abu Salabikh and Uruk.[4] 466 theonyms can be read from the surviving fragments, though it is estimated that it originally contained 560.[5] While it begins with the head of the pantheon, Enlil (or, in some of the copies, Anu and Enlil), the gods are otherwise arranged based on lexical, rather than theological criteria, for example deities whose names start with the sign NIN are grouped together.[6] Due to many of the names from it being otherwise unknown, little can be said about its contents otherwise.[7]

No god lists are known from between the end of the Early Dynastic period and the late third or early second millennium BCE, when the so-called "Weidner list" was compiled,[8] though it is assumed that they were still being created through the second half of the third millennium BCE and examples simply have yet to be discovered.[9] The arrangement of deities in the Weidner list does not appear to follow any specific principles, and it has been proposed that it was the result of compiling various shorter lists together.[10] Copies are known from many locations in historical Babylonia and Assyria, as well as from Emar, Ugarit and Amarna.[11] The list was still in circulation in the late first millennium BCE.[7] Some versions contain additional columns with explanations of the names.[7] A copy from Ugarit adds columns listing Ugaritic and Hurrian deities.[12]

In the Old Babylonian period, god lists were often the product of strictly local scribal traditions, and distinct ones are known from Nippur, Isin, Uruk, Susa, Mari and possibly Ur.[13] Each of these lists most likely documented only the hierarchy of deities recognized in the respective localities.[14] Fragments of many further god lists are known, chiefly from Assyrian copies, but their origin and scope are not fully understood.[15] Some of them focus on geographical distribution on deities, and mention many foreign gods as a result.[2]

While it was common to arrange the names of gods in lists, no analogous scholarly practice is attested for demons, and the incantation series Utukku Lemnutu outright states they were not counted in the "census of Heaven and Earth", indicating the reasons behind this might have been theological.[16]

An = Anum and its forerunners edit

It is usually assumed that An = Anum was composed in the Kassite period,[1][17] though a text regarded as its forerunner has been dated to the Old Babylonian period.[18] The most probable date of composition is assumed to be the period between 1300 and 1100 BCE.[19] The name of the list used in modern literature is based on its first line, explaining that the Sumerian name An corresponds to Akkadian Anum.[19] Wilfred G. Lambert proposed that it originated in the city of Babylon.[20] However, according to Jeremiah Peterson, documents from Old Babylonian Nippur indicate that both the An = Anum forerunner and other texts showing the beginning of the development of new lists fleshing out the relations between deities were also in circulation among the theologians of that city.[21]

While the forerunner, sometimes called the "Genouillac god list" after its original publisher, Henri de Genouillac,[22] has only 473 entries,[23] over 2000 names are listed in An = Anum (2123 in the most complete known copy).[24] However, this should not be understood as analogous to the presence of 2000 individual deities, as many of the names are instead epithets or alternate names.[25] It is nonetheless the most extensive known god list.[22]

YBC 2401, the most complete exemplar, was copied by the Assyrian scribe Kidin-Sin during the reign of Tiglath-Pileser I according to its colophon.[24] This indicates that while Babylonian in origin, An = Anum already reached Assyria by the final decades of the second millennium BCE.[26] Kidin-Sin wrote that he relied on "old tablets" containing the list.[27] An = Anum continued to be copied in the first millennium BCE.[22] For example, both the list itself and various references to it are known from an archive from Seleucid Uruk.[28] Some of the discovered copies slightly differ from each other.[22]

Modern research and publication edit

While fragments of An = Anum had already been published in the first half of the twentieth century,[3] a transcription of the most complete copy, presently in the collection of the Yale University, has only been compiled by Richard L. Litke in 1958,[22] and remained unpublished for a long time.[29] In 1976 permission to use Litke's translation was granted to Dietz-Otto Edzard, who was the editor of Reallexikon der Assyriologie und Vorderasiatischen Archäologie at the time.[30] Many entries in subsequently compiled volumes of this encyclopedia rely on it.[30] Litke's reconstruction was later published as a book in 1998 in the series Texts from Yale Babylonian Collection.[31]

While a second edition of An = Anum was being prepared by Wilfred G. Lambert for a time,[32] according to William W. Hallo only three first tablets were finished by 1998.[30] Subsequently Lambert also compiled his edition of tablet V.[33] Lambert died in 2011 before completing his edition. A full edition of An = Anum was published in 2023 by Ryan Winters, based on the previous work of Lambert.[34]

Early restorations sometimes confused fragments of An = Anum and An = Anu ša amēli, but the latter list is now considered to be a distinct work of Mesopotamian scholarship[35] and differs from An = Anum due to having three columns, with the third providing an explanation of the first two.[36]

Contents edit

An = Anum is commonly understood as a list documenting Akkadian equivalents of Sumerian gods in a manner similar to the process of interpretatio graeca,[19] but according to Richard L. Litke this view is mistaken.[37] The primary goal of the compilers of An = Anum was to clarify the familial relationships between deities, briefly describe their functions and characterize each god's household, rather than to provide Sumerian deities with Akkadian equivalents.[37] The commentary, when present, is in Sumerian, rather than Akkadian, which is different from most lexical lists.[37] The gods do not appear to be separated into strictly Sumerian and Akkadian columns.[38] Furthermore, some gods are listed with no equivalents at all, for example Zababa, who was a well established deity.[39] Some deities listed are not Sumerian or Akkadian, but Elamite, "Subarian" (Hurrian),[40] or Gutian.[41] The list documents many associations between deities and aspects of their character which are otherwise unknown.[17] Explanations frequently use the sign MIN in a role analogous to the modern ditto mark.[42]

The entry of each deity is followed by their epithets and alternate names, the name of their spouse, children, and finally servants, if any were known.[43] In some cases the chief attendant deity, so-called sukkal, is listed before the children.[44] Seemingly only the best established deities had a sukkal.[44] The number and precise designation of various divine servants varies, and there seemingly was no standard composition of a divine court, though some titles, such as "doorkeeper" (NI.GAB) or "counselor" (gu4.DÚB), recur more often than others.[44]

An = Anum consists of seven tablets.[45] The initial four tablets list the deities in order of seniority, alongside their courts, but the rest of the list does not appear to follow similar principles.[26] It is possible that it was a result of adding groups of deities from originally distinct texts to An = Anum without rearranging them.[26] Jeremiah Peterson remarks that the reliance on theological factors is nonetheless more evident in An = Anum than in any other known god list.[46] Some of the copies preserve all the material on a single tablet,[45] with a brief summary marked by pairs of horizontal lines indicating the end of each originally separate section.[27] Copies of long works such as god lists or literary composition inscribed on a single tablet are known as dubgallu or tupkallu, or as "monster tablets".[24] YBC 2401 is one such example, and measures 30.5 × 39.5 centimeters (roughly 12 × 15 inches), which makes it one of the biggest clay tablets known.[47]

Tablet I edit

Tablet I starts with Anu, Antu[48] and their ancestors.[49] It includes their various servants as well.[50] A sub-section is dedicated to Papsukkal and his circle, including his wife Amasagnudi.[51]

The Enlil section follows the Anu one. It begins with his ancestors, the so-called Enki-Ninki deities,[52] and includes his wife Ninlil,[48] primordial deities Lugaldukuga (explained as Enlil's father) and Enmesharra,[53] as well as various courtiers, among them the goddess of writing, Nisaba, and her husband Haia, Enlil's sukkal Nuska and his wife Sadarnunna,[48] the scribe goddess Ninimma,[54] and the beer goddess Ninkasi.[55] A separate sub-section is dedicated to Ninurta,[26] his wife Nin-Nibru, and his own courtiers.[48] The Syrian god Dagan also appears in the Enlil section.[56] It is additionally possible that a deity whose name is not preserved, identified as "Enlil of Subartu", might be Hurrian Kumarbi.[40]

Tablet II edit

Ninhursag (Digirmah, Belet-ili) occupies the beginning of tablet II.[57] Deities listed in her section include her husband Šulpae,[58] her sons Panigingarra and Ashgi,[59] the couple Lisin and Ninsikila,[60] and various courtiers.[61]

The same tablet also contains the section focused on Enki (Ea), accompanied by his wife Damkina.[48] A sub-section is dedicated to Marduk[26] and includes his wife Zarpanit.[62] Nabu appears in it as Marduk's sukkal alongside his wife Tashmetum,[63] but he is not yet identified as his son, in contrast with late sources.[64] Other deities present on tablet II include courtiers of Enki, the river god Id, the fire god Gibil, and various minor deities associated with craftsmen and other professions.[48]

Tablet III edit

Tablet III describes the moon god Sin (unusually not identified directly as a son of Enlil[65]), the sun god Shamash (Utu) and the weather god Adad (Ishkur).[66] The circle of Sin includes his wife Ningal[67] and various deities associated with cattle herding.[48] Nanshe and deities associated with her, including her husband Nindara, who precedes her,[68] separate his section from that of Shamash.[69] While An = Anum appears to equate Nindara with Sin, there is no evidence for close association between Nanshe and the moon god otherwise.[70] Nin-MAR.KI is placed in the same section as well, but in contrast with earlier sources she is not identified as Nanshe's daughter, which might mean her placement reflected her link to cattle herding instead.[71] The circle of the sun god includes his wife Aya,[72] as well as two distinct groups of courtiers, deities of justice and deities of dreams.[48] The cattle god Sakkan is included in this section too.[73]

While Sin and Shamash occur in the proximity of each other because they were viewed as father and son,[74] Adad is most likely included on this tablet because of the well established connection between him and Shamash.[66] The section dedicated to him includes his wife Shala, their children (such as Uṣur-amāssu),[75] as well as another weather god, Wer,[76] though other foreign weather gods are absent, in contrast with a later god list, K 2100, whose Adad section contains "Subarian" (Hurrian) Teshub and Kassite Buriyash.[77] The tablet ends with a group of various gods mostly associated with Adad or Shamash, such as Shullat and Hanish, though with some exceptions which were instead linked with Ea, Nisaba or Ishtar.[77] It has been proposed that what unified these deities was their possible Syrian origin,[48] but this view is not universally accepted.[66]

Tablet IV edit

Tablet IV documents the circle of Ishtar (Inanna).[66] Due to its contents, it has been nicknamed "the Ištar tablet" by Richard L. Litke.[78] It is less well preserved than other tablets, and full restoration is presently impossible.[78] Among the deities listed are Ninegal[79] and various astral deities,[80] such as Ninsianna[81] and Kabta.[82] It also most likely originally included Dumuzi and Nanaya sub-sections, which are not preserved.[82] It ends with short sections dedicated to Ishara (who also appears in the Enlil section[56] and in the end of tablet III[66]) and Manzat, which do survive.[83]

Tablet V edit

Tablet V starts with the deified hero Lugalbanda and his wife Ninsun,[84] but it also contains sections dedicated to Lugal-Marada, the tutelary god of Marad,[48] the mongoose deity Ninkilim,[85] the agricultural god Urash (his court includes Lagamal, in other lists present among underworld deities),[86] the war god Zababa (whose section also includes Nergal's sukkal Ugur, explicitly identified as such),[87] and a number of names which seem to be grouped together only because they belong to gods originating in Lagash, among them Ningirsu.[26] This god was usually syncretised with Ninurta and as such regarded as a son of Enlil, but in this case appears separately on a different tablet.[26] Other deities of Lagash listed there include Bau and Gatumdug.[88] Juxtaposition of various deities originating in this area is not exclusive to An = Anum, as attested in a small fragment of an otherwise unknown god list found in Nippur.[89] The next sub-section is centered on medicine goddesses (Ninisina, Ninkarrak, Nintinugga, Gula) and their families (including Pabilsag, Damu and Gunura).[90] They are in turn followed by sections dedicated to the prison goddess Manungal,[91] the underworld goddess Ereshkigal,[92] a group of gods associated with snakes and the underworld (Ninazu, Ningishzida, Tishpak, Inshushinak and Ištaran),[93] the pair Lugal-irra and Meslamta-ea,[94] who were also underworld deities, but have no apparent connection with the preceding gods,[93] and a number of minor figures of similar character, such as Lugala'abba ("lord of the sea").[95]

Tablet VI edit

Tablet VI starts with Nergal, his titles, family and court (including Laṣ, Mammitum and Ishum),[96] continues with various figures explained as ilu lemnu ("evil god"), such as Kingaludda,[97] the weaver goddess Uttu,[98] a group of deities possibly originating in Dilmun,[98] the Sebitti and other groups of seven (as well as the closely connected Elamite goddess Narundi),[99] Amurru, the divine representation of Amorite nomads, and his wife Ashratum,[100] the deified hero Gilgamesh[101] and his companion Enkidu,[48] a number of names belonging to deities of uncertain identity, assumed to be of very minor importance, and a list of collective terms for deities.[102]

Tablet VII edit

Tablet VII lists various names of Marduk and of his throne bearer Mandanu,[103] and is assumed to be a late addition.[104] According to Wilfred G. Lambert, it should be considered an appendix loosely connected with the rest of the composition, similar to the case of the final tablet of the standard edition of Epic of Gilgamesh.[22]

Influence in antiquity edit

An = Anum was itself most likely used as a model for other similar scholarly compositions, for example the so-called Canonical Temple List, which documents temple names rather than god names, though the deities venerated in them are arranged according to similar theological principles.[1] In some cases, the order of deities in An = Anum has been used to support proposed restoration of passages in the Canonical Temple List, for example Andrew R. George notes that the order in which temples of Enlil's courtiers are listed in the latter matches the order of these deities in the former, making it plausible that three missing lines referred to Ninkasi, Ninmada and Ugelamma.[105]

Paul-Alain Beaulieu proposed in 1992 that the changes in the religion of Seleucid Uruk were inspired by adherence to An = Anum.[106] The entire pantheon of the city was restructured, with Ishtar, Nanaya and their court, encompassing deities such as Uṣur-amāssu, surpassed in prominence by Anu and Antu.[107] While Anu was not completely absent from Uruk at any point in time between the third and first millennium BCE,[107] his position was that of a "figurehead" and "otiose deity", in contrast with An = Anum, where he is the foremost god.[108] Beaulieu considers the position of Marduk to be the main difference between An = Anum and the Seleucid pantheon of Uruk, as the position of this god was much lower in the latter case, possibly due to theological conflict between Uruk and Babylon.[108] Today it is agreed that both the elevation of Anu and Antu and the introduction of many new deities, such as Amasagnudi, relied on the study of this god list conducted by priests.[28]

References edit

  1. ^ a b c George 1993, p. 6.
  2. ^ a b Litke 1998, p. 5.
  3. ^ a b Litke 1998, p. 1.
  4. ^ a b Lambert 1971, p. 473.
  5. ^ Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013, p. 45.
  6. ^ Lambert 1971, pp. 473–474.
  7. ^ a b c Lambert 1971, p. 474.
  8. ^ Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013, p. 78.
  9. ^ Litke 1998, p. 2.
  10. ^ Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013, p. 79.
  11. ^ Tugendhaft 2016, p. 166.
  12. ^ Tugendhaft 2016, p. 173.
  13. ^ Peterson 2009, p. 1.
  14. ^ Litke 1998, pp. 2–3.
  15. ^ Litke 1998, pp. 5–6.
  16. ^ Wiggermann 2011, p. 307.
  17. ^ a b Feliu 2006, p. 232.
  18. ^ George 1993, p. 166.
  19. ^ a b c Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013, p. 99.
  20. ^ Lambert 2013, p. 149.
  21. ^ Peterson 2009, p. 2.
  22. ^ a b c d e f Lambert 1971, p. 475.
  23. ^ Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013, p. 80.
  24. ^ a b c Hallo 1998, p. VII.
  25. ^ Lambert 2016, p. 43.
  26. ^ a b c d e f g Lambert 2016, p. 44.
  27. ^ a b Litke 1998, p. 17.
  28. ^ a b Krul 2018, p. 80.
  29. ^ Hallo 1998, pp. V–VI.
  30. ^ a b c Hallo 1998, p. VI.
  31. ^ Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013, p. 329.
  32. ^ Beaulieu 1992, p. 71.
  33. ^ Simons 2017, p. 99.
  34. ^ Lambert & Winters 2023.
  35. ^ Litke 1998, pp. 4–5.
  36. ^ Lambert 1971, pp. 476–477.
  37. ^ a b c Litke 1998, p. 6.
  38. ^ Litke 1998, p. 10.
  39. ^ Litke 1998, p. 13.
  40. ^ a b Feliu 2006, p. 245.
  41. ^ Sallaberger 2005, p. 304.
  42. ^ Litke 1998, pp. 7–8.
  43. ^ Litke 1998, pp. 6–7.
  44. ^ a b c Litke 1998, p. 7.
  45. ^ a b Litke 1998, p. 4.
  46. ^ Peterson 2009, p. 83.
  47. ^ Litke 1998, p. 16.
  48. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Sallaberger 2005, p. 306.
  49. ^ Lambert 2013, p. 301.
  50. ^ Beaulieu 1992, p. 57.
  51. ^ Beaulieu 1992, pp. 49–50.
  52. ^ Lambert 2013, p. 409.
  53. ^ Lambert 2013, p. 303.
  54. ^ Litke 1998, p. 56.
  55. ^ Litke 1998, p. 61.
  56. ^ a b Feliu 2003, p. 54.
  57. ^ Litke 1998, pp. 66–72.
  58. ^ Litke 1998, p. 72.
  59. ^ Litke 1998, pp. 74–75.
  60. ^ Litke 1998, p. 75.
  61. ^ Litke 1998, p. 76.
  62. ^ Litke 1998, p. 95.
  63. ^ Litke 1998, p. 96.
  64. ^ Lambert 2013, p. 251.
  65. ^ Lambert 1971, p. 476.
  66. ^ a b c d e Schwemer 2007, p. 145.
  67. ^ Litke 1998, p. 119.
  68. ^ Litke 1998, p. 124.
  69. ^ Boivin 2018, p. 201.
  70. ^ Boivin 2018, p. 215.
  71. ^ Sallaberger 1998, p. 465.
  72. ^ Litke 1998, p. 131.
  73. ^ Litke 1998, p. 137.
  74. ^ Litke 1998, p. 128.
  75. ^ Litke 1998, pp. 142–143.
  76. ^ Schwemer 2007, p. 146.
  77. ^ a b Schwemer 2007, p. 147.
  78. ^ a b Litke 1998, p. 148.
  79. ^ Litke 1998, p. 155.
  80. ^ Asher-Greve & Westenholz 2013, p. 95.
  81. ^ Litke 1998, p. 160.
  82. ^ a b Litke 1998, p. 162.
  83. ^ Litke 1998, pp. 166–167.
  84. ^ Litke 1998, p. 168.
  85. ^ Litke 1998, p. 171.
  86. ^ Litke 1998, p. 172.
  87. ^ Litke 1998, p. 173.
  88. ^ Litke 1998, p. 174.
  89. ^ Peterson 2009, p. 95.
  90. ^ Litke 1998, pp. 178–185.
  91. ^ Litke 1998, pp. 185–187.
  92. ^ Litke 1998, pp. 188–190.
  93. ^ a b Wiggermann 1997, p. 34.
  94. ^ Litke 1998, pp. 196–198.
  95. ^ Lambert 2013, p. 240.
  96. ^ Litke 1998, pp. 199–208.
  97. ^ Litke 1998, p. 209.
  98. ^ a b Litke 1998, p. 211.
  99. ^ Litke 1998, pp. 211–213.
  100. ^ Litke 1998, pp. 216–219.
  101. ^ Litke 1998, p. 220.
  102. ^ George 2003, p. 121.
  103. ^ Litke 1998, p. 97.
  104. ^ Litke 1998, pp. 3–4.
  105. ^ George 1993, p. 24.
  106. ^ Beaulieu 1992, p. 58.
  107. ^ a b Beaulieu 1992, p. 54.
  108. ^ a b Beaulieu 1992, p. 68.

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  • Boivin, Odette (2018). The First Dynasty of the Sealand in Mesopotamia. De Gruyter. doi:10.1515/9781501507823. ISBN 978-1-5015-0782-3.
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  • Feliu, Lluís (2006). "Concerning the Etymology of Enlil: the An=Anum Approach". Šapal tibnim mû illakū: studies presented to Joaquín Sanmartín on the occasion of his 65th birthday. Barcelona: Editorial AUSA. ISBN 84-88810-71-7. OCLC 157130833.
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  • Hallo, William W. (1998). "Foreword". A reconstruction of the Assyro-Babylonian god lists, AN:dA-nu-um and AN:Anu šá Ameli (PDF). New Haven: Yale Babylonian Collection. ISBN 978-0-9667495-0-2. OCLC 470337605.
  • Krul, Julia (2018). "Theological and Ideological Aspects of the Anu Cult". The Revival of the Anu Cult and the Nocturnal Fire Ceremony at Late Babylonian Uruk. Brill. pp. 79–106. doi:10.1163/9789004364943_004. ISBN 9789004364936.
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anum, also, known, great, list, longest, preserved, mesopotamian, list, type, lexical, list, cataloging, deities, worshiped, ancient, near, east, chiefly, modern, iraq, while, lists, already, known, from, early, dynastic, period, most, likely, composed, later,. An Anum also known as the Great God List 1 2 is the longest preserved Mesopotamian god list a type of lexical list cataloging the deities worshiped in the Ancient Near East chiefly in modern Iraq While god lists are already known from the Early Dynastic period An Anum most likely was composed in the later Kassite period While often mistakenly described as a list of Sumerian deities and their Akkadian equivalents An Anum is focused on presenting the familial relationships between deities as well as their courts and spheres of influence The first four tablets list the major gods and goddesses Anu Enlil Ninhursag Enki Sin Shamash Adad and Ishtar and their courts arranged according to theological principles but tablets V and VI do not appear to follow a clear system and tablet VII is a late appendix listing the names of Marduk and one of his courtiers Many other works of ancient scholarship were influenced by An Anum including a similar list of temples and various theological commentaries It has also been proposed that it was the basis for the remodeling of the pantheon of Uruk in the Seleucid period Contents 1 History of god lists in ancient Mesopotamia 2 An Anum and its forerunners 3 Modern research and publication 4 Contents 4 1 Tablet I 4 2 Tablet II 4 3 Tablet III 4 4 Tablet IV 4 5 Tablet V 4 6 Tablet VI 4 7 Tablet VII 5 Influence in antiquity 6 References 6 1 BibliographyHistory of god lists in ancient Mesopotamia edit nbsp Example of a Mesopotamian lexical listThe oldest known god lists come from the Early Dynastic period 3 and like other cuneiform lexical lists were presumably copied by scribes as exercises 4 The first known document of this type is usually called the Fara god list though it is also known from copies from Abu Salabikh and Uruk 4 466 theonyms can be read from the surviving fragments though it is estimated that it originally contained 560 5 While it begins with the head of the pantheon Enlil or in some of the copies Anu and Enlil the gods are otherwise arranged based on lexical rather than theological criteria for example deities whose names start with the sign NIN are grouped together 6 Due to many of the names from it being otherwise unknown little can be said about its contents otherwise 7 No god lists are known from between the end of the Early Dynastic period and the late third or early second millennium BCE when the so called Weidner list was compiled 8 though it is assumed that they were still being created through the second half of the third millennium BCE and examples simply have yet to be discovered 9 The arrangement of deities in the Weidner list does not appear to follow any specific principles and it has been proposed that it was the result of compiling various shorter lists together 10 Copies are known from many locations in historical Babylonia and Assyria as well as from Emar Ugarit and Amarna 11 The list was still in circulation in the late first millennium BCE 7 Some versions contain additional columns with explanations of the names 7 A copy from Ugarit adds columns listing Ugaritic and Hurrian deities 12 In the Old Babylonian period god lists were often the product of strictly local scribal traditions and distinct ones are known from Nippur Isin Uruk Susa Mari and possibly Ur 13 Each of these lists most likely documented only the hierarchy of deities recognized in the respective localities 14 Fragments of many further god lists are known chiefly from Assyrian copies but their origin and scope are not fully understood 15 Some of them focus on geographical distribution on deities and mention many foreign gods as a result 2 While it was common to arrange the names of gods in lists no analogous scholarly practice is attested for demons and the incantation series Utukku Lemnutu outright states they were not counted in the census of Heaven and Earth indicating the reasons behind this might have been theological 16 An Anum and its forerunners editIt is usually assumed that An Anum was composed in the Kassite period 1 17 though a text regarded as its forerunner has been dated to the Old Babylonian period 18 The most probable date of composition is assumed to be the period between 1300 and 1100 BCE 19 The name of the list used in modern literature is based on its first line explaining that the Sumerian name An corresponds to Akkadian Anum 19 Wilfred G Lambert proposed that it originated in the city of Babylon 20 However according to Jeremiah Peterson documents from Old Babylonian Nippur indicate that both the An Anum forerunner and other texts showing the beginning of the development of new lists fleshing out the relations between deities were also in circulation among the theologians of that city 21 While the forerunner sometimes called the Genouillac god list after its original publisher Henri de Genouillac 22 has only 473 entries 23 over 2000 names are listed in An Anum 2123 in the most complete known copy 24 However this should not be understood as analogous to the presence of 2000 individual deities as many of the names are instead epithets or alternate names 25 It is nonetheless the most extensive known god list 22 YBC 2401 the most complete exemplar was copied by the Assyrian scribe Kidin Sin during the reign of Tiglath Pileser I according to its colophon 24 This indicates that while Babylonian in origin An Anum already reached Assyria by the final decades of the second millennium BCE 26 Kidin Sin wrote that he relied on old tablets containing the list 27 An Anum continued to be copied in the first millennium BCE 22 For example both the list itself and various references to it are known from an archive from Seleucid Uruk 28 Some of the discovered copies slightly differ from each other 22 Modern research and publication editWhile fragments of An Anum had already been published in the first half of the twentieth century 3 a transcription of the most complete copy presently in the collection of the Yale University has only been compiled by Richard L Litke in 1958 22 and remained unpublished for a long time 29 In 1976 permission to use Litke s translation was granted to Dietz Otto Edzard who was the editor of Reallexikon der Assyriologie und Vorderasiatischen Archaologie at the time 30 Many entries in subsequently compiled volumes of this encyclopedia rely on it 30 Litke s reconstruction was later published as a book in 1998 in the series Texts from Yale Babylonian Collection 31 While a second edition of An Anum was being prepared by Wilfred G Lambert for a time 32 according to William W Hallo only three first tablets were finished by 1998 30 Subsequently Lambert also compiled his edition of tablet V 33 Lambert died in 2011 before completing his edition A full edition of An Anum was published in 2023 by Ryan Winters based on the previous work of Lambert 34 Early restorations sometimes confused fragments of An Anum and An Anu sa ameli but the latter list is now considered to be a distinct work of Mesopotamian scholarship 35 and differs from An Anum due to having three columns with the third providing an explanation of the first two 36 Contents editAn Anum is commonly understood as a list documenting Akkadian equivalents of Sumerian gods in a manner similar to the process of interpretatio graeca 19 but according to Richard L Litke this view is mistaken 37 The primary goal of the compilers of An Anum was to clarify the familial relationships between deities briefly describe their functions and characterize each god s household rather than to provide Sumerian deities with Akkadian equivalents 37 The commentary when present is in Sumerian rather than Akkadian which is different from most lexical lists 37 The gods do not appear to be separated into strictly Sumerian and Akkadian columns 38 Furthermore some gods are listed with no equivalents at all for example Zababa who was a well established deity 39 Some deities listed are not Sumerian or Akkadian but Elamite Subarian Hurrian 40 or Gutian 41 The list documents many associations between deities and aspects of their character which are otherwise unknown 17 Explanations frequently use the sign MIN in a role analogous to the modern ditto mark 42 The entry of each deity is followed by their epithets and alternate names the name of their spouse children and finally servants if any were known 43 In some cases the chief attendant deity so called sukkal is listed before the children 44 Seemingly only the best established deities had a sukkal 44 The number and precise designation of various divine servants varies and there seemingly was no standard composition of a divine court though some titles such as doorkeeper NI GAB or counselor gu4 DUB recur more often than others 44 An Anum consists of seven tablets 45 The initial four tablets list the deities in order of seniority alongside their courts but the rest of the list does not appear to follow similar principles 26 It is possible that it was a result of adding groups of deities from originally distinct texts to An Anum without rearranging them 26 Jeremiah Peterson remarks that the reliance on theological factors is nonetheless more evident in An Anum than in any other known god list 46 Some of the copies preserve all the material on a single tablet 45 with a brief summary marked by pairs of horizontal lines indicating the end of each originally separate section 27 Copies of long works such as god lists or literary composition inscribed on a single tablet are known as dubgallu or tupkallu or as monster tablets 24 YBC 2401 is one such example and measures 30 5 39 5 centimeters roughly 12 15 inches which makes it one of the biggest clay tablets known 47 Tablet I edit Tablet I starts with Anu Antu 48 and their ancestors 49 It includes their various servants as well 50 A sub section is dedicated to Papsukkal and his circle including his wife Amasagnudi 51 The Enlil section follows the Anu one It begins with his ancestors the so called Enki Ninki deities 52 and includes his wife Ninlil 48 primordial deities Lugaldukuga explained as Enlil s father and Enmesharra 53 as well as various courtiers among them the goddess of writing Nisaba and her husband Haia Enlil s sukkal Nuska and his wife Sadarnunna 48 the scribe goddess Ninimma 54 and the beer goddess Ninkasi 55 A separate sub section is dedicated to Ninurta 26 his wife Nin Nibru and his own courtiers 48 The Syrian god Dagan also appears in the Enlil section 56 It is additionally possible that a deity whose name is not preserved identified as Enlil of Subartu might be Hurrian Kumarbi 40 Tablet II edit Ninhursag Digirmah Belet ili occupies the beginning of tablet II 57 Deities listed in her section include her husband Sulpae 58 her sons Panigingarra and Ashgi 59 the couple Lisin and Ninsikila 60 and various courtiers 61 The same tablet also contains the section focused on Enki Ea accompanied by his wife Damkina 48 A sub section is dedicated to Marduk 26 and includes his wife Zarpanit 62 Nabu appears in it as Marduk s sukkal alongside his wife Tashmetum 63 but he is not yet identified as his son in contrast with late sources 64 Other deities present on tablet II include courtiers of Enki the river god Id the fire god Gibil and various minor deities associated with craftsmen and other professions 48 Tablet III edit Tablet III describes the moon god Sin unusually not identified directly as a son of Enlil 65 the sun god Shamash Utu and the weather god Adad Ishkur 66 The circle of Sin includes his wife Ningal 67 and various deities associated with cattle herding 48 Nanshe and deities associated with her including her husband Nindara who precedes her 68 separate his section from that of Shamash 69 While An Anum appears to equate Nindara with Sin there is no evidence for close association between Nanshe and the moon god otherwise 70 Nin MAR KI is placed in the same section as well but in contrast with earlier sources she is not identified as Nanshe s daughter which might mean her placement reflected her link to cattle herding instead 71 The circle of the sun god includes his wife Aya 72 as well as two distinct groups of courtiers deities of justice and deities of dreams 48 The cattle god Sakkan is included in this section too 73 While Sin and Shamash occur in the proximity of each other because they were viewed as father and son 74 Adad is most likely included on this tablet because of the well established connection between him and Shamash 66 The section dedicated to him includes his wife Shala their children such as Uṣur amassu 75 as well as another weather god Wer 76 though other foreign weather gods are absent in contrast with a later god list K 2100 whose Adad section contains Subarian Hurrian Teshub and Kassite Buriyash 77 The tablet ends with a group of various gods mostly associated with Adad or Shamash such as Shullat and Hanish though with some exceptions which were instead linked with Ea Nisaba or Ishtar 77 It has been proposed that what unified these deities was their possible Syrian origin 48 but this view is not universally accepted 66 Tablet IV edit Tablet IV documents the circle of Ishtar Inanna 66 Due to its contents it has been nicknamed the Istar tablet by Richard L Litke 78 It is less well preserved than other tablets and full restoration is presently impossible 78 Among the deities listed are Ninegal 79 and various astral deities 80 such as Ninsianna 81 and Kabta 82 It also most likely originally included Dumuzi and Nanaya sub sections which are not preserved 82 It ends with short sections dedicated to Ishara who also appears in the Enlil section 56 and in the end of tablet III 66 and Manzat which do survive 83 Tablet V edit Tablet V starts with the deified hero Lugalbanda and his wife Ninsun 84 but it also contains sections dedicated to Lugal Marada the tutelary god of Marad 48 the mongoose deity Ninkilim 85 the agricultural god Urash his court includes Lagamal in other lists present among underworld deities 86 the war god Zababa whose section also includes Nergal s sukkal Ugur explicitly identified as such 87 and a number of names which seem to be grouped together only because they belong to gods originating in Lagash among them Ningirsu 26 This god was usually syncretised with Ninurta and as such regarded as a son of Enlil but in this case appears separately on a different tablet 26 Other deities of Lagash listed there include Bau and Gatumdug 88 Juxtaposition of various deities originating in this area is not exclusive to An Anum as attested in a small fragment of an otherwise unknown god list found in Nippur 89 The next sub section is centered on medicine goddesses Ninisina Ninkarrak Nintinugga Gula and their families including Pabilsag Damu and Gunura 90 They are in turn followed by sections dedicated to the prison goddess Manungal 91 the underworld goddess Ereshkigal 92 a group of gods associated with snakes and the underworld Ninazu Ningishzida Tishpak Inshushinak and Istaran 93 the pair Lugal irra and Meslamta ea 94 who were also underworld deities but have no apparent connection with the preceding gods 93 and a number of minor figures of similar character such as Lugala abba lord of the sea 95 Tablet VI edit Tablet VI starts with Nergal his titles family and court including Laṣ Mammitum and Ishum 96 continues with various figures explained as ilu lemnu evil god such as Kingaludda 97 the weaver goddess Uttu 98 a group of deities possibly originating in Dilmun 98 the Sebitti and other groups of seven as well as the closely connected Elamite goddess Narundi 99 Amurru the divine representation of Amorite nomads and his wife Ashratum 100 the deified hero Gilgamesh 101 and his companion Enkidu 48 a number of names belonging to deities of uncertain identity assumed to be of very minor importance and a list of collective terms for deities 102 Tablet VII edit Tablet VII lists various names of Marduk and of his throne bearer Mandanu 103 and is assumed to be a late addition 104 According to Wilfred G Lambert it should be considered an appendix loosely connected with the rest of the composition similar to the case of the final tablet of the standard edition of Epic of Gilgamesh 22 Influence in antiquity editAn Anum was itself most likely used as a model for other similar scholarly compositions for example the so called Canonical Temple List which documents temple names rather than god names though the deities venerated in them are arranged according to similar theological principles 1 In some cases the order of deities in An Anum has been used to support proposed restoration of passages in the Canonical Temple List for example Andrew R George notes that the order in which temples of Enlil s courtiers are listed in the latter matches the order of these deities in the former making it plausible that three missing lines referred to Ninkasi Ninmada and Ugelamma 105 Paul Alain Beaulieu proposed in 1992 that the changes in the religion of Seleucid Uruk were inspired by adherence to An Anum 106 The entire pantheon of the city was restructured with Ishtar Nanaya and their court encompassing deities such as Uṣur amassu surpassed in prominence by Anu and Antu 107 While Anu was not completely absent from Uruk at any point in time between the third and first millennium BCE 107 his position was that of a figurehead and otiose deity in contrast with An Anum where he is the foremost god 108 Beaulieu considers the position of Marduk to be the main difference between An Anum and the Seleucid pantheon of Uruk as the position of this god was much lower in the latter case possibly due to theological conflict between Uruk and Babylon 108 Today it is agreed that both the elevation of Anu and Antu and the introduction of many new deities such as Amasagnudi relied on the study of this god list conducted by priests 28 References edit a b c George 1993 p 6 a b Litke 1998 p 5 a b Litke 1998 p 1 a b Lambert 1971 p 473 Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 45 Lambert 1971 pp 473 474 a b c Lambert 1971 p 474 Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 78 Litke 1998 p 2 Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 79 Tugendhaft 2016 p 166 Tugendhaft 2016 p 173 Peterson 2009 p 1 Litke 1998 pp 2 3 Litke 1998 pp 5 6 Wiggermann 2011 p 307 a b Feliu 2006 p 232 George 1993 p 166 a b c Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 99 Lambert 2013 p 149 Peterson 2009 p 2 a b c d e f Lambert 1971 p 475 Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 80 a b c Hallo 1998 p VII Lambert 2016 p 43 a b c d e f g Lambert 2016 p 44 a b Litke 1998 p 17 a b Krul 2018 p 80 Hallo 1998 pp V VI a b c Hallo 1998 p VI Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 329 Beaulieu 1992 p 71 Simons 2017 p 99 Lambert amp Winters 2023 Litke 1998 pp 4 5 Lambert 1971 pp 476 477 a b c Litke 1998 p 6 Litke 1998 p 10 Litke 1998 p 13 a b Feliu 2006 p 245 Sallaberger 2005 p 304 Litke 1998 pp 7 8 Litke 1998 pp 6 7 a b c Litke 1998 p 7 a b Litke 1998 p 4 Peterson 2009 p 83 Litke 1998 p 16 a b c d e f g h i j k Sallaberger 2005 p 306 Lambert 2013 p 301 Beaulieu 1992 p 57 Beaulieu 1992 pp 49 50 Lambert 2013 p 409 Lambert 2013 p 303 Litke 1998 p 56 Litke 1998 p 61 a b Feliu 2003 p 54 Litke 1998 pp 66 72 Litke 1998 p 72 Litke 1998 pp 74 75 Litke 1998 p 75 Litke 1998 p 76 Litke 1998 p 95 Litke 1998 p 96 Lambert 2013 p 251 Lambert 1971 p 476 a b c d e Schwemer 2007 p 145 Litke 1998 p 119 Litke 1998 p 124 Boivin 2018 p 201 Boivin 2018 p 215 Sallaberger 1998 p 465 Litke 1998 p 131 Litke 1998 p 137 Litke 1998 p 128 Litke 1998 pp 142 143 Schwemer 2007 p 146 a b Schwemer 2007 p 147 a b Litke 1998 p 148 Litke 1998 p 155 Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 95 Litke 1998 p 160 a b Litke 1998 p 162 Litke 1998 pp 166 167 Litke 1998 p 168 Litke 1998 p 171 Litke 1998 p 172 Litke 1998 p 173 Litke 1998 p 174 Peterson 2009 p 95 Litke 1998 pp 178 185 Litke 1998 pp 185 187 Litke 1998 pp 188 190 a b Wiggermann 1997 p 34 Litke 1998 pp 196 198 Lambert 2013 p 240 Litke 1998 pp 199 208 Litke 1998 p 209 a b Litke 1998 p 211 Litke 1998 pp 211 213 Litke 1998 pp 216 219 Litke 1998 p 220 George 2003 p 121 Litke 1998 p 97 Litke 1998 pp 3 4 George 1993 p 24 Beaulieu 1992 p 58 a b Beaulieu 1992 p 54 a b Beaulieu 1992 p 68 Bibliography edit Asher Greve Julia M Westenholz Joan G 2013 Goddesses in Context On Divine Powers Roles Relationships and Gender in Mesopotamian Textual and Visual Sources PDF ISBN 978 3 7278 1738 0 Beaulieu Paul Alain 1992 Antiquarian Theology in Seleucid Uruk Acta Sumerologica 14 Retrieved 2022 04 30 Boivin Odette 2018 The First Dynasty of the Sealand in Mesopotamia De Gruyter doi 10 1515 9781501507823 ISBN 978 1 5015 0782 3 Feliu Lluis 2003 The God Dagan in Bronze Age Syria Boston BRILL ISBN 90 04 49631 9 OCLC 1288215998 Feliu Lluis 2006 Concerning the Etymology of Enlil the An Anum Approach Sapal tibnim mu illaku studies presented to Joaquin Sanmartin on the occasion of his 65th birthday Barcelona Editorial AUSA ISBN 84 88810 71 7 OCLC 157130833 George Andrew R 1993 House most high the temples of ancient Mesopotamia Winona Lake Eisenbrauns ISBN 0 931464 80 3 OCLC 27813103 George Andrew R 2003 The Babylonian Gilgamesh epic introduction critical edition and cuneiform texts Oxford New York Oxford University Press ISBN 0 19 814922 0 OCLC 51668477 Hallo William W 1998 Foreword A reconstruction of the Assyro Babylonian god lists AN dA nu um and AN Anu sa Ameli PDF New Haven Yale Babylonian Collection ISBN 978 0 9667495 0 2 OCLC 470337605 Krul Julia 2018 Theological and Ideological Aspects of the Anu Cult The Revival of the Anu Cult and the Nocturnal Fire Ceremony at Late Babylonian Uruk Brill pp 79 106 doi 10 1163 9789004364943 004 ISBN 9789004364936 Lambert Wilfred G 1971 Gotterlisten God lists Reallexikon der Assyriologie retrieved 2022 05 01 Lambert Wilfred G 2013 Babylonian creation myths Winona Lake Indiana Eisenbrauns ISBN 978 1 57506 861 9 OCLC 861537250 Lambert Wilfred G 2016 George Andrew R Oshima Takayoshi M eds Ancient Mesopotamian Religion and Mythology Selected Essays Orientalische Religionen in der Antike Mohr Siebeck ISBN 978 3 16 153674 8 Retrieved 2022 05 01 Lambert Wilfred G Winters Ryan D 2023 An Anum and Related Lists God Lists of Ancient Mesopotamia Vol 1 Tubingen Germany Mohr Siebeck ISBN 978 3 16 161383 8 Litke Richard L 1998 A reconstruction of the Assyro Babylonian god lists AN dA nu um and AN Anu sa Ameli PDF New Haven Yale Babylonian Collection ISBN 978 0 9667495 0 2 OCLC 470337605 Peterson Jeremiah 2009 God lists from Old Babylonian Nippur in the University Museum Philadelphia Munster Ugarit Verlag ISBN 978 3 86835 019 7 OCLC 460044951 Sallaberger Walther 1998 Nin MAR KI Reallexikon der Assyriologie in German retrieved 2023 04 19 Sallaberger Walther 2005 Pantheon A I In Mesopotamien Reallexikon der Assyriologie in German retrieved 2022 05 01 Schwemer Daniel 2007 The Storm Gods of the Ancient Near East Summary Synthesis Recent Studies Part I PDF Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions 7 2 Brill 121 168 doi 10 1163 156921207783876404 ISSN 1569 2116 Simons Frank 2017 A New Join to the Hurro Akkadian Version of the Weidner God List from Emar Msk 74 108a Msk 74 158k Altorientalische Forschungen 44 1 De Gruyter doi 10 1515 aofo 2017 0009 ISSN 2196 6761 S2CID 164771112 Tugendhaft Aaron 2016 Gods on clay Ancient Near Eastern scholarly practices and the history of religions In Grafton Anthony Most Glenn W eds Canonical Texts and Scholarly Practices Cambridge Cambridge University Press p 164 doi 10 1017 cbo9781316226728 009 Wiggermann Frans A M 1997 Transtigridian Snake Gods In Finkel I L Geller M J eds Sumerian Gods and their Representations ISBN 978 90 56 93005 9 Wiggermann Frans A M 2011 The Mesopotamian Pandemonium A Provisional Census Studi e materiali di storia delle religioni 77 2 298 322 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title An 3D Anum amp oldid 1210991465, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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