Wikipedia
List of Mesopotamian deities
Deities in ancient Mesopotamia were almost exclusively anthropomorphic.[2] They were thought to possess extraordinary powers[2] and were often envisioned as being of tremendous physical size.[2] The deities typically wore melam, an ambiguous substance which "covered them in terrifying splendor"[3] and which could also be worn by heroes, kings, giants, and even demons.[4] The effect that seeing a deity's melam has on a human is described as ni, a word for the "physical creeping of the flesh".[5] Both the Sumerian and Akkadian languages contain many words to express the sensation of ni,[4] including the word puluhtu, meaning "fear".[5] Deities were almost always depicted wearing horned caps,[6][7] consisting of up to seven superimposed pairs of ox-horns.[8] They were also sometimes depicted wearing clothes with elaborate decorative gold and silver ornaments sewn into them.[7]
The ancient Mesopotamians believed that their deities lived in Heaven,[9] but that a god's statue was a physical embodiment of the god himself.[9][10] As such, cult statues were given constant care and attention[11][9] and a set of priests were assigned to tend to them.[12] These priests would clothe the statues[10] and place feasts before them so they could "eat".[11][9] A deity's temple was believed to be that deity's literal place of residence.[13] The gods had boats, full-sized barges which were normally stored inside their temples[14] and were used to transport their cult statues along waterways during various religious festivals.[14] The gods also had chariots, which were used for transporting their cult statues by land.[15] Sometimes a deity's cult statue would be transported to the location of a battle so that the deity could watch the battle unfold.[15] The major deities of the Mesopotamian pantheon were believed to participate in the "assembly of the gods",[6] through which the gods made all of their decisions.[6] This assembly was seen as a divine counterpart to the semi-democratic legislative system that existed during the Third Dynasty of Ur (c. 2112 BC – c. 2004 BC).[6]
The Mesopotamian pantheon evolved greatly over the course of its history.[16] In general, the history of Mesopotamian religion can be divided into four phases.[16] During the first phase, starting in the fourth millennium BC, deities' domains mainly focused on basic needs for human survival.[17] During the second phase, which occurred in the third millennium BC, the divine hierarchy became more structured[17] and deified kings began to enter the pantheon.[17] During the third phase, in the second millennium BC, the gods worshipped by an individual person and gods associated with the commoners became more prevalent.[17] During the fourth and final phase, in the first millennium BC, the gods became closely associated with specific human empires and rulers.[18] The names of over 3,000 Mesopotamian deities have been recovered from cuneiform texts.[19][16] Many of these are from lengthy lists of deities compiled by ancient Mesopotamian scribes.[19][20] The longest of these lists is a text entitled An = Anum, a Babylonian scholarly work listing the names of over 2,000 deities.[19][17] While sometimes mistakenly regarded simply as a list of Sumerian gods with their Akkadian equivalents,[21] it was meant to provide information about the relations between individual gods, as well as short explanations of functions fulfilled by them.[21] In addition to spouses and children of gods, it also listed their servants.[22]
Various terms were employed to describe groups of deities. The collective term Anunnaki is first attested during the reign of Gudea (c. 2144 – 2124 BC) and the Third Dynasty of Ur.[23][24] This term usually referred to the major deities of heaven and earth,[25] endowed with immense powers,[26][23] who were believed to "decree the fates of mankind".[24] Gudea described them as "Lamma (tutelary deities) of all the countries."[25] While it is common in modern literature to assume that in some contexts the term was instead applied to chthonic Underworld deities,[26] this view is regarded as unsubstantiated by assyriologist Dina Katz, who points out that it relies entirely on the myth of Inanna's Descent, which doesn't necessarily contradict the conventional definition of Anunnaki and doesn't explicitly identify them as gods of the Underworld.[27] Unambiguous references to Anunnaki as chthonic come from Hurrian (rather than Mesopotamian) sources, in which the term was applied to a class of distinct, Hurrian, gods instead.[28] Anunnaki are chiefly mentioned in literary texts[24] and very little evidence to support the existence of any distinct cult of them has yet been unearthed[29][24] due to the fact that each deity which could be regarded as a member of the Anunnaki had his or her own individual cult, separate from the others.[23] Similarly, no representations of the Anunnaki as a distinct group have yet been discovered,[23] although a few depictions of its frequent individual members have been identified.[23] Another similar collective term for deities was Igigi, first attested from the Old Babylonian Period (c. 1830 BC – c. 1531 BC).[30] The name Igigi seems to have originally been applied to the "great gods",[30] but it later came to refer to all the gods of Heaven collectively.[30] In some instances, the terms Anunnaki and Igigi are used synonymously.[23][24]
Major deities edit
Samuel Noah Kramer, writing in 1963, stated that the three most important deities in the Mesopotamian pantheon during all periods were the deities An, Enlil, and Enki.[31] However, newer research shows that the arrangement of the top of the pantheon could vary depending on time period and location. The Fara god list indicates that sometimes Enlil, Inanna and Enki were regarded as the three most significant deities.[32] Inanna was also the most important deity in Uruk and a number of other political centers in the Uruk period.[33] Gudea regarded Ninhursag, rather than Enki, as the third most prominent deity.[34] An Old Babylonian source preserves a tradition in which Nanna was the king of the gods, and Anu, Enlil and Enki merely his advisers,[35] likely a view espoused by Nanna's priests in Ur, and later on in Harran.[36] An Old Babylonian personal name refers to Shamash as "Enlil of the gods," possibly reflecting the existence of a similar belief connected to him among his clergy too, though unlike the doctrine of supremacy of the moon god, accepted by Nabonidus, it found no royal support at any point in time.[37] In Zabban, a city in the northeast of Babylonia, Hadad was the head of the pantheon.[38] In the first millennium BCE Marduk became the supreme god in Babylonia, and some late sources omit Anu and Enlil altogether and state that Ea received his position from Marduk.[39] In some neo-Babylonian inscriptions Nabu's status was equal to that of Marduk.[39] In Assyria, Assur was regarded as the supreme god.[40]
The number seven was extremely important in ancient Mesopotamian cosmology.[41][42] In Sumerian religion, the most powerful and important deities in the pantheon were sometimes called the "seven gods who decree":[43] An, Enlil, Enki, Ninhursag, Nanna, Utu, and Inanna.[44] Many major deities in Sumerian mythology were associated with specific celestial bodies:[45] Inanna was believed to be the planet Venus,[46][47] Utu was believed to be the Sun,[48][47] and Nanna was the Moon.[49][47] However, minor deities could be associated with planets too, for example Mars was sometimes called Simut,[50] and Ninsianna was a Venus deity distinct from Inanna in at least some contexts.[51]
| Name | Image | Major cult centers | Celestial body | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| An Anu[52] | Eanna temple in Uruk[53] | Equatorial sky[54][47] | An (in Sumerian), later known as Anu (in Akkadian),[55] was the supreme God and "prime mover in creation", embodied by the sky.[52] He is the first and most distant ancestor,[52] theologically conceived as the God of Heaven in its "transcendental obscurity".[56] In some theological systems all of the deities were believed to be the offspring of An and his consort Ki.[52][57][24] However Anu was himself described as the descendant of various primordial beings in various texts (god lists, incantations, etc.), and Enlil was often equipped with his own elaborate family tree separate from Anu's.[58] While An was described as the utmost god,[59][52] at least by the time of the earliest written records the main god in terms of actual cult was Enlil.[60][61] Anu's supremacy was therefore "always somewhat nominal" according to Wilfred G. Lambert.[62] Luludanitu, a multicolored stone (red, white and black) was associated with him.[63] | |
| Enlil Nunamnir, Ellil[64][65] | Ekur temple in Nippur[66][67] | Northern sky[54][47] | Enlil, later known as Ellil, is the god of wind, air, earth, and storms[64] and the chief of all the gods.[68] The Sumerians envisioned Enlil as a benevolent, fatherly deity, who watches over humanity and cares for their well-being.[69] One Sumerian hymn describes Enlil as so glorious that even the other gods could not look upon him.[65][70] His cult was closely tied to the holy city of Nippur[67] and, after Nippur was sacked by the Elamites in 1230 BC, his cult fell into decline.[71] He was eventually paralleled in his role as chief deity by Marduk, the national god of the Babylonians,[71] and Assur, who fulfilled an analogous role for the Assyrians.[72] He was associated with lapis lazuli.[63][73] | |
| Enki Nudimmud, Ninshiku, Ea[74] | E-Abzu temple in Eridu[74] | Southern sky[54][47] | Enki, later known as Ea, and also occasionally referred to as Nudimmud or Ninšiku, was the god of the subterranean freshwater ocean,[74] who was also closely associated with wisdom, magic, incantations, arts, and crafts.[74] He was either the son of An, or the goddess Nammu,[74] and is the former case the twin brother of Ishkur.[74] His wife was the goddess Damgalnuna (Ninhursag)[74] and his children include the gods Marduk, Asarluhi, Enbilulu, the sage Adapa, and the goddess Nanshe.[74] His sukkal, or minister, was the two-faced messenger god Isimud.[74] Enki was the divine benefactor of humanity,[74] who helped humans survive the Great Flood.[74] In Enki and the World Order, he organizes "in detail every feature of the civilised world."[74] In Inanna and Enki, he is described as the holder of the sacred mes, the tablets concerning all aspects of human life.[74] He was associated with jasper.[63][73] | |
| Marduk | Babylon[75][71] | Jupiter[76] | Marduk is the national god of the Babylonians.[75] The expansion of his cult closely paralleled the historical rise of Babylon[75][71] and, after assimilating various local deities, including a god named Asarluhi, he eventually came to parallel Enlil as the chief of the gods.[75][71] Some late sources go as far as omitting Enlil and Anu altogether, and state that Ea received his position from Marduk.[39] His wife was the goddess Sarpānītu.[75] | |
| Ashur | Assur[77] | Ashur was the national god of the Assyrians.[77] It has been proposed that originally he was the deification of the city of Assur,[78] or perhaps the hill atop which it was built.[79] He initially lacked any connections to other deities, having no parents, spouse or children.[80] The only goddess related to him, though in an unclear way, was Šerua.[80] Later he was syncretized with Enlil,[81][72] and as a result Ninlil was sometimes regarded as his wife, and Ninurta and Zababa as his sons.[80] Sargon II initiated the trend of writing his name with the same signs as that of Anshar, a primordial being regarded as Anu's father in the theology of Enuma Elish.[72] He may have originally been a local deity associated with the city of Assur,[77] but, with the growth of the Assyrian Empire,[77] his cult was introduced to southern Mesopotamia.[82] In Assyrian texts Bel was a title of Ashur, rather than Marduk.[83] | ||
| Nabu | Borsippa,[84] Kalhu[85] | Mercury[84] | Nabu was the Mesopotamian god of scribes and writing.[84] His wife was the goddess Tashmetu[84] and he may have been associated with the planet Mercury,[84] though the evidence has been described as “circumstantial” by Francesco Pomponio.[86] He later became associated with wisdom and agriculture.[84] In the Old Babylonian and early Kassite periods his cult was only popular in central Mesopotamia (Babylon, Sippar, Kish, Dilbat, Lagaba), had a limited extent in peripheral areas (Susa in Elam, Mari in Syria) and there is little to no evidence of it from cities such as Ur and Nippur, in sharp contrast with later evidence.[87] In the first millennium BCE he became one of the most prominent gods of Babylonia.[87] In Assyria his prominence grew in the eighth and seventh centuries BCE.[85] In Kalhu and Nineveh he eventually became more common in personal names than the Assyrian head god Ashur.[85] He also replaced Ninurta as the main god of Kalhu.[85] In the Neo-Babylonian periods some inscriptions of kings such as Nebuchadnezzar II indicate that Nabu could take precedence even over the supreme Babylonian god Marduk.[85] His cult also spread beyond Mesopotamia, to cities such as Palmyra, Hierapolis, Edessa or Dura Europos,[88] and to Egypt, as far as Elephantine, where in sources from the late first millennium BCE he is the most frequently attested foreign god next to Yahweh.[88] | |
| Nanna Enzu, Zuen, Suen, Sin[89] | E-kiš-nu-ğal temple in Ur and another temple in Harran[49] | Moon[49] | Nanna, Enzu or Zuen ("Lord of Wisdom") in Sumerian, later altered as Suen and Sin in Akkadian,[89] is the ancient Mesopotamian god of the Moon.[49] He was the son of Enlil and Ninlil and one of his most prominent myths was an account of how he was conceived and how he made his way from the Underworld to Nippur.[49] A theological system where Nanna, rather than Enlil, was the king of gods, is known from a text from the Old Babylonian period;[90] in the preserved fragment Enlil, Anu, Enki and Ninhursag served as his advisers, alongside his children Utu and Inanna.[35] Other references to Nanna holding such a position are known from personal names and various texts, with some going as far as stating he holds "Anuship and Enlilship," and Wilfred G. Lambert assumes that he was regarded as the supreme god by his clergy in Ur and Harran.[36] | |
| Utu Shamash[91] | E-Babbar temples at Sippar and Larsa[92] | Sun[91] | Utu, later known as Shamash, is the ancient Mesopotamian god of the Sun,[91] who was also revered as the god of truth, justice, and morality.[92] He was the son of Nanna and the twin brother of Inanna. Utu was believed to see all things that happen during the day[92] and to aid mortals in distress.[92] Alongside Inanna, Utu was the enforcer of divine justice.[93] | |
| Inanna Ishtar[94] | Eanna temple in Uruk,[95][46][53] though she also had temples in Nippur, Lagash, Shuruppak, Zabalam, and Ur[95] | Venus[46] | Inanna, later known as Ishtar, is "the most important female deity of ancient Mesopotamia at all periods."[94] She was the Sumerian goddess of love, sexuality, prostitution, and war.[96] She was the divine personification of the planet Venus, the morning and evening star.[46] Accounts of her parentage vary;[94] in most myths, she is usually presented as the daughter of Nanna and Ningal,[97] but, in other stories, she is the daughter of Enki or An along with an unknown mother.[94] The Sumerians had more myths about her than any other deity.[98][99] Many of the myths involving her revolve around her attempts to usurp control of the other deities' domains.[100] Her most famous myth is the story of her descent into the Underworld,[101] in which she attempts to conquer the Underworld, the domain of her older sister Ereshkigal,[101] but is instead struck dead by the seven judges of the Underworld.[102][103][104] She is only revived due to Enki's intervention[102][103][104] and her husband Dumuzid is forced to take her place in the Underworld.[105][106] Alongside her twin brother Utu, Inanna was the enforcer of divine justice.[93] | |
| Ninhursag Damgalnuna, Ninmah[107] | E-Mah temple in Adab, Kesh[107] | Ninhursag ("Mistress of the mountain ranges"[108]), also known as Damgalnuna, Ninmah, Nintur[109] and Aruru,[110] was the Mesopotamian mother goddess. Her primary functions were related to birth (but generally not to nursing and raising children, with the exception of sources from early Lagash) and creation.[111] Descriptions of her as "mother" weren't always referring to motherhood in the literal sense or to parentage of other deities, but sometimes instead represented her esteem and authority as a senior deity, similar to references to major male deities such as Enlil or Anu as "fathers."[112] Certain mortal rulers claimed her as their mother,[107] a phenomenon recorded as early as during the reign of Mesilim of Kish (c. 2700 BCE).[113] She was the wife of Enki,[107] though in some locations (including Nippur) her husband was Šulpae instead.[114] Initially no city had Ninhursag as its tutelary goddess.[115] Later her main temple was the E-Mah in Adab,[107] originally dedicated to a minor male deity, Ašgi.[116] She was also associated with the city of Kesh,[107] where she replaced the local goddess Nintur,[110] and she was sometimes referred to as the "Bēlet-ilī of Kesh" or "she of Kesh".[107] It is possible her emblem was a symbol similar to later Greek letter omega.[117] | ||
| Ninurta Ninĝírsu[118] | E-šu-me-ša temple in Nippur,[118] Girsu,[119] Lagash,[120][121] and later Kalhu in Assyria[122][123][124] | Saturn[125] | Ninurta, also known as Ningirsu, was a Mesopotamian warrior deity who was worshipped in Sumer from the very earliest times.[118] He was the champion of the gods against the Anzû bird after it stole the Tablet of Destinies from his father Enlil[118] and, in a myth that is alluded to in many works but never fully preserved, he killed a group of warriors known as the "Slain Heroes".[118] Ninurta was also an agricultural deity and the patron god of farmers.[118] In the epic poem Lugal-e, he slays the demon Asag and uses stones to build the Tigris and Euphrates rivers to make them useful for irrigation.[123] His major symbols were a perched bird and a plow.[126] | |
| Nergal | E-Meslam temple in Kutha and Mashkan-shapir[49] | Mars[127] | Nergal was associated with the Underworld[128] and is usually the husband of Ereshkigal.[128] He was also associated with forest fires (and identified with the fire-god, Gibil[129]), fevers, plagues, and war.[128] In myths, he causes destruction and devastation.[128] In the neo-Babylonian period in many official documents Nergal is listed immediately after the supreme gods Marduk and Nabu, and before such prominent deities as Shamash and Sin.[85] | |
| Dumuzid Tammuz[130] | Bad-tibira and Kuara[130] | Dumuzid, later known by the corrupted form Tammuz, is the ancient Mesopotamian god of shepherds[130] and the primary consort of the goddess Inanna.[130] His sister is the goddess Geshtinanna.[130][131] In addition to being the god of shepherds, Dumuzid was also an agricultural deity associated with the growth of plants.[132][133] Ancient Near Eastern peoples associated Dumuzid with the springtime, when the land was fertile and abundant,[132][134] but, during the summer months, when the land was dry and barren, it was thought that Dumuzid had "died".[132][135] During the month of Dumuzid, which fell in the middle of summer, people all across Sumer would mourn over his death.[136][137] An enormous number of popular stories circulated throughout the Near East surrounding his death.[136][137] | ||
| Ereshkigal | Kutha | Hydra[138] | Ereshkigal was the queen of the Mesopotamian Underworld.[139][140] She lived in a palace known as Ganzir.[139] In early accounts, her husband is Gugalanna,[139] whose character is undefined, but later the northern god Nergal was placed in this role.[139][140] Her gatekeeper was the god Neti[140] and her sukkal was Namtar.[139] In the poem Inanna's Descent into the Underworld, Ereshkigal is described as Inanna's "older sister".[141] In the god list An = Anum she opens the section dedicated to underworld deities.[142] | |
| Gula and Ninisina, Nintinugga, Ninkarrak[143] | E-gal-mah temple in Isin and other temples in Nippur, Borsippa, Assur,[143] Sippar,[144] Umma[145] | A prominent place in the Mesopotamian pantheon was occupied by healing goddesses,[146] regarded as divine patronesses of doctors and medicine-workers.[143] Multiple such deities existed:
Eventually Gula became the preeminent healing goddess,[145] and other healing goddesses were sometimes syncretised with her,[149] though in the god list An = Anum Gula, Ninkarrak and Nintinugga all figure as separate deities with own courts.[149] Dogs were associated with many healing goddesses[144] and Gula in particular is often shown in art with a dog sitting beside her.[143] | ||
| Bau | Lagash, Kish | Bau was a prominent goddess of Lagash, and some of its kings regarded her as their divine mother.[114] She was also a healing goddess, though unlike other healing goddesses she only developed such a function at some point in her history.[150] She was the wife of Ningirsu, and rose to prominence in third millennium BCE in the state of Lagash.[151] Gudea elevated Bau's rank to equal of that of Ningirsu, and called her "Queen who decides the destiny in Girsu."[152] This made her the highest ranking goddess of the local pantheon of Lagash,[153] putting her above Nanshe.[154] During the reign of the Third Dynasty of Ur, she was the second most notable "divine wife" after Ninlil,[155] with some sources (ex. from Nippur) indicating she was exalted above Ningirsu.[147] While the original Lagashite cult of Bau declined alongside the city,[156] she continued to be prominent in Kish in northern Babylonia, where she arrived in the Old Babylonian period.[157] The city god of Kish, Zababa, became her husband.[158] She remained a major goddess of that city as late as the neo-Babylonian period.[159] | ||
| Ishkur Adad, Hadad[160] | Karkar,[161] Assur,[162][163] Kurba'il[164] | Ishkur, later known as Adad or Hadad (from the root *hdd, "to thunder"[165]), was the Mesopotamian god of storms and rain.[160] In northern Mesopotamia, where agriculture relied heavily on rainfall, he was among the most prominent deities, and even in the south he ranked among the "great gods."[166] In god lists his position is similar to that of Sin, Shamash and Ishtar.[167] Ishkur is already attested as the god of Karkar in the Uruk period,[161] however evidence such as theophoric names indicates that the weather god's popularity only grew in later periods under the Akkadian name.[168] Hadad is already attested as the name of the weather god in early sources from Ebla.[165] In Mesopotamia these two gods started to merge in the Sargonic period,[169] and it seems it was already impossible to find a clear distinction between them in the Ur III period.[170] While northern texts put an emphasis on the benevolent character of the weather god as a bringer of rain, in the south he was often associated with destructive weather phenomena, including dust storms,[171] though even there he was credited with making plant growth possible in areas which weren't irrigated.[172] He was regarded as the son of An,[168] though less commonly he was also referred to as a son of Enlil.[173] His wife was Shala,[160] while his sukkal was Nimgir, the deified lightning.[174] In addition to being a weather god, Hadad was also a god of law and guardian of oaths,[175] as well as a god of divination (extispicy).[163] In these roles he was associated with Shamash.[163] In Zabban, a city in the northeast of Babylonia, he was regarded as the head of the local pantheon.[38] In Assyrian sources he was closely connected to military campaigns of the kings.[164] Kurba'il on the northern frontier of the empire was regarded as his most notable cult center in neo-Assyrian times.[164] In god lists foreign weather gods such as Hurrian Teshub ("Adad of Subartu"), Kassite Buriyaš or Ugaritic Baal were regarded as his equivalents.[176] | ||
| Ištaran | Der[162] | Ištaran was a prominent[177] god, who served as the tutelary deity of the Sumerian city-state of Der, which was located east of the Tigris river on the border between Mesopotamia and Elam.[162] His wife was the goddess Šarrat-Dēri, whose name means "Queen of Der",[162] or alternatively Manzat (goddess of the rainbow),[177] and his sukkal was the snake-god Nirah.[162] He was regarded as a divine judge, and kings were said to "render justice like Ištaran."[178] A text from the late Early Dynastic Period invokes Ištaran to resolve a boundary dispute between the cities of Lagash and Umma.[162] In one of his inscriptions, King Gudea of Lagash mentions himself having installed a shrine for Ištaran in the temple of Ningirsu at Girsu[162] and describes Ištaran as a god of justice.[162] On kudurrus (boundary stones), Ištaran is often represented by a serpent, which may be Nirah[162] or Ištaran himself.[179] It is also possible that he's the god with an ophidian lower body known from cylinder seals.[177] In a ritual associated with the Ekur temple in Nippur, Ištaran is a "dying god" and is equated with Dumuzid.[179] A reference to Ištaran as a dying god appears also in a late text from Assur.[178] His national cult fell into decline during the Middle Babylonian Period,[162] though he still appeared in documents such as neo-Assyrian land grants.[180] However, in Der he continued to be venerated in later periods as well.[181] | ||
| Nanaya | Uruk and Kish[182] | Corona Borealis[183] | Nanaya was a goddess of love[184] (including erotic love and lust).[185] She was commonly invoked in spells connected to this sphere.[186] Her worship was widespread, and she appears frequently in the textual record.[187] She was also involved in intercession and was regarded as "lady of lamma," a class of minor protective goddesses capable of interceding on behalf of humans.[188] She shared these roles with Ninshubur.[188] She was closely associated with Inanna/Ishtar,[189] though not identical to her as the two often appear side by side in the same texts: for example in Larsa Inanna, Nanaya and Ninsianna all functioned as distinct deities,[51] while in god lists Nanaya appears among Inanna's courtiers, usually following Dumuzi and Ninshubur.[190] In late sources Nanaya and Ishtar sometimes appear as goddesses of equal status.[191] In neo-Babylonian Uruk she was one of the most important deities, and retained this status under Persian rule as well.[192] There is also evidence for her worship continuing in Seleucid and Parthian times, as late as 45 CE.[193] | |
| Nanshe | Lagash[84] | Nanshe was a goddess associated with the state of Lagash,[194][49] whose cult declined with the loss of political relevance of that city.[159] She was a daughter of Enki and sister of Ningirsu.[49] She was associated with divination and the interpretation of dreams, but was also believed to assist the poor and the impoverished and ensure the accuracy of weights and measurements.[49] She was also associated with fish and waterfowl.[195] The First Sealand dynasty revived (or continued) her cult, making her the royal tutelary goddess.[159] | ||
| Ninazu | Eshnunna and Enegi[196] | Ninazu was a god regarded as either the son of Ereshkigal or of Enlil and Ninil.[196] He was also the father of Ningishzida.[197] He was closely associated with the Underworld,[197] and some researchers go as far as proposing he was the oldest Mesopotamian god associated with it,[151] though it is most likely more accurate to say that there was initially no single universally agreed upon version of relevant mythical and cultic concepts, with various deities, both male and female, ruling over the Underworld in the belief systems of various areas and time periods.[198] Ninazu was also a Ninurta-like warrior god,[196] as well as the "king of snakes."[199] He was worshipped in Eshnunna during the third millennium BCE, but he was later supplanted there by Tishpak, who despite foreign origin had a similar character and attributes.[200] Ninazu was also worshipped at Enegi in southern Sumer.[196] His divine beast was the mušḫuššu, a serpentine dragon-like mythical creature, which was later also associated with Tishpak, Marduk (and by extension Nabu) and after Sennacherib's destruction of Babylon also with Ashur.[201] | ||
| Ninlil | Nippur, Assur,[202] Kish, Ḫursaĝkalama[203] | Ninlil was the wife of Enlil, the ruler of the gods.[107] She was not associated with any city of her own, serving primarily as Enlil's spouse,[204] and as such was probably an artificially created deity, invented as a female equivalent to Enlil.[107] She was nonetheless regarded as having power on par with Enlil;[205] in one poem, Ninlil declares, "As Enlil is your master, so am I also your mistress!"[205] In documents from the Ur III period, Ninlil was believed to be able to determine fates much like husband, and the pair was jointly regarded as the source of royal power by kings.[155] Sud, the tutelary goddess of Šuruppak, came to be regarded as one and the same as Ninlil, and the myth Enlil and Sud explain that Sud was the goddess' name before she married Enlil, receiving the name Ninlil.[159] However, Sud was originally an independent deity who was close in character to Sudag, an alternate name of the wife of Shamash; the confusion between Sudag and Sud(/Ninlil) is reflected in a myth where Ishum, normally regarded as the son of Shamash and his wife, is instead the son of Ninlil.[159] | ||
| Ninshubur | Akkil;[206] worshipped with Inanna as her sukkal | Orion[207] | Assyriologists regard Ninshubur as the most commonly worshiped sukkal ("vizier"),[208] a type of deity serving as another's personal attendant. Her mistress was Inanna.[118][209] Many texts indicate they were regarded very close to each other, with one going as far as listing Ninshubur with the title "beloved vizier," before Inanna's relatives other than her husband Dumuzi.[210] She consistently appears as the first among Inanna's courtiers in god lists, usually followed by another commonly worshiped deity, Nanaya.[211] She was portrayed as capable of "appeasing" Inanna,[212] and as "unshakably loyal" in her devotion to her.[209] In the Sumerian myth of Inanna and Enki, Ninshubur rescues Inanna from the monsters that Enki sends to capture her,[213][214][209] while in Inanna's Descent into the Underworld, she pleads with the gods Enlil, Nanna and finally Enki in effort to persuade them to rescue Inanna from the Underworld.[215][216] She was regarded as a wise adviser[209] of her divine masters and human rulers alike.[208] In addition to being the sukkal of Inanna, she also served An[209] and the divine assembly.[217] In later Akkadian mythology, Ninshubur was syncretized with the male messenger deities Ilabrat and Papsukkal,[207] though this process wasn't complete until Seleucid times.[218] Ninshubur was popular[208] in the sphere of personal religion, for example as tutelary deity of a specific family, due to the belief she could mediate between humans and higher ranking gods.[219] | |
| Nisaba | Eresh, later Nippur[220] | Nisaba was originally a goddess of grain and agriculture,[123] but, starting in the Early Dynastic Period, she developed into a goddess of writing, accounting, and scribal knowledge.[123] Her main cult city, Eresh, was evidently prominent in early periods, but after the reign of Shulgi almost entirely disappeared from records.[220] Texts mentioning Nisaba are sporadically attested as far west as Ebla and Ugarit, though it is uncertain if she was actively venerated further west than Mari.[221] Nisaba was the mother of the goddess Sud, syncretised with Enlil's wife Ninlil, and as a result she was regarded as his mother in law.[222] While a less common tradition identified her as the daughter of Enlil,[220] she was usually regarded as the daughter of Uraš, and references to Anu or Ea as her father are known from first millennium BCE literature.[220] Her husband was the god Haya.[123] There is little direct evidence for temples (in Nippur she was worshiped in the temple of her daughter Ninlil[223]) and clergy of Nisaba, but literary texts were commonly ended with the doxology "praise to Nisaba!" or other invocations of her.[223] The term "house of wisdom of Nisaba" attested in many texts was likely a generic term for institutions connected to writing.[223] Her importance started to decline (especially outside the scribal circles) after the Old Babylonian period, though attestations as late as from the reign of Nabopolassar are known.[224] | ||
| Zababa | Kish[225][158] | Zababa was a war god who served as the tutelary deity of Kish.[158] His main temple was E-mete-ursag.[225] The earliest attestation of him comes from the Early Dynastic Period.[225] During the reign of Old Babylonian kings such as Hammurabi it was Zababa, rather than Ninurta, who was regarded as the primary war god.[226] He was initially regarded as a son of Enlil,[158] but Sennacherib called him a son of Ashur instead.[227] Initially his wife was Ishtar of Kish (regarded as separate from Ishtar of Uruk), but after the Old Babylonian period she was replaced by Bau in this role, and continued to be worshiped independently from him.[157] In some texts Zababa uses weapons usually associated with Ninurta and fights his mythical enemies, and on occasion he was called the "Nergal of Kish," but all 3 of these gods were regarded as separate.[228] In one list of deities he is called "Marduk of battle."[225] His primary symbol was a staff with the head of an eagle.[225] His sukkal was Papsukkal.[229] |
Primordial beings edit
Various civilizations over the course of Mesopotamian history had many different creation stories.[230][231] The earliest accounts of creation are simple narratives written in Sumerian dating to the late third millennium BC.[232][233] These are mostly preserved as brief prologues to longer mythographic compositions dealing with other subjects, such as Inanna and the Huluppu Tree, The Creation of the Pickax, and Enki and Ninmah.[234][232] Later accounts are far more elaborate, adding multiple generations of gods and primordial beings.[235] The longest and most famous of these accounts is the Babylonian Enûma Eliš, or Epic of Creation, which is divided into seven tablets.[233] The surviving version of the Enûma Eliš could not have been written any earlier than the late second millennium BC,[233] but it draws heavily on earlier materials,[236] including various works written during the Akkadian, Old Babylonian, and Kassite periods in the early second millennium BC.[236] A category of primordial beings common in incantations were pairs of divine ancestors of Enlil and less commonly of Anu.[58] In at least some cases these elaborate genealogies were assigned to major gods to avoid the implications of divine incest.[237]
Figures appearing in theogonies were generally regarded as ancient and no longer active (unlike the regular gods) by the Mesopotamians.[238]
| Name | Image | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Abzu | In the Babylonian creation epic, the Enûma Eliš, Abzu is primordial undeterminacy,[239] the consort of the goddess Tiamat who was killed by the god Ea (Enki).[239] Abzu was the personification of the subterranean primeval waters.[239] | |
| Alala and Belili | Alala and Belili were ancestors of Anu, usually appearing as the final pair in god lists accepting this tradition of his ancestry.[240] Alala was also adopted into Hurro-Hittite mythology[241] under the name Alalu.[242] It is possible Alala and Belili were paired together only because both names are iterative.[243] The name Belili could also refer to a goddess regarded as a sister of Dumuzi.[244] It has been argued that she was one and the same as the primordial deity,[245] but this view is not universally accepted and Manfred Krebernik argues it cannot be presently established if they were one and the same.[246] | |
| Anshar and Kishar | In some myths and god lists, Anshar and Kishar are a primordial couple, who are male and female respectively.[26] In the Babylonian Enûma Eliš, they are the second pair of offspring born from Abzu and Tiamat[26] and the parents of the supreme An.[26] A partial rewrite of Enûma Eliš from the neo-Assyrian period attempted to merge the roles of Marduk and Anshar, which Wilfred G. Lambert described as "completely superficial in that it leaves the plot in chaos by attributing Marduk's part to his great-grandfather, without making any attempt to iron out the resulting confusion."[247] In other late sources Anshar was sometimes listed among "conquered" mythical antagonists.[248] In a fragmentary text from Seleucid or Parthian times he is seemingly vanquished by Enki and an otherwise little known goddess Ninamakalla.[249] | |
| Dūri and Dāri | Dūri and Dāri (derived from an Akkadian phrase meaning "forever and ever"[241]) were ancestors of Anu according to the so-called "Anu theogony."[250] They represented "eternal time as a prime force in creation,"[240] and it is likely they developed as a personified form of a preexisting cosmological belief.[241] A single text identifies them as ancestors of Enlil instead.[250] They appear for the first time in an incantation from the reign of Samsu-iluna (Old Babylonian period).[241] | |
| Enki and Ninki | Enki and Ninki were two primordial beings who were regarded as the first generation among the ancestors of Enlil.[251] Enki and Ninki followed by a varying number of pairs of deities whose names start with "En" and "Nin" appear as Enlil's ancestors in various sources: god lists, incantations, liturgical texts,[252] and the Sumerian composition "Death of Gilgamesh," where the eponymous hero encounters these divine ancestors in the underworld.[253] The oldest document preserving this tradition is the Fara god list (Early Dynastic period).[254] Sometimes all the ancestors were collectively called "the Enkis and the Ninkis."[255] Enki, the ancestor of Enlil, is not to be confused with the god Enki/Ea, who is a distinct and unrelated figure.[256] The ancestral Enki's name means "lord earth," while the meaning of the name of the god of Eridu is uncertain but not the same, as indicated by some writings including an amissable g.[256] | |
| Enmesharra | Enmesharra was a minor deity of the underworld.[65] Seven, eight or fifteen other minor deities were said to be his offspring.[257] His symbol was the suššuru (a kind of pigeon).[65] He was sometimes regarded as the father of Enlil,[258] or as his uncle.[259] Texts allude to combat between Enmesharra and Enlil (or perhaps Ninurta), and his subsequent imprisonment.[260] In some traditions it was believed that this is how Enlil gained control over destinies.[261] In a late myth he was described as an enemy of Marduk.[262] | |
| Lugaldukuga | Lugaldukuga was the father of Enlil in some traditions,[259] though sometimes he was instead referred to as his grandfather.[263] Like Enmesharra he was regarded as a vanquished theogonic figure, and sometimes the two were equated.[264] He might be analogous to Endukuga, another ancestor of Enlil from god lists.[263] | |
| Nammu | Nammu is the primordial goddess who, in some Sumerian traditions, was said to have given birth to both An and Ki.[182] She eventually came to be regarded as the mother of Enki[182] and was revered as an important mother goddess.[182] Because the cuneiform sign used to write her name is the same as the sign for engur, a synonym for abzu, it is highly probable that she was originally conceived as the personification of the subterranean primeval waters.[182] | |
| Tiamat | In the Babylonian creation epic, the Enûma Eliš, after the separation of heaven and earth, the goddess Tiamat and her consort Abzu are the only deities in existence.[265] A male-female pair, they mate and Tiamat gives birth to the first generation of gods.[265] Ea (Enki) slays Abzu[265] and Tiamat gives birth to eleven monsters to seek vengeance for her lover's death.[265] Eventually, Marduk, the son of Enki and the national god of the Babylonians, slays Tiamat and uses her body to create the earth.[265] In the Assyrian version of the story, it is Ashur who slays Tiamat instead.[265] Tiamat was the personification of the primeval waters and it is hard to tell how the author of the Enûma Eliš imagined her appearance.[265] |
Minor deities edit
| Name | Image | Major cult centers | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alammuš | worshiped with Nanna in Ur as his sukkal | Alammush was the sukkal of Nanna.[266] He appears very rarely in known literary texts, though in one case, possibly a fragment of a myth about Nanna going on a journey, he is described as "suitable for justice like Utu."[266] | |
| Ama-arhus | Uruk[267] | Ama-arhus (Nin-amaʾarḫuššu; "(lady) compassionate mother") was a sparsely attested Mesopotamian divinity, explained as a title of the medicine goddess Gula in one text.[268] It has been proposed that the presence of Ama-Arhus in late theophoric names from Uruk explains why Gula appears to not be attested in them, despite being worshiped in the city.[269] It is possible that she was merely viewed as her manifestation or synonym, as she is not otherwise attested in Uruk.[270] | |
| Amasagnudi | Uruk[267] | Amasagnudi was the wife of Papsukkal in the god list An = Anum[271] and in Seleucid Uruk.[272] According to one Old Babylonian text she was the sukkal of Anu,[272] and it has been proposed that she was originally an epithet of Ninshubur.[272] Assyriologist Frans Wiggermann translates her name as "mother who cannot be pushed aside."[273] | |
| Amashilama | Amashilama was the daughter of Ninazu and his wife Ningirida, and one of the two sisters of Ningishzida.[274] She is known from the god list An = Anum and a single mythical composition.[274] Thorkild Jacobsen identifies her as a leech goddess.[275] As noted by assyriologist Nathan Wasserman, however, leeches are only attested with certainty in late medical texts,[276] and the image of a leech in Mesopotamian literature is that of "a non-divine, harmful creature."[277] | ||
| Antu | Reš temple complex in Uruk[278] | Antu is a goddess who was invented during the Akkadian Period (c. 2334 BC – 2154 BC) as a consort for Anu,[52][59] and appears in such a role in the god list An = Anum.[279] Her name is a female version of Anu's own.[52][59] She was worshiped in the late first miilennium BCE in Uruk in the newly built temple complex dedicated to Anu.[280] Her elevation alongside her husband was connected to a theological trend under Achaemenid and Seleucid rule which extended their roles at the expense of Ishtar.[281] German classical scholar Walter Burkert proposed that the Greek goddess Dione, mentioned in Book V of the Iliad as the mother of Aphrodite, was a calque for Antu.[282] | |
| Anunītu | Agade[283] and Sippar-Amnanum[284] | Annunitum ("the martial one") was initially an epithet of Ishtar,[285] but later a separate goddess.[286] She is first attested in documents from the Ur III period.[287] She was a warrior goddess who shared a number of epithets with Ishtar.[288] It is possible she was depicted with a trident-like weapon on seals.[289] In documents from Sippar she sometimes appeared as a divine witness.[290] A similarly named and possibly related goddess, Annu, was popular in Mari.[291] | |
| Asarluhi | Kuara[292] | Asarluhi was originally a local god of the village of Kuara, which was located near the city of Eridu.[292] He eventually became regarded as a god of magical knowledge[292] and was thought to be the son of Enki and Ninhursag.[292] He was later absorbed as an aspect of Marduk.[292] In the standard Babylonian magical tradition, the name "Asarluhi" is used as merely an alternative name for Marduk.[292] | |
| Ashgi | Adab and Kesh[293] | Ashgi was one of the main gods of Adab in the Early Dynastic and Sargonic periods.[294] It is unclear if he was initially the spouse or the son of the goddess Nintu, analogous to Ninhursag.[151] In later periods he was viewed as her son, and her husband Shulpa'e is identified as his father in the god list An = Anum.[295] His mother replaced him as the tutelary deity of Adab in later periods.[151] | |
| Aruru | Kesh[296] | Aruru was initially a distinct minor goddess, regarded as violent and connected to vegetation;[110] however, despite lack of a connection to birth or creation she was later conflated with Ninhursag.[110] Sometimes she was syncretized with Nisaba instead, in which case the conflation was meant to highlight the latter's authority.[297] | |
| Aya Sherida, Nin-Aya | Sippar and Larsa[298][299] | Sherida (Sumerian) or Aya (Akkadian) was the wife of the sun god Utu/Shamash and the goddess of dawn.[300] Her most common epithet was kallatum, which could be understood both as "bride" and "daughter in law".[301] She was especially popular during the Old Babylonian Period[302] and the Neo-Babylonian Period (626 BC – 539 BC).[298] | |
| Bēl-ṣarbi Lugal-asal[303] | Šapazzu[304] | The name Bēl-ṣarbi means "lord of the poplar" (the tree meant is assumed to be Populus euphratica) in Akkadian.[303] He could also function as one of the gods connected with underworld.[303] | |
| Belet-Seri | Uruk[305] | Belet-Seri ("mistress of the steppe")[300] was a goddess who acted as the scribe of the underworld.[306] She could be identified with Geshtinanna or with Gubarra, the Sumerian name of the spouse of Amurru, Ashratum.[307] | |
| Bilgames Gilgamesh | Uruk, a small village near Ur,[308] Lagash, Girsu, Der, Nippur[309] | Most historians generally agree that Gilgamesh was a historical king of the Sumerian city-state of Uruk,[308][310] who probably ruled sometime during the early part of the Early Dynastic Period (c. 2900–2350 BC).[308][310] It is certain that, during the later Early Dynastic Period, Gilgamesh was worshipped as a god at various locations across Sumer.[308] In the twenty-first century BC, Utu-hengal, the king of Uruk adopted Gilgamesh as his patron deity.[308] The kings of the Third Dynasty of Ur were especially fond of Gilgamesh, calling him their "divine brother" and "friend".[308] During this period, a large number of myths and legends developed surrounding him.[308] Probably during the Middle Babylonian Period (c. 1600 BC – c. 1155 BC), a scribe named Sîn-lēqi-unninni composed the Epic of Gilgamesh, an epic poem written in Akkadian narrating Gilgamesh's heroic exploits.[308] The opening of the poem describes Gilgamesh as "one-third human, two-thirds divine".[308] Very little evidence of worship of Gilgamesh comes from times later than the Old Babylonian period.[311] A late source states that he was worshiped during ceremonies connected to the dead, alongside Dumuzi and Ninishzida.[312] In incantations he commonly appeared alongside minor underworld deities such as Ningishzida, Geshtinanna, or Namtar and his family.[313] There are also attestations of Gilgamesh as a servant of Nergal and Ereshkigal, specifically a ferryman of the dead.[314] | |
| Birtum | Birtum was the husband of the prison goddess Nungal.[315] The name, which means "fetter" or "shackle" in Akkadian, is grammatically feminine, but designates a male deity.[315] | ||
| Bitu | Bitu's primary function is that of a gatekeeper (ì-du8) of the underworld.[316] In older publications his name was read as Neti.[317] In Inanna's Descent into the Underworld, he leads Inanna through the seven gates of the underworld, removing one of her garments at each gate so that when she comes before Ereshkigal she is naked and symbolically powerless.[318] | ||
| Bizilla | Ḫursaĝkalama[319] | Bizilla was a goddess closely associated with Nanaya.[320] It is assumed that like her she was a love goddess.[321] She was also most likely regarded as the sukkal of Enlil's wife Ninlil in Ḫursaĝkalama, her cult center located near Kish.[319][203] | |
| Bunene | Sippar, Uruk, and Assur[92] | Bunene was the sukkal and charioteer of the sun-god Utu.[92] He was worshipped at Sippar and Uruk during the Old Babylonian Period[92] and later worshipped at Assur.[92] According to some accounts, he may have been Utu's son.[92] However, in Sippar he was regarded as the son in law of Utu's Akkadian counterpart Shamash instead, and the daughter of Shamash and Aya, Mamu (or Mamud) was his wife.[288] | |
| Damu | Isin, Larsa, Ur, and Girsu[322] | Damu was a god who presides over healing and medicine.[322] He was the son of Ninisina or of Gula.[150] In some texts, "Damu" is used as another name for Dumuzid,[323] but this may be a different word meaning "son".[323] Another god named "Damu" was also worshipped in Ebla and Emar,[322] but this may be a local hero, not the same as the god of healing.[322] According to Alfonso Archi, the Eblaite Damu should be understood as the deified concept of a kinship group rather than a personified deity.[324] The official cult of Damu became extinct sometime after the Old Babylonian Period.[322] | |
| Dingirma | Kesh[110] | Dingirma was a goddess from Kesh regarded as analogous to Ninhursag.[325] Her name means "exalted deity."[114] While in literary texts the names Dingirma and Ninhursag can alternate, administrative texts from Kesh exclusively use the former.[110] | |
| Dumuzi-abzu | The state of Lagash,[326] especially Kinunir[136] | Dumuzi-abzu is a local goddess who was the tutelary goddess of Kinunir, a settlement in the territory of the state of Lagash.[326] Her name, which probably means "good child of the Abzu",[136] was sometimes abbreviated to Dumuzi,[136] but she has no obvious connection to the god Dumuzi.[136] It is possible that in Early Dynastic and Sargonic sources the name Dumuzi often referred to Dumuzi-abzu and not to the husband of Inanna.[327] It is assumed that she belonged to the circle of deities connected to Nanshe.[328] It is possible Dumuzi-abzu was regarded as the wife of Hendursaga in the third millennium BCE.[110] | |
| Duttur | Duttur was the mother of Dumuzi.[329] Thorkild Jacobsen proposed that she should be understood as a deification of the ewe (adult female sheep).[330] However, her name shows no etymological affinity with any attested terms related to sheep, and it has been suggested that while she was definitely a goddess associated with livestock and pastoralism, she was not necessarily exclusively connected with sheep.[330] | ||
| Emesh | Emesh is a farmer deity in the Sumerian poem Enlil Chooses the Farmer-God (ETCSL 5.3.3), which describes how Enlil, hoping "to establish abundance and prosperity", creates two gods: Emesh and Enten, a farmer and a shepherd respectively.[331] The two gods argue and Emesh lays claim to Enten's position.[332] They take the dispute before Enlil, who rules in favor of Enten.[333] The two gods rejoice and reconcile.[333] | ||
| Enbilulu | Babylon[334] | Enbilulu was the god of irrigation.[335] In early dynastic sources the name Ninbilulu is also attested, though it's uncertain if it should be considered an alternate form, or a separate, possibly female, deity.[335] The relation between Enbilulu, Ninbilulu and Bilulu from the myth Inanna and Bilulu also remains uncertain.[335] | |
| Enkimdu | possibly Umma[336] | Enkimdu is described as the "lord of dike and canal".[65] His character has been compared to Enbilulu's.[337] It has been proposed that he was worshiped in Umma as the personification of the irrigation system, though the evidence is scarce.[336] ppears in the myth Enkimdu and Dumuzi.[338] The text has originally been published under the title Inanna prefers the farmer by Samuel Noah Kramer in 1944.[339] Initially it was assumed that it would end with Inanna choosing Enkimdu, but this interpretation was abandoned after more editions were compiled.[339] In laments, he could be associated with Amurru.[340] It has been pointed out that Dumuzi does not appear in any of the texts where Enkimdu occurs alongside Amurru, which might indicate that in this case the latter was meant to serve as a shepherd god contrasted with Enkimdu in a similar way.[341] | |
| Enlilazi | Nippur | Enlilazi was a minor god regarded as the "superintendent of Ekur."[342] | |
| Ennugi | Nippur[343] | Ennugi was a god regarded as "lord of ditch and canal"[344] and "chamberlain of Enlil."[345] Based on similar meaning of the name Gugalanna to the former title, it has been proposed that they might have been analogous.[139] | |
| Enten | Enten is a shepherd deity in the Sumerian poem Enlil Chooses the Farmer-God (ETCSL 5.3.3), which describes how Enlil, hoping "to establish abundance and prosperity", creates two gods: Emesh and Enten, a farmer and a shepherd respectively.[331] The two gods argue and Emesh lays claim to Enten's position.[332] They take the dispute before Enlil, who rules in favor of Enten.[333] The two gods rejoice and reconcile.[333] | ||
| Erra | Kutha[346] | Erra is a warlike god who is associated with pestilence and violence.[347][348] He is the son of the sky-god An[347] and his wife is an obscure, minor goddess named Mami, who is different from the mother goddess with the same name.[347][349] As early as the Akkadian Period, Erra was already associated with Nergal[347][348] and he eventually came to be seen as merely an aspect of him.[347][348] The names came to be used interchangeably.[347] | |
| Erragal Errakal | Erragal, also known as Errakal, is a relatively rarely-attested deity who was usually regarded as a form of Erra,[348] but the two gods are probably of separate origin.[350] He is connected with storms and the destruction caused by them.[349] In An = Anum I 316, Erragal is listed as the husband of the goddess Ninisig and is equated with Nergal.[349] in the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Atra-Hasis Epic, Errakal is said to "tear up the mooring poles", causing the Great Flood.[349] | ||
| Ezina Ashnan | Adab, Lagash, Umma, Ur,[351] Shuruppak[108] | Ezina, or Ashnan in Akkadian,[351] was a goddess of grain.[351] She was commonly associated with Kusu, a goddess of purification.[352] In the Sumerian poem The Dispute between Cattle and Grain, she and Lahar are created by the Anunnaki to provide them with food.[353] They produce large amounts of food,[354] but become drunk with wine and start to quarrel, so Enki and Enlil intervene, declaring Ashnan the victor.[355] | |
| Gareus | Uruk | Gareus was a god introduced to Uruk during late antiquity by the Parthians,[356] who built a small temple to him there in around 100 AD.[356] He was a syncretic deity, combining elements of Greco-Roman and Babylonian cults.[356] | |
| Gazbaba | Gazbaba was a goddess closely associated with Nanaya, like her connected with erotic love.[357] Šurpu describes her as ṣayyaḫatu, "the smiling one," which is likely a reference to the frequent mention of smiles in Akkadian erotic literature.[357] Her name is derived from the Akkadian word kazbu, which can be translated as "sexual attraction."[357] | ||
| Geshtinanna | Nippur, Isin, and Uruk[358] | Geshtinanna was a rural agricultural goddess sometimes associated with dream interpretation.[359] She was the sister of Dumuzid, the god of shepherds.[359] In one myth, she protects her brother when the galla demons come to drag him down to the Underworld by hiding him in successively in four different places.[359] In another myth about Dumuzid's death, she refuses to tell the galla where he is hiding, even after they torture her.[359] The galla eventually take Dumuzid away after he is betrayed by an unnamed "friend",[359] but Inanna decrees that he and Geshtinanna will alternate places every six months, each spending half the year in the Underworld while the other stays in Heaven.[359] While she is in the Underworld, Geshtinanna serves as Ereshkigal's scribe.[359] In Lagash she was regarded as the wife of Ningishzida, and was associated with his symbol, mushussu.[360] According to Julia M. Asher-Greve she was connected in myths to Geshtindudu, another minor goddess, by friendship alone, an uncommon connection between otherwise unrelated Mesopotamian goddesses.[361] | |
| Gibil | Gibil is the deification of fire.[359] According to Jeremy Black and Anthony Green, he "represented fire in all its aspects: as a destructive force and as the burning heat of the Mesopotamian summer; and as a creative force, the fire in the blacksmith's furnace and the fire in the kiln where bricks are baked, and so as a 'founder of cities'."[359] He is traditionally said to be the son of An and Shala,[359] but is sometimes the son of Nusku.[362] | ||
| Gugalanna | Gugalanna is the first husband of Ereshkigal, the queen of the Underworld.[139] His name probably originally meant "canal inspector of An"[139] and he may be merely an alternative name for Ennugi.[139] The son of Ereshkigal and Gugalanna is Ninazu.[139] In Inanna's Descent into the Underworld, Inanna tells the gatekeeper Neti that she is descending to the Underworld to attend the funeral of "Gugalanna, the husband of my elder sister Ereshkigal".[139][363][141] | ||
| Gunura | Gunura was the daughter of Ninisina and thus sister of Damu.[150] She was not associated with other healing goddesses, such as Ninkarrak.[150] | ||
| Ĝatumdug | Lagash[361] | Ĝatumdug was a goddess from the early pantheon of Lagash.[361] While the meaning of her name is unknown, she was described as the city's mother,[364] or its founder.[365] According to inscriptions of Gudea she assigned a lamma (tutelary deity) to him.[25] She was later equated with Bau.[366] | |
| Haya | Umma, Ur, and Kuara.[367] | Haya is the husband of the goddess Nisaba.[123][367] Haya was primarily a god of scribes,[367] but he may have also been associated with grain and agriculture.[367] He also served as a doorkeeper.[367] In some texts, he is identified as the father of the goddess Ninlil.[367] He was worshipped mostly during the Third Dynasty of Ur, when he had temples in the cities of Umma, Ur, and Kuara.[367] In later times, he had a temple in the city of Assur and may have had one in Nineveh.[367] A god named Haya was worshipped at Mari, but this may have been a different deity.[367] | |
| Ḫegir Ḫegirnunna | Girsu[368] | Ḫegir, later known as Ḫegirnunna,[369] was one of the seven deities referred to as "septuplets of Bau" or "seven lukur priestesses of Ningirsu."[370] Her name can be translated as "the maid of the (lofty) way" and refers to a route of processions in Girsu in the state of Lagash.[369] | |
| Hendursaga | Girsu[371] | Hendursaga was a Sumerian god described as "protective god with a friendly face" in inscriptions.[219] He was believed to guard streets and gates at night.[219] King Gudea of Lagash refers to him as the "herald of the land of Sumer" in one inscription.[372] His wife might have originally been Dumuzi-abzu, though later he was regarded as the husband of Ninmug due to syncretism between him and Ishum.[110] | |
| Humhum | Dūr-Šarruku[373] | Humhum was a minor god worshiped in Dūr-Šarruku (also known as Sippar-Aruru) in northern Babylonia.[373] Esarhaddon returned his statue to a temple located there.[373] | |
| Idlurugu Id[374] | Id (modern Hit)[375] | Idlurugu was a god who represent the concept of trial by ordeal, specifically river ordeal. The term i7-lú-ru-gú, "the river that receives man"[376] or "the river which confronts man," could refer both to him and to the procedure.[377] | |
| Igalima | Lagash[378] | Igalima was a son of Bau and Ninĝirsu.[378] In offering lists he appears next to Shulshaga.[379] | |
| Ilaba | Agade[46] | Ilaba was briefly a major deity during the Sargonic period,[46] but seems to have been completely obscure during all other periods of Mesopotamian history.[46] He was closely associated with the kings of the Akkadian Empire.[96] | |
| Ilabrat | Assur,[380] a town near Nuzi[381] | Ilabrat was the sukkal, or personal attendant, of Anu.[59][382] He appears in the myth of Adapa in which he tells Anu that the reason why the south wind does not blow is because Adapa, the priest of Ea in Eridu, has broken its wing.[382] | |
| Ishmekarab | Shamash's temple Ebabbar[383] in Larsa[384] | One of the 11[384] "standing gods of Ebabbar," divine judges assisting Shamash,[383] as well as a member of various Assyrian groups of judge deities.[385] While Akkadian in origin (the name means "he (or she) heard the payer),[383] Ishmekarab also appears in Elamite sources as an assistant of judge god Inshushinak, both in legal documents[383] and in texts about the underworld.[386][387] Ishmekarab's gender is unclear, but Wilfred G. Lambert considered it more likely that this deity was male.[388] | |
| Irnina | Irnina was the goddess of victory.[389] She could function as an independent deity from the court of Ningishzida, but also as a title of major goddesses.[178] | ||
| Isimud | Worshipped with Enki as his sukkal | Isimud, later known as Usmû, was the sukkal, or personal attendant, of Enki.[160] His name is related to the word meaning "having two faces"[160] and he is shown in art with a face on either side of his head.[160] He acts as Enki's messenger in the myths of Enki and Ninhursag and Inanna and Enki.[160] | |
| Ishum | Ishum was a popular, but not very prominent god,[390] who was worshipped from the Early Dynastic Period onwards.[390] In a fragmentary myth, he is described as the son of Shamash and Ninlil,[390] but he was usually the son of Shamash and his wife Aya.[159] The former genealogy was likely the result of confusion between Sud (Ninlil) and Sudag, a title of the sun god's wife.[159] He was a generally benevolent deity, who served as a night watchman and protector.[390] He may be the same god as the Sumerian Hendursaga, because the both of them are said to have been the husband of the goddess Ninmug.[390] He was sometimes associated with the Underworld[390] and was believed to exert a calming influence on Erra, the god of rage and violence.[390] | ||
| Kabta | Kabta was a deity commonly paired with Ninsianna.[391] | ||
| Kakka | Maškan-šarrum[392] | Kakka was the sukkal of both Anu (in Nergal and Ereshkigal)[393] and Anshar (in the god list An = Anum and in Enuma Elish).[394] Kakka is not to be confused with a different unrelated deity named Kakka, known from Mari, who was a healing goddess associated with Ninkarrak[394] and Ninshubur.[291] | |
| Kanisurra | Uruk,[395] Kish[396] | Kanisurra (also Gansurra, Ganisurra)[396] was a goddess from the entourage of Nanaya.[395][397] She was known as bēlet kaššāpāti, "lady of the sorceresses."[395] However, her character and functions remain unclear.[395][397] It has been proposed that her name was originally a term for a location in the netherworld due to its similarity to the Sumerian word ganzer, the entrance to the underworld.[398] In late theological sources she was regarded as Nanaya's hairdresser and one of the two "daughters of Ezida."[399] | |
| Ki | Umma, Lagash[352] | Ki was a Sumerian goddess who was the personification of the earth.[390] In some Sumerian accounts, she is a primordial being who copulates with An to produce a variety of plants.[400] An and Ki collectively were an object of worship in Umma and Lagash in the Ur III period,[352] but the evidence for worship of her is scarce and her name was sometimes written without the dingir sign denoting divinity.[401] A fragmentary late neo-Assyrian god list appears to consider her and another figure regarded as the wife of Anu, Urash, as one and the same, and refers to "Ki-Urash."[402] | |
| Kittum | Bad-Tibira, Rahabu[403] | Kittum was a daughter of Utu and Sherida.[404] Her name means "Truth".[404] | |
| Kus | Kus is a god of herdsmen referenced in the Theogony of Dunnu.[405] | ||
| Kusu | Lagash,[352] Nippur[406] | Kusu was a goddess of purification, commonly invoked in Akkadian šuillakku, a type of prayers asking for help with an individual's problems.[300] She was regarded as the personification of a type of ritual censer.[352] A late text states that "the duck is the bird of Kusu."[407] | |
| Lagamar | Dilbat[408][409] | Lagamar, whose name means "no mercy" in Akkadian[410] was a minor god worshiped in Dilbat[408] as the son of the city's tutelary god, Urash (not to be confused with the earth goddess).[411] He was associated with the underworld.[410] He was also worshiped in Elam, where he was associated with Ishmekarab[411] and the underworld judge Inshushinak.[386][387] | |
| Laguda | Nēmed-Laguda[412] | Laguda was a god associated with the Persian Gulf.[412] He appears in the text Marduk's Address to the Demons, according to which he exalted the eponymous god in the "lower sea."[413] He could be associated with other deities with marine associations, such as Sirsir and Lugal'abba.[413] | |
| Lahar | Lahar was a god associated with sheep.[414] Research shows that he was usually regarded as a male deity,[415] though he was initially interpreted as a goddess in Samuel Noah Kramer's translations.[415] In the poem The Dispute between Cattle and Grain, Lahar and Ashnan are created by the Anunnaki to provide them with food.[353] They produce large amounts of food,[354] but become drunk with wine and start to quarrel, so Enki and Enlil intervene, declaring Ashnan the victor.[355] | ||
| Laṣ | Kutha,[416] Lagaba[417] | Laṣ was one of the goddesses who could be regarded as the wife of Nergal.[416] In Babylonia, she became the goddess most commonly identified as such starting with the reign of Kurigalzu II.[418] In Assyria, an analogous phenomenon is attested from the reign of Tiglath-Pileser III onward.[418] In the Old Babylonian period, Nergal's wife was usually Mammitum.[419] Wilfred G. Lambert proposed that Laṣ was a goddess of healing, as an explanatory version of the Weidner god list equates her with Bau, while other similar documents place her in the proximity of Gula, who were both regarded as such.[419] | |
| Lisin | Adab and Kesh[293] | Lisin and her brother Ashgi were worshipped in Adab and Kesh.[293] Her husband was the god Ninsikila.[293] In Sumerian times, Lisin was viewed as a mother goddess.[293] She is identified with the star α Scorpionis.[293] Later, Ninsikila's and Lisin's genders were swapped.[420] | |
| Lugala'abba | Nippur[421] | Lugala'abba ("Lord of the Sea"[422]) was a god associated both with the sea and with the underworld.[423] | |
| Lugalbanda | Uruk, Nippur, and Kuara[424] | Lugalbanda was an early legendary king of the Sumerian city-state of Uruk, who was later declared to be a god.[424] He is the husband of the goddess Ninsun and the father of the mortal hero Gilgamesh.[424] He is mentioned as a god alongside Ninsun in a list of deities as early as the Early Dynastic Period.[424] A brief fragment of a myth about him from this same time period is also preserved.[424] During the Third Dynasty of Ur, all the kings would offer sacrifices to Lugalbanda as a god in the holy city of Nippur.[424] Two epic poems about Lugalbanda describe him successfully crossing dangerous mountains alone, though hindered by severe illness.[424] The Sumerian King List makes him a shepherd, who reigned for 1,200 years.[424] He has a close relationship with the goddess Inanna.[424] | |
| Lugal-irra and Meslamta-ea | Kisiga[424] | Lugal-irra and Meslamta-ea are a set of twin gods who were worshipped in the village of Kisiga, located in northern Babylonia.[424] They were regarded as guardians of doorways[425] and they may have originally been envisioned as a set of twins guarding the gates of the Underworld, who chopped the dead into pieces as they passed through the gates.[426] During the Neo-Assyrian period, small depictions of them would be buried at entrances,[425] with Lugal-irra always on the left and Meslamta-ea always on the right.[425] They are identical and are shown wearing horned caps and each holding an axe and a mace.[425] They are identified with the constellation Gemini, which is named after them.[425] | |
| Lulal Latarak | Bad-tibira[427][428] | Lulal, also known as Latarak in Akkadian,[428] was a god closely associated with Inanna,[427] but their relationship is unclear and ambiguous.[427] He appears in Inanna's Descent into the Underworld.[427] He seems to have primarily been a warrior-god,[427] but he was also associated with domesticated animals.[427] One hymn calls him the "master of the open country."[428] | |
| Lumma | Nippur and Umma[429] | Reading of the theonym LUM-ma is unclear.[430] The god bearing it was regarded as a guardian (udug) of Ekur, Enlil's temple in Nippur,[431] or as an underworld demon (gallû).[431] Gianni Marchesi describes him as "gendarme demon par excellence."[431] He was regarded as a figure of low rank, serving under other deities,[431] but nonetheless capable of rewarding righteousness.[431] The goddess Ninmug was his mother according to the text of a Sumerian lamentation.[429] It has been proposed that he was originally a deified human ruler.[342] Similar origin has been proposed for a number of other gods of similar character, such as Ḫadaniš (who shares his name with a king of Hamazi)[342] | |
| Mami Mama | Mami or Mama is a mother goddess whose name means "mother".[84] She may be the same goddess as Ninhursag.[84] | ||
| Mammitum | Kutha[416] | Mammitum was one of the goddesses who could be identified as the wife of Nergal.[416] In the Old Babylonian period, she is the best attested among them.[419] It is possible she was originally the wife of Erra rather than Nergal, and was only introduced to Kutha alongside him.[416] Her name might mean "oath" or "frost" (based on similarity to the Akkadian word mammû, "ice" or "frost").[432] As her name is homophonous with Mami, a goddess of birth or "divine midwife,"[433] some researchers assume they are one and the same.[416] However, it has been proven that they were separate deities,[433] | |
| Mamu | Sippar[434] | Mamu or Mamud was the daughter of Aya and Shamash,[435] worshiped in Sippar.[434] She was the goddess of dreams.[290] Her husband was Bunene.[288] | |
| Mandanu | Babylon, Kish[343] | Mandanu was a divine judge, attested after the Old Babylonian period, but absent from older god lists such as the so-called Weidner and Nippur lists.[436] According to assyriologist Manfred Krebernik he can be considered a personification of places of judgment.[436] He belonged to the circle of deities associated with Marduk.[437] | |
| Manzat | Der[438] | Manzat ("Rainbow") was the Akkadian goddess of the rainbow.[439] She was worshiped in Der,[438] and was sometimes viewed as the wife of the city's tutelary god, Ishtaran.[177] Her titles, such as "Lady of regulations of heaven" and "Companion of heaven" highlighted her astral character,[439] though she was also associated with prosperity of cities.[440] Outside Mesopotamia she was also worshiped in Elam, where she was possibly regarded as the wife of Simut.[440] | |
| Martu Amurru | Babylon,[441] Assur[442] | Martu, in Akkadian known as Amurru, was the divine personification of the nomads who began to appear on the edges of the Mesopotamian world in the middle of the third millennium BC, initially from the west, but later from the east as well.[443] He was described as a deity who "rages over the land like a storm".[443] One myth describes how the daughter of the god Numušda insists on marrying Martu, despite his unattractive habits.[444] In Old Babylonian and Kassite art, Amurru is shown as a god dressed in long robes and carrying a scimitar or a shepherd's crook.[5] | |
| Misharu | Misharu ("justice") was a son of Adad and Shala.[445] His wife was Ishartu ("righteousness").[445] | ||
| Nanibgal | Eresh[446] | Nanibgal was initially a title or alternate name of Nisaba, but eventually developed into a distinct goddess attested in the god list An = Anum and in a number of rituals.[220] She had her own spouse, Ennugi, and own distinct role as a courtier of Ninlil.[220] | |
| Nimintabba | Ur[447] | Nimintabba was a minor goddess who belonged to the entourage of Nanna, the tutelary god of Ur.[447] She had a temple in Ur during the reign of king Shulgi.[447] It is possible she was initially a deity of greater theological importance, but declined with time.[448] | |
| Nindara | Girsu,[446] Ki'eša[449] | Nindara was the husband of Nanshe.[450] | |
| Ninegal Belet Ekallim[451] | Nippur,[451] Umma,[452] Lagash,[452] Dilbat[300][453] | Ninegal or Ninegalla, known in Akkadian as Belet Ekallim[451] (both meaning "lady of the palace")[454] was a minor[455] goddess regarded as a tutelary deity of palaces of kings and other high-ranking officials.[455] She was the wife of Urash, the city god of Dilbat,[300] and was worshiped alongside him and their son Lagamar in some locations.[453] "Ninegal" could also function as an epithet of other deities, especially Inanna,[452] but also Nungal.[456] Outside Mesopotamia she was popular in Qatna, where she served as the tutelary goddess of the city.[453] | |
| Ningal Nikkal[457] | Ekišnuĝal temple in Ur[458] and Harran[457] | Ningal ("great queen"[459]), later known by the corrupted form Nikkal, was the wife of Nanna-Suen, the god of the moon, and the mother of Utu, the god of the sun.[457] Though she was worshiped in all periods of ancient Mesopotamian history, her role is described as "passive and supportive" by researchers.[459] | |
| Ningikuga | Ur[460] | Ningikuga is a goddess of reeds and marshes.[461] Her name means "Lady of the Pure Reed".[461] She is the daughter of Anu and Nammu[461] and one of the many consorts of Enki.[461] | |
| Ningirida | Ningirida was the wife of Ninazu and mother of Ningishzida and his two sisters.[274] A passage describing Ningirida taking care of baby Ningishzida is regarded as one of the only references to deities in their infancy and to goddesses breastfeeding in Mesopotamian literature.[462] | ||
| Ninhegal | Sippar | Ninhegal was a goddess of abundance worshiped in Sippar.[434] It is possible she can be identified as the goddess depicted with streams of water on seals from that city.[434] | |
| Ninimma | Nippur[406] | Ninimma was a courtier of Enlil regarded as his scribe and sometimes as the nurse of his children.[463][462] Like other goddesses from Enlil's circle she had a temple in Nippur.[406] In the myth Enki and Ninmah she's one of the seven birth goddesses,[464] the other 6 being Shuzianna, Ninmada, Ninshar, Ninmug, Mumudu and Ninniginna.[465] Her husband was Guškinbanda,[466] called "Ea of the goldsmith" in an explanatory text.[463] Occasional references to Ninimma as a male deity are also known,[467] and in this context he was called "Ea of the scribe."[463] | |
| Ninkilim | Ninkilim was a deity who was associated with mongooses, which are common throughout southern Mesopotamia.[468] According to a Babylonian popular saying, when a mouse fled from a mongoose into a serpent's hole, it announced, "I bring you greetings from the snake-charmer!"[468] A creature resembling a mongoose also appears in Old Babylonian glyptic art,[468] but its significance is not known.[468] | ||
| Ningirima | Muru,[469] Girima near Uruk[470] | Ningirama was a goddess[470] associated with incantations, water, and fish,[470] and who was invoked for protection against snakes.[468] It has been argued that she was conflated with Ningilin, the deity of mongooses, at an early date,[468] but she is a distinct deity as late as during the reign of Esarhaddon.[471] | |
| Ningishzida | Lagash[472] | Ningishzida is a god who normally lives in the Underworld.[457] He is the son of Ninazu and his name may be etymologically derived from a phrase meaning "Lord of the Good Tree".[457] In the Sumerian poem, The Death of Gilgamesh, the hero Gilgamesh dies and meets Ningishzida, along with Dumuzid, in the Underworld.[472] Gudea, the Sumerian king of the city-state of Lagash, revered Ningishzida as his personal protector.[472] In the myth of Adapa, Dumuzid and Ningishzida are described as guarding the gates of the highest Heaven.[473] Ningishzida was associated with the constellation Hydra.[107] | |
| Ningublaga | Kiabrig,[474] Ur,[475] Larsa[476] | Ningublaga was associated with cattle.[477] He was believed to oversee the herds belonging to the moon god Nanna.[478] Consumption of beef was regarded as taboo to him.[477] He also had an apotropaic role, and appears in many incantations, for example against scorpion bite.[477] | |
| Ninigizibara | Umma,[479] Uruk[480] | Ninigizibara was a deified harp who could be regarded as an advisor of Inanna.[479] | |
| Ninkasi | Shuruppak,[108] Nippur[406] | Ninkasi was the goddess of beer.[420] She was associated with Širaš, the goddess of brewing.[481] In one hymn her parents are said to be Enki and Ninti,[481] though it also states she was raised by Ninhursag.[481] Sometimes Ninkasi was viewed as a male deity.[420] In the so-called Weidner god list, Ninkasi appears among chthonic deities alongside the prison goddess Nungal.[482] | |
| Ninkurra | Ninkurra is the daughter of Enki and Ninsar.[483] After having sex with her father Enki, Ninkurra gave birth to Uttu, the goddess of weaving and vegetation.[483] | ||
| Ninmada | Ninmada was a god regarded as a brother of Ninazu,[178] who was described as a snake charmer in the service of An or Enlil.[178] A goddess bearing the same name appears among the assistants of Ninmah in the myth Enki and Ninmah.[465] | ||
| Nin-MAR.KI Ninmar?[484] | Ḫurim,[485] Guabba,[486] Lagash[361] | Nin-MAR.KI (reading uncertain) was the daughter of Nanshe.[360] | |
| Ninmena | Utab[487] | Ninmena was a Sumerian goddess of birth[488] whose name means "Lady of the Crown".[84][433] Although syncretised with more prominent similar goddesses (like Ninhursag) in literary texts, she never fully merged with them in Sumerian tradition.[489] | |
| Ninmug | Kisiga,[490] Shuruppak[108] | Ninmug was the tutelary goddess of metal workers.[491] She was the wife of the god Ishum, and by extension also of Hendursaga in later periods.[110] | |
| Ninpumuna | Ur, Puzrish-Dagan,[492] possibly Gishbanda[493] | Ninpumuna was the goddess of salt springs.[494] She is only attested in texts from Ur and Puzrish-Dagan from the Ur III period,[492] though it is also possible that she was worshiped in Gishbanda.[493] | |
| Ninšar Ninnisig?[495] | Nippur,[496] Shuruppak[108] | The reading of the name of this goddess, NIN.SAR (possibly to be understood as "Lady Herbs"), is uncertain,[490] with Ninšar being favored by authors such as Andrew R. George[496] and Wilfred G. Lambert, while Antonie Cavigneaux and Martin Krebernik argue Ninnisig is more likely to be correct.[495] She belonged to the court of Enlil and was regarded as his personal butcher.[497] Her husband was Erragal.[349] In the myth Enki and Ninmah, she appears as one of the seven assistants of the eponymous goddess.[465] | |
| Ninsianna | É-ešbarzida temple in Ur and other temples in Sippar, Larsa, and Uruk[498] | Ninsianna was the deity of the planet Venus.[498] Ninsiana's gender varied depending on location.[51] She is described in one text as the "holy torch who fills the heavens"[498] and was frequently associated with haruspicy.[498] Her worship is first attested during the Third Dynasty of Ur and she continued to be venerated until the Seleucid Period (312 BC – 63 BC).[498] She was sometimes regarded as the astral aspect of Inanna,[456] but in Isin she was instead associated with Ninisina[499] and in Larsa Ninsianna and Inanna were separate goddesses.[51] She was also sometimes associated with the Elamite astral goddess Pinikir.[500] | |
| Ninsikila | Ninsikila was the husband of the goddess Lisin.[293] Later their genders were switched around,[420] possibly due to confusion between the male Mesopotamian Ninsikila and a similarly named goddess from Dilmun.[501] | ||
| Ninsun | Uruk[123] | Ninsun was a goddess whose name can be understood as "lady of the wild cows."[502] She was the divine consort of Lugalbanda, the deified king of Uruk, and the mother of the hero Gilgamesh.[207] | |
| Nintu | Nintu is a Sumerian mother goddess associated with childbirth.[503] Her name literally means "Lady of Birth".[84] She may just be an aspect of Ninhursag.[84] | ||
| Nirah | Der[162] | Nirah was the messenger of the god Ištaran.[162] He was identified with snakes[162] and may appear in the form of a snake on kudurrus.[162] | |
| Numushda | Kazallu,[504] Kiritab[505] | Numushda was a god who was associated with the city of Kazallu.[504] His worship is attested from the Early Dynastic Period,[504] but his cult seems to have ceased at the end of the Old Babylonian Period.[504] He was believed to be the son of the moon-god Nanna and may have been regarded as a storm deity.[504] In the myth of The Marriage of Martu, Numushda's unnamed daughter insists on marrying the nomadic desert god Martu, despite his unattractive lifestyle.[504] | |
| Nungal Manungal | Ekur temple in Nippur,[504] Lagash, Sippar, Dilbat[315] | Nungal, also known as Manungal,[506] was the goddess of prisons,[499] also associated with the death penalty.[507] Her name means "great prince(ss)" in Sumerian.[499] She is rarely attested in literary compositions.[508] In the so-called Weidner god list she appears among chthonic deities,[482] and she was sometimes referred to with the epithet Ninkurra, "lady of the underworld."[508] According to one hymn her mother was Ereshkigal.[508] Her husband was the god Birtum.[504] The name Ninegal was sometimes used as her epithet,[506] and it is possible in Dilbat she and the distinct goddess Ninegal were regarded as analogous.[509] | |
| Nunusdug | Kisiga | Nunusdug was a minor goddess from the city of Kisiga, attested only in the Early Dynastic period.[510] Her name means "good woman."[510] | |
| Nusku | Nippur,[511] Harran[504] | Nusku is the god of fire and light.[504] He was the son and minister of Enlil.[504] The god Gibil is sometimes described as his son.[504] Nusku's main symbol was a lit oil lamp.[504] He was a member of a group of deities that were worshipped in Harran during the Neo-Assyrian Period by the predominately Old Aramaic-speaking population there.[504] | |
| Pabilsaĝ | Isin, Nippur, and Larag[19] | Pabilshag was a god whose worship is attested from the Early Dynastic Period onwards.[19] He was believed to be the son of Enlil and the husband of Ninisina, the patron goddess of Isin.[19] In some texts, he is identified with Ninurta or Ningirsu.[19] One Sumerian poem describes Pabilsag's journey to Nippur.[19] Pabilsag was believed to be the constellation Sagittarius.[19] | |
| Panigingarra | Adab[512] | Panigingarra was a god worshiped in Adab who was the son of Ninhursag and Shulpa'e.[513] One inscription calls him the "lord of kudurru."[513] In late sources he was syncretised with Ninurta.[513] He appears in a poorly preserved myth, Urash and Marduk.[514] | |
| Sadarnunna | Nippur[480] | Sadarnunna was the wife of Nuska.[480] | |
| Sarpanit | Esagil in Babylon[280] | Sarpanit was the wife of Marduk.[51] Her name was most likely derived from Sarpan, a village near Babylon, which in a myth about her marriage to Marduk was given to her by her father Enlil.[238] | |
| Šarrāḫītu | Babylon, Uruk[515] | Šarrāḫītu ("The glorified one"[218]) was a goddess worshiped in Babylon during the reign of Esarhaddon and later in Uruk.[515] She was identified with Ashratum, the wife of Amurru,[267] and a late esoteric text explains her name asAšrat aḫītu, "Ashratum, the foreigner."[516] In Uruk she was associated with Belet-Seri.[218] | |
| Šarrat-Dēri | Der[162] | Šarrat-Dēri was the wife of Ištaran, the local god of the Sumerian city-state of Der.[162] Her name means "Queen of Der".[162] | |
| Šerua | Assur[517] | Šerua was an Assyrian goddess associated with Ashur.[80] She was the only deity regarded as related to him for reasons other than syncretism with Enlil,[80] but Assyrian theological treatises disputed if she was his wife or daughter.[80] She should not be confused with Erua, an epithet of Sarpanit.[80] | |
| Shala Medimsha[445] | Karkar[438] | Shala, also known as Medimsha[445] ("having beautiful limbs")[174] was the wife of the weather god Adad.[438] She was a goddess of rain, and was often depicted naked on cylinder seals.[174] | |
| Shara | Umma,[518] possibly Tell Agrab[298] | Shara was a local deity associated with the city of Umma, where his main temple was the E-mah.[298] A fragment of a stone bowl inscribed with his name discovered in the rubbish dump at Tell Agrab, northeast of Babylon, indicates that he may have also been worshipped there.[298] He was also a warrior god and is referred to as a "hero of An".[298] In the Babylonian myth of Anzû, Shara is one of the warrior gods who is asked to retrieve the Tablet of Destinies, but refuses.[298] In Inanna's Descent into the Underworld, Shara is one of the three deities who come to greet her upon her return.[298] In the myth of Lugalbanda and in a single building inscription from the Third Dynasty of Ur, Shara is described as Inanna's "son",[298] a tradition which runs directly contrary to the usual portrayal of Inanna as youthful and without offspring.[94] | |
| Šubula | Ṣupur-Šubula[519] | Šubula was a minor god most likely associated with the underworld.[520] It is assumed that the name is etymologically connected with the Akkadian word ābalu(m), "to dry" or "to be dry."[521] A less likely proposal instead derives it from wābalu(m), "to carry."[522] It is sometimes assumed he was Nergal's son.[306] It has been argued that such a connection could be a reflection of the location of his cult center, Ṣupur-Šubula, in the proximity of Nergal's city, Kutha.[519] However, as noted by Jeremiah Peterson, it is unclear if the god list An = Anum, usually used to support this theory, recognizes him as Nergal's son, as the corresponding section contains a lacuna.[521] Another possible restoration would instead make him the son of Ishum.[521] | |
| Shullat and Hanish | Shullat and Hanish were a pair of gods regarded as twins, and usually mentioned together.[523] In tablet XI of the Epic of Gilgamesh both of them appear in association with Adad.[524] Their character was regarded as destructive.[524] They could be associated with Adad, either alone, alongside Shamash, or deities from his circle like Misharu and Uṣur-amāssu.[525] Shulgi of Ur built a temple dedicated to them, but its location is unknown.[526] | ||
| Shulshaga Shulshagana | Lagash[378] | Šulšagana is the son of Bau and Ninĝirsu.[378] | |
| Shulpa'e | Shulpa-e's name means "youthful brilliance",[298] but he was not envisioned as youthful god.[298] According to one tradition, he was the consort of Ninhursag, a tradition which contradicts the usual portrayal of Enki as Ninhursag's consort in myths.[298][527] In one Sumerian poem, offerings are made to Shulpa'e in the Underworld[298] and, in later sources, he was one of the demons of the Underworld.[298] No less than ten temples of Shulpa'e are listed in the so-called Canonical Temple List, but their names and locations are not preserved.[526] | ||
| Shul-utula | Girsu, Lagash[528] | Shul-utul was the tutelary god of the dynasty started by Ur-Nanshe.[529] | |
| Shuzianna | Nippur[110] | Shuzianna was a goddess regarded as the second wife of Enlil.[110] She also appears in the myth Enki and Ninmah, where she is one of the seven assistants of the eponymous goddess, alongside Ninimma, Ninmada, Ninšar, Ninmug, Mumudu and Ninnigina.[465] She could also be addressed as a daughter of Enmesharra.[259] | |
| Sirsir | Sirsir was the god of sailors.[413] In the text Marduk's Address to the Demons he appears alongside Laguda, also argued to be a god associated with the sea.[413] | ||
| Šiduri | Siduri (or more accurately Šiduri[530]) was a goddess who according to the Epic of Gilgamesh was believed to keep an alehouse at the edge of the world.[527] In the Old Babylonian versions, she attempts to dissuade Gilgamesh from his quest for immortality,[531] instead urging him to be content with the simple pleasures in life.[531] The origin of her name is uncertain.[530] A personal name understood as "she is my rampart" is attested in Mesopotamian sources from the reign of Third Dynasty of Ur, but the word Šiduri functioned as epithet of deities in Hurrian texts as well.[530] Šurpu regards her as a deity connected with wisdom.[530] | ||
| Silili | Silili is an obscure goddess who was apparently the mother of all horses.[527] She is only attested once in the Epic of Gilgamesh.[527] | ||
| Sumugan Šakkan[532] | Sumugan (also spelled Sumuqan) or Šakkan was a god associated with quadrupeds,[532] especially donkeys[533] or alternatively wild sheep.[534] In literary texts (such as hymns) he was also tasked with caring for their habitat and plants growing there.[534] In some texts his epithet is "shepherd of everything."[415] He was sometimes associated with Utu/Shamash, as his son or courtier.[534] His attribute was likely fleece.[535] In some sources Enkidu was compared with him.[535] | ||
| Tadmuštum Dadamušda[536] | Kutha[536] | Tadmuštum was the daughter of Nergal.[416] She could be regarded as the wife of Šubula, and like him appears among underworld deities in known sources.[520] | |
| Tashmetu | Kalhu[537] | In Assyrian mythology, Tashmetu is the divine consort of Nabu, the god of scribes and wisdom;[537] in Babylonian mythology, this role is instead assigned to the goddess Nanaya.[537] Tashmetu is associated with wisdom and sexual attractiveness, a quality which she shares with Inanna and Nanaya.[537] A poetic composition from the Library of Ashurbanipal describes how, in one ritual, Nabu and Tashmetu's statues would be brought together for a "marriage ceremony".[537] One extant letter describes how, after their wedding, Tashmetu and Nabu stayed in the bedchamber for six days and seven nights, during which time they were served an elaborate feast.[537] Tashmetu is attested relatively late[537] and is not mentioned in texts prior to the Old Babylonian Period.[537] | |
| Tutu | Borsippa[538] | Tutu was the tutelary god of Borsippa at least between Ur III[539] and Old Babylonian periods.[540] Later he was syncretised with Marduk, and in Enuma Elish "Tutu" is simply one of the names of the latter god.[541] | |
| Uraš | Nippur[300] | Uraš is the earliest attested consort of Anu, as evidenced by Sumerian texts dating to the third millennium BCE.[52][59] Her role as Anu's consort was later ascribed to Ki, the personification of the earth.[52][59] | |
| Uraš | Dilbat[542] | While in texts from cities such as Nippur Uraš was an earth goddess, in Dilbat it was the name of an unrelated male god, husband of Ninegal, who served as the city's tutelary deity.[300] He was regarded as the father of Lagamar.[411] | |
| Urkitum Urkayītu[501] | Uruk[501] | Urkitum was in origin an epithet of Ishtar meaning "the Urukean," who eventually developed into a separate goddess.[543] It is possible she was a theos eponymos, a divine representation of the city of Uruk itself.[278] She was closely associated with Uṣur-amāssu.[501] | |
| Uṣur-amāssu | Uruk[544] | Uṣur-amāssu was one of the deities regarded as children of Adad and Shala.[445] While initially viewed as male, she came to be regarded as a goddess and achieved a degree of prominence in Neo-Babylonian Uruk, where she belonged to the entourage of Ishtar.[545] | |
| Uttu | Babylon[546] | Uttu was the goddess of weaving.[91] Her name was a term for a part of a loom and a cognate of the Sumerian verb tuku, "weaving."[546] While the claim that her name means "spider"[91] and that she was envisioned as a spider spinning a web[91] can be found in a number of publications, recent research shows that association between Uttu and spiders is limited to a single text (a hemerology), which connects her Sumerian name with the Akkadian word uttutu (spider).[546] She was worshiped in E-ešgar ("house of work assignment), part of the Esagil temple complex in Babylon.[546] She appears in the early myth Enki and Ninhursag,[546] in which she resists the sexual advances of her father Enki[547] but he convinces her to let him in using a gift of fresh produce and the promise that he will marry her.[547] Enki then intoxicates her with beer and rapes her.[547] She is rescued by Enki's wife Ninhursag,[547] who removes Enki's semen from her vagina and plants it in the ground, resulting in the growth of eight new plants, which Enki later eats.[547] She also appears in the myth Enki and the World Order and in Debate between Sheep and Grain.[548] | |
| Wer Mer, Ber, Iluwer | Wer was a weather god worshiped chiefly in northern Babylonia and in Assyria.[549] He appears in an Old Babylonian version of the Epic of Gilgamesh, which states that the cedar mountain belonged to him,[550] and that he appointed Humbaba as its guardian.[551] He is most likely not the same deity as Itūr-Mēr from Mari, assumed to be a deified hero in origin.[552] |
Monsters and apotropaic spirits edit
| Name | Image | Associated god(s) | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anzû Imdugud | Ninurta[553] | Imdugud, later known as Anzû, is an enormous bird-like monster with the head of a lion described as so huge that the flapping of its wings was thought to be the cause of sandstorms and whirlwinds.[553] Imdugud probably originated as the personification of atmospheric fog.[553] In some descriptions, he has a "beak like a saw", indicating that he sometimes had the head of a bird.[553] In Sumerian mythology, Imdugud steals the sacred mes (the clay tablets recording all the aspects of civilization) from Enki.[553] In Akkadian mythology, he steals the Tablet of Destinies from Enlil.[553] In both stories, the creature is challenged by Ninurta, who defeats him and returns the stolen property to its rightful owner.[553] In the Sumerian story of Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld, Imdugud is one of several creatures that come to inhabit the huluppu tree planted by Inanna[554][555][556] and is driven off by the hero Gilgamesh.[555][556] | |
| Bašmu | Ereshkigal, Ninazu, Ningishzida, Tishpak;[557] Ishara[558] | Bašmu ("venomous snake") was a mythical horned snake who played an apotropaic role in Mesopotamian religion.[559] While in some contexts its name can be a generic word designating any mythical snake or dragon, as early as in Gudea's inscriptions it was also understood as a specific creature.[560] Some texts indicate that bašmu possessed forelegs.[561] A largely analogous creature was the muššàtùr, depicted as a horned cobra.[562] | |
| Bull of Heaven | The Bull of Heaven is a mythical beast that Ishtar demands from her father Anu in both the Sumerian poem Gilgamesh and the Bull of Heaven and in Tablet VI of the Standard Akkadian Epic of Gilgamesh after Gilgamesh repudiates her sexual advances.[563] Anu gives it to her and she unleashes it on the world, causing mass destruction.[563] Gilgamesh and Enkidu eventually slay the bull.[563] The Bull of Heaven is identified with the constellation Taurus[563] and the reason why Enkidu hurls the bull's thigh at Ishtar in the Epic of Gilgamesh after defeating it may be an effort to explain why the constellation seems to be missing its hind quarters.[563] | ||
| Girtablullu | Utu/Shamash[564] | Girtablullu were creatures with the upper body of a human (lu-ulu, "untamed man") and the lower body of a scorpion (gir-tab) believed to serve the sun god Utu in Sumerian mythology, and later his Akkadian counterpart Shamash.[564] In the Epic of Gilgamesh a scorpionman and a scorpionwoman guard the gate through which the sun rises and sets each day, but it is likely this motif existed earlier independently from this myth.[564] Unlike most other apotropaic creatures, a male girtablullu was also often accompanied by his feminine counterpart in apotropaic rituals.[564] | |
| Hanbi | Hanbi is the father of the demon-god Pazuzu.[565] | ||
| Humbaba Huwawa[566] | Humbaba (also Huwawa, Huppipi, Hubbubu[567]) was a monster residing in the Cedar Forest defeated by Gilgamesh and Enkidu in the Epic of Gilgamesh.[568] Sculptures of Humbaba's head are attested in an apotropaic role from Mesopotamian temples.[568] Humbaba was commonly referenced in omen texts, which highlighted his unusual appearance.[569] His face was frequently compared to entrails of sacrificial animals.[373] While connections to the minor god Humhum from northern Babylonia, to Elamite god Humban and to Combabos mentioned by Lucian of Samosata have been proposed in scholarship, they are not regarded as plausible.[502] | ||
| Kilili | Ishtar[570] | Kilili was a demon or minor goddess who served as a messenger of Ishtar.[570] | |
| Kingaludda | Kingaludda was a demon whose name means "director of the storm."[571] In the god list An = Anum he is described as ilu lemnu, "evil god,"[571] and his name was written with the divine determinative.[571] He appears in a lamentation from Ur.[571] | ||
| Kulullû | Enki/Ea[572] | Kulullu ("fish man") was an apotropaic creature depicted a centaur-like fish-man.[573] In one text it hads the head of a kissugu, a creature whose identity is currently unknown, rather than a human.[572] Kulullu was described as a servant of Ea who carries a vessel from which it could pour a liquid symbolizing abundance and prosperity.[572] In Kalhu a pair of kulullu statues (one male and one female) guarded the temple of Nabu.[572] | |
| Kusarikku | Utu/Shamash[574] | Kusarikku ("bison man") was a creature depicted as a human-faced bison standing on its hind legs,[575] associated with the sun god Utu.[574] Depictions of kusarikku alongside lahmu were sometimes incorrectly interpreted as Enkidu and Gilgamesh respectively in the past.[576] | |
| Lahmu | Enki/Ea;[577] Marduk[578] | Lahmu ("hairy one") was a type of apotropaic creature.[579] He was originally associated with Enki and later with Marduk.[578] On cylinder seals Lahmu was sometimes depicted as a fisherman.[580] In mythical texts, the god Enki/Ea is sometimes said to have 50 lahmu serving him.[580] During the Neo-Assyrian Period (911 BC – 609 BC), figurines of Lahmu, who is depicted with long hair and a long, curled beard, were placed under the foundations of houses and temples to protect against demons and pestilence.[578] Lahmu is closely associated with the kusarikku or "bull-man".[578] In the Babylonian Enûma Eliš, a singular Lahmu and his consort Lahamu (whose name is derived from the same root) are a primordial couple.[578] | |
| Lamashtu | Lamashtu was a goddess with the "head of a lion, the teeth of a donkey, naked breasts, a hairy body, hands stained (with blood?), long fingers and fingernails, and the feet of Anzû."[427] She was believed to feed on the blood of human infants[427] and was widely blamed as the cause of miscarriages and cot deaths.[427] Although Lamashtu has traditionally been identified as a demoness,[581] the fact that she could cause evil on her own without the permission of other deities strongly indicates that she was seen as a goddess in her own right.[427] Mesopotamian peoples protected against her using amulets and talismans.[427] She was believed to ride in her boat on the river of the Underworld[427] and she was associated with donkeys.[427] She was believed to be the daughter of An.[427] | ||
| Mušḫuššu | Ninazu, Ningishzida; Tishpak; Marduk, Nabu; Ashur[201] | Mušḫuššu ("furious snake" or "aweful snake") was a dragon-like creature (sometimes a lion-dragon hybrid), depicted as a servant of various gods in Mesopotamian art.[562] It was originally associated with Ninazu and, by extension, with his son Ningishzida (in Lagash); after Tishpak replaced Ninazu as the city god of Eshnunna he also started to be associated with his serpentine symbolic animals.[201] In the Middle Babylonian period Marduk started to be associated with the mušḫuššu, possibly in reflection of Hammurabi's conquest of Eshnunna; his son Nabu was later associated with it too.[582] Marduk's association with it was in turn transferred to Ashur after Sennacherib's destruction of Babylon.[582] The apotropaic use of its depictions was likely connected to the belief that it served as a fearless protector of its divine masters, fighting evil on their behalf.[582] | |
| Pazuzu | Pazuzu is a demonic god who was well known to the Babylonians and Assyrians throughout the first millennium BC.[19] He is shown with "a rather canine face with abnormally bulging eyes, a scaly body, a snake-headed penis, the talons of a bird and usually wings."[19] He was believed to be the son of the god Hanbi.[565] He was a beneficent entity who protected against winds bearing pestilence[19] and he was thought to be able to force Lamashtu back to the Underworld.[583] Amulets bearing his image were positioned in dwellings to protect infants from Lamashtu[565] and pregnant women frequently wore amulets with his head on them as protection from her.[565] Ironically, Pazuzu appears in The Exorcist films as the demon that possesses the little girl, Regan MacNeil.[565] | ||
| Sebitti | Nergal,[584] Narundi[585] | A group of 7 anthropomorphic[586] figures variously described as servants of Nergal, as sons of Enmesharra, as gods of foreign nation (Elam, Gutium, etc.) or as astral or atmosphetic spirits serving the gods, or as a combination of some of the above.[585] The Elamite goddess Narundi was regarded as their sister in Mesopotamia.[585] While destructive, the Sebitti weren't necessarily regarded as evil.[587] They played an apotropaic role, appearing for example in rituals meant to protect houses from demons.[585] In apotropaic contexts they were described as armed with hatchets.[588] A possibly analogous group, additionally identified with the Pleiades, is described as Inanna's "seven-headed mace" in one text.[586] | |
| Suhurmašu | Enki/Ea[572] | Suhurmašu was a creature likely imagined simply as a type of fish by the Sumerians, but as a fish-goat hybrid by the Akkadians.[589] A Sumerian text refers to it as "the lofty purification priest of the Apsu," and in apotropaic rituals it was associated with exorcisms.[589] It was also used to symbolically represent Ea on kudurru.[589] Unlike many other apotropaic creatures, it doesn't appear as a member of Tiamat's army defeated by Marduk in Enuma Elish, which might indicate it was viewed as more peaceful than other similar beings.[589] | |
| Ugallu | Ishkur/Adad[590] | Ugallu ("big day" or "big weather beast") was a class of beings in Mesopotamian mythology, attested after the Ur III period.[582] The term ugallu could refer to multiple types of creatures,[582] and both benevolent and malevolent character was assigned to them in various texts.[591] Ugallu was depicted as a "lion demon," with the body of a man, head of a lion and bird-like claws.[591] This class of beings was likely viewed as enforcers of divine will.[592] Due to their fearsome characters they were viewed as a source of protection as well, and as such appear on apotropaic amulets.[593] Similar leonine creatures were sometimes depicted or described as servings the gods (notably Ishkur, Ishtar, Marduk and Ninurta) as mounts or pulling their chariots.[592] | |
| Uridimmu | Marduk and Sarpanit[594] | Uridimmu ("mad dog" or "mad lion") was an apotropaic creature in Mesopotamian mythology.[593] Next to nothing is known about its history prior the Middle Babylonian period, but in texts from this era it was associated with Marduk and his wife Sarpanit, and was believed to serve as their gatekeeper.[595] An apotropaic ritual involving a figurine of uridimmu made from cedar wood prescribes praying to Marduk and Sarpanit to bestow healing powers upon the representation of the creature, and describes it as their faithful servant capable of interceding with them on behalf of humans.[594] The ritual also states that Sarpanit makes the uridimmu well disposed towards the patient treated with apotropaic magic.[595] | |
| Urmahlullu | Urmahlullu was an apotrapaic creature with the lower body of a lion and upper body of a man, attested mostly in Assyria.[596] Depictions are late (13th century BCE or later) and uncommon, and it is doubtful if any role was assigned to it in mythology.[596] Apotropaic rituals nonetheless occasionally refer to it.[573] | ||
| Ušumgallu | Nabu;[561] Ninkilim[597] | Ušumgallu ("prime venomous snake") was an apotropaic snake monster similar to bašmu.[561] In the god list An = Anum, it is the sukkal of Ninkilim,[597] while in some later texts it is stated to be Nabu's dragon instead of mušḫuššu.[561] |
Foreign deities in Mesopotamia edit
| Name | Image | Place of origin | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ahura Mazda | Persia | Under Sasanian rule, a number of fire temples of Ahura Mazda were erected in modern Iraq, for example in Irbil and Mada'in.[598] | |
| Allatum Allani[599] | Hurrian areas, possibly Haššum in particular[599] | Allani, in Mesopotamia known as Allatum, was the Hurrian goddess of the underworld. She was introduced in Mesopotamia in the Ur III period as an independent deity.[600] She had at least one temple, likely located in Ur.[599] She continued to be worshiped in the Old Babylonian period.[601] In later periods she was equated with,[602] and eventually fully assimilated into Ereshkigal.[603] Some documents associate her with Ishara;[599] in Hurrian sources they are well attested as a pair due to some shared functions.[604][605] She is not to be confused with Alla or Alla-Gula, sukkal of Ningishzida.[599] | |
| Anahita | Persia | According to Berossos, the cult of Anahita was introduced by Artaxerxes I to many cities in the Mesopotamian part of his empire, including Babylon.[606] These efforts are thought to have been directed at the Iranian population of the city to tie regional courts to the imperial core rather than as an attempt to impose Persian deities on the Babylonians.[607] | |
| Apollo | Greece | The Hellenistic Seleucid kings favoured Apollo as the patron deity of their dynasty and introduced his cult to Mesopotamia. Locally, Apollo was syncretised with Nabu, but the Greek-speaking communities of Seleucia on the Tigris built a sanctuary to Apollo Komaios and honoured the god under the name Apollo, using a mixture of Greek and Mesopotamian iconography.[608][609][610] A cult of Apollo and Artemis Daittai was brought to Seleucia on the Eulaios (the refounded Susa) from Antioch.[611] Strabo reported that a temple of Apollo existed on the island of Ikaros in the Persian Gulf, which had a garrison who built many structures in the Greek style.[612] | |
| Artemis | Greece | In Mesopotamia and Syria, Artemis was identified with the goddess Nanaya. This identification had a long-lasting influence on Nanaya by introducing associations with the moon and archery.[613][614] The cult of Apollo and Artemis Daittai was brought from Antioch to Seleucia on the Eulaios in Elymais.[611] The Greek settlers on the island of Ikaros had a shrine to Artemis and made dedications to Artemis Soteira; Strabo also reports that an oracle of Artemis Tauropolos was present on the island.[615] | |
| Ashratum | Amorite areas[616] | Ashratum (or Ashiratum in documents from Larsa[617]) was an Amorite goddess who in Mesopotamia came to be associated with Amurru.[616] In addition to being envisioned as a couple, they shared an association with mountains[618] and steppes.[619] According to Steve A. Wiggins, while the names of the Mesopotamian Ashratum and Ugaritic Athirat are cognate, they weren't entirely the same deity, but merely developed in parallel from one source.[620] She was described as "daughter in law of the god An."[621] A temple dedicated to her, Ehilikalamma ("House of the luxury of the land") existed in Babylon.[622] In past scholarship Ashratu was incorrectly assumed to be connected to Ishtar due to a shared epithet – however, it was applied to a wide variety of gods including Marduk and Nergal, and as such cannot serve as grounds for claims about identification of these two deities with each other, as many epithets were shared between deities not necessarily regarded as analogous to each other.[623] | |
| Atargatis | Syria | Worship of the goddess Atargatis is attested from Edessa, Hatra and Dura-Europos in Upper Mesopotamia in Seleucid and Roman times. In the syncretic environment of the Upper Euphrates in the early centuries CE, Atargatis was associated with Artemis, Athena, and Allat.[624] In Dura-Europos, she had a temple separate from that of Artemis and shared iconographic similarities with Tyche.[625] | |
| Athena | Greece | Terracotta figurines of Athena are known from Seleucid Babylon,[626] and she is also one of the most popular deities depicted on bullae from Seleucid Mesopotamia, which depict Athena of both the Promachos and Parthenos types.[627] | |
| Belet Nagar | Nagar, Shekhna[628] | Belet Nagar was the tutelary goddess of the Syrian city of Nagar.[601] She was introduced in Mesopotamia in the Ur III period, likely due to her connection to kingship and due to her role as a divine witness to commercial treaties.[629] It is possible that "Haburitum" known from similar Mesopotamian sources and the Hurrian Nabarbi are the same goddess.[630] | |
| Belet-Šuḫnir and Belet-Terraban | Šuḫnir and Terraban[631] | Belet-Šuḫnir and Belet-Terraban were a pair of goddesses venerated in the Ur III period.[632] They were most likely introduced from the area north of Eshnunna, beyond the borders of sphere of direct Mesopotamian influence, where the corresponding cities were located.[632] A seal inscription associates both of them with Tishpak.[632] Known festivals dedicated to them have been described as "lugubrious" by researchers, and included a "wailing ceremony," "the festival of chains" and a celebration known only as "place of disappearance." It has been proposed that these rituals might reflect an unknown myth about descent to the underworld or perhaps capture of these two deities.[632] They almost always appear as a pair, though sporadic references to Belet-Šuḫnir alone are known from Mesopotamian documents,[633] while Belet-Terraban is attested on her own in Susa during the reign of Puzur-Inshushinak.[634] | |
| Bes | Egypt[635] | Bes was the Egyptian god of play and recreation.[636] He was envisioned as a "full-faced, bow-legged dwarf with an oversized head, goggle eyes, protruding tongue, bushy tail and usually a large feathered crown as a head-dress."[636] Representations of an almost identical dwarf-god became widespread across the Near East during the first millennium BC and are common in Syria, Palestine, and Arabia.[637] This god's name in Assyrian and Babylonian may have been Pessû.[637] Bes seems to have been the only Egyptian god who became widely worshipped throughout Mesopotamia.[558] His role in Mesopotamian religion was however closer to that of a type of apotropaic creature (native examples of which include lahmu, kusarikku, mushussu etc.) than a deity proper.[638] | |
| Dagan | Tuttul[639] and Terqa[640] | Dagan was the main god of the middle Euphrates area, regarded as a god of prosperity[641] and "father of gods."[642] While his cult centers were never major political powers in their own right, he was nonetheless a popular deity[643] and his cult had international importance in the Ebla period already.[644] Due to their analogous position in corresponding pantheons, he and Enlil were partially conflated.[642] However, Dagan had a distinct purpose in the Mesopotamian pantheon as well, as the god granting rulers control over western lands.[645] In Nippur he shared a temple with Ishara,[646] though contrary to conclusions in older scholarship these two deities were not regarded as a couple, and merely shared a similar area of origin.[647] | |
| Hahharnum and Hayyashum | Hurrian areas[648] | Hahharnum and Hayyashum were the Mesopotamian adaptation of Hurrian words for heaven and earth, eše hawurni.[649] While Hurrians did not worship this pair as personified deities,[650] in Mesopotamia they appear as primordial gods in a handful of texts.[648][649] Hamurnu (Hahharnum) alone appears in a copy of the god list Anšar = Anum, where he is also explained as a name of Anu.[648] Prior to the discovery that their names have Hurrian origin, Hahharnum and Hayashum were described as "little known primordial deities."[651] | |
| Herakles | Greece | In Mesopotamia, the cult of Herakles was syncretised with the cults of Nergal and the Persian deity Verethragna, and he served an apotropaic function.[652] Figures of Herakles have been found widely in Hatra and the cultic statue of Nergal used the iconography of the Greek god.[653] | |
| Humban | Elam[558] | Humban was an Elamite god associated with the concept of kingship and divine protection (kiten).[654] In Mesopotamian sources he appeared only sporadically in the Neo-Assyrian period, and in a commentary on the incantation series Šurpu he is equated with Enlil, most likely based on their shared role as gods who grant authority to human rulers.[655] Past researchers sometimes incorrectly assumed he was one and the same as a distinct Elamite god, Napirisha.[656] Evidence from the Persepolis Administrative Archives shows that his worship was adopted by Persians as well from the Elamites.[657] While commonly proposed in the past, a connection between Humban and Humbaba is now regarded as implausible.[502] | |
| Ḫabūrītum | Sikani[658] | Ḫabūrītum was a goddess understood as either "she of Ḫabur" (either the river or the area surrounding it) or "she of the city Ḫabura."[633] The former option is considered more plausible, as her cult center was apparently Sikani, located near the head of the river Khabur, rather than Ḫabura, which was instead located near modern Al-Hasakah.[658] In Mesopotamia she was worshiped alongside other western deities, such as Dagan and Ishara.[659] | |
| Ḫarbe | Kassite homeland in the Zagros | Ḫarbe was likely the head of the Kassite pantheon.[660] His symbol, known from some Mesopotamian kudurru (boundary stones), was a bird with its head turned back.[661] | |
| Inshushinak | Elam, especially Susa[662] | Inshushinak (from Sumerian: "Lord of Susa"[181]) was one of the main Elamite gods. He was associated with kingship and the underworld,[387] and served as the tutelary god of Susa.[177] In some Mesopotamian texts he appears as an underworld god, for example in the god list An = Anum he can be found among the deities forming the entourage of Ereshkigal.[138] His assistants were Lagamar and Ishmekarab, whose names have Akkadian origin and who were originally worshiped in Mesopotamia.[387][386] Frans Wiggermann proposes that Inshushinak and the Mesopotamian gods Ishtaran, Ninazu, Ningishzida and Tishpak can be collectively described as "Transtigridian snake gods" existing on the boundary between Elamite and Mesopotamian culture based on their shared connection to judgment, the afterlife and snakes, as well as similar locations of their major cult centers.[663] | |
| Inzak Enzag | Dilmun[664] | The Sumerians regarded Inzak as the chief god of the Dilmunite pantheon,[664] but the Dilmunites themselves regarded him as a god of Agaru, a land in eastern Arabia.[664] His main cult center was on Failaka Island,[664] where a temple was dedicated to him.[664] He appears, alongside his wife Meskilak, in documents from Nippur and in Šurpu.[665] During the Neo-Babylonian Period, Inzak was identified with Nabu[664] under the latter's name Mu'ati.[665] | |
| Ishara | Ebla,[666] Hurrian areas[667] | An Eblaite goddess of pre-Semitic and pre-Hurrian origin.[668] She was among the western deities introduced in Mesopotamia in the Ur III period, and shared temples with Belet Nagar in Ur[285] and with Dagan in Nippur.[646] Due to association with Ishtar she developed into a love goddess,[669] associated with marriage.[145] Her symbols were bashmu, otherwise mostly a symbol of underworld gods,[557] and scorpions,[558] also associated with marriage.[154] According to a Hurrian source she was viewed as a daughter of Enlil.[670] | |
| Jabru | Elam?[671] | According to Mesopotamian sources, such as the god list An = Anum, Jabru was a god similar to Anu or Enlil.[671] While described as Elamite, he is not attested in any sources from Elam.[671] | |
| Kumarbi | Hurrian areas, especially Urkesh[672] | Kumarbi was one of the main gods of the Hurrians,[673] regarded as partially analogous to Enlil (and Dagan[674]) due to his role as "father of the gods."[675] He had a chthonic character and was associated with grain and prosperity.[641] In Mesopotamia he appears in the Assyrian Tākultu text as the god of Taite, alongside Nabarbi and Samnuha.[672] | |
| Manziniri | Elam[676] | An Elamite deity known chiefly from a passage mentioning "the forest of Manziniri."[676] She appears in a letter of Esarhaddon addressed to Urtaku, an Elamite ruler, as one of the deities meant to guarantee peace between the two monarchs, alongside Assyrian gods Ashur, Bel, Nabu, Sin, Shamash, Ishtar of Nineveh and Ishtar of Arbela.[677] Wilfred G. Lambert proposed a connection between Manziniri and the Kassite goddess Minimzir/Mirizir.[676] | |
| Meskilak | Dilmun[664] | Meskilak was a Dilmunite goddess and the wife of Inzak.[678] The Sumerians viewed her as a daughter of Enki and Ninhursag under the name Ninsikila, it is possible that later on she was identified with Nabu's wife Tashmetum.[665] She was sometimes referred to as Nin-Dilmun, meaning "Lady of Dilmun".[664] | |
| Nabarbi | Hurrian areas, especially Taite | Nabarbi ("she of Nawar") was Hurrian goddess possibly analogous to Belet Nagar.[673] In Mesopotamian sources she is attested in the Assyrian Tākultu text, where she appears alongside Kumarbi and Samnuha as one of the deities of Taite.[672] | |
| Narundi | Susa | An Elamite goddess known from Susa who in Mesopotamia was regarded as analogous to Ishtar or Nanaya and developed a distinct apotropaic role as early as in the Old Babylonian period.[585] Mesopotamians viewed her as sister of the Sebitti, equated with "Divine Seven of Elam" – a Mesopotamian grouping of Elamite gods – in god lists.[585] | |
| Ninatta and Kulitta | Hurrian areas | Musician goddesses always mentioned as a pair who were handmaidens of Shaushka.[679] In Assyria they were incorporated into Ishtar's entourage in her temple in Ashur.[672] | |
| Pinikir | Elam[558] | An Elamite goddess regarded as analogous to Ishtar by modern researchers,[680] but incorrectly assumed to be an alternate name of Kiririsha in the past.[681] She was also worshiped by Hurrians in Syria and Anatolia, and Gary Beckman proposes that her worship was transmitted there from a Mesopotamian source.[500] An Akkadian god list known from a copy from Emar indicates she was equated with Ninsianna.[500] | |
| Shalash | Ebla,[682] Tuttul[683] | Shalash was the wife of the Syrian god Dagan.[684] She appears with her husband in cylinder seal inscriptions from the Isin-Larsa period.[685] | |
| Shaushka | Nineveh, Nuzi and other Hurrian centers | Shaushka was a Hurrian goddess regarded as analogous to Ishtar ("Ishtar of Subartu"[686] or "Ishtar of Nineveh"[659]). Despite her origin, the oldest known attestations of both Shaushka and her main cult center, Nineveh, come from Mesopotamian, rather than Hurrian, documents.[687] She is attested in religious documents from the Ur III period, but her worship evidently persisted in later times too, as she appears in a list of offerings from Old Babylonian Isin.[688] A temple dedicated to her was located in Babylon as well.[689] She influenced the later Assyrian Ishtar of Nineveh,[690] though the latter also shows influence from Ninlil.[691] | |
| Shuqamuna and Shumaliya | Kassite homeland in the Zagros | Shuqamuna and Shumaliya were a pair of Kassite gods regarded as the tutelary deities of the Kassite dynasty of Babylon.[692] They were depicted on a number of kudurru in the symbolic form of birds sitting on a perch.[693] | |
| Shuwala | Mardaman[694] | Shuwala, the tutelary goddess of Mardaman, a city located in the north of modern Iraq, is attested in sources from the Ur III period.[694] She is assumed to be an underworld deity of Hurrian origin.[694] | |
| Simut | Elam[74] | Simut was an Elamite god associated with Mars,[50] regarded as herald of the gods.[695] His name was used as a theophoric element in Old Babylonian personal names,[695] while god lists associate him with Nergal.[50] It is possible the Akkadian goddess Manzat, who became a popular deity in Elam, was regarded as his wife.[440] | |
| Tishpak | Eshnunna | Tishpak was a god who replaced Ninazu as the tutelary deity of Eshnunna.[196] He shared most of his functions and attributes (ex. plough, two maces and various snakes and serpentine monsters such as mushussu).[696] It is agreed that he had foreign roots.[697] While in early scholarly works Hurrian origin (and a connection to Teshub) was proposed for him,[698] newer sources favor an Elamite etymology for his name,[699] as well as for the name of his son Nanshak known from god lists.[700] | |
| Umbidaki Nupatik | Hurrian areas | Umbidaki was a god worshiped in the temple of Ishtar of Arbela in neo-Assyrian times.[701] It is assumed that he was analogous to the Hurrian god Nupatik, possibly introduced to Arbela after a statue of him was seized in a war.[701] | |
| Yahweh El, Elohim, El Shaddai, Yah | Kingdoms of Israel and Judah[702][703][704] | Yahweh was the national god of the Israelites, who originally lived in the Levantine kingdoms of Israel and Judah.[702][703][704] In 586 BC, the Neo-Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem, destroyed the Temple of Solomon, and deported the elite members of Judahite society to Babylon in an event known as the "Babylonian exile".[705] Modern scholars generally agree that much of the Deuteronomistic History was probably edited and redacted by Judahite priests living in Babylon during the exile.[706] The works of Second Isaiah, also written in Babylon, represent the first unambiguous Judahite declaration of the non-existence of foreign deities and proclamation of Yahweh as the sole, supreme God.[707] Much of the Torah was probably written and compiled after the exile, when the Jews were allowed to return to their homeland by the Persians.[708][709] |
See also edit
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list, mesopotamian, deities, deities, ancient, mesopotamia, were, almost, exclusively, anthropomorphic, they, were, thought, possess, extraordinary, powers, were, often, envisioned, being, tremendous, physical, size, deities, typically, wore, melam, ambiguous,. Deities in ancient Mesopotamia were almost exclusively anthropomorphic 2 They were thought to possess extraordinary powers 2 and were often envisioned as being of tremendous physical size 2 The deities typically wore melam an ambiguous substance which covered them in terrifying splendor 3 and which could also be worn by heroes kings giants and even demons 4 The effect that seeing a deity s melam has on a human is described as ni a word for the physical creeping of the flesh 5 Both the Sumerian and Akkadian languages contain many words to express the sensation of ni 4 including the word puluhtu meaning fear 5 Deities were almost always depicted wearing horned caps 6 7 consisting of up to seven superimposed pairs of ox horns 8 They were also sometimes depicted wearing clothes with elaborate decorative gold and silver ornaments sewn into them 7 Akkadian cylinder seal dating to c 2300 BC depicting the deities Inanna Utu Enki and Isimud 1 Map showing the extent of Mesopotamia and its major cities relative to modern landmarksThe ancient Mesopotamians believed that their deities lived in Heaven 9 but that a god s statue was a physical embodiment of the god himself 9 10 As such cult statues were given constant care and attention 11 9 and a set of priests were assigned to tend to them 12 These priests would clothe the statues 10 and place feasts before them so they could eat 11 9 A deity s temple was believed to be that deity s literal place of residence 13 The gods had boats full sized barges which were normally stored inside their temples 14 and were used to transport their cult statues along waterways during various religious festivals 14 The gods also had chariots which were used for transporting their cult statues by land 15 Sometimes a deity s cult statue would be transported to the location of a battle so that the deity could watch the battle unfold 15 The major deities of the Mesopotamian pantheon were believed to participate in the assembly of the gods 6 through which the gods made all of their decisions 6 This assembly was seen as a divine counterpart to the semi democratic legislative system that existed during the Third Dynasty of Ur c 2112 BC c 2004 BC 6 The Mesopotamian pantheon evolved greatly over the course of its history 16 In general the history of Mesopotamian religion can be divided into four phases 16 During the first phase starting in the fourth millennium BC deities domains mainly focused on basic needs for human survival 17 During the second phase which occurred in the third millennium BC the divine hierarchy became more structured 17 and deified kings began to enter the pantheon 17 During the third phase in the second millennium BC the gods worshipped by an individual person and gods associated with the commoners became more prevalent 17 During the fourth and final phase in the first millennium BC the gods became closely associated with specific human empires and rulers 18 The names of over 3 000 Mesopotamian deities have been recovered from cuneiform texts 19 16 Many of these are from lengthy lists of deities compiled by ancient Mesopotamian scribes 19 20 The longest of these lists is a text entitled An Anum a Babylonian scholarly work listing the names of over 2 000 deities 19 17 While sometimes mistakenly regarded simply as a list of Sumerian gods with their Akkadian equivalents 21 it was meant to provide information about the relations between individual gods as well as short explanations of functions fulfilled by them 21 In addition to spouses and children of gods it also listed their servants 22 Various terms were employed to describe groups of deities The collective term Anunnaki is first attested during the reign of Gudea c 2144 2124 BC and the Third Dynasty of Ur 23 24 This term usually referred to the major deities of heaven and earth 25 endowed with immense powers 26 23 who were believed to decree the fates of mankind 24 Gudea described them as Lamma tutelary deities of all the countries 25 While it is common in modern literature to assume that in some contexts the term was instead applied to chthonic Underworld deities 26 this view is regarded as unsubstantiated by assyriologist Dina Katz who points out that it relies entirely on the myth of Inanna s Descent which doesn t necessarily contradict the conventional definition of Anunnaki and doesn t explicitly identify them as gods of the Underworld 27 Unambiguous references to Anunnaki as chthonic come from Hurrian rather than Mesopotamian sources in which the term was applied to a class of distinct Hurrian gods instead 28 Anunnaki are chiefly mentioned in literary texts 24 and very little evidence to support the existence of any distinct cult of them has yet been unearthed 29 24 due to the fact that each deity which could be regarded as a member of the Anunnaki had his or her own individual cult separate from the others 23 Similarly no representations of the Anunnaki as a distinct group have yet been discovered 23 although a few depictions of its frequent individual members have been identified 23 Another similar collective term for deities was Igigi first attested from the Old Babylonian Period c 1830 BC c 1531 BC 30 The name Igigi seems to have originally been applied to the great gods 30 but it later came to refer to all the gods of Heaven collectively 30 In some instances the terms Anunnaki and Igigi are used synonymously 23 24 Contents 1 Major deities 2 Primordial beings 3 Minor deities 4 Monsters and apotropaic spirits 5 Foreign deities in Mesopotamia 6 See also 7 References 7 1 BibliographyMajor deities editSamuel Noah Kramer writing in 1963 stated that the three most important deities in the Mesopotamian pantheon during all periods were the deities An Enlil and Enki 31 However newer research shows that the arrangement of the top of the pantheon could vary depending on time period and location The Fara god list indicates that sometimes Enlil Inanna and Enki were regarded as the three most significant deities 32 Inanna was also the most important deity in Uruk and a number of other political centers in the Uruk period 33 Gudea regarded Ninhursag rather than Enki as the third most prominent deity 34 An Old Babylonian source preserves a tradition in which Nanna was the king of the gods and Anu Enlil and Enki merely his advisers 35 likely a view espoused by Nanna s priests in Ur and later on in Harran 36 An Old Babylonian personal name refers to Shamash as Enlil of the gods possibly reflecting the existence of a similar belief connected to him among his clergy too though unlike the doctrine of supremacy of the moon god accepted by Nabonidus it found no royal support at any point in time 37 In Zabban a city in the northeast of Babylonia Hadad was the head of the pantheon 38 In the first millennium BCE Marduk became the supreme god in Babylonia and some late sources omit Anu and Enlil altogether and state that Ea received his position from Marduk 39 In some neo Babylonian inscriptions Nabu s status was equal to that of Marduk 39 In Assyria Assur was regarded as the supreme god 40 The number seven was extremely important in ancient Mesopotamian cosmology 41 42 In Sumerian religion the most powerful and important deities in the pantheon were sometimes called the seven gods who decree 43 An Enlil Enki Ninhursag Nanna Utu and Inanna 44 Many major deities in Sumerian mythology were associated with specific celestial bodies 45 Inanna was believed to be the planet Venus 46 47 Utu was believed to be the Sun 48 47 and Nanna was the Moon 49 47 However minor deities could be associated with planets too for example Mars was sometimes called Simut 50 and Ninsianna was a Venus deity distinct from Inanna in at least some contexts 51 Name Image Major cult centers Celestial body DetailsAnAnu 52 nbsp Eanna temple in Uruk 53 Equatorial sky 54 47 An in Sumerian later known as Anu in Akkadian 55 was the supreme God and prime mover in creation embodied by the sky 52 He is the first and most distant ancestor 52 theologically conceived as the God of Heaven in its transcendental obscurity 56 In some theological systems all of the deities were believed to be the offspring of An and his consort Ki 52 57 24 However Anu was himself described as the descendant of various primordial beings in various texts god lists incantations etc and Enlil was often equipped with his own elaborate family tree separate from Anu s 58 While An was described as the utmost god 59 52 at least by the time of the earliest written records the main god in terms of actual cult was Enlil 60 61 Anu s supremacy was therefore always somewhat nominal according to Wilfred G Lambert 62 Luludanitu a multicolored stone red white and black was associated with him 63 EnlilNunamnir Ellil 64 65 nbsp Ekur temple in Nippur 66 67 Northern sky 54 47 Enlil later known as Ellil is the god of wind air earth and storms 64 and the chief of all the gods 68 The Sumerians envisioned Enlil as a benevolent fatherly deity who watches over humanity and cares for their well being 69 One Sumerian hymn describes Enlil as so glorious that even the other gods could not look upon him 65 70 His cult was closely tied to the holy city of Nippur 67 and after Nippur was sacked by the Elamites in 1230 BC his cult fell into decline 71 He was eventually paralleled in his role as chief deity by Marduk the national god of the Babylonians 71 and Assur who fulfilled an analogous role for the Assyrians 72 He was associated with lapis lazuli 63 73 EnkiNudimmud Ninshiku Ea 74 nbsp E Abzu temple in Eridu 74 Southern sky 54 47 Enki later known as Ea and also occasionally referred to as Nudimmud or Ninsiku was the god of the subterranean freshwater ocean 74 who was also closely associated with wisdom magic incantations arts and crafts 74 He was either the son of An or the goddess Nammu 74 and is the former case the twin brother of Ishkur 74 His wife was the goddess Damgalnuna Ninhursag 74 and his children include the gods Marduk Asarluhi Enbilulu the sage Adapa and the goddess Nanshe 74 His sukkal or minister was the two faced messenger god Isimud 74 Enki was the divine benefactor of humanity 74 who helped humans survive the Great Flood 74 In Enki and the World Order he organizes in detail every feature of the civilised world 74 In Inanna and Enki he is described as the holder of the sacred mes the tablets concerning all aspects of human life 74 He was associated with jasper 63 73 Marduk nbsp Babylon 75 71 Jupiter 76 Marduk is the national god of the Babylonians 75 The expansion of his cult closely paralleled the historical rise of Babylon 75 71 and after assimilating various local deities including a god named Asarluhi he eventually came to parallel Enlil as the chief of the gods 75 71 Some late sources go as far as omitting Enlil and Anu altogether and state that Ea received his position from Marduk 39 His wife was the goddess Sarpanitu 75 Ashur nbsp Assur 77 Ashur was the national god of the Assyrians 77 It has been proposed that originally he was the deification of the city of Assur 78 or perhaps the hill atop which it was built 79 He initially lacked any connections to other deities having no parents spouse or children 80 The only goddess related to him though in an unclear way was Serua 80 Later he was syncretized with Enlil 81 72 and as a result Ninlil was sometimes regarded as his wife and Ninurta and Zababa as his sons 80 Sargon II initiated the trend of writing his name with the same signs as that of Anshar a primordial being regarded as Anu s father in the theology of Enuma Elish 72 He may have originally been a local deity associated with the city of Assur 77 but with the growth of the Assyrian Empire 77 his cult was introduced to southern Mesopotamia 82 In Assyrian texts Bel was a title of Ashur rather than Marduk 83 Nabu nbsp Borsippa 84 Kalhu 85 Mercury 84 Nabu was the Mesopotamian god of scribes and writing 84 His wife was the goddess Tashmetu 84 and he may have been associated with the planet Mercury 84 though the evidence has been described as circumstantial by Francesco Pomponio 86 He later became associated with wisdom and agriculture 84 In the Old Babylonian and early Kassite periods his cult was only popular in central Mesopotamia Babylon Sippar Kish Dilbat Lagaba had a limited extent in peripheral areas Susa in Elam Mari in Syria and there is little to no evidence of it from cities such as Ur and Nippur in sharp contrast with later evidence 87 In the first millennium BCE he became one of the most prominent gods of Babylonia 87 In Assyria his prominence grew in the eighth and seventh centuries BCE 85 In Kalhu and Nineveh he eventually became more common in personal names than the Assyrian head god Ashur 85 He also replaced Ninurta as the main god of Kalhu 85 In the Neo Babylonian periods some inscriptions of kings such as Nebuchadnezzar II indicate that Nabu could take precedence even over the supreme Babylonian god Marduk 85 His cult also spread beyond Mesopotamia to cities such as Palmyra Hierapolis Edessa or Dura Europos 88 and to Egypt as far as Elephantine where in sources from the late first millennium BCE he is the most frequently attested foreign god next to Yahweh 88 NannaEnzu Zuen Suen Sin 89 nbsp E kis nu gal temple in Ur and another temple in Harran 49 Moon 49 Nanna Enzu or Zuen Lord of Wisdom in Sumerian later altered as Suen and Sin in Akkadian 89 is the ancient Mesopotamian god of the Moon 49 He was the son of Enlil and Ninlil and one of his most prominent myths was an account of how he was conceived and how he made his way from the Underworld to Nippur 49 A theological system where Nanna rather than Enlil was the king of gods is known from a text from the Old Babylonian period 90 in the preserved fragment Enlil Anu Enki and Ninhursag served as his advisers alongside his children Utu and Inanna 35 Other references to Nanna holding such a position are known from personal names and various texts with some going as far as stating he holds Anuship and Enlilship and Wilfred G Lambert assumes that he was regarded as the supreme god by his clergy in Ur and Harran 36 UtuShamash 91 nbsp E Babbar temples at Sippar and Larsa 92 Sun 91 Utu later known as Shamash is the ancient Mesopotamian god of the Sun 91 who was also revered as the god of truth justice and morality 92 He was the son of Nanna and the twin brother of Inanna Utu was believed to see all things that happen during the day 92 and to aid mortals in distress 92 Alongside Inanna Utu was the enforcer of divine justice 93 InannaIshtar 94 nbsp Eanna temple in Uruk 95 46 53 though she also had temples in Nippur Lagash Shuruppak Zabalam and Ur 95 Venus 46 Inanna later known as Ishtar is the most important female deity of ancient Mesopotamia at all periods 94 She was the Sumerian goddess of love sexuality prostitution and war 96 She was the divine personification of the planet Venus the morning and evening star 46 Accounts of her parentage vary 94 in most myths she is usually presented as the daughter of Nanna and Ningal 97 but in other stories she is the daughter of Enki or An along with an unknown mother 94 The Sumerians had more myths about her than any other deity 98 99 Many of the myths involving her revolve around her attempts to usurp control of the other deities domains 100 Her most famous myth is the story of her descent into the Underworld 101 in which she attempts to conquer the Underworld the domain of her older sister Ereshkigal 101 but is instead struck dead by the seven judges of the Underworld 102 103 104 She is only revived due to Enki s intervention 102 103 104 and her husband Dumuzid is forced to take her place in the Underworld 105 106 Alongside her twin brother Utu Inanna was the enforcer of divine justice 93 NinhursagDamgalnuna Ninmah 107 nbsp E Mah temple in Adab Kesh 107 Ninhursag Mistress of the mountain ranges 108 also known as Damgalnuna Ninmah Nintur 109 and Aruru 110 was the Mesopotamian mother goddess Her primary functions were related to birth but generally not to nursing and raising children with the exception of sources from early Lagash and creation 111 Descriptions of her as mother weren t always referring to motherhood in the literal sense or to parentage of other deities but sometimes instead represented her esteem and authority as a senior deity similar to references to major male deities such as Enlil or Anu as fathers 112 Certain mortal rulers claimed her as their mother 107 a phenomenon recorded as early as during the reign of Mesilim of Kish c 2700 BCE 113 She was the wife of Enki 107 though in some locations including Nippur her husband was Sulpae instead 114 Initially no city had Ninhursag as its tutelary goddess 115 Later her main temple was the E Mah in Adab 107 originally dedicated to a minor male deity Asgi 116 She was also associated with the city of Kesh 107 where she replaced the local goddess Nintur 110 and she was sometimes referred to as the Belet ili of Kesh or she of Kesh 107 It is possible her emblem was a symbol similar to later Greek letter omega 117 NinurtaNinĝirsu 118 nbsp E su me sa temple in Nippur 118 Girsu 119 Lagash 120 121 and later Kalhu in Assyria 122 123 124 Saturn 125 Ninurta also known as Ningirsu was a Mesopotamian warrior deity who was worshipped in Sumer from the very earliest times 118 He was the champion of the gods against the Anzu bird after it stole the Tablet of Destinies from his father Enlil 118 and in a myth that is alluded to in many works but never fully preserved he killed a group of warriors known as the Slain Heroes 118 Ninurta was also an agricultural deity and the patron god of farmers 118 In the epic poem Lugal e he slays the demon Asag and uses stones to build the Tigris and Euphrates rivers to make them useful for irrigation 123 His major symbols were a perched bird and a plow 126 Nergal nbsp E Meslam temple in Kutha and Mashkan shapir 49 Mars 127 Nergal was associated with the Underworld 128 and is usually the husband of Ereshkigal 128 He was also associated with forest fires and identified with the fire god Gibil 129 fevers plagues and war 128 In myths he causes destruction and devastation 128 In the neo Babylonian period in many official documents Nergal is listed immediately after the supreme gods Marduk and Nabu and before such prominent deities as Shamash and Sin 85 DumuzidTammuz 130 nbsp Bad tibira and Kuara 130 Dumuzid later known by the corrupted form Tammuz is the ancient Mesopotamian god of shepherds 130 and the primary consort of the goddess Inanna 130 His sister is the goddess Geshtinanna 130 131 In addition to being the god of shepherds Dumuzid was also an agricultural deity associated with the growth of plants 132 133 Ancient Near Eastern peoples associated Dumuzid with the springtime when the land was fertile and abundant 132 134 but during the summer months when the land was dry and barren it was thought that Dumuzid had died 132 135 During the month of Dumuzid which fell in the middle of summer people all across Sumer would mourn over his death 136 137 An enormous number of popular stories circulated throughout the Near East surrounding his death 136 137 Ereshkigal nbsp Kutha Hydra 138 Ereshkigal was the queen of the Mesopotamian Underworld 139 140 She lived in a palace known as Ganzir 139 In early accounts her husband is Gugalanna 139 whose character is undefined but later the northern god Nergal was placed in this role 139 140 Her gatekeeper was the god Neti 140 and her sukkal was Namtar 139 In the poem Inanna s Descent into the Underworld Ereshkigal is described as Inanna s older sister 141 In the god list An Anum she opens the section dedicated to underworld deities 142 Gulaand Ninisina Nintinugga Ninkarrak 143 nbsp E gal mah temple in Isin and other temples in Nippur Borsippa Assur 143 Sippar 144 Umma 145 A prominent place in the Mesopotamian pantheon was occupied by healing goddesses 146 regarded as divine patronesses of doctors and medicine workers 143 Multiple such deities existed Nintinugga mistress who revives the dead worshiped in Ninlil s temple in Nippur 147 Ninisina who in addition to her primary role was also the goddess of Isin 145 Ninkarrak most likely of Akkadian rather than Sumerian origin 145 worshiped in Sippar 144 Gula the great from Umma possibly initially a title rather than a distinct goddess 148 Eventually Gula became the preeminent healing goddess 145 and other healing goddesses were sometimes syncretised with her 149 though in the god list An Anum Gula Ninkarrak and Nintinugga all figure as separate deities with own courts 149 Dogs were associated with many healing goddesses 144 and Gula in particular is often shown in art with a dog sitting beside her 143 Bau nbsp Lagash Kish Bau was a prominent goddess of Lagash and some of its kings regarded her as their divine mother 114 She was also a healing goddess though unlike other healing goddesses she only developed such a function at some point in her history 150 She was the wife of Ningirsu and rose to prominence in third millennium BCE in the state of Lagash 151 Gudea elevated Bau s rank to equal of that of Ningirsu and called her Queen who decides the destiny in Girsu 152 This made her the highest ranking goddess of the local pantheon of Lagash 153 putting her above Nanshe 154 During the reign of the Third Dynasty of Ur she was the second most notable divine wife after Ninlil 155 with some sources ex from Nippur indicating she was exalted above Ningirsu 147 While the original Lagashite cult of Bau declined alongside the city 156 she continued to be prominent in Kish in northern Babylonia where she arrived in the Old Babylonian period 157 The city god of Kish Zababa became her husband 158 She remained a major goddess of that city as late as the neo Babylonian period 159 IshkurAdad Hadad 160 nbsp Karkar 161 Assur 162 163 Kurba il 164 Ishkur later known as Adad or Hadad from the root hdd to thunder 165 was the Mesopotamian god of storms and rain 160 In northern Mesopotamia where agriculture relied heavily on rainfall he was among the most prominent deities and even in the south he ranked among the great gods 166 In god lists his position is similar to that of Sin Shamash and Ishtar 167 Ishkur is already attested as the god of Karkar in the Uruk period 161 however evidence such as theophoric names indicates that the weather god s popularity only grew in later periods under the Akkadian name 168 Hadad is already attested as the name of the weather god in early sources from Ebla 165 In Mesopotamia these two gods started to merge in the Sargonic period 169 and it seems it was already impossible to find a clear distinction between them in the Ur III period 170 While northern texts put an emphasis on the benevolent character of the weather god as a bringer of rain in the south he was often associated with destructive weather phenomena including dust storms 171 though even there he was credited with making plant growth possible in areas which weren t irrigated 172 He was regarded as the son of An 168 though less commonly he was also referred to as a son of Enlil 173 His wife was Shala 160 while his sukkal was Nimgir the deified lightning 174 In addition to being a weather god Hadad was also a god of law and guardian of oaths 175 as well as a god of divination extispicy 163 In these roles he was associated with Shamash 163 In Zabban a city in the northeast of Babylonia he was regarded as the head of the local pantheon 38 In Assyrian sources he was closely connected to military campaigns of the kings 164 Kurba il on the northern frontier of the empire was regarded as his most notable cult center in neo Assyrian times 164 In god lists foreign weather gods such as Hurrian Teshub Adad of Subartu Kassite Buriyas or Ugaritic Baal were regarded as his equivalents 176 Istaran Der 162 Istaran was a prominent 177 god who served as the tutelary deity of the Sumerian city state of Der which was located east of the Tigris river on the border between Mesopotamia and Elam 162 His wife was the goddess Sarrat Deri whose name means Queen of Der 162 or alternatively Manzat goddess of the rainbow 177 and his sukkal was the snake god Nirah 162 He was regarded as a divine judge and kings were said to render justice like Istaran 178 A text from the late Early Dynastic Period invokes Istaran to resolve a boundary dispute between the cities of Lagash and Umma 162 In one of his inscriptions King Gudea of Lagash mentions himself having installed a shrine for Istaran in the temple of Ningirsu at Girsu 162 and describes Istaran as a god of justice 162 On kudurrus boundary stones Istaran is often represented by a serpent which may be Nirah 162 or Istaran himself 179 It is also possible that he s the god with an ophidian lower body known from cylinder seals 177 In a ritual associated with the Ekur temple in Nippur Istaran is a dying god and is equated with Dumuzid 179 A reference to Istaran as a dying god appears also in a late text from Assur 178 His national cult fell into decline during the Middle Babylonian Period 162 though he still appeared in documents such as neo Assyrian land grants 180 However in Der he continued to be venerated in later periods as well 181 Nanaya nbsp Uruk and Kish 182 Corona Borealis 183 Nanaya was a goddess of love 184 including erotic love and lust 185 She was commonly invoked in spells connected to this sphere 186 Her worship was widespread and she appears frequently in the textual record 187 She was also involved in intercession and was regarded as lady of lamma a class of minor protective goddesses capable of interceding on behalf of humans 188 She shared these roles with Ninshubur 188 She was closely associated with Inanna Ishtar 189 though not identical to her as the two often appear side by side in the same texts for example in Larsa Inanna Nanaya and Ninsianna all functioned as distinct deities 51 while in god lists Nanaya appears among Inanna s courtiers usually following Dumuzi and Ninshubur 190 In late sources Nanaya and Ishtar sometimes appear as goddesses of equal status 191 In neo Babylonian Uruk she was one of the most important deities and retained this status under Persian rule as well 192 There is also evidence for her worship continuing in Seleucid and Parthian times as late as 45 CE 193 Nanshe nbsp Lagash 84 Nanshe was a goddess associated with the state of Lagash 194 49 whose cult declined with the loss of political relevance of that city 159 She was a daughter of Enki and sister of Ningirsu 49 She was associated with divination and the interpretation of dreams but was also believed to assist the poor and the impoverished and ensure the accuracy of weights and measurements 49 She was also associated with fish and waterfowl 195 The First Sealand dynasty revived or continued her cult making her the royal tutelary goddess 159 Ninazu Eshnunna and Enegi 196 Ninazu was a god regarded as either the son of Ereshkigal or of Enlil and Ninil 196 He was also the father of Ningishzida 197 He was closely associated with the Underworld 197 and some researchers go as far as proposing he was the oldest Mesopotamian god associated with it 151 though it is most likely more accurate to say that there was initially no single universally agreed upon version of relevant mythical and cultic concepts with various deities both male and female ruling over the Underworld in the belief systems of various areas and time periods 198 Ninazu was also a Ninurta like warrior god 196 as well as the king of snakes 199 He was worshipped in Eshnunna during the third millennium BCE but he was later supplanted there by Tishpak who despite foreign origin had a similar character and attributes 200 Ninazu was also worshipped at Enegi in southern Sumer 196 His divine beast was the musḫussu a serpentine dragon like mythical creature which was later also associated with Tishpak Marduk and by extension Nabu and after Sennacherib s destruction of Babylon also with Ashur 201 Ninlil Nippur Assur 202 Kish Ḫursaĝkalama 203 Ninlil was the wife of Enlil the ruler of the gods 107 She was not associated with any city of her own serving primarily as Enlil s spouse 204 and as such was probably an artificially created deity invented as a female equivalent to Enlil 107 She was nonetheless regarded as having power on par with Enlil 205 in one poem Ninlil declares As Enlil is your master so am I also your mistress 205 In documents from the Ur III period Ninlil was believed to be able to determine fates much like husband and the pair was jointly regarded as the source of royal power by kings 155 Sud the tutelary goddess of Suruppak came to be regarded as one and the same as Ninlil and the myth Enlil and Sud explain that Sud was the goddess name before she married Enlil receiving the name Ninlil 159 However Sud was originally an independent deity who was close in character to Sudag an alternate name of the wife of Shamash the confusion between Sudag and Sud Ninlil is reflected in a myth where Ishum normally regarded as the son of Shamash and his wife is instead the son of Ninlil 159 Ninshubur nbsp Akkil 206 worshipped with Inanna as her sukkal Orion 207 Assyriologists regard Ninshubur as the most commonly worshiped sukkal vizier 208 a type of deity serving as another s personal attendant Her mistress was Inanna 118 209 Many texts indicate they were regarded very close to each other with one going as far as listing Ninshubur with the title beloved vizier before Inanna s relatives other than her husband Dumuzi 210 She consistently appears as the first among Inanna s courtiers in god lists usually followed by another commonly worshiped deity Nanaya 211 She was portrayed as capable of appeasing Inanna 212 and as unshakably loyal in her devotion to her 209 In the Sumerian myth of Inanna and Enki Ninshubur rescues Inanna from the monsters that Enki sends to capture her 213 214 209 while in Inanna s Descent into the Underworld she pleads with the gods Enlil Nanna and finally Enki in effort to persuade them to rescue Inanna from the Underworld 215 216 She was regarded as a wise adviser 209 of her divine masters and human rulers alike 208 In addition to being the sukkal of Inanna she also served An 209 and the divine assembly 217 In later Akkadian mythology Ninshubur was syncretized with the male messenger deities Ilabrat and Papsukkal 207 though this process wasn t complete until Seleucid times 218 Ninshubur was popular 208 in the sphere of personal religion for example as tutelary deity of a specific family due to the belief she could mediate between humans and higher ranking gods 219 Nisaba nbsp Eresh later Nippur 220 Nisaba was originally a goddess of grain and agriculture 123 but starting in the Early Dynastic Period she developed into a goddess of writing accounting and scribal knowledge 123 Her main cult city Eresh was evidently prominent in early periods but after the reign of Shulgi almost entirely disappeared from records 220 Texts mentioning Nisaba are sporadically attested as far west as Ebla and Ugarit though it is uncertain if she was actively venerated further west than Mari 221 Nisaba was the mother of the goddess Sud syncretised with Enlil s wife Ninlil and as a result she was regarded as his mother in law 222 While a less common tradition identified her as the daughter of Enlil 220 she was usually regarded as the daughter of Uras and references to Anu or Ea as her father are known from first millennium BCE literature 220 Her husband was the god Haya 123 There is little direct evidence for temples in Nippur she was worshiped in the temple of her daughter Ninlil 223 and clergy of Nisaba but literary texts were commonly ended with the doxology praise to Nisaba or other invocations of her 223 The term house of wisdom of Nisaba attested in many texts was likely a generic term for institutions connected to writing 223 Her importance started to decline especially outside the scribal circles after the Old Babylonian period though attestations as late as from the reign of Nabopolassar are known 224 Zababa Kish 225 158 Zababa was a war god who served as the tutelary deity of Kish 158 His main temple was E mete ursag 225 The earliest attestation of him comes from the Early Dynastic Period 225 During the reign of Old Babylonian kings such as Hammurabi it was Zababa rather than Ninurta who was regarded as the primary war god 226 He was initially regarded as a son of Enlil 158 but Sennacherib called him a son of Ashur instead 227 Initially his wife was Ishtar of Kish regarded as separate from Ishtar of Uruk but after the Old Babylonian period she was replaced by Bau in this role and continued to be worshiped independently from him 157 In some texts Zababa uses weapons usually associated with Ninurta and fights his mythical enemies and on occasion he was called the Nergal of Kish but all 3 of these gods were regarded as separate 228 In one list of deities he is called Marduk of battle 225 His primary symbol was a staff with the head of an eagle 225 His sukkal was Papsukkal 229 Primordial beings editVarious civilizations over the course of Mesopotamian history had many different creation stories 230 231 The earliest accounts of creation are simple narratives written in Sumerian dating to the late third millennium BC 232 233 These are mostly preserved as brief prologues to longer mythographic compositions dealing with other subjects such as Inanna and the Huluppu Tree The Creation of the Pickax and Enki and Ninmah 234 232 Later accounts are far more elaborate adding multiple generations of gods and primordial beings 235 The longest and most famous of these accounts is the Babylonian Enuma Elis or Epic of Creation which is divided into seven tablets 233 The surviving version of the Enuma Elis could not have been written any earlier than the late second millennium BC 233 but it draws heavily on earlier materials 236 including various works written during the Akkadian Old Babylonian and Kassite periods in the early second millennium BC 236 A category of primordial beings common in incantations were pairs of divine ancestors of Enlil and less commonly of Anu 58 In at least some cases these elaborate genealogies were assigned to major gods to avoid the implications of divine incest 237 Figures appearing in theogonies were generally regarded as ancient and no longer active unlike the regular gods by the Mesopotamians 238 Name Image DetailsAbzu In the Babylonian creation epic the Enuma Elis Abzu is primordial undeterminacy 239 the consort of the goddess Tiamat who was killed by the god Ea Enki 239 Abzu was the personification of the subterranean primeval waters 239 Alala and Belili Alala and Belili were ancestors of Anu usually appearing as the final pair in god lists accepting this tradition of his ancestry 240 Alala was also adopted into Hurro Hittite mythology 241 under the name Alalu 242 It is possible Alala and Belili were paired together only because both names are iterative 243 The name Belili could also refer to a goddess regarded as a sister of Dumuzi 244 It has been argued that she was one and the same as the primordial deity 245 but this view is not universally accepted and Manfred Krebernik argues it cannot be presently established if they were one and the same 246 Anshar and Kishar In some myths and god lists Anshar and Kishar are a primordial couple who are male and female respectively 26 In the Babylonian Enuma Elis they are the second pair of offspring born from Abzu and Tiamat 26 and the parents of the supreme An 26 A partial rewrite of Enuma Elis from the neo Assyrian period attempted to merge the roles of Marduk and Anshar which Wilfred G Lambert described as completely superficial in that it leaves the plot in chaos by attributing Marduk s part to his great grandfather without making any attempt to iron out the resulting confusion 247 In other late sources Anshar was sometimes listed among conquered mythical antagonists 248 In a fragmentary text from Seleucid or Parthian times he is seemingly vanquished by Enki and an otherwise little known goddess Ninamakalla 249 Duri and Dari Duri and Dari derived from an Akkadian phrase meaning forever and ever 241 were ancestors of Anu according to the so called Anu theogony 250 They represented eternal time as a prime force in creation 240 and it is likely they developed as a personified form of a preexisting cosmological belief 241 A single text identifies them as ancestors of Enlil instead 250 They appear for the first time in an incantation from the reign of Samsu iluna Old Babylonian period 241 Enki and Ninki Enki and Ninki were two primordial beings who were regarded as the first generation among the ancestors of Enlil 251 Enki and Ninki followed by a varying number of pairs of deities whose names start with En and Nin appear as Enlil s ancestors in various sources god lists incantations liturgical texts 252 and the Sumerian composition Death of Gilgamesh where the eponymous hero encounters these divine ancestors in the underworld 253 The oldest document preserving this tradition is the Fara god list Early Dynastic period 254 Sometimes all the ancestors were collectively called the Enkis and the Ninkis 255 Enki the ancestor of Enlil is not to be confused with the god Enki Ea who is a distinct and unrelated figure 256 The ancestral Enki s name means lord earth while the meaning of the name of the god of Eridu is uncertain but not the same as indicated by some writings including an amissable g 256 Enmesharra Enmesharra was a minor deity of the underworld 65 Seven eight or fifteen other minor deities were said to be his offspring 257 His symbol was the sussuru a kind of pigeon 65 He was sometimes regarded as the father of Enlil 258 or as his uncle 259 Texts allude to combat between Enmesharra and Enlil or perhaps Ninurta and his subsequent imprisonment 260 In some traditions it was believed that this is how Enlil gained control over destinies 261 In a late myth he was described as an enemy of Marduk 262 Lugaldukuga Lugaldukuga was the father of Enlil in some traditions 259 though sometimes he was instead referred to as his grandfather 263 Like Enmesharra he was regarded as a vanquished theogonic figure and sometimes the two were equated 264 He might be analogous to Endukuga another ancestor of Enlil from god lists 263 Nammu Nammu is the primordial goddess who in some Sumerian traditions was said to have given birth to both An and Ki 182 She eventually came to be regarded as the mother of Enki 182 and was revered as an important mother goddess 182 Because the cuneiform sign used to write her name is the same as the sign for engur a synonym for abzu it is highly probable that she was originally conceived as the personification of the subterranean primeval waters 182 Tiamat nbsp In the Babylonian creation epic the Enuma Elis after the separation of heaven and earth the goddess Tiamat and her consort Abzu are the only deities in existence 265 A male female pair they mate and Tiamat gives birth to the first generation of gods 265 Ea Enki slays Abzu 265 and Tiamat gives birth to eleven monsters to seek vengeance for her lover s death 265 Eventually Marduk the son of Enki and the national god of the Babylonians slays Tiamat and uses her body to create the earth 265 In the Assyrian version of the story it is Ashur who slays Tiamat instead 265 Tiamat was the personification of the primeval waters and it is hard to tell how the author of the Enuma Elis imagined her appearance 265 Minor deities editName Image Major cult centers DetailsAlammus worshiped with Nanna in Ur as his sukkal Alammush was the sukkal of Nanna 266 He appears very rarely in known literary texts though in one case possibly a fragment of a myth about Nanna going on a journey he is described as suitable for justice like Utu 266 Ama arhus Uruk 267 Ama arhus Nin amaʾarḫussu lady compassionate mother was a sparsely attested Mesopotamian divinity explained as a title of the medicine goddess Gula in one text 268 It has been proposed that the presence of Ama Arhus in late theophoric names from Uruk explains why Gula appears to not be attested in them despite being worshiped in the city 269 It is possible that she was merely viewed as her manifestation or synonym as she is not otherwise attested in Uruk 270 Amasagnudi Uruk 267 Amasagnudi was the wife of Papsukkal in the god list An Anum 271 and in Seleucid Uruk 272 According to one Old Babylonian text she was the sukkal of Anu 272 and it has been proposed that she was originally an epithet of Ninshubur 272 Assyriologist Frans Wiggermann translates her name as mother who cannot be pushed aside 273 Amashilama Amashilama was the daughter of Ninazu and his wife Ningirida and one of the two sisters of Ningishzida 274 She is known from the god list An Anum and a single mythical composition 274 Thorkild Jacobsen identifies her as a leech goddess 275 As noted by assyriologist Nathan Wasserman however leeches are only attested with certainty in late medical texts 276 and the image of a leech in Mesopotamian literature is that of a non divine harmful creature 277 Antu Res temple complex in Uruk 278 Antu is a goddess who was invented during the Akkadian Period c 2334 BC 2154 BC as a consort for Anu 52 59 and appears in such a role in the god list An Anum 279 Her name is a female version of Anu s own 52 59 She was worshiped in the late first miilennium BCE in Uruk in the newly built temple complex dedicated to Anu 280 Her elevation alongside her husband was connected to a theological trend under Achaemenid and Seleucid rule which extended their roles at the expense of Ishtar 281 German classical scholar Walter Burkert proposed that the Greek goddess Dione mentioned in Book V of the Iliad as the mother of Aphrodite was a calque for Antu 282 Anunitu Agade 283 and Sippar Amnanum 284 Annunitum the martial one was initially an epithet of Ishtar 285 but later a separate goddess 286 She is first attested in documents from the Ur III period 287 She was a warrior goddess who shared a number of epithets with Ishtar 288 It is possible she was depicted with a trident like weapon on seals 289 In documents from Sippar she sometimes appeared as a divine witness 290 A similarly named and possibly related goddess Annu was popular in Mari 291 Asarluhi Kuara 292 Asarluhi was originally a local god of the village of Kuara which was located near the city of Eridu 292 He eventually became regarded as a god of magical knowledge 292 and was thought to be the son of Enki and Ninhursag 292 He was later absorbed as an aspect of Marduk 292 In the standard Babylonian magical tradition the name Asarluhi is used as merely an alternative name for Marduk 292 Ashgi Adab and Kesh 293 Ashgi was one of the main gods of Adab in the Early Dynastic and Sargonic periods 294 It is unclear if he was initially the spouse or the son of the goddess Nintu analogous to Ninhursag 151 In later periods he was viewed as her son and her husband Shulpa e is identified as his father in the god list An Anum 295 His mother replaced him as the tutelary deity of Adab in later periods 151 Aruru Kesh 296 Aruru was initially a distinct minor goddess regarded as violent and connected to vegetation 110 however despite lack of a connection to birth or creation she was later conflated with Ninhursag 110 Sometimes she was syncretized with Nisaba instead in which case the conflation was meant to highlight the latter s authority 297 AyaSherida Nin Aya Sippar and Larsa 298 299 Sherida Sumerian or Aya Akkadian was the wife of the sun god Utu Shamash and the goddess of dawn 300 Her most common epithet was kallatum which could be understood both as bride and daughter in law 301 She was especially popular during the Old Babylonian Period 302 and the Neo Babylonian Period 626 BC 539 BC 298 Bel ṣarbiLugal asal 303 Sapazzu 304 The name Bel ṣarbi means lord of the poplar the tree meant is assumed to be Populus euphratica in Akkadian 303 He could also function as one of the gods connected with underworld 303 Belet Seri Uruk 305 Belet Seri mistress of the steppe 300 was a goddess who acted as the scribe of the underworld 306 She could be identified with Geshtinanna or with Gubarra the Sumerian name of the spouse of Amurru Ashratum 307 BilgamesGilgamesh nbsp Uruk a small village near Ur 308 Lagash Girsu Der Nippur 309 Most historians generally agree that Gilgamesh was a historical king of the Sumerian city state of Uruk 308 310 who probably ruled sometime during the early part of the Early Dynastic Period c 2900 2350 BC 308 310 It is certain that during the later Early Dynastic Period Gilgamesh was worshipped as a god at various locations across Sumer 308 In the twenty first century BC Utu hengal the king of Uruk adopted Gilgamesh as his patron deity 308 The kings of the Third Dynasty of Ur were especially fond of Gilgamesh calling him their divine brother and friend 308 During this period a large number of myths and legends developed surrounding him 308 Probably during the Middle Babylonian Period c 1600 BC c 1155 BC a scribe named Sin leqi unninni composed the Epic of Gilgamesh an epic poem written in Akkadian narrating Gilgamesh s heroic exploits 308 The opening of the poem describes Gilgamesh as one third human two thirds divine 308 Very little evidence of worship of Gilgamesh comes from times later than the Old Babylonian period 311 A late source states that he was worshiped during ceremonies connected to the dead alongside Dumuzi and Ninishzida 312 In incantations he commonly appeared alongside minor underworld deities such as Ningishzida Geshtinanna or Namtar and his family 313 There are also attestations of Gilgamesh as a servant of Nergal and Ereshkigal specifically a ferryman of the dead 314 Birtum Birtum was the husband of the prison goddess Nungal 315 The name which means fetter or shackle in Akkadian is grammatically feminine but designates a male deity 315 Bitu Bitu s primary function is that of a gatekeeper i du8 of the underworld 316 In older publications his name was read as Neti 317 In Inanna s Descent into the Underworld he leads Inanna through the seven gates of the underworld removing one of her garments at each gate so that when she comes before Ereshkigal she is naked and symbolically powerless 318 Bizilla Ḫursaĝkalama 319 Bizilla was a goddess closely associated with Nanaya 320 It is assumed that like her she was a love goddess 321 She was also most likely regarded as the sukkal of Enlil s wife Ninlil in Ḫursaĝkalama her cult center located near Kish 319 203 Bunene Sippar Uruk and Assur 92 Bunene was the sukkal and charioteer of the sun god Utu 92 He was worshipped at Sippar and Uruk during the Old Babylonian Period 92 and later worshipped at Assur 92 According to some accounts he may have been Utu s son 92 However in Sippar he was regarded as the son in law of Utu s Akkadian counterpart Shamash instead and the daughter of Shamash and Aya Mamu or Mamud was his wife 288 Damu Isin Larsa Ur and Girsu 322 Damu was a god who presides over healing and medicine 322 He was the son of Ninisina or of Gula 150 In some texts Damu is used as another name for Dumuzid 323 but this may be a different word meaning son 323 Another god named Damu was also worshipped in Ebla and Emar 322 but this may be a local hero not the same as the god of healing 322 According to Alfonso Archi the Eblaite Damu should be understood as the deified concept of a kinship group rather than a personified deity 324 The official cult of Damu became extinct sometime after the Old Babylonian Period 322 Dingirma Kesh 110 Dingirma was a goddess from Kesh regarded as analogous to Ninhursag 325 Her name means exalted deity 114 While in literary texts the names Dingirma and Ninhursag can alternate administrative texts from Kesh exclusively use the former 110 Dumuzi abzu The state of Lagash 326 especially Kinunir 136 Dumuzi abzu is a local goddess who was the tutelary goddess of Kinunir a settlement in the territory of the state of Lagash 326 Her name which probably means good child of the Abzu 136 was sometimes abbreviated to Dumuzi 136 but she has no obvious connection to the god Dumuzi 136 It is possible that in Early Dynastic and Sargonic sources the name Dumuzi often referred to Dumuzi abzu and not to the husband of Inanna 327 It is assumed that she belonged to the circle of deities connected to Nanshe 328 It is possible Dumuzi abzu was regarded as the wife of Hendursaga in the third millennium BCE 110 Duttur Duttur was the mother of Dumuzi 329 Thorkild Jacobsen proposed that she should be understood as a deification of the ewe adult female sheep 330 However her name shows no etymological affinity with any attested terms related to sheep and it has been suggested that while she was definitely a goddess associated with livestock and pastoralism she was not necessarily exclusively connected with sheep 330 Emesh Emesh is a farmer deity in the Sumerian poem Enlil Chooses the Farmer God ETCSL 5 3 3 which describes how Enlil hoping to establish abundance and prosperity creates two gods Emesh and Enten a farmer and a shepherd respectively 331 The two gods argue and Emesh lays claim to Enten s position 332 They take the dispute before Enlil who rules in favor of Enten 333 The two gods rejoice and reconcile 333 Enbilulu Babylon 334 Enbilulu was the god of irrigation 335 In early dynastic sources the name Ninbilulu is also attested though it s uncertain if it should be considered an alternate form or a separate possibly female deity 335 The relation between Enbilulu Ninbilulu and Bilulu from the myth Inanna and Bilulu also remains uncertain 335 Enkimdu possibly Umma 336 Enkimdu is described as the lord of dike and canal 65 His character has been compared to Enbilulu s 337 It has been proposed that he was worshiped in Umma as the personification of the irrigation system though the evidence is scarce 336 ppears in the myth Enkimdu and Dumuzi 338 The text has originally been published under the title Inanna prefers the farmer by Samuel Noah Kramer in 1944 339 Initially it was assumed that it would end with Inanna choosing Enkimdu but this interpretation was abandoned after more editions were compiled 339 In laments he could be associated with Amurru 340 It has been pointed out that Dumuzi does not appear in any of the texts where Enkimdu occurs alongside Amurru which might indicate that in this case the latter was meant to serve as a shepherd god contrasted with Enkimdu in a similar way 341 Enlilazi Nippur Enlilazi was a minor god regarded as the superintendent of Ekur 342 Ennugi Nippur 343 Ennugi was a god regarded as lord of ditch and canal 344 and chamberlain of Enlil 345 Based on similar meaning of the name Gugalanna to the former title it has been proposed that they might have been analogous 139 Enten Enten is a shepherd deity in the Sumerian poem Enlil Chooses the Farmer God ETCSL 5 3 3 which describes how Enlil hoping to establish abundance and prosperity creates two gods Emesh and Enten a farmer and a shepherd respectively 331 The two gods argue and Emesh lays claim to Enten s position 332 They take the dispute before Enlil who rules in favor of Enten 333 The two gods rejoice and reconcile 333 Erra nbsp Kutha 346 Erra is a warlike god who is associated with pestilence and violence 347 348 He is the son of the sky god An 347 and his wife is an obscure minor goddess named Mami who is different from the mother goddess with the same name 347 349 As early as the Akkadian Period Erra was already associated with Nergal 347 348 and he eventually came to be seen as merely an aspect of him 347 348 The names came to be used interchangeably 347 ErragalErrakal Erragal also known as Errakal is a relatively rarely attested deity who was usually regarded as a form of Erra 348 but the two gods are probably of separate origin 350 He is connected with storms and the destruction caused by them 349 In An Anum I 316 Erragal is listed as the husband of the goddess Ninisig and is equated with Nergal 349 in the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Atra Hasis Epic Errakal is said to tear up the mooring poles causing the Great Flood 349 Ezina Ashnan Adab Lagash Umma Ur 351 Shuruppak 108 Ezina or Ashnan in Akkadian 351 was a goddess of grain 351 She was commonly associated with Kusu a goddess of purification 352 In the Sumerian poem The Dispute between Cattle and Grain she and Lahar are created by the Anunnaki to provide them with food 353 They produce large amounts of food 354 but become drunk with wine and start to quarrel so Enki and Enlil intervene declaring Ashnan the victor 355 Gareus Uruk Gareus was a god introduced to Uruk during late antiquity by the Parthians 356 who built a small temple to him there in around 100 AD 356 He was a syncretic deity combining elements of Greco Roman and Babylonian cults 356 Gazbaba Gazbaba was a goddess closely associated with Nanaya like her connected with erotic love 357 Surpu describes her as ṣayyaḫatu the smiling one which is likely a reference to the frequent mention of smiles in Akkadian erotic literature 357 Her name is derived from the Akkadian word kazbu which can be translated as sexual attraction 357 Geshtinanna Nippur Isin and Uruk 358 Geshtinanna was a rural agricultural goddess sometimes associated with dream interpretation 359 She was the sister of Dumuzid the god of shepherds 359 In one myth she protects her brother when the galla demons come to drag him down to the Underworld by hiding him in successively in four different places 359 In another myth about Dumuzid s death she refuses to tell the galla where he is hiding even after they torture her 359 The galla eventually take Dumuzid away after he is betrayed by an unnamed friend 359 but Inanna decrees that he and Geshtinanna will alternate places every six months each spending half the year in the Underworld while the other stays in Heaven 359 While she is in the Underworld Geshtinanna serves as Ereshkigal s scribe 359 In Lagash she was regarded as the wife of Ningishzida and was associated with his symbol mushussu 360 According to Julia M Asher Greve she was connected in myths to Geshtindudu another minor goddess by friendship alone an uncommon connection between otherwise unrelated Mesopotamian goddesses 361 Gibil nbsp Gibil is the deification of fire 359 According to Jeremy Black and Anthony Green he represented fire in all its aspects as a destructive force and as the burning heat of the Mesopotamian summer and as a creative force the fire in the blacksmith s furnace and the fire in the kiln where bricks are baked and so as a founder of cities 359 He is traditionally said to be the son of An and Shala 359 but is sometimes the son of Nusku 362 Gugalanna Gugalanna is the first husband of Ereshkigal the queen of the Underworld 139 His name probably originally meant canal inspector of An 139 and he may be merely an alternative name for Ennugi 139 The son of Ereshkigal and Gugalanna is Ninazu 139 In Inanna s Descent into the Underworld Inanna tells the gatekeeper Neti that she is descending to the Underworld to attend the funeral of Gugalanna the husband of my elder sister Ereshkigal 139 363 141 Gunura Gunura was the daughter of Ninisina and thus sister of Damu 150 She was not associated with other healing goddesses such as Ninkarrak 150 Ĝatumdug Lagash 361 Ĝatumdug was a goddess from the early pantheon of Lagash 361 While the meaning of her name is unknown she was described as the city s mother 364 or its founder 365 According to inscriptions of Gudea she assigned a lamma tutelary deity to him 25 She was later equated with Bau 366 Haya Umma Ur and Kuara 367 Haya is the husband of the goddess Nisaba 123 367 Haya was primarily a god of scribes 367 but he may have also been associated with grain and agriculture 367 He also served as a doorkeeper 367 In some texts he is identified as the father of the goddess Ninlil 367 He was worshipped mostly during the Third Dynasty of Ur when he had temples in the cities of Umma Ur and Kuara 367 In later times he had a temple in the city of Assur and may have had one in Nineveh 367 A god named Haya was worshipped at Mari but this may have been a different deity 367 ḪegirḪegirnunna Girsu 368 Ḫegir later known as Ḫegirnunna 369 was one of the seven deities referred to as septuplets of Bau or seven lukur priestesses of Ningirsu 370 Her name can be translated as the maid of the lofty way and refers to a route of processions in Girsu in the state of Lagash 369 Hendursaga Girsu 371 Hendursaga was a Sumerian god described as protective god with a friendly face in inscriptions 219 He was believed to guard streets and gates at night 219 King Gudea of Lagash refers to him as the herald of the land of Sumer in one inscription 372 His wife might have originally been Dumuzi abzu though later he was regarded as the husband of Ninmug due to syncretism between him and Ishum 110 Humhum Dur Sarruku 373 Humhum was a minor god worshiped in Dur Sarruku also known as Sippar Aruru in northern Babylonia 373 Esarhaddon returned his statue to a temple located there 373 IdluruguId 374 Id modern Hit 375 Idlurugu was a god who represent the concept of trial by ordeal specifically river ordeal The term i7 lu ru gu the river that receives man 376 or the river which confronts man could refer both to him and to the procedure 377 Igalima Lagash 378 Igalima was a son of Bau and Ninĝirsu 378 In offering lists he appears next to Shulshaga 379 Ilaba Agade 46 Ilaba was briefly a major deity during the Sargonic period 46 but seems to have been completely obscure during all other periods of Mesopotamian history 46 He was closely associated with the kings of the Akkadian Empire 96 Ilabrat Assur 380 a town near Nuzi 381 Ilabrat was the sukkal or personal attendant of Anu 59 382 He appears in the myth of Adapa in which he tells Anu that the reason why the south wind does not blow is because Adapa the priest of Ea in Eridu has broken its wing 382 Ishmekarab Shamash s temple Ebabbar 383 in Larsa 384 One of the 11 384 standing gods of Ebabbar divine judges assisting Shamash 383 as well as a member of various Assyrian groups of judge deities 385 While Akkadian in origin the name means he or she heard the payer 383 Ishmekarab also appears in Elamite sources as an assistant of judge god Inshushinak both in legal documents 383 and in texts about the underworld 386 387 Ishmekarab s gender is unclear but Wilfred G Lambert considered it more likely that this deity was male 388 Irnina Irnina was the goddess of victory 389 She could function as an independent deity from the court of Ningishzida but also as a title of major goddesses 178 Isimud nbsp Worshipped with Enki as his sukkal Isimud later known as Usmu was the sukkal or personal attendant of Enki 160 His name is related to the word meaning having two faces 160 and he is shown in art with a face on either side of his head 160 He acts as Enki s messenger in the myths of Enki and Ninhursag and Inanna and Enki 160 Ishum Ishum was a popular but not very prominent god 390 who was worshipped from the Early Dynastic Period onwards 390 In a fragmentary myth he is described as the son of Shamash and Ninlil 390 but he was usually the son of Shamash and his wife Aya 159 The former genealogy was likely the result of confusion between Sud Ninlil and Sudag a title of the sun god s wife 159 He was a generally benevolent deity who served as a night watchman and protector 390 He may be the same god as the Sumerian Hendursaga because the both of them are said to have been the husband of the goddess Ninmug 390 He was sometimes associated with the Underworld 390 and was believed to exert a calming influence on Erra the god of rage and violence 390 Kabta Kabta was a deity commonly paired with Ninsianna 391 Kakka Maskan sarrum 392 Kakka was the sukkal of both Anu in Nergal and Ereshkigal 393 and Anshar in the god list An Anum and in Enuma Elish 394 Kakka is not to be confused with a different unrelated deity named Kakka known from Mari who was a healing goddess associated with Ninkarrak 394 and Ninshubur 291 Kanisurra Uruk 395 Kish 396 Kanisurra also Gansurra Ganisurra 396 was a goddess from the entourage of Nanaya 395 397 She was known as belet kassapati lady of the sorceresses 395 However her character and functions remain unclear 395 397 It has been proposed that her name was originally a term for a location in the netherworld due to its similarity to the Sumerian word ganzer the entrance to the underworld 398 In late theological sources she was regarded as Nanaya s hairdresser and one of the two daughters of Ezida 399 Ki Umma Lagash 352 Ki was a Sumerian goddess who was the personification of the earth 390 In some Sumerian accounts she is a primordial being who copulates with An to produce a variety of plants 400 An and Ki collectively were an object of worship in Umma and Lagash in the Ur III period 352 but the evidence for worship of her is scarce and her name was sometimes written without the dingir sign denoting divinity 401 A fragmentary late neo Assyrian god list appears to consider her and another figure regarded as the wife of Anu Urash as one and the same and refers to Ki Urash 402 Kittum Bad Tibira Rahabu 403 Kittum was a daughter of Utu and Sherida 404 Her name means Truth 404 Kus Kus is a god of herdsmen referenced in the Theogony of Dunnu 405 Kusu Lagash 352 Nippur 406 Kusu was a goddess of purification commonly invoked in Akkadian suillakku a type of prayers asking for help with an individual s problems 300 She was regarded as the personification of a type of ritual censer 352 A late text states that the duck is the bird of Kusu 407 Lagamar Dilbat 408 409 Lagamar whose name means no mercy in Akkadian 410 was a minor god worshiped in Dilbat 408 as the son of the city s tutelary god Urash not to be confused with the earth goddess 411 He was associated with the underworld 410 He was also worshiped in Elam where he was associated with Ishmekarab 411 and the underworld judge Inshushinak 386 387 Laguda Nemed Laguda 412 Laguda was a god associated with the Persian Gulf 412 He appears in the text Marduk s Address to the Demons according to which he exalted the eponymous god in the lower sea 413 He could be associated with other deities with marine associations such as Sirsir and Lugal abba 413 Lahar Lahar was a god associated with sheep 414 Research shows that he was usually regarded as a male deity 415 though he was initially interpreted as a goddess in Samuel Noah Kramer s translations 415 In the poem The Dispute between Cattle and Grain Lahar and Ashnan are created by the Anunnaki to provide them with food 353 They produce large amounts of food 354 but become drunk with wine and start to quarrel so Enki and Enlil intervene declaring Ashnan the victor 355 Laṣ Kutha 416 Lagaba 417 Laṣ was one of the goddesses who could be regarded as the wife of Nergal 416 In Babylonia she became the goddess most commonly identified as such starting with the reign of Kurigalzu II 418 In Assyria an analogous phenomenon is attested from the reign of Tiglath Pileser III onward 418 In the Old Babylonian period Nergal s wife was usually Mammitum 419 Wilfred G Lambert proposed that Laṣ was a goddess of healing as an explanatory version of the Weidner god list equates her with Bau while other similar documents place her in the proximity of Gula who were both regarded as such 419 Lisin Adab and Kesh 293 Lisin and her brother Ashgi were worshipped in Adab and Kesh 293 Her husband was the god Ninsikila 293 In Sumerian times Lisin was viewed as a mother goddess 293 She is identified with the star a Scorpionis 293 Later Ninsikila s and Lisin s genders were swapped 420 Lugala abba Nippur 421 Lugala abba Lord of the Sea 422 was a god associated both with the sea and with the underworld 423 Lugalbanda Uruk Nippur and Kuara 424 Lugalbanda was an early legendary king of the Sumerian city state of Uruk who was later declared to be a god 424 He is the husband of the goddess Ninsun and the father of the mortal hero Gilgamesh 424 He is mentioned as a god alongside Ninsun in a list of deities as early as the Early Dynastic Period 424 A brief fragment of a myth about him from this same time period is also preserved 424 During the Third Dynasty of Ur all the kings would offer sacrifices to Lugalbanda as a god in the holy city of Nippur 424 Two epic poems about Lugalbanda describe him successfully crossing dangerous mountains alone though hindered by severe illness 424 The Sumerian King List makes him a shepherd who reigned for 1 200 years 424 He has a close relationship with the goddess Inanna 424 Lugal irra and Meslamta ea nbsp Kisiga 424 Lugal irra and Meslamta ea are a set of twin gods who were worshipped in the village of Kisiga located in northern Babylonia 424 They were regarded as guardians of doorways 425 and they may have originally been envisioned as a set of twins guarding the gates of the Underworld who chopped the dead into pieces as they passed through the gates 426 During the Neo Assyrian period small depictions of them would be buried at entrances 425 with Lugal irra always on the left and Meslamta ea always on the right 425 They are identical and are shown wearing horned caps and each holding an axe and a mace 425 They are identified with the constellation Gemini which is named after them 425 LulalLatarak Bad tibira 427 428 Lulal also known as Latarak in Akkadian 428 was a god closely associated with Inanna 427 but their relationship is unclear and ambiguous 427 He appears in Inanna s Descent into the Underworld 427 He seems to have primarily been a warrior god 427 but he was also associated with domesticated animals 427 One hymn calls him the master of the open country 428 Lumma Nippur and Umma 429 Reading of the theonym LUM ma is unclear 430 The god bearing it was regarded as a guardian udug of Ekur Enlil s temple in Nippur 431 or as an underworld demon gallu 431 Gianni Marchesi describes him as gendarme demon par excellence 431 He was regarded as a figure of low rank serving under other deities 431 but nonetheless capable of rewarding righteousness 431 The goddess Ninmug was his mother according to the text of a Sumerian lamentation 429 It has been proposed that he was originally a deified human ruler 342 Similar origin has been proposed for a number of other gods of similar character such as Ḫadanis who shares his name with a king of Hamazi 342 Mami Mama Mami or Mama is a mother goddess whose name means mother 84 She may be the same goddess as Ninhursag 84 Mammitum Kutha 416 Mammitum was one of the goddesses who could be identified as the wife of Nergal 416 In the Old Babylonian period she is the best attested among them 419 It is possible she was originally the wife of Erra rather than Nergal and was only introduced to Kutha alongside him 416 Her name might mean oath or frost based on similarity to the Akkadian word mammu ice or frost 432 As her name is homophonous with Mami a goddess of birth or divine midwife 433 some researchers assume they are one and the same 416 However it has been proven that they were separate deities 433 Mamu Sippar 434 Mamu or Mamud was the daughter of Aya and Shamash 435 worshiped in Sippar 434 She was the goddess of dreams 290 Her husband was Bunene 288 Mandanu Babylon Kish 343 Mandanu was a divine judge attested after the Old Babylonian period but absent from older god lists such as the so called Weidner and Nippur lists 436 According to assyriologist Manfred Krebernik he can be considered a personification of places of judgment 436 He belonged to the circle of deities associated with Marduk 437 Manzat Der 438 Manzat Rainbow was the Akkadian goddess of the rainbow 439 She was worshiped in Der 438 and was sometimes viewed as the wife of the city s tutelary god Ishtaran 177 Her titles such as Lady of regulations of heaven and Companion of heaven highlighted her astral character 439 though she was also associated with prosperity of cities 440 Outside Mesopotamia she was also worshiped in Elam where she was possibly regarded as the wife of Simut 440 Martu Amurru Babylon 441 Assur 442 Martu in Akkadian known as Amurru was the divine personification of the nomads who began to appear on the edges of the Mesopotamian world in the middle of the third millennium BC initially from the west but later from the east as well 443 He was described as a deity who rages over the land like a storm 443 One myth describes how the daughter of the god Numusda insists on marrying Martu despite his unattractive habits 444 In Old Babylonian and Kassite art Amurru is shown as a god dressed in long robes and carrying a scimitar or a shepherd s crook 5 Misharu Misharu justice was a son of Adad and Shala 445 His wife was Ishartu righteousness 445 Nanibgal Eresh 446 Nanibgal was initially a title or alternate name of Nisaba but eventually developed into a distinct goddess attested in the god list An Anum and in a number of rituals 220 She had her own spouse Ennugi and own distinct role as a courtier of Ninlil 220 Nimintabba Ur 447 Nimintabba was a minor goddess who belonged to the entourage of Nanna the tutelary god of Ur 447 She had a temple in Ur during the reign of king Shulgi 447 It is possible she was initially a deity of greater theological importance but declined with time 448 Nindara Girsu 446 Ki esa 449 Nindara was the husband of Nanshe 450 NinegalBelet Ekallim 451 Nippur 451 Umma 452 Lagash 452 Dilbat 300 453 Ninegal or Ninegalla known in Akkadian as Belet Ekallim 451 both meaning lady of the palace 454 was a minor 455 goddess regarded as a tutelary deity of palaces of kings and other high ranking officials 455 She was the wife of Urash the city god of Dilbat 300 and was worshiped alongside him and their son Lagamar in some locations 453 Ninegal could also function as an epithet of other deities especially Inanna 452 but also Nungal 456 Outside Mesopotamia she was popular in Qatna where she served as the tutelary goddess of the city 453 NingalNikkal 457 Ekisnuĝal temple in Ur 458 and Harran 457 Ningal great queen 459 later known by the corrupted form Nikkal was the wife of Nanna Suen the god of the moon and the mother of Utu the god of the sun 457 Though she was worshiped in all periods of ancient Mesopotamian history her role is described as passive and supportive by researchers 459 Ningikuga Ur 460 Ningikuga is a goddess of reeds and marshes 461 Her name means Lady of the Pure Reed 461 She is the daughter of Anu and Nammu 461 and one of the many consorts of Enki 461 Ningirida Ningirida was the wife of Ninazu and mother of Ningishzida and his two sisters 274 A passage describing Ningirida taking care of baby Ningishzida is regarded as one of the only references to deities in their infancy and to goddesses breastfeeding in Mesopotamian literature 462 Ninhegal Sippar Ninhegal was a goddess of abundance worshiped in Sippar 434 It is possible she can be identified as the goddess depicted with streams of water on seals from that city 434 Ninimma Nippur 406 Ninimma was a courtier of Enlil regarded as his scribe and sometimes as the nurse of his children 463 462 Like other goddesses from Enlil s circle she had a temple in Nippur 406 In the myth Enki and Ninmah she s one of the seven birth goddesses 464 the other 6 being Shuzianna Ninmada Ninshar Ninmug Mumudu and Ninniginna 465 Her husband was Guskinbanda 466 called Ea of the goldsmith in an explanatory text 463 Occasional references to Ninimma as a male deity are also known 467 and in this context he was called Ea of the scribe 463 Ninkilim nbsp Ninkilim was a deity who was associated with mongooses which are common throughout southern Mesopotamia 468 According to a Babylonian popular saying when a mouse fled from a mongoose into a serpent s hole it announced I bring you greetings from the snake charmer 468 A creature resembling a mongoose also appears in Old Babylonian glyptic art 468 but its significance is not known 468 Ningirima Muru 469 Girima near Uruk 470 Ningirama was a goddess 470 associated with incantations water and fish 470 and who was invoked for protection against snakes 468 It has been argued that she was conflated with Ningilin the deity of mongooses at an early date 468 but she is a distinct deity as late as during the reign of Esarhaddon 471 Ningishzida nbsp Lagash 472 Ningishzida is a god who normally lives in the Underworld 457 He is the son of Ninazu and his name may be etymologically derived from a phrase meaning Lord of the Good Tree 457 In the Sumerian poem The Death of Gilgamesh the hero Gilgamesh dies and meets Ningishzida along with Dumuzid in the Underworld 472 Gudea the Sumerian king of the city state of Lagash revered Ningishzida as his personal protector 472 In the myth of Adapa Dumuzid and Ningishzida are described as guarding the gates of the highest Heaven 473 Ningishzida was associated with the constellation Hydra 107 Ningublaga Kiabrig 474 Ur 475 Larsa 476 Ningublaga was associated with cattle 477 He was believed to oversee the herds belonging to the moon god Nanna 478 Consumption of beef was regarded as taboo to him 477 He also had an apotropaic role and appears in many incantations for example against scorpion bite 477 Ninigizibara Umma 479 Uruk 480 Ninigizibara was a deified harp who could be regarded as an advisor of Inanna 479 Ninkasi Shuruppak 108 Nippur 406 Ninkasi was the goddess of beer 420 She was associated with Siras the goddess of brewing 481 In one hymn her parents are said to be Enki and Ninti 481 though it also states she was raised by Ninhursag 481 Sometimes Ninkasi was viewed as a male deity 420 In the so called Weidner god list Ninkasi appears among chthonic deities alongside the prison goddess Nungal 482 Ninkurra Ninkurra is the daughter of Enki and Ninsar 483 After having sex with her father Enki Ninkurra gave birth to Uttu the goddess of weaving and vegetation 483 Ninmada Ninmada was a god regarded as a brother of Ninazu 178 who was described as a snake charmer in the service of An or Enlil 178 A goddess bearing the same name appears among the assistants of Ninmah in the myth Enki and Ninmah 465 Nin MAR KI Ninmar 484 Ḫurim 485 Guabba 486 Lagash 361 Nin MAR KI reading uncertain was the daughter of Nanshe 360 Ninmena Utab 487 Ninmena was a Sumerian goddess of birth 488 whose name means Lady of the Crown 84 433 Although syncretised with more prominent similar goddesses like Ninhursag in literary texts she never fully merged with them in Sumerian tradition 489 Ninmug Kisiga 490 Shuruppak 108 Ninmug was the tutelary goddess of metal workers 491 She was the wife of the god Ishum and by extension also of Hendursaga in later periods 110 Ninpumuna Ur Puzrish Dagan 492 possibly Gishbanda 493 Ninpumuna was the goddess of salt springs 494 She is only attested in texts from Ur and Puzrish Dagan from the Ur III period 492 though it is also possible that she was worshiped in Gishbanda 493 NinsarNinnisig 495 Nippur 496 Shuruppak 108 The reading of the name of this goddess NIN SAR possibly to be understood as Lady Herbs is uncertain 490 with Ninsar being favored by authors such as Andrew R George 496 and Wilfred G Lambert while Antonie Cavigneaux and Martin Krebernik argue Ninnisig is more likely to be correct 495 She belonged to the court of Enlil and was regarded as his personal butcher 497 Her husband was Erragal 349 In the myth Enki and Ninmah she appears as one of the seven assistants of the eponymous goddess 465 Ninsianna nbsp E esbarzida temple in Ur and other temples in Sippar Larsa and Uruk 498 Ninsianna was the deity of the planet Venus 498 Ninsiana s gender varied depending on location 51 She is described in one text as the holy torch who fills the heavens 498 and was frequently associated with haruspicy 498 Her worship is first attested during the Third Dynasty of Ur and she continued to be venerated until the Seleucid Period 312 BC 63 BC 498 She was sometimes regarded as the astral aspect of Inanna 456 but in Isin she was instead associated with Ninisina 499 and in Larsa Ninsianna and Inanna were separate goddesses 51 She was also sometimes associated with the Elamite astral goddess Pinikir 500 Ninsikila Ninsikila was the husband of the goddess Lisin 293 Later their genders were switched around 420 possibly due to confusion between the male Mesopotamian Ninsikila and a similarly named goddess from Dilmun 501 Ninsun nbsp Uruk 123 Ninsun was a goddess whose name can be understood as lady of the wild cows 502 She was the divine consort of Lugalbanda the deified king of Uruk and the mother of the hero Gilgamesh 207 Nintu Nintu is a Sumerian mother goddess associated with childbirth 503 Her name literally means Lady of Birth 84 She may just be an aspect of Ninhursag 84 Nirah nbsp Der 162 Nirah was the messenger of the god Istaran 162 He was identified with snakes 162 and may appear in the form of a snake on kudurrus 162 Numushda Kazallu 504 Kiritab 505 Numushda was a god who was associated with the city of Kazallu 504 His worship is attested from the Early Dynastic Period 504 but his cult seems to have ceased at the end of the Old Babylonian Period 504 He was believed to be the son of the moon god Nanna and may have been regarded as a storm deity 504 In the myth of The Marriage of Martu Numushda s unnamed daughter insists on marrying the nomadic desert god Martu despite his unattractive lifestyle 504 NungalManungal Ekur temple in Nippur 504 Lagash Sippar Dilbat 315 Nungal also known as Manungal 506 was the goddess of prisons 499 also associated with the death penalty 507 Her name means great prince ss in Sumerian 499 She is rarely attested in literary compositions 508 In the so called Weidner god list she appears among chthonic deities 482 and she was sometimes referred to with the epithet Ninkurra lady of the underworld 508 According to one hymn her mother was Ereshkigal 508 Her husband was the god Birtum 504 The name Ninegal was sometimes used as her epithet 506 and it is possible in Dilbat she and the distinct goddess Ninegal were regarded as analogous 509 Nunusdug Kisiga Nunusdug was a minor goddess from the city of Kisiga attested only in the Early Dynastic period 510 Her name means good woman 510 Nusku Nippur 511 Harran 504 Nusku is the god of fire and light 504 He was the son and minister of Enlil 504 The god Gibil is sometimes described as his son 504 Nusku s main symbol was a lit oil lamp 504 He was a member of a group of deities that were worshipped in Harran during the Neo Assyrian Period by the predominately Old Aramaic speaking population there 504 Pabilsaĝ nbsp Isin Nippur and Larag 19 Pabilshag was a god whose worship is attested from the Early Dynastic Period onwards 19 He was believed to be the son of Enlil and the husband of Ninisina the patron goddess of Isin 19 In some texts he is identified with Ninurta or Ningirsu 19 One Sumerian poem describes Pabilsag s journey to Nippur 19 Pabilsag was believed to be the constellation Sagittarius 19 Panigingarra Adab 512 Panigingarra was a god worshiped in Adab who was the son of Ninhursag and Shulpa e 513 One inscription calls him the lord of kudurru 513 In late sources he was syncretised with Ninurta 513 He appears in a poorly preserved myth Urash and Marduk 514 Sadarnunna Nippur 480 Sadarnunna was the wife of Nuska 480 Sarpanit Esagil in Babylon 280 Sarpanit was the wife of Marduk 51 Her name was most likely derived from Sarpan a village near Babylon which in a myth about her marriage to Marduk was given to her by her father Enlil 238 Sarraḫitu Babylon Uruk 515 Sarraḫitu The glorified one 218 was a goddess worshiped in Babylon during the reign of Esarhaddon and later in Uruk 515 She was identified with Ashratum the wife of Amurru 267 and a late esoteric text explains her name asAsrat aḫitu Ashratum the foreigner 516 In Uruk she was associated with Belet Seri 218 Sarrat Deri Der 162 Sarrat Deri was the wife of Istaran the local god of the Sumerian city state of Der 162 Her name means Queen of Der 162 Serua Assur 517 Serua was an Assyrian goddess associated with Ashur 80 She was the only deity regarded as related to him for reasons other than syncretism with Enlil 80 but Assyrian theological treatises disputed if she was his wife or daughter 80 She should not be confused with Erua an epithet of Sarpanit 80 ShalaMedimsha 445 nbsp Karkar 438 Shala also known as Medimsha 445 having beautiful limbs 174 was the wife of the weather god Adad 438 She was a goddess of rain and was often depicted naked on cylinder seals 174 Shara Umma 518 possibly Tell Agrab 298 Shara was a local deity associated with the city of Umma where his main temple was the E mah 298 A fragment of a stone bowl inscribed with his name discovered in the rubbish dump at Tell Agrab northeast of Babylon indicates that he may have also been worshipped there 298 He was also a warrior god and is referred to as a hero of An 298 In the Babylonian myth of Anzu Shara is one of the warrior gods who is asked to retrieve the Tablet of Destinies but refuses 298 In Inanna s Descent into the Underworld Shara is one of the three deities who come to greet her upon her return 298 In the myth of Lugalbanda and in a single building inscription from the Third Dynasty of Ur Shara is described as Inanna s son 298 a tradition which runs directly contrary to the usual portrayal of Inanna as youthful and without offspring 94 Subula Ṣupur Subula 519 Subula was a minor god most likely associated with the underworld 520 It is assumed that the name is etymologically connected with the Akkadian word abalu m to dry or to be dry 521 A less likely proposal instead derives it from wabalu m to carry 522 It is sometimes assumed he was Nergal s son 306 It has been argued that such a connection could be a reflection of the location of his cult center Ṣupur Subula in the proximity of Nergal s city Kutha 519 However as noted by Jeremiah Peterson it is unclear if the god list An Anum usually used to support this theory recognizes him as Nergal s son as the corresponding section contains a lacuna 521 Another possible restoration would instead make him the son of Ishum 521 Shullat and Hanish Shullat and Hanish were a pair of gods regarded as twins and usually mentioned together 523 In tablet XI of the Epic of Gilgamesh both of them appear in association with Adad 524 Their character was regarded as destructive 524 They could be associated with Adad either alone alongside Shamash or deities from his circle like Misharu and Uṣur amassu 525 Shulgi of Ur built a temple dedicated to them but its location is unknown 526 ShulshagaShulshagana Lagash 378 Sulsagana is the son of Bau and Ninĝirsu 378 Shulpa e Shulpa e s name means youthful brilliance 298 but he was not envisioned as youthful god 298 According to one tradition he was the consort of Ninhursag a tradition which contradicts the usual portrayal of Enki as Ninhursag s consort in myths 298 527 In one Sumerian poem offerings are made to Shulpa e in the Underworld 298 and in later sources he was one of the demons of the Underworld 298 No less than ten temples of Shulpa e are listed in the so called Canonical Temple List but their names and locations are not preserved 526 Shul utula nbsp Girsu Lagash 528 Shul utul was the tutelary god of the dynasty started by Ur Nanshe 529 Shuzianna Nippur 110 Shuzianna was a goddess regarded as the second wife of Enlil 110 She also appears in the myth Enki and Ninmah where she is one of the seven assistants of the eponymous goddess alongside Ninimma Ninmada Ninsar Ninmug Mumudu and Ninnigina 465 She could also be addressed as a daughter of Enmesharra 259 Sirsir Sirsir was the god of sailors 413 In the text Marduk s Address to the Demons he appears alongside Laguda also argued to be a god associated with the sea 413 Siduri Siduri or more accurately Siduri 530 was a goddess who according to the Epic of Gilgamesh was believed to keep an alehouse at the edge of the world 527 In the Old Babylonian versions she attempts to dissuade Gilgamesh from his quest for immortality 531 instead urging him to be content with the simple pleasures in life 531 The origin of her name is uncertain 530 A personal name understood as she is my rampart is attested in Mesopotamian sources from the reign of Third Dynasty of Ur but the word Siduri functioned as epithet of deities in Hurrian texts as well 530 Surpu regards her as a deity connected with wisdom 530 Silili Silili is an obscure goddess who was apparently the mother of all horses 527 She is only attested once in the Epic of Gilgamesh 527 SumuganSakkan 532 Sumugan also spelled Sumuqan or Sakkan was a god associated with quadrupeds 532 especially donkeys 533 or alternatively wild sheep 534 In literary texts such as hymns he was also tasked with caring for their habitat and plants growing there 534 In some texts his epithet is shepherd of everything 415 He was sometimes associated with Utu Shamash as his son or courtier 534 His attribute was likely fleece 535 In some sources Enkidu was compared with him 535 Tadmustum Dadamusda 536 Kutha 536 Tadmustum was the daughter of Nergal 416 She could be regarded as the wife of Subula and like him appears among underworld deities in known sources 520 Tashmetu Kalhu 537 In Assyrian mythology Tashmetu is the divine consort of Nabu the god of scribes and wisdom 537 in Babylonian mythology this role is instead assigned to the goddess Nanaya 537 Tashmetu is associated with wisdom and sexual attractiveness a quality which she shares with Inanna and Nanaya 537 A poetic composition from the Library of Ashurbanipal describes how in one ritual Nabu and Tashmetu s statues would be brought together for a marriage ceremony 537 One extant letter describes how after their wedding Tashmetu and Nabu stayed in the bedchamber for six days and seven nights during which time they were served an elaborate feast 537 Tashmetu is attested relatively late 537 and is not mentioned in texts prior to the Old Babylonian Period 537 Tutu Borsippa 538 Tutu was the tutelary god of Borsippa at least between Ur III 539 and Old Babylonian periods 540 Later he was syncretised with Marduk and in Enuma Elish Tutu is simply one of the names of the latter god 541 Uras Nippur 300 Uras is the earliest attested consort of Anu as evidenced by Sumerian texts dating to the third millennium BCE 52 59 Her role as Anu s consort was later ascribed to Ki the personification of the earth 52 59 Uras Dilbat 542 While in texts from cities such as Nippur Uras was an earth goddess in Dilbat it was the name of an unrelated male god husband of Ninegal who served as the city s tutelary deity 300 He was regarded as the father of Lagamar 411 Urkitum Urkayitu 501 Uruk 501 Urkitum was in origin an epithet of Ishtar meaning the Urukean who eventually developed into a separate goddess 543 It is possible she was a theos eponymos a divine representation of the city of Uruk itself 278 She was closely associated with Uṣur amassu 501 Uṣur amassu Uruk 544 Uṣur amassu was one of the deities regarded as children of Adad and Shala 445 While initially viewed as male she came to be regarded as a goddess and achieved a degree of prominence in Neo Babylonian Uruk where she belonged to the entourage of Ishtar 545 Uttu Babylon 546 Uttu was the goddess of weaving 91 Her name was a term for a part of a loom and a cognate of the Sumerian verb tuku weaving 546 While the claim that her name means spider 91 and that she was envisioned as a spider spinning a web 91 can be found in a number of publications recent research shows that association between Uttu and spiders is limited to a single text a hemerology which connects her Sumerian name with the Akkadian word uttutu spider 546 She was worshiped in E esgar house of work assignment part of the Esagil temple complex in Babylon 546 She appears in the early myth Enki and Ninhursag 546 in which she resists the sexual advances of her father Enki 547 but he convinces her to let him in using a gift of fresh produce and the promise that he will marry her 547 Enki then intoxicates her with beer and rapes her 547 She is rescued by Enki s wife Ninhursag 547 who removes Enki s semen from her vagina and plants it in the ground resulting in the growth of eight new plants which Enki later eats 547 She also appears in the myth Enki and the World Order and in Debate between Sheep and Grain 548 WerMer Ber Iluwer Wer was a weather god worshiped chiefly in northern Babylonia and in Assyria 549 He appears in an Old Babylonian version of the Epic of Gilgamesh which states that the cedar mountain belonged to him 550 and that he appointed Humbaba as its guardian 551 He is most likely not the same deity as Itur Mer from Mari assumed to be a deified hero in origin 552 Monsters and apotropaic spirits editName Image Associated god s DetailsAnzu Imdugud nbsp Ninurta 553 Imdugud later known as Anzu is an enormous bird like monster with the head of a lion described as so huge that the flapping of its wings was thought to be the cause of sandstorms and whirlwinds 553 Imdugud probably originated as the personification of atmospheric fog 553 In some descriptions he has a beak like a saw indicating that he sometimes had the head of a bird 553 In Sumerian mythology Imdugud steals the sacred mes the clay tablets recording all the aspects of civilization from Enki 553 In Akkadian mythology he steals the Tablet of Destinies from Enlil 553 In both stories the creature is challenged by Ninurta who defeats him and returns the stolen property to its rightful owner 553 In the Sumerian story of Gilgamesh Enkidu and the Netherworld Imdugud is one of several creatures that come to inhabit the huluppu tree planted by Inanna 554 555 556 and is driven off by the hero Gilgamesh 555 556 Basmu Ereshkigal Ninazu Ningishzida Tishpak 557 Ishara 558 Basmu venomous snake was a mythical horned snake who played an apotropaic role in Mesopotamian religion 559 While in some contexts its name can be a generic word designating any mythical snake or dragon as early as in Gudea s inscriptions it was also understood as a specific creature 560 Some texts indicate that basmu possessed forelegs 561 A largely analogous creature was the mussatur depicted as a horned cobra 562 Bull of Heaven nbsp The Bull of Heaven is a mythical beast that Ishtar demands from her father Anu in both the Sumerian poem Gilgamesh and the Bull of Heaven and in Tablet VI of the Standard Akkadian Epic of Gilgamesh after Gilgamesh repudiates her sexual advances 563 Anu gives it to her and she unleashes it on the world causing mass destruction 563 Gilgamesh and Enkidu eventually slay the bull 563 The Bull of Heaven is identified with the constellation Taurus 563 and the reason why Enkidu hurls the bull s thigh at Ishtar in the Epic of Gilgamesh after defeating it may be an effort to explain why the constellation seems to be missing its hind quarters 563 Girtablullu nbsp Utu Shamash 564 Girtablullu were creatures with the upper body of a human lu ulu untamed man and the lower body of a scorpion gir tab believed to serve the sun god Utu in Sumerian mythology and later his Akkadian counterpart Shamash 564 In the Epic of Gilgamesh a scorpionman and a scorpionwoman guard the gate through which the sun rises and sets each day but it is likely this motif existed earlier independently from this myth 564 Unlike most other apotropaic creatures a male girtablullu was also often accompanied by his feminine counterpart in apotropaic rituals 564 Hanbi Hanbi is the father of the demon god Pazuzu 565 Humbaba Huwawa 566 nbsp Humbaba also Huwawa Huppipi Hubbubu 567 was a monster residing in the Cedar Forest defeated by Gilgamesh and Enkidu in the Epic of Gilgamesh 568 Sculptures of Humbaba s head are attested in an apotropaic role from Mesopotamian temples 568 Humbaba was commonly referenced in omen texts which highlighted his unusual appearance 569 His face was frequently compared to entrails of sacrificial animals 373 While connections to the minor god Humhum from northern Babylonia to Elamite god Humban and to Combabos mentioned by Lucian of Samosata have been proposed in scholarship they are not regarded as plausible 502 Kilili Ishtar 570 Kilili was a demon or minor goddess who served as a messenger of Ishtar 570 Kingaludda Kingaludda was a demon whose name means director of the storm 571 In the god list An Anum he is described as ilu lemnu evil god 571 and his name was written with the divine determinative 571 He appears in a lamentation from Ur 571 Kulullu Enki Ea 572 Kulullu fish man was an apotropaic creature depicted a centaur like fish man 573 In one text it hads the head of a kissugu a creature whose identity is currently unknown rather than a human 572 Kulullu was described as a servant of Ea who carries a vessel from which it could pour a liquid symbolizing abundance and prosperity 572 In Kalhu a pair of kulullu statues one male and one female guarded the temple of Nabu 572 Kusarikku nbsp Utu Shamash 574 Kusarikku bison man was a creature depicted as a human faced bison standing on its hind legs 575 associated with the sun god Utu 574 Depictions of kusarikku alongside lahmu were sometimes incorrectly interpreted as Enkidu and Gilgamesh respectively in the past 576 Lahmu nbsp Enki Ea 577 Marduk 578 Lahmu hairy one was a type of apotropaic creature 579 He was originally associated with Enki and later with Marduk 578 On cylinder seals Lahmu was sometimes depicted as a fisherman 580 In mythical texts the god Enki Ea is sometimes said to have 50 lahmu serving him 580 During the Neo Assyrian Period 911 BC 609 BC figurines of Lahmu who is depicted with long hair and a long curled beard were placed under the foundations of houses and temples to protect against demons and pestilence 578 Lahmu is closely associated with the kusarikku or bull man 578 In the Babylonian Enuma Elis a singular Lahmu and his consort Lahamu whose name is derived from the same root are a primordial couple 578 Lamashtu nbsp Lamashtu was a goddess with the head of a lion the teeth of a donkey naked breasts a hairy body hands stained with blood long fingers and fingernails and the feet of Anzu 427 She was believed to feed on the blood of human infants 427 and was widely blamed as the cause of miscarriages and cot deaths 427 Although Lamashtu has traditionally been identified as a demoness 581 the fact that she could cause evil on her own without the permission of other deities strongly indicates that she was seen as a goddess in her own right 427 Mesopotamian peoples protected against her using amulets and talismans 427 She was believed to ride in her boat on the river of the Underworld 427 and she was associated with donkeys 427 She was believed to be the daughter of An 427 Musḫussu nbsp Ninazu Ningishzida Tishpak Marduk Nabu Ashur 201 Musḫussu furious snake or aweful snake was a dragon like creature sometimes a lion dragon hybrid depicted as a servant of various gods in Mesopotamian art 562 It was originally associated with Ninazu and by extension with his son Ningishzida in Lagash after Tishpak replaced Ninazu as the city god of Eshnunna he also started to be associated with his serpentine symbolic animals 201 In the Middle Babylonian period Marduk started to be associated with the musḫussu possibly in reflection of Hammurabi s conquest of Eshnunna his son Nabu was later associated with it too 582 Marduk s association with it was in turn transferred to Ashur after Sennacherib s destruction of Babylon 582 The apotropaic use of its depictions was likely connected to the belief that it served as a fearless protector of its divine masters fighting evil on their behalf 582 Pazuzu nbsp Pazuzu is a demonic god who was well known to the Babylonians and Assyrians throughout the first millennium BC 19 He is shown with a rather canine face with abnormally bulging eyes a scaly body a snake headed penis the talons of a bird and usually wings 19 He was believed to be the son of the god Hanbi 565 He was a beneficent entity who protected against winds bearing pestilence 19 and he was thought to be able to force Lamashtu back to the Underworld 583 Amulets bearing his image were positioned in dwellings to protect infants from Lamashtu 565 and pregnant women frequently wore amulets with his head on them as protection from her 565 Ironically Pazuzu appears in The Exorcist films as the demon that possesses the little girl Regan MacNeil 565 Sebitti Nergal 584 Narundi 585 A group of 7 anthropomorphic 586 figures variously described as servants of Nergal as sons of Enmesharra as gods of foreign nation Elam Gutium etc or as astral or atmosphetic spirits serving the gods or as a combination of some of the above 585 The Elamite goddess Narundi was regarded as their sister in Mesopotamia 585 While destructive the Sebitti weren t necessarily regarded as evil 587 They played an apotropaic role appearing for example in rituals meant to protect houses from demons 585 In apotropaic contexts they were described as armed with hatchets 588 A possibly analogous group additionally identified with the Pleiades is described as Inanna s seven headed mace in one text 586 Suhurmasu Enki Ea 572 Suhurmasu was a creature likely imagined simply as a type of fish by the Sumerians but as a fish goat hybrid by the Akkadians 589 A Sumerian text refers to it as the lofty purification priest of the Apsu and in apotropaic rituals it was associated with exorcisms 589 It was also used to symbolically represent Ea on kudurru 589 Unlike many other apotropaic creatures it doesn t appear as a member of Tiamat s army defeated by Marduk in Enuma Elish which might indicate it was viewed as more peaceful than other similar beings 589 Ugallu nbsp Ishkur Adad 590 Ugallu big day or big weather beast was a class of beings in Mesopotamian mythology attested after the Ur III period 582 The term ugallu could refer to multiple types of creatures 582 and both benevolent and malevolent character was assigned to them in various texts 591 Ugallu was depicted as a lion demon with the body of a man head of a lion and bird like claws 591 This class of beings was likely viewed as enforcers of divine will 592 Due to their fearsome characters they were viewed as a source of protection as well and as such appear on apotropaic amulets 593 Similar leonine creatures were sometimes depicted or described as servings the gods notably Ishkur Ishtar Marduk and Ninurta as mounts or pulling their chariots 592 Uridimmu Marduk and Sarpanit 594 Uridimmu mad dog or mad lion was an apotropaic creature in Mesopotamian mythology 593 Next to nothing is known about its history prior the Middle Babylonian period but in texts from this era it was associated with Marduk and his wife Sarpanit and was believed to serve as their gatekeeper 595 An apotropaic ritual involving a figurine of uridimmu made from cedar wood prescribes praying to Marduk and Sarpanit to bestow healing powers upon the representation of the creature and describes it as their faithful servant capable of interceding with them on behalf of humans 594 The ritual also states that Sarpanit makes the uridimmu well disposed towards the patient treated with apotropaic magic 595 Urmahlullu nbsp Urmahlullu was an apotrapaic creature with the lower body of a lion and upper body of a man attested mostly in Assyria 596 Depictions are late 13th century BCE or later and uncommon and it is doubtful if any role was assigned to it in mythology 596 Apotropaic rituals nonetheless occasionally refer to it 573 Usumgallu Nabu 561 Ninkilim 597 Usumgallu prime venomous snake was an apotropaic snake monster similar to basmu 561 In the god list An Anum it is the sukkal of Ninkilim 597 while in some later texts it is stated to be Nabu s dragon instead of musḫussu 561 Foreign deities in Mesopotamia editName Image Place of origin DetailsAhura Mazda nbsp Persia Under Sasanian rule a number of fire temples of Ahura Mazda were erected in modern Iraq for example in Irbil and Mada in 598 Allatum Allani 599 nbsp Hurrian areas possibly Hassum in particular 599 Allani in Mesopotamia known as Allatum was the Hurrian goddess of the underworld She was introduced in Mesopotamia in the Ur III period as an independent deity 600 She had at least one temple likely located in Ur 599 She continued to be worshiped in the Old Babylonian period 601 In later periods she was equated with 602 and eventually fully assimilated into Ereshkigal 603 Some documents associate her with Ishara 599 in Hurrian sources they are well attested as a pair due to some shared functions 604 605 She is not to be confused with Alla or Alla Gula sukkal of Ningishzida 599 Anahita nbsp Persia According to Berossos the cult of Anahita was introduced by Artaxerxes I to many cities in the Mesopotamian part of his empire including Babylon 606 These efforts are thought to have been directed at the Iranian population of the city to tie regional courts to the imperial core rather than as an attempt to impose Persian deities on the Babylonians 607 Apollo nbsp Greece The Hellenistic Seleucid kings favoured Apollo as the patron deity of their dynasty and introduced his cult to Mesopotamia Locally Apollo was syncretised with Nabu but the Greek speaking communities of Seleucia on the Tigris built a sanctuary to Apollo Komaios and honoured the god under the name Apollo using a mixture of Greek and Mesopotamian iconography 608 609 610 A cult of Apollo and Artemis Daittai was brought to Seleucia on the Eulaios the refounded Susa from Antioch 611 Strabo reported that a temple of Apollo existed on the island of Ikaros in the Persian Gulf which had a garrison who built many structures in the Greek style 612 Artemis nbsp Greece In Mesopotamia and Syria Artemis was identified with the goddess Nanaya This identification had a long lasting influence on Nanaya by introducing associations with the moon and archery 613 614 The cult of Apollo and Artemis Daittai was brought from Antioch to Seleucia on the Eulaios in Elymais 611 The Greek settlers on the island of Ikaros had a shrine to Artemis and made dedications to Artemis Soteira Strabo also reports that an oracle of Artemis Tauropolos was present on the island 615 Ashratum Amorite areas 616 Ashratum or Ashiratum in documents from Larsa 617 was an Amorite goddess who in Mesopotamia came to be associated with Amurru 616 In addition to being envisioned as a couple they shared an association with mountains 618 and steppes 619 According to Steve A Wiggins while the names of the Mesopotamian Ashratum and Ugaritic Athirat are cognate they weren t entirely the same deity but merely developed in parallel from one source 620 She was described as daughter in law of the god An 621 A temple dedicated to her Ehilikalamma House of the luxury of the land existed in Babylon 622 In past scholarship Ashratu was incorrectly assumed to be connected to Ishtar due to a shared epithet however it was applied to a wide variety of gods including Marduk and Nergal and as such cannot serve as grounds for claims about identification of these two deities with each other as many epithets were shared between deities not necessarily regarded as analogous to each other 623 Atargatis nbsp Syria Worship of the goddess Atargatis is attested from Edessa Hatra and Dura Europos in Upper Mesopotamia in Seleucid and Roman times In the syncretic environment of the Upper Euphrates in the early centuries CE Atargatis was associated with Artemis Athena and Allat 624 In Dura Europos she had a temple separate from that of Artemis and shared iconographic similarities with Tyche 625 Athena nbsp Greece Terracotta figurines of Athena are known from Seleucid Babylon 626 and she is also one of the most popular deities depicted on bullae from Seleucid Mesopotamia which depict Athena of both the Promachos and Parthenos types 627 Belet Nagar Nagar Shekhna 628 Belet Nagar was the tutelary goddess of the Syrian city of Nagar 601 She was introduced in Mesopotamia in the Ur III period likely due to her connection to kingship and due to her role as a divine witness to commercial treaties 629 It is possible that Haburitum known from similar Mesopotamian sources and the Hurrian Nabarbi are the same goddess 630 Belet Suḫnir and Belet Terraban Suḫnir and Terraban 631 Belet Suḫnir and Belet Terraban were a pair of goddesses venerated in the Ur III period 632 They were most likely introduced from the area north of Eshnunna beyond the borders of sphere of direct Mesopotamian influence where the corresponding cities were located 632 A seal inscription associates both of them with Tishpak 632 Known festivals dedicated to them have been described as lugubrious by researchers and included a wailing ceremony the festival of chains and a celebration known only as place of disappearance It has been proposed that these rituals might reflect an unknown myth about descent to the underworld or perhaps capture of these two deities 632 They almost always appear as a pair though sporadic references to Belet Suḫnir alone are known from Mesopotamian documents 633 while Belet Terraban is attested on her own in Susa during the reign of Puzur Inshushinak 634 Bes nbsp Egypt 635 Bes was the Egyptian god of play and recreation 636 He was envisioned as a full faced bow legged dwarf with an oversized head goggle eyes protruding tongue bushy tail and usually a large feathered crown as a head dress 636 Representations of an almost identical dwarf god became widespread across the Near East during the first millennium BC and are common in Syria Palestine and Arabia 637 This god s name in Assyrian and Babylonian may have been Pessu 637 Bes seems to have been the only Egyptian god who became widely worshipped throughout Mesopotamia 558 His role in Mesopotamian religion was however closer to that of a type of apotropaic creature native examples of which include lahmu kusarikku mushussu etc than a deity proper 638 Dagan Tuttul 639 and Terqa 640 Dagan was the main god of the middle Euphrates area regarded as a god of prosperity 641 and father of gods 642 While his cult centers were never major political powers in their own right he was nonetheless a popular deity 643 and his cult had international importance in the Ebla period already 644 Due to their analogous position in corresponding pantheons he and Enlil were partially conflated 642 However Dagan had a distinct purpose in the Mesopotamian pantheon as well as the god granting rulers control over western lands 645 In Nippur he shared a temple with Ishara 646 though contrary to conclusions in older scholarship these two deities were not regarded as a couple and merely shared a similar area of origin 647 Hahharnum and Hayyashum nbsp Hurrian areas 648 Hahharnum and Hayyashum were the Mesopotamian adaptation of Hurrian words for heaven and earth ese hawurni 649 While Hurrians did not worship this pair as personified deities 650 in Mesopotamia they appear as primordial gods in a handful of texts 648 649 Hamurnu Hahharnum alone appears in a copy of the god list Ansar Anum where he is also explained as a name of Anu 648 Prior to the discovery that their names have Hurrian origin Hahharnum and Hayashum were described as little known primordial deities 651 Herakles nbsp Greece In Mesopotamia the cult of Herakles was syncretised with the cults of Nergal and the Persian deity Verethragna and he served an apotropaic function 652 Figures of Herakles have been found widely in Hatra and the cultic statue of Nergal used the iconography of the Greek god 653 Humban Elam 558 Humban was an Elamite god associated with the concept of kingship and divine protection kiten 654 In Mesopotamian sources he appeared only sporadically in the Neo Assyrian period and in a commentary on the incantation series Surpu he is equated with Enlil most likely based on their shared role as gods who grant authority to human rulers 655 Past researchers sometimes incorrectly assumed he was one and the same as a distinct Elamite god Napirisha 656 Evidence from the Persepolis Administrative Archives shows that his worship was adopted by Persians as well from the Elamites 657 While commonly proposed in the past a connection between Humban and Humbaba is now regarded as implausible 502 Ḫaburitum Sikani 658 Ḫaburitum was a goddess understood as either she of Ḫabur either the river or the area surrounding it or she of the city Ḫabura 633 The former option is considered more plausible as her cult center was apparently Sikani located near the head of the river Khabur rather than Ḫabura which was instead located near modern Al Hasakah 658 In Mesopotamia she was worshiped alongside other western deities such as Dagan and Ishara 659 Ḫarbe Kassite homeland in the Zagros Ḫarbe was likely the head of the Kassite pantheon 660 His symbol known from some Mesopotamian kudurru boundary stones was a bird with its head turned back 661 Inshushinak nbsp Elam especially Susa 662 Inshushinak from Sumerian Lord of Susa 181 was one of the main Elamite gods He was associated with kingship and the underworld 387 and served as the tutelary god of Susa 177 In some Mesopotamian texts he appears as an underworld god for example in the god list An Anum he can be found among the deities forming the entourage of Ereshkigal 138 His assistants were Lagamar and Ishmekarab whose names have Akkadian origin and who were originally worshiped in Mesopotamia 387 386 Frans Wiggermann proposes that Inshushinak and the Mesopotamian gods Ishtaran Ninazu Ningishzida and Tishpak can be collectively described as Transtigridian snake gods existing on the boundary between Elamite and Mesopotamian culture based on their shared connection to judgment the afterlife and snakes as well as similar locations of their major cult centers 663 Inzak Enzag Dilmun 664 The Sumerians regarded Inzak as the chief god of the Dilmunite pantheon 664 but the Dilmunites themselves regarded him as a god of Agaru a land in eastern Arabia 664 His main cult center was on Failaka Island 664 where a temple was dedicated to him 664 He appears alongside his wife Meskilak in documents from Nippur and in Surpu 665 During the Neo Babylonian Period Inzak was identified with Nabu 664 under the latter s name Mu ati 665 Ishara nbsp Ebla 666 Hurrian areas 667 An Eblaite goddess of pre Semitic and pre Hurrian origin 668 She was among the western deities introduced in Mesopotamia in the Ur III period and shared temples with Belet Nagar in Ur 285 and with Dagan in Nippur 646 Due to association with Ishtar she developed into a love goddess 669 associated with marriage 145 Her symbols were bashmu otherwise mostly a symbol of underworld gods 557 and scorpions 558 also associated with marriage 154 According to a Hurrian source she was viewed as a daughter of Enlil 670 Jabru Elam 671 According to Mesopotamian sources such as the god list An Anum Jabru was a god similar to Anu or Enlil 671 While described as Elamite he is not attested in any sources from Elam 671 Kumarbi Hurrian areas especially Urkesh 672 Kumarbi was one of the main gods of the Hurrians 673 regarded as partially analogous to Enlil and Dagan 674 due to his role as father of the gods 675 He had a chthonic character and was associated with grain and prosperity 641 In Mesopotamia he appears in the Assyrian Takultu text as the god of Taite alongside Nabarbi and Samnuha 672 Manziniri Elam 676 An Elamite deity known chiefly from a passage mentioning the forest of Manziniri 676 She appears in a letter of Esarhaddon addressed to Urtaku an Elamite ruler as one of the deities meant to guarantee peace between the two monarchs alongside Assyrian gods Ashur Bel Nabu Sin Shamash Ishtar of Nineveh and Ishtar of Arbela 677 Wilfred G Lambert proposed a connection between Manziniri and the Kassite goddess Minimzir Mirizir 676 Meskilak Dilmun 664 Meskilak was a Dilmunite goddess and the wife of Inzak 678 The Sumerians viewed her as a daughter of Enki and Ninhursag under the name Ninsikila it is possible that later on she was identified with Nabu s wife Tashmetum 665 She was sometimes referred to as Nin Dilmun meaning Lady of Dilmun 664 Nabarbi nbsp Hurrian areas especially Taite Nabarbi she of Nawar was Hurrian goddess possibly analogous to Belet Nagar 673 In Mesopotamian sources she is attested in the Assyrian Takultu text where she appears alongside Kumarbi and Samnuha as one of the deities of Taite 672 Narundi nbsp Susa An Elamite goddess known from Susa who in Mesopotamia was regarded as analogous to Ishtar or Nanaya and developed a distinct apotropaic role as early as in the Old Babylonian period 585 Mesopotamians viewed her as sister of the Sebitti equated with Divine Seven of Elam a Mesopotamian grouping of Elamite gods in god lists 585 Ninatta and Kulitta nbsp Hurrian areas Musician goddesses always mentioned as a pair who were handmaidens of Shaushka 679 In Assyria they were incorporated into Ishtar s entourage in her temple in Ashur 672 Pinikir Elam 558 An Elamite goddess regarded as analogous to Ishtar by modern researchers 680 but incorrectly assumed to be an alternate name of Kiririsha in the past 681 She was also worshiped by Hurrians in Syria and Anatolia and Gary Beckman proposes that her worship was transmitted there from a Mesopotamian source 500 An Akkadian god list known from a copy from Emar indicates she was equated with Ninsianna 500 Shalash Ebla 682 Tuttul 683 Shalash was the wife of the Syrian god Dagan 684 She appears with her husband in cylinder seal inscriptions from the Isin Larsa period 685 Shaushka nbsp Nineveh Nuzi and other Hurrian centers Shaushka was a Hurrian goddess regarded as analogous to Ishtar Ishtar of Subartu 686 or Ishtar of Nineveh 659 Despite her origin the oldest known attestations of both Shaushka and her main cult center Nineveh come from Mesopotamian rather than Hurrian documents 687 She is attested in religious documents from the Ur III period but her worship evidently persisted in later times too as she appears in a list of offerings from Old Babylonian Isin 688 A temple dedicated to her was located in Babylon as well 689 She influenced the later Assyrian Ishtar of Nineveh 690 though the latter also shows influence from Ninlil 691 Shuqamuna and Shumaliya nbsp Kassite homeland in the Zagros Shuqamuna and Shumaliya were a pair of Kassite gods regarded as the tutelary deities of the Kassite dynasty of Babylon 692 They were depicted on a number of kudurru in the symbolic form of birds sitting on a perch 693 Shuwala Mardaman 694 Shuwala the tutelary goddess of Mardaman a city located in the north of modern Iraq is attested in sources from the Ur III period 694 She is assumed to be an underworld deity of Hurrian origin 694 Simut Elam 74 Simut was an Elamite god associated with Mars 50 regarded as herald of the gods 695 His name was used as a theophoric element in Old Babylonian personal names 695 while god lists associate him with Nergal 50 It is possible the Akkadian goddess Manzat who became a popular deity in Elam was regarded as his wife 440 Tishpak Eshnunna Tishpak was a god who replaced Ninazu as the tutelary deity of Eshnunna 196 He shared most of his functions and attributes ex plough two maces and various snakes and serpentine monsters such as mushussu 696 It is agreed that he had foreign roots 697 While in early scholarly works Hurrian origin and a connection to Teshub was proposed for him 698 newer sources favor an Elamite etymology for his name 699 as well as for the name of his son Nanshak known from god lists 700 UmbidakiNupatik Hurrian areas Umbidaki was a god worshiped in the temple of Ishtar of Arbela in neo Assyrian times 701 It is assumed that he was analogous to the Hurrian god Nupatik possibly introduced to Arbela after a statue of him was seized in a war 701 YahwehEl Elohim El Shaddai Yah nbsp Kingdoms of Israel and Judah 702 703 704 Yahweh was the national god of the Israelites who originally lived in the Levantine kingdoms of Israel and Judah 702 703 704 In 586 BC the Neo Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem destroyed the Temple of Solomon and deported the elite members of Judahite society to Babylon in an event known as the Babylonian exile 705 Modern scholars generally agree that much of the Deuteronomistic History was probably edited and redacted by Judahite priests living in Babylon during the exile 706 The works of Second Isaiah also written in Babylon represent the first unambiguous Judahite declaration of the non existence of foreign deities and proclamation of Yahweh as the sole supreme God 707 Much of the Torah was probably written and compiled after the exile when the Jews were allowed to return to their homeland by the Persians 708 709 See also editList of Elamite deities List of Hittite deities List of Hurrian deities List of sukkals An AnumReferences edit Kramer 1961 pp 32 33 a b c Black amp Green 1992 p 93 Black amp Green 1992 pp 93 94 a b Black amp Green 1992 pp 130 131 a b c Black amp Green 1992 p 130 a b c d Black amp Green 1992 p 98 a b Nemet Nejat 1998 p 185 Black amp Green 1992 p 102 a b c d Black amp Green 1992 p 94 a b Nemet Nejat 1998 p 186 a b Nemet Nejat 1998 pp 186 187 Nemet Nejat 1998 pp 186 188 Black amp Green 1992 p 174 a b Black amp Green 1992 pp 44 45 a b Black amp Green 1992 p 52 a b c Schneider 2011 p 54 a b c d e Schneider 2011 p 53 Schneider 2011 pp 53 54 a b c d e f g h i j k l Black amp Green 1992 p 147 Schneider 2011 pp 52 53 a b Litke 1998 p 6 Litke 1998 pp 6 7 a b c d e f Brisch 2016 a b c d e f Leick 1998 p 8 a b c Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 193 a b c d e Black amp Green 1992 p 34 Katz 1995 p 229 Archi 1990 p 115 Falkenstein 1965 pp 127 140 a b c Black amp Green 1992 p 106 Kramer 1963 pp 120 122 Litke 1998 p 2 Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 27 Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 65 a b Peterson 2011 pp 279 280 a b Lambert 2013 p 262 Lambert 2013 pp 262 263 a b Schwemer 2007 p 142 a b c Lambert 2013 p 199 Lambert 2013 p 275 McEvilley 2002 p 424 Bautsch 2003 p 119 Kramer 1963 p 123 Kramer 1963 pp 122 123 Nemet Nejat 1998 pp 201 203 a b c d e f g Black amp Green 1992 pp 108 109 a b c d e f Nemet Nejat 1998 p 203 Black amp Green 1992 pp 182 184 a b c d e f g h i Black amp Green 1992 p 135 a b c Henkelman 2011 p 512 a b c d e Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 92 a b c d e f g h i Black amp Green 1992 p 30 a b Harris 1991 pp 261 278 a b c Rogers 1998 p 13 Clay 2006 p 101 James 1963 p 140 Katz 2003 p 403 a b Lambert 2013 pp 405 426 a b c d e f Stephens 2013 Schneider 2011 p 58 Kramer 1963 p 118 Lambert 2013 p 184 a b c Atac 2018 p 78 a b Coleman amp Davidson 2015 p 108 a b c d e Black amp Green 1992 p 76 Black amp Green 1992 pp 74 76 a b Hallo 1996 pp 231 234 Kramer 1983 pp 115 121 Kramer 1963 p 119 Kramer 1963 p 121 a b c d e Schneider 2011 p 59 a b c Lambert 2013 p 5 a b Wright 2002 pp 34 35 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Black amp Green 1992 p 75 a b c d e Black amp Green 1992 p 128 Kasak amp Veede 2001 p 20 a b c d Black amp Green 1992 p 37 Lambert 1983a p 83 Lambert 1983a pp 85 86 a b c d e f g Lambert 1983a p 82 Black amp Green 1992 p 38 Black amp Green 1992 pp 37 38 Lambert 2013 p 246 a b c d e f g h i j k l Black amp Green 1992 p 133 a b c d e f Pomponio 1998 p 20 Pomponio 1998 p 22 a b Pomponio 1998 p 18 a b Pomponio 1998 p 23 a b Kasak amp Veede 2001 pp 17 18 Peterson 2011 p 279 a b c d e f Black amp Green 1992 p 182 a b c d e f g h i Black amp Green 1992 p 184 a b Pryke 2017 pp 36 37 a b c d e Black amp Green 1992 p 108 a b Leick 1998 p 87 a b Black amp Green 1992 p 109 Wolkstein amp Kramer 1983 pp ix xi xvi Wolkstein amp Kramer 1983 pp xiii xv Kramer 1961 p 101 Vanstiphout 1984 pp 225 228 a b Pryke 2017 p 101 a b Pryke 2017 pp 101 103 a b Kramer 1961 pp 83 96 a b Wolkstein amp Kramer 1983 pp 52 71 Pryke 2017 pp 102 104 Wolkstein amp Kramer 1983 pp 71 89 a b c d e f g h i j Black amp Green 1992 p 140 a b c d e Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 58 Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 137 a b c d e f g h i j k Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 61 Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 42 Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 pp 139 140 Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 138 a b c Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 59 Black amp Green 1992 p 59 Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 pp 58 59 Black amp Green 1992 p 146 a b c d e f g Black amp Green 1992 p 142 Black amp Green 1992 pp 138 142 Mark 2017 Black amp Green 1992 pp 71 138 Robson 2015 a b c d e f g Black amp Green 1992 p 143 Penglase 1994 p 43 Kasak amp Veede 2001 pp 25 26 Black amp Green 1992 pp 142 143 Kasak amp Veede 2001 p 27 a b c d Black amp Green 1992 p 136 Kasak amp Veede 2001 p 28 a b c d e Black amp Green 1992 p 72 Wolkstein amp Kramer 1983 pp 74 84 a b c Ackerman 2006 p 116 Jacobsen 2008 pp 87 88 Jacobsen 2008 pp 83 84 Jacobsen 2008 pp 83 87 a b c d e f Black amp Green 1992 p 73 a b Jacobsen 2008 pp 74 84 a b Wiggermann 1997 p 34 a b c d e f g h i j k Black amp Green 1992 p 77 a b c Nemet Nejat 1998 p 184 a b Wolkstein amp Kramer 1983 p 55 Wiggermann 1997 p 24 a b c d Black amp Green 1992 p 101 a b c Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 252 a b c d e Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 82 Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 242 a b Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 67 Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 pp 82 83 a b Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 100 a b c d Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 84 a b c d Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 19 Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 189 Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 190 a b Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 205 a b Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 66 Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 pp 21 22 a b Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 78 a b c d Sallaberger 2017 p 164 a b c d e f g Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 77 a b c d e f g Black amp Green 1992 p 110 a b Schwemer 2007 p 131 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Black amp Green 1992 p 111 a b c Schwemer 2007 p 140 a b c Schwemer 2007 p 143 a b Schwemer 2007 p 135 Schwemer 2007 p 121 Schwemer 2007 p 145 a b Schwemer 2007 p 132 Schwemer 2007 p 137 Schwemer 2007 p 138 Schwemer 2007 p 130 Schwemer 2007 p 134 Schwemer 2007 pp 123 133 a b c Schwemer 2007 p 133 Schwemer 2007 p 139 Schwemer 2007 p 147 a b c d e Wiggermann 1997 p 44 a b c d e Wiggermann 1997 p 42 a b Simons 2017 p 86 Wiggermann 1997 p 43 a b Wiggermann 1997 p 48 a b c d e Black amp Green 1992 p 134 Stol 1998 p 147 Drewnowska Rymarz 2008 p 124 Drewnowska Rymarz 2008 pp 116 117 Drewnowska Rymarz 2008 pp 97 98 Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 267 a b Peterson 2016 p 38 Drewnowska Rymarz 2008 p 9 Drewnowska Rymarz 2008 pp 23 24 Drewnowska Rymarz 2008 p 40 Drewnowska Rymarz 2008 pp 42 43 Drewnowska Rymarz 2008 pp 160 161 Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 165 Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 169 a b c d e Wiggermann 1997 p 35 a b Black amp Green 1992 p 137 Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 288 Wiggermann 1997 p 47 Wiggermann 1997 pp 37 38 a b c Wiggermann 1992 pp 168 169 Black amp Green 1992 pp 140 141 a b Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 112 Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 147 a b Leick 2013 p 67 Wiggermann 1998 p 491 a b c Black amp Green 1992 p 141 a b c Wiggermann 1998 p 497 a b c d e Pryke 2017 p 94 Wiggermann 1988 pp 228 229 Drewnowska Rymarz 2008 p 23 Wiggermann 1998 p 498 Kramer 1961 pp 67 68 Wolkstein amp Kramer 1983 pp 20 27 Kramer 1961 pp 92 94 Wolkstein amp Kramer 1983 pp 61 63 Wiggermann 1998 p 496 a b c Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 132 a b c Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 p 234 a b c d e f Michalowski 1998 p 576 Michalowski 1998 p 577 Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 pp 145 146 a b c Michalowski 1998 p 578 Michalowski 1998 p 579 a b c d e Black amp Green 1992 p 187 Sallaberger 2017 p 165 Sallaberger 2017 p 168 Sallaberger 2017 p 167 Asher Greve amp Westenholz 2013 pp 93 94 Horowitz 1998 pp 107 147 Black amp Green 1992 pp 53 54 a b Kramer 1961 pp 30 41 a b c Horowitz 1998 pp 107 108 Horowitz 1998 p 134 Horowitz 1998 pp 107 134 a b Horowitz 1998 p 108 Lambert 2013 p 389 a b Lambert 2013 p 304 a b c Black amp Green 1992 p 27 a b Lambert 2013 p 418 a b c d Lambert 2013 p 424 Litke 1998 pp 22 23 Lambert 2013 p 425 Krebernik 2003 p 160 George 1992 p 327 Krebernik 2003 p 161 Lambert 2013 pp 4 5 Lambert 2013 p 223 Lambert 2013 pp 316 317 a b Lambert 2013 p 411 Lambert 2013 p 412 Lambert 2013 p 406 Lambert 2013 p 408 Lambert 2013 p 409 Lambert 2013 p 416 a b Lambert 2013 p 417 Lambert 2013 p 285 Lambert 2013 p 216 a b c Lambert 2013 p 284 Lambert 2013 p 286 Lambert 2013 p 287 Lambert 2013 p 281 a b Lambert 2013 p 303 span, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,