Post by Rik Wallin on Mar 30, 2007 9:06:13 GMT -6
The Sumerian Pantheon
The primeval Cosmic Trinity consists of An, the Sky, Ki, the Earth, and Nammu, the Water.
An is the supreme sky god of ancient Sumer. The sky and the cosmos are under his all powerful control. He is the father of Inanna, the Queen of Heaven. An was the father of Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth in the earliest Sumerian tradition. With Ki, he also fathered Enlil, God of the Air. With Nammu, he fathered Enki, God of the Waters. He is the father god/patron god of Uruk.
Ki (Ninhursag) is the primeval Earth goddess. As Ninhursa, she was Queen of the Mountains. She was the Mother of the Gods, She who gives Birth. Ki was the mother of Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth in the earliest Sumerian tradition. She is the patron goddess of Urash.
Nammu is Goddess of the Waters, or Goddess of the Great Watery Deep, Goddess of the Abyss. She is the mother of Enki, God of the Waters.
Inanna (Innin, or Innini) was Queen of Heaven and Earth; The Goddess. She was the most important Sumerian goddess, and the patron and special god/goddess of the ancient Sumerian city of Erech (Uruk), the City of Gilgamesh. As Queen of Heaven, she was associated with the Evening Star (the planet Venus). She is a complex goddess, her aspects include: Goddess of Love, Goddess of Wisdom, and Goddess of War. Earth in the earliest Sumerian tradition, she is the daughter of An (the sky) and Ki (the Earth). In later Sumerian traditions, as the daughter of Nanna and Ningal (the Moon god and goddess) , she is sometimes with the Moon. She is associated with Light, while her sister Ereshkigal is associated with the Dark.
Enlil is the storm-spirit and thundergod of An. He executes the decrees of An with the violence of the thunderstorm. He is the god of wind and rain. He is the god of the thunderstorm and desert sandstorm. He brings down floods upon the land and people of Sumer. He was the patron god of Nippur, and as such was "the owner of the principal temple, the lord of the land, the governor of the State in time of peace and the leader of its host in war." -Leonard Wooley, The Sumerians. In time (by the Third Dynasty of Ur) he became the chief god in Sumeria. In Nippur he possessed a sacred farm. He spied the goddess Ninlil, sailing on a stream. He raped her, and for this violent act he was condemned to the Underworld.
Ninlil the Air Goddess, was the Goddess of the Gentle Breeze. One day, she was sailing on the river Nunbirdu, when Enlil saw her, overcame her and raped her. He was banished to the Underworld, but Ninlil became pregnant with his child. She followed him down into the Underworld. There she gave birth to the Moon God, Nanna, by the dark of the Moon.
Enki was the Lord of the Waters, and the messenger of Enlil. He was the god of wisdom, and like the Egyptian god Thoth, he was the inventor of writing. He was also said to have invented the handicrafts. He was the patron god of Eridu. When Enlil was to bring the great flood onto the people of Mesopotamia, it was Enki who betrayed his secret to Uta-Napishtim, the Sumerian Noah. Enki is the father of Dummuzi.
Nanna the Moon God, was born in the darkness of the Underworld (the dark of the Moon). His mother was Ninlil, and his father was Enlil. He was the father of Utu, and in later Sumerian traditions, he is also the father of Inanna, Queen of Heaven.
Ningal the Moon Goddess was the wife of Nanna, the Moon God. With Nanna, she gave birth to Utu. In later Sumerian traditions, she is also the mother of Inanna, who is depicted as Utu’s sister.
Ereshkigal, the dark sister of Inanna, her older sister. As Inanna is the Full Moon, Ereshkigal is the Dark Moon. As Inanna is the Maiden, Ereshkigal is the Crone or the Hag. Ereshkigal is the Goddess of Death, Queen of the Dead, Queen of the Kur, Queen of the Underworld, the Queen of Hell. The Moon spent 28 days in the Upper World and 1 and 1/2 days in Ereshkigal's domain, during the dark of the Moon, (the New Moon). She required all newcomers to her realm to pass through seven gates. At each gate they were had to give up some possession, until at last, they stood before her naked, ready for judgment.
Gugalanna, the Bull of Heaven. Gugalanna, represents raw sexual force. He is a ground shaker, a maker of earthquakes, much like the Minoan bull god. He was the consort and comfort of Ereshkigal, who finds herself, greatly in need, upon his death at the hands of Gilgamesh and Enkidu. (His absence makes her vengeful and wrathful, and also very desirous of the handsome Asushunamir, (actually a eunuch) who who is created and sent by the gods to find Inanna in the Underworld. Gugalanna is sometimes represented as the husband of Ereshkigal. In some myths, his death is said to be the reason that Inanna descended into the Underworld, in order to witness his funeral.
Utu, son of Nanna and Ningal, brother of Inanna in later traditions. Utu was a Sun god. He was seen as both as the disk of the Sun and in the sunlight. He was also a judge and represented truth and justice. He drove a golden chariot each day which rose in the eastern sky, beyond the eastern mountains, and traveled across the sky to set in the west. He also sometimes represents the tradition of farming or tending orchards, and carries a pruning saw. However, this may also be symbolic of his role as judge.
Dumuzi (the Babylonian Tammuz), is the young lover of Inanna. Sometimes he referred to as her bridegroom, or her spouse. He has also been said to have been her son/lover. There are really two Sumerian aspects of Dumuzi: an earlier, southern aspect where he is truly a vegetation god associated with agriculture, in particular cultivation of plants; and a somewhat later, northern Sumerian aspect where he is a pastoral god. In this sense, Dumuzi was a shepherd. He was called the Shephard King. In this aspect he was also Inanna’s bull, The Bull God. As stated above, the earliest aspect of Dumuzi was associated with vegetation, especially the grain that turned golden brown, and withered and died in the late summer sun. He was seen as a life force which allowed plants to flower and fruit. He was connected with water and associated with the fertilizing water of rivers that brought life to the fertile agricultural valleys. As the son of Enki, the water god, Dumuzi was the water that fertilized and brought life to the soil; Inanna, the Great Earth Mother was the soil. In this aspect he closely resembles his brother Enkimdu, the irrigation god. When grain was used to brew beer, it was said to be Dumuzi's beer. Dumuzi is also sometimes called the Hired Laborer. He tends the date orchard. He pollinates the date blossoms to insure that the date clusters are many and rich. In this aspect, Inanna is referred to as The Lady of the Date Clusters, (E.C. Krupp, Beyond the Blue Horizon), and the date clusters represent her fruitful womb. This aspect of Dumuzi may be very early and date back to when he was chiefly a vegetation/fertility god in a matriarchal goddess religion. His sacred city was Uruk. There was an actual living mortal, and ancient king of Uruk named Dumuzi. His name is listed in the Sumerian kings lists and he ruled around 2500 BCE. Whether he was named after the god Dumuzi, or whether he furnished the basis for the god in myth is not known. However the basic archetype is of course much older.
Enkimdu, the son of Enki (God of Waters), the tender of the furrow. Enkimdu is the God of the Irrigation Ditch. He is a farmer god, the one Inanna wants as her husband instead of Dumuzi.
Ninsun was the Divine Cow, the Wild Cow, the Lady Cow Goddess, "The Good Cow who gives birth to kings." She was the mother of Gilgamesh.
Gilgamesh, was known as Bilgamesh in the oldest Sumerian myths. Like Dumuzi, he was once a mortal, living Shepherd King of Uruk. Gilgamesh was probably once a real king, but he was said to be two-thirds god and one-third man. His father was Lugalbanda, a King of Uruk (also an actual person listed in the Kings Lists). His mother was the Divine Cow, (or possible a Lillu). Initially, he was oppressive to the people of Uruk. In Uruk, he meets Enkidu, the Wild Man, who has come to the city to wrestle him. The two become the best of friends. They set off on a great adventure, a trek to the great Cedar Forest, far from his home in Uruk. This adventure is the basis for The Epic of Gilgamesh, one of the earliest, and also one of the greatest pieces of literature ever written. In a later adventure, Gilgamesh journeys in quest of the secret to eternal life. On this trek, he meets Uta-Napishtum, and learns of the Great Flood.
Enkidu was the Wild Man. He lived in the forest and was raised by beasts. He was created by the Gods, as Gilgamesh’s double, his shadow, his dopelganger. Gilgamesh first tries to subdue Enkidu, but later befriends him. He becomes his best and truest friend grieves greatly upon Enkidu’s death.
Huwawa was a giant, a fire-breathing demon monster who protected the sacred cedar forest. He was known as the Guardian of the Sacred Cedar. The Huwawa was killed by Gilgamesh at the encouragement of Enkidu.
Uta-Napishtum (Ziusudra) is the "Sumerian Noah." Once a mortal man upon his death, the Gods made him one of their own. Uta-Napishtum was once the King of the World. He was foretold of the coming of a Great Flood that would destroy all humanity by Enki. He built an ark, and with his wife rounded up representatives of the world’s animals. Both he and his wife, were the only mortals saved by the gods during the Flood. He lived in Shuruppak.
Lilith (Belit-ili) was the screech owl goddess, a sort of winged demon associated with the night. She made her nest in the huluppa tree (possibly a willow tree, however it may have instead been a date palm), that grew along the bank of the Euphrates. It was uprooted by wind and flood, and found and planted by Inanna in her holy garden. It was cut down by Gilgamesh to make a throne for Inanna, causing Lilith to fly away to the wild lands. Her children are the Lillu or Lilim, a kind of demon that later became associated with succubi (a succubus is a female night-demon). Huwawa (Humbaba) as well as some Sumerian Kings lists is indicate that Gilgamesh was the son of a Lillu. Lilith was the Sumerian Goddess Belit-ili, or Belili; and the Babylonian Goddess Lilitu (which means "the monster of the night"). (Lilitu is derived from the early Semitic word for night).
The primeval Cosmic Trinity consists of An, the Sky, Ki, the Earth, and Nammu, the Water.
An is the supreme sky god of ancient Sumer. The sky and the cosmos are under his all powerful control. He is the father of Inanna, the Queen of Heaven. An was the father of Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth in the earliest Sumerian tradition. With Ki, he also fathered Enlil, God of the Air. With Nammu, he fathered Enki, God of the Waters. He is the father god/patron god of Uruk.
Ki (Ninhursag) is the primeval Earth goddess. As Ninhursa, she was Queen of the Mountains. She was the Mother of the Gods, She who gives Birth. Ki was the mother of Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth in the earliest Sumerian tradition. She is the patron goddess of Urash.
Nammu is Goddess of the Waters, or Goddess of the Great Watery Deep, Goddess of the Abyss. She is the mother of Enki, God of the Waters.
Inanna (Innin, or Innini) was Queen of Heaven and Earth; The Goddess. She was the most important Sumerian goddess, and the patron and special god/goddess of the ancient Sumerian city of Erech (Uruk), the City of Gilgamesh. As Queen of Heaven, she was associated with the Evening Star (the planet Venus). She is a complex goddess, her aspects include: Goddess of Love, Goddess of Wisdom, and Goddess of War. Earth in the earliest Sumerian tradition, she is the daughter of An (the sky) and Ki (the Earth). In later Sumerian traditions, as the daughter of Nanna and Ningal (the Moon god and goddess) , she is sometimes with the Moon. She is associated with Light, while her sister Ereshkigal is associated with the Dark.
Enlil is the storm-spirit and thundergod of An. He executes the decrees of An with the violence of the thunderstorm. He is the god of wind and rain. He is the god of the thunderstorm and desert sandstorm. He brings down floods upon the land and people of Sumer. He was the patron god of Nippur, and as such was "the owner of the principal temple, the lord of the land, the governor of the State in time of peace and the leader of its host in war." -Leonard Wooley, The Sumerians. In time (by the Third Dynasty of Ur) he became the chief god in Sumeria. In Nippur he possessed a sacred farm. He spied the goddess Ninlil, sailing on a stream. He raped her, and for this violent act he was condemned to the Underworld.
Ninlil the Air Goddess, was the Goddess of the Gentle Breeze. One day, she was sailing on the river Nunbirdu, when Enlil saw her, overcame her and raped her. He was banished to the Underworld, but Ninlil became pregnant with his child. She followed him down into the Underworld. There she gave birth to the Moon God, Nanna, by the dark of the Moon.
Enki was the Lord of the Waters, and the messenger of Enlil. He was the god of wisdom, and like the Egyptian god Thoth, he was the inventor of writing. He was also said to have invented the handicrafts. He was the patron god of Eridu. When Enlil was to bring the great flood onto the people of Mesopotamia, it was Enki who betrayed his secret to Uta-Napishtim, the Sumerian Noah. Enki is the father of Dummuzi.
Nanna the Moon God, was born in the darkness of the Underworld (the dark of the Moon). His mother was Ninlil, and his father was Enlil. He was the father of Utu, and in later Sumerian traditions, he is also the father of Inanna, Queen of Heaven.
Ningal the Moon Goddess was the wife of Nanna, the Moon God. With Nanna, she gave birth to Utu. In later Sumerian traditions, she is also the mother of Inanna, who is depicted as Utu’s sister.
Ereshkigal, the dark sister of Inanna, her older sister. As Inanna is the Full Moon, Ereshkigal is the Dark Moon. As Inanna is the Maiden, Ereshkigal is the Crone or the Hag. Ereshkigal is the Goddess of Death, Queen of the Dead, Queen of the Kur, Queen of the Underworld, the Queen of Hell. The Moon spent 28 days in the Upper World and 1 and 1/2 days in Ereshkigal's domain, during the dark of the Moon, (the New Moon). She required all newcomers to her realm to pass through seven gates. At each gate they were had to give up some possession, until at last, they stood before her naked, ready for judgment.
Gugalanna, the Bull of Heaven. Gugalanna, represents raw sexual force. He is a ground shaker, a maker of earthquakes, much like the Minoan bull god. He was the consort and comfort of Ereshkigal, who finds herself, greatly in need, upon his death at the hands of Gilgamesh and Enkidu. (His absence makes her vengeful and wrathful, and also very desirous of the handsome Asushunamir, (actually a eunuch) who who is created and sent by the gods to find Inanna in the Underworld. Gugalanna is sometimes represented as the husband of Ereshkigal. In some myths, his death is said to be the reason that Inanna descended into the Underworld, in order to witness his funeral.
Utu, son of Nanna and Ningal, brother of Inanna in later traditions. Utu was a Sun god. He was seen as both as the disk of the Sun and in the sunlight. He was also a judge and represented truth and justice. He drove a golden chariot each day which rose in the eastern sky, beyond the eastern mountains, and traveled across the sky to set in the west. He also sometimes represents the tradition of farming or tending orchards, and carries a pruning saw. However, this may also be symbolic of his role as judge.
Dumuzi (the Babylonian Tammuz), is the young lover of Inanna. Sometimes he referred to as her bridegroom, or her spouse. He has also been said to have been her son/lover. There are really two Sumerian aspects of Dumuzi: an earlier, southern aspect where he is truly a vegetation god associated with agriculture, in particular cultivation of plants; and a somewhat later, northern Sumerian aspect where he is a pastoral god. In this sense, Dumuzi was a shepherd. He was called the Shephard King. In this aspect he was also Inanna’s bull, The Bull God. As stated above, the earliest aspect of Dumuzi was associated with vegetation, especially the grain that turned golden brown, and withered and died in the late summer sun. He was seen as a life force which allowed plants to flower and fruit. He was connected with water and associated with the fertilizing water of rivers that brought life to the fertile agricultural valleys. As the son of Enki, the water god, Dumuzi was the water that fertilized and brought life to the soil; Inanna, the Great Earth Mother was the soil. In this aspect he closely resembles his brother Enkimdu, the irrigation god. When grain was used to brew beer, it was said to be Dumuzi's beer. Dumuzi is also sometimes called the Hired Laborer. He tends the date orchard. He pollinates the date blossoms to insure that the date clusters are many and rich. In this aspect, Inanna is referred to as The Lady of the Date Clusters, (E.C. Krupp, Beyond the Blue Horizon), and the date clusters represent her fruitful womb. This aspect of Dumuzi may be very early and date back to when he was chiefly a vegetation/fertility god in a matriarchal goddess religion. His sacred city was Uruk. There was an actual living mortal, and ancient king of Uruk named Dumuzi. His name is listed in the Sumerian kings lists and he ruled around 2500 BCE. Whether he was named after the god Dumuzi, or whether he furnished the basis for the god in myth is not known. However the basic archetype is of course much older.
Enkimdu, the son of Enki (God of Waters), the tender of the furrow. Enkimdu is the God of the Irrigation Ditch. He is a farmer god, the one Inanna wants as her husband instead of Dumuzi.
Ninsun was the Divine Cow, the Wild Cow, the Lady Cow Goddess, "The Good Cow who gives birth to kings." She was the mother of Gilgamesh.
Gilgamesh, was known as Bilgamesh in the oldest Sumerian myths. Like Dumuzi, he was once a mortal, living Shepherd King of Uruk. Gilgamesh was probably once a real king, but he was said to be two-thirds god and one-third man. His father was Lugalbanda, a King of Uruk (also an actual person listed in the Kings Lists). His mother was the Divine Cow, (or possible a Lillu). Initially, he was oppressive to the people of Uruk. In Uruk, he meets Enkidu, the Wild Man, who has come to the city to wrestle him. The two become the best of friends. They set off on a great adventure, a trek to the great Cedar Forest, far from his home in Uruk. This adventure is the basis for The Epic of Gilgamesh, one of the earliest, and also one of the greatest pieces of literature ever written. In a later adventure, Gilgamesh journeys in quest of the secret to eternal life. On this trek, he meets Uta-Napishtum, and learns of the Great Flood.
Enkidu was the Wild Man. He lived in the forest and was raised by beasts. He was created by the Gods, as Gilgamesh’s double, his shadow, his dopelganger. Gilgamesh first tries to subdue Enkidu, but later befriends him. He becomes his best and truest friend grieves greatly upon Enkidu’s death.
Huwawa was a giant, a fire-breathing demon monster who protected the sacred cedar forest. He was known as the Guardian of the Sacred Cedar. The Huwawa was killed by Gilgamesh at the encouragement of Enkidu.
Uta-Napishtum (Ziusudra) is the "Sumerian Noah." Once a mortal man upon his death, the Gods made him one of their own. Uta-Napishtum was once the King of the World. He was foretold of the coming of a Great Flood that would destroy all humanity by Enki. He built an ark, and with his wife rounded up representatives of the world’s animals. Both he and his wife, were the only mortals saved by the gods during the Flood. He lived in Shuruppak.
Lilith (Belit-ili) was the screech owl goddess, a sort of winged demon associated with the night. She made her nest in the huluppa tree (possibly a willow tree, however it may have instead been a date palm), that grew along the bank of the Euphrates. It was uprooted by wind and flood, and found and planted by Inanna in her holy garden. It was cut down by Gilgamesh to make a throne for Inanna, causing Lilith to fly away to the wild lands. Her children are the Lillu or Lilim, a kind of demon that later became associated with succubi (a succubus is a female night-demon). Huwawa (Humbaba) as well as some Sumerian Kings lists is indicate that Gilgamesh was the son of a Lillu. Lilith was the Sumerian Goddess Belit-ili, or Belili; and the Babylonian Goddess Lilitu (which means "the monster of the night"). (Lilitu is derived from the early Semitic word for night).