Deities Flashcards
Adad/Iškur
Sumerian Iškur and his Akkadian counterpart Adad; Mesopotamian storm god, associated with both life-giving and destructive properties of rain and flood.
An/Anu
Mesopotamian sky-god, one of the supreme deities; known as An in Sumerian and Anu in Akkadian; belongs to the oldest generation of Mesopotamian gods and was originally the supreme deity of the Babylonian pantheon.
Anšar and Kišar
Pair of primordial gods that, with very few exceptions, only occur in Enūma eliš TT , the so-called “Babylonian Creation Story.” They can be considered as part of an invented mythology that had the goal of creating a new cosmology for the god Marduk.
Anunna (Anunnaku, Anunnaki)
The term Anunna indicates a group of gods in the Mesopotamian pantheon. Later on, it is sometimes used to describe the underworld gods (as opposed to the gods of heaven, the Igigi).
Asalluhi
Asalluhi is the son of Enki/Ea and a god of incantations and magic, sometimes merged with Marduk. The etymology and meaning of his name are unclear.
Šerida/Aya
Goddess of light and wife of Utu/Šamaš, who was worshipped in the cities of Sippar and Larsa.
Baba/Bau
Patron goddess of Girsu and the city-state of Lagaš. Beginning in the second millennium BCE she became known as a healing goddess; wife of Ningursu.
Mother Goddess (Ninmah, Nintud/r, Belet-ili)
The Mesopotamian mother goddess is known under many names, the most prominent of which is the Sumerian name Nintud/Nintur. Other frequent names are Ninmah and Belet-ili. She was in charge of pregnancy and birth and, especially in earlier periods, appears as the creator of humankind.
Geštinanna/Belet-ṣeri
Early goddess from southern Mesopotamia. She is the sister of Dumuzi and appears to be associated with writing and with the netherworld.
Dagan
Male deity of a possibly West Semitic origin with a focus on the Middle and Upper Euphrates, most commonly attested in Mesopotamia in the late 3rd and early 2nd millennia BCE.
Damu
Son of the healing goddess Gula/Ninkarrak and a healing god himself.
Nanna/Suen/Sin
Mesopotamian moon god. He was called Nanna in Sumerian, and Su’en or Sin in Akkadian. The earliest writings of both are roughly contemporary, and occur interchangeably. An additional name, which is only attested in literary texts, is Dilimbabbar.
Enki/Ea
Mischievous god of wisdom, magic and incantations who resides in the ocean under the earth. One of the three most powerful gods in the Mesopotamian pantheon, along with Anu and Enlil. He resides in the ocean underneath the earth called the abzu (Akkadian apsû).
The city of Babylon was said to have been built on top of the abzu.
Enlil/Ellil
One of the supreme deities of the Mesopotamian pantheon. He decreed the fates, his command could not be altered, and he was the god who granted kingship. His temple, é-kur, the “Mountain House,” was located in the city of Nippur, the religious centre of Mesopotamia up until the second millennium BCE. His temple was the most important temple in all of southern Mesopotamia.
Ereškigal
Ereškigal, whose name translates as “Lady of the Great Earth”, rules the underworld.
Erra
God of war and plagues, who later became closely associated with the underworld god Nergal.
Girra
God of fire and light, Girra accompanied Mesopotamians in their daily lives. He originated as a Sumerian god but his cult transcended time. As refiner of metals he is also the patron of metallurgists.
Gula/Ninkarrak
Gula/Ninkarrak is a healing deity also known as Ninisinna, “Lady of Isin”. Typically encountered in medical incantations as bēlet balāti, “Lady of Health”, Gula/Ninkarrak was also known as the azugallatu the “great healer”, an epithet she shared with her son Damu.
Haya
Spouse of Nidaba/Nissaba, goddess of grain and scribes, he is known both as a “door-keeper” and associated with the scribal arts.
Igigi/Igigu
This Semitic term describes a group of possibly seven or eight gods. It is likely that the god Marduk was one of them, but the total membership in this group is unclear and likely changed over time.
Inana/Ištar
Inana (Sumerian)/Ištar (Akkadian) is among the most important deities and the most important goddess in the Mesopotamian pantheon. She is primarily known as the goddess of sexual love but is equally prominent as the goddess of warfare. In her astral aspect, Inana/Ištar is the planet Venus, the morning and the evening star.
Ištaran
The male patron deity of Der, who is associated with justice.
Lugalirra and Meslamtaea
Underworld deities that often occur together, also called the ‘Divine Twins’. They are associated with the underworld god Nergal. Later traditions imagine them as guardians to the entrance of the underworld.
Marduk
Marduk rose from an obscure deity in the third millennium BCE to become one of the most important gods and the head of the Mesopotamian pantheon in the first millennium. He was the patron god of the city of Babylon, where his temple tower, the ziggurat TT Etemenanki (“Temple (that is) the foundation of the heavens and the earth”) served as the model for the famous “tower of Babel.” In the first millennium, he was often referred to as Bel, the Akkadian word for “Lord.”
