Deities

Question 1

Adad/Iškur

Answer 1

Sumerian Iškur and his Akkadian counterpart Adad; Mesopotamian storm god, associated with both life-giving and destructive properties of rain and flood.

Question 2

An/Anu

Answer 2

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.

Question 3

Anšar and Kišar

Answer 3

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.

Question 4

Anunna (Anunnaku, Anunnaki)

Answer 4

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).

Question 5

Asalluhi

Answer 5

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.

Question 6

Šerida/Aya

Answer 6

Goddess of light and wife of Utu/Šamaš, who was worshipped in the cities of Sippar and Larsa.

Question 7

Baba/Bau

Answer 7

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.

Question 8

Mother Goddess (Ninmah, Nintud/r, Belet-ili)

Answer 8

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.

Question 9

Geštinanna/Belet-ṣeri

Answer 9

Early goddess from southern Mesopotamia. She is the sister of Dumuzi and appears to be associated with writing and with the netherworld.

Question 10

Dagan

Answer 10

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.

Question 11

Damu

Answer 11

Son of the healing goddess Gula/Ninkarrak and a healing god himself.

Question 12

Nanna/Suen/Sin

Answer 12

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.

Question 13

Enki/Ea

Answer 13

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.

Question 14

Enlil/Ellil

Answer 14

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.

Question 15

Ereškigal

Answer 15

Ereškigal, whose name translates as “Lady of the Great Earth”, rules the underworld.

Question 16

Erra

Answer 16

God of war and plagues, who later became closely associated with the underworld god Nergal.

Question 17

Girra

Answer 17

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.

Question 18

Gula/Ninkarrak

Answer 18

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.

Question 19

Haya

Answer 19

Spouse of Nidaba/Nissaba, goddess of grain and scribes, he is known both as a “door-keeper” and associated with the scribal arts.

Question 20

Igigi/Igigu

Answer 20

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.

Question 21

Inana/Ištar

Answer 21

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.

Question 22

Ištaran

Answer 22

The male patron deity of Der, who is associated with justice.

Question 23

Lugalirra and Meslamtaea

Answer 23

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.

Question 24

Marduk

Answer 24

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.”

Question 25

Ninlil (Mulliltu, Mullissu, Mylitta)

Answer 25

A goddess mainly known as the wife of Enlil, the head of the early Mesopotamian pantheon, and later of Aššur, the head of the Assyrian pantheon. She first appears in the late fourth millennium BCE and survived into the first centuries CE. She was at times syncretised with various healing and mother goddesses as well as with the goddess Ištar.

Question 26

Nabu

Answer 26

Patron deity of Borsippa, god of wisdom and writing. In the first millennium BCE, Nabu is one of the most important Mesopotamian deities. First a minister of Marduk, he later becomes his co-regent at the head of the pantheon. Nabu’s influence on Mesopotamian culture is significant well into the later periods. Nabu appears in the Bible as Nebo.

Question 27

Namma/Nammu

Answer 27

Goddess from Eridu. She is known as the mother of the god Enki/Ea as well as the mother goddess who gave birth to the cosmos and all the gods. Like her son Enki/Ea she is also associated with magic. In later times, her role is taken on by Tiamat.

Question 28

Nergal

Answer 28

Nergal is the (southern) Mesopotamian god of death, pestilence and plague, and Lord of the Underworld; represents a very particular aspect of death, one that is often and rightly interpreted as inflicted death.

Question 29

Nidaba

Answer 29

Sumerian goddess of grain and writing, patron deity of the city Ereš. Nidaba’s glory attracted her fall: her scribal functions were usurped by the god Nabu as he rose to power in the Old Babylonian period.

Question 30

Ninazu

Answer 30

Underworld deity with connections to agriculture, war and snakes; patron god of the cities of Enegi and Ešnunna.

Question 31

Ningišzida

Answer 31

A male deity of the town of Gišbanda, which lies upstream from Ur. Ningišzida is connected with vegetation and the underworld.

Question 32

Ninisinna

Answer 32

Healing goddess and patron deity of the city of Isin.

Question 33

Ninsi’anna

Answer 33

Deity of the planet Venus; an aspect of Inana/Ištar as Venus.

Question 34

Ninsumun (Ninsun)

Answer 34

The divine mother of legendary king Gilgameš, she was married to Lugalbanda, a legendary king of Uruk and Gilgameš’s father.

Question 35

Papsukkal

Answer 35

attendant deity serving higher gods (usually Anu) as minister.

Question 36

Numušda

Answer 36

Patron deity of the city of Kazallu, he was the son of the moon god Nanna/Suen.

Question 37

Nuska/Nusku

Answer 37

A god of fire and light, and minister of Enlil.

Question 38

Pabilsag

Answer 38

Patron god of the city of Larak. He was the husband of the healing goddess Gula/Ninkarrak/Ninisinna. He was also identified with the god Ningirsu/Ninurta.

Question 39

Šala

Answer 39

Consort of the storm god Adad, probably of non-Mesopotamian origin.

Question 40

Utu/Šamaš

Answer 40

Mesopotamian sun god, who was associated with life, justice, divination and the netherworld.

Question 41

Tašmetu

Answer 41

Divine consort of the scribe god Nabu, associated with wisdom and sexual attractiveness.

Question 42

Tiamat

Answer 42

Tiamat is a personification of the primordial sea from which the gods were first created. She is also the main adversary of Marduk in the Enūma Eliš.

Question 43

Zababa

Answer 43

Zababa is a warrior god, patron deity of Kiš and consort of goddesses Baba and Ištar.