History Characters / MesopotamianMythology

$$* ArcherArchetype: He was commonly depicted wielding a bow and arrow, which reflected the martial spirit of the Assyrian Empire.

* ArcherArchetype: He wielded a bow in his battle against Tiamat, and successfully split her in two with an arrow after restraining her with a net.

%%* ArcherArchetype: He was typically depicted holding a bow and arrow.

%%* ArcherArchetype: In post-Babylonian times, one of her iconographic symbols was a bow and arrow, possibly due to her association with Artemis, Greek goddess of the hunt.

%%* DropTheHammer: He was frequently shown wielding a hammer.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: She was an extemely popular goddess, even managing to keep her position and prestige during the reigns of the Assyrian and Neo-Assyrian empires, whereas the other goddesses lost status to male deities. Her cult continued to flourish until its gradual decline between the first and sixth centuries CE in the wake of Christianity, though it survived in parts of Upper Mesopotamia as late as the eighteenth century.

* DragonsPreferPrincesses: In one myth, a dragon named Kur kidnapped Ereshkigal and ook her to the Netherworld, forcing her to become the queen of the plane for eternity. In a twist, although the dragon was defeated by Enki and she later gained some sympathetic moments in her interactions with Nergal, she was technically never rescued from her prison (though given that she had since turned it into a full fledged kingdom, it's easy to guess she didn't want to go anymore).

* OverprotectiveDad: In ''Literature/TheEpicOfGilgamesh'', he let Inanna/Ishtar borrow the Bull of Heaven because Gilgamesh was rude to her, albeit reluctantly.

* DeathBySex: Her lovers all met ironic ends, which is the main reason why Gilgamesh didn't want to sleep with her.

* {{Jerkass God|s}}: Though usually benevolent, he also once tried to destroy humanity with a great flood.

* {{War God}}dess: She was also a goddess of war, though she did have standards, such as not condoning mass genocide.

* [[FarmBoy Farm Girl]]: Like her brother Dumuzid, she was also a rural deity, associated with the countryside and open fields.

* [[NiceGuy Nice Girl]]: She was viewed as a benevolent goddess, and abundant harvests were seen as an act of compassion from her and the other deities.

* [[AllLovingHero All-Loving Heroine]]: In all the inscriptions and hymns which mention her, Nanshe was portrayed as kind, compassionate, welcoming, and wise. Nanshe was invoked as protection in marketplaces so that no one was cheated and also in swearing oaths that one was trading fairly. She was consistently a defender of the disenfranchised, companion to the outcast, the poor, the sick, widows, orphans, and foreigners seeking refuge in a strange land. She was companion to the traveler and stranger and a friend to all in her community.

* [[TheSmartGuy The Smart Girl]]: She was referred to as a "faithful woman exceeding in wisdom". She had a close relationship to scribes and scholarly activities, and mathematics and astronomy were in her repertoire. She was said to be "a lady with cunning intelligence", as well as was the goddess of creative inspiration and creative mind.

* [[TheSmartGuy The Smart Girl]]: Like her husband, Tashmetu was associated with wisdom. A fragmentary prayer described her as a wise goddess. It has also been suggested that the Akkadian variant of her name should be interpreted as meaning "intelligence".

* {{War God}}dess: Among the Assyrians, she also held the status of a goddess of war, possibly due to her association with Inanna/Ishtar. In contrast, the Babylonians called her the "lady of love and peace". A hymn to Nanaya concluding with a prayer on behalf of Sargon II, king of Assyria, described her while in this role:

* {{War God}}dess: Another war goddess like Inanna/Ishtar.

* [[FarmBoy Farm Girl]]: She was the goddess of grain and the inventor of agriculture.

* NamesTheSame: Another god named "Damu" was also worshipped in Ebla and Emar, but this may have been a local hero, not the same as the god of healing.

* [[TheSmartGuy The Smart Girl]]: She was described as having profound wisdom and being exceptionally intelligent, which was further emphasized by her epiteth "one who knows everything".

[[folder:Emesh]]
!!𒀭𒂍𒈨𒌍 | Emesh[[note]]translated "summer"[[/note]]
Emesh was the god of vegetation and summer. In order to "establish abundance and prosperity", Enlil conceived Emesh and his brother Enten by copulating with a "hursag" (hill). Emesh served as a guardian of farmers and was specifically tasked to take responsibility on earth for woods, fields, sheep folds, and stables. The two brothers eventually decided to take their gifts to Enlil's sanctuary, the Enamtila ("house of life"), where they began a debate about their relative merits. Enlil ultimately intervened and ruled in favor of Enten. The two gods subsequently rejoiced and reconciled.

%%* AnthropomorphicPersonification: Of summer.
* FarmBoy: Emesh was a farmer and served as a protector of farmers in general. However, Enten criticised him for being "a bragging field-administrator who does not know the extent of the field", pointing out that he was the one who provided the water that was so essential to agriculture in the hot climate. In the ''Debate between Winter and Summer'', Emesh is described performing the duties assigned to him by Enlil:
-->''For Summer founding towns and villages, bringing in harvests of plenitude for the Great Mountain Enlil, sending labourers out to the large arable tracts, and working the fields with oxen''
* GreenThumb: Emesh was reponsible for the fertility and abundance of the earth, allowing for plentiful harvests.
* SiblingRivalry: In the ''Debate between Winter and Summer'', the brothers started a quarrel over who was more important. Enlil ultimately ruled in favor of Enten, and the brothers reconciled.

[[folder:Enbilulu]]
!!𒀭𒂗𒁉𒇻𒇻 | Enbilulu[[note]]translated "Lord of Abundance"[[/note]]
Enbilulu was an underworld god of rivers and canals. He was also the deity of irrigation and farming. He was the "inspector of canals" and was placed in charge of the sacred rivers Tigris and Euphrates by the god Enki.

* GoOofEvil: Lamashtu was said to act in malevolence of her own accord, rather than at the gods' instructions. Along with this her name was written together with the cuneiform determinative indicating deity. This means she was a goddess or a demigoddess

[[foldercontrol]]

!!Primordials

[[AC:Sumerian Theogony]]

In Sumerian mythology, the first primeval being was Nammu, the goddess of the primordial cosmic ocean. She subsequently gave birth to the sky god An and the earth goddess Ki.

[[folder:Nammu]]
!!𒀭𒇉 | Nammu[[note]]translated "(cosmic) subterranean waters"[[/note]]
Nammu was the primeval goddess of the sea who was revered as an important mother goddess who gave birth to the cosmos and to An and Ki, as well as the other first gods. Through her son Anu, she also became the mother of several other gods, including Enki and Ningikuga. Like Enki, she was also associated with magic. One myth credited her as the one who had the idea of creating mankind, and she went to wake up Enki, who was asleep in the Apsu, so that he could set the process going. A different version instead had it that Enlil requested from Nammu the creation of humans, and Nammu told him that with the help of Enki she could create humans in the image of the gods. She was worshipped in the city of Eridu and Lugal-kisalsi, king of Uruk of Ur, dedicated a temple to her during his reign. Nammu may have been of greater importance prehistorically, and was still relevant during the Early Dynastic [=IIIa=] period, as indicated by the theophoric name of Ur-Nammu, the founder of the Third Dynasty of Ur. However, in later periods, particularly in Akkadian texts, Nammu lost importance and was only rarely mentioned.

* AdaptedOut: In later periods, Nammu's role as the primordial ocean that created the universe and the first gods was taken over by Tiamat and Abzu, and her functions were mostly taken over by Enki. However, she was still occasionally referenced even as late as the Neo-Babylonian period, when king Nabonidus mentioned her shrine, the ki-ús-nammu ("foundation(?) of Nammu") as part of the Esagil, Marduk's temple at Babylon.
* AlternateCompanyEquivalent: Nammu was the primordial sea goddess in Sumerian mythology in contrast to Tiamat and Abzu in Babylonian mythology. However, when Babylon became the political center of the Euphrates valley in the time of Hammurabi, Nammu was significantly reduced in importance in favor of her Babylonian counterparts, and was rarely mentioned from then on.
%%* ElementalEmbodiment: Of water.
* MotherGoddess: Nammu is [[UrExample one of the oldest known examples]]. She bore the title "mother who gave birth to the heavens and the earth" and was also called the "original mother who gave birth to the gods of the universe", which further affirmed her primary status among all the gods and described her role in early Mesopotamian cosmogony. In ''Sex in History'' (1980), Nammu was singled out as the "only female prime mover" in the cosmogonic myths of antiquity.
* ParentalIncest: She was the mother of An and was also one of his consorts. They had several children together, including Enki and Ningikuga.
* ThePowerOfCreation: She was credited with the creation of mankind alongside Enki.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Her name could also be read as "Namma".
* TrulySingleParent: No husband or male god was attested in connection with Nammu, thus leading to the belief among scholars that "the first cosmic production is asexual".
* WaterIsWomanly: Nammu was an important mother goddess who gave birth to the cosmos and the first gods and was associated with the Abzu, the fresh water ocean that the Sumerians believed laid beneath the earth, the source of life-giving water and fertility in a region with almost no rainfall.
[[/folder]]

[[AC:Enūma Eliš]]

The Babylonian creation myth ''Enuma Elish'' depicted a sequence of primordial gods influenced by both the theogonies of Anu and Enlil. The Sumerian primordial goddess Nammu was replaced with a pair, Abzu and Tiamat.

[[folder:Abzu]]
!!𒀭𒍪𒀊 / 𒀭𒇉 | Abzu[[note]]translated "deep waters"[[/note]] / Engur[[note]]translated "(cosmic) subterranean waters"[[/note]]
Abzu is the primordial god of fresh water and the lover of Tiamat, the primordial goddess of salt water. By mixing their waters, the two created the cosmos and gave birth to the first generation of deities. He intended to kill his children after assuming that they planned to kill him and usurp his throne. However, he was ultimately killed by his great-great-grandson Enki, who usurped his throne.

* AbusiveParents: He intended to kill his children for disturbing him and Tiamat with their motions, although he decided this after consulting with his vizier Mummu.
%%* ArchnemesisDad: To not only his children but also their descendants.
* CreationMyth: As described in ''Literature/EnumaElish'', Abzu and Tiamat created the cosmos by mixing their waters.
%%* EldritchAbomination: He and Tiamat were traditionally depicted as [[DraconicAbomination dragons]] or [[SeaMonster sea monsters]].
%%* ElementalEmbodiment: Of fresh water.
* GiantCorpseWorld: His body became the dwelling place of Enki, together with his wife Ninhursag. After the creation of heaven and earth, it was retrofitted as TheUnderworld.
%%* OffingTheOffspring: He intended to do this, but was put to sleep by Enki's spell and was subsequently killed by him.
%%* PrimordialChaos: The UrExample together with Tiamat.
* TheOlderImmortal: The oldest being in the Mesopotamian mythos alongside Tiamat.
* TimeAbyss: He and Tiamat are the first deities in the Mesopotamian mythos.
%%* TopGod: Until Enki killed him.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tiamat]]
!!𒀭𒋾𒊩𒆳 / 𒀭𒌓𒌈 / 𒀭𒂼𒄷𒁓 | Tiamat[[note]]translated "sea"[[/note]] / Ummu-Hubur[[note]]translated "mother of the man-devouring river"[[/note]]
Tiamat is the primordial goddess of salt water and the lover of Abzu, the god of fresh water. By mixing their waters, the two created the cosmos and gave birth to the first generation of deities. Following Abzu's death, she became enraged and gave birth to eleven monsters to battle the deities in order to avenge his death. She was ultimately slain by Marduk, who then formed the heavens and the Earth from her divided body.

* CreationMyth: As described in ''Literature/EnumaElish'', Tiamat and Abzu created the cosmos by mixing their waters.
* CrusadingWidow: Was very determined to avenge her lover Abzu's death.
%%* TheDreaded: Except for Marduk, none of the other gods dared to oppose her.
%%* EldritchAbomination: She and Abzu were traditionally depicted as [[DraconicAbomination dragons]] or [[SeaMonster sea monsters]].
%%* ElementalEmbodiment: Of salt water.
%%* EvilMatriarch: Not at first, but she became one following the death of Abzu.
* GiantCorpseWorld: Marduk split her body in two and used one half to create the sky and the other to create the earth. He made from her ribs the vault of heaven and earth. Her weeping eyes became the source of the Tigris and the Euphrates and her tail became the Milky Way.
* MonsterProgenitor: She gave birth to 11 monster races to battle against her children.
* MotherGoddess: The UrExample. She gave birth to the first generation of gods and created the cosmos alongside Abzu.
* MotherOfAThousandYoung: In order to avenge Abzu's death, she gave birth to 11 entire races of monsters, including "ferocious dragons," "virulent" and "horned serpents," ''mushussu''-dragons, various demons, scorpion-men, and rabid dogs.
* OffingTheOffspring: She tried to kill her children in order to avenge Abzu's death.
* ParentalIncest: Her second lover and the leader of her host, Kingu, was also her son.
%%* PrimordialChaos: The UrExample together with Abzu, although she tends to be associated with it more than him, as her death resulted in the creation of heaven and earth.
* RevengeMyopia: Tiamat did her best to avenge Apsu's death at the hands of the Annunaki, completely ignoring the two small facts that Apsu was actively planning to kill them and that ''she herself ratted him out to them'', allowing a preventive strike.
* TheOlderImmortal: The oldest being in the Mesopotamian mythos alongside Abzu.
* ThisIsMyNameOnForeign: In Greek, she was called Thaláttē.
%%* WaterIsWomanly: Tiamat is the primordial goddess of the salt sea and a mother goddess who birthed countless deities.

[[folder:Lahmu]]
!!𒀭𒌓𒈬 / 𒀭𒁻𒈬 | Lahmu/Lakhmu/Lache/Lumasi[[note]]translated "parent star" or "constellation"[[/note]]
The first-born son of Abzu and Tiamat. He and his sister Lahamu are the parents of Anshar and Kishar, the sky father and earth mother, who birthed the gods of the Mesopotamian Pantheon.

* BrotherSisterIncest: Husband of Lahamu, his sister.
* OurMinotaursAreDifferent: Was often associated with the Kusarikku or "Bull-Man".
%%* StarPower: Associated with stars and the constellations.

[[folder:Lahamu]]
!!𒀭𒆷𒄩𒈬 | Lahamu/Lakhamu/Lachos/Lumasi[[note]]translated "parent star" or "constellation"[[/note]]
The first-born daughter of Tiamat and Abzu. With her brother Lahmu she is the mother of Anshar and Kishar, who were in turn parents of the first gods.

* BrotherSisterIncest: Wife of Lahmu, her brother.
%%* StarPower: Also associated with stars and the constellations.

[[folder:Anshar]]
!!𒀭𒊹 | Anshar[[note]]translated "whole heaven" or "sky pivot"[[/note]]
The son of Lahamu and Lahmu and the grandson of Tiamat and Apsu. With his sister Kishar, he, in turn, became the father of Anu.

%%* AnthropomorphicPersonification: Of the sky.
* BrotherSisterIncest: Husband of Kishar, his sister.
* DeityIdentityConfusion: During the Neo-Assyrian period, he was often equated with Ashur, the patron deity and namesake of the Assyrian Empire.
%%* ElementalEmbodiment: Of the sky.
* TopGod: He became the ''de facto'' leader of the gods following Abzu's death. He abdicated in favor of Marduk as part of their deal after the latter killed Tiamat.

[[folder:Kishar]]
!!𒀭𒆠𒊹 | Kishar[[note]]translated "whole earth" or "earth pivot"[[/note]]
The daughter of Lahamu and Lahmu and the granddaughter of Tiamat and Apsu. With her brother Anshar, she, in turn, became the mother of Anu.

%%* AnthropomorphicPersonification: Of the earth.
* BrotherSisterIncest: Wife of Anshar, her brother.
%%* ElementalEmbodiment: Of the earth.

[[folder:Kingu]]
!!𒀭𒆥𒄖 | Kingu / Qingu[[note]]translated "unskilled laborer"[[/note]]
The son and second consort of Tiamat after the death of his father Abzu, Kingu was given the Tablet of Destiny by Tiamat, which he wore as a breastplate and which gave him great power, and was placed as the general of her army. Tiamat wanted to establish him as ruler and leader of all the gods, but, following her death, he was taken captive and executed by Marduk. Marduk subsequently mixed Kingu's blood with the earth and used the clay to mold the first human beings, while Kingu himself went on to live in the underworld along with the other deities who had sided with Tiamat.

* AmplifierArtifact: He wore the Tablet of Destiny as a breastplate, which gave him great power.
%%* TheDragon: To Tiamat.
* EldritchAbomination: He was typically described as looking like a [[DraconicAbomination dragon]].
* FertileBlood: His blood was used to create humankind.
* ParentalIncest: His consort Tiamat was also his mother.

[[folder:Mummu]]
!!𒀭𒈬𒌝𒈬 | Mummu[[note]]translated "knowledge"[[/note]]
The vizier of Abzu and Tiamat, also sometimes referred to as their son. He was chained and locked away by Enki following Abzu's death.

%%* AnthropomorphicPersonification: Of practical knowledge and technical skill.
%%* BoundAndGagged: By Enki after Abzu's death.
* TheGoodChancellor: He's is completely loyal to Abzu, which brings him into conflict with the younger gods, especially since he's the one who advised killing them to prevent them from usurping Abzu's throne.
* TheSmartGuy: He is a craftsman and the vizier of Abzu and Tiamat.

[[AC:Anu Theogony]]

The ancestry of Anu was largely contained in god-lists and late copies of incantations. In most of these arrangements, the first primordial gods were Duri and Dari, who represented the concept of eternal time as the primary force in creation, and their names were derived from an Akkadian phrase meaning "ever and ever".

[[folder:Duri]]
!!𒀭𒁺𒌷 | Dūri[[note]]translated "forever"[[/note]]
Duri was the god of time, who, alongside his wife Dari, represented primeval, eternal time. They were generally regarded as the first gods, who acted as the primary force in creation, and were typically listed as the parents of Lahmu and Lahamu. They were invoked alongside other primordial deities in exorcisms, in which they were asked for assistance in ensuring that a troublesome spirit being subjected to an oath would keep their word. Duri and Dari were first attested in a Sumerian incantation from the time of Samsu-iluna, the son and successor of Hammurabi.

%%* AnthropomorphicPersonification: Of time.
* TheOlderImmortal: Duri and his wife Dari were the oldest beings according to certain god lists and incantations. For example, three of the five lists from incantations listed them first.

[[folder:Dari]]
!!𒀭𒁕𒌷 | Dāri[[note]]translated "(to be) eternal"[[/note]]
Dari was the goddess of time, who, alongside her husband Duri, represented primeval, eternal time. They were generally regarded as the first gods, who acted as the primary force in creation, and were typically listed as the parents of Lahmu and Lahamu. They were invoked alongside other primordial deities in exorcisms, in which they were asked for assistance in ensuring that a troublesome spirit being subjected to an oath would keep their word. Dari and Duri were first attested in a Sumerian incantation from the time of Samsu-iluna, the son and successor of Hammurabi.

%%* AnthropomorphicPersonification: Of time.
* TheOlderImmortal: Dari and her husband Duri were the oldest beings according to certain god lists and incantations. For example, three of the five lists from incantations listed them first.

[[folder:Lahmu]]
Lahmu was usually listed as the son of Duri and Dari. With his sister and wife Lahamu, he, in turn, became the father of Ekur/Engur and Gara/Gar. For more information, see his folder in the ''Enuma Elish'' section.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Lahamu]]
Lahamu was usually listed as the daughter of Duri and Dari. With her brother and husband Lahmu, she, in turn, became the mother of Ekur/Engur and Gara/Gar. For more information, see her folder in the ''Enuma Elish'' section.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Ekur / Engur / Engar]]
!!𒀭𒂍𒆳 / 𒀭𒂗𒄥 / 𒀭𒂗𒃻 | Ékur[[note]]translated "mountain house"[[/note]] / Engur[[note]]possibly translated "lord who turns" or "lord who returns". Alternatively, it could be a syllabically written form of ''engur'', meaning "(cosmic) underground waters"[[/note]] / Engar[[note]]possibly translated "lord who puts in place" or "lord of depilation fluid". Alternatively, could be a syllabically written form of ''engar'', meaning "farmer"[[/note]]
Ekur/Engur was usually listed as the son of Lahmu and Lahamu. With his sister and wife Gara/Gar, he, in turn, became the father of Alala and Belili. Ekur/Engur's exact nature is uncertain, and the various spellings of his name result in different etymologies. He was possibly the personification of the Ekur, the most revered and sacred building of ancient Sumer, which served as the assembly of the gods. Another possibility is that he instead represented the primordial subterranean waters. Ekur/Engur was invoked alongside other primordial deities in exorcisms, in which he was asked for assistance in ensuring that a troublesome spirit being subjected to an oath would keep their word.

* AdaptedOut: Ekur/Engur and his wife Gara/Gar were occasionally ommitted from certain god lists, even those that were copies of lists that included them, thus resulting in lists that depicted Lahmu and Lahamu as the parents of Alala and Belili. This is generally believed to have been a simple error on the part of the scribes.
%%* AnthropomorphicPersonification: Possibly of either mountain houses or the cosmic underground waters.
* MakingASplash: He was possibly associated with the primeval, cosmic ocean, as Engur, one of the spellings of his name, meant "(cosmic) underground waters". However, Engur's name was written syllabically as ''en-gur'', whereas the word referring to the cosmic underground waters was instead always written with the sumerogram ''engur'' (𒇉). That being said, the syllabically written form ''en-gur'' was presented as a variant of Abzu in a god list, further suggesting a connection.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: His name had a perplexingly large number of variable spellings, which also produced multiple possible meanings of his name and thus results in confusion about his nature and function. The following spellings have been attested:
** Ekur ("mountain house")
** Egur ("to speak and turn" or "to speak and return")
** Egar ("to speak and put in place" or "to speak of depilation fluid")
** Engur ("lord who turns" or "lord who returns")
** Engar ("lord who puts in place", "lord of depilation fluid", or "farmer")

[[folder:Gara / Gar / Ningarra]]
!!𒀭𒂵𒊏 / 𒀭𒂵𒅈 / 𒀭𒎏𒃻𒊏 | Gara[[note]]possibly derived from ''g̃ar'', meaning "to place"[[/note]] / Ningarra[[note]]possibly translated "lady who puts in place" or "lady of depilation fluid"[[/note]]
Gara/Gar was usually listed as the daughter of Lahmu and Lahamu. With her brother and husband Ekur/Engur, she, in turn, became the mother of Alala and Belili. Gara/Gar's exact nature is uncertain. She was invoked alongside other primordial deities in exorcisms, in which she was asked for assistance in ensuring that a troublesome spirit being subjected to an oath would keep their word.

* AdaptedOut: Gara/Gar and her husband Ekur/Engur were occasionally ommitted from certain god lists, even those that were copies of lists that included them, thus resulting in lists that depicted Lahmu and Lahamu as the parents of Alala and Belili. This is generally believed to have been a simple error on the part of the scribes.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Her name had several spellings, such as Gara and Gar. At least on incantation text referred to her as Ningarra.

[[folder:Alala]]
!!𒀭𒀀𒆷𒆷 | Alāla
Alala was a primordial god regarded as the father of the sky god Anu. He was generally listed as the son of Ekur/Engur and Gara/Gar (although some versions ommitted them and instead listed him as the son of Lahmu and Lahamu), and he and his wife Belili generally appeared at the end of most variants of Anu's theogony, indicating that they were viewed as Anu's parents, a tradition that might have originated in northern Mesopotamia. A mention of Alala "coming down to the land" in the distant past "before creation" is known from a brief mythological introduction to a late Assyrian version of an incantation pertaining to ergot, though he was absent from a similar Old Babylonian text. A few ''Maqlû'' incantations alluded to Alala, for example referring to a time "before Ningirsu gave utterance to Alala in the land". Assyriologist Wilfred G. Lambert suggested that in those passages Alala might have represented a deified work cry or work song. Alala and Belili's names were also sometimes written logographically as ''ᵈALAN'' (𒀭𒀩), suggesting that they might have been regarded as the personifications of deified statues and/or the ''mîs-pî'' ("washing of the mouth") ritual, which vivified the newly manufactured divine idol and allowed it to take on the persona of the deity it represented. Alala was worshiped in the Esagil complex in Babylon, where he shared a cultic seat with Belili.

%%* AnthropomorphicPersonification: Possibly of either work songs or deified statues.
* ArchnemesisDad: Possibly the case in at least one unknown tradition which might have featured Alala being overthrown by Anu, which would have served as the basis for Hurro-Hittite tradition of their conflict.
* DeityIdentityConfusion: Alala is generally agreed to have served as the basis of the Hurrian primordial god Alalu, who reigned as the original king of the gods until he was overthrown by his cupbearer, Anu, and as a result had to flee to the Dark Earth, the underworld. Wilfred G. Lambert proposed that a hitherto unknown Mesopotamian myth about confrontation between Alala and Anu existed and inspired the Hurro-Hittite tradition regarding their conflict. According to Christopher Metcalf, the motif of a cupbearer rising to the position of a ruler was likely Mesopotamian in origin, and appeared in a legend about the historical Sargon's struggle against king Ur-Zababa as well.
** In late expository texts, Alala was equated with two other primordial figures, Enmesharra and Lugaldukuga, both of whom were regarded as the father or grandfather of Enlil in certain traditions, although the former was typically not labeled as a direct ancestor. Another text not only identified Alala with Lugaldukuga, but also with a deity whose name was written logographically as ''ᵈKur'' (a shortened version of Enlil's epithet ''ᵈKur-gal'') as well as the water god Enki/Ea.

[[folder:Belili]]
!!𒀭𒁁𒇷𒇷 | Bēlili
Belili was a primordial goddess regarded as the mother of the sky god Anu. She was generally listed as the daughter of Ekur/Engur and Gara/Gar (although some versions ommitted them and instead listed her as the daughter of Lahmu and Lahamu), and she and her husband Alala generally appeared at the end of most variants of Anu's theogony, indicating that they were viewed as Anu's parents, a tradition that might have originated in northern Mesopotamia. Belili and Alala's names were also sometimes written logographically as ''ᵈALAN'' (𒀭𒀩), suggesting that they might have been regarded as the personifications of deified statues and/or the ''mîs-pî'' ("washing of the mouth") ritual, which vivified the newly manufactured divine idol and allowed it to take on the persona of the deity it represented. Belili was worshiped in the Esagil complex in Babylon, where she shared a cultic seat with Alala.

%%* AnthropomorphicPersonification: Possibly of deified statues.
* DeityIdentityConfusion: Belili [[NamesTheSame was also the name]] of a sister of the shepherd god Dumuzid/Tammuz, and there is no consensus among researchers if they should be considered one and the same. Andrew R. George and Wilfred G. Lambert considered the sister of Dumuzid and the ancestor of Anu to be the same goddess, and the latter further suggested that Belili might have only been paired with Alala because both of their names were iterative. On the other hand, Manfred Krebernik stated that it was uncertain if the goddesses were related in any way.

There were also extended versions of the Anu Theogony, which were likely influenced by the Enlil Theogony. These lists instead assigned the role of prime mover to the primordial earth gods Urash and Ninurash (the equivalents of Enki and Ninki from the Enlil theogony), and then listed several generations preceding Duri and Dari. The extended theogony ended with Enuruulla and Ninuruulla, seemingly presented as the children of Alala and Belili. However, they were regarded as variant names of Anu and Antu, rather than as ancestors.

[[folder:Urash]]
!!𒀭𒅁 | Uraš[[note]]translated "earth, crooked furrow"[[/note]]
Urash was the primordial god of the earth who was listed alongside his wife Ninurash as the first gods in extended versions of the Anu Theogony, preceding the time gods Duri and Dari. Urash and Ninurash were the parents of Anshargal and Kishargal. For more information, see Enki's folder in the ''Enlil Theogony'' section.

[[folder:Ninurash]]
!!𒀭𒎏𒅁 | Ninuraš[[note]]translated "lady of the earth" or "lady of the crooked furrow"[[/note]]
Ninurash was the primordial goddess of the earth who was listed alongside her husband Urash as the first gods in extended versions of the Anu Theogony, preceding the time gods Duri and Dari. Urash and Ninurash were the parents of Anshargal and Kishargal. For more information, see Ninki's folder in the ''Enlil Theogony'' section.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Anshargal]]
!!𒀭𒊹𒃲 | Anšárgal[[note]]translated "great whole heaven" or "great sky pivot"[[/note]]
Anshargal was a primordial god who was listed as the son of Urash and Ninurash in extended versions of the Anu Theogony, preceding the time gods Duri and Dari. His wife was the goddess Kishargal, and they, in turn, became the parents of Anshar and Kishar.

* DeityIdentityConfusion: Anshargal also occurred as an epithet of both his son Anshar and the sky god Anu, illustrating Anu's role as ruler over the totality of heaven. Around 400 BCE, a student named Anu-ikṣur, a member of the Šangî-Ninurta family, wrote his name differently as ''En-uru-ul-la-ka-kéš'' and ''An-šár-gal-ik-ṣu-úr'', both names elevating different characteristics of Anu.

[[folder:Kishargal]]
!!𒀭𒆠𒊹𒃲 | Kišárgal[[note]]translated "great whole earth" or "great earth pivot"[[/note]]
Kishargal was a primordial goddess who was listed as the daughter of Urash and Ninurash in extended versions of the Anu Theogony, preceding the time gods Duri and Dari. Her husband was the god Anshargal, and they, in turn, became the parents of Anshar and Kishar.

* DeityIdentityConfusion: Kishargal also occurred as an epithet of both her daughter Kishar and Ki/Antu, the wife of Anu, illustrating Ki/Antu's role as ruler over the totality of the earth.

[[folder:Anshar]]
Anshar was a primordial god who was listed as the son of Anshargal and Kishargal in extended versions of the Anu Theogony, preceding the time gods Duri and Dari. His wife was the goddess Kishar, and they, in turn, became the parents of Enshar and Ninshar. For more information, see Anshar's folder in the ''Enuma Elish'' section.

[[folder:Kishar]]
Kishar was a primordial goddess who was listed as the daughter of Anshargal and Kishargal in extended versions of the Anu Theogony, preceding the time gods Duri and Dari. Her husband was the god Anshar, and they, in turn, became the parents of Enshar and Ninshar. For more information, see Kishar's folder in the ''Enuma Elish'' section.

[[folder:Enshar]]
Enshar was a primordial god who was listed as the son of Anshar and Kishar in extended versions of the Anu Theogony, preceding the time gods Duri and Dari. His wife was the goddess Ninshar, and they, in turn, became the parents of Duri and Dari. For more information, see Enshar's folder in the ''Enlil Theogony'' section.

[[folder:Ninshar]]
Ninshar was a primordial goddess who was listed as the daughter of Anshar and Kishar in extended versions of the Anu Theogony, preceding the time gods Duri and Dari. Her husband was the god Enshar, and they, in turn, became the parents of Duri and Dari. For more information, see Ninshar's folder in the ''Enlil Theogony'' section.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Enuruulla / Eniriula]]
!!𒀭𒂗𒌷𒌌𒆷 | Enuruulla[[note]]translated "lord of the eternal city" or "lord of the primeval city"[[/note]]
Enuruulla was a primordial god associated with the underworld. His wife was the goddess Ninuruulla. He served as one of the seven doorkeepers of Ereshkigal in the underworld, being in charge of the fourth gate. In the exorcistic compilation known as ''Gattung I'', Enuruulla and his wife were said to be "of the land of no return", referring to the underworld. Although Enuruulla was occasionally included at the end of extended versions of the Anu Theogony, he was generally regarded as an epithet of Anu himself, rather than his ancestor.

* DeityIdentityConfusion: Enuruulla commonly appeared in the Anu Theogony as an epithet of the sky god Anu, illustrating Anu's role as the primordial lord of Uruk. Around 400 BCE, a student named Anu-ikṣur, a member of the Šangî-Ninurta family, wrote his name differently as ''En-uru-ul-la-ka-kéš'' and ''An-šár-gal-ik-ṣu-úr'', both names elevating different characteristics of Anu.
* GateGuardian: Enuruulla served as the doorkeeper of the fifth gate of the underworld.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: His name could also be transcribed as Eniriula.

[[folder:Ninuruulla / Niniriula]]
!!𒀭𒎏𒌷𒌌𒆷 | Ninuruulla[[note]]translated "lady of the eternal city" or "lady of the primeval city"[[/note]]
Ninuruulla was a primordial goddess associated with the underworld. Her husband was the god Enuruulla. In the exorcistic compilation known as ''Gattung I'', Ninuruulla and her husband were said to be "of the land of no return", referring to the underworld. Although Ninuruulla was occasionally included at the end of extended versions of the Anu Theogony, she was generally regarded as an epithet of Antu, the wife of Anu, rather than an ancestor.

* DeityIdentityConfusion: Ninuruulla commonly appeared in the Anu Theogony as an epithet of the goddess Antu, illustrating Antu's role as the primordial lady of Uruk.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Her name could also be transcribed as Niniriula.

[[AC:Enlil Theogony]]

The standard theogony of Enlil was simpler than that of Anu, being more systematic and synthetic. The conventional view was that his ancestors were the so-called Enki-Ninki deities, sometimes collectively called "the Enkis and the Ninkis". However, despite its great antiquity and frequent attestation, Enlil's theogony was not accepted everywhere, as the prestige and spread of the tradition that Anu was his father excluded any separate ancestry for him. The lists always started with the primordial earth gods Enki and Ninki, and all but the Fara list put Enlil and Ninlil last. But there was no agreement whatsoever about the intervening pairs, in fact, no two lists agreed either in the number of pairs or in the distinctive element in each pair. These divergencies suggest that the intervening pairs were not in themselves important, but only served to give remoteness to the first.

[[folder:Enki]]
!!𒀭𒂗𒆠 | Enki[[note]]translated "Lord of the Earth"[[/note]]
Enki was the primordial god of the earth. He and his wife Ninki were viewed the first gods, who acted as the prime movers in creation and caused life to begin with the sprouting of a stalk of barley from the earth's bosom. They were also referred to as the "lords of destinies", and were invoked in ''Šurpu'' texts in a list of gods asked to release a spell. They were also included in extended versions of the Anu Theogony, in which they were named Urash and Ninurash respectively, and were similarly listed as the first pair of gods, preceding the time gods Duri and Dari. In the extended Anu Theogony, Urash and Ninurash were the parents of Anshargal and Kishargal. Enki and Ninki resided in the underworld, and were among the ancestors of Enlil who met Gilgamesh and received audience-gifts from him in the ''Death of Gilgamesh''. They were listed alongside Enul and Ninul as the gods who confirmed the kingship of Ishme-Dagan in a royal hymn, and an administrative document from the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II listed offerings for the great gods, which included Enki and Ninki.

* DeityIdentityConfusion: Enki [[NamesTheSame had the same name]] as the water and wisdom god Enki/Ea, although the two were largely regarded as distinct figures. While the ancestral Enki's name was certainly an apposition meaning "Lord (of the) Earth", the meaning of the second element of the name of the water god is uncertain but not the same, as some writings included an amissable g, thus producing the name as Enki(g). However, the two were nevertheless conflated at least once, as the Emesal Vocabulary equated Enki and Ninki with Ea and Damkina respectively. This is considered by scholars to have been a mistake on the part of the scribe, as the same list included a seperate section listing the names of Ea. Additionally, the list gave different Emesal names for the two gods, further distinguishing them. The Emesal of Enki was Umunki, while the Emesal of Enki/Ea was Amanki.
* TheMaker: Enki and Ninki were viewed as the prime movers in creation, and they caused life to begin with the sprouting of a stalk of barley from the earth's bosom.
* TheOlderImmortal: Enki and his wife Ninki were the oldest gods according to the Enlil Theogony.

[[folder:Ninki]]
!!𒀭𒎏𒆠 | Ninki[[note]]translated "Lady of the Earth"[[/note]]
Ninki was the primordial goddess of the earth. She and her husband Enki were viewed the first gods, who acted as the prime movers in creation and caused life to begin with the sprouting of a stalk of barley from the earth's bosom. They were also referred to as the "lords of destinies", and were invoked in ''Šurpu'' texts in a list of gods asked to release a spell. They were also included in extended versions of the Anu Theogony, in which they were named Urash and Ninurash respectively, and were similarly listed as the first pair of gods, preceding the time gods Duri and Dari. In the extended Anu Theogony, Urash and Ninurash were the parents of Anshargal and Kishargal. Enki and Ninki resided in the underworld, and were among the ancestors of Enlil who met Gilgamesh and received audience-gifts from him in the ''Death of Gilgamesh''. They were listed alongside Enul and Ninul as the gods who confirmed the kingship of Ishme-Dagan in a royal hymn, and an administrative document from the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II listed offerings for the great gods, which included Enki and Ninki.

* DeityIdentityConfusion: Ninki was also an epithet of the motherhood and mountain goddess Ninhursag/Damkina, although the two were largely regarded as distinct figures. However, the two were nevertheless conflated at least once, as the Emesal Vocabulary equated Enki and Ninki with Ea and Damkina respectively. This is considered by scholars to have been a mistake on the part of the scribe.
* TheMaker: Enki and Ninki were viewed as the prime movers in creation, and they caused life to begin with the sprouting of a stalk of barley from the earth's bosom.
* TheOlderImmortal: Ninki and her husband Enki were the oldest gods according to the Enlil Theogony.

[[folder:Enul]]
!!𒀭𒂗𒌌 | Enul[[note]]possibly translated "lord of joy" or "lord of pleasure"[[/note]]
Enul was a primordial god possibly associated with luxuriance and prosperity. In the ''Bilingual Account of Creation'', he and his wife Ninul were urged to multiply prosperity as the universe was being organized. They were also described in a Sumerian hymn as the parents of Nuska, the ''sukkal'' ("vizier") of Enlil, although he was more commonly identified as a son of Anu and Antu instead. Enul and Ninul were listed alongside Enki and Ninki as the gods who confirmed the kingship of Ishme-Dagan in a royal hymn.

* FertilityGod: Enul and Ninul were responsible for multiplying prosperity in the land when the world was being organized.

[[folder:Ninul]]
!!𒀭𒎏𒌌 | Ninul[[note]]possibly translated "lady of joy" or "lady of pleasure"[[/note]]
Ninul was a primordial goddess possibly associated with luxuriance and prosperity. In the ''Bilingual Account of Creation'', she and her husband Enul were urged to multiply prosperity as the universe was being organized. They were also described in a Sumerian hymn as the parents of Nuska, the ''sukkal'' ("vizier") of Enlil, although he was more commonly identified as a son of Anu and Antu instead. Enul and Ninul were listed alongside Enki and Ninki as the gods who confirmed the kingship of Ishme-Dagan in a royal hymn.

* FertilityGod: Enul and Ninul were responsible for multiplying prosperity in the land when the world was being organized.

[[folder:Enmul]]
!!𒀭𒂗𒀯 | Enmul[[note]]translated "lord of the stars"[[/note]]
Enmul was a primordial god possibly associated with stars. He and his wife Ninmul resided in the underworld, and were among the ancestors of Enlil who met Gilgamesh and received audience-gifts from him in the ''Death of Gilgamesh''.

[[folder:Ninmul]]
!!𒀭𒎏𒀯 | Ninmul[[note]]translated "lady of the stars"[[/note]]
Ninmul was a primordial goddess possibly associated with stars. She and her husband Enmul resided in the underworld, and were among the ancestors of Enlil who met Gilgamesh and received audience-gifts from him in the ''Death of Gilgamesh''.

[[folder:Enlu]]
!!𒀭𒂗𒇻 | Enlu[[note]]translated "lord of the people"[[/note]]
Enlu was a primordial god listed as an ancestor of Enlil. His wife was the goddess Ninlu.

[[folder:Ninlu]]
!!𒀭𒎏𒇻 | Ninlu[[note]]translated "lady of the people"[[/note]]
Ninlu was a primordial goddess listed as an ancestor of Enlil. Her husband was the god Enlu.

[[folder:Endu]]
!!𒀭𒂗𒁺 | Endu[[note]]translated "lord who comes/goes"[[/note]]
Endu was a primordial god listed as an ancestor of Enlil. His wife was the goddess Nindu.

[[folder:Nindu]]
!!𒀭𒎏𒁺 | Nindu[[note]]translated "lady who comes/goes"[[/note]]
Nindu was a primordial goddess listed as an ancestor of Enlil. Her husband was the god Endu.

[[folder:Enda]]
!!𒀭𒂗𒁕 | Enda[[note]]translated "lord of the arm"[[/note]]
Enda was a primordial god listed as an ancestor of Enlil. His wife was the goddess Ninda.

[[folder:Ninda]]
!!𒀭𒎏𒁕 | Ninda[[note]]translated "lady of the arm"[[/note]]
Ninda was a primordial goddess listed as an ancestor of Enlil. Her husband was the god Enda.

[[folder:Enuḫ]]
!!𒀭𒂗𒄴 | Enuḫ[[note]]possibly translated either as "lord of insects" or "lord of priests"[[/note]]
Enuḫ was a primordial god listed as an ancestor of Enlil. His wife was the goddess Ninuḫ.

* DeityIdentityConfusion: Scholars such as J. J. A. van Dijk, A. Alberti, M. Krebernik, N. Veldhuis, and K. Volk linked Enuḫ with Engirish, who was similarly a primordial divine ancestor of Enlil attested in later god lists. Their equation was derived from the interpretion that the sign ''UḪ'' (𒄴) was an earlier form of the sign ''BIR'' (𒄵), which was usually read as ''giriš''. However, others such as Antoine Cavigneaux and Farouk al-Rawi instead seemingly considered the sign to simply represent the word ''eḫ'', meaning "insect, bug", and thus translated Enuḫ's name as "lord insect".
* NoPronunciationGuide: The reading of the sign ''UḪ'' is uncertain, which has resulted in difficulty in the reading of Enuḫ's name. In general, the sign on its own was read as ''eḫ'', meaning "insect, bug". However, it could also be read as ''gudu'', a variant of ''gudug'', meaning "priest". Alternatively, scholars such as J. J. A. van Dijk, A. Alberti, M. Krebernik, N. Veldhuis, and K. Volk interpreted ''UḪ'' as an earlier form of ''BIR'', which was usually read as ''giriš'', meaning "butterfly".

[[folder:Ninuḫ]]
!!𒀭𒎏𒄴 | Ninuḫ[[note]]possibly translated either as "lady of insects" or "lady of priests"[[/note]]
Ninuḫ was a primordial goddess listed as an ancestor of Enlil. Her husband was the god Enuḫ.

* DeityIdentityConfusion: Scholars such as J. J. A. van Dijk, A. Alberti, M. Krebernik, N. Veldhuis, and K. Volk linked Ninuḫ with Ningirish, who was similarly a primordial divine ancestor of Enlil attested in later god lists. Their equation was derived from the interpretion that the sign ''UḪ'' (𒄴) was an earlier form of the sign ''BIR'' (𒄵), which was usually read as ''giriš''. However, others such as Antoine Cavigneaux and Farouk al-Rawi instead seemingly considered the sign to simply represent the word ''eḫ'', meaning "insect, bug", and thus translated Ninuḫ's name as "lady insect".
* NoPronunciationGuide: The reading of the sign ''UḪ'' is uncertain, which has resulted in difficulty in the reading of Ninuḫ's name. In general, the sign on its own was read as ''eḫ'', meaning "insect, bug". However, it could also be read as ''gudu'', a variant of ''gudug'', meaning "priest". Alternatively, scholars such as J. J. A. van Dijk, A. Alberti, M. Krebernik, N. Veldhuis, and K. Volk interpreted ''UḪ'' as an earlier form of ''BIR'', which was usually read as ''giriš'', meaning "butterfly".

[[folder:Enbulug / Endim]]
!!𒀭𒂗𒉽𒉽 | Enbùlug[[note]]translated "lord of growth"[[/note]] / Endim[[note]]translated either as "lord who checks" or "lord of the post/pillar"[[/note]]
Enbulug/Endim was a primordial god listed as an ancestor of Enlil. His wife was the goddess Ninbulug/Nindim.

* NoPronunciationGuide: The reading of the signs 𒉽𒉽 is uncertain, as it could be read as either ''BÙLUG'', meaning "to grow, bring up, rear, nurture", or ''DIM'', meaning either "to check, to approach" or "post, pillar".

[[folder:Ninbulug / Nindim]]
!!𒀭𒎏𒉽𒉽 | Ninbùlug[[note]]translated "lady of growth"[[/note]] / Nindim[[note]]translated either as "lady who checks" or "lady of the post/pillar"[[/note]]
Ninbulug/Nindim was a primordial goddess listed as an ancestor of Enlil. Her husband was the god Enbulug/Endim.

* NoPronunciationGuide: The reading of the signs 𒉽𒉽 is uncertain, as it could be read as either ''BÙLUG'', meaning "to grow, bring up, rear, nurture", or ''DIM'', meaning either "to check, to approach" or "post, pillar".

[[folder:Enbuluh / Enhal]]
!!𒀭𒂗𒄬 | Enbuluḫ[[note]]possibly translated as either "lord of the trees" or "lord of fear"[[/note]] / Enḫal[[note]]translated "lord who divides"[[/note]]
Enbuluh/Enhal was a primordial god listed as an ancestor of Enlil. His wife was the goddess Ninbuluh/Ninhal.

* NoPronunciationGuide: The reading of the sign 𒄬 is uncertain, as it could be read as either ''BULUḪ'', meaning either "tree" or "fear", or ''ḪAL'', meaning "to divide, deal out, distribute".

[[folder:Ninbuluh / Ninhal]]
!!𒀭𒎏𒄬 | Ninbuluḫ[[note]]possibly translated as either "lady of the trees" or "lady of fear"[[/note]] / Ninḫal[[note]]translated "lady who divides"[[/note]]
Ninbuluh/Ninhal was a primordial goddess listed as an ancestor of Enlil. Her husband was the god Enbuluh/Enhal.

* NoPronunciationGuide: The reading of the sign 𒄬 is uncertain, as it could be read as either ''BULUḪ'', meaning either "tree" or "fear", or ''ḪAL'', meaning "to divide, deal out, distribute".

[[folder:Enpirig]]
!!𒀭𒂗𒊌 | Enpìrig[[note]]translated "lord of lions"[[/note]]
Enpirig was a primordial god listed as an ancestor of Enlil. His wife was the goddess Ninpirig, and the two were possibly associated with the underworld.

* DeityIdentityConfusion: In the ''Izi = išātu'' god-list, Enpirig and Ninpirig, written as Enpiriga and Ninpiriga, were equated with the minor underworld deities Almu and Alamu respectively. However, in the ''Erimḫuš'' lexical text, Almu and Alamu were instead conflated with Ninpirig and Ninpiriga respectively, possibly referring to a single deity.

[[folder:Ninpirig]]
!!𒀭𒎏𒊌 | Ninpìrig[[note]]translated "lady of lions"[[/note]]
Ninpirig was a primordial goddess listed as an ancestor of Enlil. Her husband was the god Enpirig, and the two were possibly associated with the underworld.

* DeityIdentityConfusion: Ninpirig [[NamesTheSame was also the name]] of a male god who served as the ''sukkalmaḫ'' ("grand vizier") of the sun god Utu/Shamash. The name also occured as an epithet of Ninimma, a goddess who served as a divine scribe in the court of Enlil. Wilfred G. Lambert viewed the association of Ninpirig and Ninimma in ''An = Anum'' as a scribal error on the part of the editors.
** In the Izi = išātu god-list, Enpirig and Ninpirig, written as Enpiriga and Ninpiriga, were equated with the minor underworld deities Almu and Alamu respectively. However, in the Erimḫuš lexical text, Almu and Alamu were instead conflated with Ninpirig and Ninpiriga respectively, possibly referring to a single deity.

[[folder:Engarash]]
!!𒀭𒂗𒂵𒆜 | Engaràš[[note]]translated "lord of leeks" or "lord of decisions"[[/note]]
Engarash was a primordial god listed as an ancestor of Enlil. His wife was the goddess Ningarash.

* NoPronunciationGuide: The reading of the signs 𒂵𒆜 is uncertain, as it could be read as either ''garaš'', meaning "leek", or ''kaš'', meaning "decision".

[[folder:Ningarash]]
!!𒀭𒎏𒂵𒆜 | Ningaràš[[note]]translated "lady of leeks" or "lady of decisions"[[/note]]
Ningarash was a primordial goddess listed as an ancestor of Enlil. Her husband was the god Engarash.

* DeityIdentityConfusion: Ningarash [[NamesTheSame was also the name]] of a minor goddess belonging to the court of Enki/Ea, although her name was written differently.
* NoPronunciationGuide: The reading of the signs 𒂵𒆜 is uncertain, as it could be read as either ''garaš'', meaning "leek", or ''kaš'', meaning "decision".

[[folder:Engirish]]
!!𒀭𒂗𒄵 | Engiriš[[note]]translated "lord of butterflies"[[/note]]
Engirish was a primordial god listed as an ancestor of Enlil. His wife was the goddess Ningirish.

* DeityIdentityConfusion: Scholars such as J. J. A. van Dijk, A. Alberti, M. Krebernik, N. Veldhuis, and K. Volk linked Engirish with Enuḫ, who was similarly a primordial divine ancestor of Enlil attested in earlier god lists. Their equation was derived from the interpretion that the sign ''UḪ'' (𒄴) was an earlier form of the sign ''BIR'' (𒄵), which was usually read as ''giriš''. However, others such as Antoine Cavigneaux and Farouk al-Rawi instead seemingly considered the sign to simply represent the word ''eḫ'', meaning "insect, bug", and thus translated Enuḫ's name as "lord insect".

[[folder:Ningirish]]
!!𒀭𒎏𒄵 | Ningiriš[[note]]translated "lady of butterflies"[[/note]]
Ningirish was a primordial goddess listed as an ancestor of Enlil. Her husband was the god Engirish.

* DeityIdentityConfusion: Scholars such as J. J. A. van Dijk, A. Alberti, M. Krebernik, N. Veldhuis, and K. Volk linked Ningirish with Ninuḫ, who was similarly a primordial divine ancestor of Enlil attested in earlier god lists. Their equation was derived from the interpretion that the sign ''UḪ'' (𒄴) was an earlier form of the sign ''BIR'' (𒄵), which was usually read as ''giriš''. However, others such as Antoine Cavigneaux and Farouk al-Rawi instead seemingly considered the sign to simply represent the word ''eḫ'', meaning "insect, bug", and thus translated Ninuḫ's name as "lady insect".

[[folder:Enshar]]
!!𒀭𒂗𒊹 | Enšar[[note]]translated "lord of all"[[/note]]
Enshar was a primordial god listed as an ancestor of Enlil. His wife was the goddess Ninshar. In the ''Toil of Babylon'', he appeared as the father of the gods, although his name in the text was evidently used as a title of the primordial god Lugaldukuga. Enshar and Ninshar also notably appeared in certain variants of the Anu Theogony, likely due to the influence of the Enlil Theogony, in which they were listed as the parents of the time gods Duri and Dari.

* DeityIdentityConfusion: In the ''Toil of Babylon'', Enshar occured as a title of Lugaldukuga, a primordial god who was sometimes identified as the father of Enlil. The two were otherwise always distinguished in the theogony of Enlil.

[[folder:Ninshar]]
!!𒀭𒎏𒊹 | Ninšar[[note]]translated "lady of all"[[/note]]
Ninshar was a primordial goddess listed as an ancestor of Enlil. Her husband was the god Enshar. Enshar and Ninshar also notably appeared in certain variants of the Anu Theogony, likely due to the influence of the Enlil Theogony, in which they were listed as the parents of the time gods Duri and Dari.

[[folder:Ennun]]
!!𒀭𒂗𒉣 | Ennun[[note]]translated "lord of the prince"[[/note]]
Ennun was a primordial god listed as an ancestor of Enlil. His wife was the goddess Ninnun.

[[folder:Ninnun]]
!!𒀭𒎏𒉣 | Ninnun[[note]]translated "lady of the prince"[[/note]]
Ninnun was a primordial goddess listed as an ancestor of Enlil. Her husband was the god Ennun.

* DeityIdentityConfusion: Ninnun [[NamesTheSame was also the name]] of a Lamma deity (a class of protective deities). Additionally, in Nippur during the Old Babylonian period, the name Ninnuna occured as an epithet of Inanna/Ishtar.

[[folder:Enkur]]
!!𒀭𒂗𒆳 | Enkur[[note]]translated "lord of the mountain"[[/note]]
Enkur was a primordial god listed as an ancestor of Enlil. His wife was the goddess Ninkur.

[[folder:Ninkur]]
!!𒀭𒎏𒆳 | Ninkur[[note]]translated "lady of the mountain"[[/note]]
Ninkur was a primordial goddess listed as an ancestor of Enlil. Her husband was the god Enkur.

* DeityIdentityConfusion: Ninkur was attested as a variant spelling of the goddess Ninkurra, a divine sculptress and daughter of Enki/Ea.

[[folder:Enudul]]
!!𒀭𒂗𒁭𒇯 | Enudul[[note]]translated "lord of the male sheepfold"[[/note]]
Enudul was a primordial god listed as an ancestor of Enlil. His wife was the goddess Ninudul.

* DeityIdentityConfusion: Scholars have linked Enudul with Enamash, who was similarly a primordial divine ancestor of Enlil attested in later god lists. Their equation was derived from the interpretion that the sign ''UDUL₆'' (𒁭) was an earlier form of ''AMAŠ'' (𒁦), both of which appeared to mean "sheepfold", although the former sign more specifically seemed to refer to male sheep, probably rams for breeding. However, while the connection between the signs has been established and its history given by tracing the evolution of the same sign, a definitive connection between the deities remains somewhat uncertain, as the older equivalent of ''AMAŠ'' attested at Fara was ''ú-a'' (𒄷𒋛𒀀), meaning "mount" (the female, said of the male), and those signs were not used as part of Enudul's name.

[[folder:Ninudul]]
!!𒀭𒎏𒁭𒇯 | Ninudul[[note]]translated "lady of the male sheepfold"[[/note]]
Ninudul was a primordial goddess listed as an ancestor of Enlil. Her husband was the god Enudul.

* DeityIdentityConfusion: Scholars have linked Ninudul with Ninamash, who was similarly a primordial divine ancestor of Enlil attested in later god lists. Their equation was derived from the interpretion that the sign ''UDUL₆'' (𒁭) was an earlier form of ''AMAŠ'' (𒁦), both of which appear to mean "sheepfold", although the former sign more specifically seemed to refer to male sheep, probably rams for breeding. However, while the connection between the signs has been established and its history given by tracing the evolution of the same sign, a definitive connection between the deities remains somewhat uncertain, as the older equivalent of ''AMAŠ'' attested at Fara was ''ú-a'' (𒄷𒋛𒀀), meaning "mount" (the female, said of the male), and those signs were not used as part of Ninudul's name.

[[folder:Enamash]]
!!𒀭𒂗𒁦 | Enamaš[[note]]translated "lord of the sheepfold"[[/note]]
Enamash was a primordial god listed as an ancestor of Enlil. His wife was the goddess Ninamash.

* DeityIdentityConfusion: Scholars have linked Enamash with Enudul, who was similarly a primordial divine ancestor of Enlil attested in earlier god lists at Fara and Abu Salabikh from the end of the Early Dynastic period. Their equation was derived from the interpretion that the sign ''UDUL₆'' (𒁭) was an earlier form of ''AMAŠ'' (𒁦), both of which appeared to mean "sheepfold", although the former sign more specifically seemed to refer to male sheep, probably rams for breeding. However, while the connection between the signs has been established and its history given by tracing the evolution of the same sign, a definitive connection between the deities remains somewhat uncertain, as the older equivalent of ''AMAŠ'' attested at Fara was ''ú-a'' (𒄷𒋛𒀀), meaning "mount" (the female, said of the male), and those signs were not used as part of Enudul's name.

[[folder:Ninamash]]
!!𒀭𒎏𒁦 | Ninamaš[[note]]translated "lady of the sheepfold"[[/note]]
Ninamash was a primordial goddess listed as an ancestor of Enlil. Her husband was the god Enamash.

* DeityIdentityConfusion: Scholars have linked Ninamash with Ninudul, who was similarly a primordial divine ancestor of Enlil attested in earlier god lists at Fara and Abu Salabikh from the end of the Early Dynastic period. Their equation was derived from the interpretion that the sign ''UDUL₆'' (𒁭) was an earlier form of ''AMAŠ'' (𒁦), both of which appeared to mean "sheepfold", although the former sign more specifically seemed to refer to male sheep, probably rams for breeding. However, while the connection between the signs has been established and its history given by tracing the evolution of the same sign, a definitive connection between the deities remains somewhat uncertain, as the older equivalent of ''AMAŠ'' attested at Fara was ''ú-a'' (𒄷𒋛𒀀), meaning "mount" (the female, said of the male), and those signs were not used as part of Ninudul's name.

[[folder:Engukkal]]
!!𒀭𒂗𒇻𒄾 | Engukkal[[note]]translated "lord of fat-tailed sheep"[[/note]]
Engukkal was a primordial god listed as an ancestor of Enlil. His wife was the goddess Ningukkal.

[[folder:Ningukkal]]
!!𒀭𒎏𒇻𒄾 | Ningukkal[[note]]translated "lady of fat-tailed sheep"[[/note]]
Ningukkal was a primordial goddess listed as an ancestor of Enlil. Her husband was the god Engukkal.

[[folder:Enkingal]]
!!𒀭𒂗𒆥𒃲 | Enkingal[[note]]translated "lord of the meal"[[/note]]
Enkingal was a primordial god listed as an ancestor of Enlil. His wife was the goddess Ninkingal.

[[folder:Ninkingal]]
!!𒀭𒎏𒆥𒃲 | Ninkingal[[note]]translated "lady of the meal"[[/note]]
Ninkingal was a primordial goddess listed as an ancestor of Enlil. Her husband was the god Enkingal.

[[folder:Enkugal]]
!!𒀭𒂗𒆬𒅅 | Enkugal[[note]]translated "lord of the canal inspector"[[/note]]
Enkugal was a primordial god listed as an ancestor of Enlil. His wife was the goddess Ninkugal.

[[folder:Ninkugal]]
!!𒀭𒎏𒆬𒅅 | Ninkugal[[note]]translated "lady of the canal inspector"[[/note]]
Ninkugal was a primordial goddess listed as an ancestor of Enlil. Her husband was the god Enkugal.

[[folder:Ena]]
!!𒀭𒂗𒀉 | Ená[[note]]translated "lord of the arm"[[/note]]
Ena was a primordial god listed as an ancestor of Enlil. His wife was the goddess Nina.

* DeityIdentityConfusion: Scholars have linked Ena with Enda, who was similarly a primordial divine ancestor of Enlil attested in later god lists. The signs ''A₂'' (𒀉) and ''DA'' (𒁕) had the same meaning and were easily confused in some early scripts, although there was otherwise no obvious later derivative of Ena and Nina in the Fara god list.

[[folder:Nina]]
!!𒀭𒎏𒀉 | Niná[[note]]translated "lady of the arm"[[/note]]
Nina was a primordial goddess listed as an ancestor of Enlil. Her husband was the god Ena.

* DeityIdentityConfusion: Scholars have linked Nina with Ninda, who was similarly a primordial divine ancestor of Enlil attested in later god lists. The signs ''A₂'' (𒀉) and ''DA'' (𒁕) had the same meaning and were easily confused in some early scripts, although there was otherwise no obvious later derivative of Ena and Nina in the Fara god list.

[[folder:Enanna]]
!!𒀭𒂗𒀭𒈾 | Enanna[[note]]translated "lord of heaven"[[/note]]
Enanna was a primordial god listed as an ancestor of Enlil. His wife was the goddess Ninanna.

[[folder:Ninanna]]
!!𒀭𒎏𒀭𒈾 | Ninanna[[note]]translated "lady of heaven"[[/note]]
Ninanna was a primordial goddess listed as an ancestor of Enlil. Her husband was the god Enanna.

* DeityIdentityConfusion: Ninanna occurred as as an epithet of Inanna/Ishtar in her role as the goddess of the planet Venus. Additionally, it is generally believed that the theophoric name Ur-Ninanna, attested in the Ur III period, was derived from Inanna/Ishtar.

[[folder:Enutila / Enmutula]]
!!𒀭𒂗𒌓𒋾𒆷 / 𒀭𒂗𒈬𒌓𒇲 | Enutila[[note]]translated "lord of the days of life"[[/note]] / Enmutula[[note]]possibly translated "lord of hanging/balanced death"[[/note]]
Enutila was a primordial god listed among the ancestors of Enlil, although he wasn't necessarily regarded as a direct ancestor himself. His wife was the goddess Ninutila. The text tentatively titled ''The Defeat of Enutila, Enmesharra and Qingu'', of which only eighteen lines survive, described Enutila's defeat in the aftermath of a conflict between gods, which evidently took place in Babylon. The text identified Enutila as the leader of the defeated gods, consisting of at least himself, Enmesharra and his seven sons, Tiamat, Abzu, Mummu, and Kingu and his offspring, and directly referred to Enutila being killed by Ninurta. Since the text stated that the sons of Enmesharra had already been defeated and bound, it is likely that Ninurta's killing was judicial rather than the outcome of combat, implying that Ninurta was working for Marduk. Following his death, Enutila resided in the underworld, and was among the ancestors of Enlil who met Gilgamesh and received audience-gifts from him in the ''Death of Gilgamesh''. In a Neo-Babylonian musical text, Enutila was one of nine deities invoked for aid, with him specifically being asked to establish abundance, plenty, and prosperity for the pastures of the people.

* BigBadEnsemble: In the text tentatively titled ''The Defeat of Enutila, Enmesharra and Kingu'', Enutila was the leader of an alliance of rebellious gods consisting of at least himself, Enmesharra and his seven sons, Tiamat, Abzu, Mummu, and Qingu and his offspring, who fought in Babylon against a faction of gods consisting of Enlil, Marduk, Nabu, Ishtar (of Babylon), and Ninurta. The large number of deities in the text suggests that this was not an old or traditional myth, but rather the result of a rather academic compiler in relatively late times putting together all the diverse materials of one kind that they could collect, without a strong theological purpose or sophistication.
* GodIsDead: According to ''The Defeat of Enutila, Enmesharra and Qingu'', Enutila was killed by Ninurta after his faction of gods was defeated.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Enutila's name was also attested with the spellings Enmutula, Enmetila, and Enmutela. His name was also sometimes transcribed as Enudtila.

[[folder:Ninutila]]
!!𒀭𒎏𒌓𒋾𒆷 | Ninutila[[note]]translated "lady of the days of life"[[/note]]
Ninutila was a primordial goddess listed among the ancestors of Enlil, although she wasn't necessarily regarded as a direct ancestor herself. Her husband was the god Enutila.

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Her name was also sometimes transcribed as Ninudtila.

[[folder:Endashurima]]
!!𒀭𒂗𒁕𒇇𒈠 | Endašurima[[note]]possibly translated as either "lord who protects the hurdle" or "lord of the dungheap"[[/note]]
Endashurima was a primordial god listed among the ancestors of Enlil, although he wasn't necessarily regarded as a direct ancestor himself. His wife was the goddess Nindashurima, and the two were called "brother and sister of all the gods" in an incantation. Endashurima served as one of the seven doorkeepers of Ereshkigal in the underworld, being in charge of the third gate. He and his wife were also among the ancestors of Enlil who met Gilgamesh and received audience-gifts from him in the ''Death of Gilgamesh''. In a Neo-Babylonian musical text, Endashurima was one of nine deities invoked for aid, with him specifically being asked to provide his artful advice and precious words daily. Endashurima was already associated with the city of Nippur during the Old Babylonian period, and he and his wife were also mentioned as underworld gods to whom offerings were made in a late Assyrian tablet.

* GateGuardian: Endashurima served as the doorkeeper of the third gate of the underworld.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: His name can also be transcribed as Endašurimma or Endashurimma.

[[folder:Nindashurima]]
!!𒀭𒎏𒁕𒇇𒈠 | Nindašurima[[note]]possibly translated as either "lady who protects the hurdle" or "lady of the dungheap"[[/note]]
Nindashurima was a primordial goddess listed among the ancestors of Enlil, although she wasn't necessarily regarded as a direct ancestor herself. Her husband was the god Endashurima, and the two were called "brother and sister of all the gods" in an incantation. She and her husband were also among the ancestors of Enlil who met Gilgamesh and received audience-gifts from him in the ''Death of Gilgamesh''. They were also mentioned as underworld gods to whom offerings were made in a late Assyrian tablet.

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Her name can also be transcribed as Nindašurimma or Nindashurimma.

[[folder:Lugaldukuga / Endukuga]]
!!𒀭𒈗𒇯𒆬𒂵 / 𒀭𒂗𒇯𒆬𒂵 | Lugaldukuga[[note]]translated "king of the holy mound"[[/note]] / Endukuga[[note]]translated "lord of the holy mound"[[/note]]
Lugaldukuga, also known as Endukuga, was a primordial god regarded as the father of Enlil, although the tradition placing him in this role was relatively late, with no references to it being known from before the Kassite period. He was regarded as a member of an inactive old generation of deities, and was the original ruler of the ''Duku'', the primeval cosmic mound where destinies were determined. His wife was the goddess Nindukuga. In the ''Toil of Babylon'', Lugaldukuga was depicted as the "father of the all gods", although all the gods hated him, and he was seemingly forcing the people of Babylon to engage in hard labour, which prompted a disgruntled Marduk to decide to overthrow the existing divine ruling dynasty. In the surviving fragments, a deity whose name started with the cuneiform sign ''en'', most likely Enlil, was happy about something and shared this information with Lugaldukuga, who was dissatisfied with what he was told. However, the other gods shared the first speaker's sentiment, which prompted Lugaldukuga to go down to the Abzu, where another deity (probably Marduk) spied on him. The rest of the narrative is difficult to interpret, but it appears that Lugaldukuga ordered the storm god Ishkur/Adad to bring about destruction of the grain crop by drought, resulting in scarcity and high prices, possibly to reduce the human population. Although the ending of the text is missing, it is presumed to have concluded with Lugaldukuga being overthrown by the gods and the people of Babylon being freed from hard labour. Lugaldukuga was regarded as a dead and inactive god who resided in the underworld and, as Endukuga, served as one of the seven doorkeepers of Ereshkigal, being in charge of the fifth gate. However, a single source, a mystical explanatory text for an ''Akitu'' festival of Ninurta, instead stated that Lugaldukuga resided in heaven (specifically the Middle Heavens, where the Igigi resided). According to the ''Offering Bread Hemerology'', food offerings were made to Lugaldukuga on the twenty ninth of Tišritum (the Sumerian name of which was Duku(g)), the seventh month in the standard Mesopotamian calendar. Similarly, another Assyrian text, referred to as ''Astrolabe B'', stated that funerary offerings were also made to him during the same month.

* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: In the ''Toil of Babylon'', Lugaldukuga was depicted as a hated ruler, with the text specifically stating that all the gods hated him. Although the text is incomplete and the ending is missing, the surviving portions suggest that he was hated due to forcing the people of Babylon to engage in hard labour. As a result, Marduk, unable to sleep due to the lamentation of the people, decided to overthrow the existing divine government, which presumably concluded with him and the other gods successfully overthrowing Lugaldukuga.
* AmbiguouslyRelated: Although he was most commonly identified as Enlil's father, certain texts instead referred to Lugaldukuga as Enlil's grandfather, such as the Assyrian text known as ''Astrolabe B'', which referred to the month Tišritum as "the month of the grandfather of Enlil". The variable relationship of Lugaldukuga and Enlil was likely the result of the different traditions regarding Enlil's parentage and the fact that the tradition identifying Lugaldukuga as Enlil's father was relatively late, with no references to it being known from before the Kassite period. It is considered very probable that the tradition which identified Enmesharra as Enlil's father predated that of Lugaldukuga, which sometimes resulted in Lugaldukuga instead being considered Enlil's grandfather, and thus the father of Enmesharra. The Old Babylonian forerunner of ''An = Anum'' ended Enlil's theogony with Enmesharra and Ninmesharra, totally lacking Lugaldukuga, while the first datable evidence for the doctrine of Lugaldukuga was the Middle Babylonian edition of ''An = Anum'', best known through Middle Assyrian copies, in which Lugaldukuga was very clearly an insertion. Similarly, a small religious fragment containing a listing of the great gods seemingly contained a geneaology which began with Lugaldukuga, then followed by Anu (equated with the Hurrian sky god Ḫamurni), and ᵈBE (equated with the Hurrian earth god Ḫayašu), who is generally believed to have been either Enlil or Enki/Ea.
* DeityIdentityConfusion: Various theological texts equated Lugaldukuga with other primordial gods such as Enmesharra, Alala, and the otherwise largely unknown Ubnu. Other sources also sometimes even identified Lugaldukuga as being Enlil himself or as the water and wisdom god Enki/Ea.
** Lugaldukuga and Enmesharra were equated in a theological text. Enmesharra was similarly identified, although not often explicitly, as either Enlil's father or grandfather. However, the myth ''Enlil and Namzitara'' instead explicitly described Enmesharra as Enlil's paternal uncle, and Wilfred G. Lambert suggested that the text regarded Lugaldukuga as his brother. It is considered very probable that the tradition which identified Enmesharra as Enlil's father predated that of Lugaldukuga, which sometimes resulted in Lugaldukuga instead being considered Enlil's grandfather, and thus the father of Enmesharra. The Old Babylonian forerunner of ''An = Anum'' ended Enlil's theogony with Enmesharra and Ninmesharra, totally lacking Lugaldukuga, while the first datable evidence for the doctrine of Lugaldukuga was the Middle Babylonian edition of ''An = Anum'', best known through Middle Assyrian copies, in which Lugaldukuga was very clearly an insertion. Scholars consider this to have been the primary reason that the compilers of the late expository texts equated Lugaldukuga and Enmesharra.
** Alala was equated with Lugaldukuga in late expository texts. Alala was generally regarded as the father of the sky god Anu, who was himself commonly identified as Enlil's father.
** Ubnu was an obscure primordial god listed among the seven "conquered Enlils", and a double list which occurred in two places equated him with Lugaldukuga, although the significance of their equation is not clear.
** Although he was most commonly attested as Enlil's father, certain texts instead regarded Lugaldukuga as being Enlil himself. One text, for example, stated that "Enlil is present like (or, instead of) Lugaldukuga".
** A number of sources conflated Lugaldukuga with the water and wisdom god Enki/Ea, or at least used his name as an epithet for Enki/Ea. A commentary on the series ''Iqqur īpuš'' stated that "Lugaldukuga is (also) Ea", and the two were similarly identified with each other in texts such as in ''Enūma Eliš VII 100'', in a ''šuilla'' prayer, and probably in ''Šurpu VIII 38''. Further, the myth ''The Founding of Eridu'' depicted Lugaldukuga founding, or residing in, Esagil in the Abzu, which was commonly regarded as the residence of Enki/Ea. Their respective abodes, the Duku and Abzu, were similarly identified with each other in at least three lexical texts as well as passages in incantations where the terms were used in parallelism. Similarly, in ''Enuma Elish'', Marduk was called Dumuduku ("son of the holy mound") and his father Enki/Ea, in turn, was called Lugalduku ("king of the holy mound"), in this case identifying the Abzu as the cosmic Duku. The text also stated that, in this role, Enki/Ea was in charge of taking decisions and decreeing destinies, a role generally ascribed to Enlil in the Nippurian Duku. This application was quite probably a secondary development, not older than the First Dynasty of Babylon, but it may well have been based on a genuinely old tradition that equated the Abzu with the cosmic Duku. Additionally, in the ''Toil of Babylon'', Lugaldukuga was seemingly portrayed as a composite of himself, Enki/Ea, and the primordial god Enshar. In the text, Enshar ("lord of all") was used as an epithet of Lugaldukuga, and he was stated to go down to "his Abzu", clearly equating him with Enki/Ea. Wilfred G. Lambert noted that while it was not impossible to assume Lugaldukuga should be understood as a title of Enki/Ea in the myth, his portrayal as a hated figure would have been "just the opposite of his usual attribute" as a deity "envisioned as active, never discredited or hated, and an ever present source of help".
* GateGuardian: Endukuga served as the doorkeeper of the fifth gate of the underworld.
* GodIsDead: Lugaldukuga was regarded as a dead god who resided in the underworld (or heaven, according to a single source). Accordingly, lamentations and offerings for the dead were carried out for him.

[[folder:Nindukuga]]
!!𒀭𒎏𒇯𒆬𒂵 | Nindukuga[[note]]translated "lady of the holy mound"[[/note]]
Nindukuga was a primordial goddess regarded as the mother of Enlil. She was regarded as a member of an inactive old generation of deities, and originally resided in the ''Duku'', the primeval cosmic mound where destinies were determined. Her husband was Lugaldukuga, also known as Endukuga, the original ruler of the ''Duku''. Nindukuga resided in the underworld, and was listed among the underworld gods to whom offerings were made in a Late Assyrian tablet.

* DeityIdentityConfusion: Nindukuga also occurred as an epithet of the cattle god Lahar. When used for Lahar, the name most likely referred to him having been created in the Duku (used as a name of the Abzu) in the ''Debate between sheep and grain''.

[[folder:Enmesharra]]
!!𒀭𒂗𒈨𒊹𒊏 | Enmešarra[[note]]translated "lord of all ''me''"[[/note]]
Enmesharra was a primordial god associated with the underworld. He was regarded as a member of an inactive old generation of deities who originally resided in the ''Duku'', the primeval cosmic mound where destinies were determined. Enmesharra ruled as the supreme god prior to Enlil, who possessed the power to declare destinies, which he had possibly stolen from Enlil. His wife was the goddess Ninmesharra and he was generally regarded to have seven sons (although one source from Kish mentioned eight, while a single incantation referenced fifteen) who were a group of warrior gods known collectively as the Sebitti. Other gods attested as the children or descendants of Enmesharra were the goddess Shuzianna, Enlil's ''dam-ban-da'' ("concubine" or "junior wife"), and Papsukkal, the ''sukkal'' ("vizier") of Anu and Antu, although it's possible that the reference to him as "son of Anu, offspring of Enmesharra" was part of a tradition that regarded Enmesharra as Anu's father, or otherwise conflated Enmesharra with Anu. Enmesharra and his wife were once described as "father and mother of all the gods", and were commonly listed among the ancestors of Enlil, although they generally held a special position among them and were not themselves considered to be Enlil's direct ancestors, with the myth ''Enlil and Namzitara'' explicitly describing Enmesharra as Enlil's paternal uncle instead. Early texts stated that Enmesharra was originally the king of the underworld, suggesting that his ascension to the position of supreme god was a result of him having higher aspirations. He and his sons were notably involved in a series of conflicts with deities such as Enlil, Ninurta, and Marduk, in which they were ultimately defeated. One text from Nippur mentioned that he was "laid to rest" after a confrontation between him and Enlil (or Ninurta) occurred in Shuruppak. In ''Enmesharra's Defeat'', Enmesharra and his sons were put in prison by Marduk under Nergal's supervision while their fate was decided. In the surviving fragments, Enmesharra unsuccessfully pleaded to be spared, and was subsequently escorted to Marduk's dwelling alongside his sons. Marduk subsequently deprived Enmesharra of his luminosity, referred to by his unique epithet, ''zi-mu-ú'' ("splendour"), and gave it to the sun god Utu/Shamash. Enmesharra and his sons were subsequently executed (although the line specifically describing Enmesharra's execution was not preserved), and his power and lordship over the universe was divided among the gods, with Enlil and Anu in particular receiving his symbols of kingship. Following his death, Enmesharra continued to exist as a ghost in the underworld, and was among the ancestors of Enlil who met Gilgamesh and received audience-gifts from him in the ''Death of Gilgamesh''. In a Neo-Babylonian musical text, Enmesharra was one of nine deities invoked for aid, with him specifically being asked to crush the forces of one's enemies and scatter the weapons of one's adversaries. Enmesharra was worshipped in Nippur as early as the Ur III period, during which he was attested in offering lists from the reigns of Kings Amar-Sin and Shu-Sin. He also appeared in a long list of offerings from Puzrish-Dagan, according to which a "grain-fed ox" was sacrificed to him in Nippur. He continued to be associated with Nippur through the second and first millennia BCE. In the Esagil temple complex in Babylon, a seat was dedicated jointly to him and Enbilulu, which bore the name ''Dukisikil'' ("mound, pure place"). Enmesharra also had a dwelling place called "the chariot house of Enlil", a seat in the Esharra temple in Assur, which likely served as the site of a ritual re-enactment of the destruction of Enmesharra's corpse through the destruction of an effigy.

* AmbiguouslyRelated: Enmesharra's relation to Enlil differed between different accounts, with Enmesharra having variously been identified, although not often explicitly, as either Enlil's father, grandfather, or paternal uncle. Although Enmesharra was sometimes listed in Enlil's theogony as though he was his father, other lists instead assigned him a special position among Enlil's ancestors, indicating that he wasn't considered a direct ancestor himself. Enlil was also included as one of the seven Enlils, who were commonly equated with Enmesharra's sons, on the Ur bricks. However, the myth ''Enlil and Namzitara'' instead explicitly described Enmesharra as Enlil's paternal uncle, although the text did not identify Enlil's father.
* AnimalMotifs: Enmesharra was associated with two birds, the ''dar-lugal'' ("rooster, cock") and the ''šuššuru'' (a kind of pigeon). In the ''Bird Call Text'', the calls of those birds were regarded as references to Enmesharra's defeat and death. The cry of the ''dar-lugal'' was interpreted as "You sinned against Tutu" (a variant name of Marduk), while the cry of the ''šuššuru'' was interpreted as "How he is desolated". Frans Wiggermann proposed that the so-called "birdman" figure from cylinder seals might have represented Enmesharra. Unlike the better known eagle-like Anzu, the "birdman" appeared to have the lower body of a water bird. Wiggermann argued that the scenes involving this being might have indicated he was imagined as challenging the divine authority. Since the same role belonged to Enmesharra in textual sources, he proposed that the two of them were one and the same, though he admitted there was no indication in any known sources that Enmesharra was ever regarded as bird-like.
* ArchEnemy: Usually of Enlil, although other texts on rare occasions depicted him mainly battling against Marduk instead, likely due to the Babylonians merging once separate mythical traditions to systematically denigrate Enlil in the interest of promoting Marduk.
* ArchnemesisDad: He was this in traditions that regarded him as Enlil's father.
* BigBadEnsemble: In the text tentatively titled ''The Defeat of Enutila, Enmesharra and Kingu'', Enmesharra was part of an alliance of rebellious gods consisting of at least himself, his seven sons, Enutila, Tiamat, Abzu, Mummu, and Qingu and his offspring, who fought in Babylon against a faction of gods consisting of Enlil, Marduk, Nabu, Ishtar (of Babylon), and Ninurta. The large number of deities in the text suggests that this was not an old or traditional myth, but rather the result of a rather academic compiler in relatively late times putting together all the diverse materials of one kind that they could collect, without a strong theological purpose or sophistication.
* CosmicMotifs: Enmesharra was associated with the constellation ''ᴹᵁᴸŠU.GI'' ("The Old Man", equivalent of Perseus), which was also commonly associated with Enlil.
* DeityIdentityConfusion: Ancient commentaries at times equated Enmesharra with other, usually cosmogonic, figures, such as Lugaldukuga, Kingu, Alala, Anu, and the otherwise largely unknown Ubnu.
** Lugaldukuga was generally identified as either Enlil's father or grandfather, and Enmesharra was similarly sometimes placed in Enlil's theogony as if he was the immediate father of Enlil, though formal statements to this effect were seemingly lacking. It is considered very probable that the tradition which identified Enmesharra as Enlil's father predated that of Lugaldukuga, which sometimes resulted in Lugaldukuga instead being considered Enlil's grandfather, and thus the father of Enmesharra. The Old Babylonian forerunner of ''An = Anum'' ended Enlil's theogony with Enmesharra and Ninmesharra, totally lacking Lugaldukuga, while the first datable evidence for the doctrine of Lugaldukuga was the Middle Babylonian edition of ''An = Anum'', best known through Middle Assyrian copies, in which Lugaldukuga was very clearly an insertion. Scholars consider this to have been the primary reason that the compilers of the late expository texts equated Enmesharra and Lugaldukuga.
** Kingu was identified with Enmesharra in one of the six lists of "conquered Enlils", a group of gods who were defeated in theogonic struggles. They were likely equated due to both having been figures who were defeated along with their sons by Marduk. A tradition stating that Kingu had seven sons was possibly influenced by his conflation with Enmesharra, since a different tradition instead stated that Kingu had forty sons.
** A late text equated Enmesharra with Alala, who was generally identified as Anu's father, and a prayer to the god Papsukkal seemingly alluded to a tradition in which Enmesharra was regarded as the father of Anu and, by extension, grandfather of Papsukkal.
** Enmesharra was equated with the sky god Anu in various texts. A list of Asakku-gods twice called them "sons of Anu", but once "sons of Enmesharra", although this was possibly the result of separate traditions being combined, with the Asakku-gods having been conflated with the sons of Enmesharra. A prayer to the god Papsukkal referred to him both as "son of Anu" and "offspring of Enmesharra". Scholars consider that, stylistically, it was not probable that Anu and Enmesharra were synonyms, but that it was more likely alluding to a tradition which regarded Enmesharra as Anu's father. An expository text containing a version of Enmesharra's fall also seemingly equated the two: "Enmesharra is Anu, who, to save his own life, handed over his sons". However, this version in which Enmesharra himself avoided death and was portrayed as a selfish father seems to be without parallel.
** Ubnu was an obscure primordial god listed among the seven "conquered Enlils", and was presumably linked with Enmesharra due to having presumably played a similar role as an enemy of the gods who was defeated in battle.
** Due to his original role as the lord of the underworld, early Assyriologists viewed Enmesharra as "Akkadian Pluto", which lead to the incorrect notion that he was one and the same as Nergal.
** Alfonso Archi considered it possible that the name of the Hurrian primordial god Namšara, one of the divine ancestors inhabiting the underworld, was derived from Enmesharra.
* EvilUncle: Enmesharra was explicitly identified as Enlil's paternal uncle in ''Enlil and Namzitara'', which directly referenced their confrontation, Enmesharra's defeat, and Enlil taking the power to declare destinies for himself, which Enmesharra had possibly unlawfully seized for himself earlier.
* GodIsDead: Enmesharra was executed after being defeated by the forces of Enlil, Ninurta, and Marduk. Although the line that presumably described Enmesharra's execution in ''Enmesharra's Defeat'' was not preserved, his death was explicitly referenced in various other texts. One of the surviving lines in ''The Defeat of Enutila, Enmesharra and Qingu'' directly stated that "Enmesharra was taken by the sword" and one text from Nippur mentioned that he was "laid to rest" after a confrontation between him and Enlil (or Ninurta) had occurred in Shuruppak. Mourning rites connected to Enmesharra, believed to have been originally established by the healer goddess Gula, took part in the month Tebetu (December-January). A late theological commentary from Assur stated that during a ritual, seemingly referencing an event that occurred after Enmesharra's defeat and killing, the corpse of Enmesharra was transported in the chariot of Ninurta, drawn by the ghost of Anzu. After his death, Enmesharra's corpse was eventually burned, although he continued to exist as a ghost in the underworld. Several expository texts described his ghost weeping in the netherworld, such as: "the head lamenter is Enmesharra, lamenter of Arali; the lamenters are his sons" and "the shade of Enmesharra keeps crying, ''burn me, burn me!''".
* GodOfOrder: Enmesharra was regarded as the "lord of the destinies", who held the power to declare and control destinies, a right that he had possibly unlawfully seized from Enlil. After Enmesharra's defeat and death, the power was rightfully transferred to Enlil.
* GodOfTheDead: Several early texts stated that Enmesharra originally ruled as the king of the underworld, suggesting that his rebellion against Enlil was the result of him having higher aspirations. A late incantation referred to him as "lord of the netherworld, prince of the infernal regions". Although the text suggested that Enmesharra continued ruling the underworld after transferring the symbols of kingship to Anu and Enlil, late texts instead explicitly stated that he was executed and referred to him as a dead god, who only continued to exist as a ghost in the underworld with limited capabilities.
* LightEmUp: Enmesharra was commonly associated with light. His unique epithet, ''zi-mu-ú'' ("splendour"), was a well-known word for a star's halo, and was assigned to the sun god Utu/Shamash after Enmesharra's execution. The rare spelling "Enmenšárra" may have been based on the word ''men'' ("crown"), which, like ''aga'', was understood as a halo of light. Wilfred G. Lambert proposed that Enmesharra was one of gods with rays emanating from their shoulders depicted in scenes of theomachies on Old Akkadian cylinder seals, since not all of them could have been Utu/Shamash. Also, Lambert proposed that an Old Babylonian terracotta plaque from Khafaje showing an unidentified god driving his sword into a cyclops with rays emanating from his head and whose hands were tied behind his back, was a depiction of Enmesharra's defeat. However, Andrew R. George instead stated that such one-eyed creatures were known as igidalu, igidaru, or igitelû, possibly a loanword from Sumerian ''igi dili'' ("one eye"), and remarked that the only god associated with them in available sources was Nergal, who in an omen text was identified as the slayer of an igitelû.
* TheOlderImmortal: Two Akkadian incantations identified Enmesharra and Nimesharra as the very first gods, referring to them as "father and mother of all the gods".
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: His name could also be transcribed as Enmešarra, and was on rare occasions spelled as Enmensharra (Enmenšárra), possibly derived from the word ''men'' ("crown"), referring to a halo of light.
* TopGod: Enmesharra ruled as the supreme god prior to Enlil, and an incantation referred to him as "Lord of Heaven and Underworld, Mountain of the Anunnaki, Determiner of the Destinies of Earth, Great Bond of Andurunna". He and his wife Ninmesharra were referred to in various texts as "lords of the destinies", "lords of all the gods", and "father and mother of all the gods". Enmesharra represented the "brainless old cosmos" predating the period of Enlil's "just rule". An Akkadian incantation briefly referenced a mythical account which stated that Enmesharra "gave sceptre and rod", the insignia of kingship, to Anu and Enlil, although the text was ambiguous as to whether it was a voluntary action.
* TheUsurper: Various texts strongly suggested that Enmesharra had originally criminally seized the power to decree destinies, referred to as Enlilship, from Enlil, who subsequently regained it after defeating Enmesharra. It has been noted that the power would hardly have been called "Enlilship" if it had first, and legally, belonged to any god other than Enlil.

[[folder:Ninmesharra]]
!!𒀭𒎏𒈨𒊹𒊏 | Ninmešarra[[note]]translated "lady of all ''me''"[[/note]]
Ninmesharra was a primordial goddess listed among the ancestors of Enlil, although she wasn't necessarily regarded as a direct ancestor herself. Her husband was the god Enmesharra, who ruled as the supreme god prior to Enlil. She was presumably the mother of Enmesharra's seven sons, who were a group of warrior gods known as the Sebitti, as well as other gods regarded as his children or descendants such as the goddess Shuzianna, Enlil's ''dam-ban-da'' ("concubine" or "junior wife"), and Papsukkal, the ''sukkal'' ("vizier") of Anu and Antu, although it's possible that the reference to him as "son of Anu, offspring of Enmesharra" was part of a tradition that regarded Enmesharra as Anu's father, or otherwise conflated Enmesharra with Anu.

* DeityIdentityConfusion: The name Ninmesharra occurred as an epithet of Inanna in a composition of Enheduanna, and it could also be applied as an epithet to Enlil's wife Ninlil.
* LightEmUp: Due to her association with Inanna, Ninmesharra was a common title of Venus, and was thus associated with light and radiance. Wilfred G. Lambert considered it a possibility that Enmesharra's own association with light could have stemmed from Ninmesharra's association with Inanna and her role as a luminous deity who represented Venus.

!!Seven gods who decree

[[folder:An / Anu]]
!!𒀭 / 𒀭𒀭 | Anu[[note]]translated "sky" or "heaven"[[/note]]
Anu was the divine personification of the sky, supreme god, and ancestor of all the deities. Anu was believed to be the supreme source of all authority, for the other gods and for all mortal rulers, and he is described in one text as the one "who contains the entire universe". He is identified with the north ecliptic pole centered in the constellation Draco and, along with his sons Enlil and Enki, constitutes the highest divine triad personifying the three bands of constellations of the vault of the sky.

* AntagonisticOffspring: In Hittite mythology, he overthrew his father Alalu and proclaimed himself ruler of the universe.
* AnthropomorphicPersonification: His name literally means "sky," and he is a personification of the firmament.
* BigGood: He was the source of all legitimate power, being the one who bestowed the right to rule upon gods and kings alike.
%%* BlowYouAway: As expected of the god of the sky.
* BrotherSisterIncest: Anu and his consort Ki were brother and sister, both being the children of Anshar and Kishar.
* ColorMotif: Anu's associated color was ''Luludanitu''; an ensemble of red, white and black.
* DeityIdentityConfusion: The Greeks conflated him with both Ouranos and Zeus, which is understandable given his role as king of the gods and the fact that the divine coup against him in the Hittite creation story became the basis for the castration of Ouranos. He was also conflated with the Semitic god El, who was similarly king of the gods.
%%* ElementalEmbodiment: Of the sky.
* GroinAttack: In ancient Hittite religion, Anu was overthrown by his son Kumarbi, who bit off his father's genitals and gave birth to the storm god Teshub.
* HappyRain: Rain was believed to be Anu's seed and, when it fell, it impregnated Ki, causing her to give birth to all the vegetation of the land.
%%* StarPower: He was identified with the north ecliptic pole centered in the constellation Draco.
* TopGod: Being king of the gods, it's expected. He ruled alongside his sons Enlil and Enki, with the three of them being known as the Triad of Heaven. In Hittite mythology, he was overthrown by his son Kumarbi.

[[folder:Enlil / Elil]]
!!𒀭𒂗𒆤 | Enlil[[note]]translated "Lord Wind" or "Lord Storm"[[/note]] / Nunamnir[[note]]possibly translated "he who is respected"[[/note]]
The god of wind, air, earth, and storms, Enlil was one of the chief deities of the Sumerian pantheon. He was the patron god of the Sumerian city-state of Nippur and his main center of worship was the Ekur temple located there. He was responsible for separating his parents Anu (heaven) and Ki (earth) from each other, thus making the world habitable for humans. He was also the cause of a great flood, having sent the flood to exterminate the human race, who made [[DisproportionateRetribution too much noise and prevented him from sleeping]]. Afterwards, he rewarded Ziusudra with immortality for having survived the flood.

%%* AnthropomorphicPersonification: Of the wind.
* BigGood: He was viewed as a benevolent, fatherly deity who watched over humanity and cared for their well-being. Without him, civilization could not exist.
* BlowYouAway: As expected of the god of wind and storms. He is the literal air separating Anu (sky) from Ki (earth), allowing humans to live.
* ColorMotif: Enlil's associated color was lapis lazuli-blue.
* DishingOutDirt: He was also a god of earth.
%%* ElementalEmbodiment: Of the wind.
* TheGoodKing: Kings regarded Enlil as a model ruler and sought to emulate his example. Enlil was said to be supremely just and intolerant towards evil. Rulers from all over Sumer would travel to Enlil's temple in Nippur to be legitimized.
* TheGreatFlood: Caused it to exterminate humanity for making too much noice.
* GreenThumb: He was the patron of agriculture and was regarded as the inventor of the mattock (a type of hand tool similar to a pickaxe).
* {{Jerkass God|s}}: Though usually benevolent, he also once tried to destroy humanity with a great flood.
* NumerologicalMotif: He was associated with the number 50, which was considered sacred to him.
* OurFounder: He was believed to have built and established the Ekur temple in Nippur himself.
* OurMinotaursAreDifferent: He was sometimes depicted with bull horns and hooves.
* ThePowerOfCreation: He was also viewed as a creator god.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: His name could also be read as "Elil" or "Ellil".
%%* StarPower: He was identified with the stars of the northern sky.
* ThisIsMyNameOnForeign: In Greek, his name was Illinos.
* TopGod: Alongside his father Anu and brother Enki, with the three of them being known as the Triad of Heaven.
%%* WeatherManipulation: Part of his portfolio.
* TouchedByVorlons: He granted immortality to Utnapishtim for having survived the flood and his continued loyalty to the gods.

[[folder:Enki / Ea]]
!!𒀭𒂗𒆠 / 𒀭𒂍𒀀 | Enki[[note]]translated "Lord of the Earth"[[/note]] / Ea[[note]]translated "House of Water"[[/note]]
The god of creation, intelligence, crafts, water, seawater, lakewater, fertility, semen, magic and mischief. He was originally patron god of the city of Eridu, but later the influence of his cult spread throughout Mesopotamia. Enki was the keeper of the divine powers called ''Me'', the gifts of civilization.

* AbsenceMakesTheHeartGoYonder: Due to feeling lonely after his consort Ninhursag left him, he had sex with other women. Ninhursag was quite upset at the promiscuous wayward nature of her spouse.
* AlcoholInducedIdiocy: He once participated in a drinking competition with Inanna/Ishtar. After getting thoroughly inebriated, he gave away all of the ''mes'' (godly decrees foundational to civilization) to her. The next morning, Enki awoke with a hangover, and was informed of what he had done. After his attempt to recover them failed, he admitted defeat and accepted a peace treaty with Uruk.
* TheArchmage: As expected of the god of all magic.
* BigGood: He was viewed as the protector of humanity and of the world in general. He was usually the one who fixed the wrongs caused by other gods. He was the only god who was against the plan to exterminate humanity, and rescued humanity multiple times. He was also said to protect anyone who sought his help.
* ButLiquorIsQuicker: After convincing Uttu to let him inside her web using a gift of fresh produce and the promise that he would marry her, he intoxicated her with beer and raped her. She was rescued by Ninhursag, who removed Enki's semen from her womb and planted it in the ground, resulting in the growth of eight new plants. A different, less squicky version of the myth features Enki simply leaving Uttu after realizing that she wasn't Ninhursag. Uttu subsequently buried Enki's seed on Ninhursag's advice instead.
* ColorMotif: Enki's associated color was jasper-green.
* ExactWords: Enki warned Utnapistim of the coming flood even though the gods vowed not to tell any human. However, Enki didn't tell anyone. He just happened to be talking about it next to a fence that Utnapishtim happened to be standing behind.
* GuileHero: When he learned of Abzu's plan to kill the younger gods, Enki crafted a spell which put him to sleep and then killed him, rather than fighting him directly.
* LordOfTheOcean: He was specifically associated with groundwater and rivers. He was also characterized as the lord of the Abzu, the freshwater ocean underneath the earth, which is where he resided.
* TheMaker: He was considered the master shaper of the world and the creator of the first humans.
* MakingASplash: He took on all of the functions of Abzu, including his fertilising powers as lord of the waters and lord of semen. He was depicted with two streams of water flowing into each of his shoulders: one the Tigris and the other the Euphrates.
* MisterSeahorse: Enki became pregnant after eating the eight plants that had grown from his semen. However, his lack of a birth canal resulted in him instead becoming ill with swellings in his jaw, teeth, mouth, hip, throat, limbs, side and rib, which threatened to kill him. Fortunately, Ninhursag took the plants into her body and gave birth to eight gods of healing: Abu, Nintulla, Ninsutu, Ninkasi, Nanshe, Azimua, Ninti, and Enshag. Each of those deities then healed a part of his body, thus curing him.
* NemeanSkinning: He was typically depicted as a man covered with the skin of a fish.
* NiceGuy: In general. He even helped Inanna escape from the underworld, despite her earlier stealing his holy ''mes''.
* NumerologicalMotif: He was sometimes referred to in writing by the numeric ideogram for 40, occasionally referred to as his sacred number.
* ParentalIncest: After his consort Ninhursag left him, Enki seduced and had intercourse with their daughter Ninsar, although he admittedly [[SurpriseIncest didn't know she was his daughter]].
* ThePowerOfCreation: He created humanity out of clay and blood. He and Ninhursag also once engaged in a contest in which one would create an afflicted human and the other had to improve their fate, which Enki ended up winning. In ''Literature/InannasDescentToTheNetherworld'', he created an intersex being called Asushunamir and sent them to Ereshkigal in order to help Inanna/Ishtar escape from the underworld.
* TheSmartGuy: He's also the god of wisdom.
* StarPower: He was associated with the southern band of constellations called ''stars of Ea'', and also with the constellation Pegasus.
* SurpriseIncest: He unknowingly had sex with his daughter Ninsar because she reminded him of his wife. After she left him as well, he went on to also unknowingly have sex with his granddaughter Ninkurra and tried to seduce his great-granddaughter Uttu.
* TopGod: Alongside his father Anu and brother Enlil, with the three of them being known as the Triad of Heaven.
* TheTrickster: Being the god of mischief, it's to be expected.
* UnderwaterBase: Enki resided in a palace in the depths of the Abzu, the underground waters of the aquifer that was made from the corpse of the primordial god Abzu. Attended by his minister Isimud, Enki also had assorted creatures at his service such as giants, demons (both protective and destructive), and other mystical beings. Mermen and mermaids were also thought to inhabit the watery depths of the Abzu beneath the city of Eridu.

[[folder:Ninhursag]]
!!𒀭𒊩𒌆𒉺𒂅 | Ninhursag[[note]]translated "Lady of the Sacred Mountain"[[/note]]
The goddess of fertility, mountains, and rulers, Ninhursag was the consort of Enki and the patron goddess of Kish. She was regarded as the "true and great lady of heaven" and kings of Sumer were said to be "nourished by Ninhursag's milk".

* BigDamnHeroes: When Uttu was being raped by Enki, Ninhursag heard her screaming and came to her rescue.
* CarryABigStick: She was frequently depicted carrying either a mace or baton surmounted by an omega motif or a derivation.
* DeityIdentityConfusion: Because the terms "mother goddess" and "fertility goddess" were applied to many goddesses at different times, Ninhursag was often conflated with them. She both subsumed the characteristics of similar deities like Ki (earth) and others, and was later herself subsumed by the fertility goddess Inanna/Ishtar.
* DishingOutDirt: She was an earth goddess after all.
* EarthMother: She was worshipped as the mother goddess and was associated with fertility, growth, transformation, creation, pregnancy, childbirth, and nurture.
* ExpressDelivery: She gave birth to her daughter Ninsar after being pregnant for only nine days, although it's explained that each day corresponded to a month in the human period of gestation. She also gave birth to eight gods of healing shortly after consuming plants that had grown from Enki's semen.
* FriendToAllChildren: She was a protector of children who presided over their conception, gestation, and birth, as well as feeding them after they had been born.
* GoodStepmother: She was on good terms with her stepdaughter Uttu (who was also her great-granddaughter) and [[MamaBear came to her rescue]] when she was being raped by Enki.
* GreenThumb: She was associated with agricultural fertility. During spring, she returned to her duties of nurturing living things on earth and retired for the winter to rest.
* TheHighQueen: She was viewed as a benevolent queen who protected women and children.
* IHaveManyNames: She had many names including Ninmah ("Great/Magnificent Queen"), Nintu(d) ("Lady of Birth" or "Queen of the (birthing) hut"), Mami/Mamma/Mammitum (mother), Aruru ("Sister of Enlil"), Dingirmah ("Great Goddess"), Belet-Ili ("Lady of the Gods"), Ninzinak ("Lady of the Embryo"); Nindim ("Lady Fashioner"), Nagarsagak ("Carpenter of Insides"), Ninbahar ("Lady Pottery"), Ninmag ("Lady Vulva"), Ninsigsig ("Lady of Silence"), Mudkesda ("Blood-Stauncher"), Amadugbad ("Mother Spreading the Knees"), Amaududa ("Mother Who Gives Birth"), Sagzudingirenak ("Midwife of the Gods"), Ninmenna ("Lady of the Diadem"), Damgalnuna ("Great Wife of the Prince") and Damkina ("True Wife"). She also had many epithets including ''shassuru'' ("womb goddess"), ''tabsut ili'' ("midwife of the gods"), "mother of all children" and "mother of the gods".
* TheMaker: She completed the birth of mankind after the heads had been uncovered by Enki's hoe.
* MeaningfulRename: According to one legend, her name was changed from Ninmah to Ninhursag by Ninurta in order to commemorate his creation of the mountains.
* ThePowerOfCreation: She was viewed as a creator goddess and participated in the creation of humanity. She and Enki once engaged in a contest in which one would create an afflicted human and the other had to improve their fate, which Enki ended up winning.

[[folder:Inanna / Ishtar]]
!!𒀭𒈹 | Inanna[[note]]translated "Lady of Heaven"[[/note]] / Ishtar
Inanna was a goddess associated with sex, war, justice, and political power. She was originally worshiped in Sumer and was later worshipped by the Akkadians, Babylonians, and Assyrians under the name Ishtar. She was known as the "Queen of Heaven" and was the patron goddess of the Eanna temple at the city of Uruk, which was her main cult center. She was associated with the planet Venus and her husband was the shepherd god Dumuzid/Tammuz.

* CanonImmigrant: Many religious scholars believe that Inanna, due to the difficulty in deciphering the origin of her name, her constantly changing parentage, and the fact that she explicitly had no responsibilities at first, was originally a Proto-Euphratean goddess incorporated into the Sumerian pantheon.
* ClothesMakeTheSuperman: She girded herself with clothes and artifacts before her descent, making her more powerful. She passed through seven infernal gates, and at each one, part of her clothing was taken from her. When she reached the throne room, she was naked and therefore powerless, and she was carried off to be tormented.
* ColorMotif: Inanna/Ishtar's associated color was blue.
* CompositeCharacter: Inanna and Ishtar were originally separate, unrelated deities, but they were equated with each other during the reign of Sargon of Akkad and came to be regarded as effectively the same goddess under two different names.
* CosmicMotifs: She was associated with the planet Venus, the bright star of the morning and evening. Several hymns praised Inanna/Ishtar in her role as the goddess or personification of the planet Venus. Theology professor Jeffrey Cooley argued that, in many myths, Inanna/Ishtar's movements may have correspond with the movements of the planet Venus in the sky. The discontinuous movements of Venus related to both mythology as well as Inanna/Ishtar's dual nature. Inanna/Ishtar in her aspect as Anunītu was associated with the eastern fish of the last of the zodiacal constellations, Pisces.
* CrazyPrepared: Inanna anticipated problems during her descent into the underworld, and instructed her priestess to contact her most powerful family members in case she would need rescuing.
* DeadGuyOnDisplay: After her death, Inanna's body was hung from a hook on a wall in the dungeon. Fortunately, she was removed from the hook and brought back to life by the kurgarra and galaturra sent by Enki.
* DeathBySex: Her lovers all met ironic ends, which is the main reason why Gilgamesh didn't want to sleep with her.
* DecompositeCharacter: Some scholars believe that she and her sister Ereshkigal were at one point two aspects of the same goddess before becoming separate entities.
* DeityIdentityConfusion: She was sometimes conflated with the Hindu goddess Durga.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Even she was horrified by Enlil's great flood.
* EnsembleDarkhorse: She was an extemely popular goddess, even managing to keep her position and prestige during the reigns of the Assyrian and Neo-Assyrian empires, whereas the other goddesses lost status to male deities. Her cult continued to flourish until its gradual decline between the first and sixth centuries CE in the wake of Christianity, though it survived in parts of Upper Mesopotamia as late as the eighteenth century.
* FauxActionGirl: She had to be rescued from the underworld by Ninshubur and Enki, though that may have been part of her plan all along.
* FemmeFatale: She promised Gilgamesh good fortune if he became her lover. As Gilgamesh pointed out, her previous lovers came to horrific ends.
* TheGloriousWarOfSisterlyRivalry: She was the "beautiful sister" to Ereshkigal's "smart sister", her attempt to take over the underworld from her sister did not go over well.
* GuileHero: She managed to successfully steal all the ''mes'' (godly decrees foundational to civilization) from Enki, the god of wisdom, by challenging him to a drinking contest and getting him to hand them over to her after he was thoroughly inebriated. Getting rescued from the underworld by sending out word of her demise ahead of time could also be considered an example.
* TheHighQueen: She was known as the Queen of Heaven, in contrast to Ereshkigal being the Queen of the Underworld.
* ILied: She claimed to only be visiting the underworld for the purpose of Gugalana's funerary rites.
* IncestSubtext: She was extremely close to her twin brother Utu/Shamash, to the point that their relationship frequently bordered on incestuous.
* {{Jerkass God|s}}dess: She unleashed the Bull of Heaven, knowing full well that it would destroy and disrupt life on Earth, solely because Gilgamesh bruised her ego.
* JustSoStory: The reason winter and summer exist is because Inanna lets everything go dormant in the winter when her beloved husband is down in the underworld, and lets things grow in the summer when he's back and she's happy.
* LaserGuidedKarma: Inanna lost her husband for half the year because she tried to steal Ereshkigal's husband Gugalana in ''Literature/TheEpicOfGilgamesh'' only for him to get killed by Gilgamesh and Enkidu and tried to steal Ereshkigal's power.
* LittleBitBeastly: She was sometimes depicted with bird feet.
* LoveGoddess: She was the goddess of sex and fertility, all biological reproduction on earth ceased entirely when she was briefly dead in the underworld.
* MirrorCharacter: Her and Ereshkigal. This is further supported by the interesting thematic relation of the husbands of both women dying in the story as bookends, as well as the link-up between this story and the one where Gilgamesh killed Inanna's bull of heaven (the exact same bull that was the husband of Ereshkigal).
* MoodSwinger: She was a goddess of love by night, but goddess of war by day, which is partly why Gilgamesh didn't want to sleep with her.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: After Inanna's fury subsided and she realized the horrible consequences of sicking demons after her husband, she wept.
* MultipleChoicePast: She was usually identified as the daughter of Nanna, god of the moon, and Ningal, goddess of reeds. However, she was also sometimes identified as a daughter of Anu, Enlil or Enki and an unnamed mother.
* NotGoodWithRejection: She did not take Gilgamesh's rejection well and unleashed the Bull of Heaven on him and Enkidu as revenge.
* PimpedOutDress: She wore one during her descent into the underworld. She was stripped of it piece by piece as she passed through the seven gates, though, in order to strip her of her power.[[note]]For completeness, she is described beginning her descent while wearing a turban, a wig, a lapis lazuli necklace, beads upon her breast, a "pala dress" (ladyship's garment), mascara, pectoral, a golden ring on her hand, and a lapis lazuli measuring rod.[[/note]]
* RapeAndRevenge: She killed the gardener Shukaletuda after he had raped her in her sleep.
* ReallyGetsAround: She had a LongList of lovers, all of whom died ironic deaths.
* RenaissanceMan: She had a very large portfolio, partly through having subsumed aspects of other goddesses such as Ninhursag. Her takeover of the domains of other deities was explained as being due to her possession of the ''mes'', which represented all positive and negative aspects of civilization.
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: When Inanna woke up and realized that she had been violated, she became furious and determined to bring her attacker, the gardener Shukaletuda, to justice. In a fit of rage, she unleashed horrible plagues upon the Earth, turning water into blood, releasing a series of storms and closing all roads to the city of Uruk. When she finally located Shukaletuda, who vainly attempted to invent excuses for his crime against her, she rejected his excuses and killed him.
* TakeOverTheWorld: Inanna's reason for going to underworld was because she wanted dominion over the heavens, Earth, ''and'' the underworld, and everything there. She actually got it, too, though not in the exact way she wanted it and at some great cost.
* ToHellAndBack: Her descent and escape from the underworld is one of the oldest stories of this type, possibly even ''the'' UrExample.
* VillainProtagonist: Of ''Literature/InannasDescentToTheNetherworld''. Inanna broke through her own sister's house, casually threatened a ZombieApocalypse, caused biological reproduction to cease altogether in her absence and ultimately wanted domination over all three realms.
* {{War God}}dess: She was also a goddess of war, though she did have standards, such as not condoning mass genocide.
* WeatherManipulation: Inanna was also associated with rain and storms.
* WingedHumanoid: She was frequently depicted with wings.
* WomanScorned: After Gilgamesh insulted her, she unleashed the Bull of Heaven, which devastated the land until Gilgamesh and Enkidu killed it.
* {{Yandere}}: Inanna had her husband, Dumuzid/Tammuz, dragged off to the underworld for failing to mourn for her while she was dead. Gilgamesh even listed this as one of her defining character traits when refusing her affections, even citing what she did to Tammuz as an example. [[note]]To quote him,: [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishtar#Ishtar_in_the_Epic_of_Gilgamesh "There was Tammuz, the lover of your youth, for him you decreed wailing, year after year."]][[/note]] Which [[EpilepticTrees doesn't quite make sense if this myth is set after]] ''Literature/TheEpicOfGilgamesh''.
%%* ZombieApocalypse: Inanna used this threat against the gatekeeper if he did not let her in.

[[folder:Nanna / Sin]]
!!𒀭𒋀𒆠 / 𒀭𒂗𒍪 | Nanna / Sīn / Suen
Nanna was the god of the moon and wisdom. He was the son of Enlil and Ninlil, husband of Ningal, and father of Utu/Shamash (the sun god), Inanna/Ishtar (goddess of love and sexuality), Ereshkigal (Queen of the Dead) and Ishkur/Adad (god of storms). The crescent moon was regarded as his barge in which he sailed through the night sky. The two chief seats of his worship were Ur in the south of Mesopotamia and Harran in the north.

* ColorMotif: Nanna/Sin's associated color was green, a hue that was applied to silver.
* CosmicMotifs: Unsurprisingly, he was associated with the moon.
* GodOfTheMoon: He was the god of the moon, who, with his consort Ningal (the goddess of reeds) sired the sun god Utu, the love and war goddess Inanna, the storm god Ishkur, and the goddess of the underworld, Ereshikgal.
* JudgementOfTheDead: During the Third Dynasty of Ur, Nanna was elevated to the role of judge of the dead, serving alongside the other Annunaki. Nanna acted as the bridge between the living and the dead through his judgment of their lives and intervention on the part of their families.
* NumerologicalMotif: He was represented by the number 30, probably referring to the average number of days (correctly around 29.53) in a lunar month, as measured between successive new moons.
* OverprotectiveDad: In ''Literature/TheEpicOfGilgamesh'', he let Inanna/Ishtar borrow the Bull of Heaven because Gilgamesh was rude to her, albeit reluctantly.
* {{Seers}}: He was associated with divination, which was connected to the moon god's ability to illuminate darkness.
* WeirdBeard: He had a beard made of lapis lazuli.

[[folder:Utu / Shamash]]
!!𒀭𒌓 | Utu[[note]]translated "sun" in Sumerian[[/note]] / Shamash[[note]]translated "sun" in Akkadian[[/note]]
Utu was the god of the sun, justice, morality, and truth. He was the son of Nanna/Sin, god of the moon, and Ningal, goddess of reeds, as well as the twin brother of Inanna/Ishtar and brother of Ereshkigal (Queen of the Dead) and Ishkur/Adad (god of storms). He was believed to ride through the heavens in his sun chariot and see all things that happened in the day. He was the enforcer of divine justice and was thought to aid those in distress. He was often invoked for the protection of travelers, merchants, soldiers and sailors. His main temples were in the cities of Sippar and Larsa.

* AbsurdlySharpBlade: He would use his blade to cut through the mountains on the horizon so he could rise in the morning at dawn.
* BigGood: Alongside his sister Inanna/Ishtar, Utu was the enforcer of divine justice. He took an active role in human affairs and aided those in distress. He provided assistance against evil and curses, as well as protecting the heroic kings of the city of Uruk.
* ColorMotif: Utu/Shamash's associated color was yellow.
* CosmicMotifs: Unsurprisingly, he was associated with the sun.
* DreamingOfThingsToCome: To the Mesopotamians, the future resided below the horizon in the underworld, which was unseeable and, therefore, unknown. Dreams in the night were similarly viewed as glimpses of the future which were created in and emanated from the underworld. Because the sun traveled through the underworld every night, Utu/Shamash had knowledge of the future and was also the source of dream apparitions. Through his children, the dream deities Mamu and Sisig/Zaqiqu, he sent dreams that foretold the future to people.
* GrandpaGod: He was usually depicted as an old man with a long beard.
* IncestSubtext: He was extremely close to his twin sister Inanna/Ishtar, to the point that their relationship frequently bordered on incestuous.
* JudgementOfTheDead: At night, Utu passed through and illuminated the Underworld, where he served as a judge of the dead alongside the other Anunnaki.
* LightEmUp: He was seen as the bringer of light and the light of the sun was thought to be able to penetrate and pierce every level of the earth, even to the underworld, and illuminate the human heart. As such, he possessed the power to see everything that transpired on earth.
* LightIsGood: His light was associated with illuminating the life of mankind, as well as giving beneficial warmth which allowed plants and crops to grow.
* NiceGuy: He was known for his kindness and generosity. While he typically aided those in distress, he was not above refusing a request which inconvenienced him.
* PhosphorEssence: He was depicted with rays of light emanating from his shoulders.
%%* ThePowerOfTheSun: As expected of the god of the sun.
* {{Psychopomp}}: Because the sun was believed to enter the underworld every sunset through a set of doors on the western horizon, Utu/Shamash was considered to perform the functions of a psychopomp, conducting the spirits of the dead down into the underworld.
* {{Seers}}: In combination with the storm god Ishkur/Adad, the two were regarded as the gods of oracles and of divination in general. Whether the will of the gods was determined through the inspection of the liver of the sacrificial animal, through observing the action of oil bubbles in a basin of water or through the observation of the movements of the heavenly bodies, it was Shamash and Adad who, in the ritual connected with divination, were invariably invoked. Similarly in the annals and votive inscriptions of the kings, when oracles were referred to, Shamash and Adad were always named as the gods addressed, and their ordinary designation in such instances was ''bele biri'' ("lords of divination").
* SerratedBladeOfPain: He wielded a pruning-saw, a double-edged arch-shaped saw with large, jagged teeth, representing his role as the god of justice.
* ShipperOnDeck: He pursuaded Inanna that Dumuzid was the better choice for a husband, arguing that, for every gift the farmer Enkimdu could give to her, the shepherd could give her something even better.

!!Other major deities

[[folder:Ashur]]
!!𒀭𒀸𒋩 / 𒀭𒀀𒇳𒊬 | Aššur
Ashur was the god of the Assyrians who was elevated from being the local patron deity of the city of Assur to the supreme god of the Assyrian pantheon. He was worshipped mainly in the northern half of Mesopotamia, and parts of north-east Syria and south-east Asia Minor which constituted old Assyria.

$$* ArcherArchetype: He was commonly depicted wielding a bow and arrow, which reflected the martial spirit of the Assyrian Empire.
* DeityIdentityConfusion: When his cult came under southern Mesopotamian influence, Ashur came to be regarded as the Assyrian equivalent of Enlil, the chief god of Nippur, and Marduk, the chief god of Babylon, as well as borrowing elements from An. Ashur absorbed Enlil's wife Ninlil (as the Assyrian goddess Mullittu) and his sons Ninurta and Zababa. Nabu, the son of Marduk, was similarly proclaimed to be a son of Ashur. When Assyria conquered Babylon in the Sargonid period, Ashur was conflated with Anshar, with Assyrian scribes writing his name the same way, although it came to be pronounced ''Aššur'' in the Assyrian dialect of Akkadian. Thus in the Sargonid version of the ''Enuma Elish'', the Babylonian national creation myth, Marduk does not appear, and instead it is Ashur, as Anshar, who slays Tiamat the chaos-monster and creates the world of humankind.
* DivineRightOfKings: Assur had power over the kingship of Assyria similar to Marduk of Babylon. The king of Assyria was his chief priest and all those who tended his temple in the city of Ashur and elsewhere were lesser priests. Assyrian kings frequently chose his name as an element in their own to honor him (Ashurbanipal, Ashurnasirpal I, Ashurnasirpal II, etc).
* ExoticExtendedMarriage: From the reign of Sennacherib onwards, Ashur was depicted as having two wives, the goddesses Mullissu and Sherua, who in previous periods had each been identified separately as his consort, rather than together. In a stone inscription from Sennacherib's ''Akitu'' house in Assur, which included a list of male deities and their spouses, Ashur was the only god who was associated with two goddesses. Scholars have suggested that this new polygamous theology was an attempt on the part of Sennacherib to project his own matrimonial status onto the divine world, perhaps with the intention to add legitimacy to the arrangement he had with his two principal wives, Tashmetu-sharrat and Naqi'a.
* FlatCharacter: Assur had no actual history of his own, such as those created for the Sumerian and Babylonian gods, instead gaining the attributes and stories from the gods he was modeled after. As noted by scholar Jeremy Black:
-->''"In spite of (or possibly because of) the tendencies to transfer to him the attributes and mythology of other gods, Assur remains an indistinct deity with no clear character or tradition (or iconography) of his own."''
* IHaveManyNames: Ashur's epithets included ''bêlu rabû'' ("great lord"), ''ab ilâni'' ("father of gods"), ''šadû rabû'' ("great mountain"), and ''il aššurî'' ("god of Ashur").
$$* ThePowerOfTheSun: Some scholars believe that Ashur may have also been a solar deity, with the winged sun being his symbol, as it appears frequently in Assyrian iconography. However, Ashur's association with the solar disk is contested.
* TopGod: Ashur was the head god of the Assyrian pantheon, although he originally didn't have a family until he was conflated with Enlil and Marduk. During the various periods of Assyrian conquest, Assyrian imperial propaganda proclaimed the supremacy of Ashur and declared that the conquered peoples had been abandoned by their own gods. Ashur eventually came to be regarded as a supreme deity whose worship, at its height, was almost monotheistic. As the Assyrian Empire expanded its borders, Assur was encountered in even the most distant places. He ultimately came to be viewed as a universal, omnipresent deity, with the local divinities of the conquered peoples just being different manifestations of him.

[[folder:Bau / Gula / Ninisina / Nintinugga / Ninkarrak]]
!!𒀭𒁀𒌑 / 𒀭𒄖𒆷 / 𒀭𒎏𒉌𒋛𒅔𒈾 / 𒀭𒊩𒌆𒁷𒂦𒂵 / 𒀭𒊩𒌆𒋼𒀀𒊏𒀝 | Bau[[note]]meaning unknown[[/note]] / Gula[[note]]translated "great one"[[/note]] / Ninisina[[note]]translated "lady of Isin"[[/note]] / Nintinugga[[note]]translated "lady who revives the dead"[[/note]] / Ninkarrak[[note]]meaning uncertain. Possibly translated "lady of the wall", as in a protective barrier, or "lady of Karrak", referring to a city[[/note]]
Bau/Gula was the goddess of healing, medicine, and dogs, as well as the divine patroness of doctors, medicine-workers, healing arts, and medical practices. She was also associated with the underworld and transformation. She was the daughter of Anu and Uras and wife of the warrior god Ninurta/Ningirsu/Pabilsag. She was also the mother of numerous deities in various locations. In Lagash and Girsu, Bau's children were the gods Shulshaga and Igalima, and seven goddesses named Zazaru, Nipae, Urnuntaea, Hegir-Nuna, Heshaga, Zargu, and Zurgu. In Isin, Ninisina's children were the god Damu, the goddess Gunura, and Šumah, described as her messenger. Bau was originally the patron goddess of the city of Lagash, where Gudea built her a temple. Her worship later spread to the city-state of Isin, where she became known as Ninisinna ("Lady of Isin") and where her main cult center was located. Her worship would further spread across Sumer in the south upwards to Akkad and, eventually, throughout the entire region of Mesopotamia.

* ActionGirl: During the Old Babylonian period, she acquired some warlike functions, perhaps due to her association with Inanna/Ishtar. Here, her scalpel became a weapon to tear flesh, and she was described as a storm "whose mouth drips blood... from whose mouth spittle spews constantly, pouring venom on the enemy".
* AnimalMotifs: Dogs were her sacred animal. People noticed that when dogs licked their sores, they seemed to heal faster, and so dogs became associated with healing. Her iconography almost always depicted her with a dog, sometimes seated with a dog reclining at her feet.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: Although generally benevolent, Bau/Gula was just as well known for her violent temper, and was almost as frequently invoked in curses as she was in healing. She was thought to be able to bring earthquakes and storms when she was angered, and among her epithets was "Queen of the Tempest" and "She Who Makes Heaven Tremble".
* CompositeCharacter: It is likely that Bau of Lagash, Ninkarrak of Babylon, Ninisinna of Isin and Gula of Umma were all originally separate goddesses who were eventually so regularly identified with each other as to be hard to tell apart, ultimately becoming interchangeable. However, while it is commonly accepted that functional syncretism had already occured by the Third Dynasty of Ur, theological syncretism may not have occured until the later Old Babylonian period. Similarly, lesser regional goddesses such as Meme were also assimilated, becoming aspects of Bau/Gula.
* DeityIdentityConfusion: She was sometimes conflated with Inanna/Ishtar, which resulted in her gaining some warlike functions as a result.
* GreenThumb: Her transformative powers associated her with agriculture (another of her epithets was "Herb Grower"), making her a vegetation/fertility goddess endowed with regenerative powers. As such, she was also worshiped in hopes of a good harvest, as well as for childbearing and good health in general.
* {{Healer God}}dess: Bau/Gula was recognized as Mesopotamia's primary healing goddess, with prominent epithets such as ''bēlet balāti'' ("Lady of Health") and the ''azugallatu'' (the "great healer"). She was often invoked in healing rituals, incantations, and prayer-letters, by which those who were ill begged her assistance. The city of Isin, particularly her main cult centre, the E-gal-mah temple, was a place of pilgrimage for the sick, maimed, and dying, and also provided midwives for pregnant women. The precinct of the E-gal-mah was an extremely busy and noisy place, with sufferers seeking treatment, priests performing rituals and incantations, and dogs barking.
* IHaveManyNames: Due to her widespread influence and conflation with other goddesses, Bau/Gula acquired a large number of epithets and localized names. She was called Ninisinna ("Lady of Isin") in Isin and Ninnibru ("Lady of Nippur") in Nippur. Her epithets included Ninkarrak ("Lady of the Wall", referring to a protective barrier), "The Great One", "Great in Healing", "Great Physician of the Black Headed Ones" (referring to the Sumerians), "Lady of Health", "Great Healer", "Queen of the Tempest", "She Who Makes Heaven Tremble", "Healer of the Land", "She Who Makes the Broken Whole Again", "The Lady Who Restores Life", "Mistress who Revives The Dead", "Mother With the Soothing Hands", and "Faithful Hand of Heaven".
* PlagueMaster: Bau/Gula was also capable of inflicting diseases upon others as a punishment or wake-up call to them. She could also induce supernatural illnesses by sending demons, evil spirits, or the angry dead at the individual, usually for some kind of transgression or for failing to perform certain necessary rituals.
* ThePowerOfCreation: After the Great Flood, she helped breathe life back into mankind and the other new creatures created by the gods to animate them.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: As Bau, her name could also be read as "Baba" or "Bawu".

[[folder:Dumuzid / Tammuz]]
!!𒀭𒌉𒍣𒉺𒇻 | Dumuzid[[note]]translated "faithful son"[[/note]] / Amaushumgalana[[note]]translated "the one great source of date clusters"[[/note]]
The god of shepherds, fertility, growth and decay, Dumuzid was also the primary consort of the goddess Inanna/Ishtar. He regulated the seasons and symbolized death and rebirth in nature. He was associated with the springtime, when the land was fertile and abundant, but, during the summer months, when the land was dry and barren, it was thought that Dumuzid had "died". During the month of Dumuzid, which fell in the middle of summer, people all across Sumer would mourn over his death. He was the patron god of the city of Bad-tibira, although worship of him was present in most of the major cities of Sumer.

* BackFromTheDead: Each year, he would return from the underworld in spring to mate again with his wife, thus bringing the land back to life.
* CompeteForTheMaidensHand: He competed against the farmer god Enkimdu for Inanna's hand in marriage.
* CosmicMotifs: He was associated with the contiguous first constellation, Aries.
* DraggedOffToHell: He was dragged down into the underworld by ''galla'' demons to serve as Inanna's replacement.
* DisproportionateRetribution: Inanna allowed him to be taken by the ''galla'' demons because she found him resting beneath a tree instead of mourning her death. Her reaction is a bit more justified in another version of the myth, where she instead found him sitting on her throne being entertained by slave-girls.
* DreamingOfThingsToCome: He had dreamt about his death before it happened, but was unable to prevent it from happening as the ''galla'' demons arrived for him shortly after he had told his sister about it.
* FarmBoy: He was the god of shepherds after all. Almost all prayers adressed to him were simply requests for him to provide more milk, more grain, more cattle, etc.
* ForcedTransformation: He [[NoodleIncident was once turned]] into an ''allalu'' bird with a broken wing and would spend all his time "in the woods crying 'My wing!'".
* FriendlyRivalry: He declared that, after marrying Inanna, he and Enkimdu would still be friends.
* GateGuardian: In the myth of Adapa, he and Ningishzida, god of vegetation and the underworld, were depicted as the two guardians and doorkeepers of Anu's celestial palace.
* GreenThumb: As an agricultural god, he was responsible for making the flowers bloom and providing plentiful harvests.
* HappilyMarried: He and Inanna/Ishtar were depicted as truly loving each other, and their reunion upon his return from the underworld was annually celebrated at the spring equinox, the Sumerian new year festival, as part of a "sacred marriage" ceremony.
* NiceGuy: He was generally depicted as a joyous and nice god.
* TrappedInAnotherWorld: He took Inanna's place in the underworld after she was trapped and killed there by Ereshkigal and his sister Geshtinanna then offered to take his place. From then on, he would remain in the underworld for half the year and Geshtinanna the other half, thus explaining the cycle of the seasons.

[[folder:Ereshkigal]]
!!𒀭𒊩𒆠𒃲 | Ereshkigal[[note]]translated "Queen of the Great Earth"[[/note]] / Irkalla[[note]]translated "Great (Fortress) of the Land"[[/note]]
The goddess of Kur, the underworld, which she ruled alongside her husband Nergal. Ereshkigal was the only one who could pass judgment and give laws in her kingdom. She was the older sister of Inanna/Ishtar and Utu/Shamash. The main temple dedicated to her was located in Kutha.

* BalancingDeathsBooks: She allowed Inanna/Ishtar to come back to life, but on the condition that she had to find someone to take her place.
* BelligerentSexualTension: Her courtship with Nergal. Ironically, when they finally liberated their tension, it only complicated things even more.
* {{Chickification}}: In the Sumerian myths, she was the sole ruler of the underworld, but in later Assyro-Babylonian myths, she was subdued by Nergal and agreed to share her power with him in order to stop him from killing her. However, it is justified in-story in that she actually preferred it that way, because she always felt alone in her kingdom.
* DarkIsNotEvil: Although the goddess of the dead and occasionally a jerk, such as throwing dangerous tantrums at the brim of a hat, she ultimately meant well and fulfilled her cosmic task properly.
* DecompositeCharacter: Some scholars believe that she and her sister Inanna/Ishtar were at one point two aspects of the same goddess before becoming separate entities.
* DeityIdentityConfusion: In later times, the Greeks and Romans appear to have syncretized Ereshkigal with Hecate. A spell written in the late 3rd or early 4th century was adressed to "Hecate Ereschkigal" and was intended to alleviate the caster's fear of punishment in the afterlife.
* DragonsPreferPrincesses: In one myth, a dragon named Kur kidnapped Ereshkigal and ook her to the Netherworld, forcing her to become the queen of the plane for eternity. In a twist, although the dragon was defeated by Enki and she later gained some sympathetic moments in her interactions with Nergal, she was technically never rescued from her prison (though given that she had since turned it into a full fledged kingdom, it's easy to guess she didn't want to go anymore).
* FisherKing: The underworld was a dark, gloomy place, where the dead were believed to drink from muddy puddles and eat dust. However, it's averted with Ereshkigal herself, as she wasn't evil.
* TheGloriousWarOfSisterlyRivalry: She was the "smart sister" to Inanna/Ishtar's "beautiful sister", her sister's attempt to take over the underworld did not go over well with her.
%%* HappilyMarried: To Nergal.
* TheHighQueen: She ruled as queen of the underworld, with Nergal acting as her co-ruler for six months of the year.
* ILoveYouBecauseICantControlYou: Enki/Ea predicted that Ereshkigal would try to seduce Nergal, the only god who didn't bow to her emissary, so he would stay with her forever. He was right, as she was (or ended up) smitten with him, and it only became worse when he escaped from her amorous clutches.
* JudgementOfTheDead: She passed judgement over the dead alongside the Annunaki, who served as her advisors.
* LonelyRichKid: Ereshkigal was abducted by the dragon Kur as a young girl and carried to the underworld a long time ago. Although she became its queen, she stated she never knew "the playing of other girls or the romping of children".
* LoveRedeems: Ereshkigal was first portrayed as a quite callous goddess (possibly due to having been put in the Underworld against her will), but she notably warmed up after meeting Nergal and falling in love with him, to the point she broke down when he escaped from her kingdom after their six-day idyll. It went in the other direction as well, as Nergal was at first willing to dethrone her to prevent the troubles she threatened to cause if the gods didn't send Nergal to her again, but at the end, he accepted her love and married her.
* NobleDemon: She was genuinely preoccupied about the underworld's workings and laws.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: She judged people fairly in accordance with their actions and was willing to allow Inanna/Ishtar to come back to life as long as she could find someone to take her place.
* MirrorCharacter: Her and Inanna/Ishtar. This is further supported by the interesting thematic relation of the husbands of both women dying in the story as bookends, as well as the link-up between this story and the one where Gilgamesh killed Inanna's bull of heaven (the exact same bull that was the husband of Ereshkigal).
* SecondLove: Nergal was her second husband. She was first married to Gugalana, the Bull of Heaven, who was killed by Gilgamesh and Enkidu after Inanna sent him after them.
* UnholyMatrimony: Thematically speaking, the matrimony of Ereshkigal and Nergal united the queen of the Netherworld with the god of plagues and war. Subverted otherwise, however, because none of the two was actually evil and their union put a HappyEnding to a cosmic conflict.
* TheVamp: Ereshkigal deliberately allowed Nergal to see her naked while she entered her bath, knowing he would fall for it. She is more sympathetic than many examples, however, because she acted on loneliness rather than egotism and they later had a classic idyll.
* VirginPower: Ereshkigal claimed that making love to Nergal had left her impure and thus unfit to keep ruling the underworld, though it's also possible she was bluffing in order to give the gods more reasons to send Nergal back to her.
* ZombieApocalypse: Ereshkigal threatened the gods with rising the dead so they would eat the living if Nergal didn't come back to her realm.

[[folder:Geshtinanna]]
!!𒀭𒃾𒀭𒈾 / 𒀭𒁁𒉌𒀉𒂔 | Geshtinanna[[note]]translated "the vine of heaven"[[/note]] / Belet-Seri[[note]]translated "lady of the steppe"[[/note]]
Geshtinanna was the goddess of agriculture, fertility, and dream interpretation, the so-called "heavenly grape-vine". She was the sister of Dumuzid and consort of either Ningishzida or Amarru/Martu. She sheltered her brother when he was being pursued by ''galla'' demons and mourned his death after the demons dragged him to Kur. She eventually agreed to take his place in Kur for half the year, allowing him to return to Heaven to be with Inanna/Ishtar. She was mainly worshipped in southern Mesopotamia.

* CompositeCharacter: Beginning in the Old Babylonian period, she was identified with the underworld goddess Belet-Seri.
%%* EarthMother: She was viewed as a mother goddess.
* [[FarmBoy Farm Girl]]: Like her brother Dumuzid, she was also a rural deity, associated with the countryside and open fields.
* GreenThumb: She was in charge of the fertility of the earth from the spring to the fall equinox.
* HeroicResolve: After her brother fled, Geshtinanna was brutally tortured by the ''galla'' demons in an attempt to force her to tell them where Dumuzid was hiding. However, she refused to tell them where her brother had gone.
* IHaveManyNames: Her epithets included "Vine of the Heavens", "Scribe of the Earth" and, due to her marriage to Amarru/Martu, god of the nomadic Amorites, "Queen of the Desert".
* JackOfAllTrades: She was also associated with music and the scribal arts. Her brother called her a "scribe" and a "singer".
* JudgmentOfTheDead: As Belet-Seri, she was the recorder of the dead entering the underworld, and was known as the "Scribe of the Earth". It is Belet-Seri who kept the records of human activities so she could advise the queen of the dead, Ereshkigal, on their final judgement.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Her name could also be read as "Ngeshtin-ana".
* TakeMeInstead: She agreed to take her brother's place in the underworld for half the year, allowing him to return to Heaven to be with Inanna/Ishtar.

[[folder:Ishkur / Adad]]
!!𒀭𒅎 | Iškur[[note]]translated "thunder" in Sumerian[[/note]] / Adad[[note]]translated "thunder" in Akkadian[[/note]] / Rammanu[[note]]translated "thunderer"[[/note]]
The god of weather, hurricanes, storms, thunder and rain. He was associated with both the life-giving and destructive properties of storms, rain and floods. He was the patron god of Bit Khakhuru (perhaps to be identified with modern Al-Jidr) in the central steppe region, though worship of him became widespread in Mesopotamia after the First Babylonian dynasty.

* AboveGoodAndEvil: He was an ambivalent figure whose intervention could either benefit or harm humankind and he was regarded as both a creator and destroyer. On the one hand, he was the god who, through bringing on the rain in due season, caused the land to become fertile, and, on the other hand, the storms that he sent out brought havoc and destruction.
* DeityIdentityConfusion: He was equated with the West Semitic god Hadad, the Greek god Zeus, the Roman god Jupiter (as Jupiter Dolichenus), the Indo-European Nasite Hittite storm-god Teshub and the Egyptian god Amun.
%%* DropTheHammer: He was frequently shown wielding a hammer.
* NumerologicalMotif: 6 was his sacred number.
* {{Seers}}: In combination with the sun god Utu/Shamash, the two were regarded as the gods of oracles and of divination in general. Whether the will of the gods was determined through the inspection of the liver of the sacrificial animal, through observing the action of oil bubbles in a basin of water or through the observation of the movements of the heavenly bodies, it was Adad and Shamash who, in the ritual connected with divination, were invariably invoked. Similarly in the annals and votive inscriptions of the kings, when oracles were referred to, Adad and Shamash were always named as the gods addressed, and their ordinary designation in such instances was ''bele biri'' ("lords of divination").
* ShockAndAwe: As the god of storms, he was depicted brandishing lightning bolts.
%%* WeatherManipulation: As expected of a storm god.

[[folder:Ishtaran]]
!!𒀭𒅗𒁲 | Ištaran
Ishtaran was a god associated with justice and the chief deity of the Sumerian city-state of Der, which was located east of the Tigris river on the border between Mesopotamia and Elam. His wife was the goddess Šarrat-Dēri, and his ''sukkal'' ("vizier") was Qudmu. He was also assigned a messenger, the snake-god Nirah, a counsellor Rasu, a son Zizanu, and two "standing gods" Turma and Itur-matiššu. As early as the Early Dynastic period, Ishtaran was being called upon as a god who could abjudicate in an inter-city border dispute between Umma and Lagash, because the border between these two regions was said to be fixed "in accordance with the command of Ishtaran". Scholars have suggested that his supposed effectiveness in this case might well stem from the border location of his own city, Der. His worship certainly spread beyond his own borders: perhaps in gratitude, Gudea, ruler of Lagash, recorded his installation of a shrine to Ishtaran in the great temple of Ningirsu at Girsu. Ishtaran's temple in Der was called the é-dim-gal-kal-am-ma ("house, great bond of the land"). His cult flourished from the Early Dynastic III Period until the Middle Babylonian Period, after which his name was no longer attested in the personal names of individuals. However, his cult in Der was still attested in the Babylonian Chronicle's references to the time of Esarhaddon in the Neo-Assyrian Period, and the cult at Der may have continued into the Seleucid period.

* AnimalMotifs: Ishtaran was frequently represented by snakes on ''kudurru'' stones and was generally believed to have a snake-like nature.
* DeityIdentityConfusion: In a ritual associated with the Ekur temple in Nippur, Ishtaran was described as a "dying god" and was equated with Dumuzid/Tammuz.
* GodOfOrder: Ishtaran was associated with justice. This role can be inferred from his assertion of the borders of Umma and Lagash, while Gudea, the ruler of Girsu, said of himself, ''"I justly decide the lawsuits of my city like Ištaran"''. In the poems praising the Ur III king, Shulgi, his justice was "comparable to that of Ištaran", and a song to Nergal praised the god thus: ''"Like Ishtaran... you reach correct judgments"''.
* SnakePeople: He was typically depicted with snake-like features.
* SnakesAreSexy: Aside from his snake-like features, Ishtaran was also envisioned as having a beautiful face, which was emphasized by the epiteth "Ishtaran of the bright visage".

[[folder:Ki / Uras / Antu]]
!!𒀭𒆠 / 𒀭𒅁 / 𒀭𒌈 | Ki[[note]]translated "earth"[[/note]] / Uraš[[note]]translated "earth; crooked furrow"[[/note]] / Antu[[note]]translated "sky" or "heaven"[[/note]]
The consort of Anu and mother of the gods, Ki was the goddess of the earth. She and Anu were once united until their son Enlil separated them in order to make the world habitable. While Anu carried away heaven, Ki, in company with Enlil, took the earth. She was most commonly attested under the name Uras, and was often worshipped alongside Anu starting with the Akkadian period until the Old Babylonian period. During the Akkadian Period, she was changed into Antu, a sky goddess who served as a female counterpart to Anu, and she was a dominant feature of the Babylonian ''akit'' festival until as recently as 200 BCE.

%%* AnthropomorphicPersonification: Of the earth.
* BrotherSisterIncest: Ki and her husband An were brother and sister, both being the children of Anshar and Kishar.
* DeityIdentityConfusion: There is some uncertainty as to whether Ki, Uras and Antu were considered separate goddesses or were just three different names for the same goddess. A single Neo-Assyrian god list known from three copies appeared to combine Ki and Urash into a single deity, ''dki-uraš''. The god list ''An = Anum'' equated Antu with Ki, while a lexical text from the Old Babylonian period similarly equated her with Urash.
** Urash was also the name of the male tutelary god of Dilbat, who was possibly regarded as a son of Anu. However, the two deities do not appear to have ever been conflated with each other, as evidence for the worship of the female Uras is uncommon, and unlike the god of Dilbat, she was chiefly a cosmogonic deity.
** Many of her traits were eventually subsumed by Ninhursag, who became the primary motherhood and fertility goddess in the pantheon. The Greeks also variously conflated her with Hera, Dione, and Gaia.
** An early incorrect reading of the combined name ''dki-uraš'' was ''dki-ib'', which early Assyriologist Daniel David Luckenbill assumed to be a reference to the Egyptian earth god Geb, an identification now regarded as impossible.
* DistaffCounterpart: Antu was basically just a female version of Anu, with even her name being the female equivalent of his.
%%* ElementalEmbodiment: Of the earth.
* GreenThumb: She was responsible for the existence and growth of all plantlife.
* HappyRain: As Ki/Uras, it was believed that she was impregnated by the rain, which the Sumerians believed was Anu's seed, causing her to give birth to all the vegetation of the land. As Antu, the clouds were believed to be her breasts and the rain was her breast milk.
* MotherNature: She was the spirit of the earth itself.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: As Antu, her name could also be read as "Antum".