Library: Ancient Civilizations by Credo Reference: Mesopotamian Religions

Sumerian Deities

Anu
From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia
Mesopotamian sky god, commonly joined in a trinity with Enlil, the god of storms, and Ea, the god of water.
Enlil
From Bloomsbury Dictionary of Myth
Enlil ('windlord'), in Mesopotamian myth, was the son of An and brother of Ea. In some accounts he threw dice with his father and brother for kingdoms, and won the world of Earth; in others he prised his father (Sky) from his mother (Earth) after he was conceived, usurped his father's place and began gusting round Earth, fertilizing her with storms and rain.
Inanna
From Bloomsbury Dictionary of Myth
Inanna ('sky-lady'), in Sumerian myth, was the daughter either of An the Sky or of his son the wind-god Enlil. She was the goddess of sex and fertility, overseeing the reproduction of all plants and animals on Earth.
Ninurta
From Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
In Mesopotamian religion, the city god of Girsu. The son of Enlil and Ninlil, he was the god of thunder and of the spring rains and floods as well as the god of the plow.

Asherah
From Macmillan Dictionary of the Bible
A Canaanite fertility goddess known in the Old Testament as Baal's consort (Judges 3:7), though she was the consort of El in the Ugaritic literature of ancient Syria.
Astarte
From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia
In Canaanite and Syrian mythology, a goddess of sexual passion (equivalent to the Babylonian and Assyrian goddess Ishtar). As goddess of maternity and fertility, she was associated with Tammuz or Adonis, who represented the passage of the seasons. She was also a warrior goddess.
Ba'al
From The Columbia Encyclopedia
Name used throughout the Bible for the chief deity or for deities of Canaan.
Dagon
From Bloomsbury Dictionary of Myth
Dagon, or Dagan ('corn-lord'), in Sumerian myth, was the god who made grain swell on the stalk. He was later confused with Dogon, a fish-god worshipped in towns on the Eastern coasts of the Aegean, where he was shown as half human, half fish.
Molech
From Who's Who in the Old Testament
The national god of the Ammonites. This god was worshipped by offering up human sacrifices, usually a child from the family.

High places
From The New Encyclopedia of Judaism
Canaanite sanctuaries for cultic worship situated on hills or raised platforms (Deut. 12:2; I Kings 14:23); later adopted by the Israelites.
Creation myth
From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia
Legend of the origin of the world. All cultures have ancient stories of the creation of the Earth or its inhabitants.
Sumerian Religion
From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia
Religion of the Sumerian civilization. Sumerian society was ruled by gods - everything belonged to the gods and the kings were their representatives. Humanity's role was to serve the gods and to fulfil their will in their eternal struggles with each other.
Gilgamesh
From The Columbia Encycloepdia
In Babylonian legend, king of Uruk. He is the hero of the Gilgamesh epic, a work of some 3,000 lines, written on 12 tablets c.2000 B.C. and discovered among the ruins at Nineveh.

Ishtar
From Bloomsbury Dictionary of Myth
Ishtar (whose myriad other names included Ashtart, Ashtoreth, Astarte, Inanna and Isis) was worshipped all over the Mesopotamian region.
Marduk
From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia
In Assyrio-Babylonian mythology, the two-headed sun god, creator of Earth and humans, and their intermediary with his father Ea, god of water and wisdom.
Shamash
From Bloomsbury Dictionary of Myth
Shamash ('Sun'), in Sumerian myth, was the son of the Moon-god Sin and brother of Ishtar, goddess of fertility and war.
Tiamat
From Bloomsbury Dictionary of Myth
Tiamat, in Mesopotamian myth, was salt water, one half of the chaos which existed before creation. The other half was Apsu, fresh water.

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