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Lugaldukuga
Lugaldukuga ( Sumerian: "lord of the holy mound") was a Mesopotamian god primarily understood as a theogonic figure. He is best attested as the father of Enlil, the head of the Mesopotamian pantheon, though other traditions about the parentage of the latter also existed, and no references to him in this role are known from before the Kassite period. Sometimes he could also be described as his grandfather instead. He was envisioned as a no longer active and as an inhabitant of the underworld. He could be equated with other deities of similar character, such as Enmesharra. It is not known which part of Mesopotamia he originated in, though references to him are known from texts from both Babylonia and Assyria. The name Lugaldukuga could also function as an epithet of the god Enki, Ea, who was not regarded as Enlil's father. Character Lugaldukuga was understood as a primeval deity. Such figures were generally regarded as ancient and no longer active (unlike the regular gods) by the Mes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Enmesharra
Enmesharra ( , "Lord of all ''Me (mythology), me''s") was a List of Mesopotamian deities, Mesopotamian god associated with the Ancient Mesopotamian underworld, underworld. He was regarded as a member of an old generation of deities, and as such was commonly described as a ghost or resident of the underworld. He is best known from various lists of primordial deities, such as the "theogony of Enlil," which lists many generations of ancestral deities. Various fragmentary myths describe confrontations between him and deities such as Enlil, Ninurta or Marduk. The myth ''Enlil and Namzitara'' describes him as Enlil's paternal uncle, and alludes to a belief that he was the ruler of the universe in the distant past, possibly after usurping the position of his nephew. He has been compared with Anzû, Anzu, who in the corresponding myth also steals Enlil's right to declare destinities for himself. Texts commonly mention his children, usually identified as the "Seven sons of Enmesharra," a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Enki-Ninki Deities
Ancestors of Enlil or Enki-Ninki deities were a group of Mesopotamian deities. Individual lists do not agree on their number, though the enumerations always start with the pair Enki (to be distinguished from the water god Enki) and Ninki and end with Enlil. In the earliest recorded lists, Enki and Ninki were the immediate parents of Enlil, but beginning in the Ur III period onwards, a growing number of 'ancestors' separated them. Enki and Ninki became primordial, ancestral beings who were no longer active and resided in the underworld. They could be invoked in exorcisms. They are attested in various texts, including god lists, incantations, prayers and myths. Terminology The term "ancestors of Enlil" refers to a group of Mesopotamian deities. They are already attested in Early Dynastic sources. The same group is sometimes instead referred to as "Enki-Ninki deities" (German: ''Enki-Ninki-Gottheiten''), an approximate translation of the plural ''(d)En-ki-(e-)ne-(d)Nin/Nun-ki-(e-)ne ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alalu
Alalu or Alala was a primordial figure in Mesopotamian and Hurrian mythology. He is also known from documents from Emar, where he was known as Alal. While his role was not identical in these three contexts, it is agreed that all three versions share the same origin. Hurrian Alalu, who plays the role of the oldest king of gods in the ''Kumarbi Cycle'', is the best known, and is commonly discussed in scholarship focused on comparative mythology but it is agreed Mesopotamian Alala represents the oldest tradition regarding this being. However, the precise etymology of his name is unknown, and likely neither Sumerian nor Semitic. Both Hurrian and Mesopotamian sources attest an association between him and Anu, but its nature varies between cultures. Mesopotamian sources The origin of the name Alala is not known, and in scholarship it is tentatively grouped with other Mesopotamian deity names with no clear Sumerian or Semitic etymologies, such as Zababa, Aruru or Bunene. Alala is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mesopotamian God
Deities in ancient Mesopotamia were almost exclusively Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic. They were thought to possess extraordinary powers and were often envisioned as being of tremendous physical size. The deities typically wore ''melam'', an ambiguous substance which "covered them in terrifying splendor" and which could also be worn by heroes, kings, giants, and even demons. The effect that seeing a deity's ''melam'' has on a human is described as ''ni'', a word for the "Paresthesia, physical creeping of the flesh". Both the Sumerian language, Sumerian and Akkadian languages contain many words to express the sensation of ''ni'', including the word ''puluhtu'', meaning "fear". Deities were almost always depicted wearing horned caps, consisting of up to seven superimposed pairs of ox-horns. They were also sometimes depicted wearing clothes with elaborate decorative gold and silver ornaments sewn into them. The ancient Mesopotamians believed that their deities lived in Heaven, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Annunitum
Annunitum (; also romanized as Anunītu) was a Mesopotamian goddess associated with warfare. She was initially an epithet of Ishtar of Akkad exemplifying her warlike aspect, but by the late third millennium BCE she came to function as a distinct deity. She was the tutelary goddess of the cities of Akkad and Sippar-Amnanum, though she was also worshiped elsewhere in Mesopotamia. Name As attested in cuneiform texts from the Old Akkadian period onward, Annunitum's name was typically written as ''an-nu-ni-tum''. Starting with the Old Babylonian period it was prefaced with the "divine determinative" ('' dingir''). While ''an-nu-ni-tum'' remained the most common spelling in the Kassite period as well, in sources from the first millennium BCE ''a-nu-ni-tum'', already known from a single Old Babylonian text and from a late Kassite inscription of king Meli-Shipak, became standard. An Old Babylonian prayer (CBS 19842) additionally preserves the shortened form ''a-nu-na'', romanized b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
An = Anum
''An = Anum'', also known as the Great God List, is the longest preserved Mesopotamian god list, a type of lexical list cataloging the deities worshiped in the Ancient Near East, chiefly in modern Iraq. While god lists are already known from the Early Dynastic period, ''An = Anum'' most likely was composed in the later Kassite period. While often mistakenly described as a list of Sumerian deities and their Akkadian equivalents, ''An = Anum'' is focused on presenting the familial relationships between deities, as well as their courts and spheres of influence. The first four tablets list the major gods and goddesses ( Anu, Enlil, Ninhursag, Enki, Sin, Shamash, Adad and Ishtar) and their courts, arranged according to theological principles, but tablets V and VI do not appear to follow a clear system, and tablet VII is a late appendix listing the names of Marduk and one of his courtiers. Many other works of ancient scholarship were influenced by ''An = Anum'', including a simil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kish (Sumer)
Kish (Sumerian language, Sumerian: Kiš; transliteration: :wikt:𒆧, KišKi (earth), ki; cuneiform: ; , near modern Tell al-Uhaymir) is an important archaeological site in Babil Governorate (Iraq), located south of Baghdad and east of the ancient city of Babylon. The Ubaid period site of Ras al-Amiyah is away. It was occupied from the Ubaid period to the Hellenistic period. In Early Dynastic times the city's patron deity was Ishtar with her consort Ea (Babylonian god), Ea. Her temple, at Tell Ingharra, was (E)-hursag-kalama. By Old Babylonian times the patron deity, patron deities had become Zababa, along with his consort, the goddess Bau (goddess), Bau and Istar. His temple Emeteursag (later Ekišiba) was at Uhaimir. History Kish was occupied from the Ubaid period (c.5300–4300 BC), gaining prominence as one of the pre-eminent powers in the region during the Early Dynastic Period (Mesopotamia), Early Dynastic Period when it reached its maximum extent of 230 hectares. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mari, Syria
Mari (Cuneiform: , ''ma-riki'', modern Tell Hariri; ) was an ancient Semitic people, Semitic city-state in modern-day Syria. Its remains form a Tell (archaeology), tell 11 kilometers north-west of Abu Kamal on the Euphrates, Euphrates River western bank, some 120 kilometers southeast of Deir ez-Zor. It flourished as a trade center and hegemonic state between 2900 BC and 1759 BC. The city was built in the middle of the Euphrates trade routes between Sumer in the south and the Ebla, Eblaite kingdom and the Levant in the west. Mari was first abandoned in the middle of the 26th century BC but was rebuilt and became the capital of a hegemonic East Semitic languages, East Semitic state before 2500 BC. This second Mari engaged in a long war with its rival Ebla and is known for its strong affinity with Sumerian culture. It was destroyed in the 23rd century BC by the Akkadians, who allowed the city to be rebuilt and appointed a military governor (''Shakkanakku''). The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ebla
Ebla (Sumerian language, Sumerian: ''eb₂-la'', , modern: , Tell Mardikh) was one of the earliest kingdoms in Syria. Its remains constitute a Tell (archaeology), tell located about southwest of Aleppo near the village of Mardikh. Ebla was an important center throughout the and in the first half of the Its discovery proved the Levant was a center of ancient, centralized civilization equal to Ancient Egypt, Egypt and Mesopotamia and ruled out the view that the latter two were the only important centers in the Ancient Near East, Near East during the Early Bronze Age. The first Eblaite kingdom has been described as the first recorded world power. Starting as a small settlement in the Early Bronze Age ( ), Ebla developed into a trading empire and later into an expansionist power that imposed its hegemony over much of northern and eastern Syria. Ebla was destroyed during the It was then rebuilt and was mentioned in the records of the Third Dynasty of Ur. The second Ebla w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dingir
''Dingir'' ⟨⟩, usually transliterated DIĜIR, () is a Sumerian word for 'god' or 'goddess'. Its cuneiform sign is most commonly employed as the determinative for religious names and related concepts, in which case it is not pronounced and is conventionally transliterated as a superscript ⟨d⟩, e.g. The Sumerian cuneiform sign by itself was originally an ideogram for the Sumerian word ''an'' ('sky' or 'heaven');Hayes, 2000 its use was then extended to a logogram for the word ('god' or 'goddess')Edzard, 2003 and the supreme deity of the Sumerian pantheon Anu, and a phonogram for the syllable . Akkadian cuneiform took over all these uses and added to them a logographic reading for the native '' ilum'' and from that a syllabic reading of . In Hittite orthography, the syllabic value of the sign was again only ''an''. The concept of divinity in Sumerian is closely associated with the heavens, as is evident from the fact that the cuneiform sign doubles as the ideogram f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ningishzida
Ningishzida ( Sumerian: DNIN.G̃IŠ.ZID.DA, possible meaning "Lord f theGood Tree") was a Mesopotamian deity of vegetation, the underworld and sometimes war. He was commonly associated with snakes. Like Dumuzi, he was believed to spend a part of the year in the land of the dead. He also shared many of his functions with his father Ninazu. In myths he usually appears in an underworld setting, though in the myth of Adapa he is instead described as one of the doorkeepers of the sky god Anu. Name Thorkild Jacobsen proposed that the Sumerian name ''Ningishzida'' can be explained as "lord of the good tree." This translation is still accepted by other Assyriologists today. Various syllabic spellings are known, including '' dNi-gi-si-da'', ''dNin-nigi-si-da'', ''dNin-ki-zi-da'' and ''dNin-gi-iz-zi-da''. While " nin" can be translated as "lady" in some contexts, it was grammatically neutral in Sumerian and can be found in the names of many deities, both male (Ningishzida, Ninaz ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Early Dynastic Period (Mesopotamia)
The Early Dynastic Period (abbreviated ED Period or ED) is an archaeological culture in Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) that is generally dated to and was preceded by the Uruk and Jemdet Nasr periods. It saw the development of writing and the formation of the first cities and states. The ED itself was characterized by the existence of multiple city-states: small states with a relatively simple structure that developed and solidified over time. This development ultimately led, directly after this period, to broad Mesopotamian unification under the rule of Sargon, the first monarch of the Akkadian Empire. Despite their political fragmentation, the ED city-states shared a relatively homogeneous material culture. Sumerian cities such as Uruk, Ur, Lagash, Umma, and Nippur located in Lower Mesopotamia were very powerful and influential. To the north and west stretched states centered on cities such as Kish, Mari, Nagar, and Ebla. The study of Central and Lower Mesopotamia has l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
