Tiamat is the Babylonian Goddess of the primeval saltwater sea. In the beginning there was only Tiamat and Apsu, God of the freshwater. Tiamat surrounded Apsu, and their waters mingled to produce Lahmu and Lahamu, who in turn produced Anshar and Kishar. Anshar and Kishar mated to produce the God Anu, who was the father of the Gods Enlil and Ea (known as Enki in Sumerian).
The noise of all of her descendants bothered Tiamat, and Apsu wanted to kill them but Tiamat said no. However, Ea had overheard their plans, and he plotted to kill Apsu. In vengeance, Tiamat created an army of giant snakes and dragons to attack the younger Gods. Ea’s son, Marduk, engaged in combat with Tiamat, and he used the four winds against her. When Tiamat swallowed the winds, her belly became very distended, and Marduk shot her with an arrow, slicing her in two. Marduk used Tiamat’s body to form the sky and the earth. Her eyes were placed as the sources of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, and her breasts became great mountains. Her last breath was transformed into the clouds.
Tiamat is usually depicted as a sea monster or great dragon. She is the Babylonian equivalent of the Sumerian Goddess Nammu. Her name, which means “sea,” is also seen as Tiamet, and she was also known as Ummu-Hubur or Mother Hubur, which means “mother of noise.”
Nammu is the Sumerian Goddess of the primordial sea, creator of all things. She gave birth to An (heaven) and Ki (earth), as well as Enki, the master shaper of the world. She instructed Enki on how to create man, and helped him to form them from clay. Her name is also seen as Namma, and epithets for her include “Mother of Everything“, “Mother who gave birth to Heaven and Earth“, and “Primordial Mother“.
Lahamu is the Babylonian Goddess of the primeval mud. She and her twin brother/husband, Lahmu, were the first Gods created by the union of Tiamat and Apsu, and they in turn were parents to Kishar and Anshar, whose son Anu becomes the king of the later Gods. Lahamu was depicted either as a serpent or as a woman with six curls on her head, similar to the depiction of Lahmu on the left. Lahamu’s name, which means “the muddy one,” was also seen as Lachamu, Lakhamu, Lamamu, and Lachos.
Kishar is the Babylonian Goddess of the earth. She is the daughter of Lahamu and Lahmu, and sister/wife to Anshar, God of the sky. They in turn were the parents of Anu, also a sky God, and Ki, also an earth Goddess, who gave rise to the Annunaki, the great Gods of Mesopotamia. Her name, which means “host of earth,” is also seen as Kissare or Kisar.
Ki (earth) is the Sumerian Goddess of the earth. In Sumerian mythology, she is the daughter of Nammu, Goddess of the primordial sea. In the later Babylonian mythology, she is the daughter of Anshar and Kishar. In either case, she is the sister/wife of Anu, God of the sky, and mother by him of the Anunnaki, including Enlil, God of the air. Ki was eventually supplanted by Ninhursag as the Great Mother.
Ninhursag is the Sumerian Goddess of fertility. She also supplanted Ki as Goddess of the earth and mother of the Gods. Myths of her origin vary, but many state that she is the sister of Enlil, God of the air, which would make her the daughter of Ki and Anu, God of the sky. Whatever her origin, Ninhursag is most closely associated with Enki, God of the waters, as his consort.
In a well-preserved myth entitled “Enki and Ninhursag,” Ninhursag bears Enki a daughter named Ninsar, who in turn is impregnated by Enki and bears Ninkurra. Ninkurra too has Enki’s child, a daughter named Uttu. Uttu, unwilling to bear Enki’s child, was instead advised by Ninhursag to bury his semen in the ground, where it grew into eight plants. These were the first plants on the earth, and Enki proceeded to eat them.
Ninhursag was furious with Enki for eating the plants, and she cursed him so that each plant caused a disease in a different part of his body. The other Gods pleaded with Ninhursag to take the curse off Enki, because without his waters, the earth and its people were dying. To cure him of the diseases, Ninhursag gave birth to eight deities—five Goddesses (Ninsutu, Ninkasi, Nanshe, Dazimira, and Ninti) and three Gods (Abu, Nintul, and Enshag). These eight were each able to heal one of Enki’s diseases, and leave him whole and healthy once again.
Ninhursag’s name means “lady of the mountains,” and she was also called Nintu (lady of birth), Ninmenna (lady of the tiara), and Ninmah (exalted lady), although it is likely that these were names of other Goddesses who were later assimilated with Ninhursag. Other names associated with her include Ninmug (lady of the vulva), Ninzinak (lady of the embryo), Ninsigsig (lady of silence), Ninbahar (lady of pottery), Nindim (lady fashioner), Nig-zi-gal-dim-dim-me (fashioner of all things in which there is breath of life), Nagarnam-luulu (carpenter of mankind), Nagar-sa-ga (carpenter of the insides), Tibira-kalam-ma (bronze caster of the nation), Sag-zu-kalam-ma (midwife of the nation), Sag-zu-digir-e-ne (midwife of the Gods), Mud-kes-da (blood-stancher), Ama-dug-bad (mother spreading her legs), Ama-dumu-dumu-ne (mother of all children), and Ama-digir-re-ne-ke (mother of the Gods).
Mami is a goddess in the Babylonian epic Atra-Hasis and in other creation legends. She was probably synonymous with Ninhursag. Also known as Belet-ili (“Mistress of the Gods”), or Nintu (lady of birth). Alternative forms of her name include Mama and Mammitum.
She was involved in the creation of humankind from clay and blood. As Nintu legends states she pinched off fourteen pieces of primordial clay which she formed into womb deities, seven on the left and seven on the right with a brick between them, who produced the first seven pairs of human embryos. At Enki’s suggestion, the gods slew one amongst themselves and used that god’s blood and flesh, mixed with clay, to create humankind.
Nanshe was the daughter of Enki (god of wisdom, magic and fresh water) and Ninhursag (earth and mother goddess). Her functions as a goddess were varied. She was a goddess of social justice, prophecy, fertility and fishing. Like her father, she was heavily associated with water. She held dominion over the Persian Gulf and all the animals within. Her seat of power was the Sirara temple, located in the city of Nina.
Nintinugga was a Babylonian goddess of healing, the consort of Ninurta. She is identical with the goddess of Akkadian mythology, known as Bau or Baba, though it would seem that the two were originally independent. She was the daughter of An and Ninurta’s wife. She had seven daughters, including Hegir-Nuna (Gangir). She was known as a patron deity of Lagash, where Gudea built her a temple.
The name Bau is more common in the oldest period and gives way to Gula after the First Babylonian Dynasty. Since it is probable that Ninib has absorbed the cults of minor sun-deities, the two names may represent consorts of different gods. However this may be, the qualities of both are alike, and the two occur as synonymous designations of Ninib’s female consort.
Other names borne by this goddess are Nin-Karrak, Nin Ezen, Ga-tum-dug and Nm-din-dug, the latter signifying “the lady who restores to life”, or the Goddess of Healing. After the Great Flood, she helped “breath life” back into mankind. The designation well emphasizes the chief trait of Bau-Gula which is that of healer. She is often spoken of as “the great physician,” and accordingly plays a specially prominent role in incantations and incantation rituals intended to relieve those suffering from disease.
She is, however, also invoked to curse those who trample upon the rights of rulers or those who do wrong with poisonous potions. As in the case of Ninib, the cult of Bau-Gula is prominent in Shirgulla and in Nippur. While generally in close association with her consort, she is also invoked by herself, and thus retains a larger measure of independence than most of the goddesses of Babylonia and Assyria.
She appears in a prominent position on the designs accompanying the Kudurrus boundary-stone monuments of Babylonia, being represented by a statue, when other gods and goddesses are merely pictured by their shrines, by sacred animals or by weapons. In neo-Babylonian days her cult continues to occupy a prominent position, and Nebuchadrezzar II speaks of no less than three chapels or shrines within the sacred precincts of E-Zida in the city of Borsippa, besides a temple in her honour at Babylon.
Hegir-Nuna (or Gangir) is a goddess in Sumerian mythology. She is one of the seven daughters of the goddess Baba, known chiefly at Lagash.
Ninsar is the Sumerian Goddess of plants. She is the daughter of Ninhursag, Goddess of fertility, and Enki, God of the waters. She was impregnated by her father Enki and bore Ninkurra, also a Goddess of plants. Ninsar’s name means “lady greenery,” and she was also known as Ninmu (lady who brings forth) or Ninshar (lady herb).
Ninkurra (Lady Pasture) was a minor mother goddess, daughter of Enki and Ninsar. Mother of Uttu by Enki. In an alternative tradition she was the mother (by Enki) of Nin-imma, the deification of the female sex organs
Nin-imma is a Sumerian, Babylonian, and Akkadian fertility goddess and deification of the female sex organs. Her parents are Enki and Ninkurra.
Uttu in Sumerian mythology is the goddess of weaving and clothing. She is both the child of Enki and Ninkur, and she bears seven new child/trees from Enki, the eighth being the Ti (Tree of “Life”, associated with the “Rib”).
When Enki then ate Uttu’s children, Ninhursag cursed him with eight wounds and disappears. Uttu in Sumerian means “the woven” and she was illustrated as a spider in a web. She is a goddess in the pantheon.
She is sometimes mistaken for Sumerian Utu, the male solar deity.
Ninti is the Sumerian goddess of life. She is also one of the eight goddesses of healing who was created by Ninhursag to heal Enki’s body. Her specific healing area was the rib.
Enki had eaten forbidden flowers and was then cursed by Ninhursaga, who was later persuaded by the other gods to heal him. Some scholars suggest that this served as the basis for the story of Eve created from Adam’s rib in the Book of Genesis.
Ninkasi is the Sumerian tutelary goddess of beer. She was also borne of “sparkling fresh water.” She is the goddess made to “satisfy the desire” and “sate the heart.” She would prepare the beverage daily for the Gods. Her name means “the lady who fills the mouth.”
The daughter of Enki, the lord Nudimmud, and Ninhursag, she was one of the eight children born to heal Enki’s wounds. In other stories she is the daughter of Ninti, the queen of the Abzu.
A clay tablet from 1800 BCE bears a Hymn to Ninkasi, which includes an ancient recipe for brewing beer. A translation from the University of Oxford describes combining bread, a source for yeast, with malted and soaked grains and keeping the liquid in a fermentation vessel until finally filtering it into a collecting vessel.
In ancient Mesopotamia the brewer’s craft was the only profession which derived social sanction and divine protection from female deities/goddesses, specificially: Ninkasi, who covered the production of beer, Siris, who was used in a metonymic way to refer to beer, and Siduri, who covered the enjoyment of beer.
Siris was the patron goddess of beer. She is conceived of as a demon, which is not necessarily evil. Although beer as we know it had its origins in Mesopotamia, fermented beverages quickly spread around the world from Mesopotamia as the drink was shared with kings and rulers. Siris is considered the mother of Zu. Siris and Zu are large birds that can breathe fire and water.
Siduri is a character in the Epic of Gilgamesh. She is an “alewife”, a wise female divinity associated with fermentation (specifically beer and wine). In the Old Babylonian version of the Epic, she attempts to dissuade Gilgamesh in his quest for immortality, urging him to be content with the simple pleasures of life. Siduri’s advice was recorded in the Old Babylonian version of Tablet X referred to as the Meissner fragment.
Several scholars suggest direct borrowing of Siduri’s advice by the author of Ecclesiastes. The advice given by Siduri has been seen as the first expression of the concept of Carpe diem although some scholars see it urging Gilgamesh to abandon his mourning, “reversing the liminal rituals of mourning and returning to the normal and normative behaviors of Mesopotamian society.”
In the standard version of the Epic, Siduri’s role is somewhat less important. The above quotation is omitted, and it is left to the flood hero Utanapishtim (the Mesopotamian precursor of Noah) to discuss issues of life and death. Siduri, nonetheless, has a long conversation with Gilgamesh, who boasts of his exploits and is forced to explain why his appearance is so haggard. When he asks for help in finding Utnapishtim, Siduri explains the difficulties of the journey but directs him to Urshanabi, the ferryman, who may be able to help him cross the subterranean ocean and the ominous “waters of death”.
Siduri has been compared to the Odyssey’s Circe. Like Odysseus, Gilgamesh gets directions on how to reach his destination from a divine helper. In this case she is the goddess Siduri, who, like Circe, dwells by the sea at the ends of the earth. Her home is also associated with the sun: Gilgamesh reaches Siduri’s house by passing through a tunnel underneath Mt. Mashu, the high mountain from which the sun comes into the sky. West argues that the similarity of Odysseus’s and Gilgamesh’s journeys to the edges of the earth are the result of the influence of the Gilgamesh epic upon the Odyssey.
Siduri’s name means “young woman” in Hurrian, and may be an epithet of Ishtar. Siduri is considered to be a religious figure/prophet by some.
Ningikuga (“Lady of the Pure Reed”) in Sumerian mythology was a goddess of reeds and marshes. She was the daughter of An and Nammu, and one of the consorts of Enki, by whom she became the mother of Ningal.
Ningal (“Great Lady/Queen”) was a goddess of reeds in the Sumerian mythology, daughter of Enki and Ningikurga and the consort of the moon god Nanna by whom she bore Utu the sun god, Inanna, and in some texts, Ishkur. She is chiefly recognised at Ur, and was probably first worshipped by cow-herders in the marsh lands of southern Mesopotamia.
Inanna is the Sumerian goddess of sexual love, fertility, and warfare. Her Akkadian counterpart is Ishtar. In different traditions Inanna is the daughter of Anu or she is the daughter of the moon god Sin, or Nanna. In various traditions, her siblings include the sun god Utu, the rain god Ishkur, and Ereshkigal, Queen of the Underworld. Her personal assistant is Ninshubur.
Sin, or Nanna, was the god of the moon in the Mesopotamian mythology of Akkad, Assyria and Babylonia. Nanna is a Sumerian deity, the son of Enlil and Ninlil, and became identified with Semitic Sin. The two chief seats of Nanna’s/Sin’s worship were Ur in the south of Mesopotamia and Harran in the north.
Inanna is never considered to have a permanent spouse, although Dumuzi is her lover. Yet, she is responsible for sending Dumuzi to the Underworld in “Inanna’s Descent to the Underworld.” Inanna also is regarded in astral traditions as the morning and evening star.
Inanna can be considered the most prominent female deity in ancient Mesopotamia. As early as the Uruk period (ca. 4000–3100 BC), Inanna was associated with the city of Uruk. The famous Uruk Vase (found in a deposit of cult objects of the Uruk III period) depicts a row of naked men carrying various objects, bowls, vessels, and baskets of farm produce, and bringing sheep and goats, to a female figure facing the ruler.
This figure was ornately dressed for a divine marriage, and attended by a servant. The female figure holds the symbol of the two twisted reeds of the doorpost, signifying Inanna behind her, while the male figure holds a box and stack of bowls, the later cuneiform sign signifying En, or high priest of the temple. Especially in the Uruk period, the symbol of a ring-headed doorpost is associated with Inanna.
Seal impressions from the Jemdet Nasr period (ca. 3100–2900 BC) show a fixed sequence of city symbols including those of Ur, Larsa, Zabalam, Urum, Arina, and probably Kesh. It is likely that this list reflects the report of contributions to Inanna at Uruk from cities supporting her cult.
A large number of similar sealings were found from the slightly later Early Dynastic I phase at Ur, in a slightly different order, combined with the rosette symbol of Inanna, that were definitely used for this purpose. They had been used to lock storerooms to preserve materials set aside for her cult. Inanna’s primary temple of worship was the Eanna, located in Uruk (c.f. Worship).
Inanna’s name derives from Queen of Heaven (Sumerian: nin-anna). The cuneiform sign of Inanna, however, is not a ligature of the signs lady (Sumerian: nin) and sky (Sumerian: an). These difficulties have led some early Assyriologists to suggest that originally Inanna may have been a Proto-Euphratean goddess, possibly related to the Hurrian mother goddess Hannahannah, accepted only latterly into the Sumerian pantheon, an idea supported by her youthfulness, and that, unlike the other Sumerian divinities, at first she had no sphere of responsibilities. The view that there was a Proto-Euphratean substrate language in Southern Iraq before Sumerian is not widely accepted by modern Assyriologists.
Inanna’s symbol is an eight-pointed star or a rosette. She was associated with lions – even then a symbol of power – and was frequently depicted standing on the backs of two lionesses. Her cuneiform ideogram was a hook-shaped twisted knot of reeds, representing the doorpost of the storehouse (and thus fertility and plenty).
Since Inanna embodies the traits of independence, self-determination, and strength in an otherwise patriarchal Sumerian pantheon, she has become the subject of feminist theory. Indeed, in one analysis of “Inanna and the huluppu tree”, the author points out how she was implicitly “tamed and controlled”, even “demoted”, implying her prior importance as a female role model.
Ereshkigal (“great lady under earth”) was the goddess of Irkalla, the land of the dead or underworld. Sometimes her name is given as Irkalla, similar to the way the name Hades was used in Greek mythology for both the underworld and its ruler.
Ereshkigal was the only one who could pass judgment and give laws in her kingdom. The main temple dedicated to her was located in Kutha.
The goddess Ishtar refers to Ereshkigal as her older sister in the Sumerian hymn “The Descent of Inanna” (which was also in later Babylonian myth, also called “The Descent of Ishtar”). Inanna/Ishtar’s trip and return to the underworld is the most familiar of the myths concerning Ereshkigal.
In some versions of the myths, she rules the underworld by herself, sometimes with a husband subordinate to her named Gugalana. It was said that she had been stolen away by Kur and taken to the underworld, where she was made queen unwillingly.
She is the mother of the goddess Nungal. Her son with Enlil was the god Namtar. With Gugalana her son was Ninazu.
Manungal (or simply Nungal) is a goddess of the underworld, worshipped by the Sumerians, Babylonians, and Akkadians. She is the consort of the god Birdu. Her title was the “Queen of the Ekur” where she held the “tablet of life” and carried out judgement on the wicked.
Antu, or Antum, in Akkadian mythology is a Babylonian goddess. She was the first consort of Anu, and the pair were the parents of the Anunnaki and the Utukki. Antu was a dominant feature of the Babylonian akit festival until as recently as 200 BC, her later pre-eminence possibly attributable to identification with the Greek goddess Hera. Antu was replaced as consort by Ishtar or Inanna, who may also be a daughter of Anu and Antu.
Ninlil («lady of the open field” or “Lady of the Wind”), also called Sud, in Assyrian called Mulliltu, is the consort goddess of Enlil. Her parentage is variously described. Most commonly she is called the daughter of Haia (god of stores) and Nunbarsegunu (or Ninshebargunnu [a goddess of barley] or Nisaba).
Another source says Ninlil is the daughter of Anu (aka An) and Antu. Other sources call her a daughter of Anu and Nammu. Theophilus G. Pinches noted that Nnlil or Belit Ilani had seven different names (such as Nintud, Ninhursag, Ninmah, etc.) for seven different localities.
She lived in Dilmun with her family. Raped and ravaged by her husband Enlil, who impregnated her with water, she conceived a boy, Nanna/Suen, the future moon god. As punishment Enlil was dispatched to the underworld kingdom of Ereshkigal, where Ninlil joined him.
Enlil impregnated her disguised as the gatekeeper, whereupon she gave birth to their son Nergal, god of death. In a similar manner she conceived the underworld god Ninazu when Enlil impregnated her disguised as the man of the river of the nether world, a man-devouring river.
Later Enlil disguised himself as the man of the boat, impregnating her with a fourth deity Enbilulu, god of rivers and canals. All of these act as substitutes for Nanna/Suen to ascend. In some texts Ninlil is also the mother of Ninurta, the heroic god who slew Asag the demon with his mace, Sharur.
After her death, she became the goddess of the wind, like Enlil. She may be the Goddess of the South Wind referred to in the story of Adapa, as her husband Enlil was associated with northerly winter storms. As “Lady Wind” she may be associated with the figure of the Akkadian demon “Lil-itu”, thought to have been the origin of the Hebrew Lilith legend.
Nunbarsegunu is an obscure mother goddess and goddess of barley in Mesopotamian (Sumerian, Babylonian, and Akkadian) mythology. Mentioned in creation texts as the ‘old woman of Nippur’, she is identified as the mother of Ninlil, the air goddess. Ninbarsegunu instructs her daughter in the arts of obtaining the attentions of Enlil.
Nanibgal, also Nisaba or Nidaba, was the Sumerian goddess of writing, learning, and the harvest. Her sanctuaries were E-zagin at Eresh and at Umma. On a depiction found in Lagash, she appears with flowing hair, crowned with horned tiara bearing supporting ears of grain and a crescent moon. Her dense hair is evoked in comparison in the description of similarly hairy Enkidu in the Gilgamesh epic.
As with many Sumerian deities, Nisaba’s exact place in the pantheon and her heritage appears somewhat ambiguous. She is the daughter of An and Urash. From Sumerian texts, the language used to describe Urash is very similar to the language used to describe Ninhursag. Therefore, the two goddess may be one and the same. Nisaba is the sister of Ninsun, the mother of Gilgamesh. If Urash and Ninhursag are the same goddess, then Nisaba is also the half sister of Nanshe and (in some versions) Ninurta. In some other tales, she is considered the mother of Ninlil, and by extension, the mother-in-law of Enlil.
Uraš or Urash, in Sumerian mythology is a goddess of earth, and one of the consorts of the sky god Anu. She is the mother of the goddess Ninsun and a grandmother of hero Gilgamesh.
Ninsun or Ninsuna (“lady wild cow”) is a goddess, best known as the mother of the legendary hero Gilgamesh, and as the tutelary goddess of Gudea of Lagash. Her parents are the deities Anu and Uras.
In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Ninsun is depicted as a human queen who lives in Uruk with her son as king. Since the father of Gilgamesh was former king Lugalbanda, it stands to reason that Ninsun procreated with Lugalbanda to give birth.
Also in the Epic of Gilgamesh, Ninsun is summoned by Gilgamesh and Enkidu to help pray to the god Utu to help the two on their journey to the Country of the Living to battle Humbaba.
Ninsun is called “Rimat-Ninsun”, the “August cow”, the “Wild Cow of the Enclosure”, and “The Great Queen”. In the Tello relief (the ancient Lagash, 2150 BC) her name is written with the cuneiform glyphs as: DINGIR.NIN.GUL where the glyph for GUL is the same for SUN2. The meaning of SUN2 is attested as “cow”.
Ninsun was called Gula in Sumerian Mythology until the name was later changed to Ninisina. Gula in the latter became a Babylonian goddess. She was originally named Nininsina, according to Pabilsag’s journey to Nibru. According to the ancient Babylonian text, Nininsina wedded Pabilsag near a riverbank. By Pabilsag she bore Damu.
Ashnan was the goddess of grain in Mesopotamia. She and her brother Lahar, the Sumerian cattle-god, both children of Enlil, were created by the gods to provide the Annunaki with food, but when the heavenly creatures were found unable to make use of their products, humankind was created to provide an outlet for their services.
Sumerian Goddesses – Goddess Guide
The Goddess in Sumer – Understanding Goddess Religion
Lilith, Sumerian Demon Goddess and First Wife of Adam
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