Gods, Demons & Immortals
whose Names Start with 'A'
The immortals of ancient Sumer.
by James W. Bell © 2002-3
Ababa
Ababa was a temple gatekeeper, partnered with Antadurunnu at the Dumah station ('Exalted Mound') in the E.sagil Temple at Babil.
Abzu (Apsu in Akkadian)
Abzu (Sumerian AB=father; ZU=wise; wise father) was the primeval male god, the husband of Tiamat. According to Sumerian mythology, at the request of the younger gods, Enki caused Abzu, his great, great grandfather, to become unconscious and then carried him down to the Earth where he set up his temple, the E.abzu, over his ancestor's unconscious body. Abzu's body became the original Earth, which was entirely water, and Enki, (En=lord, ki=Earth) Lord of the Earth, became its first tutelary god . There was no land on the Earth until Enlil slew Tiamat and brought down her carcass which became land.
>> Biblical Connection: . . . . . .
In the Bible, as detailed in the Book of Genesis, there was no land until the third day when:
Genesis Chapter 1 (King James Version)
9. God said: Let the waters under Heaven be gathered into one place and let the dry land appear; and it was so.
10. God called the dry land Earth and the gathering of waters He called Seas, and God saw that it was good.
. . . . . . .
Abzu's spouse was Tiamat. They, Abzu as freshwater and Tiamat as saltwater, were begetters of the primeval gods, Lahmu and Lahamu.
Abzu's sukkal, his personal advisor, was Mummu.
According to Sumerian mythology, Abzu became the vast fresh water sea that was later overlaid by Tiamat's corpse (land). In Sumerian geography, the Abzu was located in the 'Great Below,' beneath the surface of the Earth but above the roof of the Netherworld. Sumerians believed the freshwater of the Abzu was directly responsible for plant growth.
Our word 'abyss' is derived from Abzu.
Abzu had no known temples, shrines or sanctuaries.
Adad (see Ishkur)
Adapa, the Perfect Man
Adapa was a creation of Enki, the perfect man who became known as the "sage of Eridu." He served his creator by maintaining the E.abzu, the House of Enki. He also traveled to Heaven where he turned down the chance to become immortal. It happened like this:
One day when Adapa went fishing, South Wind attacked his boat and sank it. In his fury, Adapa shouted, “South Wind, I will break your wing,” and South Wind’s wing was broken.
For seven days afterwards, South Wind did not blow and Anu, learning that a mortal named Adapa had broken his wing, sent for the man to punish him.
To protect him from Anu's wrath, Enki counseled Adapa about going up to Heaven, but because he was jealous, warned Adapa that the supreme god would give him the bread of death to eat and the water of death to drink. He warned Adapa against eating or drinking either.
So, when in Heaven and Anu offered Adapa the bread of eternal life and the water of everlasting being, Adapa refused both. Anu was amazed and asked, “Why did you neither eat nor drink to gain eternal life?” Adapa answered, “My lord, Enki, told me, ‘You must neither eat nor drink.’”
“Take him,” Anu said, “and send him back to his Earth.”
For the full story, translated from Sumerian, click here.
Alla
A little known Sumerian god of the Netherworld from the coastal area of Sumer near Kuara. His name indicates 'Owner of the Net,' indicating some connection with fishermen. He may have served as sukkal to Ningishzida.
Alla had no known temples, shrines or sanctuaries.
Allatu, Allatum (see Ereshkigal)
Amakandu (see Shakkan)
Amurru (see Martu)
Anshar
Anshar was the son of Lahmu and Lahamu. More importantly, he was the father of Anu. He and his wife, Kishar, chose to remain in Heaven when Anu and his descendents left to go
down to the Earth.
Although Anshar remained in Heaven, he often served as an advisor to the gods living on the Earth.
Anshar had no temples, shrines or sanctuaries on the Earth.
Antadurunnu
Antadurunnu was a temple gatekeeper, partnered with Ababa at the Dumah station ('Exalted Mound') in the E.sagil Temple at Babil.
Antu
Not much is known about the goddess Antu other than she was the wife of Anu. She resided in Heaven, seldom coming down to the Earth.
*[ In my stories, Antu was left behind in Heaven when Anu left to come down to Earth to establish a citadel at Der so he could protect the black-headed people from bandit gangs and horned warriors roving the mountainlands of the Hursag. When Anu met Innin (renamed Inanna and then, Ishtar) he moved into the E.anna Temple in Uruk with her. Antu was left alone in Heaven, abandoned by her husband. ]"
Poor Antu had no known temples or shrines but did have a bed chamber in the bit resh at Uruk called the E.nir, 'House of Weariness.'
Antu's cryptographic number was 55.
Anu (An in Sumerian)
An (in Sumerian AN=Heaven) was regarded by Sumerian mythology as the father of all the gods who came down to live on the Earth. His wife was Antu. Not much is known about Anu and no identifiable images of him are known to exist.
*[ In my stories, Anu came down to the Earth after the Flood when the gods on Earth had abandoned the mountainlands, the Land of the Gods, where they had originally settled. The mountainlands soon became home to roving bandit gangs and horned warriors who periodically attacked settlements on the plain of Sumer. ]*
*[ To protect the black-headed people, as the Sumerians called themselves, who were living on the plain, Anu built a citadel in a mountain pass that he named Der. While at Der, the supreme god met young Innin, the self-appointed queen of the nearby city of Aratta. Innin was young and Anu fell under the spell of her charms. It was he who renamed her and first called her Inanna, Queen of Heaven. ]*
*[ With Anu's help, Inanna accumulated wealth and power. She built a great temple named the E.anna in the ancient and holy Eanna quarter of Uruk and invited Anu to come live with her. Anu accepted and moved into the E.anna Temple, turning the citadel of Der over to Ishtaran and abandoning his wife, Antu, who remained in Heaven. ]*
Like other major gods, Anu had many temples in cities throughout the Land, but, after meeting Inanna, his major temple was always the E.anna Temple ('House of Heaven') in Uruk.
Anu's symbol was a horned cap and his cryptographic number was 60.
Anunnaki (sometimes called the Anunna)
The Anunnaki (Annunaki is plural, Annunaku is singular) were the 600 lesser gods of Heaven without personal names who first came down from Heaven to reside on the Earth.
*[ In my stories, there were 900 lesser gods in Heaven without names. Of these, when the major gods on the Earth asked for volunteers to till the land and grow food for them, 600 left Heaven and came down to the Earth. These 600 lesser gods became known as the Anunnaki. ]*
*[ The Anunnaki soon found growing food was hard work and put down their implements, refusing to work. As a result of their refusal to work, the other 300 lesser gods still in Heaven, the Igigi, were called down to Earth but they too, downed their tools. Unlike the Anunnaki who remained on the Earth, the Igigi went back up to Heaven. ]*
*[ The direct consequence of the lesser gods refusing to till the land, was that the greater gods persuaded Enki to create human mortals to be their servants and grow food for them. Human mortals, however, were bumptious and caused Enlil to unleash the Flood upon the Earth. At this time, Enlil sent the 600 Anunnaki down below into the Netherworld where they remained, serving as judges who sat in judgment of the human dead. ]*
The Anunnaki had a seat in the E.arazugishtukuasalluhi Temple at Babil, 'House of Asalluhi Which Hears Prayers.' They had no known temples, shrines or sanctuaries in the Great Above.
Anzu Birds (also see Imdugud and zu-birds)
The correct name for the Anzu birds, 'Wise Birds of Heaven,' was probably Imdugud.
*[ However, in my stories, I treat Imdugud as the name of an individual bird who responds to Enki's commands whereas the other Anzu birds serve Enlil, Skylord of the Earth. Like other Anzu birds, Imdugud is a giant bird with the body of an eagle and the head of a lion.]*
*[ Also, in my stories, the Heaven-born Anzu birds are different from the Earth-born Zu-birds in that the Anzu birds are larger and, having been born in Heaven, are not subject to earthly limitations, such as nesting at night. ]*
Neither the Anzu birds nor Imdugud have known temples, shrines or sanctuaries on the Earth.
Aruru (See Nintu)
Asag (Asakku in Akadian)
Asag was a wild primeval mountain god of great power who lived in a part of the mountainlands (today's Zagros Mountains) called the Hursag. Specifically, Asag's home was along the Saidmarreh River (in southwestern Iran) in lands cknown by Sumerians as the 'Rebel Lands.' In Sumerian mythology, Asag resided there, mating with mountains and producing boulders as his offspring.
According to a Sumerian legend, Asag was slain by Ninurta in the Battle of the Gods which caused the Saidmarreh landslip along the Saidmarreh River. The Saidmarreh landslip is still the largest known landslip in the world.
To read the story of the Battle of the Gods, click here.
Asag had no known temples, shrines or sanctuaries.
Asarluhi (see Marduk)
Ashgi
Little is known about the god, Ashgi, except that he was the brother of Lisin, and is known to have had a temple at Adab.
Ashnan
Ashnan, sister of Lahar, was goddess of grain and worked with Enki to see that the barley and wheat was abundant and of a quality to make good bread. In one tradition, Ashnan was the wife of Shakkan.
Ashnan had no known temple, shrine or sanctuary but resided in the E.ibgal Temple of Inanna at Umma.
Assembly of the Gods
The Assembly of the Gods was apparently a tradition the gods brought with them when they came down from Heaven to the Earth.
On the Earth, they met periodically and also at times of crisis in the holy city of Nippur on the Euphrates River. They usually traveled to these meetings by boat.
Their meeting hall was called the 'Ubshu.ukkinna' and was located in one corner of the Kiur, the spacious forecourt of Enlil's great E.kur Temple at Nippur.
Leadership of the assembly changed over time. Originally, Anu was the assembly's leader. But, later, his role was taken over first by Enlil, and then, after the decline of Sumer, by Marduk.
*[ In my stories, although Enki was the original Lord of the Earth, he was never leader of the Assembly of Gods. In an effort to protect the human mortals he had created from the wiles of the assembled gods, he sometimes openly opposed the assembly and, when unable to prevail, subverted their plans. ]*
Asshur
Asshur, originally the Akkadian tutelary god of the city of Asshur, later became god of the Assyrian nation.
To identify Asshur with the Sumerian/Babylonian pantheon of gods, Assyrians identified him with Enlil and a ziggurat named E.arattakisharra was built for Asshur-Enlil at Asshur. Also, his temple at Asshur named Betum Rimum, 'House of the Wild Ox,' was also known as the E.kur, 'Mountain House,' like Enlil's temple at Nippur. Asshur's temple complex at Asshur called E.sharra, 'House of the Universe,' dates from later Assyrian times.
Asshur was never included in the Sumerian pantheon of gods and he had no known temples, shrines or sanctuaries in Sumeria in the 27th century BCE.
Atra-hasis (also Ut-napishtim and Ziusudra)
Atra-hasis, 'The Very Wise,' is the Akkadian name of a farmer, a resident of Shuruppak, who became the survivor of the Flood, comparable to Noah in the Bible. In the Sumerian version, his name was Ziusudra and he was the lugal, or king, of the city of Shuruppak. In the epic of Gilgamesh, his name was Utnapishtim, 'He Found Life.'
The story, "When the gods instead of man did the work," was put on clay tablets which can be dated to ca 1700 BCE.
To read an overview of the Akkadian version, click here.
There were no known temples, shrines or sanctuaries built to honor Atra-hasis, Ut-napishtim or Ziusuadra.
Aya (Sherida in Sumerian)
Aya, the goddess of light, was the wife of Shamash, the Sun god. *[ In my stories, Aya was a beautiful goddess wearing a flowing gown of the finest bleached linen, so diaphanous that it seemed almost transparent. Her black hair was long and flowing, contained only by a golden circlet. Her feet were sandaled. In the morning, Aya stood with her back to the East and the rising sun to greet the world with a smile. It was said this is where the greeting "Aya" came from. ]*
Aya was worshipped with Shamash in his E.babbar temples at Larsa and Sippar. Otherwise, Aya had no known temples, shrines or sanctuaries of her own.
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