Anu

From New World Encyclopedia
Revision as of 23:59, 9 April 2008 by Dan Fefferman (talk | contribs)
DINGIR, the Sumerian cuneiform symbol for An and for deity in general.

In Sumerian mythology and later for Assyrians and Babylonians, Anu (also An; (from Sumerian *An = sky, heaven)) was a sky-god and later the chief deity of the assembly of the gods who ruled over the entire spiritual realm. Anu was described as the god of heaven, lord of constellations, king of gods, and the father of spirits and demons. He was part of a trinity of deities together with Enlil and Ea (Enki), who governed the spiritual heavens, the sky and earth, and the waters, respectively.

The patron of kings, Anu dwelt in the highest heavenly regions. It was believed that he had the power to judge those who had committed crimes, and that he had created the stars as soldiers to destroy the wicked. Although he was the highest god, Anu played a relatively small role the everyday religion of Mesopotamia. His attribute was the royal tiara, most times decorated with two pairs of bull horns.

Description

Fertile Crescent
myth series
Mark of the Palm
Mesopotamian
Levantine
Arabian
Mesopotamia
Primordial beings
The great gods
Demigods & heroes
Spirits & monsters
Tales from Babylon
7 Gods who Decree  

4 primary:

3 sky:

Anu is described in various inscriptions as having several consorts, the foremost being Ki (earth). Other important consorts were Nammu, and Uras. By Ki he was the father of the Annuna gods. By Nammu he was the father of Enki and Ningikuga. By Uras he was the father of Nin'insinna. According to legends, heaven and earth were once inseparable until An and Ki bore Enlil, god of the air, who cleaved heaven and earth in two. An and Ki were, in some texts, identified as brother and sister, being the children of Anshar and Kishar. Ki later developed into the Akkadian goddess Antu. It is important to understand, however, that the portrait of Anu above is gleaned from documents that span several centuries. How he appeared in any single period is more difficult to know, due to the scarcity of the sources.

Anu was one of the oldest gods in the Sumerian pantheon. He was the first named in the primary triad of gods including himself (the god of the high heavens), Enlil (god of the sky and the earth), and Enki (god of water). Originally known as "An" in Sumerian, he was called Anu by the Akkadians, rulers of Mesopotamia after their conquest of Sumer in 2334 B.C.E. by King Sargon of Akkad.

By virtue of being the first figure in a triad consisting of Anu, Bel, and Ea, Anu came to be regarded as the father and king of the gods. Anu is prominently associated with the E-anna temple in the city of Uruk (biblical Erech) in southern Babylonia. Although the goddess Ishtar/Innana predominated here, there are good reasons for believing this place to have been the original seat of the Anu cult. If this be correct, then the goddess Inanna (or Ishtar) of Uruk may at one time have been considered his consort.

Name origin

"An" can be translated as "high one." He is portrayed in Sumerian cosmogony as a dome that covered the flat earth. Outside of this dome was the primordial body of water known as Tiamat (not to be confused with the Subterranean "Absu"). [1].

In Sumerian, the designation "An" was used interchangeably with "the heavens" so that in some cases it is doubtful whether, under the term, the god An or the heavens is being denoted. In the old-Babylonian period, i.e. before Hammurabi, Anu was regarded as the god of the heavens and the chief god. After Hammurabi, Anu still retained his identity as the god of heaven, but was replaced as the chief god by Marduk.

The Babylonian myth known as Enuma Elish describes how Marduk, described as Ea's son, came to achieve his position as chief god by rebelling against Tiamat, portrayed as a monstrous female sea deity. Tiamat plans to slay the younger gods, who are her offspring. Anu tries to face Tiamat but cannot withstand her. Finally, the gods decide that the only one equal to the task is Marduk. They declare him to be the greatest of them all and elect him as their leader and king. Ultimately, Marduk smashes Tiamat’s skull with his club, and half of her titanic body becomes the sky. Then, "he stretched the immensity of the firmament... and Anu and Enlil and Ea had each their right stations." Later, Marduk creates the physical world and human kind.

Religious doctrine

The doctrine, once established, remained an inherent part of the Babylonian-Assyrian religion and led to the universalization of the three gods constituting the triad, disassociating them from their original local limitations. Earlier, Anu had been viewed as the local deity of Uruk, Enlil as the god of Nippur, and Ea as the god of Eridu.

The summing-up of divine powers manifested in the universe in a threefold division is thought to represent the outcome of theological evolution in the schools attached to the temples of Babylonia. At the same time, the selection of Anu, Enlil (later replaced by Marduk), and Ea as the three representatives of the three great spheres (heaven, sky/earth, and water) is due to the importance which the center in which Anu, Enlil, and Ea were worshiped had acquired in the popular mind. Each of the three must have been regarded in his center as the most important member in a larger or smaller group, so that their union in a triad marks also the combination of the three distinctive pantheons into a harmonious whole.

In the astral theology of Babylonia and Assyria, Anu, Enlil and Ea became the three zones of the sun's path through the sky—the northern, middle and southern zone respectively. Anu's character was a distant one. In the surviving incantations and hymns, he is rarely introduced as an active force to whom a personal appeal can be made. His name becomes little more than a synonym for the heavens in general and even his title as king or father of the gods has little of the personal element in it. A consortm Antum, is assigned to him, for every important male deity had a female associate; but Antum is a purely artificial product—-a lifeless symbol playing even less of a part in what may be called the active pantheon than Anu.

A similar process may be seen in Canaanite religion, where El, the father of the gods and chief of the Divine Assembly, became less and less an immediate presence in later centuries. He was replaced as an immediate presence by Baal, who rebelled against the old order, overcame the god of death, Mot, and became the Marduk-like ruler of heaven and earth.

To complete the picture, it should be mentioned that Innana/Ishtar, the mother-warrior-fertility goddess known as Astarte in Canaan, remained a powerful female presence in the pantheon throughout the centuries.

Hurrian religion

In Hurrian mythology, Anu was the progenitor of all gods. His son Kumarbi bit off his genitals and spat out three deities, one of whom, Teshub, later deposed Kumarbi.

Notes

  1. Kramer, Samuel N. Sumerian Mythology: a Study of Spiritual and Literary Achievement in the Third Millennium B.C.E. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania P, 1998.

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

  • Jordon, Michael . Encyclopedia of Gods, Kyle Cathie Limited, 2002
  • Kramer, Samuel N. Sumerian Mythology: a Study of Spiritual and Literary Achievement in the Third Millennium B.C.E. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania P, 1998.
  • This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

Credits

New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:

The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia:

Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed.