The Older
(genealogically)
"Gods"
Red = SUMERIAN name
Blue = ACADIAN name
Green = BABYLONIAN name
Abzu - Apzu -
Apsu
He is the "father" of Lahmu, Lahamu, An and Ki.
A primeval Sumerian-Acadian god who personifies the primordial abyss
of sweet waters underneath the earth. He is the begetter of the
skies and the earth.
He is the "consort" of Tiamat, the primordial abyss of salt waters
of Chaos. (In the later Babylonian mythology of
the Enuma Elish, the
sweet water mingled with the bitter waters of the sea and with a
third watery element, perhaps cloud, the first Gods were
engendered.)
Abzu could not quell the noise of the younger Gods or their
children. He colluded with his vizier Mummu to silence the Gods and
allow Tiamat to rest, after Tiamat rejected the idea.
The waters of Abzu were thought of as held immobile underground by
the 'spell' of Enki in a death-like sleep, but it is also said that
Enki had Abzu fallen asleep and had killed him, because Enki found
out about his plans .From the clay of Apsu man was fashioned.
This appears to be a Sumerian myth, because in the Enuma Elish,
Qingu's blood serves this purpose.
Abzu's vizier, Mummu, was imprisoned by Enki in a house built on his
body.(1)
(1) See also the story of
the Watchers in the book of Enoch about
the punishment of the leader of the Watchers who took themselves
wife's of Humans.
Tiamat
The Sumerian and Acadian name is unknown, some scholars believe she
was the same as Nammu.
Primeval Chaos, bearer of the skies and the earth, mother of Lahmu,
Lahamu, An and Ki.
The clamor of the younger gods disturbed her, but she continued to
indulge them. When Abzu and Mummu suggested that they kill the
younger gods, she grew furious, calmed down and rejected the plan.
Her restless subservient Gods goaded her into action after Abzu was
slain. They prepared to wage war against the other gods.
As Mother Hubur, the underworld river, who fashions all things, she
bore giant snakes with venom for blood, and cloaked dragons with a
godlike radiance yet with a terrible visage, for the war. She
rallied :
1. a horned serpent
2. a mushussu-dragon
3. a Lahmu-hero
4. a ugallu-demon
5. a rabid dog
6. a scorpion-man
7. umu-demons
8. a fish-man
9. a
bull-man and eleven others underneath her champion, Qingu.
She gave Qingu the Tablet of Destinies to facilitate his command and attack.
Marduk came with his host to attack her. Qingu's strategy initially
confuses him, and Tiamat tried to spell him, hurling jibes at him.
She was rebuffed and incited into single combat with Marduk. She
continued to cast her spell and Marduk nets her, and throws a wind
at her. She tried to swallow it and was undone - distended, shot,
sliced in two and cut in the heart. Her crushed skull heralded her
death, and half of her skin was used to roof up the sky. Her eyes
became the sources of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
(2)
Lahmu
and Lahamu
The Sumerian and Acadian name is unknown (see the note above about
the Earth and note 2 below).
- 'the hairy one' or 'muddy' they have three pairs of curls, and are
naked except for a triple sash.
They were the first children of Tiamat and Apsu. Kakka was sent to
fetch them by An, to help send off Marduk on his fight with Tiamat
and be rallied to his side. They complied and helped find a princely
shrine for Marduk.
(2) A theory about the Earth is
that in ancient times the earth lost half of her mass through a
collapse with an other planet (maybe Mars) or what is left over
from a planet who's orbit lies between Mars and Jupiter (the
Asteroids belt). Another theory is that the Earth collided with
a planet named Nibiru
Many Myths, Legends and Sages from all over the world tells the
story of collapsing planets in ancient times, especially Mars,
Jupiter and the Earth. Many stories talk about these times when the
Dinosaurs died out, the world was in flames, Floods came over the
planet and an Ice age began.
As mentioned the Sumerians saw the God's as the planets of our solar
system, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Moon, Mars, Unknown Nibiru ? ( about
size of Uranus / Neptune), Jupiter, Saturn, Indeterminate (about
size of Mercury), Uranus, Neptune, Pluto.
Note : Did you mention that the ancients knew the existence of all
planets already thousands of years after the were re-discovered by
modern scholars?. Neptune and Pluto were re-discovered in the 20th
century.
Abzu, and Tiamat can be seen as the Heavens and the
Earth and are in
my opinion not "living" Gods but were worshipped as Gods by the
Babylonians.
An - An -
Anshar
- 'whole sky' He is the father of Anu and Enlil and the "son" of
Tiamat and Abzu. He is often paired with Ki, he also paired with
Nammu, the Goddess of the Sea. It seems likely that he and Ki were
the progenitors of most of the gods.
He and Enlil give various gods, goddesses, and kings their earthly
regions of influence and their laws.
When Enki learned of Tiamat's planned war,
An tried to stir him into
attacking her first, but was rebuffed. He turned to Anu and sent him
on a peace mission to Tiamat, but Anu returned unsuccessful.
An assembly was convened and
Marduk came forth at Enki's urging,
promising to deliver Tiamat's defeated body to An's feet. Marduk
required of the assembly a promise that he would be given the
leadership of the pantheon after he is victorious. He had Kakka
gather Lahmu, Lahamu, and the other gods together to send off Marduk
on his fight and rally them to his side. When they arrive they help
find a princely shrine for Marduk.
AN god of heaven, may have been the main god of the pantheon,
although his importance gradually waned from the time the Earth was
colonized.
His primary temple was in Unug (Uruk, Erech).
In my opinions AN went back to his "home planet" shortly after his
first consort Nammu had left, he leaves Ki (his second wife) behind
and she stayed on Earth for a long time and she became one of the 4
primary Deities.
AN is the same as the God "EL",
Elohim or Ely-on in the Bible, the
God as mentioned in Genesis 1 as God who created heaven and earth.
In The Bible we can read :
Gn:1:1: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Gn:1:2: And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was
upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face
of the waters.
Gn:1:6: And God said, Let there be a firmament in the
midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
Gn:1:7: And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which
were under the firmament from the waters which were above the
firmament: and it was so.
Ki Belet-Ili Ninmah -
Ninmah Mama - Kishar Aruru Nintu Mami
- 'whole earth' , She is the mother of Anu and the "child" of Tiamat
and Abzu.
KI is likely to be the original name of the earth goddess, whose
name more often appears as Nintu (the lady who gave birth), she is
also called Mami.
She is the mother goddess of the Sumerians and Acadians. She is also
called the womb goddess, and midwife of the gods. Her name means
'greatest queen' and is also called Dingirmach ('greatest deity') or
simply Mach.
She helped Nammu with the creation of humankind and was held
responsible for the birth of seven deformed humans who she created
first and was later responsible for the creation of man with the
help of Enki. (3)
(3) With the help of Nammu, Ki created seven deformed humans from
the blood of Qingu.
In the poem of "Enki and Ninmah" we can read more details about
these deformed humans, of with the male and female had no sexual
organ to produce children. Later, the gods asked her to create
mankind for them. At Enki's direction, Ki mixed clay with the blood
of the god Geshtu-e, in order to shape seven man and seven women.(4)
(4)
It seems to be that Ki, along with the help of other God's,
created man and women from the blood of another God (Geshtu-e).
Again we hear about the number 7, like 7 days of creation in the
Bible. These creation would bear the workload of the Anunnaki and
Igigi.
She created man, so they could till the soils and dig canals, and
she created women so that they could continue to bear man. Seven of
each she created, so that after 600 years the people were already
too numerous. The land became so noisy that Enlil could not sleep.
The people were also sinful, eating their own children, so Enlil
decided to wash them away with a great flood.
He meant to keep the plan a secret from the people but the god
Enki
told his protégé Atrahasis what would happen and how he could
save himself by means of a boat. The flood lasted seven days.
She also added to the creation of
Gilgamesh, and, at Anu's command,
made Enkidu in Anu's image by pinching off a piece of clay, throwing
it into the wilderness, and birthing him there.
(5)
(5) Ki was also responsible for more creations like Gilgamesh and in
Anu's image she created Enkidu, so Enkidu looked different from
other creations such as human and man. This story is similar to the
Jewish apocrypha book of creation which is not part of the Christian
Bible.
Enki called her to offer her beloved
Ninurta as the one who should
hunt Anzu. She does so.
As mentioned by her consort An, Ki stayed on Earth for a long time.
Nammu - Nammu
The Babylonian name is unknown.
She was the "heavenly" consort of An.
The Sumerian goddess of the sea who created heaven and earth. The
Goddess of the watery abyss, she is the mother of Enki and
Ereshkigal, they were twins.
She instructs Enki on how, with the help of
Ki to create man.
In my opinion she went back early to her "home planet" (Nibiru?).
She leaves the Earthly things to the other Gods, including her
consort An who shortly after her also returned to his "home planet".
An and Ki were the progenitors of most of the gods.