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                                                                          Gods

Language and the Nature of the Gods:

 

Understand that while we worship Inanna it is important to have a well rounded knowldge of the Sumerian Religion and It's Gods.

 

You never really know a god or goddess in the Sumerian pantheon unless you understand their names and where they come from. Each god has a name that tells not only what they were called, but also who they were. Their names were descriptive and told something about them.

The Akkadians adopted the Sumerian religion and the Sumerian gods, but called them by different names. These different names weren't different gods, but rather different ways to understand the same gods. The Akkadian language was vastly different from the language of the Sumerians meaning that the symbols and words that could be used to describe the gods would be different, but the gods were still the same.

The Sumerian language is interesting in that every word could be used to mean about a half dozen things, and some words could be given many more definitions than that. This pun filled language is useful in understanding their culture in that each word association told a little more. It can be confusing in that the same word could be used to mean something vastly different in two differing contexts.

Though it is perfectly valid to use the Akkadian language to talk about the gods, we will be using the Sumerian names to differentiate between Sumerian and later Babylonian beliefs. The Babylonians used the Akkadian language, but over time they changed some of the core Sumerian beliefs.

 

Gods in Brief

Gods in brief: The gods are more than one paragraph or less can really say about them. That being said, occasionally you just want a ten cent tour of the gods. It seems like you can either choose between reading one sentence on a god or an entire book. We're attempting to split the difference. If you want to read more about the gods there are other sections of Temple of Sumer where you can read more in depth descriptions.

This section is going to expand over time with more and more entries. If you think an entry should be made that hasn't yet been let us know. We will try to get to it in a timely fashion.

 

Adad: See Ishkur.

An: God of the upper heavens. One of the seven who decrees fate.

Anki: Heaven + Earth. The entire universe. Also implies just the civilized portions of the universe.

Asarluhi: God of magic. Son of Enki and Damkina. Associated with exorcism, medical practice, and the banishing of demons.

Assur: Place god of the city of Assur and the Assyrian people. He wields a bow. Known for taking on the aspects of other gods in the Assyrian religion.

Dagan: Grain god. Inventor of the plow. His consort was the goddess Shala in one tradition and Ishara in another. He was an early convert to the religion. He was the personal god of the Ensis of the Sargonic Dynasty. Dagan as a god of fish is not a Sumerian tradition and would only come about in the fourth century BCE.

Dagon: See Dagan.

Damgalnuna: See Damkina.

Damkina: Wife of Enki who lives with him in the Apsu. Mother of Marduk the grain god, and Asarluhi god of magic and exorcism.

Enki: God of fresh water and by extension rivers, magic, cleverness, and invention. The most clever of the gods. He is not a trickster, but rather an inventor who supports the Order of the Universe that he had a hand in creating.

Enlil: Head of the pantheon. One of the Seven who Decree Fate. Lord of the wind and the host of spirits. God of good fortune. Son of An and Ki.

 

Gibil: God of fire and all aspects of heat from baking to warfare to lighting streets. One of the heroes of the gods. The founder of cities. The purifier, especially of water. Messenger of the gods who brings burnt offerings to the heavens. Protector of humans from demons of the night.

Gira: See Gibil

Inanna: Goddess of passionate emotion, sexual love, and the heat of battle. One of the seven who decree fate. Goddess of the date storehouse. Was slain in a failed attempt to to take over the underworld, and later was resurrected thanks to intervention by the god Enki. Is often depicted as a spoiled princess in myth.

Ishkur: Storm god of the south wind. One of the heroes of the gods. Patron to shepherds. Noted for his fearsome roar. His weapon is lightning.

Ki: Goddess of the below. Goddess of all of the earth. Once the consort of An.

Marduk: Grain god. God of the city of Babylon. Son of Enki and Damkina.

Nanna: See Nanna-Suen.

Nanna-Suen: Moon god. God whose sheep are the stars. Husband of Ningal. Father to Inanna, and Utu. Lord of Time. One of the Seven who Decree Fate.

Nannar: See Nanna-Suen.

. Nimrod: See Ninurta.

Ningirsu: See Ninurta.

Ninhursag: Mother goddess. Earth goddess. Goddess of domesticated crops. Goddess of childbirth. Goddess of the foothills. One of the Seven who Decree Fate. Primarily known as the wife of Enki, but also noted as the consort of other gods.

Ninma: See Ninhursag.

Ninurta: Storm god of the north wind and the mountains. Patron to farmers. Hero of the gods. He defeated various foreign demons and threats to the pantheon. He wields the intelligent sword Sharur.

Nudimmud: See Enki

 Seven who Decree Fate: An, Enlil, Enki, Ninhursag, Nanna-Suen, Utu, Inanna. Seven gods who, as a council, rule the entire pantheon. They each hold the Tablet of Destiny. Their job is to shape the future and to promote civilization.

Shara: Hero of the gods. Champion of An. Inanna's son, singer, hairdresser, and manicurist.

Sin: See Nanna-Suen.

Suen: See Nanna-Suen.

Tiamat: See Enuma Elish. This is middle Babylonian, not Sumerian.

Utu: Sun god. God of prophecy. God of law. One of the four governors who administer Ereshkigal's law in the underworld. One of the Seven who Decree Fate.

 

 

 

The Seven Who Decree Fate

 

The seven who decree fate were the ruling council of the gods. They would take advice from the high gods and the lower gods, but they did all of the actual ruling and made all of the decisions on how fate would play out.

Their strength was derived from the tablet of destiny crafted by Enki. Upon this tablet was inscribed the order of the universe. The laws that governed every aspect of civilization and the law to which the gods themselves submitted. Each of the seven presumably had a copy of this tablet.

 

The ruling council had rulership over all of the aspects of civilization and progressively more power over the years as civilization marched slowly across the land and developed within the lands. This rulership had some democratic elements, but without the internal strife, and without the even balance of votes.

They each had a hand in determining destiny, but that hand could be uneven. Each of the gods could put a portion of their vote into any given decision. The ruler of the council would have a vote that could be stronger than the others, but was not guaranteed to be.

When a decision was made it was binding. Even those who did not agree before the vote would all stand behind the decision. This is the strength of the Order of the Universe. It allowed the gods to turn their attention towards the problems that faced the lands that they ruled both from within and from without.

 

Though the seven seemed all powerful and all knowing, there were a few things that they were forbidden to have power over. No god could have control of destiny and also have control over the land of the dead. When Enki went down to the underworld to save Ereshkigal at the dawn of time he gave the ruler ship of the realm to Ereshkigal rather than attempting to keep it for himself. When Inanna attempted to take the throne of Kur from Ereshkigal she was slain for it.

1)Anu or An: He is the primal father of the father of the gods. He is the embodiment of the upper heavens. He was there at the spiritual creation of the universe out of the primordial deep. Together with the goddess Ki he engendered the Anki or the Sumerian conception of the universe.

 

An and Ki bore Enlil the father of the gods and the head of the pantheon. An and Apsu, the manifestation of the primordial deep itself, bore the god Enki. It is Enki who would craft the foundation of the empire of gods that his half brother would rule.

It is thought that he was once the head of the pantheon in the earliest days of Sumer. For most of available Sumerian mythology he was not the head of the pantheon. That honor was given to his first born son Enlil, the lord of the winds.

 

As a god he is the manifestation of the realm of heaven. His name An was also the name for heaven. That is to say he is the lord of heaven as well as being heaven itself. His consort was the goddess Ki or Ninki at one point, but after the birth of Enlil they were separated.

There are connections between him and the Judeo-Christian god Eloheim. In Akkadian, the language Abraham most likely spoke, El was both the name for An and for his son Enlil. El translates roughly to the word lord. As it is unlikely that Elohim refers to the same god in every situation, there is a good chance that the title referred to An on several occasions.

 

2)Enlil: This is the god of wind, storms, fortune, and princeliness. He might not be the one who did the crafting of the original Order of the Universe, but he is the one who commissioned that there be an order of the universe. Essentially this means that he is the god who caused the entire pantheon to crystallize into a functional whole.

 

He is the first born son of An and Ki and had a hand in separating the heavens from the earth. His myths blur together with the older myths of An since both were the head of the pantheon at one time and both are translated as El in Akkadian. In character though they are quite different. An was never a particularly active member of the pantheon, while Enlil took an active role in ruling the pantheon.

Enlil is considered to be the father of the gods though Enki could just as easily claim that title. Both gods had quite a number of children, though three of Enlil's descendants are among the seven who decree fate.

 

His name means "lord of the wind" or "lord of the spirits". As such it is only natural that he is the head of the gods. He is the manifestation of the realm between the heaven and the earth. Enlil was the god of princeliness and the god who one calls to get good fortune.

The god Ninurta is the closest to Enlil in character, but while Ninurta is wild and adventurous, Enlil is generally regal and subdued. Enlil is often called Ninurta's father. Since Ninhursag is likely Ninurta's mother it is possible that Ninhursag was for a time the consort of Enlil.

The goddess Ninlil was destined to be Enlil's consort, but he had intercourse before his bride to be was ready. He was condemned for this rape by the entire pantheon. She did not hold this act against him for all time as you might expect. She even acted to save him from death and had bore many of the gods in the process.

 

3) Enki: This is the god of wisdom, magic, cleverness, fertility, and invention, but he is primarily the god of fresh waters. All of these other aspects are simply extensions of his affinity to fresh water. He even made his home in the primordial deep that extends beyond the universe.

His name, En-ki means "lord of the earth", as that was meant to show that he was lord of the things below the wind and heaven. His name also relates to the fact that his consort Ninhursag was the lady of the foothills, and couples are often given similar names.

His father was An the god of heaven, and his mother was Apsu the goddess of the deep. This makes him a half brother to Enlil, the lord of the gods. His children were an entirely separate lineage of gods to those of Enlil. Enki ruled over the Igigi gods while Enlil ruled over the Anuna gods.

 

In the earliest times Enki defeated Kur and became En-Kur lord of the underworld. As an underworld god Enki placed Ereshkigal in charge of the underworld and had power over life and death.

In myth Enki is primarily in the position of the clever one that other gods go to in order to solve their problems. He is not a trickster god and he does his best to promote the system that he had a hand in creating.

In addition to Ninhursag, Enki also had a second wife, Damkina, who lived with him in the home he made in the deep. Damkina is not generally mentioned in the myths directly, but she is noteworthy as the mother of Marduk and Asalluhi.

 

4) Ninhursag: When one looks for a mother goddess in the Sumerian pantheon one should look to Ninhursag, the goddess of the foothills. She is the goddess of the cultivation of the earth, and is also the Sumerian mother goddess. You would expect this to make her popular with modern neo pagans, but this is not the case. She has been forgotten for the most part as a mother goddess, ironically in favor of goddesses of war and also a demoness of demons of crib death.

Ninhursag is a nature goddess, but this doesn't exactly make her a goddess of the wilderness. Civilization was a central focus of the Sumerian gods. Cultivation and gardening is a major part of what makes a people civilized.

 

She is perhaps most notable as Enki's most influential consort. Enki was wed to her and also to Damkina who lived with him in his home in the Apsu. Ninhursag is also is the mother of Ninurta the storm god of the farmers and several of the other gods and goddesses in the pantheon.

In myth she is seen most prominent in two myths in connection with Enki. In the first myth Enki has children with her and then with the next subsequent generations of goddesses. Ninhursag discovers this infidelity and grows angry cursing her husband. She later forgives Enki and removes her curse.

 

In another myth Enki and Ninhursag have created humans and they are coming up with jobs for flawed humans. Enki finds jobs for all of the flawed humans that Ninhursag can come up with, but Ninhursag cannot do the same for the flawed human Enki comes up with. In this myth the creation of humanity might be better explained as the civilizing of humanity, a constant process. Enki is the primary inspiration with Ninhursag as the chief among several goddesses of childbirth.

 

 

5) Nanna: The first thing that we should note about the moon god is that he is not a woman. This is often really hard for people to understand who expect all gods in a similar position to be exactly the same.

 

Nanna was called Sin in Akkadian, but this has absolutely nothing to do with the modern conception of sin as a transgression against a god or gods. In Sumerian he was also called Nannar, Suen, and Nanna-Suen. This reflected his being god of the many phases of the moon.

Nanna also serves the Order of the Universe in his role as god of the passage of time. The Sumerians kept track of the days in terms of the lunar months rather than the solar year. They did however correct for the solar year. It was not a particularly advanced system, but it is in many ways superior to the modern middle eastern purely lunar calendar which does not have the months of the year land in the same season from year to year since the Sumerian calendar was designed to be more in tune with the growing seasons.

 

In his iconography Nanna is envisioned as a god of the moon is a god who rides a boat across the sky. The stars were seen as his wandering cattle rather than as specific constellations. Remember that it would be the later Babylonians and Chaldeans who would come to chart the stars with any detail and develop astrology into something like what we might recognize today.

If there is a god of romance it is Nanna. He seduced his wife Ningal the lady of the reeds, wooing her with his charm rather than having his marriage arranged for him. The Sumerians saw the tide as Nanna caressing the reeds and by extension caressing his wife Ningal the goddess of the reeds. Nanna was also responsible for the more gentle necessary floods.

 

6) Utu: First a little genealogy so you know where Utu lies in the pantheon. Utu is generally considered to have been the twin brother of Inanna. He and Inanna are the children of Nanna and Ningal. Utu's wife is Sherida. Utu is not known to have any divine children, but it wouldn't be surprising if he had some. He is listed as the father of several kings, but this might simply mean that they were addressing him with honor, or that he was the spiritual third parent of those kings.

 

Utu is the predominant Sun god in the Sumerian religion. This is interesting because his father is the god of the moon. This might be a little difficult to accept if you are used to having the sun god be the father of the moon god. Simply remind yourself that the Sumerian pantheon might have some similarity to other pantheons, but that it is a distinct pantheon.

 

Note that being the predominant sun god does not make him the only sun god. Remember that being god of the sun does not mean that the Sumerians thought that he physically was the sun.

The sun god was the god of prophecy. This is important because Utu was a friend to mankind. He attempted to show man something of the fate that the seven had decreed for them. This is in keeping with his tendency to take a direct role in the affairs of man.

 

The sun god was a legalistic god. He was the one who gave law down to mankind, and he meted out justice in the underworld. There are connections between him and the Aten from the reign of Ankhenaten as well as Mazda from Zoroastrianism. Don't think of Utu as a strict dictator however. His job was not so much to see that man followed an arcane set of rules, but to make sure that man had rules so that they wouldn't abuse one another. Part of his task was to make sure that demons did not break the rules and harm humans when they were not supposed to.

In furtherance of Utu's role as the god of justice and fairness he was one of the four governors of the underworld. It is important to note that this did not put him in charge of the underworld as a ruler, but rather it allowed him to serve Ereshkigal in the underworld by maintaining her laws in her realm.

 

Utu's primary iconography is that of the saw. In later times he became associated with the horse and the winged sun disk. This is interesting as it bares some similarity to the Greek sun god who would come to be worshiped later in the Mediterranean.

 

7) Inanna: She is both the most important goddess in ancient Mesopotamia, and also one of the least understood in modern times. She is presently popular as a mother goddess, but this is not a good depiction of her.

Inanna was a goddess who was tied to prostitution. In the Mesopotamian mind prostitution was linked with sterility. As such Inanna only has a single known child, the hero Shara, and even this is not a distinction that can be clearly made. Even if Inanna was the mother of a single god this does not make her a goddess of motherhood.

Many lists of gods simply say that she was the goddess of love and war, but even this is deceptive. Inanna was not so much a goddess of romantic love as she was a goddess of sexual love. Likewise she was not a goddess of tactical maneuvers, but more the goddess of the heat of battle itself.

 

Inanna was primarily the goddess of passion. She loved passionately, she hated passionately, and she was even known to throw temper tantrums when she didn't get her way. Inanna was also an ambitious goddess. Much of what she did in the myths was designed to improve her position and the position of her worshipers.

 

Some see her as a goddess of the liberated female. As a goddess of woman's rights. This is just as much an impressing of modern values on her as calling her a mother goddess. She is a goddess to seek out in times of crisis and times of passion. She will protect her followers, but she is not a goddess who is overly concerned with changing the lot of women in the world.

Inanna started out as a goddess of the date store house. This can be seen clearly by the two ring posts that are her primary icon. Her ambition led her to take the wealthy god Dumuzi as her consort, but she also had numerous other lovers and even betrayed her husband when he failed to show her the proper respect. She tricked Enki into giving her power over some aspects of the Order of the Universe, and this defined her as one of the seven who decree fate. She even tried to defy the Order itself and take command of the underworld, but this grab for power failed and ended quite badly for her.

 

It is this last act that she is most known for. Inanna had caused the death of her companion the bull of heaven after Gilgamesh spurned her sexual advances. She used the funeral as a pretext to go into the underworld. The Bull of heaven had been the husband of the ruler of the underworld and as one might expect there was tension.

She took the throne of the underworld, but not by force. Ereshkigal got up, and Inanna sat down. This act of breaking the rules of the gods caused her immediate execution. Inanna would later be resurrected and restored to her previous power, but only by an act of compassion for Ereshkigal's loss on the part of creations of Enki the god of wisdom.

 

In modern times Inanna is associated with wild sexual liberation. In many goddesses this might be misplaced. For Inanna this is actually quite accurate. Inanna was the goddess associated with prostitution and all forms of sexuality from transsexuality to homosexuality and any other form of sexuality that the rest of the culture might be uncomfortable with.

Inanna is associated with the planet Venus. Venus shows up only in the early morning and the late evening. This is when prostitutes showed up in ancient Sumer. Also at this time one might also be able to see the planet Mercury. Mercury is called the bull of the sun and is associated with dancing and can only be seen on the horizon just before sun rise or just after sun set. This may indicate that this bull may in fact be the bull of heaven. That would make sense as the bull of heaven is also linked to Inanna.

 



Underworld Gods and Entities

 

Kur: the manifestation of the underworld is the dragon Kur. He was defeated by Enki at the dawn of time when Ereshkigal had been given over to him as a wife. He still exerts power trough galla demons as these demons are lesser manifestations of the dragon himself. Kur is located below the Apsu or under the Ki. This is not to say that if you dig far enough you will find it. Kur is a spiritual realm.

 

Ereshkigal: She had been sent down to the underworld to be the wife of Kur. Enki set her up as the absolute ruler. She took Gugalanna as her husband, but he was slain by Gilgamesh. After that time she sent Namtar to make the other gods bow before him. This symbolized a fear of death. Only Nergal refused to bow and he was dragged by Udug demons to the underworld so that Ereshkigal might kill him. Not only does she not kill him, but she is defeated by him in battle. He ravages her and she likes it so much that when he departs she commands that he come and be her consort or she will send the dead to consume the living.

 

Gugalanna: the bull of heaven is also known as the divine canal inspector of the gods. Together with Ereshkigal they bore a son Ninazu. Gugalanna died when the hero Gilgamesh and his companion Enkidu killed him in battle. His horns were devoted by Gilgamesh to his personal god.

 

Ninazu: is a healing god who sleeps in the underworld. Long before the death of Gugalanna Ninazu ruled the underworld. There is a rivalry between him and Nergal as Ninazu once ruled the underworld and was swept to the side when Nergal became his mothers consort.

 

Nergal or Erra: The Sumerian warrior god Erra was once one of the twins that guarded the gates to the underworld (represented in later astrology as the constellation Gemini) Nergal was a god of war and disease who drank the blood of the living and was often represented as a dragon. (There are no connections between him and Vlad Dracul other than the fact that both have spawned vampire myths.) Nergal was the god implored to in order to help against rebellion. If you will notice similarities between the names of him and Ereshkigal that is because the two are wed though Ereshkigal is still the reigning partner.

 

Namtar: As the major god of death and fate it was his job to act out the wishes of his mistress Ereshkigal. The demon Namtar was the minister of Ereshkigal. Fate and death were synonymous. To the Sumerians death was something that could not be escaped at all.

 

The Udug demon of Nergal from whom none can escape: As far as I can tell that's his name. He seems to act as the minister to Nergal. This would mean that his job was to ferry those who died in battle and perhaps those who died from disease to the underworld.

 

Gatekeepers and guides: the demon Neti is the best known gate keeper of the underworld because he is noted as being the gate keeper in the decent of Inanna, but there were several other more important gate keepers including the twins and Utu. They acted as toll masters and in some cases also as judges of the dead who came to them. Another important figure is Urshanabi who was the boatman that took Gilgamesh to Ziusudra beyond the sea of life and death. I see a similarity between him and Charon, but Pen (our expert Hellenist) didn't say that she knew of any direct relations.

 

Additional Gods

Imdugud: Son of Anu this lion headed bird began as a storm god, and later drifted down to be considered a demon, and then a class of demons. Most Imdugud birds are female and carvings of them were placed over doorways to protect the home. Imdugud himself plays prominently in a myth where he obtains the tablet of destiny from Enki for a short time.

 

Dumuzi: Once a human king, Dumuzi was adopted as a god and quickly came to prominence. He married Inanna, and his wedding is recognized in the sacred marriage ceremony where the physical incarnation of Dumuzi (the king) would symbolically wed Inanna in the form of the high priestess.

 

Ningilin/ Ninkilim: She was the goddess of magic and mongooses. She could help protect against snakebites and her wisdom allowed her to avoid getting bitten in the first place. Worship of her was important to farmers who wished to prevent rodents from eating crops.

 

Ninkasi: She is a grain goddess she is more important as the patron goddess of beer. Specifically red beer sacred to the Sumerians.

 

Nisaba or Nidaba: She is a grain goddess, and the patron goddess of writing. It was her job to keep a record of the deeds of mankind in a book that became permanent every New Year. This custom is still observed today in the Jewish New Year festival.

 

Heroes of the Gods

When the land of the gods was threatened from an external force, a new force, or a foreign adversary they turned to four gods as their champions. Each of these heroes is a champion of the Order of the Universe, but they are far from the same. Ninurta can be tempted, Ishkur is more cautious, Gibil is industrious, and Shara has an appreciation for beauty.

Ninurta: Starting out in form as an Imdugud bird, Ninurta was powerful symbol of aggressive power. The lion's head and claws represented aggression on earth, while his eagle body and wings represented aggression in the heavens.

In Sumer Ninurta was the storm god of the north wind who did most of his raging against the mountains. He took on the Kur dragon when it again threatened Sumer through the mountains, and it was on the mountains that Ninurta fought the Asag and the Imdugud.

 

He wielded an intelligent sword by the name of Sharur. This sword could do things independent of Ninurta and it acted as Ninurta's Sukkal (minister). In addition to serving as Ninurta's blade for killing Sharur also served as Ninurta's caution. Sharur suggested caution when the odds were too great, but suggested aggression when that was the more reasonable choice.

 

It was Ninurta who subdued the army of foreigner demons in the mountains. It was also he who defeated the Imdugud bird who had stolen the Tablet of Destiny from under Enlil's nose. Ninurta is shown in a number of myths, while none of the other heroes is shown in a central role. Even myths we do not have a copy of, such as the one depicting the death of the seven dead heroes, have Ninurta as the central hero.

Ninurta has a dark side to him. He can be tempted by his ambition. When Imdugud stole the Tablet of Destiny it was dropped from Imdugud's claws into Enki's waiting hands. Ninurta wanted the Tablet of Destiny for himself and plotted to attack Enki to gain it. Enki predicted this and laid a trap for him. The gods did not end up fighting each other directly, and Enki made Ninurta's mother do him a service in return for Ninurta's release.

 

More than the other heroes Ninurta is ambitious. He wants glory and power. He was twice responsible for the expansion of the pantheon by force. Once in bringing in the Asag demons, and again in bringing in the Imdugud demons.

Ninurta is also a hero to modern Sumerians in the indexes of well researched books. The Ninurta test is a way to tell if a book is good or not before you know how to tell by experience. Open a book to the index page and look up Ninurta. He was immensely important to the people of Sumer, but he was not all that interesting to new agers and UFO nuts who do not like to do proper research. Related searches should include Nimrod and Ningirsu.

 

Ishkur: Like Ninurta, Ishkur is a storm god, a warrior god, and a hero among the gods. Ishkur is quite distinct from Ninurta however. Ishkur is the god of the south wind and is not nearly so reckless. When Imdugud stole the Tablet of Destiny, the physical repository for the Order of the Universe, he judged his skills a bad match for this opponent while Ninurta was more than willing to try his strength against one with a much superior position.

Ishkur was the storm god who favored the shepherds while Ninurta was favored by the farmers. At this time shepherds tended to wander the land with nothing less than a small army of trained fighters to act as herdsmen. This might imply that he would be cautious but militaristic, and daringly bold as a warrior but polite to a fault. This is only conjecture however.

 

As a god who favored shepherds it is no wonder that we have no myths surrounding him. The shepherds would have kept an oral record as stone tablets were heavy. That's not saying that finding myths about him is beyond the realm of possibility, simply that it is understandable that no record has yet been found.

He is an older god and potentially an early convert to the religion. His Akkadian name is Adad and he may be similar to Tesep the Hurian god from the mountains to the north, but he is not associated with being from the north or from the mountains. Although he may bare some superficial resemblance to the Egyptian god of foreigners and unpredictable storms worship of him predates any real contact with Egypt.

Ishkur rides a lion dragon and his weapon is the lightning bolt. The lightning bolt can be seen in his iconography as being held like a spear, but with three prongs extending from each side of his hand. Like all storms in the middle east he could be unpredictable but, as was mentioned above, he was not known to be reckless.

 

His consort was Shala, a goddess known to have converted to the religion early on, but she might not have been his only consort as she was also noted to be the consort of several other gods. He had two ministers, Shullat and Hanish. His father was likely either An or Enlil, but, as with most genealogy of the gods, it could all simply be a term of respect.

In myths and proverbs where Ishkur is briefly mentioned he is described as the one who splits the mountains, or he is described as being loud and resounding. The part about splitting the mountain may refer to a myth we do not have. It is also sexually suggestive. The resounding refers to thunder. He is said to roar with Inanna and fall upon foreign enemies often in texts. This also might refer to a myth about him that we do not have.

 

Ishkur is the lord of the seven storms. He is also the bringer of good fortune who rules the sheep and makes the grain stand up. He is also the god of the dangerous flood whose helpers, the seven storms, rip up the plants and pile them up. This destructive element is often said to be done to foreigners.

 

Gibil: This is the god of fire and heat. He is an amazingly diverse god, but not as important as one would expect given how much power he had. Gibil was the messenger who ferried burnt offerings to the gods. He was the god of the forge. He was the god of the desert heat. He was the god who lit the streets at night with torches. He was the god who heated bricks in the kiln. He was the one who destroyed with wild fires.

 

The Sumerians considered him to be the founder of cities rather than the destroyer of cities. This is interesting only in that it reinforces the positive world view of a people generally considered to be pessimistic. As a Dingir god he would obviously support the advancement of civilization, and so the creative aspects of fire would outweigh the destructive ones. Even the destructive ones had their place in civilization as a way of clearing out the unwanted and as agents of war.

The god of fire is an interesting one. He has no myths surrounding him, but we do have some mention of him in magical texts. Like other light bearing gods such as Utu and Nanna he is somewhat associated with banishing demons. If you think of gidim as being similar to shadows Gibil is the obvious choice to turn to for defense.

As the son of the goddess Shala and possibly the god An he has a tangential connection to the god Ishkur. All it really says is that over the course of many centuries the goddess Shala lived an interesting life.

 

Shara: It is conjectured that he is the son of Inanna. He is definitely closely linked to the goddess of love and war in that he served as the hero of An, and also the singer, manicurist, and hairdresser of Inanna. There are no myths directly speaking of his parentage however, but when one considers that Inanna is the prostitute goddess this is not surprising.

He is specifically noted as being the champion of An. This is perhaps another indication that he is associated with Inanna. Both An and Inanna are the patron gods of the same city.

 

From a modern standpoint it might seem strange that Inanna's hairdresser, singer, and manicurist would also be a hero, but that is because we have many stereotypes in modern culture that would not have necessarily been true in ancient Sumer.  We associate homosexuality strictly with  being effeminate and weak. These stereotypes don't properly fit today, they definitely wouldn't fit in ancient cultures.

It should be pointed out that being a singer, hairdresser, and manicurist might or might not have been considered effeminate in ancient Sumer. Homosexuality is not something that Inanna would have found repulsive. Inanna was the goddess most associated with all types of sexuality with the least emphasis placed on marital sex. If Shara was a homosexual, a transsexual, or something else it would not have any negative stigma with Inanna.