The Royal Anunnaki House of Uruk
𒈩𒆠𒉘𒂵𒊺𒅕 – First Priest King of Uruk, Father of Enmerkar, descendant of Anunnaki Prince Utu Shamash and Anunnaki Princess Aya Sherida
The King list mentions Meshkiangasher as a descendant of the sun god Utu, who became the high priest of Inanna in the Eanna temple reigning for 324 years,[c] and conceived his son and successor to the throne Enmerkar. His epithet concludes with his descent to the sea and ascent to the mountains, a journey which has been compared to the trajectory of the sun, believed by the Sumerians that made the exact travel and suitable for the “son of the sun-god”.[2]
𒂗𒈨𒅕𒃸 – Second Priest King of Uruk, Son of Meshkiangasher
According to the SKL, Uruk was founded by the king Enmerkar. Though the king-list mentions a king of Eanna before him, the epic Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta relates that Enmerkar constructed the House of Heaven (Sumerian: e2-anna; cuneiform: 𒂍𒀭 E2.AN) for the goddess Inanna in the Eanna District of Uruk. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh builds the city wall around Uruk and is king of the city.
The Father and Mother of the House of Uruk
| Parents | Nanna and Ningal |
|---|---|
| Siblings | Inanna/Ishtar (twin sister)Manzat (in a single Maqlû incantation)Pinikir (through syncretism with Ishtar) |
| Consort | Aya/Sherida |
| Children | Mamu, Kittum, Sisig, Zaqar, Šumugan, Ishum |
Utu (dUD 𒀭𒌓 “Sun“[1]), also known under the Akkadian name Shamash,[a] was the ancient Mesopotamian sun god. He was believed to see everything that happened in the world every day, and was therefore responsible for justice and protection of travelers. As a divine judge, he could be associated with the underworld. Additionally, he could serve as the god of divination, typically alongside the weather god Adad. While he was universally regarded as one of the primary gods, he was particularly venerated in Sippar and Larsa.
The moon god Nanna (Sin) and his wife Ningal were regarded as his parents, while his twin sister was Inanna (Ishtar). Occasionally other goddesses, such as Manzat and Pinikir, could be regarded as his sisters too. The dawn goddess Aya (Sherida) was his wife, and multiple texts describe their daily reunions taking place on a mountain where the sun was believed to set. Among their children were Kittum, the personification of truth, dream deities such as Mamu, as well as the god Ishum. Utu’s name could be used to write the names of many foreign solar deities logographically. The connection between him and the Hurrian solar god Shimige is particularly well attested, and the latter could be associated with Aya as well.
The Grandfather and Grandmother of the House of Uruk
Ningal (Sumerian: “Great Queen”[2]), also known as Nikkal in Akkadian,[3] was a Mesopotamian goddess of Sumerian origin regarded as the wife of the moon god, Nanna/Sin. She was particularly closely associated with his main cult centers, Ur and Harran, but they were also worshiped together in other cities of Mesopotamia. She was particularly venerated by the Third Dynasty of Ur and later by kings of Larsa.
| Parents | Ningikuga and Enki |
|---|
| Consort | Nanna/Sin |
|---|---|
| Children | Utu/Shamash and Inanna/IshtarAmarra-uzu and Amarra-he’ea (according to god list An = Anum)Ningublaga and/or Numushda (sometimes)Manzat (according to Maqlû)Pinikir (in a Hurrian source, due to syncretism with Ishtar)Nuska (in late sources from Harran) |
Ningal’s mother was the goddess Ningikuga (Sumerian: “lady of the pure reed“),[14] commonly identified as a consort of Enki.[15] The god list An = Anum identifies her with Damkina directly, though in an Old Babylonian forerunner to it she is only another deity in the circle of Enki.[14] She is directly referred to as Ningal’s mother in a single balbale composition and in an emesal love song.[14] Ningikuga could also function as the name of a manifestation of Ningal, addressed as “the pure one who purifies the earth.”[16]
Enki is father of the Apsu, the “Pure Place”. The titles “Pure One”, “Lady of the Pure Reed”, etc. are hereditary names handed down in Enkite bloodlines.
Ningal’s husband was the lunar god Nanna (Akkadian Sin).[3] They were sometimes invoked as a couple in cylinder seal inscriptions, though not as commonly as Shamash and Aya or Adad and Shala.[17] Derivatives of Ningal were regarded as married to other moon gods in Hurrian (Kusuh or Umbu), Hittite and Ugaritic (Yarikh) sources.[3]
Their most notable children were Inanna/Ishtar, representing the morning star, and Utu/Shamash, representing the sun.[3] The view that Inanna was a daughter of Nanna and Ningal is the most commonly attested tradition regarding her parentage.[6]
Nanna, Sīn /ˈsiːn/ or Suen (Akkadian: 𒂗𒍪 EN.ZU, pronounced Su’en, Sen, Sîn), and in Aramaic syn, syn’, or even shr ‘moon’, or Nannar (Sumerian: 𒀭𒋀𒆠 DŠEŠ.KI, DNANNAR) was the god of the moon in the Mesopotamian religions of Sumer, Akkad, Assyria, Babylonia and Aram. He was also associated with cattle, perhaps due to the perceived similarity between bull horns and the crescent moon. He was always described as a major deity, though only a few sources, mostly these from the reign of Nabonidus, consider him to be the head of the Mesopotamian pantheon.
| Parents | Enlil and Ninlil |
|---|---|
| Siblings | Nergal, Ninazu, Enbilulu |
| Consort | Ningal |
| Children | Utu/Shamash and Inanna/Ishtar Amarra-uzu and Amarra-he’ea (according to god list An = Anum)Ningublaga and/or Numushda (sometimes)Manzat (according to Maqlû)Pinikir (in a Hurrian source, due to syncretism with Ishtar)Nanaya (uncommonly)Ninazu (uncommonly)Nuska (in late sources from Harran) |
The two chief seats of his worship were Ur in the south of Mesopotamia and Harran in the north, though he was also worshiped in numerous other cities, especially in the proximity of Ur and in the Diyala area. In Ur, he was connected to royal power, and many Mesopotamian kings visited his temple in this city.
According to Mesopotamian mythology, his parents were Enlil and Ninlil, while his wife was Ningal, worshiped with him in his major cult centers. Their children included major deities Inanna (Ishtar) and Utu (Shamash) and minor gods such as Ningublaga and Numushda. Some deities, for example Nanaya and Pinikir, were sometimes regarded as his children due to syncretism between them and his daughter Ishtar. Nanna acquired a number of syncretic associations himself, and the logographic writings of his name were used to represent these of other moon gods, such as Ugaritic Yarikh or Hurrian Kusuh.
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