𒀭Tablets of Sumer

The Anunnaki

A working pantheon

The Sumerians did not picture their gods as remote abstractions. They held offices. Below: five whose names recur most often in the tablets.

Sumerian deity bust with horned crown and inlaid eyes.

Sky, supreme authority

An/ Anu

The father of the gods, distant and almost silent.

Statue of a horned, bearded Sumerian god against a stormy sky.

Wind, storm, kingship

Enlil

The executive of the cosmos — terrifying, decisive.

Carved relief of Enki with streams of water flowing from his shoulders.

Fresh water, wisdom, craft

Enki/ Ea

The clever god who keeps quietly saving humanity.

Cylinder seal impression of Inanna with lion and eight-pointed star.

Love, war, sovereignty

Inanna/ Ishtar

The goddess who walks into the underworld and walks back out.

Underworld goddess seated on a dark throne in a cavernous hall.

The underworld

Ereshkigal

Queen of the Great Below, whose verdict is final.