Anunna

The Anunna ( Sumerian ^DINGIR A.NUN.NA, which are from the seed anus ) represent the divine council of elders in the Sumerian religion . The Anunna were additionally given the title ^DINGIR GAL.GAL.E.NE ( the great ones of the great gods ) .

Mythological background

Earlier assumptions that it is a singular independent deity have been refuted by modern research. In the early days of Sumer , the term Anunna was written without the divine assignment "DINGIR" and referred to the "assembly of gods to determine destiny".

Differentiation from the Anunnaki

The Anunna do not correspond to the Anunnaki in the Akkadian tradition, as they did not have the rank of underworld gods, which the Anunnaki partially held in later Akkadian times.

The Anunna were considered a mythological model for the Akkadian Anunnaki, whose name was a borrowing of the term, but only appeared in literary texts and experienced a change in meaning. In the Akkadian language , “the great gods” were referred to as ilu-rabutum and ilu-matim , as “gods of the land”.

The syllable KI as an appendix to Anunna had, among other things, the meaning of "earth" and "underworld". This appendix transformed the former “great gods” into “gods of the underworld”. A mythological identification can therefore not be made.

Belonging to Anunna

The Sumerian name A.NUN.NA refers to the descent from the "great wise prince (NUN)". With "NUN" Enki is meant as god of wisdom. Only those deities who were related to each other were allowed to attend the meetings of the gods.

In the Enḫeduanna text “Overlord, Courageous” Inanna is titled as “the proudest of all Anunna deities”, “whose commands cause the other Anunna to crawl. Without Inanna, no elaborate Council decision will be approved ”. The later amalgamations and equations of the deities are made clear by the Anunna's lists of gods.

Organization of the Anunna

In the highest assembly of gods, the most important regional deities decided, who at the same time represented the most important gods and heads of the regional assemblies of gods. The deities of the regional assembly of gods in turn represented the highest-ranking gods of the smallest regional communities.

For example, the assembly of the gods of Eridu was called : ^DINGIR A.NUN.NA E.RI.DU ^KI . Gods could be represented in different gods assemblies , as there were also several places of worship of the respective deities. In the inscriptions it is usually noted that it was an assembly of the 50 highest deities. The examination of the lists of gods, which were kept as attendance lists, shows that sometimes more, sometimes fewer gods were named.

Function of the Anunna

The Anunna came together for important divine decisions, for the first time at the creation of man, in order to determine his manifestations and tasks. The original meaning "God's sacrifice" arose from this mythological context, since the first God's sacrifice was the sacrifice of the deity Kingu . The blood of the slain deity was mixed with clay to form a modeling clay from which, according to Sumerian tradition, the first man emerged.

In other contexts, the Anunna functioned as the chief judge over the punishments and rewards of the respective deities themselves. In the epic Inanna's passage into the underworld , seven members of the Anunna decided whether Inanna should rise again. The Anunna met in the same function at the creation of the Enkidu in the Epic of Gilgamesh .

Previous assumptions

The earlier interpretation as underworld gods was based on a passage in the epic " Inanna's walk into the underworld ":

" ^DINGIR A.NUN.NA dikuiminbi iginise di mun [...] / dimundakurune / dimundakurune, which means: The divine Anunna, seven judges of them, spoke right with regard to the Inanna before Ereškigal ."

- ANUNNA

From this passage it can be seen that seven judges of the Anunna passed judgment. There is no mention of the fact that this judgment was pronounced in the underworld or that it was an underworld judge. The assignment to the underworld is also in contradiction to the other function of Anunna.

literature

Dietz-Otto Edzard and a .: Real Lexicon of Assyriology and Near Eastern Archeology (RLA), Vol. 5 , de Gruyter, Berlin 1993, ISBN 3-11-007192-4 , pp. 37-40

Individual evidence

↑ A. Falkenstein: The Anunna in the Sumerian tradition, AS 16 , 1965, pp. 127-140; see. also Dietz-Otto Edzard: Anunna . In: Dietz-Otto-Edzard et al.: Reallexikon der Assyriologie und Near Eastern Archeology (RLA), Vol. 5 . P. 37.
^ ^A ^b Dietz-Otto Edzard: Anunna . In: Dietz-Otto-Edzard et al.: Reallexikon der Assyriologie und Near Eastern Archeology (RLA), Vol. 5 . P. 39.
↑ RLA Vol. 5, pp. 37-38.
↑ Gebhard J. Selz: Sumerer and Akkader , CH Beck, Munich 2005, p. 68.

[1] A. Falkenstein: The Anunna in the Sumerian tradition, AS 16 , 1965, pp. 127-140; see. also Dietz-Otto Edzard: Anunna . In: Dietz-Otto-Edzard et al.: Reallexikon der Assyriologie und Near Eastern Archeology (RLA), Vol. 5 . P. 37.

[E39-2] A ^b Dietz-Otto Edzard: Anunna . In: Dietz-Otto-Edzard et al.: Reallexikon der Assyriologie und Near Eastern Archeology (RLA), Vol. 5 . P. 39.

[3] RLA Vol. 5, pp. 37-38.

[4] Gebhard J. Selz: Sumerer and Akkader , CH Beck, Munich 2005, p. 68.