Anshar, also spelled Anšar ( Sumerian: ,

Neo-Assyrian The Neo-Assyrian Empire was the fourth and penultimate stage of ancient Assyrian history and the final and greatest phase of Assyria as an independent state. Beginning with the accession of Adad-nirari II in 911 BC, the Neo-Assyrian Empire grew t ...

: , meaning "whole heaven"), was a primordial

god In monotheism, monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator deity, creator, and principal object of Faith#Religious views, faith.Richard Swinburne, Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Ted Honderich, Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Ox ...

in the

Babylonia Babylonia (; Akkadian: , ''māt Akkadī'') was an ancient Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Syria). It emerged as an Amorite-ruled state c. ...

creation myth A creation myth (or cosmogonic myth) is a symbolic narrative of how the world began and how people first came to inhabit it., "Creation myths are symbolic stories describing how the universe and its inhabitants came to be. Creation myths develop ...

Enuma Elish. His consort is

Kishar In the Babylonian epic Enuma Elish, Kishar ( akk, 𒆠𒊹, Kišar) is the daughter of Lahamu and Lahmu, the first children of Tiamat and Abzu. She is the female principle, sister and wife of Anshar, the male principle, and the mother of Anu. Ki ...

which means "Whole Earth". They were the children of

Lahamu Lahamu () was a minor figure in some variants of Mesopotamian cosmology, the feminine counterpart of Lahmu. In some god lists she was one of the ancestors of Anu. In Enuma Elish she is the first-born daughter of Tiamat and Abzu. With her brot ...

and

Lahmu Laḫmu ( or , ) is a class of apotropaic creatures from Mesopotamian mythology. While the name has its origin in a Semitic language, Lahmu was present in Sumerian sources in pre- Sargonic times already. Iconography and character Laḫmu is ...

and the grandchildren of

Tiamat In Mesopotamian religion, Tiamat ( akk, or , grc, Θαλάττη, Thaláttē) is a primordial goddess of the sea, mating with Abzû, the god of the groundwater, to produce younger gods. She is the symbol of the chaos of primordial creati ...

and

Apsû The Abzu or Apsu ( Sumerian: ; Akkadian: ), also called (Cuneiform:, ; Sumerian: ; Akkadian: — ='water' ='deep', recorded in Greek as ), is the name for fresh water from underground aquifers which was given a religious fertilising qualit ...

. They, in turn, are the parents of Anu, the god of heaven, lord of constellations, king of gods, spirits and demons. During the

Neo-Assyrian period The Neo-Assyrian Empire was the fourth and penultimate stage of ancient Assyrian history and the final and greatest phase of Assyria as an independent state. Beginning with the accession of Adad-nirari II in 911 BC, the Neo-Assyrian Empire grew t ...

, Anshar was often equated with Ashur, the patron deity and namesake of the Assyrian Empire.

References

External links

Ancient Mesopotamian Gods and Goddesses: Anšar and Kišar (god and goddess)
Mesopotamian gods Characters in the Enūma Eliš Sky and weather gods {{Semitic-lang-stub