In the
Babylonian epic
Enuma Elish, Kishar ( akk, 𒆠𒊹, Kišar) is the daughter 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 ...
, the first children 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 crea ...
and
Abzu
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 ...
. She is the female principle, sister and wife of
Anshar
Anshar, also spelled Anšar ( Sumerian: , Neo-Assyrian: , meaning "whole heaven"), was a primordial god in the Babylonian creation myth Enuma Elish. His consort is Kishar which means "Whole Earth". They were the children of Lahamu and Lahmu ...
, the male principle, and the mother of
Anu
, image=Detail, upper part, Kudurru of Ritti-Marduk, from Sippar, Iraq, 1125-1104 BCE. British Museum.jpg
, caption=Symbols of various deities, including Anu (bottom right corner) on a kudurru of Ritti-Marduk, from Sippar, Iraq, 1125–1104 BCE
, ...
.
Kishar may represent the earth as a counterpart to Anshar, the sky,
[Black, Jeremy and Anthony Green, 1992. ''Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated Dictionary.'' London: British Museum Press. p. 34.] and can be seen as an
earth mother
A mother goddess is a goddess who represents a personified deification of motherhood, fertility goddess, fertility, creation, destruction, or the earth goddess who embodies the bounty of the earth or nature. When equated with the earth or t ...
goddess
A goddess is a female deity. In many known cultures, goddesses are often linked with literal or metaphorical pregnancy or imagined feminine roles associated with how women and girls are perceived or expected to behave. This includes themes ...
. Her name also means "Whole Earth".
Kishar appears only once in Enuma Elish, in the opening lines of the epic, and then disappears from the remainder of the story. She appears only occasionally in other first millennium BCE texts, where she can be equated with the goddess
Antu.
References
External links
Ancient Mesopotamian Gods and Goddesses: Anšar and Kišar (god and goddess)
Mesopotamian goddesses
Earth goddesses
Nature goddesses
Characters in the Enūma Eliš
Mother goddesses
{{MEast-myth-stub