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Ki (earth)
''Ki'' was the earth goddess in Sumerian religion, chief consort of the sky god An. In some legends Ki and An were brother and sister, being the offspring of Anshar ("Sky Pivot") and Kishar ("Earth Pivot"), earlier personifications of heaven and earth. By her consort Anu (also known as Anunna), Ki gave birth to Anunnaki, the most prominent of these deities being Enlil, god of the air. According to legends, heaven and earth were once inseparable until Enlil was born; Enlil cleaved heaven and earth in two. An carried away heaven. Ki, in company with Enlil, took the earth. Ki marries her son, Enlil, and from this union all the plant and animal life on earth is produced. Some authorities question whether Ki was regarded as a deity since there is no evidence of a cult and the name appears only in a limited number of Sumerian creation texts. Samuel Noah Kramer identifies Ki with the Sumerian mother goddess Ninhursag and claims that they were originally the same figure. She later de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Earth Goddess
An Earth goddess is a deification of the Earth. Earth goddesses are often associated with the "chthonic" deities of the underworld. Ki and Ninhursag are Mesopotamian earth goddesses. In Greek mythology, the Earth is personified as Gaia, corresponding to Roman Terra, Indic Prithvi/Bhūmi, etc. traced to an " Earth Mother" complementary to the " Sky Father" in Proto-Indo-European religion. Egyptian mythology exceptionally has a sky goddess and an Earth god. Other Earth goddesses include: * Chinese folk religion - Houtu (Di Mu) * Meitei mythology and religion - Leimarel Sidabi, Panthoibi, Phouoibi * Ancient Greek religion - Gaia, Cybele, Demeter, Persephone, Rhea * Ancient Roman religion - Terra, Ceres, Ops, Proserpina * Slavic - Mat Zemlya * Andean (Inca, Aymara) - Pachamama * Hinduism - Bhumi * Native American - Spider Grandmother * Romanian - Muma Padurii, Mama Gaia * Mongolian and Turkic - Umay (Eje) * Old Norse religion - Sif and Jörð * Lithuanian mythology - Žemyna ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sumerian Religion
Sumerian religion was the religion practiced by the people of Sumer, the first literate civilization of ancient Mesopotamia. The Sumerians regarded their divinities as responsible for all matters pertaining to the natural and social orders. Overview Before the beginning of kingship in Sumer, the city-states were effectively ruled by theocratic priests and religious officials. Later, this role was supplanted by kings, but priests continued to exert great influence on Sumerian society. In early times, Sumerian temples were simple, one-room structures, sometimes built on elevated platforms. Towards the end of Sumerian civilization, these temples developed into ziggurats—tall, pyramidal structures with sanctuaries at the tops. The Sumerians believed that the universe had come into being through a series of cosmic births. First, Nammu, the primeval waters, gave birth to Ki (the earth) and An (the sky), who mated together and produced a son named Enlil. Enlil separated heaven fro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 and the grandchildren of Tiamat and Apsû. 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 linksAncient Mesopotamian Gods and Goddesses: Anšar and Kišar (god and goddess) Mesopotamian gods Characters in the Enūma Eliš Sky and weather gods {{Semitic-lang-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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. 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 goddess. 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 Antu may refer to: * Antu (goddess), a goddess, in Akkadian mythology * Antu (Mapuche mythology), the Pillan spirit in the Mapuche mythology * Antu, India, a town in Pratapgarh District, Uttar Pradesh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anunnaki
The Anunnaki (Sumerian: , also transcribed as Anunaki, Annunaki, Anunna, Ananaki and other variations) are a group of deities of the ancient Sumerians, Akkadians, Assyrians and Babylonians. In the earliest Sumerian writings about them, which come from the Post-Akkadian period, the Anunnaki are deities in the pantheon, descendants of An and Ki, the god of the heavens and the goddess of earth, and their primary function was to decree the fates of humanity. Etymology The name ''Anunnaki'' is derived from An, the Sumerian god of the sky. The name is variously written "'' d''a-nuna", "''d''a-nuna-ke4-ne", or "''d''a-nun-na", meaning "princely offspring" or "offspring of An". The Anunnaki were believed to be the offspring of An and his consort, the earth goddess Ki. Samuel Noah Kramer identifies Ki with the Sumerian mother goddess Ninhursag, stating that they were originally the same figure. The oldest of the Anunnaki was Enlil, the god of air and chief god of the Sumerian pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Enlil
Enlil, , "Lord f theWind" later known as Elil, is an ancient Mesopotamian god associated with wind, air, earth, and storms. He is first attested as the chief deity of the Sumerian pantheon, but he was later worshipped by the Akkadians, Babylonians, Assyrians, and Hurrians. Enlil's primary center of worship was the Ekur temple in the city of Nippur, which was believed to have been built by Enlil himself and was regarded as the "mooring-rope" of heaven and earth. He is also sometimes referred to in Sumerian texts as Nunamnir. According to one Sumerian hymn, Enlil himself was so holy that not even the other gods could look upon him. Enlil rose to prominence during the twenty-fourth century BC with the rise of Nippur. His cult fell into decline after Nippur was sacked by the Elamites in 1230 BC and he was eventually supplanted as the chief god of the Mesopotamian pantheon by the Babylonian national god Marduk. Enlil plays a vital role in the Sumerian creation myth; he sep ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cult (religion)
Cult is the care (Latin: ''cultus'') owed to deities and temples, shrines, or churches. Cult is embodied in ritual and ceremony. Its present or former presence is made concrete in temples, shrines and churches, and cult images, including votive offerings at votive sites. Etymology Cicero defined ''religio'' as ''cultus deorum'', "the cultivation of the gods." The "cultivation" necessary to maintain a specific deity was that god's ''cultus,'' "cult," and required "the knowledge of giving the gods their due" ''(scientia colendorum deorum)''. The noun ''cultus'' originates from the past participle of the verb ''colo, colere, colui, cultus'', "to tend, take care of, cultivate," originally meaning "to dwell in, inhabit" and thus "to tend, cultivate land ''(ager)''; to practice agriculture," an activity fundamental to Roman identity even when Rome as a political center had become fully urbanized. ''Cultus'' is often translated as "cult" without the negative connotations the word m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ninhursag
, deity_of=Mother goddess, goddess of fertility, mountains, and rulers , image= Mesopotamian - Cylinder Seal - Walters 42564 - Impression.jpg , caption=Akkadian cylinder seal impression depicting a vegetation goddess, possibly Ninhursag, sitting on a throne surrounded by worshippers (circa 2350-2150 BC) , symbol=Omega-like symbol , children = Ninurta, Ashgi, Panigingarra , consort=Enlil, Enki Ninḫursaĝ ( sux, ''Ninḫarsang''; ) sometimes transcribed Ninursag,Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Ninhursag". ''Encyclopedia Britannica'', 2 May 2018, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ninhursag. Accessed 28 April 2022. Ninḫarsag, or Ninḫursaĝa, also known as Damgalnuna or Ninmah, was the ancient Sumerian mother goddess of the mountains, and one of the seven great deities of Sumer. She is known earliest as a nurturing or fertility goddess. Temple hymn sources identify her as the "true and great lady of heaven" (possibly in relation to her standing on the mountain) an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antu (goddess)
In Akkadian mythology, Antu or Antum ( Akkadian:𒀭𒌈) is a Babylonian goddess. She was the first consort of Anu, and the pair were the parents of the Anunnaki and the Utukki. Antu was a later development of Ki, an earlier Sumerian earth goddess. She was also conflated with Kishar.. According to the Akkadian pantheon, clouds were Antum's breasts and that rain Rain is water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. It provides water ... was her breast milk. References Sources * * Jordan, M. (2002). ''Encyclopedia of Gods'', Kyle Cathie Limited. * Mesopotamian goddesses Sky and weather goddesses Earth goddesses Inanna {{MEast-myth-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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