Mesopotamian religion refers to the religious beliefs and practices followed by the Sumerian and Akkadian (Assyrian/Babylonian) peoples living in Mesopotamia (around the area of modern Iraq) that dominated the region for a period of 4200 years from the fourth millennium BC to proximately the 3rd century AD.
A form of paganism, Mesopotamian religion was polytheistic, worshipping over 2100 different deities, many of which were associated with a specific city or state within Mesopotamia such as Sumer, Akkad, Assyria, Assur, Nineveh, Ur, Uruk, Mari and Babylon.
Some of the most significant of these deities were Anu, Ea, Enlil, Ishtar (Astarte), Ashur, Shamash, Tammuz, Adad/Hadad, Sin (Nanna), Dagan, Ninurta, Nisroch, Nergal, Tiamat, Bel and Marduk.
| Anshar |  |
The Babylonian god Anshar is the son of Tiamat and Apsu, brother and husband of Kishar. |
| Anu (An) |  |
The son of Anshar and Kishar. He is the chief god of the Great Triad, with Ea and Enlil. In Sumerian mythology, he was the god of sky, husband of Nintu (Ki), and the father and ruler of all gods. One of four Sumerian creating gods. |
| Apsu |  |
The Babylonian god Apsu is Tiamat’s husband, the ruler of gods and underworld oceans. Father of Lahmu, Lahamu, Anshar and Kishar. Ea killed him. |
| Damkina |  |
Damkina is the Babylonian earth mother goddess, the wife of Ea and mother of Marduk. |
| Ea |  |
The Babylonian god Ea is the son of Anu and husband of Damkina, father of Marduk, god of wisdom, arts and crafts. Ea is the ruler of all gods after Apsu. In the Great Triad, Ea is the third with Anu and Enlil. In the Sumerian pantheon, Ea is the son of Nintu. |
| Enlil |  |
Enlil is the Babylonian god of the air between earth and sky. In Sumerian mythology he was the son of An and Nintu, the god of air and agriculture, and eventually co-ruler of the gods along with Anu. One of four Sumerian creating gods. |
| Ishtar (Inanna) |  |
Inanna is a great goddess, the goddess of love and war. She descended to the Underworld to try to regain her lover. |
| Kingu (Qingu) |  |
Kingu is a dragon commander of Tiamat’s forces against Marduk. Kingu is the counterpart of the sky god Anu on the side of darkness. He may have been Tiamat’s second husband. Ea fashioned humans from his blood when Kingu was ordered to be sacrificed. |
| Kishar |  |
The Babylonian goddess Kishar is the daughter of Tiamat and Apsu, sister and wife of Anshar. |
| Marduk |  |
Son of Ea and Damkina, the wisest of the gods and eventually their ruler, Marduk is the Babylonian counterpart of the Sumerian Anu and Enlil. Nabu is Marduk’s son. Marduk is a Babylonian creator god who defeats an earlier generation of water gods to form and populate the earth, according to the earliest written creation epic, the Enuma Elish |
| Mummu (Mommu) |  |
The Babylonian god Mummu is the son of Tiamat and Anu or their chamberlain/intermediary. He is the god of mist and a craftsman god. |
| Nintu (Ki) |  |
A great Sumerian goddess, wife of Anu and mother of all gods, she created humans from clay. One of four Sumerian creating gods. Nintu is a goddess of childbirth (Lady of Birth). |
| Shamash |  |
Son of Sin, god of the sun who protects the poor and travelers. |
| Sin |  |
Moon god and the father of Shamash; counterpart of the Sumerian Nanna. |
| Tiamat |  |
Tiamat is the Babylonian Great Goddess, counterpart of Sumerian Nintu. Primeval chaos. Destroyed by her children to create the world. |
Tags: Adad, Anu, Ashur, Assyria, Astarte, Babylon, Bel, Dagan, Ea, Enlil, god, Goddess, Goddesses, Hadad, Ishtar, Marduk, Mesopotamia, Nanna, Nergal, Ninurta, Nisroch, Shamash, Sin, Sumeria, Tammuz, Tiamat
