Dictionary Of God And Godedesses

18 Amurruby Amun. A similar scene exists in the Temple ofAmenhotep III at Luxor. The Great Hall ofHypostyle is filled with wall paintings of Amunand the pharaoh, and contains several processionshonoring Amun. By the twelfth century BCthe Amun priesthood was a powerful force inEgypt, leading to the eventual contest betweenAmun and ATEN, the god “created” by AmenhotepIV. Amun’s eclipse was short-lived and hereturned to prominence until the end of Egyptianhistory.AmurruMountain god. Western Semitic. A minor consortof ATHIRAT whose attributes include a shepherd’scrook and who was probably worshiped byherders. Known mainly from inscriptions. AlsoMARTU.AN (1) (sky)ORIGIN Mesopotamian (Sumerian) [Iraq].Supreme creator god.KNOWN PERIOD OF WORSHIP circa 3500 BC to2000 BC but continuing as Babylonian creatorgod (see Anu) until 100 BC or later.SYNONYMS ANU (Akkadian).CENTER(S) OF CULT Unug [modern Warka].ART REFERENCES none known but probably representedsymbolically on seals and seal impressionsfrom third millennium onward.LITERARY SOURCES cuneiform texts includingSumerian creation accounts, and the Babylonianepic Enuma Eliš.In Sumerian creation mythology An is thesupreme being and, with his chthonic femaleprinciple, KI, is the founder of the cosmos. Also,in some texts, identified as the son of ANŠAR andKIŠAR. The head of the older generation of gods.He is believed to have formed the basis for thecalendar and is arguably first represented inbovine form having been derived from the oldherders’ pantheon. He is identified in some textsas the “bull of heaven.” According to legends,heaven and earth were once inseparable until Anand Ki bore a son, ENLIL, god of the air, whocleaved heaven and earth in two. An carried awayheaven. Ki, in company with Enlil, took the earth.An is also paired with the goddess NAMMU bywhom he fathered ENKI. Patron god of Unug(Erech in the Vetus Testamentum), An is always aremote shadowy figure who occasionally lends ahand to tilt the balance of fate but otherwise tendsto be out of touch with the day-to-day affairs ofheaven and earth.His main sanctuary is the Eanna temple. Afterthe Semitic takeover of Sumer by Sargon theGreat circa 2500 BC, Enlil supersedes him assupreme national god of the Sumerian citystates.An (2)Possibly a female principle of the creator god AN.Mesopotamian (Sumerian). Early iconographysuggests a celestial sky goddess in the form of acow whose udders produce rain and who becomesANTU(m) in the Akkadian pantheon.AnaitisFertility goddess. Persian [Iran]. Her influenceextended through eastern Europe. In pre-ChristianArmenia, the center of her cult was atAcilisena where noble families regularly surrenderedtheir daughters to service as cultic prostitutes.Anala (fire)Attendant god. Hindu (Puranic). One of a groupof eight Vasu deities answering to the god INDRA.