Episodes

4 days ago
4 days ago
Enlil and Enki, along with their father An, the god of the heavens, were a trinity within the Mesopotamian religion. Together, they ruled the universe, the sky and the earth. They were also compelling in their own right and patrons of their own cities. Enki, later known as Ea by the Akkadians and Babylonians, was the Sumerian deity of wisdom, intelligence, tricks and magic, fresh water, healing, creation, and fertility. Initially, he was worshipped as the patron god of Eridu, which the Sumerians considered the first city created when the world began. According to myth, Enki gave birth to the Tigris and Euphrates rivers from the streams of water flowing off his body. In addition, Enki’s waters are considered life-giving, and his symbols are the goat and the fish, both of which symbolize fertility.

Saturday Mar 11, 2023
Saturday Mar 11, 2023
Anunnaki, also known as Anunna and spelled Anunnaki, Annunaki, and Anunnaku, is an ancient Mesopotamian pantheon of gods. Yet, the actual meaning of the phrase ("princely seed" in Sumerian) remains unclear, as the number of these gods, their names, and their activities change according to the few historical writings found by academics.Enlil, Ea (Enki), Ninhursag, Sin (Nanna), Shamash (Utu), and Ishtar are among the gods listed in various sources as Anunnaki members (Inanna). Enlil, the god of the air who separated the heavens and the ground, is regarded as the most important. Ancient Hittites and Hurrians, whose mythology include a group of "old gods" exiled to the underworld by a later generation, eventually identified the former gods as the Anunnaki. In treaties, they were called upon as witnesses to assure the observance of oaths.The Anunnaki served multiple roles in Mesopotamian mythology. According to the Sumerian tale of Enki and the World Order, one of their key tasks in ancient mythology was to determine the destinies of humans. The Anunnaki were initially linked with the sky, but literary and administrative documents indicate that their involvement in terrestrial concerns expanded through time. In the Enuma Elish, the Babylonian creation myth, the main Babylonian god Marduk had dominion over 600 Anunnaki gods. He commands 300 gods to inhabit the skies and 300 to inhabit the ground.
Yet, other sources identify the Anunnaki as Underworld gods. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Anunnaki are represented as being the judges of the dead. In the Sumerian tale Descent of Inanna to the Underworld, the goddess Inanna descends into the realm of the dead in an attempt to dethrone her sister, the queen of the departed. The Anunnaki approach her to evaluate her audacity.Archaeologists have not discovered any evidence that the Anunnaki were collectively worshipped. Instead, each god had his own cult, and different cities had temples dedicated to specific deities who served as city patrons.

Thursday Mar 09, 2023
Thursday Mar 09, 2023
The Anunnaki were the “People of Anu,” going by the translation you prefer. Anu was the son of Anshar and Kishar, offspring of Lakhmu and Lakhamu, children of Tiamat and Apsu, the divine ocean gods. In Ancient Greece, Tiamat was known as Thalassa.
Anu and his brethren lived and toiled on Earth until they rose up and defeated the earlier gods. Anu slew Anshar (Alalu) and became chieftain of Earth or what we would know as Sumeria. He fathered many gods, but he was overthrown by his son Enlil who was overthrown by Hadad. In Phoenician myth, Enlil and Hadad became known as Dagon and Baal. In the early Hittite/Hattic myths, they were siblings. but by the Phoenician myths, they were father and son.
The Anunnaki became what we know as the Sumerian Gods. Unlike the Gods of Greece, the Anunnaki and Ennead (Gods of Egypt) dwelled on Earth with their worshippers and retired to heaven when their rules on Earth were over.
In Babylonia, they chose Marduk as their patron god, who kind of replaced Baal-Hadad at the head of their hierarchy of gods which they called the Igigi, so the Anunnaki became the Igigi. When the Assyrian Empire took over, they replaced him with their god, Assur, but they didn’t have the prominence of the previous empires and didn’t last as long as they were always attacked by foreign enemies, most notably by the Greeks and Romans who brought their own gods.

Saturday Mar 04, 2023
Saturday Mar 04, 2023
Igigi, according to the Sumerian King List, was one of four rivals (the others being Ilulu, Imi, and Nanum) vying to be king of the Akkadian Empire during a three-year period following the death of Shar-kali-sharri. This chaotic period came to an end when Dudu consolidated his power over the realm.

Friday Mar 03, 2023
Friday Mar 03, 2023
The story of Atrahasis, the Babylonian story of the Flood and a precursor to the flood story in the Gilgameš Epic (Tablet XI), offers some evidence on the relationship between the Annunaki and the Igigu. The poem begins with the lines "When the gods like men bore the work and suffered the toil, the toil of the gods was great, the work was heavy, the distress was much" (lines 1-4). The composition continues: "The Seven great Anunnaki were making the Igigu suffer the work" (lines 5-6). What follows is partly fragmentary, but seems to indicate that the Igigu gods did not want to work any more and therefore the Anunnaki had to find a solution. Ultimately, this led to the creation of humans, who from then on had to bear the gods' work. In this story it appears that the Igigu were subordinate to the Anunnaki. It is unclear which deities were included in the Igigu group.

Thursday Mar 02, 2023
Thursday Mar 02, 2023
The Anunnaki are chiefly mentioned in literary texts and very little evidence to support the existence of any cult of them has yet been unearthed. This is likely due to the fact that each member of the Anunnaki had his or her own individual cult, separate from the others. Similarly, no representations of the Anunnaki as a group have yet been discovered, although a few depictions of its individual members have been identified. Deities in ancient Mesopotamia were almost exclusively anthropomorphic.
The ancient Mesopotamians believed that their deities lived in Heaven, but that a god’s statue was a physical embodiment of the god himself. As such, cult statues were given constant care and attention and a set of priests were assigned to tend to them. These priests would clothe the statues and place feasts before them so they could “eat”. A deity’s temple was believed to be that deity’s literal place of residence. The gods had boats, full-sized barges which were normally stored inside their temples and were used to transport their cult statues along waterways during various religious festivals. The gods also had chariots, which were used for transporting their cult statues by land. Sometimes a deity’s cult statue would be transported to the location of a battle so that the deity could watch the battle unfold. The major deities of the Mesopotamian pantheon, which included the Anunnaki, were believed to participate in the “assembly of the gods”, through which the gods made all of their decisions. This assembly was seen as a divine counterpart to the semi-democratic legislative system that existed during the Third Dynasty of Ur (c. 2112 BC — c. 2004 BC).

Sunday Feb 26, 2023
Sunday Feb 26, 2023
City Laments are one of the most engaging genres in ancient Sumerian literature. These bewail the destruction of central Sumerian cities during the fall of the glorious kingdom known as “the third dynasty of Ur” in 2004 BCE. To date, five laments of this type have been identified and deciphered, each devoted to the destruction of a different city: the Ur Lament; the Sumer and Ur Lament; the Uruk Lament; the Eridu Lament; and the Nippur Lament. The City Laments are characterized by vivid, rich descriptions of the destruction of the city, the mass killing of its inhabitants, and the loss of its central temple. In addition, the laments devote special attention to the divine sphere, where the great gods order the destruction of the city, and the city patron gods beseech them to alter their decision, but to no avail. The patron gods are then forced to abandon their city prior to, or simultaneously with, the destruction. They live as deportees in foreign cites, lamenting their devastated shrine. Eventually, after the destruction, they are invited to return to their holy abode and to renew their days as of old.

Saturday Feb 25, 2023
Saturday Feb 25, 2023
The Sumerians are today's wonder of the day and another incredible ancient society. Ancient Sumer, a group of city-states, was in Mesopotamia. The Sumerians invented arithmetic geometry, writing, and armies. Furthermore, their publications educate readers about Sumerian culture today. The Sumerian civilization flourished between 4100 and 1750 B.C. "Sumer" was named after the "land of cultured rulers." Sumer was one of the earliest to divide the day into hours and minutes. They also had a sophisticated religion centered on gods known as the Anunnaki. The Sumerians' destiny was thought to be in the hands of the Anunnaki. The Anunnaki were often depicted in myths as judging humankind. The gods were also known as the children of the Earth and the Sky. Most people regard these tales as myths, just like the Greek gods. Others, though, wonder whether there is more to the story. Some scientists think the Anunnaki were actual people. They might have come from another planet, according to popular belief. Many individuals believe they are from the enigmatic planet X, which they claim passed incredibly close to Earth thousands of years ago. Why would aliens come to Earth and behave like gods? Of course, to enslave humans! According to this theory, the Anunnaki compelled the Sumerians to dig for gold for them. The Anunnaki departed for Planet X after they had all they needed. According to some, the Anunnaki were a kind of reptile humanoid. They argue that these reptiles assisted the Sumerians in the development of their writing and mathematical systems. Furthermore, they believe that reptiles still exist and have influence over people. Were the Anunnaki genuine? Or have they fabricated gods? One thing is sure: these ancient Sumerian deities continue to attract humans.