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Anunnaki

Background

The Anunnaki also known as the Anunaki, Anunna, Anunnaku, Ananaki are a group of deities that first appear in the civilization of Sumer and are later incorporated into the culture of the Akkadian Empire, Assyria, and Babylonia. Their name translated literally means "those who from heaven to Earth came". In the modern day they are associated with everything from aliens, Planet X, nearly all of the great ancient structures and so much more.

Anunnaki Sumerian Engraving

According to the Oxford Companion to World Mythology, the Anunnaki are the ancient Sumerian gods of the old primordial line and they represent fertility, the underworld and are believed to be the offspring of the old sky god called An or Anu. Their name translated literally means "princely offspring" or "offspring of Anu". In later Babylonian culture it appears that Anu was replaced with their principle god Marduk.

To the ancient alien theorists this group of deities is their bread and butter. Nearly every phenomena and mysterious event around the globe is someway attributed to the Anunnaki if you listen to these guys long enough. According to some the Starchild Skull is direct evidence of them. So who were the Anunnaki and did they represent real beings? Lets find out what the ancient Sumerians had to say about them.

Origins

According to ancient Sumerian clay tablets the Annunaki are responsible for the creation of modern man around 250,000 years ago. They are mentioned in the Epic of Gilgamesh when Utnapishtim discusses the Great Deluge and are known as the seven judges of hell.

Akkadian Empire

When the Akkadian Empire took over Sumer under Sargon the Great much of the culture, lore and mythology was also transferred to them. In fact they adopted much of the ancient Sumerian technology including their writing system.

Assyria & Babylonia

The concept of the Anunnaki would later be incorporated into the Babylonian creation myth called Enuma Elish in which their supreme deity Marduk divided the Annunaki between heaven and earth after creating man. The legend reports 300 Anunnaki were sent to Earth and 300 to heaven where the built Esagila which was a fabled city where they built temples and shrines to themselves and Marduk.

According to later Assyrian and Babylonian myth, the Anunnaki were the children of Anu and Ki, brother and sister gods, themselves the children of Anshar and Kishar (Skypivot and Earthpivot, the Celestial poles), who in turn were the children of Lahamu and Lahmu ("the muddy ones"), names given to the gatekeepers of the Abzu (House of Far Waters) temple at Eridu, the site at which the creation was thought to have occurred. Finally, Lahamu and Lahmu were the children of Tiamat (Goddess of the Ocean) and Abzu (God of Fresh Water).[7]Etymology[edit]The name is variously written "da-nuna", "da-nuna-ke4-ne", or "da-nun-na", meaning "princely offspring" or "offspring of Anu".[1] According to The Oxford Companion to World Mythology, the Anunnaki: "...are the Sumerian deities of the old primordial line; they are chthonic deities of fertility, associated eventually with the underworld, where they became judges. They take their name from the old sky god An (Anu)."[2]By her consort Anu, Ki gave birth to the 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. Anu carried away heaven. Ki, in company with Enlil, took the earth.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.Mythology[edit]Their relation to the group of gods known as the Igigi is unclear – at times the names are used synonymously but in the Atra-Hasis flood myth the Igigi are the sixth generation of the gods who have to work for the Anunnaki, rebelling after 40 days and replaced by the creation of humans.[3]Jeremy Black and Anthony Green offer a slightly different perspective on the Igigi and the Anunnaki, writing that "lgigu or Igigi is a term introduced in the Old Babylonian Period as a name for the (ten) 'great gods'. While it sometimes kept that sense in later periods, from Middle Assyrian and Babylonian times on it is generally used to refer to the gods of heaven collectively, just as the term Anunnakku (Anuna) was later used to refer to the gods of the underworld. In the Epic of Creation, it is said that there are 300 lgigu of heaven."[4]The Anunnaki appear in the Babylonian creation myth, Enuma Elish.[5] In the late version magnifying Marduk, after the creation of mankind, Marduk divides the Anunnaki and assigns them to their proper stations, three hundred in heaven, three hundred on the earth. In gratitude, the Anunnaki, the "Great Gods", built Esagila, the splendid: "They raised high the head of Esagila equaling Apsu. Having built a stage-tower as high as Apsu, they set up in it an abode for Marduk, Enlil, Ea." Then they built their own shrines.[citation needed]The Anunnaki are mentioned in The Epic of Gilgamesh when Utnapishtim tells the story of the flood. The seven judges of hell are called the Anunnaki, and they set the land aflame as the storm is approaching.[6]According to later Assyrian and Babylonian myth, the Anunnaki were the children of Anu and Ki, brother and sister gods, themselves the children of Anshar and Kishar (Skypivot and Earthpivot, the Celestial poles), who in turn were the children of Lahamu and Lahmu ("the muddy ones"), names given to the gatekeepers of the Abzu (House of Far Waters) temple at Eridu, the site at which the creation was thought to have occurred. Finally, Lahamu and Lahmu were the children of Tiamat (Goddess of the Ocean) and Abzu (God of Fresh Water).[7]References[edit]^ Jump up to: a b Black, Jeremy and Green, Anthony: Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated Dictionary University of Texas Press (Aug 1992) ISBN 978-0-292-70794-8 p.34Jump up ^ Leemings, David (2009). The Oxford Companion to World Mythology. Oxford University Press. p. 21. ISBN 978-0195387087.Jump up ^ Leick, Gwendolyn: A Dictionary of Ancient Near Eastern Mythology (NY: Routledge, 1998), p. 85Jump up ^ Black, Jeremy and Green, Anthony: Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated Dictionary University of Texas Press (Aug 1992) ISBN 978-0-292-70794-8 p.106 [1]Jump up ^ Enuma Elish, tablet 1, verse 156Jump up ^ N. K. Sandars (translator): "The Epic of Gilgamesh", Penguin Books, London (2006) ISBN 978-0-141-02628-2 p.52Jump up ^ For a comparison of all world pantheons and the monomythological connection of these god-patriarchs with other culture pantheons, see "Kingship At Its Source" by Dr. John D. Pilkey, and a preface monograph at www.weirdvideos.com/preface.html.External links[edit]Ancient Mesopotamian Gods and Goddesses: Anunna (Anunnaku, Anunnaki) (a group of gods)