Enki-Zeus
I am writing quite a bit about the Sumerian Gods/Goddesses on my mythology blog. Here is a quick summary of how the Mythological Unification Theory applies to the Sumerian Gods/Goddesses.
The Sumerian civilization gave way to the Akkadians which then gave way to the Assyrians. The Assyrians gave way to the Babylonians and finally into the modern country of Iraq.
The four most important gods/goddesses of ancient Sumer were:
An – The heaven god of the calendars and seasons.
Enlil – The storm god known as the father of the gods and king of heaven and earth. He created agricultural tools.
Enki – The water god and god of wisdom who organized the earth per Enlil’s instructions.
Ninhursag – The earth goddess and great mother -goddess.
An/Marduk/Ea is the equivalent of Uranus. Ea may also refer to Enki as it is a title of God of the Earth.
Enlil is the equivalent of Cronus.
Enki is the equivalent of Zeus.
Ninhursag is the equivalent of Demeter.
Some of their other gods/goddesses included:
Some of their other gods/goddesses included:
Nanna (probably another name for Zeus)
Ninlil (Rhea)
Antu (Gaia)
Utu (Apollo)
Ishtar (Aphrodite)
Ereshkigal (Persephone)
Tiamat ( a great grandmother of Anu-Uranus)
Abzu ( a great grandfather of Anu-Uranus)
Dumuzi (Dionysus)
Gilgamesh (Heracles)
Geshtinanna (Ariadne – wife of Dionysus)
The Sumerians worshipped their gods/goddesses and also believed in a life after death. They used a writing form known as Cuneiform to record their stories, records, and contracts. The Sumerians were not a Semitic people.
The Sumerian culture and subsequent cultures declined because of the invasions by Akkadian Semites who finally took over with King Hammurabi in Babylon and the establishment of the Babylonian Empire as their last great empire (Akkadian kings took over about 4200 years ago).
