Pagan Pantheon - Anu, Oldest of the Gods
- Sylvia Rose
- Nov 18, 2023
- 5 min read
Updated: Mar 30
Anu (c. 4000 - 500 BCE) King of the Gods is the oldest known god on record. An ancient creator deity, he descends from the embodiment of primordial Chaos. Anu rises to power during the Mesopotamian era as the Father of the Gods.
He later sacrifices his manhood when male divinity Kumarbi bites off his testicles. In this way Kumarbi is "impregnated" and must split his skull to give birth to Storm God Teshub.
Teshub becomes a dire enemy of Kumarbi. The many adventures of the Young Gods in both Hurrian and Mesopotamian mythos are often centered on Teshub's battles with Kumarbi.
In the beginning, Anu (Anum, An) is the divine embodiment of the Sky. He's King of the Gods and paternal ancestor of countless figures of ancient religion.
His sometime daughter Inanna (Ishtar) goes on to become one of the longest-reigning deities in history. Inanna's parentage is more often attributed to the Moon God Sin and Goddess Ningal.
Anu is equated with Greek Uranus (Ouranos), consort of Gaia and Sky Father figure in ancient Greek myth. Uranus is castrated by his son, the Titan Cronus, who goes on to become the first King.
Anu is sometimes seen a figurehead or primal elemental. In Sumerian, his name, Anu, simply means 'sky'. Anu does have parents, despite being the oldest god. They're not considered gods, rather primordial beings descended from Chaos.
His father Anshar is a sky entity whose name means 'the whole heaven' in Sumerian. Anshar also represents the evening star. Anshar's wife Kishar corresponds to the morning star, both aspects of the planet Venus.
Anshar and Kishar descend from the divine duo Lahmu and his sister Lahamu ("silt"). They in turn are born from the mingling of primordial sea goddess Tiamat, representing Chaos and the ocean, and the groundwater, Abzû.
Anu holds the power to bestow the right to rule on mortals and Gods alike. He's strongly associated with the number 60. Sexagesimal, also known as base 60, is a numeral system with sixty as its base.
It originates with Sumerians in the 3rd millennium BCE. In Mesopotamia a divine or sacred number is accorded the deities, especially those often mentioned, as a shortcut to writing out the name in cuneiform.
From there it travels to Babylon. In modified form the sexagesimal system is still used for measuring time, angles, and geographic coordinates.
Creator God Anu uses base 60 to mathematically structure the world. 60 is five twelves, with 12 being another symbolic number in worldwide religions.
The sexagesimal system survives as 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour and 360° in a circle.
By comparison, the Egyptians have a base 10 system of hieroglyphs for numerals. There are specific symbols for one unit, one ten, one hundred, one thousand, one ten thousand, one hundred thousand, and one million.
Anu has three wives, seen as three aspects of the same or a triple goddess. Each of her aspects includes that of an Earth Goddess. She's Antu, Ki and Urash.
At one time the three feminine deities might have been a triple goddess or heavenly triad. Three is a number of divinity appearing in religion and folklore throughout the world. Trinities can include specific deities or assume three aspects of one.
Anu is also known to dawdle with Asherah, goddess of fertility. She's paired with many gods and has over 80 children.
In some tales the wife of Anu is Nammu, an ancient creator Goddess who usually doesn't have a spouse. She makes an exception for Anu, possibly a symbolic marriage to unite two territories or sets of beliefs in the mortal world.
Nammu gives birth to Enki (Ea), an elemental water entity, God of creation, intelligence, crafts, fertility, semen, magic and mischief. In other stories he's the son of Urash. Equated with Greek Poseidon, Enki is one of the most important deities in Mesopotamian myth and culture.
With sons Enlil and Enki, Anu forms a divine trinity. Enlil (Elil) represents wind, air, earth and storms. His worship extends through the Akkadian empire to Babylon and Mesopotamia, centered at Nippur.
In some mythologies he and Anu are interchangeable. Enlil gains power as time goes on.
The sukkal, or divine attendant of Anu is at first goddess Ninshubur, who later becomes the sukkal of Inanna and is known for her devotion. Anu's sukkal is then Papsukkal, elevated to a position of great authority.
In Mesopotamian astronomy, the sky has three zones. Stars closest to the pole belong to Enlil. Stars close to the equator are those of Enki. Anu rules the stars in between. Zones of the sky are called the "Ways" of the equivalent deities.
Anu starts to take a more passive approach when his son Enlil assumes the crown of King of the Gods. Anu gradually retires from the mortal world, spending more time in the divine domain of the esoteric, as the next generation of Mesopotamian gods wreaks havoc down below.
Among mortals, the worship of Anu as a solitary deity dwindles and his importance to the pantheon is limited. Although mentioned first in the God lists, he's more a habit than an entity of divine power.
Other gods take prominence. Still, Anu enjoys a reign of about 3500 years, and is now taking it easy up above the clouds.
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