Sin (mythology)
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Nanna is a god in Mesopotamian mythology who is the god of the moon and the son of Enlil and Ninlil. His sacred city was Ur. The name Nanna is Sumerian for "illuminator." He was named Sin in Babylonia and Assyria and was also worshipped in Harran. Sin had a beard made of lapis lazuli and he rode on a winged bull. His wife was Ningal ("Great Lady") who bore him Utu ("Sun") and Inana, and in some texts, Ishkur. His symbols are the crescent moon, the bull, and the tripod (which may be a lamp-stand.)
The two chief seats of Sin's worship were Ur in the south, and Harran to the north. The cult of Sin spread to other centers, and temples of the moon-god are found in all the large cities of Babylonia and Assyria.
He is commonly designated as En-zu, or "lord of wisdom." During the period (c.2600-2400 BC) that Ur exercised a large measure of supremacy over the Euphrates valley, Sin was naturally regarded as the head of the pantheon. It is to this period that we must trace such designations of Sin as "father of the gods", "chief of the gods", "creator of all things", and the like. We are justified in supposing that the cult of the moon-god was brought into Babylonia by Semitic nomads from Arabia.
The moon-god is par excellence the god of nomadic peoples, since the moon is their guide and protector at night when they undertake their wanderings. This is just as the sun-god is the chief god of an agricultural people. The cult, once introduced, would tend to persevere, and the development of astrological science culminating in a calendar and in a system of interpretation of the movements and occurrences in the starry heavens would be an important factor in maintaining the position of Sin in the pantheon. Sin's chief sanctuary at Ur was named E-gish-shir-gal ("house of the great light.") His sanctuary at Harran was named E-khul-khul ("house of joys.") On seal-cylinders, he is represented as an old man with a flowing beard and the crescent as his symbol. In the astral-theological system he is represented by the number 30 and the planet Venus. 30 probably refers to the average number of days (correctly around 29.53) in a lunar month, as measured between successive new moons.
The "wisdom" personified by the moon-god is likewise an expression of the science of astrology in which the observation of the moon's phases is so important a factor. The tendency to centralize the powers of the universe leads to the establishment of the doctrine of a triad consisting of Sin, Shamash, and Ishtar, personifying the moon, the sun, and the earth as the life-force.
[edit] References
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
