Dingir

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Dingir is the Sumerian for "deity". It is written as an ideogram in the cuneiform script (Borger 2003 nr. 10 AN). The sign at the same time expressed the syllable an, because it was in particular the ideogram for An, the supreme deity of the Sumerian pantheon. In Akkadian cuneiform, the sign could be both an ideogram for "deity" and a syllabogram for il, derived acrophonically from the Semitic for "god", ʾil-. In Hittite orthography, the syllabic value of the sign was again an.

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[edit] Cuneiform sign

The cuneiform sign is encoded in Unicode (as of version 5.0) at U+1202D ð’€­.

[edit] Sumerian

The Sumerian sign dingir originated as a star-shaped ideogram indicating a god in general, or the Sumerian god An, the supreme father of the gods. Dingir also meant sky in contrast with Ki which meant earth. The cuneiform version of the Sumerian sign is shown at the left.


The plural of dingir was dingir dingir. Image:Cuneiform_sumer_dingir.jpgImage:Cuneiform_sumer_dingir.jpg

[edit] Akkadian

The Akkadian sign dingir could mean:


  • the Akkadian stem "il-" meaning "god" or "goddess"
  • the god Anum
  • the Akkadian word Å¡amu meaning "sky"
  • the syllables an and il
  • a preposition meaning "at" or "to"
  • a determinative indicating that the following word was the name of a god

Dingir could also refer to a priest or priestess although there are other Akkadian words Ä“nu and Ä“ntu that are also translated priest and priestess. For example, nin-dingir (lady divine) meant a priestess who received foodstuffs at the temple of Enki in the city of Eridu.[1]

Some Akkadian myths, which read like the participants were gods, are less confusing if the dingir sign is translated "divine" rather than "deity" or "god". For example in Gilgamesh XI, lines 189,192:

"Then dingir-kabtu went aboard the boat... Standing between us, he touched our foreheads to bless us." This is clearly an act of a priest, not a god.

[edit] Pantheon

  • An, The god of Heaven (Pan-Mesopotamian) at the E'anna temple - Uruk
  • Enlil, The god of the air (from Lil = Air) and storms (Pan-Mesopotamian) at the E'kur temple - Nippur. He was usually portrayed in human form but also appears as a snake to the humans eyes.
  • Enki, The god of water and the fertile earth (Pan-Mesopotamian) at the E'abzu temple - Eridu also babylonian Ea, which is also the god of magic, wisdom and intelligence.
  • Ki, or Ninhursag The mother-goddess representing the earth (Sumerian) at the Ésaggila temple - Eridu, and also at Kish.
  • Ashur, Main god of Assyria (sky god) (Assyrian) - at Assur
  • Ninlil,or Nillina :goddess of air (possibly the south wind) and wife of Enlil (Sumerian) - at the E'kur Temple - Nippur
  • Inanna, The goddess of love and war (Sumerian) - at the E'anna temple - Uruk
  • Marduk, originally Ea's son and god of light, Marduk (bibilical Marudach, or Mordacai) was the main god of Babylon and the sender of the babylonian king (Babylonian) - at the Ésaggila - Babylon
  • Nanna - Suen (Sumerian) or Sin (Akkadian) God of the moon - at the E'hursag temple of Ur and Harran
  • Utu (Sumerian), Tutu (Akkadian) or Shamash (Akkadian) God of the sun - at the E'barbara temple of Sipparand in babylonia the god of justice as well
  • Ninurta (Sumerian = Lord Plough) (Pan Mesopotamian) at the E'Girsu (hence also called Ningirsu) temple - Lagash
A relief sculpture displaying Apkallu figures on outer position, Assyrian kings on inner position flanking the sacred "Tree of Life", and the supreme god AÅ¡Å¡ur placed on Winged-Disc above.
A relief sculpture displaying Apkallu figures on outer position, Assyrian kings on inner position flanking the sacred "Tree of Life", and the supreme god AÅ¡Å¡ur placed on Winged-Disc above.

As social complexity in these cities increased, each god came to resemble a human monarch (Lugal, Lu = Man, Gal = Big), or high priest (Ensi, En = Lord, Si = Country), complete with a family and a court of divine stewards and servants. Wars between cities were seen to reflect wars in heavens between the gods.

Minor gods were seen as family members of these major divinities. Thus Ereshkigal (Eresh = Under, Ki = Earth, Gal = Great) came to be seen as the sister of Inanna, and she came to acquire a husband too, originally Gugalanna, the Wild Bull of Heaven, (from Gu = Bull, Gal = Great, Anu = Heaven), and subsequently Nergal, the Lord of Death, son (Aplu) of Enlil and Ninlil. Servants too became minor divinities, as Isimud the two faced androgynous Steward of Enki; or Ninshabur (Lady Evening) the chief lady-in-waiting of Inanna.

Divinities then proliferated, with there being specific gods of tooth-ache, or aching limbs, goddesses for "Greenery" and "Pasture". Every aspect of life thus came to be surrounded with its own minor divinity that required gifts or placation, as magic spells multiplied, trying to give people certainty in very uncertain times.

[edit] Celestial deities

the other visible planets were also associated with divinities Thus

[edit] See also

Ancient Near East Portal
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[edit] References

  1. ^ Margaret Whitney Green, Eridu in Sumerian Literature, PhD dissertation, University of Chicago (1975), p. 224.