An (cuneiform)

Digitized cuneiform sign for an.
Line drawing of Kassite vocabulary list.
The first two Gods in Column 2, God Sin, and God Shamash; (Shamash again as God #3).
Gods #4/5 (identical), are the "Wind Gods", Adad, and Rammânu.

The cuneiform an sign, (or sumerogram AN), is a common, multi-use sign, a syllabic for an, and an alphabetic sign used for a, or n; it is common in both the Epic of Gilgamesh over hundreds of years, and the 1350 BC Amarna letters, and other cuneiform texts. It is also used for the designation of a "god", and is sometimes represented as a superscript: d, or capitalized: D, for "dingir", English language, "god". The example photo at right shows (2nd list), a list of 14 named gods, all with "an"; the first pair on the list AN-UTU, or DUTU, refers to the "sun-god", using Ud (cuneiform), as the sumerogram, namely UTU (sun Sumerogram).

Cuneiform an can also be found in compound form with another cuneiform sign, an example being DAGAL, . The older version of DAGAL used the 'god symbol' as a star within the sign: ; (older version of DAGAL, incorporating "star": ).

Epic of Gilgamesh usage

In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Tablets I-XII, "an" is used for the following meanings by the following numbers: an-(120) times, d-(593), AN-(27), and DINGIR-(76) times.[1]

List of Babylonian Gods, etc.

From Budge's revised book on Babylonian Life and History, a list of many of the major gods from Babylonian history (and Sumerian):[2]

  • Anu, or Anum
  • Bêl, (An Be),
    • or Enlil, (An En lil), -?
  • Ea, (An É a),
  • The "Moon-God":
    • Sin, (An-Sin), An
    • Enzu, (An En-zu),
    • Nannaru, (An LUGAL Ki)
  • Shamash, (An UTU)
  • The "Wind-God": (see Photo-caption, above)
  • The "Great God-of-Babylon":
  • Nabû(Nebo), (An ?, or An "pa"), -?, or

List of gods and associated temples, towns, etc.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to An (cuneiform).
  1. ↑ Parpola, 197l. The Standard Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh, Sign List, pp. 155-165, Sign no. 013, p. 155.
  2. ↑ Budge, . Babylonian Life and History, E.A.Wallace Budge, (Barnes & Noble edition), c 2005, (c 1883, revised 1925), 245 pages, Chapter: "Babylonian Religious Beliefs", pp. 80-95, list: pp. 94-95.

  • Line drawing with usage of an sign.
    Used in lines 1-(=0), 4, and 10.
  • Amran Kudurru.
    (used at beginning of 1st line)

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