Английская Википедия:An = Anum

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Шаблон:Short description

An = Anum, also known as the Great God List,Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn is the longest preserved Mesopotamian god list, a type of lexical list cataloging the deities worshiped in the Ancient Near East, chiefly in modern Iraq. While god lists are already known from the Early Dynastic period, An = Anum most likely was composed in the later Kassite period.

While often mistakenly described as a list of Sumerian deities and their Akkadian equivalents, An = Anum is focused on presenting the familial relationships between deities, as well as their courts and spheres of influence. The first four tablets list the major gods and goddesses (Anu, Enlil, Ninhursag, Enki, Sin, Shamash, Adad and Ishtar) and their courts, arranged according to theological principles, but tablets V and VI do not appear to follow a clear system, and tablet VII is a late appendix listing the names of Marduk and one of his courtiers.

Many other works of ancient scholarship were influenced by An = Anum, including a similar list of temples and various theological commentaries. It has also been proposed that it was the basis for the remodeling of the pantheon of Uruk in the Seleucid period.

History of god lists in ancient Mesopotamia

Файл:Library of Ashurbanipal synonym list tablet.jpg
Example of a Mesopotamian lexical list

The oldest known god lists come from the Early Dynastic period,Шаблон:Sfn and like other cuneiform lexical lists, were presumably copied by scribes as exercises.Шаблон:Sfn The first known document of this type is usually called the Fara god list, though it is also known from copies from Abu Salabikh and Uruk.Шаблон:Sfn 466 theonyms can be read from the surviving fragments, though it is estimated that it originally contained 560.Шаблон:Sfn While it begins with the head of the pantheon, Enlil (or, in some of the copies, Anu and Enlil), the gods are otherwise arranged based on lexical, rather than theological criteria, for example deities whose names start with the sign NIN are grouped together.Шаблон:Sfn Due to many of the names from it being otherwise unknown, little can be said about its contents otherwise.Шаблон:Sfn

No god lists are known from between the end of the Early Dynastic period and the late third or early second millennium BCE, when the so-called "Weidner list" was compiled,Шаблон:Sfn though it is assumed that they were still being created through the second half of the third millennium BCE and examples simply have yet to be discovered.Шаблон:Sfn The arrangement of deities in the Weidner list does not appear to follow any specific principles, and it has been proposed that it was the result of compiling various shorter lists together.Шаблон:Sfn Copies are known from many locations in historical Babylonia and Assyria, as well as from Emar, Ugarit and Amarna.Шаблон:Sfn The list was still in circulation in the late first millennium BCE.Шаблон:Sfn Some versions contain additional columns with explanations of the names.Шаблон:Sfn A copy from Ugarit adds columns listing Ugaritic and Hurrian deities.Шаблон:Sfn

In the Old Babylonian period, god lists were often the product of strictly local scribal traditions, and distinct ones are known from Nippur, Isin, Uruk, Susa, Mari and possibly Ur.Шаблон:Sfn Each of these lists most likely documented only the hierarchy of deities recognized in the respective localities.Шаблон:Sfn Fragments of many further god lists are known, chiefly from Assyrian copies, but their origin and scope are not fully understood.Шаблон:Sfn Some of them focus on geographical distribution on deities, and mention many foreign gods as a result.Шаблон:Sfn

While it was common to arrange the names of gods in lists, no analogous scholarly practice is attested for demons, and the incantation series Utukku Lemnutu outright states they were not counted in the "census of Heaven and Earth", indicating the reasons behind this might have been theological.Шаблон:Sfn

An = Anum and its forerunners

It is usually assumed that An = Anum was composed in the Kassite period,Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn though a text regarded as its forerunner has been dated to the Old Babylonian period.Шаблон:Sfn The most probable date of composition is assumed to be the period between 1300 and 1100 BCE.Шаблон:Sfn The name of the list used in modern literature is based on its first line, explaining that the Sumerian name An corresponds to Akkadian Anum.Шаблон:Sfn Wilfred G. Lambert proposed that it originated in the city of Babylon.Шаблон:Sfn However, according to Jeremiah Peterson, documents from Old Babylonian Nippur indicate that both the An = Anum forerunner and other texts showing the beginning of the development of new lists fleshing out the relations between deities were also in circulation among the theologians of that city.Шаблон:Sfn

While the forerunner, sometimes called the "Genouillac god list" after its original publisher, Henri de Genouillac,Шаблон:Sfn has only 473 entries,Шаблон:Sfn over 2000 names are listed in An = Anum (2123 in the most complete known copy).Шаблон:Sfn However, this should not be understood as analogous to the presence of 2000 individual deities, as many of the names are instead epithets or alternate names.Шаблон:Sfn It is nonetheless the most extensive known god list.Шаблон:Sfn

YBC 2401, the most complete exemplar, was copied by the Assyrian scribe Kidin-Sin during the reign of Tiglath-Pileser I according to its colophon.Шаблон:Sfn This indicates that while Babylonian in origin, An = Anum already reached Assyria by the final decades of the second millennium BCE.Шаблон:Sfn Kidin-Sin wrote that he relied on "old tablets" containing the list.Шаблон:Sfn An = Anum continued to be copied in the first millennium BCE.Шаблон:Sfn For example, both the list itself and various references to it are known from an archive from Seleucid Uruk.Шаблон:Sfn Some of the discovered copies slightly differ from each other.Шаблон:Sfn

Modern research and publication

While fragments of An = Anum had already been published in the first half of the twentieth century,Шаблон:Sfn a transcription of the most complete copy, presently in the collection of the Yale University, has only been compiled by Richard L. Litke in 1958,Шаблон:Sfn and remained unpublished for a long time.Шаблон:Sfn In 1976 permission to use Litke's translation was granted to Dietz-Otto Edzard, who was the editor of Reallexikon der Assyriologie und Vorderasiatischen Archäologie at the time.Шаблон:Sfn Many entries in subsequently compiled volumes of this encyclopedia rely on it.Шаблон:Sfn Litke's reconstruction was later published as a book in 1998 in the series Texts from Yale Babylonian Collection.Шаблон:Sfn

While a second edition of An = Anum was being prepared by Wilfred G. Lambert for a time,Шаблон:Sfn according to William W. Hallo only three first tablets were finished by 1998.Шаблон:Sfn Subsequently Lambert also compiled his edition of tablet V.Шаблон:Sfn Lambert died in 2011 before completing his edition. A full edition of An = Anum was published in 2023 by Ryan Winters, based on the previous work of Lambert.Шаблон:Sfn

Early restorations sometimes confused fragments of An = Anum and An = Anu ša amēli, but the latter list is now considered to be a distinct work of Mesopotamian scholarshipШаблон:Sfn and differs from An = Anum due to having three columns, with the third providing an explanation of the first two.Шаблон:Sfn

Contents

An = Anum is commonly understood as a list documenting Akkadian equivalents of Sumerian gods in a manner similar to the process of interpretatio graeca,Шаблон:Sfn but according to Richard L. Litke this view is mistaken.Шаблон:Sfn The primary goal of the compilers of An = Anum was to clarify the familial relationships between deities, briefly describe their functions and characterize each god's household, rather than to provide Sumerian deities with Akkadian equivalents.Шаблон:Sfn The commentary, when present, is in Sumerian, rather than Akkadian, which is different from most lexical lists.Шаблон:Sfn The gods do not appear to be separated into strictly Sumerian and Akkadian columns.Шаблон:Sfn Furthermore, some gods are listed with no equivalents at all, for example Zababa, who was a well established deity.Шаблон:Sfn Some deities listed are not Sumerian or Akkadian, but Elamite, "Subarian" (Hurrian),Шаблон:Sfn or Gutian.Шаблон:Sfn The list documents many associations between deities and aspects of their character which are otherwise unknown.Шаблон:Sfn Explanations frequently use the sign MIN in a role analogous to the modern ditto mark.Шаблон:Sfn

The entry of each deity is followed by their epithets and alternate names, the name of their spouse, children, and finally servants, if any were known.Шаблон:Sfn In some cases the chief attendant deity, so-called sukkal, is listed before the children.Шаблон:Sfn Seemingly only the best established deities had a sukkal.Шаблон:Sfn The number and precise designation of various divine servants varies, and there seemingly was no standard composition of a divine court, though some titles, such as "doorkeeper" (NI.GAB) or "counselor" (gu4.DÚB), recur more often than others.Шаблон:Sfn

An = Anum consists of seven tablets.Шаблон:Sfn The initial four tablets list the deities in order of seniority, alongside their courts, but the rest of the list does not appear to follow similar principles.Шаблон:Sfn It is possible that it was a result of adding groups of deities from originally distinct texts to An = Anum without rearranging them.Шаблон:Sfn Jeremiah Peterson remarks that the reliance on theological factors is nonetheless more evident in An = Anum than in any other known god list.Шаблон:Sfn Some of the copies preserve all the material on a single tablet,Шаблон:Sfn with a brief summary marked by pairs of horizontal lines indicating the end of each originally separate section.Шаблон:Sfn Copies of long works such as god lists or literary composition inscribed on a single tablet are known as dubgallu or tupkallu, or as "monster tablets".Шаблон:Sfn YBC 2401 is one such example, and measures 30.5 × 39.5 centimeters (roughly 12 × 15 inches), which makes it one of the biggest clay tablets known.Шаблон:Sfn

Tablet I

Tablet I starts with Anu, AntuШаблон:Sfn and their ancestors.Шаблон:Sfn It includes their various servants as well.Шаблон:Sfn A sub-section is dedicated to Papsukkal and his circle, including his wife Amasagnudi.Шаблон:Sfn

The Enlil section follows the Anu one. It begins with his ancestors, the so-called Enki-Ninki deities,Шаблон:Sfn and includes his wife Ninlil,Шаблон:Sfn primordial deities Lugaldukuga (explained as Enlil's father) and Enmesharra,Шаблон:Sfn as well as various courtiers, among them the goddess of writing, Nisaba, and her husband Haia, Enlil's sukkal Nuska and his wife Sadarnunna,Шаблон:Sfn the scribe goddess Ninimma,Шаблон:Sfn and the beer goddess Ninkasi.Шаблон:Sfn A separate sub-section is dedicated to Ninurta,Шаблон:Sfn his wife Nin-Nibru, and his own courtiers.Шаблон:Sfn The Syrian god Dagan also appears in the Enlil section.Шаблон:Sfn It is additionally possible that a deity whose name is not preserved, identified as "Enlil of Subartu", might be Hurrian Kumarbi.Шаблон:Sfn

Tablet II

Ninhursag (Digirmah, Belet-ili) occupies the beginning of tablet II.Шаблон:Sfn Deities listed in her section include her husband Šulpae,Шаблон:Sfn her sons Panigingarra and Ashgi,Шаблон:Sfn the couple Lisin and Ninsikila,Шаблон:Sfn and various courtiers.Шаблон:Sfn

The same tablet also contains the section focused on Enki (Ea), accompanied by his wife Damkina.Шаблон:Sfn A sub-section is dedicated to MardukШаблон:Sfn and includes his wife Zarpanit.Шаблон:Sfn Nabu appears in it as Marduk's sukkal alongside his wife Tashmetum,Шаблон:Sfn but he is not yet identified as his son, in contrast with late sources.Шаблон:Sfn Other deities present on tablet II include courtiers of Enki, the river god Id, the fire god Gibil, and various minor deities associated with craftsmen and other professions.Шаблон:Sfn

Tablet III

Tablet III describes the moon god Sin (unusually not identified directly as a son of EnlilШаблон:Sfn), the sun god Shamash (Utu) and the weather god Adad (Ishkur).Шаблон:Sfn The circle of Sin includes his wife NingalШаблон:Sfn and various deities associated with cattle herding.Шаблон:Sfn Nanshe and deities associated with her, including her husband Nindara, who precedes her,Шаблон:Sfn separate his section from that of Shamash.Шаблон:Sfn While An = Anum appears to equate Nindara with Sin, there is no evidence for close association between Nanshe and the moon god otherwise.Шаблон:Sfn Nin-MAR.KI is placed in the same section as well, but in contrast with earlier sources she is not identified as Nanshe's daughter, which might mean her placement reflected her link to cattle herding instead.Шаблон:Sfn The circle of the sun god includes his wife Aya,Шаблон:Sfn as well as two distinct groups of courtiers, deities of justice and deities of dreams.Шаблон:Sfn The cattle god Sakkan is included in this section too.Шаблон:Sfn

While Sin and Shamash occur in the proximity of each other because they were viewed as father and son,Шаблон:Sfn Adad is most likely included on this tablet because of the well established connection between him and Shamash.Шаблон:Sfn The section dedicated to him includes his wife Shala, their children (such as Uṣur-amāssu),Шаблон:Sfn as well as another weather god, Wer,Шаблон:Sfn though other foreign weather gods are absent, in contrast with a later god list, K 2100, whose Adad section contains "Subarian" (Hurrian) Teshub and Kassite Buriyash.Шаблон:Sfn The tablet ends with a group of various gods mostly associated with Adad or Shamash, such as Shullat and Hanish, though with some exceptions which were instead linked with Ea, Nisaba or Ishtar.Шаблон:Sfn It has been proposed that what unified these deities was their possible Syrian origin,Шаблон:Sfn but this view is not universally accepted.Шаблон:Sfn

Tablet IV

Tablet IV documents the circle of Ishtar (Inanna).Шаблон:Sfn Due to its contents, it has been nicknamed "the Ištar tablet" by Richard L. Litke.Шаблон:Sfn It is less well preserved than other tablets, and full restoration is presently impossible.Шаблон:Sfn Among the deities listed are NinegalШаблон:Sfn and various astral deities,Шаблон:Sfn such as NinsiannaШаблон:Sfn and Kabta.Шаблон:Sfn It also most likely originally included Dumuzi and Nanaya sub-sections, which are not preserved.Шаблон:Sfn It ends with short sections dedicated to Ishara (who also appears in the Enlil sectionШаблон:Sfn and in the end of tablet IIIШаблон:Sfn) and Manzat, which do survive.Шаблон:Sfn

Tablet V

Tablet V starts with the deified hero Lugalbanda and his wife Ninsun,Шаблон:Sfn but it also contains sections dedicated to Lugal-Marada, the tutelary god of Marad,Шаблон:Sfn the mongoose deity Ninkilim,Шаблон:Sfn the agricultural god Urash (his court includes Lagamal, in other lists present among underworld deities),Шаблон:Sfn the war god Zababa (whose section also includes Nergal's sukkal Ugur, explicitly identified as such),Шаблон:Sfn and a number of names which seem to be grouped together only because they belong to gods originating in Lagash, among them Ningirsu.Шаблон:Sfn This god was usually syncretised with Ninurta and as such regarded as a son of Enlil, but in this case appears separately on a different tablet.Шаблон:Sfn Other deities of Lagash listed there include Bau and Gatumdug.Шаблон:Sfn Juxtaposition of various deities originating in this area is not exclusive to An = Anum, as attested in a small fragment of an otherwise unknown god list found in Nippur.Шаблон:Sfn The next sub-section is centered on medicine goddesses (Ninisina, Ninkarrak, Nintinugga, Gula) and their families (including Pabilsag, Damu and Gunura).Шаблон:Sfn They are in turn followed by sections dedicated to the prison goddess Manungal,Шаблон:Sfn the underworld goddess Ereshkigal,Шаблон:Sfn a group of gods associated with snakes and the underworld (Ninazu, Ningishzida, Tishpak, Inshushinak and Ištaran),Шаблон:Sfn the pair Lugal-irra and Meslamta-ea,Шаблон:Sfn who were also underworld deities, but have no apparent connection with the preceding gods,Шаблон:Sfn and a number of minor figures of similar character, such as Lugala'abba ("lord of the sea").Шаблон:Sfn

Tablet VI

Tablet VI starts with Nergal, his titles, family and court (including Laṣ, Mammitum and Ishum),Шаблон:Sfn continues with various figures explained as ilu lemnu ("evil god"), such as Kingaludda,Шаблон:Sfn the weaver goddess Uttu,Шаблон:Sfn a group of deities possibly originating in Dilmun,Шаблон:Sfn the Sebitti and other groups of seven (as well as the closely connected Elamite goddess Narundi),Шаблон:Sfn Amurru, the divine representation of Amorite nomads, and his wife Ashratum,Шаблон:Sfn the deified hero GilgameshШаблон:Sfn and his companion Enkidu,Шаблон:Sfn a number of names belonging to deities of uncertain identity, assumed to be of very minor importance, and a list of collective terms for deities.Шаблон:Sfn

Tablet VII

Tablet VII lists various names of Marduk and of his throne bearer Mandanu,Шаблон:Sfn and is assumed to be a late addition.Шаблон:Sfn According to Wilfred G. Lambert, it should be considered an appendix loosely connected with the rest of the composition, similar to the case of the final tablet of the standard edition of Epic of Gilgamesh.Шаблон:Sfn

Influence in antiquity

An = Anum was itself most likely used as a model for other similar scholarly compositions, for example the so-called Canonical Temple Lis, which documents temple names rather than god names, though the deities venerated in them are arranged according to similar theological principles.Шаблон:Sfn In some cases, the order of deities in An = Anum has been used to support proposed restoration of passages in the Canonical Temple List, for example Andrew R. George notes that the order in which temples of Enlil's courtiers are listed in the latter matches the order of these deities in the former, making it plausible that three missing lines referred to Ninkasi, Ninmada and Ugelamma.Шаблон:Sfn

Paul-Alain Beaulieu proposed in 1992 that the changes in the religion of Seleucid Uruk were inspired by adherence to An = Anum.Шаблон:Sfn The entire pantheon of the city was restructured, with Ishtar, Nanaya and their court, encompassing deities such as Uṣur-amāssu, surpassed in prominence by Anu and Antu.Шаблон:Sfn While Anu was not completely absent from Uruk at any point in time between the third and first millennium BCE,Шаблон:Sfn his position was that of a "figurehead" and "otiose deity", in contrast with An = Anum, where he is the foremost god.Шаблон:Sfn Beaulieu considers the position of Marduk to be the main difference between An = Anum the Seleucid pantheon of Uruk, as the position of this god was much lower in the latter case, possibly due to theological conflict between Uruk and Babylon.Шаблон:Sfn Today it is agreed that both the elevation of Anu and Antu and the introduction of many new deities, such as Amasagnudi, relied on the study of this god list conducted by priests.Шаблон:Sfn

References

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