page_title: Anunnaki
section_title: Hurrian and Hittite
hierarchical_section_title: Anunnaki / Mythology / Hurrian and Hittite
caption_attribution_description: Yazilikaya, hethitisches Heiligtum bei Hattusa, Türkei, Kammer B Prozession der 12 Unterweltsgötter
context_page_description: The Anunnaki are a group of deities who appear in the mythological traditions of the ancient Sumerians, Akkadians, Assyrians, and Babylonians. Descriptions of how many Anunnaki there were and what role they fulfilled are inconsistent and often contradictory. In the earliest Sumerian writings about them, which come from the Post-Akkadian period, the Anunnaki are the most powerful deities in the pantheon, descendants of An and Ki, the god of the heavens and the goddess of earth, and their primary function is to decree the fate of Sumerians.
  In Inanna's Descent into the Netherworld, the Anunnaki are portrayed as seven judges who sit before the throne of Ereshkigal in the Underworld. Later Akkadian texts, such as the Epic of Gilgamesh, follow this portrayal. During the Old Babylonian period, the Anunnaki were believed to be the chthonic deities of the Underworld, while the gods of the heavens were known as the Igigi. The ancient Hittites identified the Anunnaki as the oldest generation of gods, who had been overthrown and banished to the Underworld by the younger gods.
context_section_description: In the mythologies of the Hurrians and Hittites (which flourished in the mid to late second millennium BC), the oldest generation of gods was believed to have been banished by the younger gods to the Underworld, where they were ruled by the goddess Lelwani. Hittite scribes identified these deities with the Anunnaki. In ancient Hurrian, the Anunnaki are referred to as karuileš šiuneš, which means "former ancient gods", or kattereš šiuneš, which means "gods of the earth". Hittite and Hurrian treaties were often sworn by the old gods in order to ensure that the oaths would be kept. In one myth, the gods are threatened by the stone giant Ullikummi, so Ea (the later name for Enki) commands the Former Gods to find the weapon that was used to separate the heavens from the earth. They find it and use it to cut off Ullikummi's feet.
  Although the names of the Anunnaki in Hurrian and Hittite texts frequently vary, they are always eight in number. In one Hittite ritual, the names of the old gods are listed as: "Aduntarri the diviner, Zulki the dream interpress, Irpitia Lord of the Earth, Narā, Namšarā, Minki, Amunki, and Āpi." The old gods had no identifiable cult in the Hurrio-Hittite religion; instead, the Hurrians and Hittites sought to communicate with the old gods through the ritual sacrifice of a piglet in a pit dug in the ground. The old gods were often invoked to perform ritual purifications.
  The Hittite account of the old gods' banishment to the Underworld is closely related with the Greek poet Hesiod's narrative of the overthrow of the Titans by the Olympians in his Theogony. The Greek sky-god Ouranos (whose name means "Heaven") is the father of the Titans and is derived from the Hittite version of Anu. In Hesiod's account, Ouranos is castrated by his son Cronus, just as Anu was castrated by his son Kumarbi in the Hittite story.
caption: Ancient Hittite relief carving from Yazılıkaya, a sanctuary at Hattusa, depicting twelve gods of the underworld,[55][failed verification] whom the Hittites identified as the Mesopotamian Anunnaki[56][57]
exif: {}