The Anunnaki & The Igiggi, Sumerian Scholars Would Rather you didn't KNOW about this Mystery

Nana and the Igigi. Nana, the Igigi, and the afterlife mysteries. The Mesopotamian pantheon has given us many surprises, but one such god in the pantheon is completely baffling. The god of wisdom and the moon, who is mainly called Nana, but also known as Nanar, Nanasuan, Namrasset, and Inbu, is one of the deities who shows up the longest time ago in the records of their religion. He has a mention from around 3500 BCE, when writing systems were first being developed. The people who worshipped him primarily came from Ur, where he was quite popular up through the third dynasty that stretched from 2047 to 1750 BCE. The god Enzu was associated with Nana as the lord of wisdom. Because he was one of the oldest gods in the Mesopotamian religion, it makes sense that he was considered the son of the high god and goddess Enlil and Ninlil. In fact, he is usually recorded as the first son that they had together. Nana was married to Ningal, who was the goddess of fertility. According to some of the tales, they had the sun god Utushamash and the goddess of love and sexuality Inanna or Ishtar together. More of their children include the queen of the dead, Ereshkigal, and the god of storms, Ishkur. Although the family trees of gods and goddesses were rather flexible in these early civilizations, it is interesting to note that this one depicts the moon as giving birth to the sun. Historians suggest that this would make sense in a relatively nomadic hunter-gatherer society. The sun only became much more important once agriculture began in earnest. As nomads, they could tell the time of year more easily by the position of the moon and may have traveled by night more frequently while on the hunt. In this way, it is easy to see how the rise of religion followed the rise of civilization itself instead of the other way around. In many artistic depictions, Nana is shown as the moon itself lying down. Some of the images put him near the early Mesopotamian lion dragon and the mighty bull. When he was depicted as a man, it was usually a quite old one with a long beard and the moon shining over his head. Sometimes he would sit astride a bull with wings. In early writings, he was sometimes referred to with the number 30 as that would be the number of days in a month as understood by the people of that time. In Ur and the surrounding areas, Nana was worshipped quite extensively. Not only was he one of the oldest gods, he was also incredibly popular. Another temple dedicated to him late in Haran. This one gave equal attention to the god of light and fire, his son Nusku. In many instances, the father, mother, and son were worshipped as a type of trinity, although most attention was paid to the father and son in general. As late as 556 BCE, when a ruler named Nabonidus reigned, Nana was still worshipped quite extensively. The mother of the king was the high priestess in Haran, while his daughter was the high priestess in Ur. This was not only a way to honour the god, but also to extend his power throughout the civilization in a positive way. Earlier leaders like Sargon of Akkad, who ruled in around 2300 BCE, did very similar things with their female family members. As mentioned above, the earliest mentions of Nana using that name appeared around 3500 BCE. Texts throughout the years called him the illuminator, as he was specifically associated with the moon that would form the only type of light at night time. Because he was associated with being wise, many different rulers honoured him and claimed his name as part of their own. After all, if a king aligned himself with the god of wisdom, it would be much easier for him to convince his people that he was a fair and just ruler. This included Naram-Sin, who ruled from approximately 2260 to 2224 BCE, and is generally thought of as one of the most powerful kings in the Akkadian period of that first civilization. During his time, Nana was given multiple names that meant everything from embellisher, to he who shines forth, to the fruit. In later years, when the Babylonians adopted him for their own purposes, he was considered a son of the great god Marduk instead of Enlil. Stories of Nana from long ago. As the records of Nana began very early in the civilization, it makes sense that he showed up in quite a few well-known stories. The ultimate Mesopotamian tale, the Epic of Gilgamesh, identified Nana and his parentage over Ishtar and Shamash. He is praised by Gilgamesh himself in this work for inspiration and changes that came to the hero. He's mentioned as the guardian of the future and the keeper of time who could look either way through time to clearly see destiny and change it. Another great legend in which Nana appeared is called the Journey of Nana to Nippur. This story has him load up a boat near his temple in Ur and travel to Nippur to give all these great gifts to his father. The boat is full of animals, plants and especially large trees. During the journey up the river, he pulls into port at five different cities to honor the lesser gods that are patrons and protectors of those places. Finally he comes to Enlil's temple in Nippur. They eat a great feast and Nana asks for a few favors. These include a large quantity of sweet water in the river, abundant crops for the people, plenty of honey and wine and to live a very long time so he can enjoy all of it. Enlil fulfills his son's wishes and sends them back to Ur with great appreciation. Although this can be simply a story of the gods, it may also indicate the people's understanding of how the moon was associated with abundance and fertility. Because Enlil, the highest god, was so generous with his gifts to Nana, it was clear they also found favor with the people who were able to take advantage of all these things. The Herds of Nana was another poem in which he was given another moniker as the leader of the land and the creatures who live on it. The people all believed that human beings came from Enki, but Nana sometimes snuck in with a bit of responsibility for the beginnings of life as well. Instead of directly creating creatures, he was more closely associated with the gifts that allowed them and the people to thrive and survive. This poem starts off with a general description of Nana's primary job, sailing his crescent-shaped boat across the night sky to illuminate everything. He spends some time afterward talking to Enlil, counting his herds and writing down their numbers by the goddess of writing, Nisaba. The poem goes on to praise Nana for his generous gifts of healthy herds of animals and agricultural abundance. This is specifically focused on alcoholic drinks. The Mesopotamians of the time saw the goddess Nankasi as associated with beer specifically, but this poem also pushes Nana into this role. The Descent of Inanna story also mentions Nana. When Inanna has trouble coming back from her underworld journey, they ask Nana, among others, to help. Another mention of this popular god was in the Curse of Agade. In this one, Nana acted as an appeaser or mediator to try to soften his father's anger with people. Nana and Ningal together. Early in the Mesopotamian theology, Inanna's eldest sister, Ereshkigal, became the ruler of the underworld. This was not a judgmental role. Instead, she simply kept all the dead souls down there where they could not cause any trouble. The religious beliefs of the people did not have any concept of afterlife, rewards or punishment. They just descended to the underworld where everything was generally miserable. A surprising turn came about in the Third Dynasty of Ur, when Nana transcended his role as the god of the moon and wisdom, and also became the god of afterlife judgment. People no longer went to a dusty realm of discomfort and darkness automatically when they died. Now their friends and family members could appeal to Nana to get them a better position after they passed on. They also worshipped their home city's patron god or goddess, and the one specifically worshipped by the individual. If they were successful, the deceased could enjoy drinking beer, eating bread, and generally feeling much more comfortable in the underworld. Nana took on the role of a type of bridge between the living and the dead. He handled both with wisdom and fairness, meted out judgment, and even intervened for both the deceased and the living in many cases. This was not adopted as general belief everywhere at that time. For example, people in Sumer stuck with the idea of a dull and dreary afterlife no matter what. Some of the responsibility for judgment of the deceased also fell to Ningal. Artwork created around those times would sometimes depict the semi-precious stone eyes of Ningal. These were the type of warning or promise that this god was watching people to judge their activities and decide what type of afterlife they would have. One of the most unique and special pairs of eyes were presented to the ruler named Nabonidus. It was not unusual for the Mesopotamian people to carve eyes in stone, but these were specifically dedicated to Ningal and associated with the afterlife. Others were used as amulets or talismans intended to protect the wearer or carrier from bad luck and judgment. Way back at the beginning of Mesopotamian civilization, the people accepted seven different gods and goddesses as the primary pantheon they worshiped. This included Anu, Enki, Enlil, Nihursag, Nana, Shamash, and Inanna. Each had their own particular role, interacted with people in different ways, and were responsible for various aspects of everyday life, the afterlife, and godly duties not specifically important in the physical world. Throughout the centuries, many of them changed identity or purpose. However, Nana stayed basically the same as the god of the moon and wisdom. Perhaps because of this amazing staying power, he was also readily adopted by the Assyrians when they came to power in the area around 600 BCE. In fact, evidence of his worship and belief stretched all the way from 3500 BCE up until around 300 BCE, which is an amazingly long time for any diverse group of people to believe in the same god in the same way. The afterlife according to Mesopotamia's ancient people. Ancient texts about death and the afterlife have told historians a wealth of information about civilizations such as early Egypt, felt about these topics and life in general. Unfortunately, Mesopotamian people did not write down extensive texts about what they believed. There is no one source for what historians have discovered about how these ancient people thought about the concept of a soul or what happened to it after their bodies died. Instead, researchers have had to formulate the truth about Mesopotamian afterlife beliefs from bits and pieces of other documents and stories that spanned the entire history of civilization. It all began with the Epic of Gilgamesh. In this well-known story, the title character and others he meets along the way think about what death means, wonders what happens to those who die after they descend to the netherworld and even take part in certain funeral rites. It becomes obvious that the people who lived in those formative years of civilization on earth had some strong beliefs about what happened to people after they died. Other texts that support the current understanding of these ideas include Gilgamesh, Enkidu and the netherworld, Ishtar's descent to the netherworld and Nergal and Ereshkigal. These three stories or documents mimicked some of the same ideas seen in the Epic of Gilgamesh. Also, they were supported by archaeological finds of graves, burial tools and artifacts, royal records that spoke of death and successions, private letters between educated people, documents that described death cults, financial statements outlining funeral costs and disbursements and a variety of other texts and snippets about everything from opinion pieces to medical directions to recorded prophecies and omens. With such a diverse range of documentation, historians have been able to piece together a rather full picture of the average Mesopotamian's belief in the afterlife. However, it is quite important to note that all of these pieces of information came from a variety of cultures within the ancient world and a considerable range of time. For example, one story may come from Babylon while the next from Sumer. While a lot of evidence points to cultural sharing, it is quite reasonable to assume that thoughts of the dead and the netherworld changed over time and between groups. Also, poor people and rich people seem to view things differently. What did the Mesopotamian people believe about the afterlife? One of the most obvious beliefs that most people across this part of the ancient world held was the presence of a netherworld and a heaven. These two places existed as opposites of each other. Heaven was up, light and good, and usually where the gods and goddesses existed. The netherworld was down, dark, and existed as a shadow realm of the real world. Although some stories described it as far removed from the everyday life of ordinary life people, others positioned the netherworld directly beneath the people's feet. As with most depictions of a dark afterlife, the Mesopotamian netherworld sounded like quite a dismal place to be. It was described as a place that no one ever came back from, a house that people could go into but never leave again. The door to the netherworld had a stout bolt that no one could unlock. Still, the beliefs revealed by further exploration of legends and other documents did not indicate that the netherworld was a particular place of torment or horror, like modern day attitudes toward hell. Instead, it just seemed to be a vaguely unpleasant place where the spirits of dead people could no longer enjoy any of the pleasant things they could while they were alive. Other stories paint a different picture. The ones associated with particular gods or goddesses visiting the netherworld sometimes showed the spirits and deities having fun and feasts together. One such text from ancient Sumer called the Death of Unamah tells the tale of a big party and a great feast when the titular character dies and ascends into the netherworld. The concept of rising from the dead or being reborn had no basis in human beliefs. However, deities seemed to be able to go to the netherworld and then come out again without too much trouble. For example, the sun god Shamash swept through the darkness every night. Ishtar likewise visited the dull world underneath the ground and returned once again. Researchers saw indications of this belief on Sumerian graves. There may have been some correlation between using Ishtar's symbols on graves and the concept that the people who died would not have a bad time in the netherworld. What was the Mesopotamian netherworld like for the spirits who dwelled there? The story Descent of Ishtar to the Underworld, which is taken from the Akkadian historical tradition, the netherworld itself was described in quite vivid detail. Of course, it was in conjunction with a goddess's journey, so historians surmise it may not have been the exact belief of everyday people. Still, as it was not actually written by a goddess, it does give an intriguing look at the idealization of a spirit's existence after the human body perishes. Parallels between the Sumerian concept of the netherworld and ancient Egypt, Necropolis, were considerable. In the story mentioned above, the characters speak of a massive city that exists below the surface of the earth. Around it lay seven massive walls, each with a large guarded gate. The story follows Ishtar as she journeys into the city of the dead through these gates. It reveals how she was stripped of her earthly garments and accessories in various stages as she went through the gates and ended up disrobed completely in the center of the city. The story's description of the seven gates obviously had influence on the elite class's funeral rites that usually lasted seven days. The particular rituals and circumstances that took place over the seven days have been documented to some degree. There is no indication that stripping the body in a ceremonial matter took place. All of the spirits who lived in the netherworld city were referred to by a variety of names, in Sumer that word was Ganza, which was a term also used for the netherworld itself and the main gate leading into it. In Akkadia, the spirits were called Aralu. No etymological meaning or source has been discovered for these words. Besides the human spirits that lived underground, an entire hierarchy of gods and goddesses also existed down there. The earliest known records of a supreme ruler listed a goddess named Ereshkigal. Her name means mistress of the great earth. As time marched into history, the queen disappeared and was followed up by a god named Nergal. His name means chief of the great city. Although the idea is not supported by all documentation, there is an Akkadian tale that puts this god king and goddess queen in the netherworld at the same time as spouses. Although these and other lesser gods seem to oversee most issues surrounding the spirits of the dead and the governance of the netherworld, the Anunnaki also helped out to manage things and decide on important topics. Were the spirits punished in any way for how they lived their life? The concept of afterlife punishment did not seem a prominent factor in the beliefs of Mesopotamians. The netherworld, as mentioned above, is not synonymous with hell. It was not a place of torment, punishment or banishment. It was just where the souls of people who had passed away went to be after they left their physical bodies. Although it was the opposite of heaven, it had nothing to do with our modern concepts of those two spiritual locales. The spirits of good people who died did not ascend to heaven either. Everyone went to the netherworld and lived together, much as they seem to do on earth. How did these ancient people view the afterlife process? While obviously ancient Babylonians and Sumerians had no advanced medical knowledge, they recognized that death came to a person when they no longer had blood or breath. The understanding of this truth undoubtedly came from simple witnessing of either violent death in battle or ordinary deaths from disease or old age. The divine explanation for these descriptions of death makes more sense as you understand their beliefs about where life came from to begin with. Before humans existed, the gods and goddesses decided they needed helpers to take care of the heavy work down on earth. So they decided to kill Wi'ilu, a god that had been causing some trouble with his rebellious ways. The other deities took clay from the ground and mixed it with Wi'ilu's blood, shaped the humans and set them loose in the world. Even though people had received a god's blood, there was nothing particularly holy or divine about them. Other than a belief in a spirit at all, their life and death was viewed very similar to any other animal. Enki planned that people would eventually die from the moment he created them. It was their destiny or their fate. This concept was clearly demonstrated in the Epic of Gilgamesh when he attempted to discover how he could become immortal like the gods. He quickly learned that this was impossible and if he wanted to live on after his death, he would have to do something particularly memorable that future generations would remember him for. After physical death, people's bodies returned to the clay from which they were formed, just as the modern funeral phrase, dust to dust, describes. Various texts indicated that people viewed the bodies as nothing more than an empty shell that would turn back into the earth while the spirit went on to the netherworld. What is their concept of a spirit or soul? Like many ancient peoples, they held the belief that a spirit retained all or most of the characteristics of the person when they were alive. Two terms used to describe the spirit include Etemu from the Akkadian and Gidim from the Sumerian. Comparisons between this spirit and the divine blood of Weelu seem to indicate that the soul carries some sort of wisdom bestowed upon people by the gods. This impression of how the body and spirit function has been passed down through history and still believed to this day. The soul is part of the divine and the body is nothing but an organic container for it. Instead of separate things, however, the Mesopotamians believed that the ghost and the shell were intrinsically linked. The spirit is not a formless, shapeless energy field or anything that people believe about ghosts now. Instead, it has most of the characteristics of the actual human. Historians have found records imagining that the spirit is asleep in the grave after death but still feels thirst and hunger like the body did. In fact, part of the belief seems to indicate that the body turns into the spirit instead of both of them existing together. This transformation and journey to the netherworld required certain funeral rites and rituals to operate smoothly. The ghost traveled past demons across the river through the aforementioned seven gates met with the Anunnaki for analysis and placement in the city of the dead. Again, this judgment had nothing to do with good or bad but merely fit the spirit into an appropriate placement in the netherworld's hierarchy. Besides the ghost-like Etemu, the people also believed in a Zakiki which appeared to be a more ethereal part of a person that could leave the body during dreams and death. After a person died, the living friends and family members would perform the rites and rituals, make offerings, and do other things to keep the spirit happy and in the netherworld where it belongs. Food and quite popular offerings as people believed the spirit still needed to eat. Those who had no family members or other people to perform rites and make offerings would turn into demons who cause suffering back on earth. Where do the Igigi fit into all this? Within discussions of ancient astronauts and different types of deities and spirits from the ancient world, various groups have become well known. For example, the Nephilim and the Anunnaki are frequently spoken about in conversations. Another group called the Igigi is not mentioned very often but is still an interesting part of legends and folklore from ancient Babylon and Sumer. The Igigi were gods that the people believed in but they were not at the top of the pantheon like Enlil and Enki. Instead, they were a group of lesser gods that played the roles of humans before humans existed according to ancient law. These servant gods are mentioned most often in conjunction with the Anunnaki. Some people believe they are the same group but they are really a subset of the other deities. Indications of this division from the epic flood myth of Atrahasis. According to this story, the original high gods first created the Igigi to take care of all the work on earth. When they rebelled, the Anunnaki had to make people instead. The obvious division of labor negates the argument that the two groups are synonymous. The rebellion of the Igigi occurred after the higher up gods wanted them to dig a canal. This type of hard physical labor did not suit their interests so they set fire to their tools and protested outside of the high god Enlil's house. This may have been one of the first labor disputes ever recorded. The Mesopotamian pantheon. Unlike most modern religions, the faith that these ancient people followed had a whole host of gods and goddesses and different divine beings interacting with people or staying to themselves. The top gods were called Enlil and Enki. They were half-brothers side by Anu, the Mesopotamian equivalent of Zeus or the father god. Anu and earth mother Ki and sky mother Antu each bore a son. Enlil ruled over the earth and the air and Enki ruled over the earth and waters. They had a sister named Nin, Kursak who ruled over the mountains but she was not as important as the two gods. The general belief back then included the idea that the gods not only created the world but maintained it. Therefore they needed someone to handle everything on earth for them while they relaxed opinion, the equivalent of heaven. The first step was to create the Igigi. When that did not work out they created humans instead. Origin of people. The first people put on earth were formed from clay and a god's blood. Although they had some divine elements within them the gods were not particularly happy with how they acted and carried on. This triggered a great flood that wiped out life on earth except for one man named Atrahasis or Utnapishtim. Later on in the Judeo-Christian testaments this story would become Noah and the Ark. Who were the Igigi? Other than being the original servants of the Anunnaki and the rebellious lesser gods that triggered the creation of humankind did they have any specific identities that were passed down through the centuries? Some historians believe that Marduk, long considered the Babylonian patron god, was in fact an Igigi as the high god Enki's son. His story reads as a quick rise to power among the deities. The dragon Tiamat and Apsu were at the head of the Anunnaki charts. As frequently happened with gods and goddesses they started fighting, other deities were killed, monsters were released and someone had to save the day. That happened to be Marduk. In exchange for a solution to the conflict he was given high status and power by Enlil himself. Marduk killed Tiamat and the god whose blood would later go on to create humankind. After killing this god Marduk took control of the tablet of destinies. Figuring out who Marduk actually was in history causes some confusion among historians. He may have been one of the Igigi which seems to align him with the well-known ancient astronaut theory. Was he a god or a being from another world? The often studied code of Hammurabi indicated that Marduk was an Igigi originally but the Anunnaki bestowed upon him a higher status. Since we now understand that Anunnaki and Igigi are not synonymous with each other some confusion still exists about what Marduk actually was and what it means. The lesser gods may have simply been a subset of the whole god group. If you subscribe to the belief that the Anunnaki were reptilian aliens it would make sense that the Igigi was simply a subgroup or community within that race of beings. Therefore it would be quite possible for Marduk to be both Anunnaki and Igigi. It would be like calling someone a human and a servant. All told historical records and documents do not say much about the Igigi. This seems to indicate that they were kept quite separate from humankind after their rebellion or period of servitude on earth. After all the people from those ancient civilizations wrote about the Anunnaki quite frequently. Did the Igigi cease to exist? Leave earth altogether for Nibiru? Or simply stick to their divine position in the heavens and not interact anymore? They may also have been re-invited into the overall community of Anunnaki when the servant caste was abolished in favor of humankind.