Anu

Sky god and supreme father of the Mesopotamian pantheon.

Children

• Adad
• Asag
• Bau
• Enki
• Enlil
• Lamashtu

Domains

• sky heaven
• supreme authority

Powers

• Holding the supreme heavenly kingship over the gods
• Fixing destinies by his sovereign command
• Fix the destinies by sovereign command

Epithets

• ab ilāni akkadian · ab ilani · cultFather of the gods; the supreme sky-father of the pantheonEnuma Elish; god-lists (An = Anum); cf. Atrahasis (primary)
• šar šamê akkadian · shar shame · cultKing of heaven; sovereign of the highest celestial realmthe An=Anum god-list; cf. the Uruk cult of Anu (Bit Resh) (secondary)

Relations

• interpretatio: JabruReciprocal of elamite_jabru.interpretatio — A Mesopotamian commentary itself glosses Jabru as 'the Anu of Elam'. Preserves the sky-father slot; Jabru is otherwise nearly unknown — the equation is the main thing attested about him.Šurpu commentary (E. Reiner, Šurpu, AfO Beiheft 11, 1958) (primary)

Sources

• existence: Enūma Eliš, Tablet I (primary)