c. 6500 — c. 3800 BC, South Mesopotamia
THE UBAIDIANS & THE SUMERIANS
Around 4500 and 4000 BC, The Ubaidians united with other tribes/people including those from around Anatolia, and moved northwards. By around 3300 BC they had developed into a civilisation known as 'The Sumerians'.
SUMERIAN DEITIES
The majority of Sumerian deities belonged to a classification called The Anunna (“[offspring] of An”), whereas seven deities, including Enlil and Inanna, belonged to a group of “underworld judges" known as The Anunnaki (“[offspring] of An” + Ki; alternatively, "those from heaven (An) who came to earth (Ki)"]).
The main Sumerian deities were:
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Anu: god of heaven, the firmament
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Enlil: god of the air (from Lil = Air); patron deity of Nippur
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Enki: god of freshwater, male fertility, and knowledge; patron deity of Eridu
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Ereshkigal: Queen of the Underworld, Kigal or Irkalla
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Inanna/Ishtar: Queen of Heaven & Earth; goddess of warfare, female fertility, and sexual love; patron deity of Uruk
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Nammu: goddess of the primeval sea (Engur), who gave birth to An (heaven) and Ki (earth) and the first deities; eventually became known as the goddess Tiamat
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Ninhursag/Ninmah: Lady of The Mountain; goddess of the earth and underworld
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Nannar: god of the moon; one of the patron deities of Ur
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Ningal: goddess of the moon; wife of Nannar
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Ninlil: an air goddess and wife of Enlil; one of the matron deities of Nippur; she was believed to reside in the same temple as Enlil
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Ninurta: god of law, agriculture, wind; patron deity of Girsu, and one of the patron deities of Lagash
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Utu: god of the sun at the E-babbar Temple of Sippar; son of Ningal and Nannar
The great temple as featured in the background picture is purported to have been built for Ninhursag in dedication, and depicts The Tree of Life where creation began. The back ground picture of the temple shows 'the tree' on the first floor roof of the temple. This tree is clearly of significance as it is located high on the temple mount and is a central feature and symbolism to the temple's design.
HYPER-LINK TO 'THE SUMERIAN KING LIST'
THE GREAT DEATH PIT
The discoveries and excavations in 1922-1928 included The Royal Cemetery at Ur, the tomb of Queen Pu'abi aka Queen Shub-ad, and a 'death pit' of human bodies. It is believed that on the death of the King, and/or for religious reasons, human sacrifice was practised.
Woolley's findings indicated that through poisoning, those who died with the royals consisted of "...the members of the court, soldiers, men-servants, and women... Each man and woman brought a little cup of clay or stone or metal, the musicians played up to the last, and then each drank from the cup... — and they composed themselves for death".
THE UBAIDIANS
The majority of The Ubaidians lived in Tell El-Ubaid a village in South Mesopotamia. They developed the area through agriculture, drained the marshes and traded items such as weavings, leatherwork, metalwork, masonry, and pottery (Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc., 2018).
According to 'History.com' (2015), 'The Iron Age started between 1200 B.C. and 600 B.C..., and The Bronze Age lasted from roughly 3300 to 1200 B.C.'. However, ironmongery was in full effect during this era as noted by Woolley (1934) an excavator of Tell El-Ubaid who found the following metal objects in his excavations: -
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"Gold fillet with impressed designs. Small animal figures. Bearded bull. The copper head of a bull;
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Metal vessels. Tools and weapons. Cast and wrought blades. Daggers.
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Other tools... bronze tools or weapons".
Ninhursag/Nin-mah
Hall and Woolley (1927) state: "In one of the Sumerian myths of creation it is related that Anu and Enlil, Enki and Nin-khursag created the 'black-headed' human race, and in the poem of Atra Hasis, which, in spite of its fragmentary condition, evidently contains a creation story, the goddess Mami (i. e. another name of Nin-khursag) fashions out of clay seven figures each of men and women, which have apparently to be brought to life by the incantation of Ea. Laurence Gardner (2000) advocates "...at about 3800 BC,...we begin to learn how the kingly succession was orally fed... a menstrual extract from Enki's sister-wife Nîn-khursag, the designated Lady of Life. It was revered as a sacred Anunnaki essence - defined as the most potent of all life-forces and venerated as Star Fire. It was from the womb of Nîn-khursag that the royal line was born and it was with her own divine Star Fire that the kingly succession was supplementally nourished".
However, excavators Hall and Woolley further advise the discoveries at Ur demonstrate that Nin-khursag was considered 'the queen/goddess' of the earth, and mother/provider of 'divine milk' to the kings. "In like manner the function of the mother goddess, Nin-khursag, was not regarded as having ceased with the production of the first creatures, but to be continued in all natural increase. Particularly was she the mother of kings; Eannatum, Hammurabi, Samsu-iluna, and Nebuchadnezzar, are among those who claim to be her children or to have been 'fashioned' (in the womb) by her, and pray to her that their enemies may be afflicted by a withdrawal of her gracious influence, so that birth may cease in their lands. The diet of rulers in their infancy was 'the holy milk of Nin-khursag' to which many early inscriptions refer, and the same belief is found towards the end, as at the beginning of Babylonian history". (Hall and Woolley, 1927).
As such, Ninhursag was represented as a cow. This representation was taken to Egypt in the form of Isis pictured on the right with Horus.
The excavations of the area surrounding the abodes of The Ubaidians revealed a temple dedicated to the 'goddess' Nin-khursag - Lady of the Mountain, Mother of the gods and of humans. Clay figurines of Nin-khursag were previously found at Ur, and were described as '...a female figurine, naked and with her breast exposed, carrying an infant on her left arm..." (Hall and Woolley, 1927).
Many figurines were found in these excavations, and remarkably, Woolley (1934) also found a human skull stating,"The head was found loose in disturbed soil and there is nothing to show to what it had belonged; it is a god or demon, but instead of being purely human and wearing the horned head-dress which is the regular attribute of divinity it has real horns which sprout from the human skull".
Other artefacts identified 'Nannar' - son of Enki as 'god of the moon and Ur', and the lion-headed eagle 'Im-dugud' or 'Imgig', the mythical bird of the god Ninurta, holding two stags by their tails.
Isis with Horus - Egypt
THE SUMERIANS