Divinity Atlas

Sacred Correspondences
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Not a historical person: a divine or other-than-human being

This page groups deities by whether their existence in belief is considered fully mythological, debated, or grounded in a historical cult that can be traced. Wikipedia defines historicity as "the historical actuality of persons and events, meaning the quality of being part of history instead of being a historical myth, legend, or fiction." Browsing this way helps a visitor separate gods with a documented historical cult from ones known only through later literary retelling.

Facts
Attestation
Era of Attestation
Attested in Akkadian-language sources from the later third millennium BCE. The theology of Marduk's supremacy is set out in Enuma Elish, most often dated to the late second millennium, and the latest cuneiform copies of Babylonian religious texts are of the first century CE. 3
Veneration Today
The cult ended with the cuneiform culture that carried it; no continuous worship survives. 2
Overview
What Defines This Grouping
The gods of Babylonia and Assyria: largely the Sumerian pantheon inherited under Akkadian names and reordered around the elevation of Marduk as city-god of Babylon. The material is written in Akkadian on cuneiform tablets, and it is one of the fullest documented pantheons of the ancient world. 2
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Deities 1
Learn More
The gods of Babylon

This group gathers the deities of Babylonian religion, the later Mesopotamian tradition that inherited and reworked the older Sumerian pantheon. Its theology is set out in myths such as the Enuma Elish, which narrates the rise of Marduk, the city-god of Babylon, to supremacy over the gods.

The browser will find Marduk and his son Nabu, the sky-god Anu, the storm-god Enlil, the wisdom-god Ea (Enki), the love-and-war goddess Ishtar (Inanna), and the sun-god Shamash, keeper of justice. Many are the same powers worshipped under Sumerian names elsewhere in the atlas; the entries note the correspondence.

Not a historical person: a divine or other-than-human being
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Sources
1. Divinity Atlas Directory Taxonomy, First Edition Category Tree
2. Ancient Mesopotamian Gods and Goddesses
Nicole Brisch (ed.), Oracc / Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus, University of Pennsylvania, 2011IntroductionView the Source
3. Myths from Mesopotamia: Creation, the Flood, Gilgamesh, and Others
Stephanie Dalley, Oxford University Press, 2000Introduction to Enuma ElishView the Source
Divinity Atlas Directory Prose, First Edition Category Descriptions
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