Nammu: Sumerian Goddess Who Got The Idea To Create Mankind In The Image Of Gods

A. Sutherland - AncientPages.com - In Sumerian mythology, Nammu (Namma) was the "primeval sea" - the ultimate origin of everything.

The goddess Nammu gave birth to the heavens and the earth, and to life, for the first couple of gods.

Lugal-kisalsi inscription; Limestone foundation peg of Lugal-kisal-si, the King of Uruk and Ur. From the temple of goddess Nammu (also Namma) at Uruk, Iraq. Early Dynastic period, c. 2380 BCE. Pergamon Museum, Berlin, Germany. Image credit: Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP (Glasgow). 

More exactly, she gave birth to the male sky god, An, and the female earth goddess, Ki, whose union, in turn, produced the god Enlil (Air), source of the ordered universe, responsible for cattle, agricultural tools, vegetation, and the arts of civilization. Man was created to serve the gods and provide them with nourishment.

Nammu represented the oldest generation of Mesopotamia’s deities. She was the mother of the Sumerian water god Enki (Ea), of Eridu, located in the southern wetlands of what is today Iraq. Enki was also the god of wisdom, the creator, the protector of humanity, and the patron of craftsmen and artisans.

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