Home › Ancient History › Anu, Father of the Gods
Ancient History · Guide
Who Was Anu? The Mesopotamian Father of the Gods
Anu, called An in Sumerian, was the Mesopotamian god of the sky and a high source of divine authority, often called “father of the gods”. He is securely attested by the mid-third millennium BCE. The title describes rank and family relationships inside mythology; it does not prove he was the first god people ever worshipped, and in the later Enuma Elish he has parents of his own.
How to read this page
- Established: observed, measured, excavated or written in a source from the time. The only things we present as fact.
- Mainstream theory: what most specialists currently conclude. Reported accurately, not endorsed.
- Alternative or debated theory: proposals outside or at the edge of mainstream scholarship, or still disputed. Reported so you can see the debate.
- The book’s view: the argument of Echoes of History, always labelled as the author’s own.
At a glance
| Question | Short answer |
|---|---|
| Names | An (Sumerian), Anu (Akkadian); the sign AN also means “sky” or “god” |
| Domain | Sky or heaven; the source of royal and divine authority |
| Main city | Uruk, where he shared the Eanna precinct with Inanna |
| Earliest secure attestation | By the mid-third millennium BCE (Fara god list; King Mesanepada’s bead) |
| Family | Varies by text; in the Enuma Elish his parents are Anshar and Kishar and his son is Ea (Enki) |
| Symbol | The horned crown, shown on a stele of Shamshi-Adad V among divine emblems |
An and Anu: one god, two languages
An is the Sumerian name and Anu the Akkadian form. Mesopotamia was bilingual for centuries, and scribes routinely matched Sumerian and Akkadian gods. The equivalence helps us gather related evidence, but it does not mean his importance, relationships or worship stayed the same across three thousand years. Every claim about Anu should name its text and period.
What “father of the gods” means
A divine father can supply genealogy, authority or both. Mesopotamian texts assign relationships in ways that do not add up to one consistent family tree: a god called Anu’s child in one composition may have other parents in another. The title is best read in context. Who is claiming the authority? Which group of gods is involved? Is the text a story, a hymn or a royal inscription? Those questions explain the epithet better than treating it as an entry in a universal birth register.
High rank, little action
Anu often holds supreme rank while other gods do the work of the story. Enlil executes decisions on earth, Enki solves problems with cunning, and Inanna, Marduk or Ninurta take the heroic roles. Anu’s authority does not mean he was always the protagonist or that his cult eclipsed all others. In the Enuma Elish, Marduk’s rise organises the poem; the older generations, Anu among them, remain part of the account even as the focus moves elsewhere.
Anu and kingship
Kings appealed to Anu as a source of legitimacy, and kingship itself was said to have “descended from heaven”. Royal invocations did not make him the sole authority, however: in Assyria the god Ashur held special prominence. A city’s patron, a ruler’s invocation, a learned genealogy and a literary composition may each put a different god first without being evidence for unrelated religions. See Ancient Mesopotamian religion.
Symbols: the horned crown
The horned crown can stand for Anu in specific contexts; the ORACC entry illustrates it on a stele of the Assyrian king Shamshi-Adad V, within a row of divine emblems. Horned headdresses are also a general sign of divinity in Mesopotamian art, so a symbol must be read with its inscription and setting. Many images labelled “Anu” online are modern inventions or misidentified, and should not be reused as authentic portraits.
How early is Anu actually attested?
The earliest appearances of An are hard to pin down because the cuneiform sign AN can be read as the god’s name, as “sky”, or as the general marker for a deity. ORACC describes him as definitely attested by the mid-third millennium BCE, in the god list from Fara (ancient Shuruppak) and in the name of Mesanepada, a twenty-seventh-century king of Ur who dedicated a bead to An. That is real evidence, far stronger than a resemblance between divine names. It still gives only a latest-by date for the record, not the date someone first believed in An. See the oldest known gods in history.
The Anunnaki
Anunnaki (Sumerian Anunna) is a term for a group of gods in Mesopotamian texts, often understood as “offspring of An” or “princely seed”. Their membership and role vary: sometimes they are the great gods of heaven and earth, sometimes judges in the underworld. The modern claim that the Anunnaki were extraterrestrials who engineered humanity comes from twentieth-century books, not from any translation accepted by people who read cuneiform.
Does “father of the gods” mean one Creator?
Anu’s title fits divine ancestry and rule inside a world of many gods. The same texts recognise other deities and assign them relationships, and in the Enuma Elish Anu himself is born of earlier gods. A title like “father” invites comparison with other traditions, but on its own it does not show that Mesopotamians preserved an exclusive belief in one God. Mythic seniority and historical priority are different questions.
What is fact and what is theory
| Claim | Status | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| An/Anu is securely attested by the mid-third millennium BCE | ESTABLISHED | Fara god list; Mesanepada’s dedication (ORACC) |
| Anu was a sky god and source of divine and royal authority | ESTABLISHED | Many Sumerian and Akkadian texts |
| Anu’s worship is older than the first written records of him | MAINSTREAM THEORY | Likely, but undated; early readings of the sign AN are ambiguous |
| The Anunnaki were extraterrestrials who created humans | ALTERNATIVE THEORY | Sitchin and followers; rejected by Assyriologists |
| A supreme “father” above the gods may echo an older memory of one Creator | THE BOOK’S VIEW | The author’s interpretation in Echoes of History |
What the book argues · the author’s view
Echoes of History treats figures such as Anu, a distant father high above a crowded pantheon, as one of the clues worth weighing in the question of whether many gods preserve a memory of one Creator. This is the author’s interpretation, offered for investigation alongside the evidence above; the ancient texts themselves present Anu within a world of many gods.
From the author of this guide
Explore this question in Echoes of History
Echoes of History follows the high gods of Mesopotamia and Egypt into the larger question of one Creator.
Frequently asked questions
Who was Anu?
The Mesopotamian sky god, An in Sumerian, regarded as a supreme source of authority and often called father of the gods. His main temple was at Uruk.
Was Anu the first god?
His seniority is meaningful inside the myths, but no evidence shows he was the first god humans worshipped. He is securely attested by the mid-third millennium BCE.
Who were Anu’s children?
It depends on the text. Enki (Ea) is his son in the Enuma Elish; other traditions name Enlil, Inanna or others, and the Anunnaki are sometimes called his offspring.
Were the Anunnaki aliens?
No. Anunnaki is a term for a group of gods in Mesopotamian sources. The alien reading is a modern idea, not a translation.
Was Anu a creator god?
He belongs to traditions about divine generations and cosmic authority. Claims about his specific creative acts should cite the composition they come from.
Further reading and resources
Book links in this list are affiliate links to Amazon and Bookshop.org. As an Amazon Associate, Jossef Salman earns from qualifying purchases, at no extra cost to you.
- Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia — Jeremy Black & Anthony Green (1992)An illustrated dictionary of divine identities, symbols and terms.AmazonReference
- The Literature of Ancient Sumer — Jeremy Black, Graham Cunningham, Eleanor Robson & Gábor Zólyomi (2004)Translated compositions read in their literary setting.Amazon · Bookshop.orgPrimary texts
- The Treasures of Darkness — Thorkild Jacobsen (1976)A classic interpretation of An as the power of authority.Amazon · Bookshop.orgClassic
- The 12th Planet — Zecharia Sitchin (1976)The ancient-astronaut reading of the Anunnaki.Amazon · Bookshop.orgAlternative view – contested
- Echoes of History — Jossef Salman (2nd ed. 2026)High gods across ancient traditions and the question of one Creator.The author’s book
Sources
