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An (cuneiform)

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See also: Dingir
Digitized cuneiform sign for an
Line drawing of Kassite vocabulary list.
The first two gods in column 2, God Sin, and God Shamash; (Shamash again as God #3).
Gods #4/5 (identical), are the "Wind Gods", Adad, and Rammânu.

The cuneiform an sign (or sumerogram AN, in Akkadian consisting of ASH 𒀸 and MAŠ 𒈦), is a common, multi-use sign, a syllabic for an, and an alphabetic sign used for a, or n; it is common in both the Epic of Gilgamesh over hundreds of years, and the 1350 BC Amarna letters, and other cuneiform texts. It is also used for the designation of a "god", and is sometimes represented as a superscript: , or capitalized: , for "dingir", English language, "god". The example photo at right shows (2nd list), a list of 14 named gods, all with "an"; the first pair on the list AN-UTU, or UTU, refers to the "sun-god", using Ud (cuneiform), as the sumerogram, namely UTU (sun Sumerogram).

Cuneiform an can also be found in compound form with another cuneiform sign, an example being DAGAL, . The older version of DAGAL used the 'god symbol' as a star within the sign: ; (older version of DAGAL, incorporating "star": ).

Epic of Gilgamesh usage

In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Tablets I-XII, "an" is used for the following meanings by the following numbers: an-(120) times, ìl-(0) times, -(593), AN-(27), and DINGIR-(76) times.

List of Babylonian gods, etc.

From Budge's revised book on Babylonian Life and History, a list of many of the major gods from Babylonian history (and Sumerian):

  • Anu, or Anum
  • Bêl (An Be),
  • Ea (An É a),
  • The "Moon-God":
    • Sin (An-Sin), An

    • Nannaru (An LUGAL Ki)
  • Shamash (An UTU)
  • The "Wind-God": (see Photo-caption, above)
  • The "Great God-of-Babylon":
  • Nabû (Nebo) (An ?, or An "pa"), -?, or


List of gods and associated temples, towns, etc.


References

  1. Parpola, 1971. The Standard Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh, Sign List, pp. 155-165, Sign no. 013, p. 155.
  2. Budge. Babylonian Life and History, E.A. Wallace Budge (Barnes & Noble edition), c 2005 (c 1883, revised 1925), 245 pages, Chapter: "Babylonian Religious Beliefs", pp. 80-95, list: pp. 94-95.
  • Line drawing with usage of an sign. Used in lines 1-(=0), 4, and 10. Line drawing with usage of an sign.
    Used in lines 1-(=0), 4, and 10.


  • Amran Kudurru (used at beginning of 1st line) Amran Kudurru
    (used at beginning of 1st line)

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