ORIGIN: Mesopotamian (Babylonian-Akkadian)[Iraq]
TYPE: Mother Goddess
KNOWN PERIOD OF WORSHIP: Circa 2000 BCE, but evolving from prehistory, to circa 200 BCE
SYNONYMS: Antum; Anunitu
CENTER(S)OF CULT: Uruk and Babylon
ART REFERENCES: Glyptics, stone carvings etc.
LITERARY SOURCES: Babylon creation epic Enuma Elis and documents relating to the akitu festival.
INFORMATION: Antu is a Babylonian goddess derived from the older Sumerian Ki, though the cosmogony has been altered to suit a separate tradition. The consort of the God of Heaven, Anu, she was a dominant feature of the Babylonian akitu festival until as recently as 200 BCE, her later preeminence possibly attributable to indentification with the Greek goddess Hera.
In Akkadian mythology, Antu or Antum is a Babylonian goddess. She was the first consort of Anu, and the pair were the parents of the Anunnaki and the Utukki.
Antu was a later development of Ki, an earlier Sumerian earth goddess. She was also conflated with Kishar.
According to the Akkadian pantheon, clouds were Antum's breasts and that rain was her breast milk.
CONSORT: Anu
CHILDREN: The Anunnaki, The Utukki, Inanna (possibly)
EQUIVALENTS: Hera, Dione, Gaia (Greek); Juno, Tellus (Roman)