TYPE: Chthonic creator and birth goddess
ORIGIN: Mesopotamian (Sumerian)
KNOWN PERIOD OF WORSHIP: Circa 4000 BCE until Circa 1750 BCE
CENTER(S) OF CULT: Mainly identified with Ur.
ART REFERENCES: Stele of Ur-Nammu (circa 2050-1950 BCE)
LITERARY SOURCES: Creation epics, including Enki and the World Order; Sumerian and Akkadian temple hymns and poems.
INFORMATION: Nammu is identified in various texts as the goddess of the watery deeps. As a consort of An she is the mother of Enki and the power of the riverbed to produce water. Alternatively Nammu is the progenitrix of An and Ki, the archetypal deities of heaven and earth. She also engendered other early gods and in one poem is the mother of all mortal life. She molded clay collected by creatures called sig-en-sig-du and brought it to life, thus creating mankind. She is attended by seven minor goddesses and may ultimately have become syncretized with Ninhursaga.