The Sumero-Akkadian Pantheon's mos Important Gods

Although, the Sumero-Akkadian Pantheon was made up of almost two thousand different gods and goddesses there were six major deities known throughout Mesopotamia. These gods were each the chief deities of main cities. However, with time their influence spread throughout other cities. Most of these gods represented the major elements of nature. Following are some examples: An, deity of Uruk, was the god of the sky, Nanna, deity of Ur, was the moon god, and Ea, deity of Eridu, was god of both water and wisdom. (33)

There were also some “lesser deities” who did not deal with aspects of nature, but still had a great impact on that time. One such example was Ishtar, the goddesses and queen of love and fertility who provided women with their children and existence to vegetation. Perhaps, these aspects owe to the fact that she was almost university adored and worshipped throughout Akkad and Sumer. However, in a bizarre twist, she was also a fierce warrior goddess, maybe so she could better protect what she had created. Ishtar, first appeared in the ancient Mesopotamia cities Sumer and Akkad, her home cities, and later her influence spread as far as Palestine and Egypt. (34)

Another example was Marduk, god of the Babylonian kingdom; thus, his home city was their capital—Babylon. Because he became the prominent god of such a vast and powerful city, it was only fitting that he should be the greatest god. To this end, Marduk engulfed powers from the surrounding gods so that he could take on their combined attributes, and thereby become the greatest of all. He even rivalled the goddesses Ishtar. (35)

2/ Comment the person and role of Ishtar (including her descend to the land of the dead)

Ishtar was the goddesses of love and fertility....

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...so produced human-like creatures made of mud. However, these mud creatures were not gifted with intelligence, and so upon coming into contact with water they met their fate. The second attempt at creating mankind resulted in wooden puppets. Though these puppets did not dissolve they were unable to offer praise to the gods who had created them. Therefore, this creation was no good. The final attempt brought forth four humans made from a substance of yellow and white maize. These four humans were extremely intelligent, so much so that the gods dulled their vision out of fear that they might become their equal. Nonetheless, this creation did offer worship and praise to the gods, and therefore it was good. (62) It is interesting that this is the same civilization that people believed predicted the 2012 apocalypse and resulted in people all around the world panicking.