Ancient Godheads

by: Shmuel ben Shlomi

Everything has a beginning. Many times the older a thing, idea, concept, thought or practice is the more difficult it becomes to access its true origins. When it comes to the idea of G-d or a god this is especially true.

The concept of a G-d has been around, at least as long as human civilization has existed. Humans, by nature, are a curious lot who come out of the womb asking that one important question — “Why?” It is a significant part of humanity’s genetic code and there is no getting around it. We want to know and that means asking questions, especially those with seemingly unknowable answers…. And, we don’t like that. Therefore when confronted with that ultimate question, “Where did all this, including myself, come from?” Well, the answers will be endless and will vary according to our time and place in the herald of time.

Keeping that in mind here is a brief list of Godheads beginning with the first known post-Flood human civilization to our current one in the early 21st Century CE. Whatever was thought about and practiced by those peopling the planet before 8000 BCE is anybody’s guess since before and immediately after the Younger Dryas period (pre-deluge) remains a total mystery, even though we have certain evidence in discovery’s like Gobekli Tepi in Turkey that their existed a grand civilization prior to the Great Flood of antiquity.

I am of the opinion that all myths, legends and tales have their origins in some kind of perceived fact. Over time and distance those facts become immersed in the lore of those carrying it along, gets expanded with new names, places while the crux of the story remains the same. The same can be said of the idea of G-d, gods or divine beings.

Who was this G-d, gods or divine beings will depend on the storyteller, however, as stated earlier everything has a beginning. Our journey begins in the first post-Flood empire that came to be known as Sumeria/Sumer. From that point on their story has become the foundation upon which every basic idea of a G-d or gods has arisen and while all began as pantheistic nearly all have evolved into either a monotheistic or a trinitarian point of view. In our society of today nearly all current religions, save two, Judaism and Islam, have maintained this trinitarian idea or a polytheistic viewpoint, e.g. Hinduism, Christianity and so forth.

Let us look at how it all began: (Please note that all these are polytheistic in their inception and can sometimes be interchangeable depending on the region and dates)

[All Dates are Approximate and Empires May Overlap]

Sumerian Empire: 8000 - 1750 BCE

Head of the Pantheon is Anu (An) The two under him are his two sons Enki and Enlil t Under them are a whole host of lesser gods (Annunaki/Igigi)

Egyptian Empire: 3100 - 30 BCE

The Head of the Pantheon is Ra (or Enki or his son Marduk) Under them are Thoth aka Ptah and Osiris

Hindu/Indian Empire: 2500 BCE - 2023 CE

The Head of the Pantheon is Krishna Under him are Vishnu and Shiva. Also included is Shakti, the feminine creative force or energy. All these within Hinduism are interchangeable depending of the times and region.

Akkadian Empire: 2334 - 2154 BCE

Head of the Pantheon is An The two under him are his two sons Ea aka Enki and Enlil

Hittite Empire: 1600 - 1300 BCE

Head of the Pantheon is Anu Under him are Alalu aka Enki and Kumarbi aka Enlil

Babylonian/Persian Empire: 1220 - 334 BCE

Head of the Pantheon is Marduk, aka Bel (son of Enki and grandson of Anu who displaced Anu from his seat of power here on planet Earth) The two under him are Nannar/Sin and Utu/Shamash

Assyrian Empire: 900 - 600 BCE

The Head of the Pantheon is Ashur Under him are Sin and Adam

Canaanite/Israeli Empire: 1250 - 586 BCE/1948-2024CE

The Head of the Pantheon is El Under him are his two sons Baal and Y-H-V-H (Yahweh) Eventually Y-H-V-H won the day and by the end of the Babylonian Exile rose to be the only G-d worshipped in Judaism under the tutelage of Ezra the Scribe, Zerubbabel the Governor and architect and Nehemiah the politician.

Greek Empire: 1200 - 323 BCE

The Head of the Pantheon is Zeus Under him are Poseidon and Ares

Roman Empire: 753 BCE - 305 CE

The Head of the Pantheon is Jove (Jupiter) Under him are Apollo and Mars

Norse/Germanic (Viking) Empire: 500 BCE - 700 CE

The Head of the Pantheon is Odin Under him are his two sons Loki (Enki) and Thor (Enlil)

Ottoman Empire: 1250 - 1850 CE

Only one G-d named Allah

Western Empires — Holy Roman/Spanish/British/American — AKA the Christian Empire: 305 - 2024 CE

The Head of the Pantheon is the Father Under him but somehow co-equal are the Son (aka Jesus) and the Ruach (aka the Holy Spirit)

What each of the religious ideologies have in common is their starting place — the Sumerian pantheon of gods. While the names and roles of each have changed over thousands of years the basic concept(s) have remained the same.

The real question isn’t Why? But; How? How did these ancient Sumerians who gave us the first known writing, forms of government, agriculture, religion, book-keeping, commerce, architecture, etc; how did they come up with this whole worldview of gods and goddesses to explain not only the unexplainable but those things beyond their scientific understanding at the time?

When we can answer that ……

Until next time … Shalom

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