The Anunnaki in the Ancient Religions of the World
The Anunnaki in the Ancient Religions of the World is a reference to the fact that the Anunnaki Archetype is a shared-theme in religions of Western Eurasia, all of which being the oldest in the world.
The Anunnaki shares extensive similarities with the Aesir, Danavas, Danaans, Ahuras, and Olympians. These are the oldest pantheons of the world, and are resonant enough as to suggest either a cross-cultural influence (descendent-cultural influence, or ancestral-cultural influence) in order to explain such similarities.
Furthermore, on a deeper level, the existence of the Anunnaki symbolize a pervasive theme in every human religion — ancient and modern: the existence of supernatural forces influencing the world. On one level, you can say that this is natural. Humans think in this way, and thus it makes intuitive sense that we would all concoct the same “spiritual landscape” of good and evil. I am not that concerned with the metaphysics of it all, but rather simply the architectural similarity within the religions.
- Pantheon Structure
- Identity, Function, and Stories of the Gods
I personally believe that this simply is evidence of the importance of the story to ancient humans.
Contents
The Anunnaki Archetype
The Anunnaki are the earliest gods of human society. The Sumerians were city-builders, the first of the world, the first to write, and the first historical culture to hint at their rich traditions surrounding the ancient gods, simply by mentioning their name.
The reason why I have chosen to call this the Anunnaki in the ancient religions of the world, and not the other way around — the Danaans, Danavas, Aesir, Ahuras, and Olympians in world religion (an equally valid term for any culture in respect for the alacrity of their memory of an ancestral tradition).
My answer to this is simply that the Anunnaki are the oldest on record (known as the Anuna by the Sumerians). The Sumerians are the first historical culture in the world. Therefore their traditions are the oldest almost for sure, at least the oldest on record.
The Anunnaki form an ancient Pantheon Archetype shared by several other important civilizations (Greek, Vedic, Celtic, Norse, Germanic, and Egyptian). The
More importantly, when you get into the Pantheon of each of these individual cultures, you find many common stories, such as the myths of their origins. For example, in the Sumerian Creation stories the births of the Anuna gods are remembered. Turbulence in the early universe. A war against monsters (The Hordes of Tiamat (Sumer, Akkad, Babylon), The Titans and Giants (Greece, Rome).
Anunnaki In Ancient Religions
Sumerian-Greek Connection
The clearest connection between Sumerian religion and the ancient religions, is the pantheon itself. The very existence of a People of a God or a Tribe of Gods — which is essentially what Anuna, Anunnaki, Tuatha de Dnann/Tuath De, Aesir all means. In every case before Aesir the names translate literally to some variation of the folk of a god, his people or clan.
There are differences between the pantheon’s of the Sumerians, Greeks, Vedic and Norse. The names are often different, some of the stories are unique, but the general archteype of the gods, and general architecture of the conception of the heavens, are often very similar. Some stories are for all intents and purposes, the same — proving a connection of some kind.
There are great similarities in their origin stories. Another example of a Sumerian-Greek Connection can be found in the origins of the Olympian and Anunnaki gods. The Anunnaki of the Sumerians, in the long distant past, were among the first born of primordial beings like Anshar, Kishar, Apsu, and Tiamat. These were the leaders of the Anunnaki, like Anu, Enlil, and Enki. Enlil separated Heaven and Earth. (Just as Osiris?Ptah?Amun?Ra? separated heaven and earth in the Egyptian Creation Story.)
The Olympians have a similar origin story. The Olympians were born from primordial beings, the Titans, like Cronos. Cronos was the father of all the Olympians — Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Hades. There were also great wars among the gods that the Greeks remembered in their religion. The Greeks remembered ancient wars against the titans.
So far we have the Pantheon of the Gods being a similarity, as well as the Origin stories of the gods. In addition, the Anunnaki tradition, and the Olympian tradition both have a flood myth. The Babylonian god Dumuzi and Dionysis/Bacchus share a common origin. The Rape of Persphone (at the hands of Hades) (Greek) myth, is virtually identical to the Rape of Ninlil (By Enlil) myth of the Sumerians. The Sumerian tradition is almost certainly far older.
However, this does not mean that the age of the Olympian gods should not be immediately called into question.
The General Themes That Emerge
A Primordial War —
Classes of Beings —