ANTU

ORIGIN Mesopotamian (Babylonian-Akkadian) [Iraq]. Creator goddess.

KNOWN PERIOD OF WORSHIP circa 2000 BC, but evolving from prehistory, to circa 200 BC.

SYNONYMS Antum; ANUNITU.

CENTER(S) OF CULT Uruk and Babylon.

ART REFERENCES glyptics, stone carvings, etc.

LITERARY SOURCES Babylonian creation epic Enuma Elisˇ and documents relating to the akitu festival.

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 BC, her later pre-eminence possibly attributable to identification with the Greek goddess HERA.