Mesopotamian Gods and Symbols: A Guide to the Evidence

Ancient Mesopotamia, the land between the Tigris and Euphrates in what is now Iraq, produced some of the world's first cities, the earliest writing and a vast body of religious literature. Its gods and images reach modern jewellery through two kinds of evidence: objects excavated from its cities and tombs, and texts written in cuneiform on clay. This guide introduces the figures and objects in AURYN's Journal, and the evidence behind each.

Many cultures, not one

"Mesopotamia" covers several thousand years and many peoples. Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian and Assyrian describe different languages, periods and states, with shared traditions and constant change. A god known in a Sumerian poem of around 2000 BC may appear transformed in a Babylonian text a thousand years later.

How the gods were represented

Mesopotamian deities could appear as human figures, as animals, or through emblems and astral signs: the storm god Adad through forked lightning, for example, and his wife Šala through an ear of grain. In texts they appear by name, in hymns, myths and the long god lists compiled by scribes.

The underworld: Ereshkigal

Ereshkigal, "Lady of the Great Earth", ruled the land of the dead, the "Land of No Return". She is the stern older sister in the story of Inanna's descent to the underworld, and in later tradition the wife of the god Nergal.

Grain goddesses: Ašnan and Šala

• Ašnan, also called Ezina, was grain itself, personified as a goddess in Sumerian literature.
• Šala, wife of the storm god Adad, was "the ear of grain" of Babylonian astronomy, the constellation later called Virgo.

An object: the Standard of Ur

The Standard of Ur is not a symbol but a 4,500-year-old mosaic object from the Royal Cemetery at Ur, with scenes of war and feasting. Its original purpose is still unknown.

Objects and texts

An excavated object can tell us where and when it was made and what it shows; a cuneiform text can tell us a god's name, titles and stories. Neither proves that a modern design sold under a god's name reproduces an ancient emblem. That is why the stories above start from the evidence and label later interpretation as such.

AURYN's Mesopotamian designs can be found in the charms collection.