It is unfortunate that no lists of gods have been found in a sufficiently complete state to allow of the scheme after which they were drawn up to be determined without uncertainty. It may, nevertheless, be regarded as probable that these lists, at least in some cases, are arranged in conformity (to a certain extent) with the appearance of the deities in the so-called creation-story. Some of them begin with Anu, and give him various names, among them being Anšar and Kišar, Lahmu and Lahame, etc. More specially interesting, however, is a well-known trilingual list of gods, which contains the names of the various deities in the following order:—
EXTRACTS FROM THE TRILINGUAL LIST
/Obverse/
Sumer. Dialect Sumer. Standard Common Explanation
(Semit. or Sumer.)
1. Dimmer Dingir Îlu God. 2. U-ki En-ki Ê-a Êa or Aa. 3. Gašan(?)-ki Nin-ki Dawkina Dauké, the consort of Êa. 4. Mu-ul-lil En-lil-la Bêl The God Bel. 5. E-lum A-lim Bêl 6. Gašan(?)-lil Nin-lil-la dam-bi sal Bel's consort. 7. U-lu-a Ni-rig Ênu-rêštu The god of Niffer. 8. U-lib-a Ni-rig Ênu-rêštu
9-12 have Ênu-rêštu's consort, sister, and attendant.
13. U-šab-sib En-šag-duga Nusku Nusku
14-19 have two other names of Nusku, followed by three names of his consort. A number of names of minor divinities then follow. At line 43 five names of Êa are given, followed by four of Merodach:—
48. U-bi-lu-lu En-bi-lu-lu Marduk Merodach 49. U-Tin-dir ki En-Tin-dir ki Marduk Merodach as "lord of Babylon." 50. U-dimmer-an-kia En-dinger-an-kia Marduk Merodach as "lord god of heaven and earth." 51. U-ab-šar-u En-ab-šar-u Marduk Merodach, apparently as "lord of the 36,000 steers." 52. U-bar-gi-si Nin-bar-gi-si Zer-panîtum Merodach's consort. 53. Gašan-abzu Nin-abzu dam-bi sal "the Lady of the Abyss," his consort.
The remainder of the obverse is mutilated, but gave the names of Nebo in Sumerian, and apparently also of Tašmêtum, his consort. The beginning of the reverse also is mutilated, but seems to have given the names of the sun-god, Šamaš, and his consort, followed by those of Kîttu and Mêšarum, "justice and righteousness," his attendants. Other interesting names are:
/Reverse/