Ninḫursaĝ sometimes transcribed Ninursag, Ninḫarsag, or Ninḫursaĝa, also known as Damgalnuna or Ninmah, was the ancient Sumerian mother goddess of the mountains, and one of the seven great deities of Sumer. She is known earliest as a nurturing or fertility goddess. Temple hymn sources identify her as the "true and great lady of heaven" and kings of Lagash were "nourished by Ninhursag's milk". She is the tutelary deity to several Sumerian leaders.
Dagon or Dagan was a god worshipped in ancient Syria across the middle of the Euphrates, with primary temples located in Tuttul and Terqa, though many attestations of his cult come from cities such as Mari and Emar as well. In settlements situated in the upper Euphrates area he was regarded as the "father of gods" similar to Mesopotamian Enlil or Hurrian Kumarbi, as well as a lord of the land, a god of prosperity, and a source of royal legitimacy. A large number of theophoric names, both masculine and feminine, attests that he was a popular deity. He was also worshiped further east, in Mesopotamia, where many rulers regarded him as the god capable of granting them kingship over the western areas.
Ninlil was a Mesopotamian goddess regarded as the wife of Enlil. She shared many of his functions, especially the responsibility for declaring destinies, and like him was regarded as a senior deity and head of the pantheon. She is also well attested as the mother of his children, such as the underworld god Nergal, the moon god Nanna or the warrior god Ninurta. She was chiefly worshiped in Nippur and nearby Tummal alongside Enlil, and multiple temples and shrines dedicated to her are attested in textual sources from these cities. In the first millennium BCE she was also introduced to Ḫursaĝkalamma near Kish, where she was worshiped alongside the goddess Bizilla, who was likely her sukkal.
Teshub was the Hurrian weather god, as well as the head of the Hurrian pantheon. The etymology of his name is uncertain, though it is agreed it can be classified as linguistically Hurrian. Both phonetic and logographic writings are attested. As a deity associated with the weather, Teshub could be portrayed both as destructive and protective. Individual weather phenomena, including winds, lightning, thunder and rain, could be described as his weapons. He was also believed to enable the growth of vegetation and create rivers and springs. His high position in Hurrian religion reflected the widespread importance of weather gods in northern Mesopotamia and nearby areas, where in contrast with the south agriculture relied primarily on rainfall rather than irrigation. It was believed that his authority extended to both mortal and other gods, both on earth and in heaven. However, the sea and the underworld were not under his control. Depictions of Teshub are rare, though it is agreed he was typically portrayed as an armed, bearded figure, sometimes holding a bundle of lightning. One such example is known from Yazılıkaya. In some cases, he was depicted driving in a chariot drawn by two sacred bulls.
Kumarbi, also known as Kumurwe, Kumarwi and Kumarma, was a Hurrian god. He held a senior position in the Hurrian pantheon, and was described as the "father of gods". He was portrayed as an old, deposed king of the gods, though this most likely did not reflect factual loss of the position of the head of the pantheon in Hurrian religion, but only a mythological narrative. It is often assumed that he was an agricultural deity, though this view is not universally accepted and the evidence is limited. He was also associated with prosperity. It was believed that he resided in the underworld.
Pinikir, also known as Pinigir, Pirengir, Pirinkir, and Parakaras, was an Ancient Near Eastern astral goddess who originates in Elamite religious beliefs. While she is only infrequently attested in Elamite documents, she achieved a degree of prominence in Hurrian religion. Due to her presence in pantheons of many parts of the Ancient Near East, from Anatolia to Iran, modern researchers refer to her as a "cosmopolitan deity."
Ishara (Išḫara) was a goddess originally worshipped in Ebla and other nearby settlements in the north of modern Syria in the third millennium BCE. The origin of her name is disputed, and due to lack of evidence supporting Hurrian or Semitic etymologies it is sometimes assumed it might have originated in a linguistic substrate. In Ebla, she was considered the tutelary goddess of the royal family. An association between her and the city is preserved in a number of later sources from other sites as well. She was also associated with love, and in that role is attested further east in Mesopotamia as well. Multiple sources consider her the goddess of the institution of marriage, though she could be connected to erotic love as well, as evidenced by incantations. She was also linked to oaths and divination. She was associated with reptiles, especially mythical bašmu and ḫulmiẓẓu, and later on with scorpions as well, though it is not certain how this connection initially developed. In Mesopotamian art from the Kassite and Middle Babylonian periods she was only ever represented through her scorpion symbol rather than in anthropomorphic form. She was usually considered to be an unmarried and childless goddess, and she was associated with various deities in different time periods and locations. In Ebla, the middle Euphrates area and Mesopotamia she was closely connected with Ishtar due to their similar character, though they were not necessarily regarded as identical. In the Ur III period, Mesopotamians associated her with Dagan due to both of them being imported to Ur from the west. She was also linked to Ninkarrak. In Hurrian tradition she developed an association with Allani.
Ninegal or Belat Ekalli (Belet-ekalli) was a Mesopotamian goddess associated with palaces. Both her Sumerian and Akkadian name mean "lady of the palace."
Šauška (Shaushka), also called Šauša or Šawuška, was the highest ranked goddess in the Hurrian pantheon. She was associated with love and war, as well as with incantations and by extension with healing. While she was usually referred to as a goddess and with feminine titles, such as allai, references to masculine Šauška are also known. The Hurrians associated her with Nineveh, but she was also worshiped in many other centers associated with this culture, from Anatolian cities in Kizzuwatna, through Alalakh and Ugarit in Syria, to Nuzi and Ulamme in northeastern Mesopotamia. She was also worshiped in southern Mesopotamia, where she was introduced alongside a number of other foreign deities in the Ur III period. In this area, she came to be associated with Ishtar. At a later point in time, growing Hurrian influence on Hittite culture resulted in the adoption of Šauška into the Hittite state pantheon.
Tishpak (Tišpak) was a Mesopotamian god associated with the ancient city Eshnunna and its sphere of influence, located in the Diyala area of Iraq. He was primarily a war deity, but he was also associated with snakes, including the mythical mushussu and bashmu, and with kingship.
Allani, also known under the Akkadian name Allatu, was the Hurrian goddess of the underworld. She was also associated with the determination of fate. She was closely linked with Ishara, and they could be invoked or receive offerings together. She also developed connection with other underworld deities from neighboring cultures, such as Mesopotamian Ereshkigal, Anatolian Sun goddess of the Earth and Lelwani, and possibly Ugaritic Arsay. It is presumed she was chiefly worshiped in western areas inhabited by the Hurrians, though the location of her main cult center is uncertain. She is attested in texts from sites such as Tigunani, Tuttul and Ugarit. She was also incorporated into the Mesopotamian pantheon, and was venerated in Ur, Nippur and Sippar. Hittite sources mentioning her are known too.
The Hurrian religion was the polytheistic religion of the Hurrians, a Bronze Age people of the Near East who chiefly inhabited the north of the Fertile Crescent. While the oldest evidence goes back to the third millennium BCE, it is best attested in cuneiform sources from the second millennium BCE written not only in the Hurrian language, but also Akkadian, Hittite and Ugaritic. It was shaped by the contacts between Hurrians and various cultures they coexisted with. As a result, the Hurrian pantheon included both natively Hurrian deities and those of foreign origin, adopted from Mesopotamian, Syrian, Anatolian and Elamite beliefs. The culture of the Hurrians was not entirely homogeneous, and different local religious traditions are documented in sources from Hurrian kingdoms such as Arrapha, Kizzuwatna and Mitanni, as well as from cities with sizeable Hurrian populations, such as Ugarit and Alalakh.
Kura was a god worshiped in Ebla in the third millennium BCE. He was the tutelary god of the city, as well as the head of the local pantheon. While his functions are difficult to ascertain, it is well attested that he was connected to the institution of kingship.
Nupatik, in early sources known as Lubadag, was a Hurrian god of uncertain character. He is attested in the earliest inscriptions from Urkesh, as well as in texts from other Hurrian settlements and Ugarit. He was also incorporated into Hittite religion. A similarly named deity continued to be venerated in Arbela as late as in the Neo-Assyrian period.
Shuwala (Šuwala) was a Hurrian goddess who was regarded as the tutelary deity of Mardaman, a Hurrian city in the north of modern Iraq. She was also worshiped in other Hurrian centers, such as Nuzi and Alalakh, as well as in Ur in Mesopotamia, Hattusa in the Hittite Empire and in the Syrian cities Emar and Ugarit.
Nabarbi or Nawarni was a Hurrian goddess possibly associated with pastures. She was one of the major deities in Hurrian religion, and was chiefly worshiped in the proximity of the river Khabur, especially in Taite. It has been proposed that she was associated with the goddess Belet Nagar, linked to the Upper Mesopotamian city of Nagar. In addition to being venerated in Hurrian religion, she was also incorporated into the beliefs of the Hittites and into the local pantheon of Emar. She also continued to be worshiped in Taite in the Neo-Assyrian period, as attested in a text from the reign of Ashurbanipal, where she is one of the deities invoked to bless the king.
Annunitum or Anunītu was a Mesopotamian goddess of war. While initially she functioned as an epithet of Ishtar, she started to develop into a separate deity in the final years of the Sargonic period and through the Ur III period.
Ḫabūrītum (dḫa-bu-ri-tum) was a goddess of the river Khabur worshiped in ancient Syria. She was incorporated into the Mesopotamian pantheon in the Ur III period. Her original cult center was most likely Sikani, which in the early third millennium was located in an area ruled by Hurrians. Not much is known about her character. In Mesopotamian texts she appears chiefly in association with other deities worshiped in Syria, such as Dagan and Ishara.
Belet-Šuḫnir and Belet-Terraban were a pair of Mesopotamian goddesses best known from the archives of the Third Dynasty of Ur, but presumed to originate further north, possibility in the proximity of modern Kirkuk and ancient Eshnunna. Their names are usually assumed to be derived from cities where they were originally worshiped. Both in ancient sources, such as ritual texts, seal inscriptions and god lists, and in modern scholarship, they are typically treated as a pair. In addition to Ur and Eshnunna, both of them are also attested in texts from Susa in Elam. Their character remains poorly understood due to scarcity of sources, though it has been noted that the tone of many festivals dedicated to them was "lugubrious," which might point at an association with the underworld.
