The deities
in ancient Mesopotamian cultures (i.e. Sumerian, Akkadian, Assyrian,
and Babylonian). The name is variously written "da-nuna",
"da-nuna-ke4-ne", or "da-nun-na", meaning something to the effect of
"those of royal blood" or "princely offspring". According to The Oxford
Companion to World Mythology, the Anunnaki "are the Sumerian deities of
the old primordial line; they are chthonic deities of fertility,
associated eventually with the underworld, where they became judges.
They take their name from the old sky god An (Anu).
Their
relation to the group of gods known as the Igigi is unclear – at times
the names are used synonymously but in the Atra-Hasis flood myth the
Igigi are the sixth generation of the Gods who have to work for the
Anunnaki, rebelling after 40 days and replaced by the creation of
humans.
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