A tablet that belonged to an archive at Uruk enlightens us as to the pomp and pageantry that accompanied the arrival of Anu
and his spouse on a "state visit." Because of damage to the tablet, we can read of the ceremonies only from some midpoint,
when Ami and Antu were already seated in the temple's courtyard. The gods, "exactly in the same order as before," then formed
a procession ahead of and behind the bearer of the scepter. The protocol then instructed:
They shall then descend to the Exalted Court,
and shall turn towards the god Anu.
The Priest of Purification shall libate the Scepter,
and the Scepter-bearer shall enter and be seated.
The deities Papsukal, Nusku and Shala
shall then be seated in the court of the god Anu.
Meanwhile, the goddesses, "The Divine Offspring of Anu, Uruk's Divine Daughters," bore a second object, whose name or purpose are unclear, to the E.NIR, "The House of the Golden Bed of the Goddess Antu." Then they returned in a procession to the courtyard, to the place where Antu was seated. While the evening meal was being prepared according to a strict ritual, a special priest smeared a mixture of "good oil" and wine on the door sockets of the sanctuary to which Anu and Antu were later to retire for the night - a thoughtful touch intended, it seems, to eliminate squeaking of the doors while the two deities slept. While an "evening meal" - various drinks and appetizers - was being served, an astronomer-priest went up to the "topmost stage of the tower of the main temple" to observe the skies. He was to look out for the rising in a specific part of the sky of the planet named Great Anu of Heaven. Thereupon, he was to recite the compositions named "To the one who grows bright, the heavenly planet of the Lord Anu," and "The Creator's image has risen."
Once the planet had been sighted and the poems recited, Anu and Antu washed their hands with water out of a golden basin and the first part of the feast began. Then, the seven Great Gods also washed their hands from seven large golden trays and the second part of the feast began. The "rite of washing of the mouth" was then performed; the priests recited the hymn "The planet of Anu is Heaven's hero." Torches were lit, and the gods, priests, singers, and food-bearers arranged themselves in a procession, accompanying the two visitors to their sanctuary for the night.
Four major deities were assigned to remain in the courtyard and keep watch until daybreak. Others were stationed at various designated gates. Meanwhile, the whole country was to light up and celebrate the presence of the two divine visitors. On a signal from the main temple, the priests of all the other temples of Uruk were "to use torches to start bonfires"; and the priests in other cities, seeing the bonfires at Uruk, were to do likewise. Then: The people of the Land shall light fires in their homes, and shall offer banquets to all the gods. . . . The guards of the cities shall light fires in the streets and in the squares.
The departure of the two Great Gods was also planned, not only to the day but to the minute.
On the seventeenth day,
forty minutes after sunrise,
the gate shall be opened before the gods Anu and
Antu,
bringing to an end their overnight stay.
While the end of this tablet has broken off, another text in all probability describes the departure: the morning meal, the incantations, the handshakes ("grasping of the hands") by the other gods. The Great Gods were then carried to their point of departure on thronelike litters carried on the shoulders of temple functionaries. An Assyrian depiction of a procession of deities (though from a much later time) probably gives us a good idea of the manner in which Anu and Antu were carried during their procession in Uruk.
Special incantations were recited when the procession was passing through "the street of the gods"; other psalms and hymns were sung as the procession neared "the holy quay" and when it reached "the dike of the ship of Anu." Good-byes were then said, and yet more incantations were recited and sung "with hand-raising gestures."
Then all the priests and temple functionaries who carried the gods, led by the great priest, offered a special "prayer of
departure." "Great Ami, may Heaven and Earth bless you!" they intoned seven times. They prayed for the blessing of the seven
celestial gods and invoked the gods that were in Heaven and the gods that were upon Earth. In conclusion, they bade farewell
to Anu and Antu, thus:
May the Gods of the Deep,
and the Gods of the Divine Abode,
bless you!
May they bless you daily -
every day of every month of every year!
Among the thousands upon thousands of depictions of the ancient gods that have been uncovered, none seems to depict Anu. Yet he peers at us from every statue and every portrait of every king that ever was, from antiquity to our very own days. For Anu was not only the Great King, King of the Gods, but also the one by whose grace others could be crowned as kings. By Sumerian tradition, rulership flowed from Anu; and the very term for "Kingship" was Anutu ("Anu-ship"). The insignia of Anu were the tiara (the divine headdress), the scepter (symbol of power), and the staff (symbolizing the guidance provided by the shepherd). The shepherd's staff may now be found more in the hands of bishops than of kings. But the crown and scepter are still held by whatever kings Mankind has left on some thrones.
The second most powerful deity of the Sumerian pantheon was EN.LIL. His name meant "lord of the airspace" - the prototype and father of the later Storm Gods that were to head the pantheons of the ancient world.
He was Anu's eldest son, born at his father's Heavenly Abode. But at some point in the earliest times he descended to Earth, and was thus the principal God of Heaven and Earth. When the gods met in assembly at the Heavenly Abode, Enlil presided over the meetings alongside his father. When the gods met for assembly on Earth, they met at Enlil's court in the divine precinct of Nippur, the city dedicated to Enlil and the site of his main temple, the E.KUR ("house which is like a mountain"). Not only the Sumerians but the very gods of Sumer considered Enlil supreme. They called him Ruler of All the Lands, and made it clear that "in Heaven - he is the Prince; On Earth - he is the Chief." His "word [command] high above made the Heavens tremble, down below made the Earth quake": Enlil,
Whose command is far reaching;
Whose "word" is lofty and holy;
Whose pronouncement is unchangeable;
Who decrees destinies unto the distant future. . . .
The Gods of Earth bow down willingly before him;
The Heavenly gods who are on Earth
humble themselves before him;
They stand by faithfully, according to instructions.
Enlil, according to Sumerian beliefs, arrived on Earth well before Earth became settled and civilized. A "Hymn to Enlil, the All- Beneficent" recounts the many aspects of society and civilization that would not have existed had it not been for Enlil's instructions to "execute his orders, far and wide."
No cities would be built, no settlements founded; No stalls would be built, no sheepfolds erected; No king would be raised, no high priest born.
The Sumerian texts also stated that Enlil arrived on Earth before the "Black-Headed People" - the Sumerian nickname for Mankind - were created. During such pre-Mankind times, Enlil erected Nippur as his center, or "command post," at which Heaven and Earth were connected through some "bond." The Sumerian texts called this bond DUR.AN.KI ("bond heaven- earth") and used poetic language to describe Enlil's first actions on Earth: Enlil,