Heavenly")¶

Sumerian name: AN / DINGIR.AN

Anu (Sumerian: An; Akkadian: Anu — "Heaven") was the supreme ruler of Nibiru and the patriarch of the Anunnaki. In the Sumerian pantheon, An was the sky god — the oldest and most powerful of all deities. In Zecharia Sitchin's narrative, Anu was the king of the twelfth planet, the ultimate authority over the Anunnaki expedition to Earth.

Role in the Anunnaki Hierarchy¶

Anu was the father of Enki and Enlil, and the grandfather of Marduk, Inanna, Nannar, Utu, and many others. He ruled from Nibiru and visited Earth only on rare ceremonial occasions.

Attribute	Detail
Domain	Nibiru (the twelfth planet)
Title	King of the Gods, King of Heaven
Symbols	Horned cap, the royal tiara, the number 60
Sacred Number	60 (the highest in the sexagesimal system)
Consort	Antum (Ki/Uras)
Children	Enki, Enlil, Ereshkigal (by some accounts)

Visits to Earth¶

According to Sitchin, Anu visited Earth on at least two significant occasions:

The First Arrival — Anu led or authorized the initial Anunnaki expedition to Earth approximately 450,000 years ago
The Post-Deluge Visit — After the Great Flood, Anu visited Earth to confirm the new arrangements and to formally divide the lands among his descendants
The Inanna Incident — Anu was called upon to mediate the dispute between Inanna and Ereshkigal, and possibly authorized Inanna's descent to the underworld

Anu in Sumerian Texts¶

Anu appears in many Sumerian and Akkadian texts as a somewhat distant figure — the ultimate authority who rarely intervenes directly. In the Enuma Elish, Anu is the son of Anshar and Kishar (Saturn and Jupiter in Sitchin's reading) and the father of Ea (Enki).

"The great Anu, the king of the gods, dwells in the highest heaven — the planet Nibiru — and from his celestial throne he rules over all."

The Symbol of Anu¶

Sitchin noted that Anu's symbol — the horned cap or tiara — was the sign of supreme authority in Mesopotamian art. The number 60, his sacred number, was the base of the Sumerian sexagesimal system and represented perfection or completeness.

Anu's Name¶

The Sumerian AN means "heaven" or "sky." The name Anunnaki itself means "those who from heaven came" — linking the entire class of beings to Anu's celestial domain.

Cuneiform Evidence¶

The Sumerian name AN (𒀭, meaning "heaven" or "sky") is one of the most frequently attested signs in the cuneiform corpus, appearing in thousands of economic, administrative, literary, and religious tablets from the earliest Uruk period (c. 3300 BCE) onward.

CDLI Corpus: AN — Browse tablets bearing the sign AN in the Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative
Key tablet: The Anu myth cycle from Uruk (late Babylonian period) records the sky god's role in the pantheon. The so-called "Anu Hymn" (CDLI P363660) describes Anu's supreme position among the gods.
Anu is referenced in hundreds of Sumerian and Akkadian tablets. The sign AN (𒀭) served both as the divine determinative (marking god names) and as the logogram for the sky god Anu himself.

Sources¶

Sitchin, Z. (1976). The 12^th Planet. Chapters 4-6.
Sitchin, Z. (1985). The Wars of Gods and Men.
Kramer, S. N. (1961). Sumerian Mythology. University of Pennsylvania Press.