Kishar- Mesopotamian PrimordialPrimordial
Also known as: Kišar
Domains
Description
Her name means "Whole Earth." When Kishar and her consort Anshar emerged from Lahmu and Lahamu, the cosmos first knew the division between ground and sky. From their union came Anu, the sky god, and from Anu all the active gods of Mesopotamia.
Mythology & Lore
The Whole Earth
In the opening lines of the Enuma Elish, the cosmos assembled itself in generations. First the primordial waters, Apsu and Tiamat, mingled. From them came Lahmu and Lahamu, the first silt-beings. From Lahmu and Lahamu came Anshar and Kishar: Whole Sky and Whole Earth. With their emergence, the universe acquired its basic shape. There was ground. There was sky. There was a space between them where things could happen.
Anshar and Kishar produced "Anu, their firstborn, the equal of his fathers." From Anu came Ea, from Ea came Marduk, and from Marduk came the ordered world. Kishar's place in this chain was early and brief. She does not appear in the Enuma Elish beyond the genealogy. When Tiamat rose to destroy the younger gods and Anshar dispatched champions to face her, Kishar was already silent. Her work was finished. The earth existed.