Lahar- Mesopotamian GodDeity"Goddess of Sheep"

Origins

Before humans existed, the great gods An, Enlil, and Enki fashioned Lahar and Ashnan in the creation chamber of the gods. Lahar would provide milk and wool from her flocks, Ashnan grain for bread and beer. Together they dwelt in Dulkug, the sacred mound, producing abundance that overflowed the tables of heaven. But the output exceeded what even the gods could consume, and so they fashioned humanity to tend Lahar's flocks and cultivate Ashnan's fields.

The Great Debate

The abundance was never in dispute. The question was whose gift mattered more. Before a divine tribunal, Lahar extolled the gifts of pastoralism: milk and cheese for nourishment, wool for weaving into garments. Without oxen, she argued, there would be no plowing; even grain depended on her livestock. Ashnan answered that bread sustained life itself and that beer gladdened divine and human hearts alike. Her gifts kept indefinitely while meat spoiled. Even Lahar's animals ate grain to survive. Each claim built upon the last, the two goddesses matching argument for argument.

The Verdict

As the debate grew heated, both goddesses got drunk on beer, which the text pointedly notes requires grain to produce. Their arguments devolved into personal insults, each scorning the other's gifts as crude and dispensable. Finally Enlil and Enki intervened to deliver judgment: neither was superior. Both Lahar and Ashnan were essential. Civilization required the shepherd's flock and the farmer's field, neither complete without the other.