Sin- Mesopotamian GodDeity"Lord of the Crescent"

Born from Exile

The Sumerian myth "Enlil and Ninlil" tells how the moon god came into being. Young Ninlil, ignoring her mother Nunbarshegunu's warning, went to bathe in the canal where Enlil kept watch. Enlil saw her and desired her. Despite her protests that she was too young and her lips too small for kissing, he raped her by the canal and planted the seed of the moon god in her womb.

The great gods decreed Enlil's banishment to the underworld. Ninlil, pregnant with Sin, followed him into exile. On the journey to the land of no return, Enlil assumed three disguises and each time persuaded Ninlil to lie with him, conceiving three underworld deities who would serve as substitutes, allowing Sin to ascend to the heavens. Each night the moon rises from below the horizon, retracing that first journey from the realm of the dead into the living sky.

His crescent was his celestial boat, a luminous vessel sailing the cosmic waters above the sky-dome. His sacred animal was the bull, whose curved horns mirrored the crescent's shape. Hymns describe him crossing the night sky in majesty, his light scattering darkness and the demons that lurked within it. His son Shamash took the day watch. His daughter Ishtar, the evening star, appeared at dusk to herald her father's rising.

Nanna's Journey to Nippur

The Sumerian myth "Nanna-Suen's Journey to Nippur" describes the moon god loading his barge with trees and animals, then sailing from Ur up the network of canals and rivers to Nippur, the religious capital of Sumer and seat of his father Enlil. At each city along the route, the local deity came to greet Nanna and provision the barge for the next stage.

Upon arriving at Nippur, Nanna presented his cargo to Enlil and petitioned his father for blessings upon Ur: abundant harvests and rising waters in the canals. Enlil granted the request. Nanna returned to Ur bearing his father's benediction.

The Great Light of Ur

Sin's temple at Ur, E-kishnugal ("House of the Great Light"), crowned a massive ziggurat first built in the Early Dynastic period and expanded by Ur-Nammu around 2100 BCE. It rose above the flat alluvial plain, visible for miles. The most prestigious office within was that of the en-priestess, who served as Sin's earthly consort. Royal daughters held this position. The earliest known was Enheduanna, daughter of Sargon of Akkad, who around 2300 BCE composed hymns at Ur that survive as the first literature bearing a named author's voice.

The kings of the Third Dynasty of Ur were devoted to Nanna above all other gods. Shulgi, Ur-Nammu's successor, celebrated himself as Nanna's beloved in dozens of royal hymns, claiming the moon god's favor as the source of his authority. No king of Ur could reign without Nanna's approval.

When Elamite and Shimashkian invaders destroyed the dynasty around 2004 BCE, the "Lament for Ur" recorded what followed. Temples burned. Bodies lay unburied in the streets. Nanna pleaded with Enlil to spare the city: "Father Nanna, stand not by while your city is being destroyed!" But the divine decree was irrevocable. Nanna departed in grief. His consort Ningal wept for her destroyed temple and her scattered people.

The Last Moon Worshipper

Sin's cult at Harran in northern Mesopotamia persisted long after the temples of Ur had crumbled. The city maintained its devotion to the moon god into the late classical period.

The final chapter belongs to Nabonidus, the last king of Babylon (556–539 BCE). His mother Adda-guppi was a priestess of Sin at Harran who lived to 104 years according to her stele inscription, and she instilled in her son a devotion that would define and doom his reign. Nabonidus restored Sin's temple at Harran at immense expense and elevated the moon god's cult in ways that alarmed the Marduk priesthood of Babylon. He spent a decade at the Arabian oasis of Tayma, leaving his son Belshazzar to govern the capital. The New Year's rituals honoring Marduk went unperformed. The rift between king and clergy deepened.

When Cyrus the Persian marched on Babylon in 539 BCE, the Marduk priesthood opened the gates. The Cyrus Cylinder presents Marduk as choosing Cyrus over the impious Nabonidus. The last king to champion Sin over Marduk became the last king of Babylon.