Annunaki

   In Sumerian, Babylonian, and some other Mesopotamian mythologies, a group of minor gods and goddesses often mentioned in literature and religious inscriptions. Their number varied in the telling, fromasfewasseventoasmanyassix hundred. In some ways the Annunaki resembled, as well as interacted with, another assemblage of minor gods, the Igigi. In Sumerian lore the Annunaki performed various labors and errands for more important gods and in some ways resembled the angels of christian lore. In fact, the Hebrew writers of the Old Testament, who lived in the Near East and were familiar with the Annunaki, incorporated a version of them into the book of Genesis, in which they are angels called Jedi or Nephilim. The Assyrians viewed the Annunaki as members of a very early race of gods who taught humans to farm and then became judges of the dead in the Underworld.

   See also: Bible; Igigi; religion