The Anunnaki

The Anunnaki are the most enigmatic and most studied beings of Middle Eastern myth. Like the Irin, they had gifts and skills far superior to the human population, and like the Irin they lived in the idyllic land of Dilmun, also known as Eden.

Hittite carvings of  magical beings perhaps linked to the Anunnaki

The later interpretations of the cuneiform tablets of the ancient Middle East suggest that the Anunnaki were the advanced inhabitants of another planet who in ancient times settled on Earth, but this is almost certainly fantasy. Most likely they were a distinct population of people who had skills in stonework, tool-making, early agriculture, and shamanic abilities for healing, spirit-flight and journeying in the spirit world, whose existence is slowly being revealed by archaeology. Stories about them became embellished as generations passed, and when the stories were written down by the Middle Eastern people over 5000 years later, they had taken on the roles of Gods, creators of humankind, and other supernatural epithets.

Ereshkigal from the Babylonian period. Her wings may have originally represented the shamanic gift of spirit flight.

Sumerian myth talks of a council of seven most powerful Anunnaki, who are a reflection of the Seven Sages or divine lawgivers of many traditions, and also the seven archangels of Biblical tradition who remained loyal during the war with the rebel angels or Watchers discussed last week. In contrast to the Irin or Watchers, the Anunnaki have a darker aspect and are associated with the underworld. The Anunnaki are also said to have set the world aflame before the great storm that almost destroyed it.

Their number include Ereshkigal, who was later known as the Queen of the Underworld; her consort Nergal; Marduk, who became the chief God of Babylon; Suen, a moon Goddess; Utu; Namtar, an emissary between Gods; Tashmet, Lady of Hearing; Ishkur, a storm-raiser; and Dumuzi, lover of Inanna, Lady of the Skies, who was killed by her on her return from the underworld.  

All of these characters have their part to play in Broken Skies.