query: instance_of lahamu
supports: Akkadian ("akkadû", ak-ka-du-u; logogram: URI ) is an extinct East Semitic language (part of the greater Afroasiatic language family) that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia. The earliest attested Semitic language, it used the cuneiform writing system, which was originally used to write the unrelated Ancient Sumerian, a language isolate. The language was named after the city of Akkad, a major centre of Mesopotamian civilization during the Akkadian Empire (ca. 23342154 BC), but the language itself precedes the founding of Akkad by many centuries. Mesopotamia ("[land] between rivers"; from Ancient Armenian  (Mijagetq); "bild ar-rfidayn" "miyn rodn"; "Beth Nahrain" "land of rivers") is a name for the area of the TigrisEuphrates river system, in modern days roughly corresponding to most of Iraq plus Kuwait, the eastern parts of Syria, Southeastern Turkey, and regions along the Turkish-Syrian and IranIraq borders. Lahamu ( also Lakhamu , Lachos , Lumasi , or Assyro - Akkadian Lammasu ) was the first - born daughter of Tiamat and Abzu in Akkadian mythology . With her brother Lahmu she is the mother of Anshar and Kishar , who were in turn parents of the first gods . Lahamu is sometimes seen as a serpent , and sometimes as a woman with a red sash and six curls on her head . It is suggested that the pair were represented by the silt of the sea - bed , but more accurately are known to be the representations of the zodiac , parent - stars , or constellations . She and her brother / husband are never mentioned separately . A goddess is a female deity in polytheistic religions. Goddesses most often have feminine characteristics that are apotheosize in their pure form. However, in some cases goddesses may embody neutral forms personifying both male and female characteristics (like Sophia), or they may even exhibit traits that are traditionally associated with the male gender (for example, Artemis). Goddesses have been especially linked with virtues such as beauty, love, motherhood and fertility (Mother-goddess cult in prehistoric times), but because of their flexibility in gender portrayal, they have also been associated with ideas such as war, creation, and death. Assyria was a major Mesopotamian East Semitic-speaking kingdom and empire of the ancient Near East. It existed as an independent state from perhaps as early as the 25th century BC in the form of the Assur city-state, until its lapse between 612 BC and 599 BC, spanning the Early to Middle Bronze Age through to the late Iron Age. Lamu, Lakhmu, Lache, Lumasi, or Assyro-Akkadian Lammasu is a deity from Akkadian mythology that represents the zodiac, parent stars, or constellations. In monotheism, God is conceived of as the Supreme Being and principal object of faith. The concept of God as described by most theologians includes the attributes of omniscience (infinite knowledge), omnipotence (unlimited power), omnipresence (present everywhere), divine simplicity, and as having an eternal and necessary existence. Many theologians also describe God as being omnibenevolent (perfectly good) and all loving. In Mesopotamian religion (Sumerian, Assyrian, Akkadian and Babylonian), Tiamat is a primordial goddess of the ocean, mating with Abzû (the god of fresh water) to produce younger gods. She is the symbol of the chaos of primordial creation. Depicted as a woman, she represents the beauty of the feminine, depicted as the glistening one. It is suggested that there are two parts to the Tiamat mythos, the first in which Tiamat is a creator goddess, through a ""Sacred marriage"" between salt and fresh water, peacefully creating the cosmos through successive generations. In the second ""Chaoskampf"" Tiamat is considered the monstrous embodiment of primordial chaos. Some sources identify her with images of a sea serpent or dragon.  Anu (in Akkadian; Sumerian: An, from "An" "sky, heaven") is the earliest attested Sky Father deity. In Sumerian religion, he was also "King of the Gods", "Lord of the Constellations, Spirits and Demons", and "Supreme Ruler of the Kingdom of Heaven", where Anu himself wandered the highest Heavenly Regions. He was believed to have the power to judge those who had committed crimes, and to have created the stars as soldiers to destroy the wicked. His attribute was the Royal Tiara. His attendant and vizier was the god Ilabrat. Anu means sky and heaven. In the Sumerian, Akkadian, Assyrian and Babylonian creation myth Enuma Elish, Anshar (also spelled Anshur), which means "whole heaven", is a primordial god. His consort is Kishar which means "Whole Earth". They were the children of Lahamu and Lahmu and the grandchildren of Tiamat and Apsû. They, in turn, are the parents of Anu, the god of heaven, lord of constellations, king of gods, spirits and demons. Babylonia was an ancient Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq). A small Amorite-ruled state emerged in 1894 BC, which contained at this time the minor city of Babylon. Babylon greatly expanded during the reign of Hammurabi in the first half of the 18th century BC, becoming a major capital city. During the reign of Hammurabi and afterwards, Babylonia was called "Mt Akkad" "the country of Akkad" in the Akkadian language.
  It was often involved in rivalry with its older fellow Akkadian-speaking state of Assyria in northern Mesopotamia. Babylonia briefly became the major power in the region after Hammurabi (fl. c. 1792  1752 BC middle chronology, or c. 1696  1654 BC, short chronology) created a short-lived empire, succeeding the earlier Akkadian Empire, Third Dynasty of Ur, and Old Assyrian Empire; however, the Babylonian empire rapidly fell apart after the death of Hammurabi. A dragon is a legendary creature, typically scaled or fire-spewing and with serpentine, reptilian or avian traits, that features in the myths of many cultures around world. The two most well-known cultural traditions of dragon are Babylon (or ; Aramaic: , "Babel", , "Bavel", , "Bbil") was a major city of ancient Mesopotamia in the fertile plain between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The city was built upon the Euphrates and divided in equal parts along its left and right banks, with steep embankments to contain the river's seasonal floods. Babylon was originally a small Semitic Akkadian city dating from the period of the Akkadian Empire c. 2300 BC. A sea serpent or sea dragon is a type of unclassified marine animal either wholly or partly serpentine. In the Akkadian epic Enuma Elish, Kishar is the daughter of Lahmu and Lahamu, the first children of Tiamat and Abzu. She is the female principle, sister and wife of Anshar, the male principle, and the mother of Anu. Kishar may represent the earth as a counterpart to Anshar, the sky, and can be seen as an earth mother goddess. Her name also means "Whole Earth".  A creation myth is a symbolic narrative of how the world began and how people first came to inhabit it. While in popular usage the term "myth" often refers to false or fanciful stories, formally, it does not imply falsehood. Cultures generally regard their creation myths as true. In the society in which it is told, a creation myth is usually regarded as conveying profound truths, metaphorically, symbolically and sometimes in a historical or literal sense. They are commonly, although not always, considered cosmogonical myths  that is, they describe the ordering of the cosmos from a state of chaos or amorphousness. Sumer was the first urban civilization in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia, modern-day southern Iraq, during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze ages, and arguably the first civilization in the world with Ancient Egypt and the Indus Valley. Living along the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates, Sumerian farmers were able to grow an abundance of grain and other crops, the surplus of which enabled them to settle in one place.
candidates: area city civilization concept country day deity dragon dynasty empire epic extinct faith family fire fresh water god goddess head historical region language family marriage monotheism mother myth mythology name narrative object ocean period plain principal principle religion river ruler salt sea sense six sky state symbol term the city tiara two writing writing system
answer: deity