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Nanna / Su’en / Sin

A reference page linking a name, group, or concept to the materials that discuss it.

Moon god associated with Ur, with early name evidence that does not date every later myth.

Modern evidence comparison for Nanna, Ninlil and An, not divine portraits or birth order. Name clarity depends on sign and context
Modern evidence comparison for Nanna, Ninlil and An, not divine portraits or birth order. Name clarity depends on sign and contextIL Archive · original explanatory diagram · CC BY 4.0 · CC BYImage source

Text

Nanna is the Sumerian moon god, associated with Su’en/Sin in Mesopotamian traditions. ORACC connects him with Ur and late-UrukUrukAncient city at Warka in southern Iraq, a major urban centre around 3200 BCE that preserved early writing and accounting tablets.Glossary · Click to read the explanation personal names. Name forms and their written dates differ; they cannot all be combined into one early attestation.[1]

Woods uses URI3+NA as a phonetic-complement example helping read the name. Such evidence need not preserve contemporary myths or family relationships. The diagram compares evidence; it depicts neither the god nor a tablet naming him.[2]

References and notes

  1. ORACC. Nanna/Suen/Sin (god). Ancient Mesopotamian Gods and Goddesses. Indexed sections on Ur, earliest documentation, late-Uruk personal names and differing name forms. Not all spellings projected into the earliest stage. Phonetic evidence checked against Woods, p. 43. Return to the text ↑
  2. Christopher Woods (2010), The Earliest Mesopotamian Writing; Joachim Marzahn, catalogue no. 39 (translated by Robert Wagner). In C. Woods, E. Teeter & G. Emberling, Visible Language. OIMP 32. Selected chronology/language passages; p. 43: URI3+NA and Nanna; p. 70, no. 39, VAT14540: clay Inanna emblem, page visually inspected. Not the whole book. Catalogue photograph not republished. Emblem origin balanced against van Dijk-Coombes. Return to the text ↑

Research history

Substantive changes are retained here. Minor copy edits remain in the internal operational log.

  1. Edition 3 · 12 October 2026 · aladmin

    Substantive record update

    Read this revision in its original language (Arabic)

  2. Edition 2 · 11 October 2026 · editor:aladmin

    Substantive record update

    Read this revision in its original language (Arabic)

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Cite this record

IL Archive, «Nanna / Su’en / Sin», Edition 3, https://ilarchive.com/en/entities/nanna