let,
no less than ten pairs of deities are enumerated that are expressly
noted as 'Father-mother of Anu,' that is, as antecedent to Anu.[707]
Among these we find Anshar and Kishar, and by their side, such pairs as
Anshar-gal, _i.e._, 'great totality of what is on high,' and Kishar-gal,
_i.e._, 'great totality of what is below,' Enshar and Ninshar, _i.e._,
'lord' and 'mistress,' respectively, of 'all there is,' Du'ar and Da'ur,
forms of a stem which may signify 'perpetuity,' Alala, _i.e._,
'strength,' and a consort Belili. Lakhmu and Lakhamu are also found in
the list. While some of the names are quite obscure, and the composition
of the list is due to the scholastic spirit emanating from the schools
of theology, the fact that some of the deities, as Alala, Belili, Lakhmu
and Lakhamu, occur in incantations shows that the theologians were
guided in part by dimmed traditions of some deities that were worshipped
prior to the ones whose cult became prominent in historic times. Anshar,
Alala, Belili, Lakhmu, and Du'ar were such deities. To each of these an
associate was given, in accord with the established doctrine of
'duality' that characterizes the more advanced of the ancient Semitic
cults in general. Others, like Anshar-gal and Enshar, seem to be pure
abstractions--perhaps only 'variants' of Anshar, and the number ten may
have some mystical significance that escapes us. So much, at all events,
seems certain that even the old Babylonian pantheon, as revealed by the
oldest historical texts, represents a comparatively advanced stage of
the religion when some still older gods had already yielded to others
and a system was already in part produced which left out of
consideration these older deities. This is indicated by the occurrence
of the triad Anu, Bel, and Ea as early as the days of Gudea,[708] and it
is this triad which in the creation epic follows upon the older series
symbolized by Anshar and Kishar. The later 'theology' found a solution
of the problem by assuming four series of deities represented by Apsu
and Tiamat, by Lakhmu and Lakhamu, by Anshar and Kishar, and by the
triad Anu, Bel, and Ea.

In a vague way, as we have seen, Apsu and Tiamat are the progenitors of
Lakhmu and Lakhamu. The priority, again, of Lakhmu and Lakhamu, as well
as of Anshar and Kishar, is expressed by making them 'ancestors' of Anu,
Bel and Ea. While in the list above referred to, Lakhmu and Lakhamu are
put in a class with Anshar and Kishar