Dream Deities: Mamu, Zaqīqu, and Anzagar
[This is the first article in a series examining gods associated with dreaming and oneiromancy in the ancient world. Despite the extensive lists you can find online, there were surprisingly few gods with direct rulership over dreams. Most of these either had recorded appearances in dreams (oneirophanies), were evoked through oneiromantic rituals, or had dream incubation as part of their cultic practice. Others are only tangentially related to dreaming due to being deities of related domains such as Sleep and Night. Finally there are a number of gods who there is too little information or contradictory information to be able to justify calling dream deities.] The early Mesopotamian cultures of Sumer, Akkad, and Assyria contained the first and most well-attested dream deities: Mamu, Zaqīqu, and Anzagar. While these may have been different names for the same god, Assyriologist Sally A. L. Butler suggests these deities may have reflected different aspects of dreaming important in ancient M...
