Ki (goddess)

Ki (Sumerian: 𒀭𒆠) was the earth goddess in Sumerian religion, chief consort of the sky god An. In some legends, Ki and An were brother and sister, being the offspring of Anshar ("Sky Pivot") and Kishar ("Earth Pivot"), earlier personifications of the heavens and earth. By her consort Anu (also known as Anunna), Ki gave birth to Anunnaki; the most prominent of these deities being Enlil, god of the air. According to legends, the heavens and earth were once inseparable until Enlil was born; Enlil cleaved the heavens and earth in two. An carried away the heavens. Ki, in company with Enlil, took the Earth. Ki marries her son, Enlil, and from this union all the plant and animal life on Earth is produced. Some authorities question whether Ki was regarded as a deity since there is no evidence of a cult and the name appears only in a limited number of Sumerian creation texts. Samuel Noah Kramer identifies Ki with the Sumerian mother goddess Ninhursag and claims that they were originally the same figure. She later developed into the Babylonian and Akkadian goddess Antu, consort of the god Anu (from Sumerian An).