Nanna: Mesopotamian God of the Moon and Wisdom (opens in new tab)

Nanna, the Mesopotamian moon god, is frequently mentioned in hymns and inscriptions from the Ur III period (circa 2112 to circa 2004 BCE) as the chief god of the pantheon. He is the father of the sun (Utu-Shamash). It is thought this belief originated in the early days of a hunter-gatherer social structure, when the moon was more important to a community for traveling by night and telling the time of the month; the sun only became more important once the people settled down and began to pract...