Anu

Anu in Assyrian mythology, was the first great deity of the upper triad Anu, Elu or Bel, and Heaor Heaven, Earth, and Hades. His residence was in the upper, or seventh, heaven, which was called the heaven of Anu, and was symbolized by an emblem resembling the Maltese cross, which was often worn round the necks of the Chaldaean kings. He was called " The God of Heaven," "Anu the King," "The Great God," "The God of the World," "The Chief of the Gods," and " Father Alu." The Assyrians regarded him more in the light of the Zeus of the Greeks, as a divine and benevolent personality. The Accadians, on the other hand, looked upon him simply as the spirit or fetich of heaven, in which case he was called Anna, or, still more simply, Na. His wife Anatu, was simply a feminine form of himself. She was the goddess of life and death, and was the Anaitis of the Egyptians.

⇒See also the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia.