Studies in Third Millennium Sumerian and Akkadian Personale Names: The Designation and Conception of the Personal God

The Sumerian and Akkadian Personal Names of the third Millennium show that the notion of a personal god, or personal gods exist from the earliest periods of Mesopotamian history. Although allusions figure more prominently in the Akkadian onomasticon than in the Sumerian, the idea is already well-rooted in both traditions at a very early date and presumably antedates extant written sources.