Ashnan

, also known as Ezina or Ezina-Kusu, was the goddess of grain in . She and her brother Lahar, both children of Enlil, were created by the gods to provide the with food, but when the heavenly creatures were found unable to make use of their products, humankind was created to provide an outlet for their services.

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"When, upon the hill of heaven and earth, An spawned the Anuna gods, … there was no small grain, grain from the mountains or grain from the holy habitations. There was no cloth to wear; … the people of those days did not know about eating bread. They did not know about wearing clothes; they went about with naked limbs in the Land. Like sheep they ate grass with their mouths and drank water from the ditches. [...] At that time, at the place of the gods' formation, in their own home, on the Holy Mound, they created Lahar and Ezina. Having gathered them in the divine banqueting chamber, the Anuna gods of the Holy Mound partook of the bounty of Lahar and Ezina but were not sated; the Anuna gods of the Holy Mound partook of the sweet milk of their holy sheepfold but were not sated. For their own well-being in the holy sheepfold, they gave them to mankind as sustenance. At that time Enki spoke to Enlil: "Father Enlil, now Lahar and Ezina have been created on the Holy Mound, let us send them down from the Holy Mound." Enki and Enlil, having spoken their holy word, sent Lahar and Ezina down from the Holy Mound. Lahar being fenced in by her sheepfold, they gave her grass and herbs generously. For Ezina they made her field and gave her the plough, yoke and team. Lahar standing in her sheepfold was a shepherd of the sheepfolds brimming with charm. Ezina standing in her furrow was a beautiful girl radiating charm; lifting her raised head up from the field she was suffused with the bounty of heaven. Lahar and Ezina had a radiant appearance. They brought wealth to the assembly. They brought sustenance to the Land. They fulfilled the ordinances of the gods. They filled the store-rooms of the Land with stock. The barns of the Land were heavy with them. When they entered the homes of the poor who crouch in the dust they brought wealth. Both of them, wherever they directed their steps, added to the riches of the household with their weight. Where they stood, they were satisfying; where they settled, they were seemly. They gladdened the heart of An and the heart of Enlil."

- Ashnan

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