Who Is the Oldest God?
It is daunting to establish one oldest god above all. But there are a host of competitors.
In Search of the World’s Oldest Supreme
Humanity has taken great strides in advancement over thousands of years. While they discovered fire and invented machinations to harness the power of lightning from the skies, they also found a medium to deliver shape to their core beliefs and ideologies.
We Term the Medium as Religion.
On a casual note, the authenticity of the world’s oldest deity lies in the conviction of the zealous worshiper. The collective psyche has evolved on an unprecedented scale and taken active participation in building the grandest of societies while adding the vibrant luminosity of cultures and customs to them.
Countless creators occur in every second culture and enjoy their reverences in immeasurable forms or avatars. Some deities go extinct or are forgotten in the unstoppable passage of time, while many more continue to inspire the devotion of humans in the modern world.
This article will shed light on each of the first gods from the five oldest civilizations that rose to prominence across all corners of the world.
A note for those with extreme devotion, though. The deities referred to in the list do not make the final cut due to personal emotion or bias. Their rankings draw establishment based on the approximate era of their archaic societies and other works of historical importance like archaeological evidence, recorded excavations, literary sources, or ancient artifacts.
Was the first god a woman, or a man?
Read on to know who is the real god, the one head and shoulders above the rest.
Here Is the List of the World’s Oldest Gods (In Descending Order)
· Shangdi (1600 BC–1046 BC)
∘ Source(s)
· Itzamná (2600 BC–900 AD)
∘ Source(s)
· Nun (3150 BC–30 BC)
∘ Source(s)
· Shiva (3300 BC–1900 BC)
∘ Source(s)
· Anu (3500 BC–500 BC)
∘ Source(s)
01. Shangdi (1600 BC–1046 BC)
Shangdi is the propagator of victory, harvest, and fate of the people from the land of ancient China. His worshipers pale in number to those of other gods, but the Chinese civilization acknowledged him as the topmost supreme being in their pantheon. He is also responsible for asserting control over a host of other deities who drew their association with the elements of nature.
Source(s)
The first evidence relating to Shangdi prevails in the oracle bone inscriptions from the Shang Dynasty, whose empire spread across the far reaches of the Yellow River around the 2nd millennium BC. The Classic of History provides additional testimony that people believed and treasured his presence even before the advent of the Xia Dynasty.
Shangdi does not receive regular worship on a grander scale because he bears the vogue of being too primitive to ask for common idolization. The Shang kings stressed in volumes that his aura and diving blessings culminated in people through the spirits of their families’ ancestors.
02. Itzamná (2600 BC–900 AD)
Itzamná is the ultimate being who resides in the skies. He is the father of Mayan culture and the god of procreation, divinity, and writing. He holds his ground as the most prominent deity in Mayan folklore. His divine aura embodied the opposites of the universe, such as the soil parallels the sky, light parallels darkness, or life parallels death.
His portrayal often reflects that of an old, wise, and bearded man. Mayan scriptures decipher him as an omnipotent being that combines Heaven, Hell, and Earth under his solitary grasp. During the Postclassic Period, he even emerged as the god of medicine. His association extrapolates to ailments like respiratory illness, colds, and asthma. The deity bears the civilization’s tag of being the ultimate creator of the universe.
Sometimes he was a crocodile, and sometimes he was a bird. Many times, he was a dragon.
According to modern depictions, he is a man.
Source(s)
One of the earliest references to Itzamná comes from the Mayan Kabul Pyramid of Yucatan. Frederick Catherwood was its discoverer, but its weathered form underwent preservation later through a photographic process by Desiré Charnay. At present, the image of the deity is no more available. It has eroded beyond repair because of the carelessness of its preservers.
03. Nun (3150 BC–30 BC)
Nun also identifies as Nu. He is the father of Ra, the Egyptian Sun God, and the oldest presence in the pantheon. His significance stands for “prevalent waters,” as his depiction reflects the high turmoil of stormy seas and oceans. Nun had several divine qualities, from being the lord of darkness to flooding the banks of the Nile throughout every season.
Nun did not rule alone. His female counterpart, Naunet, has more obscure depictions of her existence. Her appearance resonates with that of a snake-headed woman, and she steered her vivacity through turbulent, chaotic waters like Nun. Her name is parallel to the latter but suffixed with a feminine ending.
Source(s)
The earliest archaeological evidence of Nun stems from abundant sources in Egypt. Classical Greek and Roman writers have written several works of literature to propagate the existence of Egypt’s oldest god. Excavations and illustrations from ancient buildings and the walls of pyramids provide ample detail to date his origins back to the 2nd and 1st millennium BC. Most of the material is religious, which lends to the credibility of identifying Nu as the primordial being of the Egyptian universe.
04. Shiva (3300 BC–1900 BC)
Hinduism’s third god in their topmost pantheon of the Trinity predates the modern version of his existence. While Brahma gains recognition as the creator and Vishnu as the preserver, the current iteration of Shiva is the ultimate destroyer of the Hindu universe.
Source(s)
Shiva is older than the Trinity.
A prototype of the hermit’s image underwent discovery at a site of Asia’s oldest and biggest society, the Indus Valley Civilization. The Pashupati Seal is a testament to his existence much before the origins of the current pantheon. It represents a proto-Shiva figure wearing a large headdress, and human beings and wild animals surround him in peace while he retains his posture in a yogic state of meditation.
Pashupati is one of the many avatars that emanate from the modern Shiva. His female counterpart is Yoni Peeth, which draws comparisons with Shakti, an early iteration of Shiva’s wife, Parvati.
The sect of Shaivism upholds his Pashupati form as the supreme deity and the reason for the existence of every minute thing in the universe.
01. Anu (3500 BC–500 BC)
The last deity on the list hails his prominence from the Mesopotamian Civilization. It is the oldest civilization known to man throughout decades of laborious study, research, and tiring excavations. Anu bears the title of ‘Father of the Gods,’ and his presence emanates throughout Heaven. His birth occurs from the sacred union of Anshar and Kishar, which translates to Heaven and Earth.
The earliest references to Anu depicted him as a Sumerian deity of kingship. His representation emanates with a crown or a throne to portray his supremacy, and he elevated other gods to his status via his divine blessings. His consort is Antu, the goddess of the soil, and she enjoys her share of prominence as the deity associated with writing and accounts.
Source(s)
The earliest texts of the Mesopotamian Civilization fail to mention Anu as the ruler of the pantheon. His first sign of authority appears in the Enūma Eliš from the 1st millennium BC. In later literary sources, many lower gods identify as his children, and some demons term him as their father. His name expands in the 2nd millennium throughout several scriptures and inscriptions. Anu’s worship rose to prominence in the 3rd millennium, as his name started gaining prevalence in several royal titles borne by Sumerian kings.
If Mesopotamian Civilization is the oldest, it brings us to the million-dollar question.
Is Anu the Oldest God?
While many archaeologists deliver convincing verdicts that Sumer equates to the dawn of civilization and the structure of societal development, it is hypothetical to establish Anu as the first god. Anu comes from the period which first instigated the importance of writing, leaving pieces of evidence for future generations to decipher.
How many ancient civilizations must have run through extinction and their complete traces wiped from the research of humanity? One thing is evident; none desired to document their religious scriptures or sources like those of the Mesopotamian Civilization.
Another argument that negates Anu as the first god is the discovery of the Nataraja, another early prototype of the Hindu God Shiva.
The origins of this depiction prevail throughout several ancient rock temples of India, and the paintings inside these caves predate 10,000 BCE. It highlights the god in a dancing form, accompanied by his Mount Nandi.
A second piece of evidence points to the Kalpa Vighara idol.
It is about 28,000 years old and was first found in Tibet. It lends its credibility as a third avatar of Shiva.
Our heads are pounding in confusion once again. What does this revelation mean?
Is Shiva the Oldest God?
The answer is trickier than a simple ‘yes’ or a ‘no’.
Upon searching for the oldest god on Google, the only result one can derive is that different cultures herald different deities as the ancient supreme being, the one above all. There is a never-ending conclusion to the dilemma.
The reason behind the situation is that not every single civilization that ever came into existence may have survived through the ravages of time in any form of evidence to the current day. As mentioned earlier, deducting the oldest god from every civilization is an easy task to accomplish in comparison. But declaring the supremacy of a particular deity with the variants from other religions provide very little authentic validation.
Additionally, the origins of humanity expounded from Africa. But there is no certainty regarding how many civilizations with several deities came into existence and wiped off their authenticity from the continent over time.
The extra complications to the question arise when we notice several prehistoric civilizations throughout the world, from Iran to Africa, also practiced animalism.
What Is Animalism?
Animalism is the ancient philosophy of revering the spirits of wild animals that roam the earth.
The early humans did not worship rocks or sculptures; they were afraid of the sky and rehearsed the rigorous worship of animals. Every civilization draws depictions of domesticated and wild animals, and prehistoric paintings are laden with valiant explanations of their prominence.
The sacred power of a deity often manifests in the form of an animal, and it symbolizes an acute representation of the god.
Animal symbolism even spreads through the confluences of modern-day religions like Hinduism, Christianity, and Buddhism. It pervades societies and civilizations to find a footing in the hearts of the common folk today.
When our thoughtful collective gathers a conclusion, it is quite easy to understand the concept behind who is the first god in heaven, and who are the rest he passed down the responsibilities of creation.
So, Who Is the Oldest God?
There is no answer.
The best definition of god is prevalent when you question the earliest piece of evidence a deity can provide to humans. Shiva’s Kalpa Vighara is the oldest artifact discovered in that context. But does that make him the oldest god to emerge in this world? We do not know.
Perhaps, we never will.
Disclaimer: This content reflects the personal opinions of the author. It is accurate and true to the author’s knowledge and should not be substituted for impartial facts or advice in legal, political, or personal matters.
