"Where do the sacred numbers of the Sumerian Gods come from?"
It seems easy to understand some of them like the number of the
moon.
The moons number is 30 as in 30 days in a lunar month, just as 20
the number of the Sun is 20 (20 days to a solar cycle).
But while these things do play a part in the numbers it is
actually another factor that determines the God numbers. Reciprocals
of the numbers 60 and 360!
Cuneiform math was set up on a base sixty notation and in this
notation, division and multiplication were difficult tasks. In order
to ease this difficulty, they used tables of reciprocals.
Reciprocals are the 'reflective' numbers in division and
multiplication.
For instance Anu was first among all the Gods, thus Anu's number
was 60 or 360. (60 divided by 1 equals 60). Note that Enlil and Enki
do not have perfect reciprocals to 60 and are thus divided into 360.
Here are the numbers of the Gods and their reciprocal order:
the table is laid out with the god name, the reciprocal order,
and then the math for 60 or 360. I.E
Anu 60, 1 (60/1=60), (360/60=6) (6+1=7 the number of the
unknowable)
TABLE of reciprocals to 360:
Anu 60, 1 (60/1=60), (360/60=6) (6+1=7 the number of the
unknowable)
Enlil 50, 2 (60/50=1.2),(360/50=7.2)
Ea 40, 3 (60/40=1.5),(360/40=9) (9 the number of the
desire to grow, and 3X3=9, the '3' are Anu, Enlil, and Enki)
The 60 of Anu notes his perfection and the numbers of
Enlil and Enki being none reciprocal to 60 shows their greater
Status in the order of the gods.
TABLE of reciprocals of 60
Anu 60, 1 (60/1=60) (the all and Judge of the
All)
Sin 30, 2 (60/2=30 days to a
lunar month) (Sun, the day light and Judge of the Day)
Shamash 20, 3 (60/3=20 days to a solar month)
(Moon, the night light and Judge of the Night)
Ishtar 15, 4 (60/4=15 days to the full Moon)
(Venus brightest planet in the sky and Judge of the Heart)
Nebo 12, 5 (60/5=12 months to a year and thus
record keeping of animals and grain through the seasons) (Mercury
fastest planet and Judge of the Mind)
The King / Enlil (Jupiter) as king 10,
6 (60/6=10 lunar months to human gestation, 10 as the 1 the number
of man brought to the highest order and thus the king's perfection
and mastery over the material world of form represented by Enki's
reciprocal of 9 and the Judge of Man)
7 has no perfect reciprocal to 60 or 360 but comes to 8.54 for
60. Seven is the number of Mystery and Magic and its reciprocal
is closest to the reciprocal of Enki the lord of magic and form and
solver of dilemmas(9).
8 has no perfect reciprocal to 60 but due to it's imbalance to
60, it is the number of Conflict and Obstacles that
must be overcome. It is also the number of Nergal
the Lord of the Underworld(mars) and has the reciprocal
of 45 to 360. 8 are the rays of the star that means 'god' in
cuneiform and all the gods but Enki and Anu went to the realm of
death to face trials and obstacles in order to learn a moral /
social lesson.
9 has no reciprocal to 60 but it is the reciprocal of 40 (Enki)
to 360
So far we have touched upon the numbers of all the major
(planetary) Dieties but one: Rimon / Adad (Saturn) who's
Number is 4.
4 has the reciprocal 15 (60/15=4) The number four is the four
elements of Earth, Water, Fire and Water. Adad was the lord of the
four elements that granted life. Ishtar (15) is the life principle,
thus life (15) manifests through Anu (60) on earth through the four
elements (4).
I hope that this will shed some light on the Number of the Gods.
Note these number harmonies as reciprocals of 360 the number of
degrees in the zodiac:
Mercury (360/12=30 days)
Venus (360/15=24 hours)
Sun (360/20=18 original signs in the Sumerian Zodiac)
Mars(360/8=45 degrees in the 8 seasonal divisions of the old
Sumerian Calender)
Jupiter(3600/50=72 Shedu / spirits of the heavens)
saturn (360/4=90 degrees that make up the four quarters of the
year)
Note: Parpol gives the following numbers for the gods
1. 1 (Anu) (1 as reciprocal of 60)
2. 60 (Ea) (1 as reciprocal of 60)
3. 30 (Sin) (2 as reciprocal of 60)
4. 50 (Ellil) (no reciprocal of 60)
5. 20 (Shamash) (3 as reciprocal of 60)
6. 15 (Ishtar) (4 as reciprocal of 60)
7. 40 (Nabu) (no reciprocal of 60)
8. 10 (Adad) (6 as reciprocal of 60)
9. 14 (Nergal) (reciprocal is 4.2)
10. 3,600 (The King) (no reciprocal to 60)