Nammu is the primordial Sumerian goddess associated with the primeval waters and the birth of the great gods.
In Sumerian creation traditions, Nammu is connected with the watery deep that existed before the ordered cosmos. She is described as the mother of An, the sky god, and Ki, the earth goddess, whose union provides the setting for the generation of further deities. Some traditions also connect Nammu with the creation of humanity, particularly in accounts involving Enki and the gods’ need for labor.
Nammu belongs to an early layer of Sumerian mythology and is less prominent in surviving stories than figures such as Inanna, Enki, or Enlil. Her importance comes from her primordial role rather than from a large cycle of narrative adventures.
She is sometimes confused with Tiamat, the primeval sea goddess of the later Babylonian Enuma Elish. Both are linked with cosmic waters, but Nammu is the specifically Sumerian figure named in Sumerian creation traditions.