Who was the Sumerian moon god?

Nanna was the Sumerian moon god.

Nanna, also called Nanna-Suen, embodied the moon and was one of the major deities of ancient Sumer. His most important cult center was Ur, where the great temple complex Ekišnugal honored him. The moon’s changing phases made him important to calendars, ritual timing, agriculture, and divination.

Nanna was traditionally the son of Enlil and Ninlil and the husband of Ningal. His children included Utu, the sun god, and Inanna, the goddess later known in Akkadian as Ishtar. These family connections linked lunar worship to solar, planetary, fertility, and royal traditions.

In Akkadian, Nanna was known as Suen or Sin. The names were not treated as separate gods for long; they referred to the same lunar deity in different linguistic traditions. This creates a common quiz trap: “Sin” is not a different answer, but the Akkadian form of the Sumerian god’s name. Utu, later Shamash, was instead the sun god.