"Ray...When someone asks you if you're a god, you say YES!"

    The 1984 blockbuster film Ghostbusters presented an invented deity "Gozer" and its invented servant "Zuul."  This wouldn't really have been a problem, except that they attributed those creatures to Sumerian mythology.  For many years, I (and I'm sure some others) were under the impression that Gozer and Zuul were indeed part of the Sumerian pantheon.  After extensive research to make sure I wasn't accidentally overlooking them, I came to the conclusion that Gozer and Zuul were simply creations from the minds of Harold Ramis and Dan Aykroyd (who wrote the screenplay).  Incidentally, I recently came across a transcript of an interview with Dan Aykroyd where he says as much.

    The fact of the matter remains that without Ghostbusters, I probably never would have become interested in Sumerian mythology.  For those who are interested, here's a brief list of the REAL Sumerian deities (note: This is not a complete list, only the most important ones).

• Enlil - Sumerian god of the Earth and Air.  Enlil gave mankind the pickaxe to help them build their cities and temples.  Later, he was known as Ellil by the Babylonians, and is said to have brought down plague, drought and flood when he found the noise of humans unbearable.

• Ereshkigal - Sumerian goddess of the dead and ruler of the underworld.  Adopted by the Babylonians, then overthrown by their god of the dead, Nergal.

• Inanna - The most important deity in the Sumerian pantheon.  Inanna was the goddess of war, fertility and love.  She is the sister of Ereshkigal, and the only person with the courage to visit her in her own realm.  Inanna was, for all intents and purposes, the chief god of the Sumerian pantheon.  She is believed to have been adopted by the Babylonians as Ishtar, though not as their chief deity (that position was already taken by Marduk).