The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria

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We meet with the god for the first time in the hymn to which reference
has already been made,[175] and where the god is mentioned together with
Shamash. If the suggestion above thrown out is correct, that the hymn is
older than the days of Hammurabi, Ramman too would be older than his
first mention in historical texts. However, it is worthy of note that in
this hymn each of the other gods mentioned receives a line for himself,
and that Ramman is the only one who is tacked on to another deity. It is
not strange that in making copies of older texts, especially those of a
religious character, the scribes should have introduced certain
modifications. At all events, the god does not acquire any degree of
prominence until the days of Hammurabi; so that whatever his age and
origin, he belongs in a peculiar sense to the pantheon of Hammurabi
rather than to that of the old Babylonian period. The successor of
Hammurabi, Samsu-iluna, dedicates a fort, known as Dur-padda, to Ramman
whom he addresses as his 'helper', along with several other gods.
Despite this fact, his worship does not appear to have been very firmly
established in Babylonia, for Agumkakrimi, who follows upon Samsu-iluna,
does not make mention of Ramman. During the reign of the Cassite
dynasty, however, the worship of Ramman appears to have gained a
stronger foothold. Several kings of this dynasty have incorporated the
name of this deity into their own names, and in an inscription dealing
with events that transpired in the reign of one of these kings, Ramman
occupies a prominent place. Immediately after the great triad, Anu, Bel,
and Ea, there is enumerated a second, Sin, Shamash, and Ramman, and only
then there follows Marduk.[176] More than this, Ramman is introduced for
a second time in conjunction with Shamash, as in the hymn of Hammurabi.
The two are appealed to as 'the divine lords of justice.' The conqueror
of the Cassites, Nebuchadnezzar I., also holds Ramman in high esteem.
For him, Ramman is the god of battle who in companionship with Ishtar
abets the king in his great undertakings. He addresses Ramman as the
great lord of heaven, the lord of subterranean waters and of rain, whose
curse is invoked against the one who sets aside the decrees of
Nebuchadnezzar or who defaces the monument the king sets up. While
acknowledging the supremacy of Marduk, upon whose appeal he proceeds to
Babylonia to rid the country of its oppressors, Nebuchadnezzar
nevertheless shows remarkable partiality for Ramman, perhaps as a matter
of policy to offset the supposed preference shown by Ramman towards the
previous dynasty. Ramman with Nergal and Nana are also enumerated as the
special gods of Namar--a Babylonian district which caused the king
considerable annoyance, and which may have been one of the strongholds
whence the Cassitic kings continued their attacks upon Nebuchadnezzar.

In order to determine more precisely the nature of this deity, it is
necessary to turn to Assyria, where his worship dates from the very
earliest times, and where he appears consistently in a single
role,--that of the god of storms, more particularly of thunder and
lightning. The oldest Assyrian ruler known to us is Samsi-Ramman (_c._
1850 B.C.), whose name, containing the god as one of its elements,
points to the antiquity of the cult of Ramman in the north. Another king
who has frequently been mentioned, Ramman-nirari (_i.e._, Ramman is my
helper), bears evidence to the same effect, and Tiglathpileser I. speaks
of a temple to Ramman whose foundation carries us back several centuries
beyond the period of these two kings--almost to the days of Hammurabi.
The theory has accordingly been advanced that the worship of Ramman came
to Babylonia from the north, and since the cult of this same god is
found in Damascus and extended as far south as the plain of Jezreel, the
further conclusion has been drawn that the god is of Aramaic origin and
was brought to Assyria through Aramaic tribes who had settled in parts
of Assyria. The great antiquity of the Ramman cult in Assyria argues
against a foreign origin. It seems more plausible to regard the Ramman
cult as indigenous to Assyria; but reverting to a time when the
population of the north was still in the nomadic state of civilization,
the cult may have been carried to the west by some of the wandering
tribes who afterwards established themselves around Damascus. Up to a
late period Aramaic hordes appear from time to time in western Assyria;
and in a higher stage of culture, contact between Aramaeans and
Assyrians was maintained by commercial intercourse and by warfare. Since
the earliest mention of Ramman's cult is in the city of Ashur, it may be
that he was originally connected with that place. As already intimated,
he was essentially a storm-god, whose manifestation was seen in the
thunder and lightning, and the god was known not merely as 'the
thunderer,' but also as Barku, _i.e._, lightning. Perhaps it was because
of this that he was also brought into association with the great light
of heaven,--the sun-god. In many mythologies, the sun and lightning are
regarded as correlated forces. At all events, the frequent association
of Shamash and Ramman cannot have been accidental. This double nature of
Ramman--as a solar deity representing some particular phase of the sun
that escapes us and as a storm-god--still peers through the inscription
above noted from the Cassite period where Ramman is called 'the lord of
justice,'--an attribute peculiar to the sun-god; but in Assyria his role
as the thunder-and storm-god overshadows any other attributes that he
may have had.

There are two aspects to rainstorms in Babylonia. The flooding of the
fields while committing much havoc is essential to the fertility of the
soil. Ramman is therefore the carrier of blessings to the cities, the
one who supplies wells and fields with water; but the destructive
character of the rain and thunder and lightning are much more strongly
emphasized than their beneficent aspects. Even though the fields be
flooded, Ramman can cause thorns to grow instead of herbs. The same
ideograph _Im_ that signifies Ramman also means distress. When the
failure of the crops brings in its wake hunger and desolation, it is the
'god of the clouds,' the 'god of rain,' the 'god of the overflow,' whose
wrath has thus manifested itself. It is he who (as a hymn puts it) 'has
eaten the land.' No wonder that the 'roar' of the god is described as
'powerful,' and that he is asked to stand at the right side of the
petitioner and grant protection. When Ramman lets his voice resound,
misfortune is at hand. It was natural that he who thus presided over the
battle of the elements should come to be conceived essentially as a god
of war to a people whose chief occupation grew to be conquest. As such
he appears constantly in the inscriptions of Assyrian kings, and to such
a degree as to be a formidable rival, at times, to the head of the
Assyrian pantheon. The final victory of the Assyrian arms is generally
attributed to Ashur alone, but just before the battle and in the midst
of the fray, Ramman's presence is felt almost as forcibly as that of
Ashur. He shares with the latter the honor of invocations and sacrifices
at such critical moments. In this capacity Ramman is so essentially an
Assyrian god that it will be proper to dwell upon him again in the
following chapter, when the specially Assyrian phases of the religion we
are investigating will be taken up. The consort of Ramman also, the
goddess Shala, will best be treated of in connection with the Assyrian
phases of the Ramman cult.

Of the other gods whose names occur in the inscriptions of Hammurabi,
but little of a special character is to be noted. The attributes that he
gives them do not differ from those that we come across in the texts of
his predecessors. It is sufficient, therefore, to enumerate them. The
longest list is furnished by the hymn which has already been referred
to. The text is unfortunately fragmentary, and so we cannot be sure that
the names embrace the entire pantheon worshipped by him. The list opens
with Bel (who, as we have seen, is the old Bel of Nippur); then follow
Sin, Ninib, Ishtar, Shamash, Ramman. Here the break in the tablet begins
and, when the text again becomes intelligible, a deity is praised in
such extravagant terms that one is tempted to conclude that Hammurabi
has added to an old hymn a paean to his favorite Marduk[177]. To Bel is
given the honor of having granted royal dignity to the king. Sin has
given the king his princely glory; from Ninib, the king has received a
powerful weapon; Ishtar fixes the battle array, while Shamash and Ramman
hold themselves at the service of the king. With this list, however, we
are far from having exhausted the pantheon as it had developed in the
days of Hammurabi. From the inscriptions of his successors we are
permitted to add the following: Nin-khar-sag, Nergal, and Lugal-mit-tu,
furnished by Samsu-iluna; Shukamuna, by Agumkakrimi; and passing down to
the period of the Cassite dynasty, we have in addition Nin-dim-su,
Ba-kad, Pap-u, Belit-ekalli, Shumalia.[178]

During the Cassitic rule, Marduk does not play the prominent part that
he did under the native rulers, but he is restored to his position by
Nebuchadnezzar I., who, it will be recalled, succeeds in driving the
Cassites out of power. But besides Marduk, Nebuchadnezzar invokes a
large number of other deities. For purposes of comparison with the
pantheon of Hammurabi, and of his immediate successors, I give the
complete list and in the order mentioned by him in the only inscription
that we have of this king. They are Ninib, Gula, Ramman, Shumalia,
Nergal, Shir, Shubu, Sin, Belit of Akkad. Moreover, Anu is referred to
as the especial god of Der, and a goddess Eria[179] is worshipped in
Elam. Passing still further down, we obtain as additional names, Malik
and Bunene, from the inscription of Nabubaliddin (_c._ 883-852
B.C.).[180]

We may divide this long period from Hammurabi down to the time that the
governors of Babylonia became mere puppets of the Assyrian rulers into
three sections: (1) Hammurabi and his successors, (2) the Cassite
dynasty, (3) the restoration of native rulers to the throne. A
comparison of the names furnished by the inscriptions from these three
sections shows that the gods common to all are Marduk, Bel, Shamash,
Ramman. But, in addition, our investigations have shown that we are
justified in adding the following as forming part of the Babylonian
pantheon during this entire period: Sarpanitum, Belit, Tashmitum, Sin,
Ninib, Ishtar, Nergal, Nin-khar-sag, and the two other members of the
triad, Anu and Ea, with their consorts, Anatum and Damkina. All these
gods and goddesses are found in the texts from the first and third
section of the period, and the absence of some of them from texts of the
second section is simply due to the smaller amount of material that we
have for the history of the Cassite dynasty in Babylonia. Some of the
deities in this list, which is far from being exhaustive,[181] are
foreign, so _e.g._, Shukamuna and Shumalia, who belong to the Cassitic
pantheon; others are of purely local significance, as Shir and
Shubu.[182] As for Sin, Ninib, and Ishtar, the worship of none of these
deities assumes any great degree of prominence during this period. No
doubt the local cult was continued at the old centers much as before,
but except for an occasional invocation, especially in the closing
paragraphs of an inscription, where the writers were fond of grouping a
large array of deities so as to render more impressive the curses upon
enemies and vilifiers, with which the inscriptions usually terminated,
they do not figure in the official writings of the time. Of Sin, it is
of some importance to note that under the Cassite dynasty he stands
already at the head of a second class of triads which consists of Sin,
Shamash, and Ramman, or Ishtar (see note 3 on page 152), and that
through the inscription of Nebuchadnezzar I., we learn of an additional
district of Babylonia,--that of Bit-Khabban, where in association with
Belit of Akkad, the consort of the older Bel, he was worshipped as the
patron deity. Nebuchadnezzar himself does not enumerate Sin among the
chief gods. Ninib appears in the familiar role as a god of war. After
Hammurabi he is only mentioned once in inscriptions of the Cassitic
period and then again in the days of Nebuchadnezzar I., who assigns a
prominent place to him. It is Ninib who, with the title 'king of heaven
and earth,' leads off in the long list of gods whose curses are invoked
upon the king's opponents. Similarly, the belligerent character of
Ishtar is the only phase of the goddess dwelt upon during this period.
While for Agumkakrimi, she still occupies a comparatively inferior rank,
coming seventh in his list, Nebuchadnezzar places her immediately after
Anu and before Ramman and Marduk. This advance foreshadows the superior
role that she is destined to play in the pantheon during the period of
Assyrian supremacy. The cult of Nergal does not figure prominently
during this period. In fact, so far as the historical texts go, he
disappears from the scene till the time of Nebuchadnezzar I., when he is
incidentally invoked in a group with Ramman and Nana as the gods of a
district in Babylonia known as Namar. Exactly where Namar lay has not
yet been ascertained. Since Nergal, as was shown in the previous
chapter, was the local patron of Cuthah, it may be that the latter city
was included in the Namar district. At all events, we may conclude from
the silence of the texts as to Nergal, that Cuthah played no conspicuous
part in the empire formed of the Babylonian states, and that the cult of
Nergal, apart from the association of the deity in religious texts with
the lower world, did not during this entire period extend beyond local
proportions. Lastly, it is interesting to note that Samsu-iluna, the son
of Hammurabi, refers to Belit of Nippur as Nin-khar-sag, which we have
seen was one of her oldest titles.

FOOTNOTES:

[116] The name is also written Ma-ru-duk, which points to its having
been regarded (for which there is other evidence) as a compound of
_maru_, 'son,' and an element, _duk_(_u_), which in religious and other
texts designates the 'glorious chamber' in which the god determines the
fate of humanity. Such an 'etymology' is, however, merely a play upon
the name, similar to the plays upon proper names found in the Old
Testament. The real etymology is unknown. The form Marduk is Semitic,
and points to an underlying stem, _rdk_. Marduk appears under a variety
of names which will be taken up at their proper place. See Schrader's
_Assyrisch-Babyl. Keilschriften_, p. 129; and the same author's
_Cuneiform Inscrip. and the O. T._ (p. 422) for other etymologies.

[117] Hommel's view that Gish-galla, in Gudea's inscriptions, is Babylon
lacks convincing evidence, but the city may be as old as Gudea's days
for all that.

[118] Near Sippar.

[119] _Bel matati_.

[120] Sayce, _Religion of the Ancient Babylonians_, pp. 98 _seq._;
Jensen, _Kosmologie der Babylonier_, p. 88.

[121] So Delitzsch, _Beitraege sur Assyriologie_, ii. 623. The first part
of the name is also used to designate the 'young bullock,' and it is
possible, therefore, that the god was pictured in this way, as both Anu
and Sin are occasionally called 'bulls.'

[122] Louvre Inscription II, col ii. ll. 12-17.

[123] There is also a goddess _Eria_ worshipped in Elam, who may be
identical with Erua. The scribes in the days of Nebuchadnezzar (_c._
1140 B.C.), at least, appear to have thought so, for they associate her
with Bel, just as Sarpanitum is associated with Del-Marduk. (See the
Inscription VR. 57, col. ii. ll. 11, 12.)

[124] Whether, however, this was the real meaning of the name is
doubtful, for the name of the goddess is also written Aru and Arua,
which points to a different verbal stem.

[125] See below under Tashmitum.

[126] There are indications also of an arrested amalgamation of
Erua-Sarpanitum with Tashmitum, the wife of Nabu. (See Sayce, _Hibbert
Lectures_, p. 112.)

[127] Rawlinson, ii. 60, 30.

[128] _Hibbert Lectures_, p. 117.

[129] See further on, _sub_ Ea.

[130] _Kosmologie_, p. 239.

[131] _Sub_ Nusku, chapter xiii.

[132] Tiele, _Geschichte d. Religion i. Alterthum_, i. 171 and 188, is
of the opinion that Nabu is a late deity whose worship dates from a
period considerably subsequent to Hammurabi. This conclusion from the
non-occurrence of the god in early inscriptions is not justified. There
is no reason why Nabu should have been added as a deity in later times,
and in general we must be on our guard against assuming new deities
subsequent to Hammurabi. It is much more plausible to assume the
restored popularity of very old ones.

[133] Bel being Marduk, the title was equivalent to that of 'governor of
Babylonia.'

[134] So, Tiele, _Geschichte d. Religion i. Alterthum_, i. 191.

[135] The Hebrew word for prophet, _nabi_, is of the same stem as the
Assyrian Nabu, and the popular tradition is placing the last scene in
the life of Moses on Mt. Nebo is apparently influenced by the fact that
Moses was a _nabi_.

[136] See above, p. 123.

[137] So in the cylinder of Shamash-shum-ukin (Lehmann's publication,
pls. viii. _seq._).

[138] _E.g._, in the so-called Grotefend Cylinder, col. ii. 34.

[139] _Wiener Zeitschrift fuer die Kunde d. Morgenlandes_, iv. 301-307.

[140] We only know the name through Eusebius' extract from Alexander
Polyhistor's digest of Berosus. The form, therefore, cannot be vouched
for. The various modern attempts to explain the name have failed (see
_e.g._, Lenormant's _Magic und Wahrsagekunst der Chaldaer_, 2d German
edition, pp. 376-379). There may be some ultimate connection between
Oannes and Jonah (see Trumbull in _Journal of Bibl. Liter._ xl. 58,
note).

[141] For fuller proof, see the chapter on "The Cosmology of the
Babylonians."

[142] This, it will be remembered (see above, p. 118), is one of the
titles of Marduk in one of Hammurabi's inscriptions,--an important point
for the date of the episode in its present form.

[143] Literally, 'Ea shall be his name, his as mine.'

[144] According to Syncellus. In cuneiform texts the old Bel is at times
invoked as the creator of mankind.

[145] _Kosmologie_, pp. 293, 294.

[146] _Aos_ and _Dauke_.

[147] Rawlinson, iv. 25.

[148] See p. 79.

[149] See Jensen, _Keils Bibl._. 3, 1, p. 108, note 5. Tiele, _Gesch._
p. 126, apparently identifies Innanna of Hallabi with Tashmit, but, so
far as I can see, without sufficient reason.

[150] Here written En-lil, as the Bel of Nippur.

[151] Attached to the name here (Rawlinson, i. 4, no. xv-9), which is
written ideographically En-Lil, is the designation _da-gan-ni_, which
has occasioned considerable discussion. See Jensen, _Kosmologie_, pp.
449-456. It seems to me that the addition which emphasizes this identity
of Bel with another god, Dagan, is to indicate that the Bel of the
triad, and not Bel-Marduk, is here meant. Somewhat in the same way
Tiglathpileser I. (Rawlinson, i. 14, vi. 87) distinguishes the older Bel
by calling him 'Bel latura,' _i.e._, 'Bel the older.'

[152] 'Governor of Bel' for governor of Babylonia, and 'subjects of Bel'
for subjects of Babylonia.

[153] See p. 89 and chapter vii.

[154] Occasionally a king (so _e.g._ Nabubaliddin, _c._ 883 B.C.)
associates Anu with Ea, and omits Bel (Rawlinson, v. 60, ii. 21), as
though with the intent of avoiding confusion.

[155] Rassam, Cylinder ix. 75.

[156] See chapter xii., "The Assyrian Pantheon," p. 208.

[157] Rassam, Cylinder viii. 98, 99. 'Belit of Babylonia, honored among
the great gods.'

[158] _Annals_, iii. 135.

[159] The name of the temple. See IIR. 66, ll. 1 and 10. The title
'belit matati,' 'lady of the lands' is evidently introduced in imitation
of 'bel matati,' 'lord of lands,' belonging to Bel and then to Marduk.

[160] Sayce's view (_Hibbert Lectures_, p. 186), according to which Anu
was originally the local god of Erech, is erroneous.

[161] VR. pl. 33.

[162] Delitzsch, _Die Kossaer_, pp. 25, 27.

[163] The omission of Ramman here, though invoked at the close of the
inscription, is noticeable. Ishtar takes the place that in the more
developed system belongs to the god of storms, who with the moon-god and
sun-god constitutes a second triad. See p. 163.

[164] Written with the sign _An_, and the feminine ending _tum_, but
probably pronounced Anatum. The form Anat (without the ending) is used
by many scholars, as Sarpanit and Tashmit are used instead of Sarpanitum
and Tashmitum. I prefer the fuller forms of these names. Anum similarly
is better than Anu, but the latter has become so common that it might as
well be retained.

[165] VR. 33, vii. 34-44.

[166] IR. pl. 15, col. vii. 71-pl. 16, col. viii. 88.

[167] No less than nine times.

[168] Tiglathpileser I.

[169] Ramman-nirari I.

[170] _Kosmologie_, p. 274.

[171] See the list IIIR. 68, 26 _seq._

[172] Thureau-Dangin, _Journal Asiatique_, 1895, pp. 385-393. The name
of this deity has been the subject of much discussion. For a full
discussion of the subject with an account of the recent literature, see
an article by the writer in _The American Journal of Semitic Languages
and Literatures_, xii. 159-162.

[173] Arising perhaps after _Im_ came into use as the ideographic form.

[174] _Proc. Soc. Bibl. Arch._, xi. 173-174 and pl. 1, col. i. 7.

[175] See p. 145 and also p. 161.

[176] Belser in Haupt and Delitzsch, _Beitraege sur Assyriologie_, ii.
187 _seq._, col. vi. i. 3 _seq._

[177] The character of this part of the hymn is quite different from
that which precedes.

[178] For further notices of these gods, see chapter x.

[179] See above, p. 122.

[180] One might include in the list also Nin-igi-nangar-bu,
Gushgin-banda, Nin-kurra, Nin-zadim (from Nabubaliddin's Inscription),
but these are only so many epithets of Ea or various _forms_ under which
the god came to be worshipped. See p. 177.

[181] We may now look forward to finding many more gods in the rich
material for this period unearthed by the University of Pennsylvania
Expedition to Niffer.

[182] See chapter x.

CHAPTER IX.

THE GODS IN THE TEMPLE LISTS AND IN THE LEGAL AND COMMERCIAL DOCUMENTS.

Besides the historical texts in the proper sense, there is another
source for the study of the Babylonian pantheon.

Both for the first and for the second periods we now have a large number
of lists of offerings made to the temples of Babylonia and of thousands
of miscellaneous legal documents. De Sarzec found a number of such
documents at Telloh some years ago, and quite recently some thirty
thousand tablets of the temple archives have come to light.[183] At
Tell-Sifr, Abu-Habba, and elsewhere, many thousands also have been
found, belonging chiefly to the second period. A feature of these
documents is the invocation of the gods, introduced for various
purposes, at times in connection with oaths, at times as a guarantee
against the renewal of claims. Again, certain gods are appealed to as
witnesses to an act, and in the lists of temple offerings, gods are
constantly introduced. Since many of the commercial transactions
recorded in these documents, moreover, concern the temples of Babylonia,
further occasions were found for the mention of a god or gods. The
proper names occurring in these documents, compounded as these names in
most cases are with some deity,[184] furnish some additions to the
pantheon of Babylonia. Naturally, a distinction is to be made between
deities introduced in temple lists and in the course of legal
proceedings, and such as are merely known through forming an element in
proper names. The former constitute a part of what might be called the
'active' pantheon of the time. Deities that are actually invoked by
contracting parties for whatever purpose are such as are endowed with
real significance; and if any of these are not mentioned in the
historical texts proper, the omission is due to the lack of material.
The testimony of the legal documents in this respect is fully as valid
as is that of the historical texts. In proper names the case is
different. Custom being a prominent, if not a controlling, factor in the
giving of names, it may happen that the deity appearing as an element in
a name is one who, for various reasons, is no longer worshipped, or
whose worship has diminished in significance at the time we meet with
the name. Again, deities of very restricted local fame, deities that
occupy the inferior rank of mere spirits or demons in the theological
system of the Babylonians, may still be incorporated in proper names.
Lastly, in view of the descriptive epithets by which some deities are
often known, as much as by their real names, it frequently happens in
the case of proper names that a deity otherwise known is designated by
one of his attributes. Thus we find in legal documents of the second
period a goddess, Da-mu-gal, who is none other than the well-known Gula,
the great healing deity; Ud-zal, who is identical with Ninib, and so
written as the god of 'the rising sun';[185] and Mar-tu (lit., 'the west
god'), which is a designation of Ramman.[186] Bearing in mind all these
considerations, we find in the tablets of the first period, so far as
published,[187] the same deities that are met with in the historical
inscriptions: En-lil, Bau, En-zu (or Sin), Nin-girsu, Nin-gish-zida,
Nin-mar, Nana, Nina, Shul-pa-uddu, and others. No doubt a complete
publication of the Telloh archives will furnish some--not many--new
deities not occurring in the historical texts of this period. A rather
curious feature, illustrated by these temple archives, and one upon
which we shall have occasion to dwell, is the divine honors that appear
to have been paid towards the end of the first period of Babylonian
history to some of the earlier rulers, notably Gudea and Dungi.[188]
Alongside of wine, oil, wheat, sheep, etc., offered to Bau,
Nin-gish-zida, and Shul-pa-uddu, the great kings and _patesis_ of the
past are honored. More than this, sanctuaries sacred to these rulers are
erected, and in other respects they are placed on a footing of equality
with the great gods of the period. Passing on to the lists and the legal
documents of the second period,[189] we may note that the gods in whose
name the oath is taken are chiefly Marduk, Shamash,[190] A, Ramman, and
Sin. Generally two or three are mentioned, and often the name of the
reigning king is added to lend further solemnity to the oath. Other gods
directly introduced are Nana, Ishtar, Nebo, Tashmitum, and Sarpanitum,
after whom the years are at times designated, probably in consequence of
some special honors accorded to the gods. The standing phrase is 'the
year of the throne,' or simply 'the year' of such and such a deity.
Nin-mar appears in the days of Hammurabi as the daughter of Marduk.
Among gods appearing for the first time are Khusha[191], Nun-gal, and
Zamama. Mentioned in connection with the gates of the temple where the
judges held court, the association of Khusha with Marduk, Shamash, Sin,
and Nin-mar points to a considerable degree of prominence enjoyed by
this deity. Of his nature and origin, however, we know nothing. Nun-gal
signifies the 'great chief.' His temple stood in Sippar,[192] and from
this we may conclude that he was one of the minor gods of the place
whose original significance becomes obscured by the side of the
all-powerful patron of Sippar--the sun-god. A syllabary describes the
god as a 'raging' deity, a description that suggests solar functions.
Nun-gal appears, therefore, to be the ideograph proper to a deity that
symbolized, like Nergal, Ninib, and A, some phase of the sun. The
disappearance of the god would thus be naturally accounted for, in view
of the tendency that we have found characteristic of the religion,
whereby powerful gods absorb the functions of weaker ones whose
attributes resemble their own. But while the god disappears, the name
survives. Nun-gal with the plural sign attached becomes a collective
designation for a group of powerful demons.[193] In this survival and
use of the name we have an interesting example of the manner in which,
by a species of differentiation, local gods, unable to maintain
themselves by the side of more powerful rivals, sink to the lower grade
of demons, either beneficent or noxious. In this grade, too,
distinctions are made, as will be pointed out at the proper place. There
is a 'pantheon' of demons as well as of gods in the Babylonian theology.
Nun-gal accordingly recovers some of his lost dignity by becoming an
exceptionally powerful demon--so powerful as to confer his name upon an
entire class. The god Zamama appears in connection with a date attached
to a legal document of the days of Hammurabi. The building of a
sanctuary in honor of this deity and his consort was of sufficient
importance to make the year known by this event. Zamama is occasionally
mentioned in the religious hymns. He belongs to the deities that form a
kind of court around Marduk. From syllabaries, we learn that he was a
form of the sun-god, worshipped in the city of Kish in northern
Babylonia, and it also appears that he was identified at one period with
Ninib. The temple to Zamama--perhaps only a shrine--stood in the city of
Kish, which was remodeled by Hammurabi. The shrine, or temple, bore the
significant name 'house of the warrior's glory.' The warrior is of
course the god, and the name accordingly shows clearly the character of
the god in whose honor the sanctuary was built. Elsewhere, he is
explicitly called a 'god of battle.' Associated with Zamama of Kish was
his consort, who, however, is merely termed again in a general way,
'Ninni,' _i.e._, 'the lady.' In the case of such a deity as Zamama, it
is evident that the absence of the name in historical texts is
accidental, and that we may expect to come across it with the increase
of historical material. In the proper names, all of the prominent
deities discussed in this and the previous chapters are found, though
with some notable exceptions. Anu, _e.g._, is not met with as an element
in proper names, but among those occurring may be mentioned Shamash, A,
Ishtar, Ramman (also under the forms Im-me-ru and Mar-tu), Marduk,
sometimes called Sag-ila after his temple in Babylon, Nabu, Ishum,
Shala, Bau, Nin-ib, Nin-girsu, Sin, Bunene, Annuit, and Ea. Among gods
appearing for the first time in connection with the names, it is
sufficient to record a goddess Shubula, who from other sources[194] we
know was the local patron of the city Shumdula, a goddess Bashtum,[195]
a goddess Mamu (a form of Gula), Am-na-na, Lugal-ki-mu-na, E-la-li
(perhaps an epithet for the fire-god Gibil), Ul-mash-shi-tum, and a
serpent god Sir. Most of these may be safely put down as of purely local
origin and jurisdiction, and it is hardly likely that any of them embody
an idea not already covered by those which we have discussed. From the
lists of gods prepared by the Babylonian scholars, it is clear that the
number of local deities whose names at least survived to a late period
was exceedingly large, ranging in the thousands; and since, as seems
likely, these lists were prepared (as so much of the lexicographical
literature) on the basis of the temple lists and of the commercial and
legal documents, we may conclude that all, or at any rate most, of these
deities were in use as elements in proper names, without, however,
having much importance beyond this incorporation.