Bel (the lord=Raal), Lord of the Earth mountain, takes the second place, and is the local god of Nippur. In ancient times his temple at Nippur was famous, but afterwards most of the glory of the ruler of mankind was transferred to ltfaruduk, the local god of Babylon.
Ea is the God of the Waters that surround the Earth-mountain, and also of the waters beneath the earth. The place of his local cult was Eridn, where he was worshiped as Lord of Wisdom. In the depth of the sea is his home. He speaks to mankind in dreams; he knows the secret ex orcisms against evil spirits; as Lord of the Waters he bestows fertility ; as Lord of Wisdom he is the patron of artists and workmen.
These three gods, with their wives, Anal, Befit and Damkina, are consequently the rulers of the universe (heaven. earth, and the deep waters around and beneath the earth).
Of little lower rank are the three gods, Sin, Shansash and Ishtar. Sin, the Lord of the Moon (the local god of Ur in Babylonia and of Harran in Mesopotamia), is often called the father of ality; and in historical times, when the matriar chate had been long forgotten, she was worshiped as the Lady of Fertility, especially in Uruk. On the other hand, she reminds us of the Amazons, when as the Lady of the Battle (as she is often called in the historical inscriptions) she rides on a leopard, bearing bow and arrows.
The god R(2111111011, Lord of Wind, Thunder and Lightning. Rain and Storm, was imported in early times from the Syrian countries. His character is the same as that of the Israelitic Jahwe (Jehovah), the bull being his animal, while he bears powerful horns on his head.
The local god of Babylon was .iIaruduk. Un der the famous king Khammurabi (225o B. C.) his town become the capital of the country, and so Maruduk's glory rose. As son of Ea he is Shamash (the Sun). As some peasants still do, the Babylonians believed in the influence of the moonlight on the growth of plants, and so he is venerated as Lord of Fertility; owing to the mysterious transformations of his shape he is believed to be a mighty sorcerer, who creates himself, and. according to this, possesses sacred
wisdom (Lord of Decrees).
Shamash, Lord of the Sun, was the local god of Lassa and Sippar. In the morning the doors of heaven are opened. and from between two mountains he drives in his carriage, guided by Bunene, the charioteer. He is the great judge, the counselor of the gods, and as Lord of the Sunlight he is a friendly power that frightens the wicked.
Ishtar, the Lady of Heaven, is identified with the star Venus. She is unmarried, and her posi tion among the gods represents the position of women in the times of the matriarchate, when the mother was the head of her family. without re garding the various fathers of her children as husbands. Thus, her cult was of great sensu the mighty sorcerer, who knows all his father knows. He is the creator, the god of light, the conqueror of the great dragon of darkness, Tia mat. The fate of mankind is settled by him in the chamber of destiny, and his name is Pet Lord of Lords. Even the Assyrian kings wor shiped him in Babylon. He was the national Babylonian god, as Ashur was the national god of Assyria.
Ashur is the only god that is particularly As syrian. Perhaps he was originally the Lord of the town Ashur, but his origin is not sufficiently clear. in Assyria he is the Lord of Lords, the father of the gods, whose banner is at the head of the troops, for the wars of the kings are his wars; it is the glory of his name that frightens the enemy, and to hint a part of the booty is dedicated.
With this one exception, the Assyrian pan theon is wholly the same as that of Babylonia. Besides the gods already mentioned. there are worshiped in both countries Viinh, the warrior. a sun-god, whose wife Cola "vivifies death;" Nergal (local god of Kutu), a god of war, a terrible lion, symbolizing the burning summer sun, also the lord of the deceased, the king of Hades ; Nabu (Nebo), the great god of Borsippa, the patron of the scholars, to whom mankind is indebted for the art of writing, the gracious lord, the messenger and son of Maruduk; Giba, Lord of Fire, and Nusku, the messenger of the gods.