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Updated: June 17, 2025
As the consort of Nin-ib, the Assyrians recognized Gula. She is only occasionally invoked by the Assyrian rulers. A sanctuary to Gula, as the consort of Nin-ib, is erected by Ashurnasirbal, and a festival in honor of the goddess is referred to by Ashurbanabal. Nergal.
But such influences are of an indirect character, and we may accept the statement of Ashurbanabal as literally true that the literature collected by him is a copy of what was found in the great literary archives of the south and not only found, but produced there.
By virtue of his wisdom, Sargon calls him 'the clear seer who guides all the gods, and when the last king of Assyria Saracus, as the Greek writers called him invokes Nabu as the 'leader of forces, he appears to have in mind the heavenly troops rather than earthly armies. Such patrons of learning as Sargon and Ashurbanabal were naturally fond of parading their devotion to Nabu.
From being the messenger of Bel, he comes to be viewed as the messenger of the gods in general, and accordingly Ashurbanabal addresses him as 'the highly honored messenger of the gods, but, combining with the mythological the more realistic aspect of Nusku, refers to him also as the one who glorifies sovereignty and who, at the command of Ashur and Belit, stands at the king's side to aid in bringing the enemies to fall.
It is to the latter that when hard pressed by the Elamites he addresses his prayer, calling her 'the lady of Arbela'; and it is this Ishtar who appears to the royal troops in a dream. The month of Ab the fifth month of the Babylonian calendar is sacred to Ishtar. Ashurbanabal proceeds to Arbela for the purpose of worshipping her during this sacred period.
Variations from the list as given also occur. So Ashurbanabal calls the seventh month, Elul, the month of 'the king of gods Ashur, while Sargon assigns the fourth month to the 'servant of Gibil, the fire-god, by which Nin-gishzida is meant, and the third month he calls the month of "the god of brick structures."
The bones of an enemy are enumerated by Ashurbanabal among the spoil secured by him. The mutilation of the dead body was also a terrible punishment to the dead, and we are told that the person who disturbed a grave is not to be permitted to enter the temple.
The popularity of Nabu, which continued to the end of the Assyrian empire, and gained a fresh impetus in the days of Ashurbanabal, who, as a patron of literature, invokes Nabu on thousands of the tablets of his library as 'the opener of ears to understanding, reacted on his position in the Babylonian cult.
The Babylonians, no doubt, were offended by such an act, and in order to conciliate them, Ashurbanabal, who pursues a mild policy towards the south, orders the statue to be restored at the time that he appoints his brother Shamash-shumukin as governor of the southern provinces. Ib. p. 53, note. Ashurnasirbal's Inscription, IR. 23, col. ii. l. 134. See above, p. 462.
Much importance was attached to this rite, and the kings take frequent occasion to adjure their successors who may in the course of restoring edifices come across stones bearing the record of former builders, to anoint these stones with oil and offer sacrifices. Thus, Nabonnedos, when he finds the inscription of Ashurbanabal in the Shamash temple at Sippar, carefully obeys the injunction.
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