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Updated: May 20, 2025
It is probably due to Assyrian influence that even in Babylonia, from the eighth century on, Nabu is occasionally mentioned before Marduk. In official letters likewise, and in astronomical reports, Nabu is given precedence to Marduk, but this may be due to Nabu's functions, as the god of writing and the patron of science.
Other deities could, indeed, be tolerated at his side, provided they were subservient to him; but Nabu, the god of a place so near Babylon, might prove a dangerous rival because of this proximity. The city on the west bank of the Euphrates was probably as old as that on the east, if not, indeed, older.
Since Nabu's position in the pantheon, once established, incurs but little change, it will be proper, in treating of him, to include the testimony furnished by the historical records of the Assyrian kings. The most prominent attribute of Nabu, at least in the later phases of the Babylonian religion, is that of wisdom. He is the wise, the all-knowing.
The appellation is therefore a most appropriate one, and there seems little reason to question that Tashmitum was originally nothing but one of the terms by which Nabu was designated, just as he was called Papsukal in his rôle as 'messenger' of the gods, the messenger of his father Marduk and of his grandfather Ea, in particular.
From the manner in which the king speaks of the god, one might draw the conclusion that he attempted to concentrate the whole Assyrian cult upon that god alone. He erects a temple to the god at Calah, and overwhelms the deity with a great array of titles. The dedicatory inscription which the king places on a statue of Nebo closes with the significant words, 'O Posterity! trust in Nabu.
The kings of the northern empire vie with their southern cousins in beautifying and enlarging the structures sacred to Marduk and Nabu. In view of the explanation offered for the silence maintained by Hammurabi and his successors regarding Nabu, we are justified in including Nabu in the Babylonian pantheon of those days.
It rarely happens that all the links in such a process are preserved, but in this case, the epithets borne by Sarpanitum-Erua, such as 'lady of the deep, 'mistress of the place where the fish dwell, 'voice of the deep, point the way towards the solution of the problem involved in the amalgamation of Erua and Sarpanitum. Nabu.
So Ramman-nirari III. extols Nabu as the protector of the arts, the all-wise who guides the stylus of the scribe, and the possessor of wisdom in general. He is not merely the originator of writing, but the source of all wisdom, and for this reason he is spoken of as the son of Ea.
Upon coming to Babylonia, they do not fail to bring presents of gold, silver, precious stones, copper, iron, purple, precious garments, and scented woods to Marduk and Sarpanitum, to Nabu and Tashmitum, and the other great gods. The first fruits of extensive groves are offered by Ashurnasirbal to Ashur and the temples of his land.
As a concession to the former supremacy of Nabu, the priests of E-Sagila, carrying the statue of Marduk, escorted Nabu back to Borsippa. The return visit raises the suspicion that it was originally Marduk who was obliged to pay an annual homage to Nabu.
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