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Updated: May 27, 2025
In the light of this, the relationship above set forth between Nin-girsu, Nin-gish-zida, and Nin-shakh becomes somewhat clearer.
In the chapter on the pantheon before Hammurabi, the identity of Nin-ib with the chief god of Gudea's district, Nin-girsu, has been pointed out. The solar character of the latter being clear, it follows that Nin-ib, too, is originally a personification of the sun, like Nin-gish-zida and Nin-shakh, whose rôles are absorbed by Nin-ib.
This relationship is probably indicated by the epithet 'offspring of Nin-gal, accorded to Shamash in the inscription referred to. The moon being superior to the sun, the consort of the moon-god becomes the mother of the sun-god. Reference has several times been made to Nin-gish-zida,
Gudea makes mention in one of his inscriptions, by the side of Nin-gish-zida, of a god Dun-shagga, whose name signifies the 'chief hero, but the phonetic reading of which it is impossible to determine. Like Nin-gish-zida, he is a warlike god, and from that one might suppose that he too is only another form of Nin-girsu-Ninib. At all events, he did not differ materially from the latter.
By the side of Nin-girsu and Nin-gish-zida appears Nin-shakh, who, as Oppert has shown, is like Nin-girsu the prototype of the well-known god of war, Ninib.
It is noticeable that these four deities, Nin-girsu, Nin-shakh, Nin-gish-zida, and Nin-ib, who are thus associated together, all contain the element Nin in their names, a factor that may turn out to be of some importance when more abundant material shall be forthcoming for tracing their development in detail.
One of Gudea's inscriptions begins with the significant statement, 'Nin-gish-zida is the god of Gudea'; and elsewhere when speaking of him, he is 'my god, or 'his god. None of the ancient Babylonian rulers make mention of him except Gudea, though in the incantation texts he is introduced and significantly termed 'the throne-bearer' of the earth.
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.
However, Nin-shakh occupies, in contradistinction to Nin-gish-zida and others, a position in the old Babylonian pantheon of an independent character, so that it is hardly justifiable, in such a case, to identify him completely with Ninib, and place the name on a par with the epithets just referred to.
Besides the great solar deities, minor ones, as Nin-gish-zida and I-shum, are frequently added in long lists of protecting spirits to whom the appeal for help is directed. The attempt is also made to illustrate their relationship to the great fire-god.
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