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Updated: May 9, 2025
The antiquity of the association of En-lil with Nippur justifies the conclusion that we have before us a local deity who, originally the protecting spirit merely, of a restricted territory, acquires the position of 'chief demon' as the town of Nippur grows to be the capitol of a large and powerful district.
En-sakkus-ana of Kengi conquered Kis, like one of his predecessors who had dedicated the statue, the store of silver, and the furniture of the conquered prince to Mul-lil. Kis claimed sovereignty over the Bedâwin "archers," who had their home in the district now called Jokha. But Kis eventually revenged itself. One of its rulers made himself master of Nippur, and the kingdom of Kengi passed away.
But for the theologians of Babylon, the position of Marduk as the head of the pantheon was a much more important factor. The myth served to show how Marduk came to supplant the rôle of the old Bel of Nippur. Viewed in this light, the Zu myth appears in more senses than one as a pendant to the Marduk-Tiâmat episode.
The products of popular fancy are reshaped, given a literary turn that was originally foreign to them, and so combined and imbued with a meaning as to reflect the thoughts and aspirations of a comparatively advanced age. These tablets will probably furnish additional names of deities, and perhaps throw further light on those known. Further excavations at Nippur will likewise add to the material.
See Hilprecht, Explorations in Bible Lands, pp. 289 ff., 540 ff.; and Fisher, Excavations at Nippur, Pt. I , Pt. Ezek. iii. 15. Ezek. i. 1, 3; iii. 23; and cf. x. 15, 20, 22, and xliii. 3. See J. A. Montgomery, Aramaic Incantation Texts from Nippur, 1913 Hilprecht, Explorations, p. 555 f.
As reports also came from Dilbat, Kutba, Nippur, and Bursippa, all cities of ancient foundation, the king was probably well acquainted with the general course of events in his empire." From certain passages in the astrological tablets, Thompson draws the interesting conclusion that the Chaldean astronomers were acquainted with some kind of a machine for reckoning time.
The sacred significance of ancient Nippur made its patron deity the most important rival of Marduk. Bel could not be disposed of as Ea, who by virtue of his mythological relationships to Marduk a solar deity could be retained as the father of Marduk. There was nothing left but for Marduk to take the place of Bel.
The fame and sanctity of Nippur survives political vicissitudes; and, indeed, in proportion as Nippur loses political prestige, the great deity of the place is released from the limitations due to his local origin and rises to the still higher dignity of a great power whose domain is the entire habitable universe.
It is on the site of these cities that the recent excavations have been made, such as those of the University of Pennsylvania expeditions at Nippur, which are giving us glimpses into remoter recesses of the historical period.
The historical background to this transference of the name of Bel has been dwelt upon in a previous chapter. This "Marduk hymn" is to justify the transference of the rôle of the older Bel of Nippur to the younger god Marduk.
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