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A purely local deity, if the reading and interpretation offered by Jensen, 'King of the city Erim, is correct. The mention of the deity in an inscription of Ur-Bau, who calls himself the 'beloved servant' of this god, would be due to the circumstance that the district within which the city in question lay was controlled by the rulers of Lagash.
Another ruler of Lagash whose name is doubtfully read as E-dingir-ra-na-gin, but who is even earlier than Ur-Bau, declares that he has been 'called' by Innanna to the throne. She is mentioned by the side of Nin-khar-sag.
A goddess of this name reading of the first sign doubtful is mentioned by Ur-Bau, who builds a temple to her in Girsu. If Amiaud is correct in his reading of the first sign, the goddess was identified at one time by the Babylonians with the consort of Ramman the storm-god. This would accord with the description that Ur-Bau gives of the goddess.
This character as a spirit of the watery elements is shared by others of the goddesses appearing in the old Babylonian inscriptions. En-ki or Ea. This god, who, as we shall see, becomes most prominent in the developed form of Babylonian theology, does not occupy the place one should expect in the early Babylonian inscriptions. Ur-Bau erects a sanctuary to Ea, at Girsu.
Ur-Bau declares himself to be the darling of this deity, and in the town of Girsu he erects a temple to him. Girsu, however, was not the patron city of the god, for Ur-Bau gives Dumuzi-zu-aba, the appellation of 'the lord of Kinunira, a place the actual situation of which is unknown.
Nin-Mar. A local deity, designated as the lady of Mar, is invoked by Ur-Bau, from whom we learn that she was the daughter of Ninâ. Mar, with the determinative for country, Ki, appears to have been the name of a district extending to the Persian Gulf. The capital of the district is represented by the mound Tel-Id, not far from Warka.
One of the rulers of Lagash has embodied the name of the goddess in his name, calling himself Ur-Bau. It is natural, therefore, to find him more especially devoted to the worship of this deity. He does not tire of singing her praises, and of speaking of the temple he erected in her honor.
Among the deities appealed to by Ur-Bau appears one whose name is to be interpreted as the 'unchangeable child of the watery deep. The great god of the deep we have seen is Ea. Dumuzi-zu-aba therefore belongs to the water-deities, and one who, through his subordinate rank to Ea, sinks to the level of a water-spirit.
Ur-Bau calls her the 'gracious lady, and erects a temple, the name of which, Ish-gu-tur, i.e., according to Jensen's plausible interpretation, 'the house that serves as a court for all persons, points to Mar as a place of pilgrimage to which people came from all sides.
which, signifying 'god of great strength, is given to him as the patron of the smith's art. A god of this name is mentioned by Ur-Bau, who speaks of a sanctuary erected in honor of this deity. The later identification with Ea appears to be due to the idea of 'strength' involved in the name of Nin-agal.
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