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Updated: June 24, 2025
They prayed as prayed David, that the counsel of Ahithophel might be turned to foolishness; and "Lo," they said, "be strong and courageous; fear not, neither be afraid of the King of Ashur, neither for all the multitude that is with him; for there be more with us than with him," and John Splendid turned to me at this with a dry laugh.
There is more ground for recognizing real departmental gods in Babylonia and Assyria, though even there the evidence is not quite satisfactory. The great gods, Ea, Bel, Sin, Shamash, Marduk, Ishtar, Ashur, preside over all human interests. Nabu stands for agriculture as well as for wisdom, and Ea for wisdom as well as for the great deep. Nergal is not the only god of war.
The supposition that Ashur was not, therefore, the original name of the god receives a certain measure of force from this consideration. Moreover, there are indications that there actually existed another form of his name, namely, Anshar. This form Anshar would, according to the phonetic laws prevailing in Assyria, tend to become Ash-shar.
In Babylonia, moreover, it acquires the force of vassal-king. The full list is Anu, Ashur, Shamash, Ramman, and Ishtar. More precisely Arba-ilu, signifying 'city of the fourfold divinity' or 'four-god' city. Cf. the Palestinian form Kiryath-Arba, "four city," originally perhaps, likewise, a city of four gods, rather than four roads or four quarters, as commonly explained. IR. 14, l. 86.
The natural desire for novelty together with other circumstances that escape us led one to choose Ramman, another Nin-ib, a third Shamash, and a fourth, as we shall see, Nabu. In doing so they were not conscious of any lack of respect towards Ashur, of whose good will they always felt certain.
There is a fervency in the prayers of Nebuchadnezzar which marks them off from the somewhat perfunctory invocations of the Assyrian kings to Ashur and Ishtar. An appreciation of the position of E-Sagila and E-Zida in Babylonian history is an essential condition to an understanding of the Babylonian-Assyrian religion.
The gods of the Assyrian pantheon impress one as diminutive Ashurs by the side of the big one, and in proportion as they approach nearer to the character of Ashur himself, is their hold upon the royal favor strengthened. Ishtar. Second in rank to Ashur during the most glorious part of Assyrian history stands the great goddess Ishtar.
It may be that the representation of the god by a standard was a consequence of the fondness that the rulers of Ashur manifested for perpetual warfare; or, in other words, that the god Ashur was represented by a standard so that he might be carried into the battle and be moved from place to place.
The intimate association of Nabu with Marduk in the city of Babylon leads as a natural consequence to a similar association in Assyria, when once the Marduk cult had for political reasons become established in the north. Just as we have certain kings devoted to Nin-ib and Shamash by the side of Ashur, so there are others whose special favorite is Nabu.
Shalmaneser II.'s pantheon embraces Ashur, Anu, Bel, Ea, Sin, Shamash, Nin-ib, Nergal, Nusku, Belit, and Ishtar eleven in all. Sargon's practice varies. The best list is furnished by his account of the eight gates of his palace and of two walls, which he names after the gods in the following order: For the inner wall. Nin-ib, who lays the foundations of the city. For the outer wall.
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