The Religion of Babylonia and AssyriaPinches, Theophilus G. (Theophilus Goldridge)
Religion
The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria
Pinches, Theophilus G. (Theophilus Goldridge)
Assyro-Babylonian religion
The numerous names which Hadad bears in the inscriptions, both
non-Semitic and Semitic, testify to the popularity which this god
enjoyed at all times in Babylonia. Among his non-Semitic names may be
mentioned Mer, Mermer, Muru, all, it may be imagined, imitative. Addu
is explained as being his name in the Amorite language, and a variant
form, apparently, which has lost its first syllable, namely, Dadu,
also appears--the Assyrians seem always to have used the
terminationless form of Addu, namely, Adad. In all probability Addu,
Adad, and Dadu are derived from the West Semitic Hadad, but the other
name, Rammanu, is native Babylonian, and cognate with Rimmon, which is
thus shown by the Babylonian form to mean "the thunderer," or
something similar. He was the god of winds, storms, and rain, feared
on account of the former, and worshipped, and his favour sought, on
account of the last. In his name Birqu, he appears as the god of
lightning, and Jastrow is of opinion, that he is sometimes associated
on that account with Šamaš, both of them being (although in different
degrees) gods of light, and this is confirmed by the fact that, in
common with the sun-god, he was called "god of justice." In the
Assyrian inscriptions he appears as a god of war, and the kings
constantly compare the destruction which their armies had wrought with
that of "Adad the inundator." For them he was "the mighty one,
inundating the regions of the enemy, lands and houses," and was prayed
to strike the land of the person who showed hostility to the Assyrian
king, with evil-working lightning, to throw want, famine, drought, and
corpses therein, to order that he should not live one day longer, and
to destroy his name and his seed in the land.
The original seat of his worship was Muru in South Babylonia, to which
the patesi of Girsu in the time of Ibi-Sin sent grain as an offering.
Its site is unknown. Other places (or are they other names of the
same?) where he was worshipped were Ennigi and Kakru. The consort of
Addu was Šala, whose worship was likewise very popular, and to whom
there were temples, not only in Babylonia and Assyria, but also in
Elam, seemingly always in connection with Addu.
Aššur.
In all the deities treated of above, we see the chief gods of the
Babylonian and Assyrian pantheon, which were worshipped by both
peoples extensively, none of them being specifically Assyrian, though
worshipped by the Assyrians. There was one deity, however, whose name
will not be found in the Babylonian lists of gods, namely, Aššur, the
national god of Assyria, who was worshipped in the city of Aššur, the
old capital of the country.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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