The chief centres of the Babylonian Shamash cult were, as already indicated, Sippar and Larsa, both of them cities whose foundation reaches back to a high antiquity. Of the two, Larsa appears to have been politically the more important, whereas Bee acquired greater religious sanctity, from which we may perhaps conclude that it was the older of the two. That there is some historical connexion between the two places, is indicated by the identity of the name borne by the chief temple in both Sippar and Larsa, viz. H-barra (or E-babbara), signifying ‘resplendent house.’ In the further development of the conceptions con- nected with Shamash it is important to note the introduction of ethical ideas. Represented ideo- graphically as ‘the god of day,’ he is worshipped not merely as the symbol of light and as the beneficent power that drives away the winter storms and clothes the earth with verdure, but as the god who, among mankind, as in nature, brings about order and stability. As his light illumines all dark places, so he is regarded as the one who can drive evil, which was pictured as ‘ dark- ness,’ out of the body of man. Shamash is there- fore frequently appealed to in the incantation texts as the god who can provide healing, who can se- cure release from sufferings by driving away the demons and evil spirits. ‘The symbolical rites pre- scribed in these texts to be carried out in connexion with the pronouncing of certain formule are generally to be performed at daybreak, when the rule of Shamash begins. But not only evil in the form of disease or bewitchment can be removed by Shamash, it is he likewise who brings hidden crimes to light, and it is he who punishes the evil-
* See Jensen (Kosmologie, p. 457f.), to whom the indication of this distinction is due, and whose views are more plausible than the opinion of Winckler (Geschichte Israels, ii. p. 79), who is inclined to look upon Ninib as the symbol of the summer season. :
+ An exception appears in the inscription of Lugalzaggisi (Hilprecht, Old Bab. Inser. i. 2, No. 87, col. i. 20); but see the note on p. 67 of the present writer's Religion Babyloniens wnd Assyriens.
doer. His light thus becomes a symbol also of justice, and perhaps the most frequent epithet by which he is addressed bothin hymns and in histori- cal texts is that of ‘judge of heaven and earth.’ He is pictured as sitting on a throne in a court of justice, receiving the petitions of those who have been injured, and rendering a just verdict. It is significant that Hammurabi (¢. 2250 B.C.) places at the head of his famous Code of laws* a picture of Shamash, and in the body of the text the god is frequently introduced as the one who inspired Hammurabi with the project of gathering together the laws of the country for the purpose of ensuring justice and security to all the inhabitants of the land. Among the titles that the king bestows on himself he takes special pride in designating him- self the ‘king of righteousness,’ which is precisely the réle in which Shamash himself appears in the religious literature.
By the, side of Shamash we not only find his consort A frequently referred to, but a group of minor deities (or spirits), who form, as it were, the court of the god. A god Bunene is pictured as his chariot driver, and Kettu (‘Right’) and Mesharu (‘ Justice’) as his children who are in his service. It is likely that Bunene was originally the name of the sun-god in some locality, who was overshadowed by the great Shamash, and therefore accorded a place as an attendant; while Kettw and Mesharu are clearly designations of the sun-god as the lord of justice, that have been personified as independent beings.
Ninidb.—As the sun-god associated more speci- fically with the spring and morning, it is natural to find Ninib regarded as essentially an agricul- tural deity, who presides over the fields, and who is appealed to, not merely to ensure fertility, but to protect the boundaries of the fields against un- lawful invasion or wilful interference. A feature of Ninib which stands in close connexion with his position as an agricultural deity, is his absorp- tion of the role of numerous other gods, who, originally local patrons of the fields, are viewed as merely so many manifestations of Ninib. Thus we find Nin-gish-zida, Nin-shakh, Za-mal-mal, Dun-pa-uddu, Zizanu, Shedu, all once worshipped as independent gods, assimilated to Ninib in accord- ance with the same tendency that led to a concen- tration of all the independent goddesses in the great Ishtar, and which led to making Shamash of Larsa and Sippar the representative of the sun- god in general, thus gradually obscuring the numer- ous local sun cults that must once have flourished. There is, however, another side to Ninib, due to his having been the chief deity in an important political centre BA let Shirpurla. As the patron of rulers whose position was due to their force of arms, Ninib (or Nin-girsu +) was naturally also a god of war, who appeared in the midst: of the fray as a warrior fully armed. In hymns com- posed in his honour, Ninib is very frequently ad- dressed as the god of battle, whose strength is irresistible, and who leads the armies of the king to victory.