Fertile Crescent myth series
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4 primary: Semitic gods refers to the gods or deities of peoples generally classified as speaking a Semitic language. ... The word mythology (Greek: μυθολογία, from μυθος mythos, a story or legend, and λογος logos, an account or speech) literally means the (oral) retelling of myths – stories that a particular culture believes to be true and that use supernatural events or characters to explain the nature of the universe and humanity. ... Image File history File links Palmsymbol. ... This article is in need of attention. ... In the Western Semitic pantheon, the Elohim are the sons of El assembled on the divine holy place, Mt. ... Arabian mythology is the ancient beliefs of the Arabs. ... Mesopotamia (Greek: Μεσοποταμία, translated from Old Persian Miyanrudan between rivers; Aramaic name being Beth Nahrain house of rivers) is a region of Southwest Asia. ... The apsû (also known as abzu or engur) was the name for the mythological underground freshwater ocean in Sumerian and Akkadian mythology. ... In Sumerian mythology, the Annuna, the fifty great gods, whose domain appears to be principally but not exclusively the underworld. ... The Deluge tablet of the Gilgamesh epic in Akkadian The Epic of Gilgamesh is a literary work from Babylonia, dating from long after the time that king Gilgamesh was supposed to have ruled. ... In Sumerian mythology, the utukku were a type of spirits or demons that could be either benevolent or evil. ... Babylonian mythology is a set of stories depicting the activities of Babylonian deities, heroes, and mythological creatures. ... This article is in need of attention. ... Anu Enlil Ki Enki	3 sky: In Sumerian mythology and later for Assyrians and Babylonians, Anu (see also An) was a sky-god, the god of heaven, lord of constellations, king of gods, spirits and demons, and dwelt in the highest heavenly regions. ... Enlil was the name of a chief deity in Babylonian religion, perhaps pronounced and sometimes rendered in translations as Ellil in later Akkadian. ... In Sumerian mythology, Ninhursag (or Ki) was the earth and mother-goddess. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Ishtar Sin Sama

It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Shammash. (Discuss)

Shamash or Sama, was the common Akkadian name of the sun-god in Babylonia and Assyria, corresponding to Sumerian Utu. Ishtar ܐܫܬܪ is the Akkadian/Persian counterpart to the Sumerian Inanna and to the cognate northwest Semitic goddess Astarte. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Akkadian (lišānum akkadītum) was a Semitic language (part of the greater Afro-Asiatic language family) spoken in ancient Mesopotamia, particularly by the Assyrians and Babylonians. ... A solar deity is a deity who represents the Sun. ... , Babylon is the Greek variant of Akkadian Babilu, an ancient city in Mesopotamia (modern Al Hillah, Iraq). ... Relief from Assyrian capital of Dur Sharrukin, showing transport of Lebanese cedar (8th c. ... Sumer (or Shumer, Sumeria, Shinar, native ki-en-gir) formed the southern part of Mesopotamia from the time of settlement by the Sumerians until the time of Babylonia. ... In Sumerian mythology, Utu is the offspring of Nanna and Ningal and is the god of the sun and of justice. ...

The name signifies perhaps "servitor," and would thus point to a secondary position occupied at one time by this deity. Both in early and in late inscriptions Sha-mash is designated as the "offspring of Nannar," i.e. of the moon-god, and since, in an enumeration of the pantheon, Sin generally takes precedence of Shamash, it is in relationship, presumably, to the moon-god that the sun-god appears as the dependent power. Such a supposition would accord with the prominence acquired by the moon in the calendar and in astrological calculations, as well as with the fact that the moon-cult belongs to the nomadic and therefore earlier, stage of civilization, whereas the sun-god rises to full importance only after the agricultural stage has been reached. The two chief centres of sun-worship in Babylonia were Sippar, represented by the mounds at Abu Habba, and Larsa, represented by the modern Senkerah. At both places the chief sanctuary bore the name E-barra (or E-babbara) "the shining house" – a direct allusion to the brilliancy of the sun-god. Of the two temples, that at Sippara was the more famous, but temples to Shamash were erected in all large centres – such as Babylon, Ur, Mari, Nippur and Nineveh. Nanna is a god in Sumerian mythology, god of the moon, son of Enlil and Ninlil. ... Sin was the name of the lunar god in Babylonia and Assyria. ... Sippara (Zimbir in Sumerian, Sippar in Assyro-Babylonian) was an ancient Babylonian city on the east bank of the Euphrates, north of Babylon. ... Larsa (the Biblical Ellasar, Genesis 14:1), was an important city of ancient Babylonia, the site of the worship of the sun-god, Shamash, represented by the ancient ruin mound of Senkereh (Senkera). ... , Babylon is the Greek variant of Akkadian Babilu, an ancient city in Mesopotamia (modern Al Hillah, Iraq). ... UR, Ur, or ur can refer to several things: The City of Ur Ur, the first known continent Royal Game of Ur Unreal the computer game Ur is the name of a minor Gnostic deity. ... Cultic stela found at Mari Mari was an ancient city in Syria situated at the modern locality of Tell Hariri, on the western bank of Euphrates river. ... The city of Nippur [nipoor] (Sumerian Nibru, Akkadian Nibbur) was one of the most ancient of all the Babylonian cities of which we have any knowledge, the special seat of the worship of the Sumerian god, Enlil, ruler of the cosmos subject to An alone. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...

The attribute most commonly associated with Shamash is justice. Just as the sun disperses darkness, so Shamash brings wrong and injustice to light. Hammurabi attributes to Shamash the inspiration that led him to gather the existing laws and legal procedures into a code, and in the design accompanying the code the king represents himself in an attitude of adoration before Shamash as the embodiment of the idea of justice. Several centuries before Hammurabi, Ur-Engur of the Ur dynasty (c. 2600 BC) declared that he rendered decisions "according to the just laws of Shamash." This diorite head is believed to represent king Hammurabi Hammurabi (Akkadian Khammurabi, from Amorite Ammurapi, The Kinsman is a Healer; Ammu, paternal kinsman + Rapi, to heal; also transliterated Ammurapi, Hammurapi, or Khammurabi) was the sixth king of Babylon. ... Ur-Nammu (or Urnammu) was an ancient Sumerian king of Ur, fl. ... (Redirected from 2600 BC) (27th century BC - 26th century BC - 25th century BC - other centuries) (4th millennium BC - 3rd millennium BC - 2nd millennium BC) Events 2900 - 2334 BC – Mesopotamian wars of the Early Dynastic period. ...

It was a logical consequence of this conception of the sun-god that he was regarded also as the one who released the sufferer from the grasp of the demons. The sick man, therefore, appeals to Shamash as the god who can be depended upon to help those who are suffering unjustly. This aspect of the sun-god is vividly brought out in the hymns addressed to him, which are, therefore, among the finest productions in the entire realm of Babylonian literature. It is evident from the material at our disposal that the Shamash cults at Sippar and Larsa so overshadowed local sun-deities elsewhere as to lead to an absorption of the minor deities by the predominating one. In the systematized pantheon these minor sun-gods become attendants that do his service. Such are Bunene, spoken of as his chariot driver, whose consort is Atgi-makh, Kettu ("justice") and Mesharu ("right"), who are introduced as servitors of Shamash. Other sun-deities, as Ninurta and Nergal, the patron deities of important centres, retained their independent existence as certain phases of the sun, Ninib becoming the sun-god of the morning and of the spring time, and Nergal the sun-god of the noon and of the summer solstice, while Shamash was viewed as the sun-god in general. Ninurta Lord Plough in Sumerian and Akkadian mythology was the god of Nippur, identified with Ningirsu with whom he may always have been identical. ... The name Nergal (or Nirgal or Nirgali) refers to a deity in Babylonia with the main seat of his cult at Cuthah (or Kutha) represented by the mound of Tell-Ibrahim. ...

Together with Sin and Ishtar, Shamash forms a second triad by the side of Anu, Enlil and Ea. The three powers, Sin, Shamash and Ishtar, symbolized the three great forces of nature, the sun, the moon and the life-giving force of the earth. At times, instead of Ishtar, we find Adad, the storm-god, associated with Sin and Shamash, and it may be that these two sets of triads represent the doctrines of two different schools of theological thought in Babylonia which were subsequently harmonized by the recognition of a group consisting of all four deities. This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Ishtar ܐܫܬܪ is the Akkadian/Persian counterpart to the Sumerian Inanna and to the cognate northwest Semitic goddess Astarte. ... In Sumerian mythology and later for Assyrians and Babylonians, Anu (see also An) was a sky-god, the god of heaven, lord of constellations, king of gods, spirits and demons, and dwelt in the highest heavenly regions. ... Enlil was the name of a chief deity in Babylonian religion, perhaps pronounced and sometimes rendered in translations as Ellil in later Akkadian. ... EA, Ea, or ea can signify several things. ... Adad in Akkadian and Ishkur in Sumerian are the names of the storm-god in the Babylonian-Assyrian pantheon, both usually written by the logogram dIM. The Akkadian god Adad is cognate in name and functions with northwest Semitic god Hadad. ...

The consort of Shamash was known as Aya. She, however, is rarely mentioned in the inscriptions except in combination with Shamash.

This entry was originally from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica. Supporters contend that the Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica (1910-1911) represents the sum of human knowledge at the beginning of the 20th century; indeed, it was advertised as such. ...

Shamash in Judaism

The Jewish menorah contains a central stem in its candelabrum which is called Shamash. It is believed by some historians that this central stem is named after the Babylonian Sun god mentioned above, and that the combined seven branches or stems relate to the seven heavenly objects which were worshipped by several cultures in ancient Persia. Note, however, that "Shamash" is also an ordinary Hebrew word for an attendant, caretaker, custodian, or synagogue janitor. While this could easily discount the connection with the Babylonian god, it could also be a later folk etymology resulting from the forgetting of the Babylonian god. There is an additional difficulty that Akkadian (Assyrian/Babylonian) "sh" is actually borrowed as an "s" sound (samekh ס) in 1st millennium B.C. loanwords into Hebrew or Aramaic, so that the linguistic correspondences are wrong for Hebrew shamash to be a relic of the Babylonian exile. Yarmulke and Menorah from the Harry S Truman collection The menorah, one of Judaisms oldest symbols, is a seven-branched candelabrum or oil lamp. ... A candlestick or candelabrum is a decorative holder for one or more candles, often shaped as a column or pedestal. ... Ancient Earth-centred model of the universe The Seven heavenly objects are the bright objects in the sky which can be seen with the naked eye from anywhere on the Earth: the planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, the Sun, and Moon The days of the week are named... Folk etymology (or popular etymology) is a linguistic term for a category of false etymology which has grown up in popular lore, as opposed to one which arose in scholarly usage. ... The Babylonian captivity, or Babylonian exile, is the name generally given to the deportation and exile of the Jews of the ancient Kingdom of Judah to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar. ...

Nethertheless there are several other references, in hebrew scripture, which may involve Shamash. Perhaps the most obvious of these is Samson, whose English name is a translation of Hebrew Shimshon, which can be translated of the sun. It is possible to make other connections between Samson and solar worship, such as interpreting his hair, which was his source of strength, as the rays of the sun. However, sh-m-sh or sh-m-s is actually an old triconsonantal root for "sun" which is common to many Semitic languages, so that there is no need to appeal to Akkadian influence to explain any apparent solar characteristics of Samson. Samson or Shimshon (שִׁמְשׁוֹן Of the sun (perhaps proclaiming he was radiant and mighty) or [One who] Serves [God], Standard Hebrew Šimšon, Tiberian Hebrew Šimšôn) is the third to last of the Judges of the ancient Children of Israel mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. ... In the terminology used to discuss the grammar of the Semitic languages, a triliteral is a root containing a sequence of three consonants. ...

Another connection involves Balaam, described in the Torah as a prophet of El, usually translated as God, but equally able to mean a god. It is notable that, despite being a prophet of El, delivering several blessings upon the Israelites, Balaam is later listed amongst those who were slaughtered because they had been involved in the worship of the Baal of Peor. An ancient Aramaic inscription, found at Dier Alla, refers to further prophecies of Balaam held in a book of Balaam, but in this inscription, Balaam is identified as a prophet of Shamash. Balaam (Hebrew בִּלְעָם, Standard Hebrew Bilʻam, Tiberian Hebrew Bilʻām; could mean glutton or foreigner, but this etymology is uncertain), is a prophet in the Bible, his story occurring in the Book of Numbers. ... An Israelite is a member of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, descended from the twelve sons of the Biblical patriarch Jacob who was renamed Israel by God in the book of Genesis, 32:28 The Israelites were a group of Hebrews, as described in the Bible. ... Baal () is a Semitic title and honorific meaning lord that is used for various gods, spirits and demons particularly of the Levant. ... This entry incorporates text from Eastons Bible Dictionary, 1897, with some modernisation. ... Aramaic is a Semitic language with a four-thousand year history. ...

Shamash is also equated with Shamsiel, the 15th leader (called 'Samsapiel') out of 20 leaders that were in charge of 200 fallen angels known as Watchers or Grigori. Shamsiel also taught mankind the signs of the sun according to the Book of Enoch. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

See also

• The Utukku
• Samson
• Bull man

In Sumerian mythology, the utukku were a type of spirits or demons that could be either benevolent or evil. ... Samson or Shimshon (שִׁמְשׁוֹן Of the sun (perhaps proclaiming he was radiant and mighty) or [One who] Serves [God], Standard Hebrew Šimšon, Tiberian Hebrew Šimšôn) is the third to last of the Judges of the ancient Children of Israel mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. ... The Mesopotamian bull-man is a demon. ...

External link

• Symbols.com description of Shamash symbol