נבו
A son of Marduk, he was the patron deity of Borsippa near Babylon, in partnership with his consort Tashmet ("the lady who listens"); though it was as the son of Enki that he later became the patron god of the city of Babylon.
Before this, however, in the epoch when the Sumerians ruled, the patron deity was female, Nisaba (or sometimes Nidaba), the goddess who invented cuneiform writing and every aspect of literacy for which cuneiform was used. The change probably happened at the time of Hammurabi,and Nabu became simultaneously god of writing and of wisdom - the latter also attributed to his father Marduk and his grandfather Enki (Ea).
His name means "The Announcer", which refers to his prophetic abilities and the gift of writing - the Yehudit word Navi, meaning a Prophet, derives from him. He was the patron god of scribes, and safeguarded The Tablets of Destiny which legitimised the ruler of the universe (alternately named as Anu, En-Lil or Marduk and, later, Ashur; but obviously, in the Yehudit, YHVH).
He is depicted holding a stylus, and either riding on, or standing beside, a Mushhushshu dragon.
Like Dionysus and YHVH, he began in obscurity and rose to predominance, starting out life as a West Semitic deity, mentioned in Eblaitic sources as one of its pantheon. He was first absorbed into the cult of Marduk as Marduk's minister, and from the Kassite period onward became accepted as Marduk's firstborn son, the mother being Ṣarpanitum/Erua. By the start of the Neo-Babylonian period he is being regarded as the brother of the god Nergal/Lugal-Marada, and as such had risen to virtual equality with Bel/Marduk, first as Regent, then as joint head of the pantheon and co-ruler of the universe.
Without him, the great Babylonian Akitu Festival, held on the 11th day of Nisannu (the first month of the year; Nissan in Yehudit) to honour the gods and give thanks for the harvest, could not be celebrated; indeed, the pageant-pilgrimage of his cult statue Borsippa and Babylon provided one of the central spectacles of that festival.
The formula for king Samsu-ditana's 17th regnal year mentions a shrine dedicated to the cult of Nabu in Esagil, and records that a statue of Nabu was brought into the temple of Marduk, so this date can be taken as the earliest known for his importance in Babylon. In the Neo-Assyrian period, temples of Nabu are attested at Ashur, Nineveh, Kalhu, Dur-Sharrukin, Kurba'il and Guzana. Outside Mesopotamia, eastwards, a temple was built for Nabu at Dur-Untash in Elam. There is archaeological evidence that the cult of Nabu spread as far north as Nuzi and as far west as Ugarit.
The first accurately datable attestation of Nabu is the year formula for Hammurabi 16: "The year he (the king) built a throne for Nabu".
The first accurately datable attestation of Nabu is the year formula for Hammurabi 16: "The year he (the king) built a throne for Nabu".
In the Middle Babylonian period Nabu's name was typically invoked on kudurru inscriptions, and it became a popular theophoric element in personal names. The cult of Nabu was introduced in Assyria during the Middle Assyrian period, presumably by Shalmaneser I, who is mentioned as the first builder of the Nabu temple in Ashur (on a cylinder from the later Assyrian king Sin-šar-iškun). However, not long after that, when Sennacherib began to manifest his aspiration to proclaim the supremacy of Assyria, he neglected or abandoned Babylonian deities in favour of the god Ashur, resulting in the cult of Nabu losing some of its royal prestige. That was reversed under Esarhaddon, who was keen to regain Babylonian support and therefore restored the primacy of the Babylonian gods. Ashurbanipal, a keen collector of knowledge, was especially fond of Nabu as god of writing and wisdom.
By the end of the Neo-Babylonian period the popularity of Nabu was such that he began to gain precedence even over Marduk: in a hymn of that period found in the Ezida of Borsippa, for example. The very last (known) inscription by a king of Babylonia concerns Nabu; likewise found in the Ezida of Borsippa, it consists of a report by Antiochus I Soter (r. 276-261 BCE) regarding his restoration work on Esagila and Ezida.
Nabu's cult was widespread and long lived, developing through expatriate Aramaic communities beyond Mesopotamia into Egypt and Anatolia, and lasting up to the second half of the first millennium CE.
Nabu's principal symbol is a single wedge, vertical or horizontal, sometimes resting on a clay tablet or a dais. It represents the writing stylus, and its shape also suggests cuneiform writing. Nabu and the writing stylus are occasionally shown on top of a protective mušhuššu dragon.
By the end of the Neo-Babylonian period the popularity of Nabu was such that he began to gain precedence even over Marduk: in a hymn of that period found in the Ezida of Borsippa, for example. The very last (known) inscription by a king of Babylonia concerns Nabu; likewise found in the Ezida of Borsippa, it consists of a report by Antiochus I Soter (r. 276-261 BCE) regarding his restoration work on Esagila and Ezida.
Nabu's cult was widespread and long lived, developing through expatriate Aramaic communities beyond Mesopotamia into Egypt and Anatolia, and lasting up to the second half of the first millennium CE.
Nabu's principal symbol is a single wedge, vertical or horizontal, sometimes resting on a clay tablet or a dais. It represents the writing stylus, and its shape also suggests cuneiform writing. Nabu and the writing stylus are occasionally shown on top of a protective mušhuššu dragon.
Nabu is typically depicted wearing a long fringed robe under a slit skirt.
The name Nabu is derived from the Semitic root nb' meaning "to name/designate". It can be interpreted as a participle, "announcer/herald", or as a verbal adjective, "the one who is named/designated". Archaising post-Old Babylonian logographic spellings are attested, namely dAK/dNÀ, dNÀ.KÁM, dMUATI, dTU.TU and dŠÀ.TÚ.
He is often compared with Thoth by the Egyptians, Apollo by the Greeks, and Mercury by the Romans.The word "Nabu" has to do with oracles and prophecies in all the languages of Mesopotamia and Asia Minor: it appears in Ugaritic as Nbu, as Nebo in Proto-Aramic, and as Nabi in both Arabic and Persian.
Two goddesses are associated with Nabu as his consorts: Tašmetu and Nanaya.
Tašmetu is the earliest attested consort. First mentioned as spouse of Nabu in an Old Babylonian god-list, her relationship with Nabu is still thriving in the Neo-Assyrian period. Nanaya was originally the consort of the god Muati, which suggests her new role came as a result of Muati's syncretism with Nabu.
Two goddesses are associated with Nabu as his consorts: Tašmetu and Nanaya.
Tašmetu is the earliest attested consort. First mentioned as spouse of Nabu in an Old Babylonian god-list, her relationship with Nabu is still thriving in the Neo-Assyrian period. Nanaya was originally the consort of the god Muati, which suggests her new role came as a result of Muati's syncretism with Nabu.
Nidaba the former goddess of scribes and writing whom he supplanted - is occasionally associated with Nabu as co-resident of the bīt mummu of Ashur, but she is presented more as an homologous deity than as a spouse - probably another way of syncretising two deities.
Nabu is also syncretised with Nin-Urta, his relationship with Marduk mirroring that of Nin-Urta with En-Lil. Likewise he is associated with Šamaš and Sin
through his cosmological symbolism of light and darkness.
through his cosmological symbolism of light and darkness.
Astronomically he is identified with the planet Mercury.
Mosheh died on the summit (Rosh ha Pisgah - רֹאשׁ הַפִּסְגָּה) of Mount Nevo (Deuteronomy 34:1), which name is etymologically linked, as is the Yehudit word for Prophet, NAVI (נָבִיא).
From the weekly calendar, Nabu appears to have been identified with Mercury/Hermes.
The name recurs as Nebuchadnezzar (probably Nabu-kudur-usur in the original; a name that would mean "Protector of the Crown of Nabu"), the king of Babylon who took the remnant of Yisra-El into captivity in 586 BCE. Amongst his most important duties as the "scribe" of Marduk, was to write the fate of his people in the Tablet of Destinies, which ceremony (the Akitu-festival) took place on the 11th day of the month of Nisan, ten days after the ceremonies for the New Year; the Yisra-Eli equivalent, Yom Kippur, when YHVH writes the fate of his followers in the Book of Life, also takes place 10 days after the New Year ceremonies, though these are now in the autumn month of Tishrey, the new year having been moved, quite likely to separate the customs of captivity in Babylon from those of YHVH. The text of the Book of Exodus, following the Passover, appears to be a series of Yom Kippur rituals, which suggests that the Beney Yisra-El also followed the Babylonian calendar in this regard before the captivity. According to ibn-Ishaq, the first biographer of Muhammad, the Moslem Ashurah was originally established by Muhammad to parallel Yom Kippur, though it is likely that the Babylonian date was already established, and Muhammad merely modified it.
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