known. Zer-panitum was no mere reflection of Merodach, but one of the
most important goddesses in the Babylonian pantheon. The tendency of
scholars has been to identify her with the moon, Merodach being a
solar deity and the meaning "silvery"--/Sarpanitum/, from /sarpu/, one
of the words for "silver," was regarded as supporting this idea. She
was identified with the Elamite goddess named Elagu, and with the
Lahamum of the island of Bahrein, the Babylonian Tilmun.

Nebo and Tasmetum.

As "the teacher" and "the hearer" these were among the most popular of
the deities of Babylonia and Assyria. Nebo (in Semitic Babylonian
Nabu) was worshipped at the temple-tower known as E-zida, "the
ever-lasting house," at Borsippa, now the Birs Nimroud, traditionally
regarded as the site of the Tower of Babel, though that title, as has
already been shown, would best suit the similar structure known as
E-sagila, "the house of the high head," in Babylon itself. In
composition with men's names, this deity occurs more than any other,
even including Merodach himself--a clear indication of the estimation
in which the Babylonians and Assyrians held the possession of
knowledge. The character with which his name is written means, with
the pronunciation of /ak/, "to make," "to create," "to receive," "to
proclaim," and with the pronunciation of /me/, "to be wise," "wisdom,"
"open of ear," "broad of ear," and "to make, of a house," the last
probably referring to the design rather than to the actual building.
Under the name of /Dim-sara/ he was "the creator of the writing of the
scribes," as /Ni-zu/, "the god who knows" (/zu/, "to know"), as
/Mermer/, "the speeder(?) of the command of the gods"--on the Sumerian
side indicating some connection with Addu or Rimmon, the thunderer,
and on the Semitic side with Enu-restu, who was one of the gods'
messengers. A small fragment in the British Museum gave his attributes
as god of the various cities of Babylonia, but unfortunately their
names are lost or incomplete. From what remains, however, we see that
Nebo was god of ditching(?), commerce(?), granaries(?), fasting(?),
and food; it was he who overthrew the land of the enemy, and who
protected planting; and, lastly, he was god of Borsippa.

The worship of Nebo was not always as popular as it became in the
later days of the Babylonian empire and after its fall, and Jastrow is
of opinion that Hammurabi intentionally ignored this de