ound the throne of the
supreme ruler,--the king of Babylon and of Babylonia.

One can see, however, that, as is generally the case with theological
doctrines, there is a popular starting-point from which these views were
developed. The Du-azagga is older than the Ubshu-kenna. Situated in the
extreme east, the 'brilliant chamber' is evidently the place whence the
sun rises in the morning. A hymn to Shamash[1362] expressly speaks of
the sun rising out of the Du-azagga, and, since the sun also appears to
rise up out of the ocean, the Du-azagga is placed at a point close to
the great Apsu, which flows underneath the mountain. In confirmation of
this view, a syllabary[1363] identifies the Du-azagga with the Apsu.
Marduk, by virtue of his original quality as a solar deity, would
naturally be pictured as coming forth from Du-azagga. In this sense the
title Mar-Du-azaga,[1364] 'son of Du-azagga,' is applied to him, just as
he is called Mar-Apsi, the son of Apsu. But the same conception would
hold good of Shamash, of Ninib, and of some other solar deities, though
not of all. That Du-azagga came to be especially associated with Marduk
is due simply to the preeminent rank that he came to occupy. Whether
there was also a popular basis for the conception of an Ubshu-kenna, an
'assembly room' of the gods, is a question more difficult to answer.
Certainly, the view that the gods gathered together in one place belongs
to an age which attempted to fix, at least in some measure, the
relationship of the divine beings to one another. The popular phase of
the conception of a general assembly house could, in any case, hardly
have proceeded further than the assumption of some particular part of
the great mountain, where the gods were wont to come together. The
connection of this assembly place with the Du-azagga is distinctly the
work of the theologians of Babylon. In their desire to make Marduk the
central figure of the pantheon, they bring all the gods to his side. The
Ubshu-kenna is thus transferred to the region whence the sun issues on
his daily journey. The 'chamber' of Marduk becomes the most sacred spot
in this region, and the Ubshu-kenna the general name for the region
itself. As Marduk in Babylon was surrounded by his court, so in
Ubshu-kenna the gods assemble to pay homage to the one freely
acknowledged by them as the greatest, and who is pictured as sitting on
his throne in Du-azagga. The further speculation which brought the gods