but one gains the impression from the most ancient
inscriptions found at Nippur that at an early period Bel was a god much
like the Hebrew Yahwe, "jealous" of having others at his side. Such a
conception would help to account for the title 'lord' being applied to
him above all others, and also aids us in understanding the lasting
impression he made upon the people of Babylonia,--an impression so
profound that when the time came for En-lil to yield his supremacy to
Marduk, no better means could be found of emphasizing the latter's
authority, than by transferring to him the names and titles of the older
Bel.[1376] In this respect, however, Nippur was an exception, and in
later times the Bel cult was affected by the same influences that led
Gudea to group around the sanctuary to Nin-girsu, edifices sacred to
other gods and goddesses. Lugalzaggisi[1377] of Erech enumerates an
extensive pantheon,[1378] which contains most of the chief deities, and
from which we may conclude that the temple of Nana was similarly the
center of a large precinct in which the cult of other deities was
carried on. When we come to the cult of Marduk at Babylon and of Nabu at
Borsippa, the inscriptions, chiefly those of Nebuchadnezzar, come to our
aid in showing us the arrangement of the various chapels that were
comprised within the sacred precincts of E-Sagila and E-Zida,
respectively. In the first place, the close relationship between Marduk
and Nabu was emphasized by placing a papakhu to Nabu in the precinct of
E-Sagila, which--built in imitation of E-Zida at Borsippa--was called by
the same name.[1379] This papakhu, it would seem, was independent of a
special temple to Nabu known as E-Makh-tila, and which lay in Borsippa.
The consort of Marduk, Sarpanitum, likewise had her temple in Babylon,
and naturally close to the chief sanctuary of Marduk.[1380] Ea, the
father of Marduk, had a small sanctuary known as E-kar-zaginna in the
sacred precinct.[1381] It does not follow, of course, that all the
temples in a center like Babylon or Borsippa were concentrated in one
place. Indeed, when Nebuchadnezzar speaks of three temples to Gula being
erected in Borsippa,[1382] it is certain that they could not have been
within the precinct of E-Zida, and so the temples to Shamash and Ramman,
Sin and Ishtar, as well as to Nabu in Babylon, had an independent
position; but we are at least warranted in concluding that they were not
far removed from E-Sagila, and so, l