this entire period: Sarpanitum, Belit, Tashmitum, Sin,
Ninib, Ishtar, Nergal, Nin-khar-sag, and the two other members of the
triad, Anu and Ea, with their consorts, Anatum and Damkina. All these
gods and goddesses are found in the texts from the first and third
section of the period, and the absence of some of them from texts of the
second section is simply due to the smaller amount of material that we
have for the history of the Cassite dynasty in Babylonia. Some of the
deities in this list, which is far from being exhaustive,[181] are
foreign, so _e.g._, Shukamuna and Shumalia, who belong to the Cassitic
pantheon; others are of purely local significance, as Shir and
Shubu.[182] As for Sin, Ninib, and Ishtar, the worship of none of these
deities assumes any great degree of prominence during this period. No
doubt the local cult was continued at the old centers much as before,
but except for an occasional invocation, especially in the closing
paragraphs of an inscription, where the writers were fond of grouping a
large array of deities so as to render more impressive the curses upon
enemies and vilifiers, with which the inscriptions usually terminated,
they do not figure in the official writings of the time. Of Sin, it is
of some importance to note that under the Cassite dynasty he stands
already at the head of a second class of triads which consists of Sin,
Shamash, and Ramman, or Ishtar (see note 3 on page 152), and that
through the inscription of Nebuchadnezzar I., we learn of an additional
district of Babylonia,--that of Bit-Khabban, where in association with
Belit of Akkad, the consort of the older Bel, he was worshipped as the
patron deity. Nebuchadnezzar himself does not enumerate Sin among the
chief gods. Ninib appears in the familiar role as a god of war. After
Hammurabi he is only mentioned once in inscriptions of the Cassitic
period and then again in the days of Nebuchadnezzar I., who assigns a
prominent place to him. It is Ninib who, with the title 'king of heaven
and earth,' leads off in the long list of gods whose curses are invoked
upon the king's opponents. Similarly, the belligerent character of
Ishtar is the only phase of the goddess dwelt upon during this period.
While for Agumkakrimi, she still occupies a comparatively inferior rank,
coming seventh in his list, Nebuchadnezzar places her immediately after
Anu and before Ramman and Marduk. This advance foreshadows the superior
role that she is destined to