of Ashurnasirbal.[263]

Shamash.

Besides the testimony furnished by the name of the king, Samsi-Ramman,
we have a proof for the antiquity of the Shamash cult in Assyria in the
express statement of Pudilu (_c._ 1350 B.C.) that he built a temple to
the sun-god in the city of Ashur. He calls Shamash the 'protecting
deity,' but the protection vouchsafed by Shamash is to be understood in
a peculiar sense. Shamash does not work by caprice. He is, as we have
seen, preeminently a god of justice, whose favors are bestowed in
accordance with unchangeable principles. So far as Assyria is concerned,
the conceptions regarding Shamash reach a higher ethical level than
those connected with any other deity. Ashur and Ishtar are partial to
Assyria, and uphold her rulers at any cost, but the favors of Shamash
are bestowed upon the kings because of their righteousness, or, what is
the same thing, because of their claim to being righteous. For
Tiglathpileser I., great and ruthless warrior as he is, Shamash is the
judge of heaven and earth, who sees the wickedness of the king's
enemies, and shatters them because of their guilt. When the king
mercifully sets certain captives free, it is in the presence of Shamash
that he performs this act. It is, therefore, as the advocate of the
righteous cause that Tiglathpileser claims to have received the glorious
sceptre at the hands of Shamash; and so also for the successors of
Tiglathpileser, down to the days of Sargon, Shamash is above all and
first of all the judge, both of men and of the gods. There is, of
course, nothing new in this view of Shamash, which is precisely the one
developed in Babylonia; but in Assyria, perhaps for the reason that in
Shamash is concentrated almost all of the ethical instinct of the
northern people, the judicial traits of Shamash appear to be even more
strongly emphasized. Especially in the days of Ashurnasirbal and
Shalmaneser II.--the ninth century--does the sun-cult receive great
prominence. These kings call themselves the _sun_ of the world. The
phrase,[264] indeed, has so distinctly an Egyptian flavor, that, in
connection with other considerations, it seems quite plausible to assume
that the influence of Egyptian reverence for _Ra_ had much to do with
the popularity of the sun-cult about this time. Shalmaneser bestows
numerous epithets upon Shamash. He is the guide of everything, the
messenger of the gods, the hero, the judge of the world who guides
mankind ar