cidentally referred to: once by
Sargon,[303] who groups Bel with Sarpanitum and Nabu and Tashmitum, at
the head of the gods of Babylonia; and similarly by Tiglathpileser III.,
on the occasion of his enumerating the chief gods of the Babylonian
pantheon.

Nabu.

The intimate association of Nabu with Marduk in the city of Babylon
leads as a natural consequence to a similar association in Assyria, when
once the Marduk cult had for political reasons become established in the
north. The kings invoke the favor of Bel (meaning Marduk) and Nabu,
especially when dealing with the affairs of Babylonia,[304] as they
invoke Ashur and Ishtar. Just as we have certain kings devoted to Nin-ib
and Shamash by the side of Ashur, so there are others whose special
favorite is Nabu. In the days of Ramman-nirari III. (812-783 B.C.) the
Nabu cult reached its highest point of popularity in Assyria. From the
manner in which the king speaks of the god, one might draw the
conclusion that he attempted to concentrate the whole Assyrian cult upon
that god alone. He erects a temple to the god at Calah, and overwhelms
the deity with a great array of titles. The dedicatory inscription which
the king places on a statue of Nebo closes with the significant words,
'O Posterity! trust in Nabu. Trust in no other god.'[305] Still we must
not press such phrases too hard. Ramman-nirari III. had no intention of
suppressing Ashur worship, for he mentions the god elsewhere, and
assigns to him the same rank as the other kings do, but so much we are
justified in concluding, that next to Ashur and Ishtar he feels most
strongly attached to Nabu. That the Babylonian Nabu is meant, is clear
from such designations as 'the offspring of E-sagila, the favorite of
Bel,' 'he who dwells at E-zida,' which appear among the epithets
bestowed upon the god; and the temple in Calah, which one of the last
kings of Assyria, Ashuretililani,[306] is engaged in improving, bears
the same name E-zida, as Nabu's great temple at Borsippa. We have
already set forth the reasons[307] for the popularity of the Nabu cult
in Assyria. Suffice it to recall that the peculiar character of the god
as the patron of wisdom placed him beyond the reach of any jealousy on
the part of the other members of the pantheon. So Ramman-nirari III.
extols Nabu as the protector of the arts, the all-wise who guides the
stylus of the scribe, and the possessor of wisdom in general. He is not
merely the originator of w