e fond of introducing into their inscriptions, a series
of gods under whose protection they place themselves. They do not do
this as the earlier Babylonian rulers did, to emphasize the extent of
their jurisdiction by adding to their pantheon the deities of towns or
districts vanquished by them. The day of independent states being over,
the importance of merely local deities had ceased. The theological
system evolved in Babylonia in combination with the popular instinct had
led to a selection out of the mass of deities of a limited number, each
with tolerably definite attributes, and who together embraced all the
forces under whose power mankind stood. Of these deities again, as we
have seen, some acquired greater favor in Assyria than others, but for
all that, the kings especially of the later period of Assyrian history
were fond of including in an enumeration of the pantheon, even those who
had no special significance. Policy and the meaningless imitation of
earlier examples played an equal part in thus giving to the lists an
aspect of formality that deprives them of the impression that they might
otherwise make.

The combined invocations are found usually at the beginning and at the
end of the inscriptions--at the beginning for invoking the aid of the
gods, at the close for invoking their curses upon those who would
attempt to destroy the ambitious monuments set up by the kings. Often,
however, the narrative is interrupted for the purpose of making
acknowledgment to a larger or smaller series of gods for victory,
granted or hoped for. In these combined references a separate place
belongs to the triad, Anu, Bel, and Ea. While not occupying the
prominent position they have in Babylonian inscriptions, still the kings
often mention Anu, Bel, and Ea separately, or Anu and Bel alone,
ascribing victory to them, putting them down as the originators of the
calendar system, and declaring themselves to have been nominated by them
to rule over Assyria. Sargon, with his antiquarian zeal, appears to have
made an effort to reinstate the triad as a special group in the
pantheon. In general, however, they take their place with other gods. So
Ramman-nirari I. invokes the curse of Ashur, Anu, Bel, Ea, and Ishtar,
together with the Igigi and Anunnaki; but, what is more important,
already at an early period the triad disappears altogether from the
pantheon, except for the artificial attempts of Sargon to revive
interest in them. In both t