new lord of the world got a new religious centre – Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta – and by
transferring the divine statues to Assyria, Tukulti-Ninurta tried to make this new
religious ideology manifest. But as we have seen his experiment failed. The divine
statues were returned to Babylon and Marduk and Ashur remained rivals for supreme
divine power (Chamaza 2002 : 123 – 126 ).
Normally Assyrian kings did not tend to impose the worship of Ashur on conquered
territories. So there are no signs of an Ashur cult in Babylonia. On the other hand,
there is plenty of evidence for a cult of Marduk in Assyria. Already, under Ashur-
uballit I, a Marduk temple existed in Ashur and a family of Marduk priests was well
established in that city. One member of this family –Marduk-nadin ahhe – was royal
scribe of Ashur-uballit I. The temple of Marduk is mentioned also in a royal decree
of Shalmaneser II ( 1030 – 1019 ) and a Middle Assyrian document speaks about a
Marduk gate. Personal names mentioning Marduk increased drastically during the
latter half of the second millennium. In the twelfth century they formed ten per cent
of the theophoric onomasticon. From this time on Marduk appears frequently in
official Assyrian inscriptions as national deity of Babylonia (Sommerfeld 1982 :
193 – 195 ).
During the first millennium Marduk was venerated in Ashur and had a seat in the
Ashur temple. The offerings mentioned for Marduk equalled the ones for Ashur and
his image was carried in official processions. Marduk was also worshipped in Nineveh
in the temple of his son Nabû, who was very popular in first-millennium Assyria.
Especially the intellectual elite revered him as god of wisdom and erudition (Frame
1999 ; Porter 1995 ).
The Assyrian kings of the late eighth and seventh centuries, who were deeply
involved in Babylonian affairs, tried for a second time to put Ashur at the head of a
common Assyro-Babylonian pantheon. In Assyrian belief, Ashur had already become
the lord of all other gods, their father and creator. His temple in Ashur housed shrines
for all major Mesopotamian gods. Under Sargon II, who stated that he had been
chosen for kingship by Ashur and Marduk, thus claiming for himself to be the true
king of Assyria and Babylonia, Ashur was equated with the Babylonian cosmogonic
deity Anshar. This ancient god was considered as having existed long before creation
and being father to all the Babylonian gods. At the same time the epic Enuma elish,
which relates how Marduk defeated the primeval chaos, rose to supreme power and
organised the universe, was rewritten in Assyria, putting Ashur in the position of
Marduk (Chamazada 2002 : 126 – 154 ).
Like Tukulti-Ninurta I before him, Sargon II tried to create a new political and
ideological centre of the world: Dur-Sharrukin. And, again like his predecessor, Sargon
failed (Galter 2006 ). Sennacherib’s changes affected the official religion as well. Under
his reign, the idea of a common Assyro-Babylonian theology was dropped in favour
of a pure Assyrian theology which, however, comprised all major aspects of the cult
of Marduk, especially the Babylonian New Year’s festival. Sennacherib succeeded
where his predecessors failed. His reforms were carried on – at least in parts – by his
successors and in the official Assyrian theology Ashur and Marduk became a single
syncretistic deity (Chamazada 2002 : 111 – 164 ).
But for most Assyrians, especially for the intellectual elite, Marduk remained a
very popular god. Together with the Sun-god Shamash he is one of the most often
invoked deities in the Neo Assyrian prayers and incantations.
— Hannes D. Galter —