The Religions of Ancient Egypt and Babylonia

332 The Religions of Ancient Egypt and Babylonia

of Borsippa to the god of Babylon, and included him among
the inferior deities to whom chapels were erected in the great
sanctuary of Merodach.^287 But the god of Borsippa had once
been as independent and supreme in his own city as Merodach
was at Babylon. He had been addressed as“the maker”of the
universe and the irrigator of the fields, and the origin of the
cuneiform system of writing was ascribed to him. The Semites
called him the Nabium or“Prophet,”and it was under this title
of Nabium or Nebo that he became the minister of Merodach.
The name was appropriate in his twofold character of interpreter
of the will of Bel and patron of literature, and was carried by
Babylonian conquest into the distant West. There Moses died in
Moab on the summit of Mount Nebo, and cities bearing the name
stood within the borders of Reuben and Judah.
It was doubtless the association of Nebo with Merodach
that caused him, like Thoth in Egypt, to become the patron of
literature and the god of the scribes. The culture-god was as it
were divided into two; while Merodach retained the functions
[363] peculiar to a Semitic Baal, Nebo watched over the library and
school, and encouraged the study of the script which had been
invented by him. The older claims of Ea fell into the background
and were forgotten; it was no longer the god of Eridu, but Nebo,
who had written the first book, and instructed mankind in the
elements of culture. The marshal's staff, which Nebo had wielded
as organiser of“the hosts of heaven and earth,”now became the
rod of the scribe, and a consort was created for him in the person
of Tasmit or“Hearing.”In Assyria, where the worship of Assur
prevented any development of that of his rival Merodach, Nebo
became a special favourite of the literary class, who derived their
knowledge and inspiration from Babylon. Assur-bani-pal never
wearies of telling us how Nebo and Tasmit had“made broad

(^287) There is no reason for holding that the temple of Ê-Zida rebuilt by
Khammurabi at Borsippa, was any other than the old Ê-Zida which was
dedicated to Nebo.