The Religions of Ancient Egypt and Babylonia

336 The Religions of Ancient Egypt and Babylonia

in other similarly compounded names. Between the deified city
and the deified river no distinction was drawn. Both alike were
impersonations of the god. So too in the second tablet of the
Surpuseries (WAI.iv. 59. 35, 38), Eridu and Babylon are
invoked to deliver the sick man by the side of Ea and Merodach
[367] and various other gods, as well as certain of the stars. Between
the ordinary gods of Babylonia and the deified city no distinction
is made.^288
Had the city taken its name from the god, it would be difficult
to find a satisfactory etymology for it. The spelling of the name
is against our connecting it with the wordasiru,“he who blesses”
or“consecrates,”from which the Assyrianasirtu,“sanctuary,”is
derived, like the name of the Canaanitish goddess Ashêrah.^289 On
the other hand, the native Assyrian etymology is as inadmissible
as the endeavours of our eighteenth century lexicographers to
find Greek or Latin derivations for Anglo-Saxon words. The
Assyrian scribes saw in Assur merely the old elemental deity
Ansar,“the firmament,”who was himself nothing more than the
Sumerian spirit of the“heavenly host.”It is wisest not to imitate
them, but, as in the case of Merodach and Istar, to leave the
origin of the name Assur unexplained.
The kings of Assyria were originally high priests of Assur. In
other parts of the Semitic world the high priest similarly preceded
the king. The father-in-law of Moses was high priest of Midian,
and the high priests of Saba in Southern Arabia developed into

(^288) For names like Sippar-sadî, Sippar-saduni, Upê-semi, and Upê-natsir, see
Pinches,Revue de l'Histoire des Religions, xliii. p. 277.
(^289) Support may be found for this etymology in the common title of Assur
as“the good god,”which is written ideographicallyan-dugga. But even if
the Assyrians believed that this was the proper signification of the name of
their god, it does not follow that they were right; and since the characters
representing the title could be read AN-SAR{FNS, it is possibly only a play
on the supposed connection of the name with the Sumerian Ansar. The latter
appears as Assoros in Damascius. Perhaps Assur (originally Asur) is merely
asurru,“a wall.”