Assyrian Gods - Babylonia and Assyria

Babylonia and Assyria

When the five planets were identified, they were associated with the sun and moon and connected with the chief gods of the Hammurabi pantheon. A bilingual list in the British Museum arranges the sevenfold planetary group in the following order:

• The moon, Sin.
• The sun, Shamash.
• Jupiter, Marduk.
• Venus, Ishtar.
• Saturn, Ninurta.
• Mercury, Nabu.
• Mars, Nergal.

The pre-Christian religion of the Assyrian Empire (sometimes called Ashurism) centered around the god Assur, patron deity of the city of Assur, besides Ishtar patroness of Niniveh. The Assyrians adopted Christianity in the course of the 1st to 3rd century AD, the last recorded worship of Ashur dating to AD 256.

Ashur, the patron deity of the eponymous capital from the Late Bronze Age was in constant rivalry with the patron deity of Babylon, Marduk. In Assyria, Ashur eventually superseded Marduk even in his role as husband of Ishtar.