Product Code Database
Anshar ( , , ) was a Mesopotamian god regarded as a primordial king of the gods. He was not actively worshiped. He was regarded as the father of Anu. In the first millennium BCE his name came to be used as a logographic representation of the head god in the state pantheon, Ashur. He is attested in a number of god lists, such as An = Anum, and in literary compositions, including the Enūma Eliš.
The theonym Anshargal attested in lexical lists is presumed to be a variant of Anshar.
Anu and Anshar could alternatively be equated with each other. A god list with the incipit Anšar = Anu was in circulation in the first millennium BCE. In the bilingual poem Exaltation of Ishtar Anshar corresponds to Anu in the Akkadian version, with Kishar analogously representing Antu. An = Anum (tablet I, line 8) equates Anshar with both Anu and Antu ( dingira-nu-um u da-n-tu). Further examples are available from various scholarly texts from Uruk postdating the Neo-Babylonian period, in which dAN.ŠÁR(.GAL) is used as a logographic representation of Anu's name. However, Julia Krul stresses that equations of deities with their fathers represent speculation mostly typical for god lists, and did not necessarily influence the sphere of cult.
Paul-Alain Beaulieu suggests that the logogram AN.ŠÁR also designates Assur in texts from Neo-Babylonian Uruk. He points out that they indicate AN.ŠÁR was actively worshiped, which would be unusual if the name referred to the primordial god. A small shrine dedicated to AN.ŠÁR is attested in sources from the Neo-Babylonian and early Achaemenid periods, but it is uncertain when his cult was introduced to the city. It might have originally been established either when the city was under the control of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, or later on by a group of Assyrian people immigrants. In the former case, the worship of Ashur in Uruk would most likely reflect a political alliance between local elites and the Assyrian state, as there is no evidence his cult was imposed in any cities.
Beaulieu argues that the identification between Anshar and Ashur was additionally meant to facilitate equating the latter with Anu. He suggests this might have been the reason why Anu's prominence in the local pantheon of Uruk increased from the fifth century BCE onward. Julia Krul disagrees with this proposal, and points out that while it is plausible that in Uruk the clergy might have accepted the equation between Anshar and Ashur, there is no evidence that the latter was viewed as related to Anu, or that theological ideas pertaining to him influenced Anu's cult.
Piotr Steinkeller notes that the association between Anshar and Ashur might explain why Kakka, a deity chiefly worshiped in Upper Mesopotamia rather than in Babylonia, appears as a messenger of the former in the Enūma Eliš.
In an recension of the Enūma Eliš, known only from a number of incomplete late copies from Assur and Nineveh tentatively dated to the reign from Sennacherib, the logogram AN.ŠÁR is used to refer to both Anshar himself and to Ashur, who replaces Marduk as the protagonist, but is also identified with the aforementioned primordial deity. As noted by Wilfred G. Lambert, the change is "superficial" and "leaves the plot in chaos by attributing Marduk's part to his great-grandfather, without making any attempt to iron out the resulting confusion". This rewrite might be referenced in a late Assyrian commentary on the Enūma Eliš, which states that Anshar came into being "when heaven and underworld had not been created" but "city and house were in existence", which reflects the role of Marduk (and thus Ashur) more accurately than that of Anshar himself.
An esoteric commentary linking passages from the Enūma Eliš with various ritual observances from Babylon states that Anshar sending Anu to confront Tiamat corresponds to the celebrations during which Mandanu headed to Ḫursagkalamma (Kish).
Anshar appears in multiple lists of defeated primordial figures alongside Asag, Enmesharra, Lugaldukuga, Qingu and others. Such enumerations are embedded in a number of expository or ritual texts. In one case, Anshar is equated in this context with the minor underworld god Alla.
A royal hymn from the reign of Nebuchadnezzar I focused on establishing a connection between him and Enmeduranki, a mythical king of Sippar, mentions Anshar in passing and refers to Shuzianna as his sister.
A myth only known from five fragments dated to either Seleucid Empire or Parthian Empire period, four of which come from the same copy, refers to Anshar as the father of Anu. While restoration of the text remains uncertain, it is possible that it describes his death at the hands of Enki and Ninamakalla, which would indicate it preserves a succession narrative in which the actively worshiped members of the Mesopotamian pantheon depose a generation of primordial deities.
A reference to Anshar has been identified in a quotation from Eudemus of Rhodes preserved by the Neoplatonism philosopher Damascius, according to which in Babylonian cosmology figures named Assōros and Kissarē were the parents of Anos (Anu), Illinos (Enlil) and Aos (Ea). It is presumed that Eudemus relied on a source related to the tradition represented by the Enūma Eliš, but not identical with it.
|
|
