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Twilight of the sun-god

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 August 2014

Claudia Fischer
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Extract

In the middle of the third millennium, the ruling Akkadian elite introduced new traditions into Sumer which resulted, among other things, in a wide-ranging harmonization of their own gods with those of the Sumerian pantheon. A complete Sumerian-Akkadian syncretism, however, did not apply for all deities. During the reign of the Akkadian kings, a shift in influence between two important deities of the Sumerian pantheon occurred as the moon-god Nanna/Suen rose to prominence, displacing the sun-god Utu/Šamaš. Discovering when this shift took place is difficult to pinpoint because Sargonic Sumerian religion is poorly documented. Also, convincing archival data are only available from the time of Naram-Suen.

In the following I will argue, with examples taken from official art, that this shift most likely happened during the reign of Naram-Suen, when a new imperial ideology is discernible from visual imagery, showing the king assuming the role of the sun-god. Utilizing Ur III textual sources I will also demonstrate that the three gods shown on the seal drawn as Fig. I are depicted with their cult places: Enki/Ea in the Abzu, Utu/Šamaš in the fields, probably in an open-air shrine, and Nanna/Suen on the ziggurat, signifying — contrary to mainstream scholarly opinion — that ziggurats already existed in Sumer prior to the Ur III period.

Type
Research Article
Information
IRAQ , Volume 64 , 2002 , pp. 125 - 134
Copyright
Copyright © The British Institute for the Study of Iraq 2002 

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