Get to Know a Deity: Nabu Edition

Written by 

 

Meet Nabu.  The all-wise and knowing Wikipedia, tells us that Nabu:

was a West Semitic deity introduced by the Amorites into Mesopotamia, probably at the same time as Marduk shortly after 2000 BC. While Marduk became Babylon's main deity, Nabu resided in nearbyBorsippa in his temple E-zida. He was first called the "scribe and minister of Marduk", later assimilated as Marduk's beloved son from Sarpanitum. During the Babylonian New Year Festival, the cult statue of Nabu was transported from Borsippa to Babylon in order to commune with his father Marduk.

Nabu later became one of the principal gods in Assyria and Assyrians addressed many prayers and inscriptions to Nabu and named children after him. Nabu was the god of writing and scribes and was the keeper of the Tablets of Destiny, in which the fate of humankind was recorded. He was also sometimes worshiped as a fertility god and as a god of water.

Given the amount of writing (and attempted wisdom :), at this site, I see Nabu as a kind of patron (or divine mascot?) of our site.

Here is a letter purported to be written by our godly friend Nabu.

" and why is it that the god of speech can speak to earth? Can we speak to earth? But the earth speaks. Can we speak to the water? But the water speaks. And the fire. They speak and and we recognise. Why the god of writings? In the sky, signs; in the fire, visions; in the water, shapes; and on the earth, letters. Know the signs and your eyes will speak for them. The Black men, the Yellow men, the Brown men speak. We hear, listen, and do not understand. In the signs they write we may understand their speech. But the eyes must recognise (Lishtar´s emphasis).

Why the god of science? The laws of the beasts, the law of the arts, the laws of growth and decay, seed time and harvest, sickness and health. The laws of water, earth, fire and air. When we recognise them, them we know how we may act, in the smallest way for the best result.

 

Related items

Join the Discussion

Commenting Policy

Beams and Struts employs commenting guidelines that we expect all readers to bear in mind when commenting at the site. Please take a moment to read them before posting - Beams and Struts Commenting Policy

Login to post comments

Search Beams

Most Popular Discussions