UTU (SHAMASH)

UTU (SHAMASH)

THE SUN LORD

TABLE OF CORRESPONDENCES

FATHER	NANNA/SIN
MOTHER	NINGAL
SISTER	INANNA/ISHTAR
BROTHER	ISHKUR/ADAD
CITIES	SIPPAR, LARSA
TEMPLE	E-BABBAR (WHITE HOUSE)
CONSORT	SHERIDA/AYA
SYMBOL	SUN DISK. PRUNING SAW
GIFTS	CLARITY, INSIGHT

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Utu is the Sumerian Sun God, whose Akkadian name is Shamash. He represents the brilliant light of the sun, which returns every day to illuminate the life of mankind, as well as the heavenly Force that brings the warmth which causes plants to grow. Utu´s pictographic sign appears already in the earliest written cuneiform records.
Several Old Sumerian kings speak of Utu as their king, and this can be attested by the kings´ name forms, which may include the name of the god or his epithets in it. In the Sumerian tradition, Utu is the son of Nanna, the Moon Lord and his consort Ningal, and twin brother of Inanna, the Great Goddess of Love and War, showing therefore that the Light of the Day came from the Torch of the Night and the Lady of Dreams. Nanna and Ningal had another son, the patron god of weather changes and holder of thunderbolts, Ishkur or Adad, Utu´s younger brother. In Akkadian tradition, Utu/Shamash is sometimes the son of Anu, the Skyfather, or Enlil, the Air Lord. Utu´s consort is Sherida (Sumer) or Aya (Akkadian for dawn). The two principal temples of Utu were both called E-babbar, or White House, and were located in Sippar (in the North) and Larsa in Southern Sumer. Thorkild Jacobsen mentions in The Treasures of Darkness that Utu´s/Shamash´s main characteristics is Righteousness, for He is the power in the light that reveals all that is to be seen, and the foe of darkness and deeds of darkness. Thus, in the social plane, Utu becomes a power for justice and equity.
Utu´s social role is therefore as guardian of justice, as judge of gods and men. In such position, he presides in the morning in cournts such as the one we know from the Bathhouse Ritual, where demons and other evildoers are sued by their human victims. At night, Utu/Shamash judges disputes among the dead of the Underworld. He is the last appeal of the wronged, who can obtain no justice from their fellow men, and their cry of despair to him, i-Utu, was feared as possessing supernatural power.
Basically, each morning Utu rises from the 'interior of heaven' with rays out of his shoulders in the East and crosses the firmament and all heavenly luminaries before finally reentering through the corresponding set of gates in the west. This means the Sun god travels to the Underworld everyday, becoming one of its Luminaries of the Land of No Return during nightime. Thus, Utu/Shamash is one of the Ever-Returning Deities of Mesopotamia, who travel to the Depths Below entering its Gates at Sunset and returning to brighten up the Heights Above at dawn every single day. The West Gates where the Sun sets in the Epic of Gilgamesh are said to be guarded by the Scorpion People, beings half human, half scorpion, the first Otherworld challengers Gilgamesh had to meet and win over in his search for immortality. Utu/Shamash travels the skies either on foot or in a chariot, pulled by fiery mules. His domain is called in The Phoenician Letters (by Wilfrid Davies and G. Zur, Mowat Publishing, Manchester, UK, 1979) the High Country, the heavenly sphere where the stars can be found.
In terms of character, Utu/Shamash is the Light that All Sees, and thus regarded as a god of truth, justice, and right. Thus his association to law and order, as well as a provider of clarity for oracles. I guess we could very much express the law-giving powers of Utu/Shamash as being the Spirit or Soul of the Law, i.e. He rules over the facts and acts which should guide righteous living, the standards for truthful action and deeds in the world, thus being the god for omens and oracles, because His is also the Will of the Ensouled Universe. Marduk, on the other hand, can be associated with the Law in the sense of being the Letter of the Law, the power that should be applied to Perfection to ensure the prosperity of the land. What the Spirit of the Law dictates (Utu/Shamsh) is accomplished by the coding of Harmonious Living, or the Power of Marduk. Utu/Shamash together with the storm-god Adad, he was often invoked in extispicy rituals.

THE SUN GOD IN MYTH

In Mesopotamian myths, Utu/Shamash is mentioned as follows:
a) The Brother and Best Friend - As the brother Inanna/Ishtar, the young goddess of Love and War, Utu appears as friend and initiator, the emblematic representative of the opposite Sex in the peer group, or the brother closer to the age of his younger sister, who loves her and challenges her as well so that she has to find within her own self in all worlds the guts to equal him in all levels and spheres. Utu in this context is the Best Friend and Beloved Challenger, whose otherness help us to define ourselves better in opposition to what he is. This .
Thus, in a passage called The Huluppu Tree, the first in the Cycle of Inanna, Utu refuses to help his kid sister to defeat the treacherous bird and the demoness who had searched for shelter in the Tree Inanna had planted in her garden for her people. Utu/Shamash by refusing to help his divine sister acts in her best interests, because in Mesopotamia a young goddess should be initiated by the hero, as well as young prince is initiated by goddess. He appears therefore as the Contender who wants Inanna/us to succeed by her/our own means and initiative, the brother that will not give us an easy time, but who will also stand by us, in case he feels we cannot handle the situation, but only then...
We also meet Utu again in a second lovely passage of the Cycle of Inanna called "The Bridal Sheets". In it, Utu/Shamash comes to his sister and tells her that he will bring her a piece of linen, "which is always needed". In actual fact, Utu is not talking about linen, but referring to his pet sister, who like the piece of cloth which was once flax and then was retted, spun, dyed, woven, etc. has become a lovely girl, ready to meet her beloved. In this myth, Utu/Shamash represents the peer group, the acknowledgement and acceptance all teenagers crave from the opposite Sex that helps to encourage confidence in the Lover Within ourselves. In this passage, we can feel in the exchanges the intimacy and closeness between brother and sister.
b) The Protector of Dumuzi - We meet Utu/Shamash still in the Cycle of Inanna in a passage when Dumuzi, Inanna´s consort, is terrified by the fact that Inanna sentenced him to the Underworld for being neglectful of her. Thus, two Underworld demons called galla are after him. In order to escape his fate, Dumuzi appeals to Utu for help to escape the demons by remembering the God of Justice that by marriage to Inanna, Utu is Dumuzi´s brother-in-law, thus kin to Dumuzi as well. Utu comes for the rescue of the selfish shepherd-king.
Why does Utu help Dumuzi, one may ask? Firstly, Dumuzi did not hurt the Spirit of any Law and did not disrupt the balance of society, i.e. Dumuzi is neither a criminal nor has committed any offense to the people of Mesopotamia. Utu as the Sun God stands for Solar or Rational Consciousness. Solar Consciousness is about absolute justice, moral force and integrity.
Thus, Dumuzi did not fail Utu/Shamash designs and the land of Mesopotamia, but he did fail Inanna, Utu´s sister, and Dumuzi´s wife. He failed Inanna by not missing Her for the three days She had descended to the Underworld, Dumuzi did not say a word expressing concern for the safety of Inanna or a best wish for Her return to the Heights Above. In this sense, Dumuzi was totally neglectful to his consort and wife. Dumuzi failed the test of empathy, trust, responsibility towards those we captivate, in other words, he failed Love and His Beloved.
Utu helps Dumuzi escape twice the gala demons by shapeshifting the young shepherd-king first into a slow, lowly snake, meaning that Dumuzi should learn to master the wisdom of the low earth and physical plane, and not to feel above it as the young king behaved in the absence of Inanna. The second transformation Utu grants Dumuzi is the one of a swift, high climbing mountain gazelle, or the gifts of speed and understanding of the world and existence from a higher standpoint. Dumuzi is thus given the opportunity to experience his earthly kingdom in two different guises and be transformed by both.
c) As the Personal God of Gilgamesh - In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Utu/Shamash is Gilgamesh´s personal god. The king of Uruk prays to Shamash when he and Enkidu decide to defeat Humbaba, the guardian of the Cedar Forest. It is to Him that Enkidu and Gilgamesh offer sacrifices in thanksgiving for the defeat of the Bull of Heaven Inanna/Ishtar sent to battle them in Tablet VI of the Epic of Gilgamesh.
d) In the myth of Etana, the eagle and the snake break an oath of friendship celebrated between them in the presence of Utu/Shamash. An oath to the God who represented The Spirit of the Law was a serious undertaking. Once broken, the guilty part should suffer strong punishment, and The eagle betrays the snake in the most fundamental way by slaughtering the snake´s offspring and destroying the snake´s nest. Thus, the eagle ihas to pay for his wrondoing by having to endure enormous suffering emprisioned in a deep pit, and then can only find redemption by having to help Etana, the king, to fly to the Heights Above and capture the Plant of Life to accomplish his dream of an heir and son. Etana in this context stands for the king and solar consciousness, the solar disc being a symbol of sacred kingship especially in Assyria.
I have interpreted the metaphor of the eagle and the snake as the understanding a monarch must have of the meaning of power and the exercise of justice between irreconcilable oppositions within a nation that is being built. In other words, eagle and the snake can be seen as the warring factions of the land a monarch should keep close watch upon. Difficult to unite, for they are different species, although a truce can be established and maintained by the application of justice. However, the greedy eagle is the one that poses the hardest trial for the king. By betraying the snake and killing its offspring it needed more healing and more attonement. Etana the king can be seen as both the snake, who had its offspring killed by the eagle, thus Etana also grieved for the offspring of his blood he wanted to father so much. The snake was the beast in the king, raw energy and grief. Etana also mean that the monarch should be the embodiment of Shamash/Utu and be the Spirit of the Law and Light that all Sees and Zeals for his domains.
Professor Simo Parpola says the following about the relationship of snake and serpent presented in this myth (extracted from his article The Assyrian Tree of Life, Journal of Near Eastern Studies, volume 52, January-October 1993)

"The eagle and the serpent are conflicting aspects of man´s soul, the one capable of carrying him to heaven, the other pulling him down to sin and death. Ignoring the voice of his conscience (the small fledgling), he becomes guilty of perfidy, greed and murder; for this, he is punished. This is an allegory for spiritual death; the same idea is expressed by the childlessness of Etana, to whom the narrative returns (Etana´s barren wife being the equivalent to his barren soul, and the desired son/fruit an allegory by which Etana will be judged)."

Etana´s realization of his condition is the beginning of his salvation; from now on, he appears as a person, referred to by his own name. Admitting his guilt and shame, he prays for a plant of birth, that is a chance for spiritual rebirth, and is guided to the path that will take him there. Solar consciousness, the prerogative of Shamash/Utu, is the crowning achievement for the monarch, who, having healed himself, returns to form his own blood family to head his kingdom for a few more generations in Mesopotamia.
e) Last but surely not least, in the myth Enki and the World Order, where civilisation is established and organised by Enki, the God of Sweet Waters, Magick, Crafts and Wisdom, Enki places Utu in charge of the entire universe, and states that:
"The valiant Utu [is] the herald of the holy Anu the judge, the decision-maker of the gods, who wears a lapis lazuli beard, who comes from the holy heaven, born of Ningal, Enki placed in charge of the entire universe" (lines374-379).

THE GREAT HYMN TO UTU

One of the most beautiful hymns that came to us from Ancient Mesopotamia is a composition called the Great Hymn to Utu, which is present in its entirely in the section of Hymns and Poems here in Gateways taken from "Babylonian Wisdom Literature" by Lambert.  Amongst the many epithets the god is referred to, we have "shepherd without exception", master of the upper and lower regions (stressing also Shamash´s as the All-Seeing Light of the Underworld), "so that all monsters of the deep behold Shamash´s light".

The following points should be stressed about this beautiful and long hymn:

1. Shamash as the Divine Stern Judge to whom the gods and humanity bow. The universe in particular longs for Shamash´s light, which regulates what we would call Civil Legislation, or the one involving relatives, familiar and busines ties, code of conduct and righteous living for all.

2. Shamash as the Power of the Highest Discernment, thus the Divine Manager of omens and oracular divination. The hymn says that Shamash makes what is perplexing plain.

3. Shamash as the Power of Truth, because He grants Revelation to the families of men as the Seer god, the foremost: "Brightener of gloom, illuminator of darkness, Dispeller of darkness, illuminator of the broad earth. "

UTU AND ASTROLOGY

Finally, the first point raised about Utu/Shamash in "The Phoenician Letters" is that the realm of Utu/Shamash is the realm of science and of the astrologers. Following suit, the master warns the crown prince and acolyte to be very careful when considering the matter of forecasts, especially the ones involving doom and defeat, because "the same signs which are in the heavens have opposite results" (page 84) and that :
"there are twelve signs of lominions through which the god Shamash travels as he goes about His dominions, and in each, so it is said, a peril is overcome, a quality developed. ... Therefore, a quality of a sign is to be sought, bearing in mind what sort of will and country the matter being examined is placed within" (page 85)
Basically, some fundamental points are spelled out here. First, Astrology/Astronomy as a science, and this issue was raised by the eminent French Assyriologist Jean Bottéro this century: the observation of the skies, stars and planets show in Mesopotamia the roots of scientific thought and reasoning way ahead other civilisations in antiquity. In his groundbreaking chapter on "Divination and the Scientific Spirit", Professor Jean Bottéro proves that our soul ancestors studied the stars and their routes upon the skies within a framework that involved observation, careful notetaking, the making of assumptions/hypothesis, consideration of all possible variables interferring with events and the drawing of conclusions based on facts previously attested (in: Mesopotamia: writing, reasoning and the Gods, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, London, 1987). To illustrate this point:
"A typical diary entry begins with a statement on the length of the previous month. It might have been 29 or 30 days. Then, the present month's first observation - the time between sunset and moonset on the day of the first waxing crescent - is given, followed by similar information on the times between moonsets and sunrises and between moonrises and sunsets, at full moon. At the end of the month, the interval between the rising of the last waning crescent moon and sunrise is recorded. " From Echoes of the Ancient Skies: The Astronomy of Lost Civilizations by E. C. Krupp. Full article in Shem´s Babyloniaca (caution: this site is down at the moment...)
The second and final point I would like to draw your attention to relates to the stern warnings for the crown prince to use his judgement and not to believe in forecasts of doom, or in foolish men who state that a planet is a bad influence or that a god is dangerous show that clarity and discernment are chief qualities of Utu/Shamash that should be cultivated by the ruler, because "the nature of Shamash is to shine upon all". The gifts Utu/Shamash bring to us are therefore radiance, energy, warmth, clarity, discernment and above all, equality. Because the Phoenician Letters also say that that we all "must handle the task of creation , the chariot of the sun fearlessly and with humility, only thus can the man be a real king: from which it follows that all men are kings by creation" pg. 94

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Shamash,sun god

Shamash (Akkadian Šamaš "Sun") was a native Mesopotamian deity and the sun god in the Akkadian, Assyrian and Babylonian pantheons. Shamash was the god of justice in Babylonia and Assyria, corresponding to Sumerian Utu. Akkadian šamaš is cognate to Syriac ܫܡܫܐ šemša or šimšu Hebrew שֶׁמֶשׁ šemeš and Arabic شمس šams.

  Version of the ancient star/sun symbol of Shamash

Male figure (possibly Shamash or Ashur) in an Assyrian winged sun emblem (North-West Palace of Nimrud, 9th c. BC; British Museum room B, panel 23). This iconography later gave rise to the Zoroastrian Faravahar symbol.

 

 Shamash (seated), depicted as handing symbols of authority to Hammurabi (relief on the upper part of the stele of Hammurabi's code of laws)

 

History

Both in early and in late inscriptions Shamash is designated as the "offspring of Nannar"; i.e. of the moon-god, and since, in an enumeration of the pantheon, Sin generally takes precedence of Shamash, it is in relationship, presumably, to the moon-god that the sun-god appears as the dependent power. Such a supposition would accord with the prominence acquired by the moon in the calendar and in astrological calculations, as well as with the fact that the moon-cult belongs to the nomadic and therefore earlier stage of civilization, whereas the sun-god rises to full importance only after the agricultural stage has been reached.
The two chief centres of sun-worship in Babylonia were Sippar, represented by the mounds at Abu Habba, and Larsa, represented by the modern Senkerah. At both places the chief sanctuary bore the name E-barra (or E-babbara) "the shining house"—a direct allusion to the brilliancy of the sun-god. Of the two temples, that at Sippara was the more famous, but temples to Shamash were erected in all large centres – such as Babylon, Ur, Mari, Nippur, and Nineveh.

Position in the Mesopotamian pantheon

It is evident from the material at our disposal that the Shamash cults at Sippar and Larsa so overshadowed local sun-deities elsewhere as to lead to an absorption of the minor deities by the predominating one. In the systematized pantheon these minor sun-gods become attendants that do his service. Such are Bunene, spoken of as his chariot driver and whose consort is Atgi-makh, Kettu ("justice") and Mesharu ("right"), who were then introduced as attendants of Shamash. Other sun-deities such as Ninurta and Nergal, the patron deities of other important centers, retained their independent existences as certain phases of the sun, with Ninurta becoming the sun-god of the morning and spring time and Nergal the sun-god of the noon and the summer solstice. In the wake of such syncretism Shamash was usually viewed as the sun-god in general.
Together with Nannar-Sin and Ishtar, Shamash completes another triad by the side of Anu, Enlil and Ea. The three powers Sin, Shamash and Ishtar symbolized three great forces of nature: the moon, the sun, and the life-giving force of the earth, respectively. At times instead of Ishtar we find Adad, the storm-god, associated with Sin and Shamash, and it may be that these two sets of triads represent the doctrines of two different schools of theological thought in Babylonia which were subsequently harmonized by the recognition of a group consisting of all four deities. The consort of Shamash was known as Aya. She is, however, rarely mentioned in the inscriptions except in combination with Shamash.
Another reference to Shamash is the Babylonian epic Gilgamesh. When Gilgamesh and Enkidu travel to slay Humbaba, each morning they pray and make libation to shamash in the direction of the rising sun for safe travels. Gilgamesh receives dreams from Shamash, which Enkidu then interprets, and at their battle with Humbaba, it is Shamash's favor for Gilgamesh that enables them to defeat the monster. Shamash gifted to the hero Gilgamesh three weapons (the axe of mighty heroes, a great sword with a blade that weighs six pounds and a hilt of thirty pounds and the bow of Anshan).

God of law, justice and salvation

The attribute most commonly associated with Shamash is justice. Just as the sun disperses darkness, so Shamash brings wrong and injustice to light. Hammurabi attributes to Shamash the inspiration that led him to gather the existing laws and legal procedures into code, and in the design accompanying the code the king represents himself in an attitude of adoration before Shamash as the embodiment of the idea of justice. Several centuries before Hammurabi, Ur-Engur of the Ur dynasty (c. 2600 BCE) declared that he rendered decisions "according to the just laws of Shamash."

Mesopotamian limestone cylinder seal and impression: worship of Shamash, (Louvre)

 

It was a logical consequence of this conception of the sun-god that he was regarded also as the one who released the sufferer from the grasp of the demons. The sick man, therefore, appeals to Shamash as the god who can be depended upon to help those who are suffering unjustly. This aspect of the sun-god is vividly brought out in the hymns addressed to him, which are, therefore, among the finest productions in the entire realm of Babylonian literature.

Identification with Saturn

Shamash was historically associated with the planet Saturn. Morris Jastrow, Jr. identifies Shamash with the planet Saturn.^[2]

In popular culture

In both the manga and animated series Shaman King, Shamash is the god-class spirit of Iron Maiden Jeanne, the leader of the X-Laws.

Usage today

The name is still found as a last name among Assyrians, Arabs and Jews to this day.

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