UTU

I. Primordial Sun

The god usually called Utu in Sumerian and Shamash in Akkadian is best understood as one deity alternating between civilizations. The Sumerian language gives Utu as as “sun” and “light” and the Oxford–Penn ORACC summary of the god notes that Shamash is a variant of the Akkadian word shamshu, “sun”. In other words, the two chief names are not rival divine identities but are actually the Sumerian and Akkadian names of the same ancient solar deity. Utu is the name most natural in Sumerian literary contexts, while Shamash is the form most natural in Akkadian, Babylonian, and Assyrian contexts. Since the sun god’s identity was stable across Sumerian and Akkadian usage, it is a convention to use “Utu-Shamash” when discussing the full historical range of his divinity.^1,2

At the most basic level, Utu-Shamash is merely the sun himself. His other holy name, Babbar, shows that he is the lord of the Shining House or Babbaru, the house of solar rays. The disc itself in Mesopotamian thought is an allusion to something deep and sacred. The Sun is the divine presence, the allegory of the hidden sun in the human soul, whose light makes truth visible and justice visible while binding the daily rhythms of human life to the cosmic order. The names therefore already disclose the essential character of the arcane, regal and perfect Utu, the luminosity, visibility, order, integration, perfect jurisdiction.^1,2,3

At the most basic level, Utu-Shamash is merely the sun himself. His other holy name, Babbar, shows that he is the lord of the Shining House or Babbaru, the house of solar rays. The disc itself in Mesopotamian thought is an allusion to something deep and sacred. The Sun is the divine presence, the allegory of the hidden sun in the human soul, whose light makes truth visible and justice visible while binding the daily rhythms of human life to the cosmic order. The names therefore already disclose the essential character of the arcane, regal and perfect Utu, the luminosity, visibility, order, integration, perfect jurisdiction.^1,2,3

The name Utu is first attested in Sumerian in the ancient Early Dynastic I-II Tablet, an administrative record from 2900-2700BCE.^4,5 In Akkadian, Shammash is first attested in the OIP 99, 326 + 342 (P010262) composition, most likely, though this is not without dispute.^6,7 The inscription of Ikun-Shammash, king of Mari, circa 2500–2340 BCE, is the most secure.⁸ The foundation inscription of Tish-atal, endan of Urkesh, is described by Salvini as the earliest known document in the Hurrian language and describes their sun god.^9,10

Sources: Lecompte, Archaic Tablets and Fragments from Ur; "Utu [1] DN," electronic Pennsylvania Sumerian Dictionary 2 (ePSD2), Oracc; Krebernik, "Die Texte aus Fāra und Tell Abū Ṣalābīḫ"; Lambert, "Notes on a Work of the Most Ancient Semitic Literature"; Frayne, Presargonic Period; Salvini, "The Earliest Evidences of the Hurrians"; Wilhelm, "Die Inschrift des Tišatal von Urkeš"^{4,5,6,7,8,9,10}

II. Mythology of the Winged One

Unlike gods like Enki or Inanna, Utu-Shamash was not the central figure in a single, lengthy mythological story. This is likely due to both the limited number of times that he has been visually depicted. Instead of being a main character, Utu-Shamash is a benefactor, witness, judge, rescuer and corrector of cosmic disturbances in many separate stories. The sun-god's ability to appear at any point where the need arises for some kind of rapid help, light, justice, adjudication, rescue and dominant oversight to restore order to an otherwise chaotic universe is reflective of the fact that he is always there. His early representations were representative of friendliness and patronage which can be seen throughout other representations..^11,12

The earliest stories that clearly show kinship relationships are those regarding Utu. His relationship with Inanna in the Sumerian myth of Inanna illustrates how she refers to Utu as "brother", "twin" and requests Utu's help and cooperation as she struggles for control of the heavenly realm and temple E-ana. Although damaged, the preserved portion of this text demonstrates Utu has the role of confidant or kinsman for Inanna and she invokes Utu when she seeks divine authority.

One other essential text involving him is Enki and the World Order. When Enki assigns roles to the gods Utu is given a unique status because he is assigned responsibility for the entire earth and heaven as the "great herald in the east of holy An" and also as the "judge searching out the decisions for the gods". His prideful placement in the cosmological governance structure indicates he rises at the east side of Enki. Despite not having a mythology, there are several hymns composed on behalf of Utu from the Mesopotamians. These hymns reveal the characteristics of Utu. In A Hymn to Utu, Utu brings up his head above the mountains, he shakes the heavens and earth, he moves across the shining heights like an eagle, and he judges each country. The mountains, horizons, and shaking heavens are all elements of Utu's presence but it is similar to the last judgment, so it implies his decisions are beyond any nation's borders.^3,13,14

A very different but equally important cluster of myths is the formulaic tendency in the Dumuzid material showing his helpfulness. In Inanna’s Descent to the Underworld, Dumuzid, the husband of Inanna, is pursued by the galla demons, and in desperation he appeals to Utu as his brother-in-law: “I am your relation by marriage.” He answers the plea and transforms the one of the underworld’s hands and feet into snake-like limbs so that he can escape. Another example occur in Dumuzid’s Dream, a closely related rescue pattern recurs showing a sort of possible convention: Dumuzid again invokes the Sun, who changes his limbs and enables him to evade the demons. The power of Utu is always invoked by oath, showing his primordial connection to later deities like Mithras. These mythological attributes indicate how absolute the power of the Sun is when faced with enemies.^15,16

III. Epithets

The following epithets and titles are either explicitly applied to Utu-Shamash in the primary texts, mostly his hymn or mythology, or are direct juridical designations attached to him in royal or legal texts. Note the similarity with some of Apollo's titles, such as Medicus:

Sources: A hymn to Utu (Utu B), The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature; Black and Green, Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated Dictionary; Enki and the World Order, The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature; Epilogue ¶ 23 of Hammurabi's Code, eHammurabi^3,12,14,17

IV. Sippar and Larsa

The two great cult centres of Utu-Shamash were unquestionably Sippar in the north, the great city between two rivers, and Larsa in the south. Any available evidence does not really place any other sanctuary on the same level of prestige. In practical and theological terms, the paired E-babbar temples at the two cities are the heart of Utu’s worship.^3,17,18

First in importance to the sacred zone of the Sun was Sippar, the city on the eastern bank of the Euphrates, not far from the Tigris. Jastrow describes the temple of Shamash there as one of the oldest and most sacred sanctuaries of northern Babylonia, known as E-Babbara. Exacavations at modern Tell Abu Habbah long revealed an array of historical inscriptions and the famous Tablet of Shamash. The tradition of hymns to Utu calls Sippar the dais on which Utu sits every day, and they do name the Sun as “the sovereign of E-babbar”. The British Museum’s collection record for the Tablet of Shamash further confirms that the monument commemorates Nabu-apla-iddina’s re-endowment of the Sun-Temple at Sippar and preserves a long memory of the temple’s destruction and renewed endowment. The association of Shammash with Sippar is reflected too in the solar-lunar symbolism of other gods like Adramelech, whose cult center was also in the two cities, and the fact Sippar was placed between two rivers and was made up of two cities, Sippar-Amnanum to the north and Sippar-Yahrurum six kilometers to the south, appears to have been part of strange dualistic symbolism.^3,17,19,20

The southern capital of his worship and of equal importance was Larsa. The E-Babbar at Larsa is recalled in the solar hymns, where Utu is the “mighty sunlight” and the sovereign of the shining house. The modern archaeological summary issued by the French Ministry of Culture describes Larsa as a city famous for the thousand-year-old temple of the sun god, because an extensive, difficult excavation concentrated on the E-Babbar, the city’s religious centre and ziggurat, lends to us all an important archeological detail: the Larsa E-Babbar and its adjoining ziggurat were over nearly 300 metres in length, emphasizing the breadth of the complex.^18,21,22

There is nothing to follow Sippar and Larsa in scope, simply local shrines (or chapels) near to where some inscriptions are. The article "Nebopolassar and the Temple to the Sun-God at Sippar" clearly indicates that in addition to the greater sacred precinct of Sippar, there were chapels for Aya and other gods associated with Shamash; priestly homes, monk's dwellings, courts, and archives. Therefore, it served as an entire administrative quarter. The temple hymns indicate an independent temple of Utu in the sacred geography of E-nun-ana, which suggests that Utu had a number of different sacred buildings named within the large city of Sippar. There is no serious contender to the core placement of Sippar and Larsa based on all available information.¹⁸

V. Symbolism

Utu-Shamash has symbolism which is among the clearest in Mesopotamian religion, because his attributes are unusually consistent across texts and images: at the same time, representations of him visually are not particularly common. The most formal emblem of his is the solar disc. Black and Green describe it as a disc with a four-pointed star and three radiating wavy lines between the points, a sign that appears from the Akkadian to the Neo-Babylonian period and “almost invariably” denotes Shamash. The same handbook also argues that the winged disc in Assyrian art can in many instances be read as a solar emblem of Shamash rather than a generic sign of Assur.²²

A second, very distinctive symbol is the serrated blade or saw. The British Museum cylinder seal BM 89110 shows the God of the Sun rising between two mountains at dawn, rays streaming from his shoulders, while he holds a saw-toothed knife and places one foot on the mountain. Attendant deities hold open the gates of dawn. Utu does not merely appear, he cuts his way through the mountains and enters the world through opened portals and thus iconographic terms, sunrise is an act of forceful emergence to start the day anew. The later symbolism of Mithra is also invoked to some extent here.²³

The Tablet of Shamash adds a third symbolic set of visual meanings. There the god appears enthroned inside the shrine of E-Babbara. Before him is the solar disc on an altar, above him appear the lunar disc, the solar disc, and the eight-pointed star of the moon god Sin, Shamash, and Ishtar. Shamash himself bears the rod-and-ring. Astral symbolism, divine symbolism of the triad of the sun, the moon and Venus, and legitimacy of royalty are the hallmarks of that: the god’s light is not just natural brilliance but an ordered divine cosmos that is measure and kingship. The disc signifies light, while the blade signifies the active piercing power of sunlight and, by extension, the cutting clarity of judgement, the mountains and dawn gates stage his daily epiphany, and the rod-and-ring connect him to righteous rule and legal order. In combination, Utu-Shamash symbolises visible truth that no one may hide from, a truth which breaks darkness into pieces to make discriminate judgement possible.²⁰

VI. Utu and Gilgamesh

The most sustained heroic association of Utu-Shamash is with Gilgamesh. In the Sumerian Gilgamesh and Huwawa, Enkidu insists that any decision about the mountains or the cedar range is Utu’s business. Gilgamesh accordingly sacrifices to Utu and prays, “May you be my helper.” Utu answers compassionately and grants seven powerful helpers who know the mountain routes and guide the expedition through the valleys. Utu as a helpful divinity to humanity is associated with all heroic undertakings beyond the city’s walls. The later Akkadian epics portray this too. In Maureen Gallery Kovacs’ translation of the Standard Babylonian poem, Shamash sends thirteen winds against Humbaba, blinds and immobilises him, and thereby places the monster within reach of Gilgamesh’s weapons. Humbaba himself acknowledges that Gilgamesh came to the Cedar Forest “at the word of Shamash, Lord of the Mountain”. The god is not merely a spectator blessing a royal expedition from afar, he gives assistance to fight evil beings.^24,25

Making this patronage so important is an indication of the myths reflecting the life-giving essence of the sun God in his temples. Utu-Shamash sees all even in dangerous liminal settings, a lesson to be known. The Cedar Forest is exactly such a place. In In the Gilgamesh tradition, Utu’s patronage is therefore an extension of his cosmic office. He is the god whose light reaches where kings and travellers and warriors would otherwise be stuck. At the same time, the Gilgamesh material preserves a tension that creates a duality in itself. Shamash helps the hero defeat Humbaba, but the slaying of Humbaba is not presented as cost-free. In the later epic the Gods debate the consequences, ultimately between the lines, divine aid does not cancel the broader divine judgement. That tension is wholly consonant with Shamash’s profile elsewhere as he supports rightful action, but he remains a judge, not a partisan who suspends order for the sake of favorites.²⁶

VII. Hammurabi's Code and the Laws

If one gathers the evidence from hymns, myths, legal texts, and iconography, Utu-Shammash occupies an incredibly hgigh place in the Mesopotamian cosmogonical order. He is, first and most obviously, the sun God, but in Mesopotamian thought the sun is never just a physical body. It is a power that ushers in the day and the night. In the Akkadian Hymn of Shammash, he illuminates darkness, his radiance reaches even the deep. This is why Utu/Shamash becomes the god of justice who dispels all darkness and all lies. The same hymn tradition in the Sumerian and Akkadian materials insist that he sees everything in perpetuity.²⁵

Luděk Vacín summarises the resulting theology well since in his theory, the sun God roams the universe day and night as an omniscient power, he becomes the natural guarantee of cosmic order, the supreme divine judge, and the patron of travellers. Justice is the juridical expression of all-penetrating, all-knowing visibility itself. What the sun sees, it can assess. What it exposes, it can judge. Royal ideology tied itself to Utu accordingly on that basis. Famously, it is said that Utu passed down the first true laws to King Hammurabi. The law code of Babylon’s king Hammurabi presents Shamash as the ultimate source of legal authority, and the epilogue addresses him as “almighty juddge of heaven and earth” who directs the life of all living creatures. The famous stela scene of king before the sun is not saying that a human ruler replaces Shamash; rather, it says that righteous kingship must stand before, and under, the cosmic judge whose light validates judgement who watches because true kingship is a contract based on a proper rule of law, not a divine right given to be defiled by a tyrant. The god’s jurisdiction also explains his relation to liminal zones and chthonic functions, including his darker attributes of supreme punishment. He is active in mountains, on roads, in the open country, in the pursuit scene, and even in relation to the underworld. He is everywhere, he is nowhere, he is both, the Shammash hymn also reflects this.^{16,26,27,28,29}

The Shammash Hymn describes him as shepherd of the lower regions and herdsman of the upper regions, while the Dumuzid literature shows the great sun enabling escape from underworld demons. In practical religion, that same oversight translated into his invocation in ordeals, oaths, courts. He was the god to whom one appealed when what was hidden needed to be brought fully to light.²⁹

Finally, Utu-Shamash is also a god of divination and the stars. Akkadian and Babylonian astrology is the oldest known tradition of this discipline in the world. Krzysztof Ulanowski in his study of divination claims that Mesopotamian extispicy could be structured as a dialogue in which the diviner asks and Shamash merely answers; questions are formulated directly to the God. The military sphere in particular sought alignment with his decision. The same study notes the oath dimension of war and kingship under Shamash’s supervision. This is the logical culmination of all the earlier attributes: because he sees, he judges; because he judges, he answers; because he answers, he becomes indispensable to decision-making under uncertainty, he is a great arbiter of all fate. That also is indicated in the later Mithraic cult incorporating Astrology.³⁰