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SHAMASH, or AMAS

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Originally appearing in Volume V24, Page 799 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SHAMASH, or AMAS , the See also:common name of the See also:sun-See also:god in Babylonia and See also:Assyria. The name signifies perhaps " servitor," and would thus point to a secondary position occupied at one See also:time by this deity. Both in See also:early and in See also:late See also:inscriptions Shamash is designated as the " offspring of Nannar," i.e. of the See also:moon-god, and since, in an enumeration of the See also:pantheon, See also:Sin generally takes See also:precedence of Shamash, it is in relationship, presumably, to the moon-god that the sun-god appears as the dependent See also:power. Such a supposition would See also:accord with the prominence acquired by the moon in the See also:calendar and in astrological calculations, as well as with the fact pointed out (see SIN) that the moon-cult belongs to the nomadic and therefore earlier, See also:stage of See also:civilization, whereas the sun-god rises to full importance only after the agricultural stage has been reached. The two See also:chief centres of sun-See also:worship in Babylonia were See also:Sippara (Sippar), represented by the mounds at See also:Abu Habba, and See also:Larsa, represented by the See also:modern Senkerah. At both places the chief See also:sanctuary See also:bore the name E-See also:barra (or E-babbara) " the shining See also:house "—a See also: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---as See also:Babylon, Ur, See also:Nippur and See also:Nineveh. The attribute most commonly associated with Shamash is See also:justice. Just as the sun disperses darkness, so Shamash brings wrong and injustice to See also:light. Khammurabi attributes to Shamash the See also:inspiration that led him to gather the existing See also:laws and legal procedures into a See also:code, and in the See also:design accompanying the code the See also:king represents himself in an attitude of See also:adoration before Shamash as the embodiment of the See also:idea of justice. Several centuries before Khammurabi, Ur-Engur of the Ur See also:dynasty (c. 2600 B.C.) declared that he rendered decisions " according to the just laws of Shamash." 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 See also:

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 See also:hymns addressed to him, which are, therefore, among the finest productions in the entire See also:realm of Babylonian literature. It is evident from the material at our disposal that the Shamash cults at Sippara and Larsa so overshadowed See also:local sun-deities elsewhere as to See also:lead to an absorption of the See also: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 See also:chariot See also:driver, whose See also:consort is Atgimakh, Kettu (" justice ") and Mesharu (" right "), who are introduced as ,servitors of Shamash. Other sun-deities, as See also:Ninib (q.v.) and See also:Nergal (q.v.), the See also:patron deities of important centres, retained their See also:independent existence as certain phases of the sun, Ninib becoming the sun-god of the See also:morning and of the See also:spring time, and Nergal the sun-god of the See also:noon and of the summer See also:solstice, while Shamash was viewed as the sun-god in See also:general. Together with Sin and See also:Ishtar, Shamash forms a second triad by the See also:side of See also:Anu, See also:Bel and See also:Ea. The three See also:powers, Sin, Shamash , and Ishtar (q.v.), symbolized the three See also:great forces of nature, the sun, the moon and the See also:life-giving force of the See also:earth. At times, instead of Ishtar, we find See also:Adad (q.v.), the See also:storm-god, associated with Sin and Shamash, and it may be that these two sets of triads represent the doctrines of two different See also:schools of theological thought in Babylonia which were subsequently harmonized by the recognition of a See also:group consisting of all four deities. The consort of Shamash was known as A. She, however, is rarely mentioned in the inscriptions except in See also:combination with Shamash. (M.

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