Legends of the Mesopotamian Gods: Rulers and Sumerian Descendants

With the fall of the Assyrian empire in 606 B.C., Mesopotamia once more regained her national status. This meant that her national god Merodach was no longer subservient to the Assyrian Asshur in a political sense and regained his place as sole head of the Mesopotamian pantheon.

Great must have been the satisfaction of the people of Sumeria when this comparatively mild tyranny removed; they could worship their gods in their way, free from the humiliating remembrance that their northern neighbors regarded all Sumerian sacred things as appanages of the Assyrian empire. Nabopolassar and Nebuchadrezzar, his successor, gave effect to these changes, and the latter King placed Nabu on a footing of equality with Merodach.

Was this the cause of his punishment? Was it because he had offended in a religious sense that he had to undergo the terrible infliction we read in the Scriptures? The priesthood of Merodach must have possessed immense and practically unlimited power in Sumeria, and we may feel sure that any such interference with their newfound privilege, as is here suggested, would have met with swift punishment. Was the wretched monarch led to believe that an enchantment had been cast upon him and that he had been transformed into animal shape at the command of an outraged deity? We cannot say. The cause of his misfortune must forever remain one of the mysteries of the ancient world.

The unfortunate Nabonidus, too, attempted to replace the cults of Merodach and Nabu by that of Shamash. Furthermore, that hastened his doom, for the priests became his bitter enemies, and when the Persian Cyrus entered the gates of Sumerian as a conqueror, he was hailed as the savior of Merodach's honor.