In the ancient Near East, Ashur, assuming the role of Enlil (Sumerian) and Marduk (Babylonian), was originally the main god of the city of Ashur, the capital of Assyria.
The Assyrians saw him primarily as a warrior god and believed that he supported them against their enemies.
Ashur is represented as a winged disc enclosing a stretched bow, ready to let fly an arrow...
A winged disc with horns, enclosing four circles revolving round a middle circle; rippling rays fall down from either side of the disc; a circle or wheel, suspended from wings, and enclosing a warrior drawing his bow to discharge an arrow; the same circle; the warrior's bow, however, is carried in his left hand, while the right hand is uplifted as if to bless his worshipers.
Ashur's horned cap was like those of Anu and Enlil. His emblem, like that of Marduk, was the serpent-dragon. He is sometimes shown riding on a snake-dragon. He is pictured on Assyrian monuments, cliff reliefs and cylinder seals...
The popularity of Ashur is due to the military successes of the Assyrian armies; and it follows, with equal necessity, that Ashur, whatever he may originally have been, becomes purely a god of war, from the moment that Assyria enters upon what appeared to be her special mission.
All the titles given to Ashur by the kings may be said to follow from his rôle as the god who presides over the fortunes of the wars.
If he is the 'ruler of all the gods,' and their father, he is so simply by virtue of that same superior strength which makes him the 'law-giver' for mankind, and not because of any ancient traditions, nor as an expression of some nature-myth.
Ashur is the giver of crown and sceptre, and the kings of Assyria are the patesis of the god, his lieutenants. He is the god that embodies the spirit of Assyrian history, and as such he is the most characteristic personage of the Assyrian pantheon—in a certain sense the only characteristic personage.
Because the qualities of so many other gods were transferred to Ashur, he had little or no clear character or traditions of his own. More than anything, he was a symbol of the people and power of Assyria.
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