Zababa

Zababa (Sumerian: 𒀭𒍝𒂷𒂷 dza-ba4-ba4) was the tutelary deity of the city of Kish in ancient Mesopotamia. He was a war god. While he was regarded as similar to Ninurta and Nergal, he was never fully conflated with them. His worship is attested from between the Early Dynastic to Achaemenid periods, with the Old Babylonian kings being particularly devoted to him. Starting with the Old Babylonian period, he was regarded as married to the goddess Bau. Character Zababa's name has no plausible Sumerian or Semitic etymologies, similar to these of deities such as Alala, Bunene and Bau. His two primary roles were these of a war god and a tutelary deity of Kish. He was already worshiped there in the Early Dynastic period, and references to him as the "king" of that city can be found in texts from Ebla from the third millennium BCE. His status was particularly high during the reign of Hammurabi, when according to Walther it was seemingly Zababa, rather than Ninurta, who should be understood as the primary warrior god in the state pantheon. Zababa's symbol was an eagle, and he was depicted in symbolic form as a standard with this bird on top. Worship Zababa's main temple was Edubba, located in Kish. Emeteursag, commonly referenced in texts, was a cella dedicated to him rather than a separate temple. A text from the reign of Artaxerxes I mentions the existence of a temple meant for an akitu festival connected to Zababa in Kish as well.