. Without him the sun-god, the judge, could not give
judgment.

All this points to the probability, that Nusku may not have been the
fire-god, but the brother of the fire-god, i.e. either flame, or the
light of fire. The sun-god, without light, could not see, and
therefore could not give judgment: no feast could be prepared without
fire and its flame. As the evidence of the presence of the shining
orbs in the heavens--the light of their fires--he was the messenger of
the gods, and was honoured accordingly. From this idea, too, he became
their messenger in general, especially of Bel-Merodach, the younger
Bel, whose requests he carried to the god Ea in the Deep. In one
inscription he is identified with Nirig or Enu-restu, who is described
above.

Merodach.

Concerning this god, and how he arose to the position of king of all
the gods of heaven, has been fully shown in chapter III. Though there
is but little in his attributes to indicate any connection with Samas,
there is hardly any doubt that he was originally a sun-god, as is
shown by the etymology of his name. The form, as it has been handed
down to us, is somewhat shortened, the original pronunciation having
been /Amar-uduk/, "the young steer of day," a name which suggests that
he was the morning sun. Of the four names given at the end of chapter
III., two--"lord of Babylon," and "lord god of heaven and earth,"--may
be regarded as expressing his more well-known attributes. /En-ab-sar-u/,
however, is a provisional, though not impossible, reading and
rendering, and if correct, the "36,000 wild bulls" would be a
metaphorical way of speaking of "the 36,000 heroes," probably meaning
the gods of heaven in all their grades. The signification of
/En-bilulu/ is unknown. Like most of the other gods of the Babylonian
pantheon, however, Merodach had many other names, among which may be
mentioned /Asari/, which has been compared with the Egyptian Osiris,
/Asari-lu-duga/, "/Asari/ who is good," compared with Osiris Unnefer;
/Namtila/, "life", /Tutu/, "begetter (of the gods), renewer (of the
gods)," /Sar-azaga/, "the glorious incantation," /Mu-azaga/, "the
glorious charm," and many others. The last two refer to his being the
god who, by his kindness, obtained from his father Ea, dwelling in the
abyss, those charms and incantations which benefited mankind, and
restored the sick to health. In this connection, a frequent title
given to him is "the me