, Gibil, Gamlat,
Gula, Dibbarra, Dagan, Damkina, Ea, Ishtar, Kadi, Khani, Marduk, Nabu,
Nana, Nin-gal, Nergal, Ninib, Nusku, Ramman, Sin, Shala, Shalman,
Shamash, Shanitka(?), Tashmitum. Of these quite a number are only
mentioned incidentally, and in a manner that indicates that they do not
belong to the pantheon in the strict sense. Others, like Khani[223] and
Gamlat,--_i.e._, 'the merciful one,'[224]--may turn out to be mere
epithets of deities otherwise known; and it would hardly be legitimate
to extend the list by including deities that have not yet been
identified,[225] and which may similarly be only variant forms,
descriptive of such as are already included. But however much this list
may be extended and modified by further publications and researches, the
historical material at hand for the Assyrian period of the religion is
sufficient to warrant us in setting up two classes of the pantheon,--one
class constituting the active pantheon, the other, deities introduced by
the kings merely for purposes of self-glorification, or to give greater
solemnity to the invocations and warnings that formed a feature of all
commemorative and dedicatory inscriptions, as well as of the annals
proper. The future additions to the list, it is safe to assert, will
increase the second class and only slightly modify, if at all, the first
class. Bearing in mind this distinction we may put down as active forces
in Assyria the following: Anu, Ashur, Bel, Belit, Gula, Dagan, Ea,
Khani, Ishtar, Marduk, Nabu, Nergal, Ninib, Nusku, Ramman, Sin, Shala,
Shamash, Tashmitum.

Comparing both the fuller and the restricted list with the Babylonian
pantheon during the two periods treated of in the preceding chapters, we
are struck by three facts: (1) the smaller compass of the Assyrian
pantheon; (2) the more restricted introduction of what, for want of a
better term, we may call minor deities; and (3) the small number of new
deities met with. To take up the latter point, the only gods in the
above list that are not found in Babylonian inscriptions are Ashur,
Gibil, Gamlat, Dibbarra, Kadi, Nusku, Shala, Shanitka. Of these it is
purely accidental that Gibil, Dibbarra, Nusku, and Shala are not
mentioned, for, except those that are foreign importations, they belong
to Babylonia as much as to Assyria and fall within the periods of the
Babylonian religion that have been treated of. Kadi is a foreign
deity.[226] Shanitka(?) may only be a title of some godde