f Western Asia. It is not surprising, therefore, to find that
imported deities assumed Babylonian characteristics, and were
identified or associated with Babylonian gods in the later imperial
pantheon.

Moon worship appears to have been as ancient as water worship, with
which, as we have seen, it was closely associated. It was widely
prevalent throughout Babylonia. The chief seat of the lunar deity,
Nannar or Sin, was the ancient city of Ur, from which Abraham migrated
to Harran, where the "Baal" (the lord) was also a moon god. Ur was
situated in Sumer, in the south, between the west bank of the
Euphrates and the low hills bordering the Arabian desert, and not far
distant from sea-washed Eridu. No doubt, like that city, it had its
origin at an exceedingly remote period. At any rate, the excavations
conducted there have afforded proof that it flourished in the
prehistoric period.

As in Arabia, Egypt, and throughout ancient Europe and elsewhere, the
moon god of Sumeria was regarded as the "friend of man". He controlled
nature as a fertilizing agency; he caused grass, trees, and crops to
grow; he increased flocks and herds, and gave human offspring. At Ur
he was exalted above Ea as "the lord and prince of the gods, supreme
in heaven, the Father of all"; he was also called "great Anu", an
indication that Anu, the sky god, had at one time a lunar character.
The moon god was believed to be the father of the sun god: he was the
"great steer with mighty horns and perfect limbs".

His name Sin is believed to be a corruption of "Zu-ena", which
signifies "knowledge lord".[66] Like the lunar Osiris of Egypt, he was
apparently an instructor of mankind; the moon measured time and
controlled the seasons; seeds were sown at a certain phase of the
moon, and crops were ripened by the harvest moon. The mountains of
Sinai and the desert of Sin are called after this deity.

As Nannar, which Jastrow considers to be a variation of "Narnar", the
"light producer", the moon god scattered darkness and reduced the
terrors of night. His spirit inhabited the lunar stone, so that moon
and stone worship were closely associated; it also entered trees and
crops, so that moon worship linked with earth worship, as both linked
with water worship.

The consort of Nannar was Nin-Uruwa, "the lady of Ur", who was also
called Nin-gala. She links with Ishtar as Nin, as Isis of Egypt linked
with other mother deities. The twin children of the moon were Mash