User:Ichthyovenator/Marduk

Marduk, later often known simply as Bêl , was the patron deity of the city of Babylon.

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Marduk was the patron deity of the city Babylon, the history of the deity being intimately tied to the history of the city itself. As Babylon's power grew and diminished through the centuries, so did the position of Marduk relative to the other gods of Mesopotamia.

By the end of the 2nd millennium BC, Marduk had become the foremost deity of Babylon, and was commonly referred to as just Bêl, meaning "lord".

He was likely worshipped as early as the Early Dynastic Period, but references to Marduk before the time of the Old Babylonian Empire are few in number and inconclusive, probably reflecting the more or less then insignificant position of Babylon and its god in Mesopotamia.

The rise of Marduk first began as the Old Babylonian Empire conquered Mesopotamia under Hammurabi in the 18th century BC. As Babylon ruled Mesopotamia, its god was elevated to a position of sovereignty among the other gods. The prologue of the Code of Hammurabi offers a theological explanation for Marduk's rise:

As Marduk's importance increased, he absorbed the identities of several other deities. One of the first deities to lose its identity to Marduk was Asalluhi, the god of the village Ku'ar and a god of exorcism and incantations. Asalluhi was understood to be the son of Enki (Ea), the god of magic, wisdom and underground waters and third in rank after the gods An (Anu) and Enlil. Asalluhi had probably been fully syncretized with Marduk by the end of Hammurabi's reign, which made Marduk into the son of one of the most important Mesopotamian gods.

By the end of the Middle Babylonian period, Marduk had amassed fifty names, all originally different deities now considered to simply be aspects of the Babylonian god.

Marduk became increasingly popular with the Mesopotamian populace as time went on. In the late Old Babylonian period, Marduk was the second-most referenced god in personal names, beaten only by Sîn.