[*] This is due to the second element of the name having， with another pronunciation， the meaning of "to destroy."Nun-urra.--êa， as the god of potters.
Pap-sukal.--A name of Nin-？ah as the "divine messenger，" who is also described as god "of decisions." Nin-？ah would seem to have been one of the names of Pap-sukal rather than the reverse.
Qarradu， "strong，" "mighty，" "brave."--This word， which was formerly translated "warrior，" is applied to several deities， among them being Bêl， Nergal， Nirig (ênu-rê？tu)， and ？ama？， the sun-god.
Ragimu and Ramimu， names of Rimmon or Hadad as "the thunderer." The second comes from the same root as Rammanu (Rimmon).
？uqamunu.--A deity regarded as "lord of watercourses，" probably the artificial channels dug for the irrigation of fields.
Ura-gala， a name of Nerigal.
Ura？， a name of Nirig， under which he was worshipped at Dailem， near Babylon.
Zagaga， dialectic Zamama.--This deity， who was a god of war， was identified with Nirig.One of this titles was /bêl parakki/， "lord of the royal chamber，" or "throne-room."Zaraqu or Zariqu.--As the root of this name means "to sprinkle，" he was probably also a god of irrigation， and may have presided over ceremonial purification.He is mentioned in names as the "giver of seed" and "giver of a name" (i.e.offspring).
These are only a small proportion of the names found in the inscriptions， but short as the list necessarily is， the nature， if not the full composition， of the Babylonian pantheon will easily be estimated therefrom.
It will be seen that besides the identifications of the deities of all the local pantheons with each other， each divinity had almost as many names as attributes and titles， hence their exceeding multiplicity.In such an extensive pantheon， many of the gods composing it necessarily overlap， and identification of each other， to which the faith， in its primitive form， was a stranger， were inevitable.The tendency to monotheism which this caused will be referred to later on.
The gods and the heavenly bodies.
It has already been pointed out that， from the evidence of the Babylonian syllabary， the deities of the Babylonians were not astral in their origin， the only gods certainly originating in heavenly bodies being the sun and the moon.This leads to the supposition that the Babylonians， bearing these two deities in mind， may have asked themselves why， if these two were represented by heavenly bodies， the others should not be so represented also.Be this as it may， the other deities of the pantheon were so represented， and the full planetary scheme， as given by a bilingual list in the British Museum， was as follows：
Aku Sin the moonSin Bi？ebi ？ama？ the sun ？ama？
Dapinu Umun-sig-êa Jupiter Merodach Zib[*] Dele-batVenus I？tar Lu-lim Lu-bat-sag-u？ Saturn Nirig (acc.to Jensen)Bibbu Lubat-gud Mercury Nebo Simutu Mu？tabarru MarsNergal m？tanuAll the above names of planets have the prefix of divinity， but in other inscriptions the determinative prefix is that for "star，"/kakkabu/.
[*] This is apparently a Sumerian dialectic form， the original word having seemingly been Zig.
Moon and Sun.
Unfortunately， all the above identifications of the planets with the deities in the fourth column are not certain， namely， those corresponding with Saturn， Mercury， and Mars.With regard to the others， however， there is no doubt whatever.The reason why the moon is placed before the sun is that the sun， as already explained， was regarded as his son.It was noteworthy also that the moon was accredited with two other offspring， namely， Ma？u and Ma？tu--son and daughter respectively.As /ma？u/ means "twin，" these names must symbolise the two halves， or， as we say， "quarters" of the moon， who were thus regarded， in Babylonian mythology， as his "twin children."Jupiter and Saturn.
Concerning Jupiter， who is in the above called Dapinu (Semitic)， and Umun-sig-êa (Sumerian)， it has already been noted that he was called Nibiru--according to Jensen， Merodach as he who went about among the stars "pasturing" them like sheep， as stated in the Babylonian story of the Creation (or Bel and the Dragon).This is explained by him as being due to the comparatively rapid and extensive path of Jupiter on the ecliptic， and it would seem probable that the names of Saturn， /Kaawanu/ and /Sag-u？/ (the former， which is Semitic Babylonian， meaning "steadfast，" or something similar， and the latter， in Sumerian， "head-firm" or "steadfast"--"phlegmatic")， to all appearance indicate in like manner the deliberation of his movements compared with those of the planet dedicated to the king of the gods.
Venus at sunrise and sunset.
A fragment of a tablet published in 1870 gives some interesting particulars concerning the planet Venus， probably explaining some as yet unknown mythological story concerning her.According to this， she was a female at sunset， and a male at sunrise； I？tar of Agadé (Akad or Akkad) at sunrise， and I？tar of Erech at sunset： I？tar of the stars at sunrise， and the lady of the gods at sunset.
And in the various months.
I？tar was identified with Nin-si-anna in the first month of the year (Nisan = March-April)， with the star of the bow in Ab (August-September)， etc.In Sebat (January-February) she was the star of the water-channel， Ik？， which was Merodach's star in Sivan (May-June)， and in Marcheswan her star was Rabbu， which also belonged to Merodach in the same month.It will thus be seen， that Babylonian astronomy is far from being as clear as would be desired， but doubtless many difficulties will disappear when further inscriptions are available.
Stars identified with Merodach.
