Shamash

Sun god of the Babylonians and Assyrians, son of Sin and brother of Ishtar. Shamash had the usual attributes of a sun god; beneficent, healing, life-giving and inimical to all darkness and wickedness, he was the great judge of the universe. Together with the god Adad, he was concerned with oracles. His chief temples were at Larsa in South and Sippar in North Babylonia. In the Sun God Tablet in the British Museum, King Hammurabi is seen receiving his laws from the hand of Shamash. His consort was Aya.

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