Marduk (; cuneiform: 𒀭𒀫𒌓 dAMAR.UTU; Sumerian: amar utu.k "calf of the sun; solar calf"; Hebrew: מְרֹדַךְ, Modern: Merōdaḵ, Tiberian: Mərōḏaḵ) was a god from ancient Mesopotamia, patron deity of Babylon. First sparsely attested in the 3rd millennium BC, Marduk slowly rose to prominence before being enshrined as leader of the Mesopotamian pantheon under Nebuchadnezzar I in the 2nd millennium BC. In Babylon, Marduk was worshipped in the Esagila temple. Believed to have originated as an underworld god, a storm god or an agriculture deity, Marduk came to be worshipped as a god of creation, justice, water, agriculture, magic and medicine. His symbol was the spade and he was associated with the Mušḫuššu. By the 1st millennium BC, Marduk had become astrologically associated with the planet Jupiter. He was a prominent figure in Babylonian cosmology, especially in the Enūma Eliš creation myth. The deity had many epithets and around 50 symbolic names, which include "highest in the house of gods", "king of the gods of heaven and earth", "omniscient one", "giver of life", "the creator of the Annunaki" and "creator of mankind". These were not just titles, but statements about Marduk's theological supremacy and his role as the cosmic ruler and divine counsellor.
Name The name of Marduk was solely spelled as dAMAR.UTU in the Old Babylonian Period, although other spellings such as MES and dŠA.ZU were also in use since the Kassite Period. In the 1st millennium BC, the ideograms dŠU and KU were regularly used. The logogram for Adad is also occasionally used to spell Marduk. Texts from the Old Babylonian period support the pronunciation Marutu or Marutuk, with the shortened spelling Martuk or Marduk attested starting from the Kassite period. His name in Hebrew, Merodak, supports the longer version, and First Millennium Assyrian and Babylonian texts employ the long spelling when the circumstances call for the precise form of the name. The personal name Martuku is not to be confused with the god Marduk. Marduk was commonly called Bēl (lord) in the First Millennium BC. The etymology for the name Marduk is generally understood to be derived from damar-utu-(a)k, meaning "bull-calf of Utu". Sommerfield suggests this is used to explain the name Marduk in the Enuma Elish as "He is the 'son of the sun' of the gods, radiant is he." While the name may suggest a relationship with Shamash, Marduk has no genealogy with the sun god. However, Babylon was closely associated with the city of Sippar in this period, which may have been the reason for the name.
History
3rd millennium BC Marduk, along with the city of Babylon, was unimportant and sparsely attested in the 3rd millennium BC. The earliest mention of Marduk comes from a fragmentary inscription, most likely dating to the Early Dynastic II period (ED II). It is left by an unnamed ruler of the city of BAR.KI.BAR (likely Babylon) who constructed a temple for Marduk. A text from the Fara period (ED IIIa) seems to mention Marduk without the divine determinative, and a fragment of a contemporary god list from Abu Salabikh contains dutu-ama[r], likely Marduk written with reversed sign order. A dubious reference to Marduk from the subsequent Ur III period comes from the possible personal name "Amar-Sin is the star of Marduk", although Johandi suggests that the god Martu who appeared together with Enki and Damgalnuna in the Ur III period could possibly refer instead to the similarly named Marduk who is otherwise missing in Ur III documentation, as Martu is later attested to have a different parentage (Anu and Urash) and Marduk is later considered the son of Enki/Ea. If so, this could be evidence that Marduk was already part of the pantheon of Eridu during the Ur III period.
Old Babylonian period
During the First Dynasty of Babylon under the king Sumu-la-El, Marduk appeared in oaths and several year names, namely year name 22, which recorded fashioning a throne for Marduk, and year name 24, which recorded making a statue for the goddess Zarpanitum, his spouse. Marduk also started to appear in theophoric names, which would become more frequent in the following decades but would remain rare, appearing in less than 1% of names, although it would grow to 1-2% under Hammurabi. During the reigns of Sabium, Apil-Sin and Sin-muballit, Marduk started to be mentioned outside of the city of Babylon and was invoked alongside local gods in cities subject to the Babylonian kings. Starting from the reign of Hammurabi, sanctuaries to Marduk were found in other cities. In the Old Babylonian Period, while Marduk is acknowledged to be the ruler of the people, there is no evidence that Hammurabi or his successors promoted Marduk at the expense of other gods. Enlil was still recognized as the highest authority, and Marduk was far from being the pantheon head, instead appearing to be a mediator between the great gods and Hammurabi. This is also expressed in inscriptions from Hammurabi's successor Samsu-iluna, expressing that he receives Enlil's orders through the other gods, such as Ishtar, Zababa, Shamash and Marduk. A key development during the Old Babylonian period was the association of Marduk with the pantheon of Eridu. Marduk was syncretized with Asalluhi in the later half of the Old Babylonian period, and the opening of the Code of Hammurabi identifies Ea as the father of Marduk, a genealogy that would remain canonical. God lists from the Old Babylonian period sometimes place him within the circle of Enki. TCL 15 10 lists Asalluhi and Marduk as separate gods, but close together in the list. Lambert suggests that this may be an intrusion by another scribe, and that the editor scribe did so under the belief that Marduk and Asalluhi were the same god. Johandi on the other hand suggests that Marduk and Asalluhi were not seen as the same god, but were viewed to be related to one another. The Nippur God List also lists Asalluhi and Marduk separately, with Marduk appearing seventy names before Asalluhi. In the Weidner god list, however, it appears that Marduk and Asalluhi were viewed as the same god. According to the Marduk prophecy and inscriptions of Agum II, the statue of Marduk and Zarpanitum were removed from Babylon by Mursili I during his raid on Babylon (middle chronology 1595 BC), which was returned during the reign of Agum II.
Middle Babylonian period
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