Paired with Šamaš, he is addressed as 'lord of prayers and divination', and invoked to preside over haruspicies TT or as a witness in legal contexts ( Schwemer 2001a: 221-6, 323-7, 683-7 Foster 2005: 754-6 Starr 1983: 30ff.). Similar themes appear in Akkadian texts, including omen apodoses TT where Adad overwhelms the army or land of the enemy ( Schwemer 2001a: 416-19, 687-69).Īdad was also associated with divination and justice. He makes it barren like the ašagu plant' ( Cohen 1981: 60). In one Sumerian hymn, Iškur 'destroys the rebellious land like the wind. His ability to deploy the destructive forces of nature meant that Iškur/Adad was also conceptualised as a warlike figure. However, both sides of Iškur/Adad's character are explored in Sumerian and Akkadian literature ( Schwemer 2001a: 182-3 419-424 2007: 134-5 see further below). This probably reflects the differing importance of rainfall for agriculture in the respective regions (cf.
The destructive aspects of the storm god are often prominent in southern Mesopotamia, whereas in the north he was venerated to a greater extent as the beneficent bringer of rain.
Sumerian Iškur and his Akkadian counterpart Adad, syncretised TT at an early stage, were storm gods, ambivalent figures whose intervention might either benefit or harm humankind.
This Assyrian stela from Arslan Tash in northern Syria (8th century BCE), now in the Louvre Museum, shows Adad in a characteristic pose: mounted on a bull, brandishing lightning bolts.
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