About this deity
Nabu was a scribal deity and the minister of Marduk. He was often associated with wisdom, writing, and depicted as a stylus.
Also known as
NabuNabû (Akkadian)NabiumNabianuNebo (biblical)"announcer""the one who is named"
Parent belief system
Babylonian Religion · Polytheistic · 5 mythsThe Babylonian religion was practiced throughout modern-day Iraq and the general near east (Mesopotamia) during antiquity. Its chief deity was Marduk.
Top myths
Nabû in Mesopotamian iconography
According to Jeremy Black and Anthony Green, Nabû was represented by a single wedge:
A symbol of Nabu is a single wedge, vertical or horizontal, possibly a writing stylus, sometimes resting on a clay tablet. Occasionally this, or the god himself, is shown riding on the back 31,110 of a snake-dragon.[1]
Cite this page
MLA Modern Language Association (8th ed.)
OMNIKA Foundation Contributors. "Nabu." OMNIKA – World Mythology Index, OMNIKA Foundation, 27 Apr. 2020, omnika.org/stable/547. Accessed 11 May. 2024.
APA American Psychological Association (6th ed.)
OMNIKA (2020, April 27). Nabu. Retrieved from https://omnika.org/stable/547
CMS Chicago Manual of Style (16th ed.)
OMNIKA Foundation Contributors. "Nabu." Las Vegas, NV: OMNIKA Foundation. Created April 27, 2020. Accessed May 11, 2024. https://omnika.org/stable/547.
Bibliography
Bahrani, Zainab. The Graven Image: Representation in Babylonia and Assyria. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011.
Black, Jeremy, and Anthony Green. Gods, Demons, and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated Dictionary. Illustrations by Tessa Rickards. London, United Kingdom: The British Museum Press, 1992.
Grayson, Albert K., Grant Frame, Maynard P. Maidman, and Douglas R. Frayne. Assyrian Rulers of the Third and Second Millennia BC (to 1115 BC). Vol. 1, The Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia, Assyrian Periods. Edited by Ronald F. G. Sweet. Toronto, Canada: University of Toronto Press, 1987.
