Cult cities

The city-deity icon mystery

As noted by several scholars, Aššur is an unusual deity because the capital city is named after him as well.^[1]

"Aššur was the god of the Assyrian nation.
Originally he may have been the local deity of
the city of the same name, or rather — since it is 26
unusual in Mesopotamia for the god and city
to bear the same name (see loc al gods) — a
personification of the city itself. (Oaths were
sworn by the name of the city as if it were itself a
god). As, therefore, the extent and power of
Assyria spread, Aššur became the supreme god
of the emergent state and empire. Details of the
origins and development of the god, however,
are lacking." ^[2]

It is likely that the deity was a local tradition before Assyria's militaristic rise to power in the thirteenth century and thereafter. According to Jeremy Black and Anthony Green, Aššur's symbolism is indistinct because the traditional winged sun disc was used in other iconography. Instead, the scholars believe that this deity was more likely associated with sun deity Šamaš (Utu)^[3] or as the "Assyrian Enlil."^[4]

Iconography

According to Jeremy Black:

"The modern attribution to Aššur of the solar
disc is certainly incorrect. Some scholars,
however, believe that the winged disc, very
common in Assyrian art and often on Assyrian
sculptures with the image of a god above it, and
placed over scenes of battle, ritual and the
chase, must represent Aššur. The evidence,
however, points strongly to this emblem as a
symbol of the sun god Šamaš (Utu). Again,
there may be some borrowing of an image
proper to another god." ^[5]

Many other depictions of Aššur show a disc that appears to be the sun.