The Obituary
Nabu was the Mesopotamian god of writing, wisdom and the scribal arts, son of Marduk, worshipped above all at Borsippa near Babylon. As patron of scribes he was believed to record the fates of humankind on the Tablet of Destinies, and his prestige is preserved in royal names such as Nebuchadnezzar. Each year at the New Year festival his statue processed to Babylon to visit his father. Honored for nearly two thousand years, his cult declined under Persian and Greek rule and ended in the early centuries CE, the god of writing himself unwritten.
Worth remembering
- As patron of scribes he was said to inscribe the fates of humankind on the sacred Tablet of Destinies.
- At the Babylonian New Year festival, his statue traveled from Borsippa to Babylon to visit his father Marduk in a great procession.
Sources
- Nabu was the Mesopotamian god of literacy, scribes, wisdom and the rational arts, son of Marduk, with his cult center at Borsippa. Wikipedia
- Nabu was credited with keeping the Tablet of Destinies and was patron of scribes; his name survives in royal names like Nebuchadnezzar. World History Encyclopedia
A graveyard tradition: leave a stone to show you came, and remembered.