In the Old Testament book of Genesis, Ashur (or Asshur to reflect one Hebrew spelling) is the son of Ham, who is the son of Noah. He is traditionally the builder of several Assyrian cities including the capital Assur (where there was a temple dedicated to him) and Nineveh. The name can refer to a person or country; Assyria itself is named after him. He develops over time into a war god whose consort is ISHTAR. He is the tutelary god of Ashur and the national god of Assyria until c. 1800BC, when he starts to be identified with the Sumerian ENLIL and then, later, with ANSHAR, the father of AN in the Sumerian creation story. He is further homogenised - and de-characterised - by political moves to equate him with the Babylonian MARDUK
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