A Who's Who of World Mythology : Adad (Hadad, Iskur)


Adad is a Babylonian-Akkadian weather deity, son of the supreme sky god Anu. Derived from the earlier Sumerian god Iskur, he was primarily worshiped in Mari (Syria) and was occasionally the subject of cult marriages in Syria and parts of Mesopotamia. He was originally the deity of the Amorites of Northern Mesopotamia and may be equated with Enlil. His cult animal is the bull, and in human form, he is depicted wearing a horned headdress as well as a tiered kilt decorated with astral symbols. Though he is described as a benevolent giver of life, like most storm gods, he also has a violent side. He may also be depicted with a scimitar embellished with a single panther head. Another symbol of this god is the lightning fork fixed upon a pair of pincers.

Hadad is a Syrian and Pheonician deity derived from Adad, primarily honored during Hellenic times at Ptolemais and Hierapolis. His consort was Atargatis, a variation on Astarte, who overshadowed him at Hierapolis where statues of the two deities were carried to the sea in biennial processions. He is also known as Baal-Hadad, "the lord" Hadad and Hadad-Rimmon, "the lord" of Thunder. Ramman is also the Babylonian storm god responsible for the Flood when the "whirlwind of Ramman mounted up in the heavens and light was turned into darkness, and is Rimmon in the Old Testament. Hammurabi also invoked him in a kind of curse to flood the earth and blast it with "bolts of destruction."

The earliest version of this deity, Iskur, is chiefly a god of rain and thunder worshiped by herdsmen. He is the brother of the sun god Utu. Iskur was given dominion over the winds, the "silver lock of the heart of heaven," by Enki. Like Adad, his cult animal is the bull, but he is also associated with the lion "whose roar is thunder." He may be depicted as a warrior riding across the sky in a chariot, scattering rain and hail. In on text, he is named the son of An and Nammu and the twin brother of Enki, another water god and nourisher of the earth. He is also comparable to Ninurta, a god of farmers, and was adopted by the Hittites.