[1] The oldest attestation of the tradition presenting Anshar as Anu s father is the Old Babylonian forerunner of the god list An = Anum, but no other references to it are known from this period.
[15] However, Julia Krul stresses that equations of deities with their fathers represent speculation mostly typical for god lists, and did not necessarily influence the sphere of cult.
[2] The goal of this equation was to establish the seniority of Ashur over Marduk, who in the light of the genealogy of deities presented in the Enūma Eliš was a descendant of Anshar.
[6] A small shrine dedicated to AN.ŠÁR is attested in sources from the Neo-Babylonian and early Achaemenid periods, but it is uncertain when his cult was introduced to the city.
[19] In the former case, the worship of Ashur in Uruk would most likely reflect a political alliance between local elites and the Assyrian state, as there is no evidence his cult was imposed in any Babylonian cities.
[16] Piotr Steinkeller notes that the association between Anshar and Ashur might explain why Kakka, a deity chiefly worshiped in Upper Mesopotamia rather than in Babylonia, appears as a messenger of the former in the Enūma Eliš.
[31] In an Assyrian recension of the Enūma Eliš, known only from a number of incomplete late copies from Assur and Nineveh tentatively dated to the reign from Sennacherib, the logogram AN.ŠÁR is used to refer to both Anshar himself and to Ashur, who replaces Marduk as the protagonist, but is also identified with the aforementioned primordial deity.
[32] As noted by Wilfred G. Lambert, the change is "superficial" and "leaves the plot in chaos by attributing Marduk's part to his great-grandfather, without making any attempt to iron out the resulting confusion".
[34] An esoteric commentary linking passages from the Enūma Eliš with various ritual observances from Babylon states that Anshar sending Anu to confront Tiamat corresponds to the celebrations during which Mandanu headed to Ḫursagkalamma (Kish).
[40] A royal hymn from the reign of Nebuchadnezzar I focused on establishing a connection between him and Enmeduranki, a mythical king of Sippar,[41] mentions Anshar in passing and refers to Shuzianna as his sister.
[43] While restoration of the text remains uncertain, it is possible that it describes his death at the hands of Enki and Ninamakalla,[b] which would indicate it preserves a succession narrative in which the actively worshiped members of the Mesopotamian pantheon depose a generation of primordial deities.
[5] A reference to Anshar has been identified in a quotation from Eudemus of Rhodes preserved by the Neo-Platonic philosopher Damascius, according to which in Babylonian cosmology figures named Assōros and Kissarē were the parents of Anos (Anu), Illinos (Enlil) and Aos (Ea).