Based on available sources, it is assumed that in addition to serving as the tutelary god of the city of Mari he was also the divine protector of oaths, and could be invoked to heal the sick or to help with solving crimes.
[3] Wilfred G. Lambert pointed out that similarly structured theonyms were common in Upper Mesopotamia and in various parts of Syria contemporarily with the Mari archives.
[6] Researchers supporting the latter view include Ichiro Nakata,[6] Stephanie Dalley (who specifically sees him as a deified king)[7] and Daniel Schwemer.
[13] A possible exception is a letter to Zimri-Lim from queen Šibtu, where Itūr-Mēr is third, and instead of him the sun god Shamash occupies the second position, right behind Dagan.
[6] A Mariote legal text mentions that a certain Pulsī-Addu from the land of Suhum had to swear an oath by Dagan, Itūr-Mēr, Ḫanat and king Zimri-Lim to guarantee that he will not try to pursue his claims in the future after losing in court.
[22] In another case, it is said that he reclined over a city gate to determine if messengers from Babylon were responsible for the disappearance of a slave, and through unknown means showed the king that they were not guilty.
[22] Itūr-Mēr was the tutelary god of Mari,[23][4] an ancient Mesopotamian city identified with the modern site of Tell Hariri in Syria, located close to the border with Iraq.
[27] According to Cinzia Papi, depending on the interpretation of the so-called "Temple of the Lions" it is possible that a shrine dedicated to him has been excavated, though it has also been suggested that belonged to Dagan instead.
[25] It has been noted that this text is unusual as it does not mention Dagan in any capacity, even though he was usually invoked in earlier periods by newly established rulers of western parts of Mesopotamia, and the local god instead occurs alongside Enlil and Ashur.
[25] During the reign of Zimri-Lim, among the known members of clergy responsible for the rites of Itūr-Mēr were a šangû (a priest; attested in a letter of Addu-dūrī, the queen mother) and a muḫḫûm (translated as "prophet;" the single known holder of this office bore the name Ea-maṣi).
[27] Another document mentions the delivery of a small amount of gold to a certain Mukannišum so that he could fashion a necklace for Itūr-Mēr for a festival referred to as inūma zāmirī.
[18] After Mari was destroyed by Hammurabi, Itūr-Mēr continued to be worshiped in the kingdom of Khana, whose main urban center was likely Terqa, through the rest of the Old Babylonian period.
[6] Since even during the reign of Zimri-Lim he was not worshiped in Terqa, Ichiro Nakata proposes that he might have been introduced there by former members of the Mariote administration who fled there after the city was sacked by Babylonians.
[31] One of the Khana texts mentions a house belonging to Itūr-Mēr, though he shared its nominal ownership with Dagan, Shamash and the local ruler, Išar-Lim.