Mīšaru

Mīšaru (Misharu), possibly also known as Ili-mīšar, was a Mesopotamian god regarded as the personification of justice, sometimes portrayed as a divine judge.

"[4] As a common noun, the term mīšaru can be explained as the notion of "the performance of royal justice and correcting iniquitous situations.

[9] Manfred Krebernik suggests that the association between Mīšaru and Adad might have been the result of the development of a folk etymology connecting the name of the former with the word šarum, "wind.

[12] In the so-called Extispicy Ritual I, a manual for diviners, he is mentioned alongside Adad, Shamash, Aya and Kittu among deities who could receive offerings while an oracle was performed.

[15] While the connection is also affirmed by inscriptions from many cities, Mīšaru is nonetheless also attested in contexts where no relation to the weather god is indicated in texts from Sippar and [Assur, where he was seemingly treated as a divine judge associated with Kittu.

[12] Old Babylonian sources mention a single temple of Mīšaru, located close to the city of Dūr-Rīmuš in the Diyala area.

[17] In a copy of an Old Assyrian inscription of Erishum I found in Kültepe, Mīšaru (dMe-ša-ru-um) appears as a member of a group of seven divine judges alongside deities such as Ishmekarab.

[30] On one of the cylinders of Nabonidus, in an inscription pertaining to the Ebabbar temple in Sippar, Mīšaru is mentioned alongside Kittu and Dayyānu as the deities "seated in front of Shamash.

"[31] While Mīšaru was not yet worshiped in Uruk in the Neo-Babylonian period, he is attested in religious text from this city dated to the reign of the Seleucids.

[33][3] The text TU 39 mentions that on the fifth day of the month Araḫsamna, Mīšaru had to leave the temple to partake in rites taking place elsewhere.

[36] A possible theophoric name, written as mšrn in the alphabetic script and as Me-ša-ra-nu or Me-ši-ra-nu in standard syllabic cuneiform, has also been identified.

[36] Wilfred G. E. Watson proposes that the Ugaritic Mêšaru and Ṣidqu correspond to Misor and Suduk, who according to Philo of Byblos were Phoenician gods of justice.