The worship of Zababa is first documented in sources from the Early Dynastic period, including texts from both Kish and other cities in Mesopotamia, for example the Zame Hymns from Abu Salabikh.
No myths focused on Zababa are known, though he is referenced in an UD.GAL.NUN composition about the construction of Enlil's temple, in a number of legends about rulers of the Akkadian Empire, and in texts known from late copies such as Urash and Marduk and Enmesharra's Defeat.
[5] Explanatory texts could provide Zababa's name with artificial Akkadian etymologies likely based on homophony, alternate readings of signs or literary allusions, such as "crusher of stones" (dā’iš abnī)[6] or "lord of the lands" (bēlu mātātum).
[8] However, inscription on kudurru (decorated boundary stones) and lists of deities in treaties indicate his importance was often considered secondary compared to Ninurta and Nergal.
[17] A reference to Ashur being Zababa's father is known from Sennacherib's oracular inquiry meant to verify his parentage before the construction of a new temple dedicated to him and Bau in Assur, but this tradition is otherwise sparsely attested.
[21] However, Ryan D. Winters points out that despite this assumption being commonly repeated in modern literature, no primary sources refer to them as a couple, and that texts where they appear together only affirm that both were both worshiped in Kish;[a] he suggests it is not impossible that if a connection did exist between them, they might have equally likely been viewed as siblings in the local tradition instead.
[29] For uncertain reasons, Zababa's section in An = Anum also includes Ugur (tablet V, line 50), who fulfilled the analogous role in the court of Nergal.
[30] Pairs of so-called "divine daughters" such as them are also known from other temples of northern Babylonia, such as Emeslam in Kutha (Tadmuštum and Belet-ili), Eibbi-Anum in Dilbat (Ipte-bita and Belet-eanni), Ezida in Borsippa (Kanisurra and Gazbaba) and Esagil in Babylon (Katunna and Silluš-tab).
[39] In the text KAR 142, the Archive of Mystic Heptads,[40] Zababa is listed as one of the "seven Ninurtas", though in this context this name is a generic designation for warlike deities.
[42] However, Spencer J. Allen suggests that similar statements might be metaphorical, and that their aim was not outright equating Marduk with other gods, but rather comparing him to them to portray him as equally capable as them.
[13] Alice Mouton assumes that in Hattian and Hittite context Zababa's name designated Wurunkatte and less commonly Šulinkatte,[c] in Hurrian Aštabi, Nupatik and Ḫešui, and in Luwian possibly Iyarri.
[49] However, Aštapinu, presumed to be a variant spelling of Aštabi[50] is identified with both Zababa and Ninurta in the Mesopotamian god list[51] informally referred to as "shorter An = Anum" due to sharing its namesake's first line, but not its scope.
[52] He is defined in it as the counterpart of these gods in Subartu, a common designation for northern areas, which according to Ryan D. Winters reflects the attested geographic distribution of references to his cult.
[53] Wouter Henkelman proposes that the theonym Nabbazabba known from the Persepolis Fortification Archive might be an Elamite derivative of Zababa's name, possibly to be interpreted as "the god Zabba".
[15] According to Manfred Krebernik [de] and Jan Lisman, it might also reflect the city's reputation as an early political power or indicate a connection between its name and the archaic cuneiform sign GIR3, "wild bull".
[60] Sallaberger argues that it is possible to speak of a broader pattern of cultural influence of Kish on Ebla, and that the city's tutelary god Kura might have been a Zababa-like figure.
[60] This ruler built a new temple dedicated to him in Ur, the Ekituššatenbi, "house, residence that soothes the heart", according to an inscription in order to celebrate the aid he received from this god in a struggle against his enemies.
[83] Walther Sallaberger suggests that this construction project might have been an attempt to gain the favor of a god more closely associated with the kingdom of Babylon, a political rival of Larsa.
[87] A ritual text from Babylon which according to Wilfred G. Lambert must document a tradition predating the reign of Nebuchadnezzar I indicates that Zababa, accompanied by Bau, represented Kish in this city during the akitu festival of Marduk, alongside the deities associated with Kutha (Nergal, Laṣ, Mamitu) and Borsippa (Nabu, Nanaya and Sutītu).
[88][f] Adad-apla-iddina from the Second Dynasty of Isin, who reigned over Babylonia in the early eleventh century BCE as an appointee of the Middle Assyrian king Ashur-bel-kala,[90] left behind an inscription dealing with renovations of Zababa's temple, which refers to it as Emeteursag.
[91] While the decades following the fall of the second dynasty of Isin are poorly documented, a reference to Zababa has been identified in a kudurru inscription from the reign of Nabû-mukin-apli from the middle of the tenth century BCE, in which he follows Anu, Enlil, Ea, Marduk, Zarpanit, Nabu, Sin, Shamash and Nergal, and precedes Adad, Ninurta, Gula and Ninmaḫ.
[97] Eleanor Robson notes that in texts from an archive belonging to him and his family and students discovered in Huzirina these two deities occupy a central position.
[106] He is mentioned alongside gods such as Alammuš, Amurru, Girra, Šulpae, Lugal-irra and Meslamta-ea in the instructions for the akitu festival of Anu.
[107] He is also mentioned in an inscription of a priest referring to himself as "Anu-uballiṭ, whose second name is Kephalon" in which he, Shamash, Adad and Sadarnunna are inquired about the preparation of a new statue of Ishtar.
[84] A fragmentary text dated to the reign of Artaxerxes I mentions an "akitu temple" (bīt a-ki-tu4) seemingly dedicated jointly to Zababa and Ninlil, which does not occur in any earlier sources.
[9] Christa Müller-Kessler and Karlheinz Kessler argue that the fact Zababa is absent from early Mandaic texts, in contrast with deities such as Nanaya or Nergal, might indicate that he ceased to be worshiped by the end of the first millennium BCE, before the time of their composition.
[115] Possibly due to the early importance of Kish as a political center, Zababa is referenced in a number of legends about the rulers of the Akkadian Empire.
[9] A fictional letter attributed to Sargon which belonged to the curriculum of scribal schools mentions Zababa alongside Shamash, Ilaba and Annunitum as one of the deities who oblige the king's allies to assist him in a campaign against Purushanda in Anatolia.
[116] Furthermore, Sargon's adversary known from a variety of literary texts, the legendary king of Kish Ur-Zababa, bore a theophoric name invoking this god which can be translated as "man of Zababa".
[122] A reference to Zababa taking residence in Kish is present in a sequence listing tutelary gods of different cities in the myth Enmesharra's Defeat.