### q1b Assur is associated with a rock outcropping > The god Aššur is actually attested from all the way back in the reign of Ušpia, a king who reigned in the 21st century BCE. The development of the god is still quite mysterious, though W. G. Lambert wrote a useful paper on the topic (*The God Aššur*, [jstor](https://www.jstor.org/stable/4200181)). From the earliest attestations, he is tied to one particular rocky outcrop at Qal’at Sherqat in Iraq which would develop into his namesake city and house his temple, the Ešarra, which continued to serve as his temple until the end of the Neo-Assyrian period. As Assyria developed into a major player in the Ancient Near East, the god's close association with royal power caused his profile to rise higher and higher. However, there's very little evidence of any attempts to integrate him into the families of the gods of Babylonia, which the Assyrians also venerated, until the reign of Sennacherib (704-681 BCE). To some degree the Assyrians attributed qualities of the major god Enlil from Southern Mesopotamia to Aššur, co-opting his status, but he is also written into stories about Marduk, the chief god of Babylon, and Anšar, a primordial figure from Babylonian cosmogeny. What is always central, though, is his sovereignty, initially over the city and kingdom but eventually over the entire universe as he becomes the pre-eminent deity and universal king. In Neo-Assyrian ideology, even the 'King of the Four Corners of the World' is merely the governor ruling the world on Aššur's behalf. - Interesting example of the evolution a different Near Eastern monotheistic all-powerful deity. - see also: [[lambertGodAssur1983]] - [[Assyrian imperialism#q1b Assur is associated with a rock outcropping|View in Vault]]