Editing Shamash (section)

===Foreign deities===
The name of the [[Ebla]]ite sun deity was represented with the [[logogram]] <sup>d</sup>UTU.{{sfn|Krebernik|2011|p=606}} Manfred Krebernik assumes that it should be read as Shamash, that the deity was male, and that the goddess Ninkar also attested in texts from Ebla was his spouse.{{sfn|Krebernik|2011|p=606}} Alfonso Archi instead concludes that the deity was primarily female based on lexical evidence, but points out that the Eblaites were definitely aware of the male eastern sun god, and seemingly adopted him into their pantheon as a secondary [[Hypostasis (philosophy and religion)|hypostasis]].{{sfn|Archi|2019|p=43}} Occasionally the sun deity's gender had to be indicated directly, and both <sup>d</sup>UTU-''munus'' (female) and <sup>d</sup>UTU-''nita'' (male) are attested.{{sfn|Archi|2019|p=43}} [[Joan Goodnick Westenholz]] proposed that Ninkar in Eblaite texts should be interpreted as [[Ninkarrak]] rather than the phonetically similar but more obscure Mesopotamian Ninkar.{{sfn|Westenholz|2010|p=397}} Occasional shortening of Ninkarrak's name to "Ninkar" is known from Mesopotamian sources as well.{{sfn|Westenholz|2010|p=380}} This theory is also accepted by Archi, who notes it makes the widespread worship of Ninkar easier to explain.{{sfn|Archi|2019|p=43}}
[[File:Yazilikaya Sonnengott des Himmels.jpg|thumb|A relief of the Hurrian sun god Shimige (left) in [[Yazılıkaya]].]]
The [[Hurrian religion|Hurrian]] sun god, [[Shimige]], is already represented by the logogram <sup>d</sup>UTU in an inscription of Atalshen, an early king of [[Urkesh]].{{sfn|Archi|2013|pp=6-7}} It is the oldest known reference to him.{{sfn|Giorgieri|2011|p=614}} He is directly equated with Utu in the trilingual Sumero-Hurro-[[Ugaritic]] version of the [[Weidner god list]] from [[Ugarit]].{{sfn|Simons|2017|p=86}} It has been argued that his character was influenced at least in part by his Mesopotamian counterpart.{{sfn|Giorgieri|2011|p=614}}{{sfn|Archi|2013|p=11}} [[Gary Beckman]] goes as far as suggesting that at least in [[Hittite language|Hittite]] texts, he "cannot (yet?) be distinguished sufficiently" from the latter.{{sfn|Beckman|2012|p=131}} Due to this association, Aya was regarded as his spouse in Hurrian tradition, as attested in sources from Hattusa and Ugarit.{{sfn|Giorgieri|2011|p=614}} In the trilingual god list, Bunene (transcribed as ''<sup>d</sup>wu-u-un-ni-nu-wa-an'') appears in association with Shimige.{{sfn|Giorgieri|2011|p=614}} Shimige is additionally equated with [[Lugalbanda]] in it, most likely because the Hurrian pantheon was smaller than that enumerated in Mesopotamian lists, creating the need to have a single Hurrian deity correspond to multiple Mesopotamian ones.{{sfn|Simons|2017|p=86}} The same list also attests the equivalence between Utu, Shimige and the Ugaritic sun goddess [[Šapšu]].{{sfn|Tugendhaft|2016|p=176}} Apparently to avoid the implications that Shapash had a wife, the scribes interpreted the name of Aya, present in the Sumerian original, as an unconventional writing of [[Enki|Ea]].{{sfn|Tugendhaft|2016|p=180}} Instead of the Hurrian spelling of Aya, the name Eyan corresponds to him in the Hurrian column and Ugaritic one lists the local craftsman god [[Kothar-wa-Khasis]].{{sfn|Tugendhaft|2016|p=180}}

The logogram <sup>d</sup>UTU is well attested in Hittite texts.{{sfn|Beckman|2011|p=611}} In addition to Utu himself and his Akkadian counterpart, the deities represented by it were the [[Sun goddess of Arinna]] (<sup>d</sup>UTU ''<sup>uru</sup>Arinna''), the [[Sun goddess of the Earth]] (''taknaš'' <sup>d</sup>UTU), the male [[Sun god of Heaven]] (''nepišaš'' <sup>d</sup>UTU, <sup>d</sup>UTU AN<sup>E</sup>, <sup>d</sup>UTU ŠAME), as well as [[Luwian religion|Luwian]] [[Tiwaz (Luwian deity)|Tiwat]], [[Palaic mythology|Palaic]] [[Tiyaz]] and Hurrian Shimige.{{sfn|Beckman|2011|pp=611-612}} Gary Beckman notes that the Hittite conception of solar deities does not show any [[Indo-European religion|Indo-European]] influence, and instead was largely similar to that known from Mesopotamia.{{sfn|Beckman|2011|p=612}} He points out even the fact that the Sun god of Heaven was believed to travel in a [[quadriga]] drawn by horses, similar to Greek [[Helios]], is not necessarily an example of the former, as deities traveling in chariots are already depicted on Mesopotamian seals from the Sargonic period.{{sfn|Beckman|2012|p=134}}

The logogram <sup>d</sup>UTU also designated the sun deity or deities in [[Emar]] in the late [[Bronze Age]].{{sfn|Beckman|2002|p=49}} According to Gary Beckman, the Mesopotamian, West Semitic, Hurrian and Hittite sun deities might all be potentially represented by it in texts from this city.{{sfn|Beckman|2002|p=49}} Eduardo Torrecilla notes in a more recent publication that the logogram commonly designates Shamash in the middle Euphrates area, and syllabic writings of his name are uncommon there, though he also states that Shimige cannot be ruled out as a possible reading in some cases.{{sfn|Torrecilla|2017|p=11}}

In texts from [[Susa]], [[Haft Tepe]] and [[Malamir (Iranian city)|Malamir]] in [[Elam]] the name of the sun god was usually written logographically as <sup>d</sup>UTU and it is uncertain when it refers to the Mesopotamian deity, and when to local [[Nahhunte]].{{sfn|Stolper|1998|p=83}} It is possible that in legal texts, when <sup>d</sup>UTU occurs next to Elamite deities [[Inshushinak]], [[Ruhurater]] or [[Simut (god)|Simut]], the latter option is correct.{{sfn|Stolper|1998|pp=83-84}} While the god list ''An=Anum'' does mention Nahhunte, he is not explicitly labeled as a counterpart of Utu, and only appears as a member of a group called the "Divine Seven of Elam," associated with the goddess [[Narundi]].{{sfn|Stolper|1998|p=84}} A Mesopotamian commentary on a birth incantation erroneously identifies him as a moon god and Narundi as a sun deity, explaining their names as, respectively, Sin and Shamash.{{sfn|Stolper|1998|p=84}}