MÃ«à ¡aru (Misharu), possibly also known as Ili-mÃ«à ¡ar, was a Mesopotamian god regarded as the personification of justice, sometimes portrayed as a divine judge. He was regarded as a son of the weather god Adad and his wife Shala. He was often associated with other similar deities, such as Ià ¡artu or Kittu. He is first attested in sources from the Ur III period. In the Old Babylonian period, he was regarded as the tutelary deity of Dà «r-Rëmuà ¡, a city in the kingdom of Eshnunna. He was also worshiped in other parts of Mesopotamia, for example in Mari, Assur, Babylon, Sippar and in the land of Suhum. In the Seleucid period he was introduced to the pantheon of Uruk.
A deity with a cognate name, MÃªà ¡aru, also belonged to the Ugaritic pantheon. It is assumed that like his Mesopotamian counterpart, he was regarded as a divine judge. A further possibly analogous deity, Misor, is also attested in the writings of Philo of Byblos.
MÃ«à ¡aru's name means "justice," and he functioned as the divine hypostasis of this concept. The theonym was derived from Akkadian eà ¡ÃÂru, "to straighten up." As a common noun, the term mÃ«à ¡aru can be explained as the notion of "the performance of royal justice and correcting iniquitous situations." It also referred to a type of edicts issued by rulers in the Old Babylonian period.
It has been proposed that the deity Ili-mÃ«à ¡ar, attested in the god list An = Anum (tablet V, line 29) as the sukkal (attendant deity) of Imzuanna (<sup>d</sup>Ni-zu-an-na) might be a variant of MÃ«à ¡aru. Daniel Schwemer notes that the addition to the same prefix to various theonyms is well attested, and cites IlumÃÂr and IlulÃÂya as two other examples.
It has been proposed that on cylinder seals MÃ«à ¡aru was depicted as a figure holding scales, though this theory has yet to be proved.
MÃ«à ¡aru was regarded as a son of the weather god Adad, and in the god list An = Anum appears in the same section as his other children: Uá¹£ur-amÃÂssu, à  ubanuna, Menunesi and Namaà ¡maà ¡. Their mother was Shala. Manfred Krebernik suggests that the association between MÃ«à ¡aru and Adad might have been the result of the development of a folk etymology connecting the name of the former with the word à ¡arum, "wind." Daniel Schwemer assumes that it instead reflected Adad's connection with law. In à  urpu and in Lipà ¡ur litanies Mià ¡aru is grouped with Adad, Uá¹£ur-amÃÂssu and the pair Shullat and Hanish. 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. He also appears as a member of the circle of deities associated with his father both in the Weidner god list and in An = Anum. While the connection is also affirmed by inscriptions from many cities, MÃ«à ¡aru 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.
The goddess Ià ¡artu formed a pair with MÃ«à ¡aru, and together they represented the idea of law and order. Julia Krul notes she seemed to be his feminine counterpart. An = Anum refers to her as his spouse.
The oldest evidence of the worship of MÃ«à ¡aru comes from the Ur III period. He received offerings in Bad-tibira during the reign of king Shu-Sin. He is also attested in Akkadian theophoric names, such as Puzur-MÃ«à ¡ar.
Old Babylonian sources mention a single temple of MÃ«à ¡aru, located close to the city of Dà «r-Rëmuà ¡ in the Diyala area. It is assumed that he was the tutelary deity of this settlement. One of the inhabitants of Dà «r-Rëmuà ¡ apparently dedicated a seal to him for the health of the Eshnunnean king Ipiq-Adad II after it was incorporated into his kingdom. He is also attested in an offering list from Mari (ARM 24 263), in which he appears alongside the deity Ià ¡ar, presumed to correspond to Ià ¡artu.
In a copy of an Old Assyrian inscription of Erishum I found in Kültepe, MÃ«à ¡aru (<sup>d</sup>Me-à ¡a-ru-um) appears as a member of a group of seven divine judges alongside deities such as Ishmekarab. He is also attested in the same role in another, later list of similar deities worshiped in Assyria. In the version of the TÃÂkultu ritual from the reign of Ashurbanipal, he is listed alongside Ea and Kittu. In the Eà ¡ara temple complex in Assur he was worshiped alongside Latarak in the lobby of the structure.
In Babylon, MÃ«à ¡aru was worshiped alongside his father Adad in the Esagil temple complex. A temple dedicated to him is also mentioned in documents from Dà «r-Abë-eà ¡uḫ, though no ceremonial name is given.
Attestations of veneration of MÃ«à ¡aru are known from Suhum as well. An akitu temple dedicated to him and Adad existed in Udada. It was rebuilt by Ninurta-kudurri-usur, a local ruler from the eighth century BCE.
On one of the cylinders of Nabonidus, in an inscription pertaining to the Ebabbar temple in Sippar, MÃ«à ¡aru is mentioned alongside Kittu and DayyÃÂnu as the deities "seated in front of Shamash."
While MÃ«à ¡aru 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. He was worshiped in Eḫenunna, "house of abundance," a temple of Adad. The text TU 39 mentions that on the fifth day of the month Araḫsamna, MÃ«à ¡aru had to leave the temple to partake in rites taking place elsewhere. It has been pointed out that in addition to him and Shala spouses, children or courtiers of many other deities were also introduced to Uruk at the same time.
A deity whose name is a cognate of MÃ«à ¡aru's is attested in Ugarit as well. The theonym was rendered as mà ¡r in the local alphabetic script, and can be vocalized as MÃªà ¡aru ("rectitude," "uprightness"). It is presumed that he was regarded as a divine judge. He was paired with á¹¢idqu ("righteousness"). They appear together in a single religious text (RS 24.271, line 14), which is presently the only certain attestation of MÃªà ¡aru. A possible theophoric name, written as mà ¡rn in the alphabetic script and as Me-à ¡a-ra-nu or Me-à ¡i-ra-nu in standard syllabic cuneiform, has also been identified. Elsewhere in the Ugaritic texts the word mà ¡r is attested as a common noun.
Wilfred G. E. Watson proposes that the Ugaritic MÃªà ¡aru and á¹¢idqu correspond to Misor and Suduk, who according to Philo of Byblos were Phoenician gods of justice. He also credits them with discovering the use of salt, and presents the god Taautos, derived from Egyptian Thoth, as the son of Misor. It also has been suggested that passages in the Hebrew Bible using the term mÃ®à ¡Ã´r("equity"), such as Psalm 9:9, Psalm 45:7 and Isaiah 45:19 are echoes of the worship of a further deity with a cognate name, who was originally regarded as a subordinate of Yahweh but later came to be demythologized, but this is less certain and no passage directly supports this view.