Aššur, God of the Assyrian Empire

Assyria's national god, Ashur, began as the deity of the city that bore his name and rose, with the empire, to supremacy in the Assyrian north. Assyrian kings ruled explicitly as his viceroys, campaigned 'at the command of Ashur,' and reported their conquests to him. So central was he that Assyrian scribes re-edited the Babylonian creation epic to put Ashur in Marduk's place. The fusion of god, city, and empire was tightest here: to serve Assyria was to serve Ashur, and the king was first of all the god's appointed steward and high priest.