TYPE: Sun god
KNOWN PERIOD OF WORSHIP: Circa 3500 BCE to circa 1750 BCE.
SYNONYMS: Samas (Akkadian)
CENTER(S) OF CULT: Sippur
ART REFERENCES: plaques, votive stelae and glyptics
LITERARY SOURCES: Various creation epics and other texts.
ORIGIN: Mesopotamian (Sumerian)
INFORMATION: Utu is the power of sunlight and, in a social context, of justice and the implementation of law. He is the son of the moon god Nanna and the goddess Ninlil. His brother and sister are Iskur and Inana. He rises "in the mountains of the east" and sets "in the mountains of the west". He is u sually depicted wearing a horned helmet and carrying a sawedged weapon not unlike a pruning saw, which it is thought that he has used to cut through the side of a mountain from which he emerges, symbolizing the dawn. He may also carry a mace and stand with one foot on the mountain.