Introduction
Utu (Akkadian Shamash) is the sun god and god of justice, truth, and law, son of Nanna and Ningal and twin brother of Inanna (Ishtar).
Family
Justice and Aid to Heroes
As the sun that saw all things by day, Utu/Shamash was naturally associated with justice, truth, and the exposure of wrongdoing, and oaths were commonly sworn in his name; the later Babylonian king Hammurabi depicted himself receiving his famous law code directly from Shamash. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Shamash favors and actively assists the hero Gilgamesh, including sending winds to help him and Enkidu defeat the monster Humbaba in the Cedar Forest.
Mesopotamian religion spans Sumerian, Akkadian, and Babylonian sources composed and recopied across nearly three thousand years, so names, genealogies, and even a deity's role often shift between traditions (Sumerian An/Enki/Inanna alongside their Akkadian/Babylonian forms Anu/Ea/Ishtar); the account above follows the most widely attested version, usually as consolidated in the Babylonian Enuma Elish or the standard Akkadian Epic of Gilgamesh.