A. Sutherland – AncientPages.com – In Mesopotamian (Babylonian-Akkadian) beliefs, Adad was a god of atmospheric phenomena. He mastered and controlled rains and floods, thunder, lightning, and storms.
His West Semitic name was Hadad, and in Sumer, he was known as Ishkur, associated with both the life-giving and destructive property of rain and floods. The destructive properties of the god of the storm are visible especially in worship in the southern part of Mesopotamia, and in the north, he sent beneficial rain for people’s crops.
Left: Stela (carved monument) with reliefs displaying Baal (Hadad) with lightning, 15th to 13th BC. Found in the acropolis of Ras Shamra (ancient Ugarit) source Right: Assyrian soldiers of Ashurbanipal carrying a statue of Adad (Ramman – the ‘thunderer’), the god of tempest and thunder. source.
He was considered a good giver but sometimes demonstrated his destructive powers. He could guarantee rain, annual spills, good crops, and wealth. The vegetation of plants (and thus of fertility and wealth) depended on him on this mighty god.
It happened that people behaved badly, so Adad was instructed by Enlil to withhold his beneficial rain and cause drought on Earth. However, the trickster Enki, the god of water, crafts, intelligence, and creation), who had many disagreements with his brother Enlil, wanted to do against his will.
He did not want to punish humanity, and he taught humans to sacrifice directly to Adad, who – as ancient records say – was feeling very flattered and secretly moistened, the soil of the Earth so the harvests could survive.
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