Martu- Mesopotamian GodDeity"God of the West"

The Steppe God

Martu was the god of the Amorite peoples, the nomadic tribes who roamed the western steppes beyond Sumer's irrigated plains. His name meant simultaneously the western direction, the steppe lands, and the people who lived there. To the cities, the Amorites were everything civilization was not: they lived in tents, ate raw meat, did not bury their dead, and knew nothing of urban life.

The Marriage of Martu

A Sumerian poem tells the story. The steppe god attends a festival in the city, where he sees and falls in love with a young goddess named Adgar-kidug. When he proposes marriage, her friends are appalled. They catalogue his faults with relish: he lives in the mountains, not in a proper city. He digs for truffles in the hills like an animal. He eats raw meat and does not know how to kneel in prayer. He has no permanent house, and when he dies, he will not even receive proper burial.

Adgar-kidug accepts without hesitation. Her friends' warnings describe exactly the world she is choosing. She chooses it with open eyes.