A late king of Babylon, the great Nebuchadnezzar, appeals to this attribute of the goddess.

To her was also attributed the possession of knowledge concealed from men.

Exactly to what class of deities she belonged, we are no longer able to say, but it is certain that at some time, probably about the time of Hammurabi, an amalgamation took place between her and another goddess known as Erua,[123]--a name that etymologically suggests the idea of 'begetting.'[124] She is represented as dwelling in the temple of E-Zida at Borsippa, and was originally the consort of Nabu, the chief god of this place.[125] A late ruler of Babylon--Shamash-shumukin--calls her the queen of the gods, and declares himself to have been nominated by her to lord it over men.
A factor in this amalgamation of Erua and Sarpanitum was the close association brought about in Babylon between Marduk and a god whose seat was originally at the Persian Gulf--Ea.

The cult of this god, as we shall see, survived in Babylonia through all political vicissitudes, and so did that of some other minor water-deities that belong to this region.

Among these was Erua, whose worship centered in one of the islands in or near the gulf.