In other words, the conception of the triad Anu, Bel, and Ea is again an evidence of the existence of schoolmen and of schools of religious thought in the days of the ancient empire.

So far, however, as Hammurabi is concerned, he only refers to a duality--Anu and Bel--which, for him, comprises all the other gods.

He is the 'proclaimer of Anu and Bel.' It is Anu and Bel who give him sovereignty over the land.

In the texts of the second period the triad does not occur until we come to the reign of a king, Mili-shikhu, who lives at least eight centuries after Hammurabi.

Ea, in fact, does not occur at all in those inscriptions of the king that have as yet been discovered.