He remained--if one may so express it--a political deity.

The political significance of Babylon permitted only one phase of his nature to be brought forward.
In the religious texts, however, preserving as they do the more primitive conceptions by the side of the most advanced ones, some traces of other attributes besides prowess in war are found.

By virtue of his character as a solar deity, Marduk, like the orb personified through him, is essentially a life-giving god.

Whereas Shamash is viewed as the 'judge of mankind,' Marduk becomes the god who restores the dead to life, though he shares this power with Shamash, Gula, Nebo, and Nergal.
But after all, even in the religious texts, his more prominent role is that of a ruler,--a magnified king.

He protects the weak, releases the imprisoned, and makes great the small.