ColossiansOne

Side by side, from the sources

Shamash vs Apollo

These two are identified with one another in the record, which is not the same as being the same figure. Solar gods of oracle and of justice.

Deity · Mesopotamian · c. 2500 BCE

Shamash

also called Utu

The sun sees everything, so the sun is the god of judges. Hammurabi's law code is carved beneath an image of the king receiving it from him.

Alignment
Disputed
Rank
Sun and Judge
First attested
The Code of Hammurabi · c. 1750 BCE
Named there as
Shamash
Texts naming it
2
Powers attributed
4
60attestedMesopotamian

Deity · Greek · c. 700 BCE

Apollo

also called Phoebus, Apollōn, Apellōn, Apeilōn, Aploun, Apollon

Oracle-giver at Delphi, and the god who both sends plague and lifts it. Later traditions split that duality between an angel and a demon; Greece kept it in one figure.

Alignment
Disputed
Rank
God of Prophecy
First attested
The Iliad · c. 750 BCE
Named there as
Apollo
Texts naming it
3
Powers attributed
4
90attestedGreekRoman

Where do they actually overlap?

Texts naming both

None. The two never appear in the same text in this corpus, which is worth knowing before accepting any confident claim that they are one figure.

Powers credited to both

Reveals Past, Present & Future

Common questions

Are Shamash and Apollo the same figure?

These two are identified with one another in the record, which is not the same as being the same figure. Solar gods of oracle and of justice. ColossiansOne records the link rather than asserting the identity: where texts disagree about whether two names denote one figure, the disagreement is what gets shown.

Which is older, Shamash or Apollo?

Shamash is the older name: first attested around c. 2500 BCE, against c. 700 BCE for Apollo. Where the two dates are far apart, that gap is the whole reason the pair is worth comparing.

Do any texts name both Shamash and Apollo?

No text in this corpus names both. That is not proof they were considered the same figure, but it is why the identification has to be traced through the scholarship rather than read off a page.
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