MARTU
Real Name:
Athtar (Martu is his Late Sumerian name)
Occupation:
God of drought, oaths and the steppes, God of the West Wind, Patron god of Ninab
Legal Status:
Citizen of Celestial Dilmun
Identity: The general populace of Earth is unaware of the existence of Martu except as a mythological character.
Other Aliases:
Mountain-God, Athtar (Early Sumerian), Amurru (Babylonian name), Manuzi
(Assyrian name), Hazzi (Hurrian name), Aranzahas (Hittite name),
Place of Birth:
Marital Status: Married
Known Relatives:
Anu
(father), Asherah
(mother), Enlil,
Hadad,
Ninurta (brothers), Beletseri (wife/niece, alias Gestinanna), Isara, Papaia,
Mamitu (daughters), Dumuzi
(brother-in-law, alias Tammuz), Nergal,
Nusku, Kinyras, Girru, (half-brothers), Ningal, Ninlil, Inanna,
Gatumdug (half-sisters), Nanna, Shamash, Ullikummis
(nephews), Zintuki, Ninkasi (nieces), Ea (uncle), Mami, Damkina, Eriskegal
(aunts), Marduk
(cousin),
Group Affiliations: The Gods of Mesopotamia
Base of Operations:
First Appearance: Unrevealed
History: Martu is the son of Anu, ruler of an extra-dimensional race of beings known as the Anunnaki, who were worshipped as gods by the races and cultures of Ancient Mesopotamia, and his wife, Asherah, goddess of heaven. The Anunnaki first sought worshippers toward the end of the Hyborian Age, an undefined period of time between the sinking of Atlantis and the beginning of written records, but they gained greater importance during the later Sumerian Empire, a period of time that came into preeminence after the end of the Hyborian Age.
Martu and his brothers dominated certain compass parts of Sumeria. He made his home far to the west and high atop Mount Saphon in the land of Hattia conquered by the Hattic tribes after the disasters which ended the Hyborian Age. He was known by several names among the smaller less superior tribes on earth dominated by the Sumerians. He took the goddess Beletseri, scribe to the underworld, and fathered the Gulses, three goddesses of destiny. Through his wife, Martu had some power in the underworld and was considered a god of oaths; any promise made in his name was considered unbreakable.
Eventually, Martu's brother, Enlil, decided that the time had come for their father to step down as ruler of the gods of earth. For most of his existence, Anu ruled the Mesopotamian gods from earth, but after he was overthrown, he departed earth for another plane of existence and Enlil seized his throne in his absence. The gods who had supported Anu fled to Mount Saphon where Martu accepted the exiled deities, many of whom later followed Anu into the heavens and joined him in another dimension known as Celestial Dilmun. Martu later supported his brother, Hadad, in overthrowing Enlil. The war-goddess, Anath, had the artisan-god Kinyras build Hadad a temple for Hadad atop Mount Saphon near Martu's temple.
Hadad was later overthrown by his cousin, Marduk, who became the patron deity of the Babylonian Empire. Despite its power, the empire was later replaced by a succession of other more invaders, but none of these foreign powers were as powerful as the rulers before it. Under Judeo-Christian religion, Martu and several of the Anunnaki were erroneously denounced as demons in the face of religious tomes such as the Bible and the Talmud. The Greeks eventually took control of the area bringing worship of their native Olympian Gods with them. Martu and the Anunnaki clashed for several millennia with the Olympian gods before finally reaching a stalemate.
Martu's later activities are unrevealed, but some of the
surviving Sumerian Gods have continued to make themselves known.
Height: 6' 11"
Weight: 425 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Black, partially silver
Strength Level: Martu possesses superhuman strength to an unknown degree,
but he may be just as strong as Enlil who has Class 100 level strength and can
lift (press) well over a hundred tons.
Known Superhuman Powers: Martu possesses the conventional physical attributes
of the Mesopotamian gods. Like all of the Anunnaki, he is extremely long-lived,
but he is not immortal like the Olympian gods. He has not aged since
reaching adulthood and cannot die by any conventional means. He is immune to all
Earthly diseases and is resistant to conventional injury. If he were somehow
wounded, his godly life force would enable him to recover with superhuman speed. It
would take an injury of such magnitude that it dispersed a major portion of his
bodily molecules to cause him a physical death. Even then, it might be possible for
a god of significant power, such as Anu and Ea or for a number of Mesopotamian gods of equal power working together to revive him.
Martu also possesses
superhuman strength and his Anunnaki metabolism provides him with far greater than
human endurance in all physical activities. (Anunnaki flesh and bone is about three
times as dense as similar human tissue, contributing to the superhuman
strength and weight of the Mesopotamian gods.)
Martu also has extra-ordinary power to tap into and manipulate
elemental powers such as wind, storm and rain. He can use the wind to collect
and manipulate forces of earth and rain. By merging the wind with the desert, he
can create massive sandstorms with hurricane-force winds capable of destroying
whole cities or eroding mountain sides. He can cause droughts by removing all
the moisture from the atmosphere in finite areas. His mastery over the weather
is extensive enough that he can eclipse the sun for limited periods of time,
possibly no more than ten to twelve hours, by holding enough sand in the air to
black out the sun.
Pets: Martu often rides a great bull of formidable strength capable of
flying through the air.
Comments: Some texts identify the mother-goddess Ninhursag as the mother
of Martu, but there are several separate female deities who likewise share the
epitaph of mother-goddess, among them Asherah (wife of Anu), Mami (another wife
of Anu), Damkina (wife of Ea) and Kishar (mother of Anu and Ea). Among them,
Asherah is the most likely goddess given she has already named as the mother of
male weather-gods such as Enlil and Hadad. Ninhursag is also considered the
Sumerian counterpart of the Greek Gaea.
At least in the Marvel Universe, several beings of Hyborian origin seem to share aspects and traits in common with the Mesopotamian gods, but these would-gods seem to have decidedly demonic aspects. It has been guessed that some but not all of the Anunnaki may have degenerated into demonic entities, but this has yet to be confirmed. Anu is a member of the Council of God-Kings with Zeus, Odin and Vishnu, while Eriskegal has joined in an informal alliance with Hades.
Celestial Dilmun is named for the region of Dilmun (modern
Bahrain) where Utnapishtim dwelled after the flood.
Clarifications: Martu is probably not to be
confused with:
Last updated: 07/23/06