thumb|upright=1.2|Eighth-century BCE Assyrian seal portraying a worshipper between Nabu and [[Marduk, who each stand on a (servant dragon)]]
Nabu (, ) is the Babylonian patron god of literacy, scribes, wisdom, and the rational arts. He is associated with the classical planet Mercury in Babylonian astronomy. derived from the Semitic root or . It is cognate with , , and , all meaning 'prophet'.
History
Nabu was worshiped by the Babylonians and the Assyrians. Nabu gained prominence among the Babylonians in the 1st millennium BC when he was identified as the son of the god Marduk. Clay tablets with especial calligraphic skill were used as offerings at Nabu's temple. His wife was the Akkadian goddess Tashmet. As the god of writing, Nabu inscribed the fates assigned to men and he was equated with the scribe god Ninurta. As an oracle he was associated with the Mesopotamian moon god Sin.
Nabu was continuously worshipped until the 2nd century, when cuneiform became a lost art.
Outside Mesopotamia
Nabu's cult spread to ancient Egypt. Names with Nabu in them are the most common theophoric names for Semitic speakers in Egypt as it was in the Neo-Babylonian texts. Nabu was also one of the Canaanite and Israelite deities worshipped in Elephantine and Aswan alongside gods like Yahweh, Nanay, Bethel, Anat, and the Queen of Heaven.
In the Hebrew Bible, Nabu is mentioned as Nəḇo () in Isaiah 46:1 and Jeremiah 48:1.
In the Hellenistic period, Nabu was sometimes identified with Apollo as a giver of prophecies.