Our School Patron

Nebo, or Nabu, is the Babylonian god of wisdom and writing. He is known as the scribe of the gods and the patron of all scribes as well as the god of speech and science. The great king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar (Nabû-kudurri-uṣur - "God Nabu, preserve my firstborn son"), is his namesake.

So Why Nebo?

The Babylonians cosidered Nebo as the divine sponsor of returned hostages, a personal misadventure frequently encountered in Babylonian times. Beelzebub expresses a great affinity for Babylon's search for truth. When one suffers the unexamined burden of Kundabuffer, he is inescapably its hostage. All work begins with self-observation.

The Phoenician Letters, a distincly unusual little book describes Nebo:

"Why the god of writings? In the sky, signs; in the fire; visions, in the water, shapes; and on earth, letters. Know the signs and your eyes will speak for them. The Black men, the Yellow men, the Brown men speak. We hear, listen, and do not understand their speech. But the eyes must recognise.

Why the god of science? The laws of the beasts, the laws of the arts, the laws of growth and decay, seed time and harvest, sickess and health. The laws of water, earth, fire and air. When we recognise them, then we know how we may act, in the smallest way for the best result."

[Note: The Phoenician Letters, interestingly, is among other things a collection of ten letters from a novitiate of the Sarmoung Brotherhood to a young Babylonian prince concerning the prince's entrance into the order.]

The Phoenician Letters. Davies, Wilfred and G. Zur. 1979, Mowat Publishing.