The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria

[156] See chapter xii., "The Assyrian Pantheon," p. 208.

[157] Rassam, Cylinder viii. 98, 99. 'Belit of Babylonia, honored among the great gods.'

[158]Annals, iii. 135.

[159] The name of the temple. See IIR. 66, ll. 1 and 10. The title 'belit matâti,' 'lady of the lands' is evidently introduced in imitation of 'bel matâti,' 'lord of lands,' belonging to Bel and then to Marduk.

[160] Sayce's view (Hibbert Lectures, p. 186), according to which Anu was originally the local god of Erech, is erroneous.

[161] VR. pl. 33.

[162] Delitzsch, Die Kossaer, pp. 25, 27.

[163] The omission of Ramman here, though invoked at the close of the inscription, is noticeable. Ishtar takes the place that in the more developed system belongs to the god of storms, who with the moon-god and sun-god constitutes a second triad. See p. 163.

[164] Written with the sign An, and the feminine ending tum, but probably pronounced Anatum. The form Anat (without the ending) is used by many scholars, as Sarpanit and Tashmit are used instead of Sarpanitum and Tashmitum. I prefer the fuller forms of these names. Anum similarly is better than Anu, but the latter has become so common that it might as well be retained.

[165] VR. 33, vii. 34-44.

[166] IR. pl. 15, col. vii. 71-pl. 16, col. viii. 88.

[167] No less than nine times.

[168] Tiglathpileser I.

[169] Ramman-nirari I.

[170]Kosmologie, p. 274.

[171] See the list IIIR. 68, 26 seq.

[172] Thureau-Dangin, Journal Asiatique, 1895, pp. 385-393. The name of this deity has been the subject of much discussion. For a full discussion of the subject with an account of the recent literature, see an article by the writer in The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures, xii. 159-162.

[173] Arising perhaps after Im came into use as the ideographic form.

[174]Proc. Soc. Bibl. Arch., xi. 173-174 and pl. 1, col. i. 7.

[175] See p. 145 and also p. 161.

[176] Belser in Haupt and Delitzsch, Beiträge sur Assyriologie, ii. 187 seq., col. vi. i. 3 seq.

[177] The character of this part of the hymn is quite different from that which precedes.

[178] For further notices of these gods, see chapter x.

[179] See above, p. 122.

[180] One might include in the list also Nin-igi-nangar-bu, Gushgin-banda, Nin-kurra, Nin-zadim (from Nabubaliddin's Inscription), but these are only so many epithets of Ea or various forms under which the god came to be worshipped. See p. 177.

[181] We may now look forward to finding many more gods in the rich material for this period unearthed by the University of Pennsylvania Expedition to Niffer.

[182] See chapter x.