The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria

[24] Indicated by separating the syllables composing the name.

[25] At the period when the kings of Ur extend their rule over Nippur, they, too, do not omit to refer to the distinction of having been called to the service of the great god at his temple.

[26] The name signifies, 'He has founded the city,' the subject of the verb being some deity whose name is omitted.

[27] Jensen, Keils Bibl. 3, 1, p. 23, proposes to read Nin-Ur-sag, but without sufficient reason, it seems to me. The writing being a purely ideographic form, an epitheton ornans, the question of how the ideographs are to be read is not of great moment.

[28] We may compare the poetic application 'rock' to Yahweh in the Old Testament, e.g., Job 1. 12, and frequently in Psalms,—lxii. 3, 7; xcii. 16, 18, etc.

[29] Reading doubtful. Jensen suggests Erim. Hommel (Proc. Soc. Bibl. Arch. xv. 37 seq.) endeavored to identify the place with Babylon, but his views are untenable. If Gish-galla was not a part of Lagash, it could not have been far removed from it. It was Amiaud who first suggested that Shir-pur-la (or Lagash) was the general name for a city that arose from an amalgamation of four originally distinct quarters. ("Sirpurla" in Revue Archéologique, 1888.) The suggestion has been generally, though not universally accepted.

[30] That Ninib is only an ideographic form is sufficiently clear from the element NIN-, lord. The proof, however, that Ninib is Adar, is still wanting. See Jensen, Kosmologie der Babylonier, pp. 457, 458.

[31] From the context (De Sarzec, Découvertes, pl. 6, no. 4, ll. 13-21, and pl. 31, no. 3, col iii. ll. 2-6), there can be no doubt that Shul-gur (or Shul-gur-ana) is an epithet of Nin-girsu. The ideographs descriptive of the edifice suggest a corn magazine of some kind. One is reminded of the storehouses for grain in Egypt. See Jensen's Notes, Keils Bibl. 3, 1, pp. 15, 18, 73. A comparison of the two texts in question makes it probable that Ab-gi and E-bi-gar are synonymous.

[32] Rawlinson, iv. 27, no. 6; 11, 45-46.

[33] It is noticeable that there is no mention made of a special god of Lagash, which points to the later origin of the name.

[34] Inscr. D, col. li. 13; G, col. ii. ll. 1-8; iii. 4 seq.

[35] See Gen. xxiv. 53. Burkhardt, Notes on the Bedouins, i. 109, gives an example of the custom.

[36] The two names are used by Gudea (Inscr. G, col. iii. 12) in a way to indicate that they embrace the whole district of Lagash.

[37]Semit. Völker, p. 382.

[38] See Jensen, Keils Bibl. 3, 1, 28, note 2.

[39] The first signifies 'to make,' the third means "good, favorable," but the second, upon which so much depends, is not clear. Amiaud reads tum instead of sig.

[40]E.g., Ninâ (see below).

[41] De Sarzec, pl. 7, col. i. 12.

[42]Hibbert Lectures, p. 104.

[43] Inscr. D, col. iv. ll. 7, 8.

[44] In Rawlinson, ii. 58, no. 6, there is a list of some seventy names.

[45] Rawlinson, ii. 58, no. 6, 58.

[46] De Sarzec, pl. 8, col v. ll. 4-6.

[47]Keils Bibl. 3, 1, 80, note 3.

[48] Rawlinson, iv. 35, no. 2, 1.

[49] See a syllabary giving lists of gods, Rawlinson, ii. 60, 12. Dungi, indeed, calls Nergal once the king of lawful control over Lagash (Rawlinson, iv. 35, no. 2, ll. 2, 3). The exact force of the title is not clear, but in no case are we permitted to conclude as Amiaud does (Rec. of the Past, N.S., i. 59) that Shid-lam-ta-udda is identical with Nin-girsu.

[50] See Jensen, Kosmologie der Babylonier, pp. 476-87.

[51] See Jensen, Kosmologie der Babylonier, pp. 476-87.

[52] So in the inscription of Rim-Sin (Keils Bibl. 3, 1, p. 97).

[53] Perhaps the knob of a sceptre. Proc. Soc. Bibl. Arch. viii. 68.

[54]E.g., Hammurabi (Revue d'Assyriologie, ii. col. i. 21); but also Gudea and a still earlier king.

[55] So Amlaud; and there seems some reason to believe that the name was used by the side of Utu, though perhaps only as an epithet.

[56] Compare birbiru, 'sheen,' and the stem barû, 'to see,' etc.

[57] See Keils Bibl. 3, I, 100. Reading of name uncertain.

[58] Suggested by Rawlinson, ii. 57, 10. See Schrader, Zeits. f. Assyr. iii. 33 seq.

[59] On Sippar, see Sayce, Hibbert Lectures, etc., 168-169, who finds in the Old Testament form "Sepharvayim" a trace of this double Sippar. Dr. Ward's suggestion, however, in regard to Anbar, as representing this 'second' Sippar, is erroneous.

[60]E.g., in Southern Arabia. See W. Robertson Smith, The Religion of the Semites, I. 59.

[61] In Rabbinical literature, the moon is compared to a 'heifer' (Talmud Babli Rosh-hashana 22 b).

[62] That the name of Sin should have been introduced into Mesopotamia through the 'Arabic' dynasty (see above, p. 39) is less probable, though not impossible in the light of recent discoveries.

[63] Innanna may be separated into In = lord or lady, and nanna; in and nanna would then be elements added to "lady," conveying perhaps the idea of greatness. See Jensen's remarks, Keils Bibl. 3, I, 20, note 4.