were in the army of Sumu-abi ("Shem is my father "), the first king. And this suggests the probability that there were in all polytheistic lands a section of the people who did not believe in a multiplicity of gods. Hammurabi, of the foreign dynasty of Babylon, therefore accepted this doctrine of their identification with Merodach and had the tablet declaring it set up after his assumption of regal power in the twentieth century before Christ. But the Amorites of Palestine did not accept Merodach; they seem to have held to Merodach's predecessor-a sun-god like him--namely, Tammuz. Of all the deities of Semitic heathendom. there is hardly one who has a more interesting mythological career than this favourite of the Palestinian tract and of the women of Israel, for they must have been worshippers of Tammuz long before the women of Jerusalem lamented for him in the court of the temple at Jerusalem, as related by Ezekiel. The worship of Tammuz goes back to an exceedingly early date, as the name is found in the temple accounts of the time of Lugal-anda and Uru-ka-gina, who reigned at Lagaš about 3,000 years before Christ. The full form of the name Tammuz in the original language, Sumerian, is Dumu-zida, meaning "the true" or "faithful son," probably referring to the belief that he constantly kept his word and went down to pass the winter months of every year with Ereš-ki-gal (Persephone) in the underworld. Though always written Dumu-zi(da), it is contended that the name of the god was pronounced Tammuz in Babylonia as well as in the Palestinian tract. From this name, however, that of the fourth month of the Babylonian year, Du'uzu (for Duwuzu, and this, again, for Dumu-zi), Tammuz, was derived, which seems to argue against the pronunciation suggested, except among those Babylonians and Assyrians who came into contact with the Palestinians. Naturally a change in the pronunciation would have obscured the etymology, which must have been known to the scribes. The first element of the name is easy, dumu being the Sumerian word for "child," "son." Zida, shortened to zi, is probably to be rendered in Semitic Babylonian by a form of the root kânu, "to be set, fixed, true, faithful." It also stands for îmnu, "the right (hand)," which is the Akkadian form of the Hebrew, yāmīn, with the same meaning. This would make the name Tammuz practically the same in meaning as the Hebrew 66 1972, Bin-yāmin, Benjamin, the usual rendering of which is son of (the) right hand." A right-hand son naturally suggests a faithful supporter, like a master's right-hand man. Other meanings of zida seem to contain the ideas of greatness, height, and splendour. In view of the importance of this west-Semitic deity I give some of his other names from Western Asia Inscriptions II, pl. 59. After mentioning the attendants of the sun-god Šamaš, who were named Kittum and Mêsarum, "justice and righteousness," we have a dialectic form of the name of Tammuz, Tu-zizi, explained (though broken here) by the regular form, [Dumu]-zi, which is carried into the Semitic explanatory column by means of the characters su-ma, "the same," and after this we have another of his names, very rarely found in the inscriptions—d· U-libir-si | d.En-ubar-sid.Dumu-zi, Tammuz. The meaning of this three-element name is instructive; it may be rendered as Bêlu remuta mala," the lord filled with grace." As a sun-god, Tammuz is rightly classed, as here, with the attendants of Šamaš, the sun in a general sense, as seen all the year round, and not merely the luminary favouring the growth of the fruits of the earth and the living creatures thereon. The attraction of the Israelites towards this deity is therefore not to be wondered at, especially when we consider the importance of the solar heat in nature. The lamentation, after the summer solstice, was only what might be expected in a nation surrounded by idolators still more devoted to heathen practices than the Jews. As for the Assyrians and Babylonians, they were influenced likewise by patriotic feelings. Whether the Hebrews used the hymns composed in Babylonia or not is uncertain, but we may imagine that they sang compositions of a similar nature to the extracts which I now quote after subjecting my older renderings to a further revision. The opening lines possibly refer to an enemy of the god : The ewe and her lamb he taketh; The goat and her kid he taketh; The ewe and her lamb he smiteth down; The goat and her kid he smiteth down. Arise, then, go, thou hero, the road of No-return. Ah hero-my hero, my god Damu. Ah hero- son-my faithful lord. Ah hero-god Lamga, lord of the outspread net. Ah hero-libir, lord of sacrifice. Ah hero-Gu-silim the bright-eyed. Ah hero-thou who art my heavenly light. Ah hero-Ama-ušu-gal-ana.* Ah hero-brother, mother, heavenly vine. He goeth, he goeth to the bosom of the earth--- He will cause abundance for the land of death. (Variant translation: The Sun-god hath made him great for the land of death.) [Neither of these translations, suggested by Assyro-Babylonian scribes, however, seem to give the sense of the original words, which are best transcribed as follows: The rest of this noteworthy paragraph I translate mainly from the original dialectic Sumerian :- For the bitter grief, for the day of the descent,† For the unpropitious month of thy year‡; For the last road of thy people ; For my acclaiming of the lord (Thou goest), hero, to the distant unseen land. In suchwise reads, roughly, the non-Semitic Sumerian text. The Akkadian translation, however, is somewhat as follows:- Filled with lamentation on the day when he fell and was in grief, In an unpropitious month of his year, To the road of the peoples' end (or mankind's rest), (Thou goest), hero, to the distant land which is not seen. It is strange that the Akkadians should not have known exactly how to translate these remarkable lamentations, but such seems to have been the case. The wording, however, * 66 Mother, great unique one (of) heaven." The month Tammuz. suggests that there was some mysterious meaning in them, but this we have not time to deal with; it is enough to include here these few specimens, even though the renderings may not be altogether satisfactory. It is naturally difficult to get away from the subject of the god Tammuz-his worship was so general in the Palestinian tract, as well as in Babylonia, and so many books have been written about it, from the Italian monograph of Lenormant to Sir James Frazer's noteworthy work, that any discussion of the importance of the cult in a paper such as the present is bound to give but a faint idea of its popularity-indeed, Tammuz seems to have become in Palestine almost like a national deity. In Babylonia, on the other hand, he was largely superseded by that more glorious sun-god, Merodach, whose worship seems not to have prevailed in the extreme west of Asia. The heathen worship of the national god of the Babylonians seems, moreover, not to have affected the Israelites either; but notwithstanding this, it is needful to say something about it here. As I have already pointed out, the Jews were inclined to identify the chief of the Babylonian pantheon with Jahwah or Jehovah. But in stating this, I do not mean that they regarded Merodach as a separate deity from Jehovah; it was simply his name in another language. Concerning Merodach and his merciful nature I have already spoken (p. 12), and a few examples of the worship addressed to him by the Babylonians may be of interest. It appears on Plate XXIX of Craig's Religious Texts : I will celebrate thy name (0) Merodach, the mighty one of the gods, governor of heaven and earth, Who, having been well created, is alone supreme. Thou bearest now heavenly divinity, sovereignty, power of uniting (?), royalty, Thou embracest all wisdom, perfect in strength. Beloved, counsellor, supreme prince, powerful, magnified, He has caused his dominion to be glorious, he has prepared resistance even A[nu ?]. In heaven thou art supreme, in earth thou art king, able in wisdom. Fixing the totality of the habitations, holding the ends of the firmament and of the e[arth]. Thou now art made great among the gods, the image he hath created for thee Nudimmud hath [set]- He who hath caused thee to hold the fates of the great gods set in thine hands. He hath caused (them) to kiss they feet, they have spoken, they have blessed (thee), (even) the[y]. Here the text becomes defective, and though there are many more lines worth notice, I refrain from continuing the translation owing to its length. It will be seen, however, that though the other gods of the Babylonian pantheon are recognized, Merodach was, among the Babylonians, the supreme deity and lord of the universe. In this sense the Israelites regarded themselves justified in using his name as the equivalent of Jehovah. Concerning the worship of the Assyro-Babylonian gods in Palestine we get but little information from the Old Testament. In the case of Baal, based upon Phoenician practices, or the Baalized worship of Jehovah, the places of worship were on the hill-tops, and among the trees. Here were to be found Ashēras, or wooden poles or masts of unknown shape, and possibly carved or draped in some distinctive way. Or a maṣṣēbaheither a single stone or a heap of stones, may have been set up to indicate the sacred nature of the place. At the accompanying altars offerings of the fruits of the earth and of the flocks were made; as to the rites performed, it is not my intention here to describe them. They had their own priests and prophets, and on the more important ceremonial occasions these leapt upon the altar, calling upon the god to show his power, and trying to induce him to do so by gashing themselves with knives. How far the out-door ceremonies of the Babylonians may have followed the same lines it is impossible to say, but the solemnity and decorum of their temple-worship was in many cases undoubted, even in the strange ritual which follows: 3.. gate; dust of the shrine of the dust-god of the great |