the horizon thus opened before us, a feeling akin to awe overcomes us.
Until within a very few years, Egypt gloried in the undisputed boast of
being the oldest country in the world, i.e., of reaching back, by its
annals and monuments, to an earlier date than any other. But the
discoveries that are continually being made in the valley of the two
great rivers have forever silenced that boast. Chaldea points to a
monumentally recorded date nearly 4000 B.C. This is more than Egypt can
do. Her oldest authentic monuments,--her great Pyramids, are
considerably later. Mr. F. Hommel, one of the leaders of Assyriology,
forcibly expresses this feeling of wonder in a recent publication:[BK]
"If," he says, "the Semites were already settled in Northern Babylonia
(Accad) in the beginning of the fourth thousand B.C., in possession of
the fully developed Shumiro-Accadian culture adopted by them,--a
culture, moreover, which appears to have sprouted in Accad as a cutting
from Shumir--then the latter must naturally be far, far older still,
and have existed in its completed form IN THE FIFTH THOUSAND B.C.--an
age to which I now unhesitatingly ascribe the South-Babylonian
incantations." This would give our mental vision a sweep of full six
thousand years, a pretty respectable figure! But when we remember that
these first known settlers of Shumir came from somewhere else, and that
they brought with them more than the rudiments of civilization, we are
at once thrown back at least a couple of thousands of years more. For it
must have taken all of that and more for men to pass from a life spent
in caves and hunting the wild beasts to a stage of culture comprising
the invention of a complete system of writing, the knowledge and working
of metals, even to the mixing of copper and tin into bronze, and an
expertness in agriculture equal not only to tilling, but to draining
land. If we further pursue humanity--losing at last all count of time in
years or even centuries--back to its original separation, to its first
appearance on the earth,--if we go further still and try to think of the
ages upon ages during which man existed not at all, yet the earth did,
and was beautiful to look upon--(_had_ there been any to look on it),
and good for the creatures who had it all to themselves--a dizziness
comes over our senses, before the infinity of time, and we draw back,
faint and awed, as we do when astronomy launches us, on a slender thread
of figures, into the infinity of space. The six ages of a thousand years
each which are all that our mind can firmly grasp then come to seem to
us a very poor and puny fraction of eternity, to which we are tempted
to apply almost scornfully the words spoken by the poet of as many
years: "Six ages! six little ages! six drops of time!"[BL]
FOOTNOTES:
[BJ] Maspero, "Histoire Ancienne," p. 173.
[BK] Ztschr. für Keilschriftforschung, "Zur altbabylonischen
Chronologie," Heft I.
[BL] Matthew Arnold, in "Mycerinus":
"Six years! six little years! six drops of time!"
APPENDIX TO CHAPTER VII.
Professor Louis Dyer has devoted some time to preparing a free metrical
translation of "Ishtar's Descent." Unfortunately, owing to his many
occupations, only the first part of the poem is as yet finished. This he
most kindly has placed at our disposal, authorizing us to present it to
our readers.
ISHTAR IN URUGAL.
Along the gloomy avenue of death
To seek the dread abysm of Urugal,
In everlasting Dark whence none returns,
Ishtar, the Moon-god's daughter, made resolve,
And that way, sick with sorrow, turned her face.
A road leads downward, but no road leads back
From Darkness' realm. There is Irkalla queen,
Named also Ninkigal, mother of pains.
Her portals close forever on her guests
And exit there is none, but all who enter,
To daylight strangers, and of joy unknown,
Within her sunless gates restrained must stay.
And there the only food vouchsafed is dust,
For slime they live on, who on earth have died.
Day's golden beam greets none and darkness reigns
Where hurtling bat-like forms of feathered men
Or human-fashioned birds imprisoned flit.
Close and with dust o'erstrewn, the dungeon doors
Are held by bolts with gathering mould o'ersealed.
By love distracted, though the queen of love,
Pale Ishtar downward flashed toward death's domain,
And swift approached these gates of Urugal,
Then paused impatient at its portals grim;
For love, whose strength no earthly bars restrain,
Gives not the key to open Darkness' Doors.
By service from all living men made proud,
Ishtar brooked not resistance from the dead.
She called the jailer, then to anger changed
The love that sped her on her breathless way,
And from her parted lips incontinent
Swept speech that made the unyielding warder quail.
"Quick, turnkey of the pit! swing wide these doors,
And fling them swiftly open. Tarry not!
For I will pass, even I will enter in.
Dare no denial, thou, bar not my way,
Else will I burst thy bolts and rend thy gates,
This lintel shatter else and wreck these doors.
The pent-up dead I else will loose, and lead
Back the departed to the lands they left,
Else bid the famished dwellers in the pit
Rise up to live and eat their fill once more.
Dead myriads then shall burden groaning earth,
Sore tasked without them by her living throngs."
Love's mistress, mastered by strong hate,
The warder heard, and wondered first, then feared
The angered goddess Ishtar what she spake,
Then answering said to Ishtar's wrathful might:
"O princess, stay thy hand; rend not the door,
But tarry here, while unto Ninkigal
I go, and tell thy glorious name to her."
ISHTAR'S LAMENT.
"All love from earthly life with me departed,
With me to tarry in the gates of death;
In heaven's sun no warmth is longer hearted,
And chilled shall cheerless men now draw slow breath.
"I left in sadness life which I had given,
I turned from gladness and I walked with woe,
Toward living death by grief untimely driven,
I search for Thammuz whom harsh fate laid low
"The darkling pathway o'er the restless waters
Of seven seas that circle Death's domain
I trod, and followed after earth's sad daughters
Torn from their loved ones and ne'er seen again.
"Here must I enter in, here make my dwelling
With Thammuz in the mansion of the dead,
Driven to Famine's house by love compelling
And hunger for the sight of that dear head.
"O'er husbands will I weep, whom death has taken,
Whom fate in manhood's strength from life has swept,
Leaving on earth their living wives forsaken,--
O'er them with groans shall bitter tears be wept.
"And I will weep o'er wives, whose short day ended
Ere in glad offspring joyed their husbands' eyes;
Snatched from loved arms they left their lords untended,--
O'er them shall tearful lamentations rise.
"And I will weep o'er babes who left no brothers,
Young lives to the ills of age by hope opposed,
The sons of saddened sires and tearful mothers,
One moment's life by death eternal closed."
NINKIGAL'S COMMAND TO THE WARDER.
"Leave thou this presence, slave, open the gate;
Since power is hers to force an entrance here,
Let her come in as come from life the dead,
Submissive to the laws of Death's domain.
Do unto her what unto all thou doest."
Want of space bids us limit ourselves to these few fragments--surely
sufficient to make our readers wish that Professor Dyer might spare some
time to the completion of his task.
INDEX.
A.
Abel, killed by Cain, 129.
Abraham, wealthy and powerful chief, 200;
goes forth from Ur, 201;
his victory over Khudur-Lagamar, 222-224.
Abu-Habba, see Sippar.
Abu-Shahrein, see Eridhu.
Accad, Northern or Upper Chaldea, 145;
meaning of the word, ib.;
headquarters of Semitism, 204-205.
Accads, see Shumiro-Accads.
Accadian language, see Shumiro-Accadian.
Agadê, capital of Accad, 205.
Agglutinative languages, meaning of the word, 136-137;
characteristic of Turanian nations, ib.;
spoken by the people of Shumir and Accad, 144.
Agricultural life, third stage of culture, first beginning of real
civilization, 122.
Akki, the water-carrier, see Sharrukin of Agadê.
Alexander of Macedon conquers Babylon, 4;
his soldiers destroy the dams of the Euphrates, 5.
Allah, Arabic for "God," see Ilu.
Allat, queen of the Dead, 327-329.
Altaï, the great Siberian mountain chain, 146;
probable cradle of the Turanian race, 147.
Altaïc, another name for the Turanian or Yellow Race, 147.
Amarpal, also Sin-Muballit, king of Babylon, perhaps Amraphel, King of
Shinar, 226.
Amorite, the, a tribe of Canaan, 133.
Amraphel, see Amarpal.
Ana, or Zi-ana--"Heaven," or "Spirit of Heaven," p. 154.
Anatu, goddess, mother of Ishtar, smites Êabâni with death and Izdubar
with leprosy, 310.
Anthropomorphism, meaning of the word, 355;
definition and causes of, 355-357.
Anu, first god of the first Babylonian Triad, same as Ana, 240;
one of the "twelve great gods," 246.
Anunnaki, minor spirits of earth, 154, 250.
Anunit (the Moon), wife of Shamash, 245.
Apsu (the Abyss), 264.
Arali, or Arallu, the Land of the Dead, 157;
its connection with the Sacred Mountain, 276.
Arallu, see Arali.
Aram, a son of Shem, eponymous ancestor of the Aramæans in Gen.
x., 131.
Arabs, their conquest and prosperous rule in Mesopotamia, 5;
Baghdad, their capital, 5;
nomads in Mesopotamia, 8;
their superstitious horror of the ruins and sculptures, 11;
they take the gigantic head for Nimrod, 22-24;
their strange ideas about the colossal winged bulls and lions and
their destination, 24-25;
their habit of plundering ancient tombs at Warka, 86;
their conquests and high culture in Asia and Africa, 118.
Arbela, city of Assyria, built in hilly region, 50.
Architecture, Chaldean, created by local conditions, 37-39;
Assyrian, borrowed from Chaldea, 50.
Areph-Kasdîm, see Arphaxad, meaning of the word, 200.
Arphaxad, eldest son of Shem, 200.
Arphakshad, see Arphaxad.
Asshur, a son of Shem, eponymous ancestor of the Assyrians in Genesis
x., 131.
Asshurbanipal, King of Assyria, his Library, 100-112;
conquers Elam, destroys Shushan, and restores the statue of the
goddess Nana to Erech, 194-195.
Asshur-nazir-pal, King of Assyria, size of hall in his palace at Calah
(Nimrud), 63.
Assyria, the same as Upper Mesopotamia, 7;
rise of, 228.
Astrology, meaning of the word, 106;
a corruption of astronomy, 234;
the special study of priests, ib.
Astronomy, the ancient Chaldeans' proficiency in, 230;
fascination of, 231;
conducive to religious speculation, 232;
degenerates into astrology, 234;
the god Nebo, the patron of, 242.
B.
Babbar, see Ud.
Babel, same as Babylon, 237.
Bab-el-Mandeb, Straits of, 189.
Bab-ilu, Semitic name of Babylon; meaning of the name, 225, 249.
Babylonia, a part of Lower Mesopotamia, 7;
excessive flatness of, 9;
later name for "Shumir and Accad" and for "Chaldea," 237.
Baghdad, capital of the Arabs' empire in Mesopotamia, 5;
its decay, 6.
Bassorah, see Busrah.
Bedouins, robber tribes of, 8;
distinctively a nomadic people, 116-118.
Bel, third god of the first Babylonian Triad, 239;
meaning of the name, 240;
one of the "twelve great gods," 246;
his battle with Tiamat, 288-290.
Belit, the wife of Bel, the feminine principle of nature, 244-245;
one of the "twelve great gods," 246.
Bel-Maruduk, see Marduk.
Berosus, Babylonian priest; his History of Chaldea, 128;
his version of the legend of Oannes, 184-185;
his account of the Chaldean Cosmogony, 260-261, 267;
his account of the great tower and the confusion of tongues, 292-293;
his account of the Deluge, 299-301.
Birs-Nimrud or Birs-i-Nimrud, see Borsippa.
Books, not always of paper, 93;
stones and bricks used as books, 97;
walls and rocks, ib., 97-99.
Borsippa (Mound of Birs-Nimrud), its peculiar shape, 47;
Nebuchadnezzar's inscription found at, 72;
identified with the Tower of Babel, 293.
Botta begins excavations at Koyunjik, 14;
his disappointment, 15;
his great discovery at Khorsabad, 15-16.
Bricks, how men came to make, 39;
sun-dried or raw, and kiln-dried or baked, 40;
ancient bricks from the ruins used for modern constructions; trade
with ancient bricks at Hillah, 42.
British Museum, Rich's collection presented to, 14.
Busrah, or Bassorah, bulls and lions shipped to, down the Tigris, 52.
Byblos, ancient writing material, 94.
C.
Ca-Dimirra (or Ka-Dimirra), second name of Babylon; meaning of the
name, 216, 249.
Cain, his crime, banishment, and posterity, 129.
Calah, or Kalah, one of the Assyrian capitals, the Larissa of
Xenophon, 3.
Calendar, Chaldean, 230, 318-321, 325.
Canaan, son of Ham, eponymous ancestor of many nations, 134.
Canaanites, migrations of, 190.
Cement, various qualities of, 44.
Chaldea, the same as Lower Mesopotamia, 7;
alluvial formation of, 37-38;
its extraordinary abundance in cemeteries, 78;
a nursery of nations, 198;
more often called by the ancients "Babylonia," 237.
Chaldeans, in the sense of "wise men of the East," astrologer,
magician, soothsayer,--a separate class of the priesthood,
254-255.
Charm against evil spells, 162.
Cherub, Cherubim, see Kirûbu.
China, possibly mentioned in Isaiah, 136, note.
Chinese speak a monosyllabic language, 137;
their genius and its limitations, 138, 139;
oldest national religion of, 180, 181;
their "docenal" and "sexagesimal" system of counting, 230-231.
Chronology, vagueness of ancient, 193-194;
extravagant figures of, 196-197;
difficulty of establishing, 211-212.
Chthon, meaning of the word, 272.
Chthonic Powers, 272, 273.
Chthonic Myths, see Myths.
Cissians, see Kasshi.
Cities, building of, fourth stage of culture, 123, 124.
Classical Antiquity, meaning of the term; too exclusive study of, 12.
Coffins, ancient Chaldean, found at Warka: "jar-coffins," 82;
"dish-cover" coffins, 84;
"slipper-shaped" coffin (comparatively modern), 84-86.
Conjuring, against demons and sorcerers, 158-159;
admitted into the later reformed religion, 236.
Conjurors, admitted into the Babylonian priesthood, 250.
Cossæans, see Kasshi.
Cosmogonic Myths, see Myths.
Cosmogony, meaning of the word, 259;
Chaldean, imparted by Berosus, 260-261;
original tablets discovered by Geo. Smith, 261-263;
their contents, 264 and ff.;
Berosus again, 267.
Cosmos, meaning of the word, 272.
Cuneiform writing, shape and specimen of, 10;
introduced into Chaldea by the Shumiro-Accads, 145.
Cush, or Kush, eldest son of Ham, 186;
probable early migrations of, 188;
ancient name of Ethiopia, 189.
Cushites, colonization of Turanian Chaldea by, 192.
Cylinders: seal cylinders in hard stones, 113-114;
foundation-cylinders, 114;
seal-cylinders worn as talismans, 166;
Babylonian cylinder, supposed to represent the Temptation and
Fall, 266.
D.
Damkina, goddess, wife of Êa, mother of Meridug, 160.
Decoration: of palaces, 58-62;
of walls at Warka, 87-88.
Delitzsch, Friedrich, eminent Assyriologist, favors the Semitic
theory, 186.
Deluge, Berosus' account of, 299-301;
cuneiform account, in the 11th tablet of the Izdubar Epic, 314-317.
Demon of the South-West Wind, 168.
Diseases conceived as demons, 163.
Divination, a branch of Chaldean "science," in what it
consists, 251-252;
collection of texts on, in one hundred tablets, 252-253;
specimens of, 253-254.
Draining of palace mounds, 70;
of sepulchral mounds at Warka, 86-87.
Dumuzi, the husband of the goddess Ishtar, 303;
the hero of a solar Myth, 323-326.
Dur-Sharrukin, (see Khorsabad),
built in hilly region, 50.
E.
Êa, sometimes Zi-kî-a, the Spirit of the Earth and Waters, 154;
protector against evil spirits and men, 160;
his chief sanctuary at Eridhu, 215;
second god of the first Babylonian Triad, 239;
his attributions, 240;
one of the "twelve great gods," 246.
Êabâni, the seer, 304;
invited by Izdubar, 304-305;
becomes Izdubar's friend, 307;
vanquishes with him the Elamite tyrant Khumbaba, 308;
smitten by Ishtar and Anatu, 310;
restored to life by the gods, 314.
Ê-Babbara, "House of the Sun," 215, 248.
Eber, see Heber.
El, see Ilu.
Elam, kingdom of, conquered by Asshurbanipal, 194;
meaning of the name, 220.
Elamite conquest of Chaldea, 219-221, 224-225.
Elohim, one of the Hebrew names for God, a plural of El, 354.
See Ilu.
Emanations, theory of divine, 238-239;
meaning of the word, 239.
Enoch, son of Cain, 129.
Enoch, the first city, built by Cain, 129.
Epic Poems, or Epics, 298-299.
Epic-Chaldæan, oldest known in the world, 299;
its division into tablets, 302.
Eponym, meaning of the word, 133.
Eponymous genealogies in Genesis X., 132-134.
Epos, national, meaning of the word, 299.
Erech (now Mound of Warka), oldest name Urukh, immense burying-grounds
around, 80-82;
plundered by Khudur-Nankhundi, king of Elam, 195;
library of, 209.
Eri-Aku (Ariokh of Ellassar), Elamite king of Larsam, 226.
Eridhu (modern Abu-Shahrein), the most ancient city of Shumir, 215;
specially sacred to Êa, 215, 246, 287.
Ethiopians, see Cush.
Excavations, how carried on, 30-34.
F.
Fergusson, Jas., English explorer and writer on art subjects, 56.
Finns, a nation of Turanian stock, 138.
Flood, or Deluge, possibly not universal, 128-129.
G.
Gan-Dunyash, or Kar-Dunyash, most ancient name of Babylonia
proper, 225, 286.
Genesis, first book of the Pentateuch, 127-129;
Chapter X. of, 130-142;
meaning of the word, 353.
Gibil, Fire, 173;
hymn to, 16;
his friendliness, 174;
invoked to prosper the fabrication of bronze, 16.
Gisdhubar, see Izdubar.
Gudêa, _patesi_ of Sir-burla, 214.
H.
Ham, second son of Noah, 130;
meaning of the name, 186.
Hammurabi, king of Babylon and all Chaldea, 226;
his long and glorious reign, ib.;
his public works and the "Royal Canal," 227.
Harimtu ("Persuasion"), one of the handmaidens of Ishtar, 305.
Hâsisadra, same as Xisuthros, 303;
gives Izdubar an account of the great Flood, 314-317.
Heber, a descendant of Shem, eponymous ancestor of the Hebrews in
Genesis X., 131, 222.
Heroes, 296-298.
Heroic Ages, 299.
Heroic Myths, see Myths.
Hillah, built of bricks from the palace of Nebuchadnezzar, carries on
trade with ancient bricks, 42.
Himâlaya Mountains, 188.
Hindu-Cush (or Kush) Mountains, 188.
Hit, ancient Is, on the Euphrates, springs of bitumen at, 44.
Hivite, the, a tribe of Canaan, 133.
Hungarians, a nation of Turanian stock, 138.
I.
Idpa, the Demon of Fever, 156.
Igigi, three hundred, spirits of heaven, 250.
Ilu, or El, Semitic name for "god," 232.
Im, or Mermer, "Wind," 154.
India, 188.
Indus, the great river of India, 188.
Intercalary months, introduced by the Chaldeans to correct the
reckoning of their year, 230.
Is, see Hit.
Ishtar, the goddess of the planet Venus, 242;
the Warrior-Queen and Queen of Love, 245;
one of the "twelve great gods," 246;
offers her love to Izdubar, 308;
is rejected and sends a monstrous bull against him, 309;
causes Êabâni's death and Izdubar's illness, 310;
descent of, into the land of shades, 326-330.
Izdubar, the hero of the great Chaldean Epic, 303;
his dream at Erech, 304;
invites Êabâni, 304-305;
vanquishes with his help Khumbaba, the Elamite tyrant of Erech, 308;
offends Ishtar, 308;
vanquishes the divine Bull, with Êabâni's help, 309;
is smitten with leprosy, 310;
travels to "the mouth of the great rivers" to consult his immortal
ancestor Hâsisadra, 310-313;
is purified and healed, 313;
returns to Erech; his lament over Êabâni's death, 313-314;
solar character of the Epic, 318-322.
J.
Jabal and Jubal, sons of Lamech, descendants of Cain, 129.
Japhet, third son of Noah, 130.
Javan, a son of Japhet, eponymous ancestor of the Ionian Greeks, 134.
"Jonah's Mound," see Nebbi-Yunus.
Jubal, see Jabal and Jubal.
K.
Ka-Dingirra, see Ca-Dimirra.
Kar-Dunyash, see Gan-Dunyash.
Kasbu, the Chaldean double hour, 230.
Kasr, Mound of, ruins of the palace of Nebuchadnezzar, 42.
Kasshi (Cossæans or Cissians), conquer Chaldea, 228.
Kerbela and Nedjif, goal of pilgrim-caravans from Persia, 78.
Kerubim, see Kirûbu.
Khorsabad, Mound of, Botta's excavations and brilliant discovery
at, 15-16.
Khudur-Lagamar (Chedorlaomer), king of Elam and Chaldea, his
conquests, 221;
plunders Sodom and Gomorrah with his allies, 222;
is overtaken by Abraham and routed, 223;
his probable date, 224.
Khudur-Nankhundi, king of Elam, invades Chaldea and carries the statue
of the goddess Nana away from Erech, 195.
Khumbaba, the Elamite tyrant of Erech vanquished by Izdubar and
Êabâni, 308.
Kirûbu, name of the Winged Bulls, 164.
Koyunjik, Mound of Xenophon's Mespila, 14;
Botta's unsuccessful exploration of, 15;
valuable find of small articles in a chamber at, in the palace of
Sennacherib, 34.
Kurds, nomadic tribes of, 8.
L.
Lamech, fifth descendant of Cain, 129.
Larissa, ruins of ancient Calah, seen by Xenophon, 3.
Larsam (now Senkereh), city of Shumir, 215.
Layard meets Botta at Mossul in 1842, 17;
undertakes the exploration of Nimrud, 17-18;
his work and life in the East, 19-32;
discovers the Royal Library at Nineveh (Koyunjik), 100.
Lebanon Mountains, 190.
Lenormant, François, eminent French Orientalist; his work on the
religion of the Shumiro-Accads, 152-3;
favors the Cushite theory, 186.
Library of Asshurbanipal in his palace at Nineveh (Koyunjik);
discovered by Layard, 100;
re-opened by George Smith, 103;
contents and importance of, for modern scholarship, 106-109;
of Erech, 209.
Loftus, English explorer; his visit to Warka in 1854-5, 80-82;
procures slipper-shaped coffins for the British Museum, 36.
Louvre, Assyrian Collection at the, 17;
"Sarzec collection" added, 89.
Louvre, Armenian contrivance for lighting houses, 68.
M.
Madai, a son of Japhet, eponymous ancestor of the Medes, 135.
Magician, derivation of the word, 255.
Marad, ancient city of Chaldea, 303.
Marduk, or Maruduk (Hebrew Merodach), god of the planet Jupiter, 241;
one of the "twelve great gods," 246;
special patron of Babylon, 249.
Maskim, the seven, evil spirits, 154;
incantation against the, 155;
the same, poetical version, 182.
Maspero, G., eminent French Orientalist, 197.
Medes, Xenophon's erroneous account of, 3-4;
mentioned under the name of Madai in Genesis X., 135.
Media, divided from Assyria by the Zagros chain, 50.
Ménant, Joachim, French Assyriologist; his little book on the Royal
Library at Nineveh, 105.
Meridug, son of Êa, the Mediator, 160;
his dialogues with Êa, 161-162.
Mermer, see Im.
Merodach, see Marduk.
Mesopotamia, meaning of the name, 5;
peculiar formation of, 6;
division of, into Upper and Lower, 7.
Mespila, ruins of Nineveh; seen by Xenophon, 3;
now Mound of Koyunjik, 14.
Migrations of tribes, nations, races; probable first causes of
prehistoric migrations, 119;
caused by invasions and conquests, 125;
of the Turanian races, 146-147;
of the Cushites, 188;
of the Canaanites, 190.
Mizraim ("the Egyptians"), a son of Ham, eponymous ancestor of the
Egyptians, 133;
opposed to Cush, 189.
Monosyllabic languages--Chinese, 136-137.
Monotheism, meaning of the word, 238;
as conceived by the Hebrews, 344-345.
Mosul, the residence of a Turkish Pasha; origin of the name, 6;
the wicked Pasha of, 20-23.
Mound-Builders, their tombs, 335-338.
Mounds, their appearance, 9-10;
their contents, 11;
formation of, 72;
their usefulness in protecting the ruins and works of art, 74;
sepulchral mounds at Warka, 79-87.
Mugheir, see Ur.
Mul-ge, "Lord of the Abyss," 154.
Mummu-Tiamat (the "Billowy Sea"), 264;
her hostility to the gods, 288;
her fight with Bel, 288-290.
Mythology, definition of, 331;
distinction from Religion, 331-334.
Myths, meaning of the word, 294;
Cosmogonic, 294;
Heroic, 297-298;
Solar, 322, 339-340;
Chthonic, 330, 340-341.
N.
Nabonidus, last king of Babylon, discovers Naram-sin's cylinder, 213;
discovers Hammurabi's cylinder at Larsam, 218-219.
Namtar, the Demon of Pestilence, 156, 157;
incantation against, 167;
Minister of Allat, Queen of the Dead, 328, 329.
Nana, Chaldean goddess, her statue restored by Asshurbanipal,
195, 343-344;
wife of Anu, 245.
Nannar, see Uru-Ki.
Naram-Sin, son of Sargon I. of Agadê;
his cylinder discovered by Nabonidus, 213.
Nations, gradual formation of, 125-126.
Nebbi-Yunus, Mound of, its sacredness, 11;
its size, 49.
Nebo, or Nabu, the god of the planet Mercury, 242;
one of the "twelve great gods," 246.
Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon;
his palace, now Mound of Kasr, 42;
his inscription of Borsippa, 72.
Nedjif, see Kerbela.
Nergal, the god of the planet Mars, and of War, 242;
one of the "twelve great gods," 246.
Niffer, see Nippur.