sponds in
great measure with the classical Zeus or Jupiter, being, like him, the
real "Prince of the power of the air," the lord of the whirlwind and the
tempest, and the wielder of the thunderbolt. His standard titles are
"the minister of heaven and earth," "the Lord of the air," "he who makes
the tempest to rage." He is regarded as the destroyer of crops, the
rooter-up of trees, the scatterer of the harvest. Famine, scarcity, and
even their consequence, pestilence, are assigned to him. He is said to
have in his hand a "flaming sword," with which he effects his works of
destruction; and this "flaming sword," which probably represents
lightning, becomes his emblem upon the tablets and cylinders, where it is
figured as a double or triple bolt. [PLATE XIX., Fig. 4.] Vul again, as
the god of the atmosphere, gives the rain; and hence he is "the careful
and beneficent chief," "the giver of abundance," "the lord of fecundity."
In this capacity he is naturally chosen to preside over canals, the great
fertilizers of Babylonia; and we find among his titles "the lord of
canals," and "the establisher of works of irrigation."

There is not much evidence of the worship of Vul in Chaldaea during the
early times. That he must have been known appears from the fact of his
name forming an element in the name of Shamas-Vul, son of Ismi-dagon, who
ruled over Chaldaea about B.C. 1850. It is also certain that this
Shamas-Vul set up his worship at Asshur (Kileh-Sherghat) in Assyria,
associating him there with his father Ana, and building to them
conjointly a great temple. Further than this we have no proof that he
was an object of worship in the time of the first monarchy; though in the
time of Assyrian preponderance, as well as in that of the later
Babylonian Empire, there were few gods more venerated.

Vul is sometimes associated with a goddess, Shala or Tala, who is
probably the Salambo or Salambas of the lexicographers. The meaning of
her name is uncertain; and her epithets are for the most part obscure.
Her ordinary title is sacrat or sharrat, "queen," the feminine of the
common word sar, which means "Chief," "King," or "Sovereign."

BAR, NIN, or NINIP.

If we are right in regarding the five gods who stand next to the Triad
formed of the Moon, the Sun, and the Atmosphere, as representatives of
the five planets visible to the naked eye, the god Nin, or Ninip, should
be Saturn. His names, Bar and Nin, are respectively a Semit