ites of purification. As a title of the grain goddess, see CT. 24,
9, 35 = 23, 17; SBP. 158, 64 _A-sug_ where ZIMMERN, KL. 11 Rev. III 11 has
_Azag-sug_. She is frequently associated with Ninhabursildu and Nidaba
(the grain goddess) in rituals, ZIMMERN, Rt. 126, 27 and 29; 138, 14, etc.
The censer probably symbolizes both male and female aspects, the fire that
burns and the grain that is burned. See below II 9, where the censer is
symbol of Urasha a god of light.

(11) The torch is Nusku the fire god in the Nippur pantheon. Below (II 10)
the torch is Gibil, fire god in the Eridu pantheon.

The mystic identifications do not always agree, but the term of comparison
can generally be found if the origin and character of the deities are
known and the nature of the symbol determined. Each god was associated
with an animal and a plant and with other forms of nature over which they
presided. When the cult utensils are symbols the term of comparison is
generally clear. Below will be found such interpretations of these
mysteries as the condition of the tablet and the limits of our knowledge
permit. Most difficult of all are the metal symbols which begin with Obv.
I 10. Here silver is heaven, but it can hardly be explained after the
manner of the same connection of Zeus Dolichaios with silver in Kommagene.
The cult of this Asiatic heaven god is said to have been chiefly practiced
at a city in the region of silver mines.(519) That is an impossible
explanation in the case of Anu whose chief cult center was at Erech. The
association of gold with Enmesharra, here obviously the earth god, is
completely unintelligible. In Obv. I 31 he is possibly associated with
lead or copper as the planet Saturn. In lines I 14-18 the symbols are
broken away, but they are probably based upon astronomy. Metals seem to be
connected with fixed stars and planets on the principle of color. The
metallic symbolism of the planets was well known to Byzantine writers who
did not always agree in these matters. Their identifications are certainly
a Graeco-Roman heritage which in turn repose upon Babylonian
tradition.(520) The following table taken from COOK, _Zeus_, p. 626, will
illustrate Graeco-Roman ideas on this point:

Kronos--lead (Saturn); Zeus--silver (Jupiter); Ares--iron (Mars); Helios--gold
(Sun); Aphrodite--tin (Venus); Hermes--bronze (Mercury); Selene--crystal
(Moon).

Our tablet preserves only the names of the deities at this point, and if
metals