itution of god-man
worship its proper place in their religion. The hymns of these cults
comparatively so richly represented in this volume will be among the most
interesting groups of religious texts supplied by the excavations at
Nippur.(27)

OXFORD, July 9, 1919.

LAMENTATION OF ISHME-DAGAN OVER NIPPUR. 13856 (NO. 1)

The liturgical character of this tablet is unique among all the numerous
choral compositions of the Isin period. It is a large two column tablet
containing six long _kisub_ melodies. Liturgies of such kind, compiled by
joining a series of _kisubs_, or melodies, attended by prostrations,
represent an advanced stage in the evolution of these compositions in that
the sections are not mechanically joined together by selecting older
melodies without much regard for their connection, but as a whole they are
apparently original compositions so arranged that they develop a motif
from the beginning to the end of the liturgy. Choral services composed of
_kisubs_ in the cults of deified kings have been found(28) wherein the
deeds and personality of the king are sung, his divine claims are
emphasized and his Messianic promises rehearsed. But the liturgy here
published resembles in literary style the classical lamentations which
always formed the chief temple services of Sumer and Babylonia. It more
especially resembles the weeping mother liturgies, but here Ishme-Dagan
appears in the lines of the service in a role similar to that of the
sorrowful mother goddess of the ordinary liturgies, as he weeps for
Nippur.

"Her population like cattle of the fields within her have perished. Helas
my land I sigh."

So reads a line from the second melody.

Lines of similar character occur repeatedly in the laments of the mother
goddess as she weeps for her people in the standard liturgies. In other
words, the cult of the deified kings issues here into its logical result.
The god man created to live and die for his people usurps the sphere of
the earth mother herself. And like her he is intimately associated with
the fortunes of mankind, of nature and all living creatures. The great
gods and the hosts of their attendants rule over man and the various
phases of the universe from afar. But the mother goddess is the
incarnation of fruitful nature, the mother of man whose joys and sorrows
she feels. So also in this remarkable liturgy the deified son of the great
gods lives among men, becomes their patron and divine co