onding sign of the Zodiac, great weight must
be attached to Sir Henry Rawlinson's suggestion that the epos of Izdubar
is a poetical embodiment of solar mythology.

In the earlier books of the epos, the hero, not content with rejecting
the proffered love of the Chaldaean Aphrodite, Istar, freely expresses
his very low estimate of her character; and it is interesting to observe
that, even in this early stage of human experience, men had reached
a conception of that law of nature which expresses the inevitable
consequences of an imperfect appreciation of feminine charms. The
injured goddess makes Izdubar's life a burden to him, until at last,
sick in body and sorry in mind, he is driven to seek aid and comfort
from his forbears in the world of spirits. So this antitype of Odysseus
journeys to the shore of the waters of death, and there takes ship
with a Chaldaean Charon, who carries him within hail of his ancestor
Hasisadra. That venerable personage not only gives Izdubar instructions
how to regain his health, but tells him, somewhat _a propos des bottes_
(after the manner of venerable personages), the long story of his
perilous adventure; and how it befell that he, his wife, and his
steersman came to dwell among the blessed gods, without passing through
the portals of death like ordinary mortals.

According to the full story, the sins of mankind had become grievous;
and, at a council of the gods, it was resolved to extirpate the whole
race by a great flood. And, once more, let us note the uniformity of
human experience. It would appear that, four thousand years ago, the
obligations of confidential intercourse about matters of state were
sometimes violated--of course from the best of motives. Ea, one of
the three chiefs of the Chaldaean Pantheon, the god of justice and of
practical wisdom, was also the god of the sea; and, yielding to the
temptation to do a friend a good turn, irresistible to kindly seafaring
folks of all ranks, he warned Hasisadra of what was coming. When Bel
subsequently reproached him for this breach of confidence, Ea defended
himself by declaring that he did not tell Hasisadra anything; he only
sent him a dream. This was undoubtedly sailing very near the wind; but
the attribution of a little benevolent obliquity of conduct to one of
the highest of the gods is a trifle compared with the truly Homeric
anthropomorphism which characterises other parts of the epos.

The Chaldaean deities are, in truth, ex