among
those worn by the kings, and engraved above their heads on the
rock-tablets. [PLATE CXLII., Fig. 4.]

Vul had a temple at Calah besides the two temples in which he received
worship at Asshur. It was dedicated to him in conjunction with the
goddess Shala, who appears to have been regarded as his wife.

It is not quite certain whether we can recognize any representations of
Vul in the Assyrian remains. Perhaps the figure with four wings and a
horned cap, who wields a thunderbolt in either hand, and attacks
therewith the monster, half lion, half eagle, which is known to us from
the Nimrod sculptures, may be intended for this deity. If so, it will be
reasonable also to recognize him in the figure with uplifted foot,
sometimes perched upon an ox, and bearing, like the other, one or two
thunderbolts, which occasionally occurs upon the cylinders. It is
uncertain, however, whether the former of these figures is not one of
the many different representations of Nin, the Assyrian Hercules; and,
should that prove the true explanation in the one case, no very great
confidence could be felt in the suggested identification in the other.

GULA.

Gula, the Sum-goddess, does not occupy a very high position among the
deities of Assyria. Her emblem, indeed, the eight-rayed disk, is borne,
together with her husband's, by the Assyrian monarchs, and is inscribed
on the rock-tablets, on the stones recording benefactions, and on the
cylinder-seals, with remarkable frequency. But her name occurs rarely in
the inscriptions, and, where it is found, appears low down in the lists.
In the Black-Obelisk invocation, out of thirteen deities named, she is
the twelfth. Elsewhere she scarcely appears, unless in inscriptions of a
purely religious character. Perhaps she was commonly regarded as so much
one with her husband that a separate and distinct mention of her seemed
not to be requisite.

Gula is known to have had at least two temples in Assyria. One of these
was at Asshur, where she was worshipped in combination with ten other
deities, of whom one only, Ishtar, was of high rank. The other was at
Calah, where her husband had also a temple. She is perhaps to be
identified with _Bilat-Ili_, "the mistress of the gods," to whom Sargon
dedicated one of his gates in conjunction with Hoa.

NINIP, or NIN.

Among the gods of the second order, there is none whom the Assyrians
worshipped with more devotion than Nin, or Ninip. In traditions which