gs three only will be found with names into which the terms Nin
enters. But there is reason to believe that, in the case of this god, it
was usual to speak of him under a periphrasis; and this periphrasis
entered into names in lieu of the god's proper designation. Five kings
(if this be admitted) may be regarded as named after him, which is as
large a number as we find named after any god but Vul and Asshur.

The principal temples known to have been dedicated to Nin in Assyria
were at Calah, the modern Nimrud. There the vast structure at the
north-western angle of the great mound, including the pyramidical
eminence which is the most striking feature of the ruins, was a temple
dedicated to the honor of Nin by Asshur-izir-pal, the builder of the
North-West Palace. We can have little doubt that this building
represents the "busta Nini" of the clasical writers, the place where
Ninus (Nin or Nin-ip), who was regarded by the Greeks as the
hero-founder of the nation, was interred and specially worshipped. Nin
had also a second temple in this town, which bore the name of _Bit-kura_
(or Beth-kura), as the other one did of _Bit-zira_ (or Beth-zira). It
seems to have been from the fame of Beth-zira that Nin had the title
_Pal-zira_, which forms a substitute for Nin, as already noticed, in one
of the royal names.

MERODACH.

Most of the early kings of Assyria mention Merodach in their opening
invocations, and we sometimes find an allusion in their inscriptions,
which seems to imply that he was viewed as a god of great power. But he
is decidedly not a favorite object of worship in Assyria until a
comparatively recent period. Vul-lush III., indeed claims to have been
the first to give him a prominent place in the Assyrian Pantheon; and it
may be conjectured that the Babylonian expeditions of this monarch
furnished the impulse which led to a modification in this respect of the
Assyrian religious system. The later kings, Sargon and his successors,
maintain the worship introduced by Vul-lush. Sargon habitually regards
his power as conferred upon him by the combined favor of Merodach and
Asshur, while Esarhaddon sculptures Merodach's emblem, together with
that of Asshur, over the images of foreign gods brought to him by a
suppliant prince. No temple to Merodach, is, however, known to have
existed in Assyria, even under the later kings. His name, however, was
not infrequently used as an element in the appellations of Assyrians.

N