to Nergal and Allatu, and that gave to the adaptation more
plausibility, was the disappearance of the summer sun after he had done
his work. Nergal did not exert his power during the whole year, and even
as the sun of midday, he was not in control all day. When he
disappeared, there was only one place to which he could go.

As of Tarmmuz and of other solar deities,[1214] it was probably related
of Nergal, also, that he was carried to the lower world. This popular
basis for the presence of Nergal in the lower world may have served as a
point of departure for the scholastic development of Nergal. However,
the tale of Nergal and Allatu goes far beyond the length of popular
belief in making Nergal conquer Allatu, and force himself, in a measure,
into her place. Before Nergal appears on the scene, a god, Ninazu, was
regarded as the consort of Allatu.[1215]

The conception which gives the Babylonian Hades a queen as ruler is of
popular origin, in contrast to the scholastic aspect of Nergal as the
later king of the lower region. Jensen is of the opinion that the
feminine gender of the word for earth in Babylonian superinduced the
belief that the ruler of the kingdom situated within the earth was a
woman. Allatu would, according to this view, be a personification of the
'earth.' But a factor that also enters into play is the notion of
productivity and fertility which gave rise to the conception of the
great mother-goddess, Ishtar.[1216] Allatu is correlated to Ishtar. From
the earth comes vegetation. The origin of mankind, too, is traced to the
earth, and to the earth mankind ultimately returns.[1217] Hence, the
receiver of life is a goddess equally with the giver of life, and
indeed, Ishtar and Allatu are but the two aspects of one and the same
phenomenon.[1218] Allatu signifies 'strength.' The name is related to
the Arabic _Allah_ and the Hebrew _Eloah_ and _Elohim_. The same
meaning--strength, power, rule--attaches to many of the names of the
gods of the Semites: Adon, Etana, Baal, El, and the like.[1219] It is
interesting to note that the chief goddess of Arabia is _Allat_[1220]--a
name identical with our Allatu.

The bronze relief above described furnished us with a picture of this
queen of the lower world. The gloom enveloping the region controls this
picture. Allatu is of as forbidding an aspect as Tiamat. She is warlike
and ferocious. When enraged, her anger knows no bounds. Her chief
attendants are the terrible Namt