ar and a scribe--also a female--known as
Belit-seri. Of these two personages, Namtar, the personification of
disease, is a popular conception, whereas the addition of a scribe
points again to the influence of the schools. Marduk, the chief god of
the living, has a scribe who writes down, at the god's dictation, the
fate decreed for individuals. Corresponding to this, the ruler of the
lower world has a scribe who writes down on the tablets of wisdom the
decrees of the goddess, and, at a later stage, the decrees of Nergal as
well. Belit-seri, whose name signifies 'mistress of the field,' was
originally a goddess of vegetation, some local deity who has been
reduced to the rank of an attendant upon a greater one; and it is
significant that almost all the members of the nether-world pantheon are
in some way connected with vegetation.

Tammuz, of whose position in this pantheon we have already had occasion
to speak, is the god of spring vegetation. Another solar deity,
Nin-gishzida,[1221] who is associated in the Adapa legend with Tammuz,
is the deity who presides over the growth of trees. En-meshara, who also
belongs to the court of Nergal and Allatu, appears to represent
vegetation in general. To these may be added Girra (or Gira), who
originally, as it would appear, a god of vegetation, is eventually
identified with Dibbarra,[1222] Gil, whom Jensen[1223] regards as 'the
god of foliage,' and Belili, the sister of Tammuz.[1224] Of this group
of deities, Tammuz and Nin-gishzida are the most important. In the Adapa
legend, it will be recalled, they are stationed as guardians in heaven.
As solar deities, they properly belong there. Like Nergal, they have
been transferred to the nether world; and in the case of all three, the
process that led to the change appears to have been the same. The trees
blossom, bear fruit, and then decay; the fields are clothed in glory,
and then shorn of their strength. The decay of vegetation was popularly
figured as due to the weakness[1225] of the god who produced the
fertility. Tammuz has been deceived by Ishtar; Nin-gishzida has been
carried off to the lower world. In the month of Tebet,--the tenth
month,--there was celebrated a festival of mourning for the lost
En-meshara. It is the time of the winter solstice. A similar fate must
have overtaken Belit-seri, Girra, and Gil. For a time, at least, they
are hidden in the realm of Allatu. Of all these deities, stories were no
doubt current that form