which stress
was laid. It lasted from three to seven days.[1282] The professional
wailers, male and female, can be traced back to the earliest days of
Babylonian history. Gudea speaks of them.[1283] It would appear that at
this early period persons were engaged, as is the case to this day in
the Orient, to sing dirges in memory of the dead.[1284] The function is
one that belongs naturally to priests and priestesses; and, while in the
course of time, the connection with the temple of those who acted as
wailers became less formal, it is doubtful whether that connection was
ever entirely cut off. The 'dirge singers, male and female,' referred to
in the story of Ishtar's journey[1285] were in the service of some
temple. The hymns to Nergal[1286] may be taken as samples of the
Babylonian dirges.

The praise of Nergal and Allatu was combined with the lament for the sad
fate of the dead. Gilgamesh weeping for his friend Eabani[1287]
furnishes an illustration. Gilgamesh is described as stretched out on
the ground. The same custom is referred to in the inscriptions of
Cyrus,[1288] and it is interesting to note that a similar mode of
manifesting grief still prevails in the modern Orient. In the Babylonian
dirges, it would seem, the references to the virtues of the deceased
(which are prominently introduced into the dirges of the present day)
were few. The refrain forms a regular feature of these dirges,--an
indication that, as is still the case in the Orient, there was a leader
who sang the dirge, while the chorus chimed in at the proper moment. The
principle of the stanza of two lines, one long and one short, that, as
Budde has shown,[1289] controls the wailing songs in the Old Testament
(including the Book of Lamentations, which is based upon this very
custom of lamenting the dead), may be detected in the Babylonian
compositions. The accompaniment of musical instruments to the dirges
also appears to be a very old custom in Babylonia. In the story of
Ishtar's journey the wailers are called upon to strike their
instruments. What kind of instruments were used in ancient times we do
not know. In the Assyrian period, the harp and flute appear to be the
most common.[1290]

At the time that food and drink were placed with the dead in the grave,
some arrangements must have been made for renewing the nourishment.
Entrances to tombs have been found,[1291] and Koldewey[1292] is of the
opinion that the clay drains found in quantities in