ea, one is tempted to
conclude that the two towns, Girsu and Nina, were amalgamated before
their absorption into Lagash, so that the god and goddess acquired the
relationship to one another of husband and consort. As for the
connection between this Babylonian Nina and the late Assyrian capital,
it is quite possible that the origin of the latter is to be traced to a
settlement made by inhabitants of the former, although it should be
added that there is no positive evidence that can be adduced in support
of this proposition. It accords, however, with the northward movement of
culture and civilization in Mesopotamia. If this connection between the
two Ninevehs be accepted, the question suggests itself whether, in time,
Nina did not become merely another form of Ishtar. The Assyrian capital
is frequently spoken of as the 'beloved city' of Ishtar, and unless it
be supposed that this epithet simply reflects the comparatively late
popularity of the distinctively Assyrian Ishtar, the most natural
explanation would be to propose the equation Nina = Ishtar.

In the incantation texts, Nina is frequently appealed to as the daughter
of Ea,--the god of the deep. This relationship, as well as the
interpretation of the ideogram above set forth, points to the original
character of the goddess as a water-deity. This goddess, therefore,
would be of an entirely different form from the ones discussed in the
previous paragraphs. Instead of being a member of the heavenly pantheon,
her place is with the kingdom over which Ea presides, and whose
dwelling-place is the watery deep. In any case, Nina is originally
distinct from Ishtar, Nana, and Anunit; and she retains an independent
existence to a later period than most of the other great goddesses that
have been discussed. In an inscription of the days of Belnadinaplu (_c._
1100 B.C.), published by Hilprecht,[72] Nina appears as the patron deity
of Der,--a city of Southern Babylonia. There too she is called the
'daughter of Ea,' the creator of everything. She is 'the mistress of
goddesses.' Attached to her temple there are lands that having been
wrongfully wrested from the priests are returned upon royal command,
under solemn invocation of the goddess. How her worship came to be
transferred to Der we do not know. She appears in the inscription in
question by the side of a goddess who--following Hommel--is none other
than Bau. Der is called the city of the god Anu, and we can only suppose
that it