ppear to be characteristic epithets
of solar deities. The first element in the name has also the value Dun
(as in Dun-gi).

[94] Jensen, _Kosmologie_, pp. 125, 126.

[95] See _Journal Asiatique_, September-October, 1895, p. 393.

[96] De Sarzec, pl. 8, col. v. ll. 8-12.

[97] IR. pl. 2, no. 4.

[98] Jensen regards Pa-sag as a possible phonetic form, but his view is
hardly tenable.

[99] See Zimmern, _Busspsalmen_, pp. 60, 61.

[100] Cylinder A, cols. iv. and v. Amiaud read the name _Nirba_.

[101] Just published by Hilprecht, _Old Babylonian Inscriptions_, i. 2,
pls. 38-47. _Cf._ p. 52

[102] VR. col. i. 48.

[103] See at close of chapter vi.

[104] Hilprecht, _ib._ no. 87, col i. 30.

[105] _Ib._ i. 32. Hilprecht reads Nin-a-gid-kha-du, but this can hardly
be correct.

[106] The two ideas, 'water' and 'incantation,' are correlated. The
'waters' meant are those used for purification purposes in connection
with the magic formulas.

[107] De Sarzec, pl. 32, col. ii. 9-11.

[108] _Records of the Past_, N.S., i. 59. Amiaud reads the second name
Im-ghud-ena and the third Gim (or Ur)-nun-ta-ena. The publication in De
Sarzec favors my readings.

CHAPTER V.

THE CONSORTS OF THE GODS.

Attention has already been directed to the comparatively small number of
female deities that appear in the inscriptions of the first period of
Babylonian history. We must, however, not conclude from this, that such
deities did not exist in larger numbers. On the contrary, we may feel
certain that every god had his consort, and in some cases more than one.
Several instances of such consorts have been furnished in this chapter;
but if the consorts of the larger number of these gods are unknown, it
is because of the insignificant role that these consorts played. The
goddesses of Babylonia, with few exceptions, become mere shadowy
reflections of the gods, with but little independent power, and in some
cases none at all. They owe what popularity they enjoyed to their
association with their male companions. In consequence of this inferior
role played by the female deities, the tendency becomes more pronounced,
as we pass from the first to the second period of Babylonian history, to
reduce by assimilation the small number that have independent
attributes, until we reach a condition in which we have practically only
one goddess, appearing under many forms. It is only in the religious
texts, and in some phases of the popula