r beliefs, that goddesses retain
a certain degree of prominence. So, a goddess Allat, as we shall see,
plays an important part as the chief goddess of the subterranean cave
that houses the dead. Allat appears to have been originally a consort of
the famous Bel of Nippur, but through association with Nergal, who
becomes the chief god of the lower world, almost all traces of the
original character of the goddess disappear. Again, Gula, the consort of
Nin-ib, while occasionally mentioned in the historical texts of the
second and third period, and under the form Ma-ma, as an element in a
proper name belonging to the oldest period,[109] is more frequently
invoked in incantations as the healer of disease. The same is the case
with other goddesses; so that we may conclude that from the earliest
times, the Babylonian religion shared the trait so marked in all Semitic
cults, of a combination of the male and female principle in the
personification of the powers that controlled the fate of man. In part,
no doubt, the minor importance of women, so far as the outward aspects
of social and political life were concerned, is a factor in the
altogether secondary importance attaching to the consorts of the gods;
but we may feel certain that there was no god, however restricted in his
jurisdiction, or however limited in the number of his worshippers, who
had not associated with him a female companion, who follows him as the
shadow follows the substance.

FOOTNOTES:

[109] According to Hilprecht, _ib._ p. 48, note 6. For _Ma-ma_ and
_Me-me_, as names of Gula, see chapter viii.

CHAPTER VI.

GUDEA'S PANTHEON.

Gudea manifests a fondness for giving to his pantheon as large a compass
as possible. In this respect, he follows earlier examples, and also sets
an example which is followed by many of the rulers of Babylonia and
Assyria, who felt that the larger the number of gods invoked by them,
the more impressive would their own position appear in the eyes of their
subjects. Moreover, by incorporating in their pantheon the gods
associated with districts that they controlled, they would not only
secure the protection of these deities, but would emphasize their own
claim to an extended sovereignty. The beginning and the close of
dedicatory and commemorative inscriptions were the favorite
opportunities, seized upon by the kings, for parading the list of the
powers under whose patronage they wished to appear. These lists are both
inte