sting feature
connected with Nabu, that may be mentioned here, is that in the name
borne by a famous mountain in Moab, Nebo, where Moses--himself a
'proclaimer'[135]--died, there survives a testimony that the worship of
this popular deity extended beyond the Euphrates and the Tigris, to
Semites living considerably to the west. To Nabu, as to Marduk, a
consort was given. Her name was

Tashmitum.

The name Tashmitum appears for the first time in the days of Hammurabi.
Attention has already been called to the king's ignoring of the god of
Borsippa. While his attempt to suppress the cult of Nabu was not
successful, he did succeed in causing the old consort of Nabu to
disappear. This consort appears to have been no other than Erua. It will
be recalled that up to very late times the tradition survived that her
dwelling-place was Borsippa.[136] This is never said of Sarpanitum.
Despite, therefore, the amalgamation of Sarpanitum and Erua, the
association of the latter with Nabu's dwelling-place remains impressed
upon the memory of the Babylonian scholars, at least. Nabu's consort
having thus been transferred to Marduk, a new mate had to be found for
the former, when once his rivalry was no longer to be dreaded, and his
cult again rose to prominence. 'Tashmitum' is an abstract noun in
Assyrian, signifying 'revelation.' As such, it is bestowed in historical
texts upon Nabu himself, who is called _itu tashimeti_, 'god of
revelation.' Nabu is, above all, a 'revealing' god,--revealing
knowledge, the art of writing, and the method of ruling. The appellation
is therefore a most appropriate one, and there seems little reason to
question that Tashmitum was originally nothing but one of the terms by
which Nabu was designated, just as he was called Papsukal in his role as
'messenger' of the gods,--the messenger of his father Marduk and of his
grandfather Ea, in particular. But Tashmitum, being feminine in gender,
as an abstract noun, seemed appropriate as the designation of a goddess.
It would appear, then, that 'Revelation,' from being so constantly
associated with Nabu, was personified, dissociated from him, as it were,
through the conception of a distinct goddess bearing the name of
'Tashmitum.' This process of thought, in giving rise to a new goddess,
may have been, in part, a popular one. The translation of a metaphor
into reality is a phenomenon that may be observed in almost all
religions of antiquity. But the process, whatever