play in the pantheon during the period of
Assyrian supremacy. The cult of Nergal does not figure prominently
during this period. In fact, so far as the historical texts go, he
disappears from the scene till the time of Nebuchadnezzar I., when he is
incidentally invoked in a group with Ramman and Nana as the gods of a
district in Babylonia known as Namar. Exactly where Namar lay has not
yet been ascertained. Since Nergal, as was shown in the previous
chapter, was the local patron of Cuthah, it may be that the latter city
was included in the Namar district. At all events, we may conclude from
the silence of the texts as to Nergal, that Cuthah played no conspicuous
part in the empire formed of the Babylonian states, and that the cult of
Nergal, apart from the association of the deity in religious texts with
the lower world, did not during this entire period extend beyond local
proportions. Lastly, it is interesting to note that Samsu-iluna, the son
of Hammurabi, refers to Belit of Nippur as Nin-khar-sag, which we have
seen was one of her oldest titles.

FOOTNOTES:

[116] The name is also written Ma-ru-duk, which points to its having
been regarded (for which there is other evidence) as a compound of
_maru_, 'son,' and an element, _duk_(_u_), which in religious and other
texts designates the 'glorious chamber' in which the god determines the
fate of humanity. Such an 'etymology' is, however, merely a play upon
the name, similar to the plays upon proper names found in the Old
Testament. The real etymology is unknown. The form Marduk is Semitic,
and points to an underlying stem, _rdk_. Marduk appears under a variety
of names which will be taken up at their proper place. See Schrader's
_Assyrisch-Babyl. Keilschriften_, p. 129; and the same author's
_Cuneiform Inscrip. and the O. T._ (p. 422) for other etymologies.

[117] Hommel's view that Gish-galla, in Gudea's inscriptions, is Babylon
lacks convincing evidence, but the city may be as old as Gudea's days
for all that.

[118] Near Sippar.

[119] _Bel matati_.

[120] Sayce, _Religion of the Ancient Babylonians_, pp. 98 _seq._;
Jensen, _Kosmologie der Babylonier_, p. 88.

[121] So Delitzsch, _Beitraege sur Assyriologie_, ii. 623. The first part
of the name is also used to designate the 'young bullock,' and it is
possible, therefore, that the god was pictured in this way, as both Anu
and Sin are occasionally called 'bulls.'

[122] Louvre Inscription II, col ii. ll. 12-1