. ll. 2-7.

[417] Abel-Winckler, _Keilschrifttexte_, p. 33, col. iii. ll. 52-58.

[418] Ball, _Proc. Soc. Bibl. Arch._ xi. 124 _seq._

[419] _Annals_, Cylinder B, col. v. ll. 30-46.

[420] Without proper burial,--the greatest misfortune that could happen
to the dead.

[421] _I.e._, life.

[422] _I.e._, called to the throne.

[423] See p. 296.

[424] The prayers and hymns of the Babylonians are only beginning to
receive the attention they deserve at the hands of scholars. Sayce,
_e.g._, in the specimens attached to his _Hibbert Lectures_, pp.
479-520, does not even distinguish properly between pure hymns and mere
incantations. Now that Dr. Bezold's great catalogue of the Koujunjik
collection of the British Museum is completed, the opportunity is
favorable for some one to study the numerous unpublished fragments of
hymns in the British Museum, and produce in connection with those that
have been published a comprehensive work on the subject. Knudtzon's
_Assyrische Gebete an den Sonnengott_ may serve as a model for such a
work.

[425] IVR. 28, no. 1.

[426] Some specification of the kind of vessel meant.

[427] Inscriptions were written on various metals,--gold, silver,
antimony, lead, copper, etc.

[428] IVR. 20, no. 2.

[429] See above, p. 286.

[430] Published by Bertin in the _Revue d'Assyriologie_, no. 4, and
translated by Sayce, _Hibbert Lectures_, p. 573. I adopt Sayce's
translation, Bertin's publication being inaccessible to me.

[431] Probably 'horizon.'

[432] Lit., speak to thee of peace.

[433] _I.e._, may thy anger depart.

[434] IVR. 9.

[435] 'The illuminator,' one of the names of Sin. See above, p. 75.

[436] The name of Sin's temple at Ur.

[437] A metaphor descriptive of the moon, because of the resemblance of
the crescent to a horn.

[438] The moon-god is pictured with a long beard on the seal cylinders.
See p. 76.

[439] _I.e._, unlike other products, the moon's fullness is
self-created.

[440] A reference perhaps to the supposed influence of the moon on the
tides.

[441] The rest of the hymn--some dozen lines--is too fragmentary to
warrant translation.

[442] We have, however, a list (IIR. 58, no. 5) giving many titles and
names of Ea that must have been prepared on the basis of Ea hymns.

[443] IVR. 20, no. 3.

[444] _I.e._, of Marduk.

[445] This weapon plays a part in some of the Babylonian myths.

[446] The weapon is miraculous--It kills instantly, but with