hundred days.

[499] Various machines are mentioned. The precise meaning of the
technical terms employed is not known.

[500] By invoking the assistance of the gods.

[501] Peacefully, by mutual agreement and the promise of favors.

[502] One is reminded of the Arabic phrase "Allah alone knows it," so
frequently introduced in Mohammedan writings.

[503] Lit., 'Seen will it be seen, heard will it be heard?' The emphatic
construction is identical with the one frequently employed in Biblical
Hebrew.

[504] Knudtzon (p. 25) did not grasp the negative force of _ezib_. The
word is a request that something might _not_ happen.

[505] Where the animal is to be inspected, probably the altar itself.

[506] In the Jewish ritual and many others, stress is laid upon
pronouncing the words of a prayer clearly and deliberately, especially
such words as have a particularly sacred value.

[507] _Assyrische Gebete_, p. 50.

[508] Exactly of what nature cannot be ascertained. The text (Knudtzon,
no. 29, rev. 15) is defective at this point.

[509] The prayer or the lamb.

[510] Lit., 'proceed.'

[511] Knudtzon, no. 66. Other examples are furnished in George Smith's
_History of Ashurbanabal_, pp. 184, 185.

[512] A district to the northeast of Assyria; Knudtzon, no. 29.

[513] _Ib._ no. 107.

[514] _Ib._ no. 101.

[515] Four volumes comprising several hundred letters have already
appeared under the title, _Assyrian Letters of the K. Collection_
(London, 1896). For a good summary of the character of the Assyrian
epistolary literature, see Johnston's article in the _Journal of the
American Oriental Society_, xviii. 1, pp. 125-134.

[516] Harper, no. 77.

[517] _E.g._, Knudtzon, no. 124.

[518] Zimmern, _Busspsalmen_, p. 32. The popularity of the sun-cult in
Assyria in connection with omens and oracles is probably due also in
part to the influence of Marduk, who was, as we have seen, a solar
deity.

[519] Lehman, _Samassumukin_, p. 42.

[520] See Ploss, _Das Weib_, pp. 594-606; also above, p. 267.

[521] IVR. pl. 61.

[522] _I.e._, Ishtar sends the wind with a clear message.

[523] 3d month.

[524] Perhaps a proverbial phrase, having the force of 'I nurture thee
as thy own mother did.'

[525] Constituting the host of Ishtar, which is elsewhere referred to,
_e.g._, IVR. 2d Ed. pt. 61, col. i. 27.

[526] Lit., 'the future or later things like the former.'

[527] Published by S. A. Strong, _Beitraege zur Assyr