, but as a thought that would
remain confined to a limited circle of the population. Jensen
suggests[818] that the planets may at one time have been merely regarded
as standing under the influence of the great gods, and that a planet
from being regarded as the star _controlled_ by Marduk, became
identified with Marduk. It seems more plausible that the association
should have been direct. Even though the Babylonians may not have had
any knowledge of the relative mass of the planets, in some way Jupiter
must have appeared to them as the largest of the planets, and for this
reason was identified with the head of the Babylonian pantheon, Marduk.
In the creation epic, as we have seen, Jupiter-Marduk, under the name of
Nibir, is represented as exercising a control over all the stars.
Mythological associations appear to have played a part in identifying
the planet Venus with the goddess Ishtar. A widely spread nature
myth,[819] symbolizing the change of seasons, represents Ishtar, the
personification of fertility, the great mother of all that manifests
life, as proceeding to the region of darkness and remaining there for
some time. The disappearance of the planet Venus at certain seasons, as
morning star to reappear as evening star, suggested the identification
of this planet with Ishtar. From these two examples we may conclude that
the process which resulted in the identification of Saturn with Ninib,
Mars with Nergal, Mercury with Nabu rested similarly on an association
of ideas, derived from certain conceptions held of the gods involved. In
regard to Ninib and Nergal it is of some importance to bear in mind
that, like Marduk, they are at their origin solar deities, Ninib
representing in the perfected theological system the morning sun, Marduk
the sun of the early spring, and Nergal the mid-day sun and summer
solstice.[820] The position of the planets Saturn and Mars, accordingly,
with reference to the sun at certain periods of the year, may well have
been a factor in the association of ideas involved.

The position of the sun, as the general overseer of the planets, led to
the application of an interesting metaphor to express the relationship
between the sun and the planets. Just as the human chiefs or kings were
called 'shepherds,'--a metaphor suggested, no doubt, by agricultural
life,--so the planets were commonly known as 'sheep' or, as Jensen
suggests,[821] 'wandering sheep,' and it is rather curious that
Mars-Nergal sh