spoke, saying: "Thou shalt now have from me what
thou hast demanded during these past months."

In other words, Nergal promises to honour her as she desired, after
becoming her husband and equal.

In the "Descent of Ishtar" the Babylonian Underworld is called Cuthah.
This city had a famous cemetery, like Abydos in Egypt, where many
pious and orthodox worshippers sought sepulture. The local god was
Nergal, who symbolized the destructive power of the sun and the sand
storm; he was a gloomy, vengeful deity, attended by the spirits of
tempest, weariness, pestilence, and disease, and was propitiated
because he was dreaded.

In Nether Cuthah, as Ea-bani informed Gilgamesh, the worm devoured the
dead amidst the dust and thick darkness.

It is evident that this Underworld was modelled on the grave. In early
times men believed that the spirits of the dead hovered in or about
the place of sepulture. They were therefore provided with "houses" to
protect them, in the same manner as the living were protected in their
houses above the ground.

The enemies of the human ghosts were the earth spirits. Weapons were
laid beside the dead in their graves so that they might wage war
against demons when necessary. The corpse was also charmed, against
attack, by the magical and protecting ornaments which were worn by the
living--necklaces, armlets, ear-rings, &c. Even face paint was
provided, probably as a charm against the evil eye and other subtle
influences.

So long as corpses were left in their graves, the spirits of the dead
were, it would appear, believed to be safe. But they required food and
refreshment. Food vessels and drinking urns were therefore included in
the funerary furniture, and the dead were given food offerings at
regular intervals. Once a year the living held feasts in the burial
ground, and invited the ghosts to share in the repast. This custom was
observed in Babylonia, and is not yet obsolete in Egypt; Moslems and
Coptic Christians alike hold annual all-night feasts in their
cemeteries.

The Japanese "Land of Yomi" is similarly an underworld, or great
grave, where ghosts mingle with the demons of disease and destruction.
Souls reach it by "the pass of Yomi". The Mikado, however, may be
privileged to ascend to heaven and join the gods in the "Eternal
Land".

Among the ancient Romans the primitive belief survived that the spirit
of the dead "just sank into the earth where it rested, and returned
from time to