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265 RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA Talmud, The Tammuz-Adonis for the most part the details are in accord with, or at least do not contradict, the fuller story as recovered from Greek and Roman 3. In sources; so that it is possible to infer Adapa and that in these latest records the essen Gilgamesh tial features of the original are pre Epics. served. In the Adapa myth Tammuz is associated with the deity Gishzida apparently as guardian of the gate of heaven, and the two become the successful advocates before Anu of Adapa, who has offended Anu by breaking the wings of the south wind. To this story Tammuz, though in a subordinate position with respect to Anu, seems to be independent, is not connected with Ishtar, and with his companion is spoken of as having disappeared, apparently much to the surprise of the two gods themselves. In the Gilgamesh epic there appears a feature which is not easily explained and does not come out in the western form of the story. When Ishtar tempts Gilgamesh with her love the hero answers her " Where is thy husband Tammuz, who was to he forever? What, indeed, has become of the Allallu bird . . 7 Well, I will tell thee plainly the dire result of thy coquet ries. To Tammuz, the husband of thy youth, Thou didat cause weeping and didst bring grief upon him every year. The Allallu bird, so bright in colors, thou didst love; But its wing thou didst break and crush . . . In this passage two things are significant: (1) Tammuz and Ishtar are brought into close relation ship-he is her " husband " (lover?), and this is one of the enduring features of the myth which accompanies the cult in all its travels; (2) Gil gamesh accuses Ishtar of herself working ill upon those she loves-concerning Tammuz yearly grief and weeping are specified. This second and later feature does not appear in the western and later forms; although the god comes to his death be cause of Ishtar's love for him, that death is caused by other means than the goddess herself, while here the charge is plainly brought home to her, parallel with the breaking of the wing of the Allallu bird. For the descent of Ishtar to " the land of No Return," so far as the epic itself relates, the motive has to be supplied. But the object is 4. The by most Assyriologists asserted to be "Descent the rescue of Tammuz from the world of Ishtar." of the dead. During the absence of Ishtar, who was detained by Allatu, her sister and the goddess of the lower world, desire ceased among all on earth, man and beast, and the allurements of love were no more. Hence Ea cre ated a man who entered the lower world and de manded drink from Allatu from her water-skin. The very demand (its full significance is not known) brought about the return of Ishtar (and presumably of Tammuz). Then comes mention of Tammuz " the husband of Ishtar's youth " and of his " day " on which the sad sounds of the flute and the wail ing of male and female mourners mingle and in cense is burned. There seems to be implied also the washing, anointing, and clothing of the figure of Tammuz (see below, § 13). There is also a considerable body of hymns to Tammuz in the Sumerian language (cf. Zimmern,

Abharedlungen, ut sup., pp. 723-726; F. A. Vandenburgh, Sumerian Hymns, New York, 1908; St. Langdon, Sumerian and Babylonian, Psalms, pp. 299-341, Paris, 1909; T. Pinches, Memoirs . . . of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, xlviii., 1904, no. 25), which go very far toward completing the picture of the Babylonian deity. These hymns speak of the " stormy weeping "for the god, who is " lord of the year, . . . of the name of life,

. of the word of judgment, of the eye of precious stones, the artificer, the light of my heaven,

. the shepherd, . . him of stormy weeping "; his sister is goddess of the wine of heaven (J. D. Prince, in American Journal of Semitic Languages, xxvii. 1, 1910, pp. 84-89). In another hymn apparently Ishtar sings the lament for " my mighty one, . . . my spouse, . . great god of the heavenly year, . . . lord of the lower world [!], . . . of vegetation, artificer, the shepherd [a very constant element in the activities attributed to him], the lord, the god Tammuz who liveth no more." And from the further mutilated text it seems to be deducible that he was producer of wine and lord of fructification, and he is compared with a mighty bull (a common oriental symbol of strength), and is the " power of the land, . . the word which overcometh disease," giver of food and of water, strengthener of the maid and the warrior, in contrast with Ninib, who is the destroyer (Prince, in JAOS, xxx. 1, 1909, pp. 94-100).

Noteworthy is the fact that in Babylonia Tam muz does not appear as the god of any large city.* In the Adapa myth, while his standing is independ ent, it is subordinate-he is doorkeeper and pleader with Anu. So far as records in hand show, he played no heroic part and achieved no

5. Unim- noteworthy deed. He is connected portance in with fertility, productiveness, and

Babylonia. strength; but the epic passages have the sound of artistic and forced poetic laudation and lack the tone of sincere attribution of power. Even in the hymns, in spite of the many epithets, his death and the mourning for him are the notable features, together with his relations with Ishtar. And still further, it is not his death that effects decline of fertility, it is the absence of the goddess that causes passion and desire to cease.

Summing up the apparent facts as gathered from Babylonian sources, Tammuz was a deity who, at one time regarded as a gate-keeper of heaven, came to be associated with Ishtar as her beloved. Each year he died and passed to Hades, the realm of Allatu or Ereshkigal. He was mourned (in the month named after him, occurring just before the summer solstice) not only by Ishtar, but by sale and female mourners and with the accompaniment of flutes. His mistress journeyed to the lower world, seemingly in quest of him; and since her absence caused the absence of love, Ea sent a messenger and

* Zimmern (Abhnndlungen, ut sup., pp. 71H-721) cites in. acriptiona from a very early period, showing apparently a temple to him in a suburb or a subject town of Lagash and in a fortress named Bad-urud-nagar or Dur-gurgurri. Eridu and Erech (ib., p. 720) seem also to have had temples in which be was present.