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Jensen regards Pa-sag as a possible phonetic form, but his view is hardly tenable. See Zimmern, Busspsalmen, pp. 60, 61. Cylinder A, cols. iv. and v. Amiaud read the name Nirba. Just published by Hilprecht, Old Babylonian Inscriptions, i. 2, pls. 38-47. Cf. p. 52 VR. col. i. 48. See at close of chapter vi. Hilprecht, ib. no. 87, col i. 30. Ib. i. 32.
D, col. li. 13; G, col. ii. ll. 1-8; iii. 4 seq. See Gen. xxiv. 53. Semit. Völker, p. 382. See Jensen, Keils Bibl. 3, 1, 28, note 2. The first signifies 'to make, the third means "good, favorable," but the second, upon which so much depends, is not clear. Amiaud reads tum instead of sig. De Sarzec, pl. 7, col. i. 12. Hibbert Lectures, p. 104. Inscr. D, col. iv. ll. 7, 8.
The great goddess of Uruk, Nanâ, absorbs the smaller ones, and hence Nin-akha-kuddu survives chiefly in incantation texts as 'the lady of shining waters, of 'purification, and of 'incantations. Lastly, a passing reference may be made to several deities to whom sanctuaries are erected by Uru-Kagina in the great temple of Bau at Uru-azaga, and whom Amiaud regards as sons of Bau.
So far, indeed, Amiaud is correct, that the relationship existing between the various deities, was as a rule expressed in terms applicable to human society.
Bitumen, it is true, was found in Babylonia itself near Hit, but if Amiaud is right, one of the objects imported from abroad for Gudea of Lagas was asphalt. But no reference to the place is to be met with anywhere else in cuneiform literature. When Abram returned with the captives and spoil of Sodom, the new king came forth to meet him "at the valley of Shaveh, which is the king's dale."
A goddess of this name reading of the first sign doubtful is mentioned by Ur-Bau, who builds a temple to her in Girsu. If Amiaud is correct in his reading of the first sign, the goddess was identified at one time by the Babylonians with the consort of Ramman the storm-god. This would accord with the description that Ur-Bau gives of the goddess.
There are gods, as Amiaud recognized, who cannot be brought under his scheme, so far at least as present testimony is concerned; and others can only by an arbitrary assumption be forced into accord with the theory. Moreover, we should expect to find traces of this family idea in the later phases of the Assyro-Babylonian pantheon. Such, however, is not the case.
The British Museum possesses several fine specimens of these glazed-ware coffins. See above, p. 158, and fig. 49. M. Stanislas GUYARD published a translation of this passage in the Journal asiatique, for May-June, 1880, p. 514; some terms which had remained doubtful, were explained by M. AMIAUD, in the same journal for August-September, 1881, p. 237. HERODOTUS, i. 187.
The attempt has been made by Amiaud to arrange the pantheon of this oldest period in a genealogical order. In Gudea's long list of deities, he detects three generations, the three chief gods and one goddess, as the progenitors of Sin, Shamash, Nin-girsu, Bau, and others. The gods of this second division give rise to a third class, viewed again as the offspring of the second.
Professor Davis, taking up this idea of Amiaud, has quite recently maintained that the family idea must form our starting-point for an understanding of the pantheon of Lagash. The theory, however, does not admit of consistent application.
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