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The accompaniment of musical instruments to the dirges also appears to be a very old custom in Babylonia. In the story of Ishtar's journey the wailers are called upon to strike their instruments. What kind of instruments were used in ancient times we do not know. In the Assyrian period, the harp and flute appear to be the most common.
The latter stand, as we have seen, under the direct control of the gods. The story of Ishtar's descent to the lower world shows us that the group of spirits known as the Anunnaki, also, belong to the court of Nergal and Allatu.
The close of the legend of Ishtar's journey suggests that the festival of Tammuz was selected as an 'All-Souls' day. The weeping for the lost Tammuz served as an appropriate link for combining with the mourning for the god the lament for the dead.
Again, examples of women as exorcisers and as furnishing oracles may be instanced in Babylonia as well as in Assyria, and we have also references to female musicians as late as the days of Ashurbanabal. A specially significant rôle was played by the priestesses in Ishtar's temple at Erech, and probably at other places where the cult of the great mother goddess was carried on.
On the other hand, the tale of which the birth of the sun and the moon forms a part, namely, the visit of Izanagi to hades in search of Izanami, is an obvious reproduction of the Babylonian myth of Ishtar's journey to the underworld in search of Du'uzu, which formed the basis of the Grecian legend of Orpheus and Eurydice.
In Babylonia the goddess was known as Nana, which seems to be the Naneea of the second book of Maccabees, and the Nani of the modern Syrians. Ishtar's aphrodisiac character, though it can scarcely be doubted, does not appear very clearly in the inscriptions. She is "the goddess who rejoices mankind," and her most common epithet is "Asurah," "the fortunate," or "the happy."
Ishtar, determined that Gilgamesh should not escape her, flies in rage to her father Anu, the god of heaven, and tells of the manner in which she has been treated. Anu comforts her. Yielding to Ishtar's request he creates a divine bull, known as Alû, i.e., the strong or supreme one, who is to destroy Gilgamesh. At this point in the narrative Eabani is again introduced.
The function is one that belongs naturally to priests and priestesses; and, while in the course of time, the connection with the temple of those who acted as wailers became less formal, it is doubtful whether that connection was ever entirely cut off. The 'dirge singers, male and female, referred to in the story of Ishtar's journey were in the service of some temple.
The portents taken through observation of the position of Ishtar or Venus in the heavens were of especial value. Phrases introduced to illustrate the power, not the function, of Ishtar. The liver as the seat of the emotions. I.e., house of heaven. Name of Ishtar's temple at Erech. I.e., court of the universe. Name of one of Ishtar's temples.
The disease expresses the same idea as the removal of the ornaments, decay of strength. There follows a description of the desolation on earth during Ishtar's sojourn with Allatu. Productivity comes to a standstill. The ox does not mount the cow, the ass does not bend over the she-ass. Among mankind, likewise, fertility ceases. The gods lament the absence of Ishtar and the fate that overtook her.
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