Lecture VIII. The Myths And Epics. 393
underworld. There no mercy was shown her; the plague-demon
was bidden to smite her with manifold diseases, and she was
kept imprisoned in Hades like the ordinary dead. But while
the goddess of love thus lay bound and buried, things in this
upper world fell into confusion. Neither men nor cattle produced
offspring, and the gods in heaven took counsel what should be
done. Ea accordingly created an androgyne, to whom the name
was given“Bright is his light.”Before him the gates of Hades
opened, and the darkness within them was lighted up. The
infernal goddess was forced to obey the orders of heaven; and [428]
though she cursed the messenger with deadly imprecations, the
spirits of the earth were seated on their golden throne while Istar
was sprinkled with the water of life, and she then returned once
more to the world of light.
Ereskigal, the goddess of Hades, forms the subject of yet
another poem, fragments of which were found at Tel el-Amarna
in Egypt, where the poem had been used as a text-book for
the students of the Babylonian language and script. The poem
recounts how she refused to come to a feast which the gods
had prepared in heaven, and how Nergal invaded her dominions,
broke through the gates that shut them in, and, seizing Ereskigal
by the hair, dragged her from her throne. But she begged for
mercy, and Nergal consented to be her husband, and to rule with
her over the realm of the dead. The“tablet of wisdom”was
transferred to him, and she became a Semitic Baalat, the mere
reflection of her“lord.”The Sumerian“queen of Hades”gave
place to a Semitic Bel.
The“tablet of wisdom” was distinct from the“tablets of
destiny,”which gave their possessor a foreknowledge of the
future course of events. The possession of the latter implied
supreme rule over gods and men; it brought with it the right to
be“Bel”in the fullest sense of the word. Like the Urim and
Thummim, they were hung upon the breast; and in the Epic of the
Creation, Tiamât is described as delivering them to her demon