Mayi] SOCIETYOF BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY. [1894.
whichmaybe rendered :—
Shepherd,lordTaminuz,spouseof heaven's queen!
Kingof Aralu, kingof Du-sibba!
Willowthatin a garden-bed hathnot drunk water;
Whosebudshaveborneno shoot (or, bloom) in a field!
Lotusthathathnot been plantedin its ditch!
Lotuswhoserootshavebeentornaway!
Comfreythatin a garden-bed hathnot drunk water!
Comparethe interlinear Assyrianversion:—
ReumbelimDu'uzuhawirIStar
Binu5a ina musare me la i5tu
Kimmatsuina ceri arta la ibnu
Ildaqqu5a ina ratiSu la iriSu
Ildaqqu5a iSdanuS innaShu
Qu 5a ina musare me la i5tu
Theseinvocations recallthe Jewish womenwhomthe prophet
Ezekielsawsittingby the north gate of the Temple and" weeping
for Tammuz," (Ezek. viii, 14);whilethe unwatered andtherefore
witheringplantswithwhich the god is compared, or rather figura
tivelyidentified,remindone of the 'Afwvito? K,,irui,which" gardens
of Adonis " were earthenware potsfilledwith mould,plantedwith
wheat,barley,lettuce,and fennel, and exposed to the scorching heat
of the sun. Therapidwitheringof the plants wasconsideredto
symbolizethe untimely deathof the god.
Thenamesof plants as usual are more or less obscure. The
Assyrianbinuis generally identifiedwiththe Tamarix Orientalis,on
the ground of the Syriac p -*"■ bind ; which Bar Ali and Bar Bahlul
say is the Ji\ athl in a particular dialect—thatof Tirhan, a district
of Assyria beyond the Tigris. Freytag, however, defines athl
" Salsuginosa myrica; " and the tamarisk thrivesin saline deserts
and arid soilswherelittleelse canflourish. But our context seems
to require a plant unable to thrive without a constant supplyof
water.
Buxtorf explains N2',l bind by willow, citing Gittin 68. 2.
N"H NDN1Will WWYlP,Sorbussalixet myrtus virens,and
the gloss NHiyarba, willow. The willowwasa Babylonian tree,
growing "by the watercourses" or canals so numerous in that
country. (Isa.xliv, 4 ; Ps. cxxxvii, 2.)
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