[956] Lewysohn’s (_Zool. d. Talmud_, 248, as quoted by Keller, _op. cit._, p. 330) “Euphrat heisst etymologisch der fischreiche” is far from generally accepted. The river in Babylonian is _Purattu_, pronounced by the Persians _Ufratus_, which became when borrowed by the Greeks, _Euphrates_. So far from meaning rich in fish, Langdon traces the name to the Sumerian _buranna_, _burnuna_, meaning great basin. [957] Diod. Sic., III. 22. [958] See General Marshall’s _Report on Mesopotamian Campaign_ in _The Times_, Feb. 21, 1919. [959] _History of Sumer and Akkad_ (London, 1910), p. 268. [960] The hiatus probably may be filled by the word “recall,” or “bring away.” [961] _Letters of Hammurabi_ (London, 1898-1900), vol. III. pp. 121-3, L. W. King. [962] _N. H._, V. 27. [963] _N. H._, VI. 31. [964] _Ibid._, XXXI. 19. [965] _N. H._, XXXI. 22. [966] _N. H._, XXXII. 7. [967] _Hibbert Lecture_ (London, 1887), p. 57. [968] On the ancient goddess Ninâ, see Langdon, _Tammuz and Ishtar_ (London, 1914). There is no known representation of Ninâ. Of Bêlit, or Ishtar, many exist; of Ishtar _arma ferens_ that on a seal in _Tammuz and Ishtar_, Plate I., No. 1, is perhaps the best. CHAPTER XXXVI FISH IN OFFERINGS, AUGURIES, ETC. The Sumerian records leave no possibility of doubt as to offerings of fish being made to the deities, not exclusively or specially to a deity of fish. They show Eannatum in early days offering at Telloh certain fish to various gods to secure their aid that the treaty which he had just concluded with the city of Umma might be maintained for all time unbroken. Similar offerings present themselves all through the history of Assyria. Numerous tablets detailing the nature of the enjoined offerings include fish, and as numerous receipts by the temples acknowledge offerings of fish.[969] In the course of time votive offerings in ivory and bronze, etc., according to King, took the place of actual fish.[970] The striking resemblance of the institution of the Scape-Goat in Palestine to the ancient _Mashhulduppu_ or Babylonian Scape-Goat, both in object and high ceremonial ritual, is noted in my Jewish chapter.[971] But we cannot for one moment assume that sacrifices and oblations in Assyria evolved from perhaps the earliest primitive, _i.e._ human, sacrifice, or followed the same lines as those of Israel or of Rome. In the first nation human sacrifice probably prevailed in the earlier times to a wide extent, and in the second (as Varro indicates) “Populus pro se ignem animalia mittit,” and even “pisciculum pro animis humanis” became a not unusual and cheaper alternative.[972] On the other hand, we possess, in historic and prehistoric Assyria, no trustworthy evidence of human sacrifice. Sayce, it is true, in 1875 published two texts, which, as he translated, demonstrated that human sacrifice did prevail. These, refuted by Ball, are not accepted as even a proper translation of the passage, much less a proof of the practice.