We may assume of the Mesopotamian as of other peoples, that its “social origins” were partly religious; only in the valley of the Euphrates, society had already {117} so far advanced in the fifth millennium B.C. that the study of its origins will be always problematic. The deities are already national, having developed far beyond the narrow tribal limits before we begin to discern them clearly; we have not to deal with the divinities of clans, phratries, or septs, but of complex aggregates, such as cities and kingdoms. And the great cities are already there before our knowledge begins. In the Sumerian myth of creation, it is the high god himself who, after settling the order of heaven and earth, immediately constructs cities such as Borsippa; a passage in Berosus speaks of Oannes, that is to say, Ea as the founder of cities and temples;[117.1] and the myths may enshrine the truth that the origin of the Mesopotamian city was often religious, that the temple was its nucleus. I cannot discover that this is indicated by the names of any other of the great cities, Babylon, Borsippa, Sippar, Kutha; but it is shown by the name of Nineveh and its connection with the Sumerian goddess Nin or Nina, possibly a form of Ishtar.[117.2] And in the inscription of Sargon giving the names of the eight doors of his palace, all named after deities, Ninib is described as the god “who lays the ground-stone of the city for eternity”;[117.3] also we find designations of particular cities, as the city of such-and-such a deity.[117.4] Finally, it may be worth noting in this direction that Nusku the fire-god, who lights the sacrifices, is called “the City-Founder, the Restorer of Temples.”[117.5]