The salient phases of the rounded out Tammuz story are touched upon in this hymn; viz., his local dwelling in a city where he had a temple; the memorial weeping; his relation to Anu; his lordly power; his specification as “a brother”; his relation to the goddess Ištar; his characteristic and supreme function of plant-germination. Note also that he was the agricultural god of spring vegetation. Offerings of wine were poured out over his bier, he having been humbled to sorrow by banishment to the lower world, where he became a lord over the occult and internal forces inherent beneath the soil of the earth. So he became a god of a new life. The hymn does not seem altogether to confine the germinating work of Tammuz to the vegetation of spring growth, but appears, especially in the Reverse, to include fruit growing which might come later in the season. Possibly this hymn was sung as a dirge at Babylonian anniversaries for the departed Tammuz. The Babylonians at the time of the summer solstice annually commemorated with lamentation the departure of Tammuz to the lower world. He had instructed them that they should gather at his bier and that hired musicians should sing and play and that the people should sacrifice and drink wine. Obverse 1. _šes-e tuš-e-na eri êr-ra na-nam_ To the brother whose dwelling is the city of weeping, thus: _šes-e_: _šes_ same as _šis_ (Hymn to Sin, line 2). _e_ equals _ana_, “to” (Br. 5847). _tuš-e-na_: _tuš_ equals _ašâbu_, “dwell” (Br. 10523). Probably the sign has the same value for _šubtu_, “dwelling” (Br. 10553). We have had the sign (KU) with the value _šù_ (Hymn to Bêl, line 15). _e_, vowel of prolongation. _na_, pronominal suffix (see Hymn to Adad, line 27). _eri_ (Hymn to Bêl, line 13). _êr-ra_: _êr_ (Hymn to Bêl, Colophon). _ra_, phonetic complement (Hymn to Bêl, line 3). _na-nam_ equals _kîam_, “thus” (see Br. 1597 and Hymn to Adad, line 28). The words “O my brother” are represented in legend as being first uttered by the sister of Tammuz and then taken up by other mourners. Probably the custom of weeping for Tammuz originated in the city of Eridu. 2. _a-kala šes-e tab An-na_ The mightiness of the brother, the companion of Anu! _a-kala_ is an abstract noun like _nam-kala_ which is equal to _dannûtu_ (Br. 6194). _a_ is an abstract prefix, as in A.DU, equal to _a-rá_, “going” (MSL. p. XVII). _kala_ equal _dannu_, “mighty” (Br. 6194). _šeš-e._ See on _šes_ (line 1). _e_, probably sign of the genitive, if not merely a vowel of prolongation. It can certainly be a postposition (see on line 1). _tab_ (see Hymn to Adad, line 6).