6 C. P. Tiele, _Geschichte der Religion im Altertum_ (Gotha, 1896-1903), i. 134 _sqq._; G. Maspero, _Histoire Ancienne des Peuples de l’Orient Classique, les Origines_ (Paris, 1895), pp. 550 _sq._; L. W. King, _Babylonian Religion and Mythology_ (London, 1899), pp. 1 _sqq._; _id._, _A History of Sumer and Akkad_ (London, 1910), pp. 1 _sqq._, 40 _sqq._; H. Winckler, in E. Schrader’s _Die Keilinschriften und das alte Testament_3 (Berlin, 1902), pp. 10 _sq._, 349; Fr. Hommel, _Grundriss der Geographie und Geschichte des alten Orients_ (Munich, 1904), pp. 18 _sqq._; Ed. Meyer, _Geschichte des Altertums_,2 i. 2 (Berlin, 1909), pp. 401 _sqq._ As to the hypothesis that the Sumerians were immigrants from Central Asia, see L. W. King, _History of Sumer and Akkad_, pp. 351 _sqq._ The gradual desiccation of Central Asia, which is conjectured to have caused the Sumerian migration, has been similarly invoked to explain the downfall of the Roman empire; for by rendering great regions uninhabitable it is supposed to have driven hordes of fierce barbarians to find new homes in Europe. See Professor J. W. Gregory’s lecture “Is the earth drying up?” delivered before the Royal Geographical Society and reported in _The Times_, December 9th, 1913. It is held by Prof. Hommel (_op. cit._ pp. 19 _sqq._) that the Sumerian language belongs to the Ural-altaic family, but the better opinion seems to be that its linguistic affinities are unknown. The view, once ardently advocated, that Sumerian was not a language but merely a cabalistic mode of writing Semitic, is now generally exploded. 7 H. Zimmern, “Der babylonische Gott Tamüz,” _Abhandlungen der philologisch-historischen Klasse der Königl. Sächsischen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften_, xxvii. No. xx. (Leipsic, 1909) pp. 701, 722. _ 8 Dumu-zi_, or in fuller form _Dumuzi-abzu_. See P. Jensen, _Assyrisch-Babylonische Mythen und Epen_ (Berlin, 1900), p. 560; H. Zimmern, _op. cit._ pp. 703 _sqq._; _id._, in E. Schrader’s _Die Keilinschriften und das Alte Testament_3 (Berlin, 1902), p. 397; P. Dhorme, _La Religion Assyro-Babylonienne_ (Paris, 1910), p. 105; W. W. Graf Baudissin, _Adonis und Esmun_ (Leipsic, 1911), p. 104.