at the Sacaea in the character of the divine lover of Semiramis, while the part of the goddess was played by one of the sacred prostitutes. The probability of this is greatly strengthened by the existence of the so-called mound of Semiramis under the sanctuary. For the mounds of Semiramis, which were pointed out all over Western Asia,(846) were said to have been the graves of her lovers whom she buried alive.(847) The tradition ran that the great and lustful queen Semiramis, fearing to contract a lawful marriage lest her husband should deprive her of power, admitted to her bed the handsomest of her soldiers, only, however, to destroy them all afterwards.(848) Now this tradition is one of the surest indications of the identity of the mythical Semiramis with the Babylonian goddess Ishtar or Astarte. For the famous Babylonian epic which recounts the deeds of the hero Gilgamesh tells how, when he clothed himself in royal robes and put his crown on his head, the goddess Ishtar was smitten with love of him and wooed him to be her mate. But Gilgamesh rejected her insidious advances, for he knew the sad fate that had overtaken all her lovers, and he reproached the cruel goddess, saying:— “_Tammuz, the lover of thy youth,_ _Thou causest to weep every year._ _The bright-coloured_ allallu _bird thou didst love_. _Thou didst crush him and break his pinions._ _In the woods he stands and laments, __‘__O my pinions!__’_ _Thou didst love the lion of perfect strength,_ _Seven and seven times thou didst dig pit-falls for him._ _Thou didst love the horse that joyed in the fray,_ _With whip and spur and lash thou didst urge him on._ _Thou didst force him on for seven double hours,_ _Thou didst force him on when wearied and thirsty;_ _His mother the goddess Silili thou madest weep._ _Thou didst also love a shepherd of the flock,_ _Who continually poured out for thee the libation,_ _And daily slaughtered kids for thee;_ _But thou didst smite him, and didst change him into a wolf,_ _So that his own sheep-boys hunted him,_ _And his own hounds tore him to pieces._”