To this circle of planet-gods belongs also the female deity, whom the Babylonians worshipped with much zeal--the goddess Bilit, _i.e._ "Lady," the Mylitta of Herodotus. Her star is Venus. The inscriptions name her "Queen of the Gods," "Mother of the Gods." As she is also called the "Lady of Offspring," it is clear that she was regarded by the Babylonians as the goddess of fertility and birth. They recognised the power of the goddess in the charm and beauty of vegetative nature. Within the wall of her temple at Babylon a grove afforded a cool shade, and a cistern reminded the worshippers of the mistress of the fertilizing water. The creatures sacred to her were fish, as the inhabitants of water, and remarkable for vigorous propagation, and the dove.[369] According to the account of Herodotus the maidens of Babylonia had to worship the goddess by the sacrifice of their virginity; once in her life each was expected to sell her body in honour of the goddess, and thus to redeem herself. Hence on the festivals of Mylitta the maidens of Babylon sat in long rows in the grove of the goddess, with chaplets of cord upon their heads. Even the daughters of the wealthy came in covered cars with a numerous body of attendants. Here they had to remain till one of the pilgrims, who came to worship the goddess, cast a piece of gold into their laps, with the words, "In the name of Mylitta." Then the maiden was compelled to follow him, and comply with his wishes. The money thus earned she gave to the temple-treasury, and was henceforth freed from her obligation to the goddess. "The good-looking and graceful maidens," adds Herodotus, "quickly found a pilgrim, but the ugly ones could not satisfy the law, and often remained in the temple three or four years."[370] The Hebrew scriptures confirm the statements of Herodotus. They tell us of the Babylonians, "that their women, with cords about them (they were bound to the goddess), sat by the wayside, and burnt bran for perfume, and she who was drawn away by the passer-by reproached her fellow that she had not been thought worthy of the honour, and that her cord was not broken."[371] The goddess Nana, whose image, as we have seen, was carried away at an ancient period from Erech to Susa, and to whom it is Nebuchadnezzar's boast that he built temples at Babylon and Borsippa,[372] was hardly distinguished from Bilit or Mylitta.