Bel. The deity who is mentioned next in order in the list given above is the "older Bel," so called to distinguish him from Bel-Merodach. His principal names were /Mullil/ (dialectic) or /En-lilla/[1] (standard speech), the /Illinos/ of Damascius. His name is generally translated "lord of mist," so-called as god of the underworld, his consort being /Gašan-lil/ or /Nan-lilla/, "the lady of the mist," in Semitic Babylonian /Bêltu/, "the Lady," par excellence. Bel, whose name means "the lord," was so called because he was regarded as chief of the gods. As there was considerable confusion in consequence of the title Bel having been given to Merodach, Tiglath-pileser I. (about 1200 B.C.) refers to him as the "older Bel" in describing the temple which he built for him at Aššur. Numerous names of men compounded with his occur until the latest times, implying that, though the favourite god was Merodach, the worship of Bel was not forgotten, even at Babylon--that he should have been adored at his own city, Niffur, and at Dur-Kuri-galzu, where Kuri-galzu I. built a temple for "Bel, the lord of the lands," was naturally to be expected. Being, like Êa, a god of the earth, he is regarded as having formed a trinity with Anu, the god of heaven, and Êa, the god of the deep, and prayer to these three was as good as invoking all the gods of the universe. Classification of the gods according to the domain of their power would naturally take place in a religious system in which they were all identified with each other, and this classification indicates, as Jastrow says, a deep knowledge of the powers of nature, and a more than average intelligence among the Babylonians--indeed, he holds it as a proof that, at the period of the older empire, there were schools and students who had devoted themselves to religious speculation upon this point. He also conjectures that the third commandment of the Law of Moses was directed against this doctrine held by the Babylonians. [1] Ordinarily pronounced /Illila/, as certain glosses and Damascius's /Illinos/ (for /Illilos/) show. Beltis. This goddess was properly only the spouse of the older Bel, but as /Bêltu/, her Babylonian name, simply meant "lady" in general (just as /Bêl/ or /bêlu/ meant "lord"), it became a title which could be given to any goddess, and was in fact borne by Zer-panîtum, Ištar, Nanaa, and others. It was therefore often needful to add the name of the city over which the special /Bêltu/ presided, in order to make clear which of them was meant. Besides being the title of the spouse of the older Bel, having her earthly seat with him in Niffur and other less important shrines, the Assyrians sometimes name Bêltu the spouse of Aššur, their national god, suggesting an identification, in the minds of the priests, with that deity. Ênu-rêštu or Nirig.[1]