[124] Whether, however, this was the real meaning of the name is doubtful, for the name of the goddess is also written Aru and Arua, which points to a different verbal stem. [125] See below under Tashmitum. [126] There are indications also of an arrested amalgamation of Erua-Sarpanitum with Tashmitum, the wife of Nabu. (See Sayce, _Hibbert Lectures_, p. 112.) [127] Rawlinson, ii. 60, 30. [128] _Hibbert Lectures_, p. 117. [129] See further on, _sub_ Ea. [130] _Kosmologie_, p. 239. [131] _Sub_ Nusku, chapter xiii. [132] Tiele, _Geschichte d. Religion i. Alterthum_, i. 171 and 188, is of the opinion that Nabu is a late deity whose worship dates from a period considerably subsequent to Hammurabi. This conclusion from the non-occurrence of the god in early inscriptions is not justified. There is no reason why Nabu should have been added as a deity in later times, and in general we must be on our guard against assuming new deities subsequent to Hammurabi. It is much more plausible to assume the restored popularity of very old ones. [133] Bel being Marduk, the title was equivalent to that of 'governor of Babylonia.' [134] So, Tiele, _Geschichte d. Religion i. Alterthum_, i. 191. [135] The Hebrew word for prophet, _nabi_, is of the same stem as the Assyrian Nabu, and the popular tradition is placing the last scene in the life of Moses on Mt. Nebo is apparently influenced by the fact that Moses was a _nabi_. [136] See above, p. 123. [137] So in the cylinder of Shamash-shum-ukin (Lehmann's publication, pls. viii. _seq._). [138] _E.g._, in the so-called Grotefend Cylinder, col. ii. 34. [139] _Wiener Zeitschrift fuer die Kunde d. Morgenlandes_, iv. 301-307. [140] We only know the name through Eusebius' extract from Alexander Polyhistor's digest of Berosus. The form, therefore, cannot be vouched for. The various modern attempts to explain the name have failed (see _e.g._, Lenormant's _Magic und Wahrsagekunst der Chaldaer_, 2d German edition, pp. 376-379). There may be some ultimate connection between Oannes and Jonah (see Trumbull in _Journal of Bibl. Liter._ xl. 58, note). [141] For fuller proof, see the chapter on "The Cosmology of the Babylonians." [142] This, it will be remembered (see above, p. 118), is one of the titles of Marduk in one of Hammurabi's inscriptions,--an important point for the date of the episode in its present form. [143] Literally, 'Ea shall be his name, his as mine.' [144] According to Syncellus. In cuneiform texts the old Bel is at times invoked as the creator of mankind. [145] _Kosmologie_, pp. 293, 294. [146] _Aos_ and _Dauke_. [147] Rawlinson, iv. 25. [148] See p. 79. [149] See Jensen, _Keils Bibl._. 3, 1, p. 108, note 5. Tiele, _Gesch._ p. 126, apparently identifies Innanna of Hallabi with Tashmit, but, so far as I can see, without sufficient reason. [150] Here written En-lil, as the Bel of Nippur.