The same incantation occurs at the close of another hymn to Shamash, addressed to the sun upon his rising.[428] The colophon furnishes the opening line of the next tablet, which also begins with an address to Shamash. We have here a clear indication of a kind of Shamash ritual extending, perhaps, over a number of tablets, and to which, in all probability, the hymn just quoted also belongs. The opening lines of the second hymn read: O Shamash! out of the horizon of heaven thou issuest forth, The bolt of the bright heavens thou openest, The door of heaven thou dost open. O Shamash! over the world dost thou raise thy head. O Shamash! with the glory of heaven thou coverest the world. It would be difficult to believe, but for the express testimony furnished by the hymn itself, that a production giving evidence of such a lofty view of the sun-god should, after all, be no more than an incantation. The same is the case, however, with all the Shamash hymns so far published. They either expressly or by implication form part of an incantation ritual. Evidently, then, such addresses to Shamash are to be viewed in no other light than the exaltation of Nusku in the 'Maklu' series,[429] and which we have found were in many cases elaborate, beautiful in diction, and elevated in thought. So--to give one more example--a hymn addressed to the sun-god at the setting, and which is especially interesting because of the metaphors chosen to describe the sun's course, is proved by the colophon to be again an incantation. It belongs to a series--perhaps, indeed, to the same as the specimens furnished:[430] O sun-god in the midst[431] of heaven at thy setting, May the enclosure of the pure heaven greet thee,[432] May the gate of heaven approach thee, May the directing god, the messenger who loves thee, direct thy way. In E-babbara, the seat of thy sovereignty, thy supremacy rises like the dawn. May A, the wife whom thou lovest, come before thee with joy; May thy heart be at rest,[433] May the glory of thy divinity be established for thee. O Shamash! warrior hero, mayest thou be exalted; O lord of E-babbara, as thou marchest, may thy course be directed, Direct thy path, march along the path fixed for thy course (?). O Shamash! judge of the world, director of its laws art thou. In the previous chapter, the hymns addressed to the moon-god in connection with eclipses have been referred to and short specimens given. A more elaborate hymn to Sin will further illustrate the conceptions current about this deity:[434]