[66] The fame of this temple outlasts the political importance of the place, and as late as the days of the Assyrian monarchy is an object of fostering care on the part of the kings. [67] That the name is Semitic is no longer seriously questioned by any scholar. The underlying stem suggests etymological relationship with the god Ashur. If this be so, Ishtar may mean 'the goddess that brings blessing' to mankind, but all this is tentative, as are the numerous other etymologies suggested. [68] The ideographs for 'country' and 'mountain' are identical Assyrian. The alternation in the title of Ishtar must not be taken to point to a mountainous origin of the goddess. [69] A full account of this epic will be given at its proper place. [70] Again, in the incantation texts she appears only as the daughter of Anu, cooerdinate with Sin and Shamash. [71] _Keils Bibl._ 3, 1, 72, note. Some scholars, as Hommel (_Gesch. d. alt. Morgenlandes_, p. 68), propose to identify this place with the Assyrian Nineveh, but the conjecture lacks proof and is altogether improbable. [72] _Old Babylonian Inscriptions_, I. pls. 30, 31. (See now Peiser, _Keils Bibl._ 4, pp. 64-66.) [73] Questioned by Peiser, _ib._ [74] Among many nations the moon is pictured as a horned animal. See Robert Brown's interesting monograph on _The Unicorn_, pp. 27 _seq. et passim_; also above, p. 76. [75] Simply the sign AN (= god, heaven) and the phonetic complement _na_. [76] See above, p. 59. [77] Written An-na, without the determinative for deity. De Sarzec, _Decouvertes en Chaldee_, pl. 37, no. 8. [78] The second element may also be read _dar_. See Jensen, _Keils Bibl._ 3, 1, p. 24, note 1. [79] Inscription B, col. ii. 19. [80] See Hommel, _Semitische Kulturen_, p. 389. [81] For the sacred character of the swine among the Semites, see W. Robertson Smith's _The Religion of the Semites_, pp. 201, 272, 332, 457. Rawlinson, iii. 68, 22, occurs a deity, 'swine of the right hand,' _i.e._, propitious. [82] Rawlinson, ii. 59, 23. The second element in Pap-sukal is the common Babylonian word for 'servant,' or 'messenger;' other deities therefore standing in a subsidiary position are also called Pap-sukal. So _e.g._, Nebo and Nusku. See further on and compare Hommel, _Semiten_, pp. 479, 480. [83] Inscription B, col iii. 2. [84] Uru-kagina, earlier than Gudea (de Sarzec, pl. 32), appears to have built a temple to Dun-shagga, but the passage is not altogether clear. The element also appears in the name of the ruler of Ur, _Dungi_, _i.e._, 'the legitimate hero,' as Sargon is the 'legitimate king.' [85] Signifying, according to Jensen, _Keils Bibl._ 3, 1, p. 25, 'fighting-place'. [86] Published by Delitzsch, _Beitraege zur Assyr._ I. 301-311. [87] So also Jensen, _Kosmologie_, p. 14, note 3. [88] So Anu appears to have concubines. [89] See above, pp. 92, 93. [90] Inscription C. [91] De Sarzec, pl. 37, no. 5; _Trans. Soc. Bibl. Arch._ vi. 279.