"Hoa occupies in the first triad the position which in the classical mythology is filled by Poseidon or Neptune, and in some respects he corresponds to him. He is 'the lord of the earth,' just as Neptune is [Greek: gaiêochos]; he is the 'king of rivers,' and he comes from the sea to teach the Babylonians, but he is never called the 'lord of the sea.' That title belongs to Nin or Ninip. Hoa is the lord of the abyss or of 'the great deep,' which does not seem to be the sea, but something distinct from it. His most important titles are those which invest him with the character so prominently brought out in Oë and Oannes, of the god of science and knowledge. He is 'the intelligent guide,' or, according to another interpretation, 'the intelligent fish,' 'the teacher of mankind,' 'the lord of understanding.' One of his emblems is the 'wedge' or 'arrow-head,' the essential element of cuneiform writing, which seems to be assigned to him as the inventor, or at least the patron, of the Chaldæan alphabet. Another is the serpent, which occupies so conspicuous a place among the symbols of the gods on the black stones recording benefactions, and which sometimes appears upon the cylinders. This symbol here, as elsewhere, is emblematic of superhuman knowledge--a record of the primeval belief that 'the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field.' The stellar name of Hoa was Kimmut.... The monuments do not contain much evidence of the early worship of Hoa. His name appears on a very ancient stone tablet brought from Mugheir (Ur), but otherwise his claim to be accounted one of the primeval gods must rest on the testimony of Berosus and Helladius, who represent him as known to the first settlers.... As Kimmut, Hoa was also the father of Nebo, whose functions bear a general resemblance to his own."--_Rawlinson's Ancient Monarchies_, i. 152.[154] [154] _Vide_ his other epithets, _infra_, p. 239; also Rawlinson (Herod. i. p. 600), says that "upon one of the tablets in the British Museum there is a list of thirty-six synonyms indicating this god (Hoa). The greater part of them relate either to "the abyss" or to "knowledge." Compare this with the following verses from the "Oracula Sybillina," i. ver. 145-- "Collige, Noë, tuas vires ... ... Si scieris me Divinæ te nulla rei secreta latebunt." Now, without entering into the question of the authenticity of the Sybilline verses, I may at least quote them in evidence of the current tradition concerning Noah in the second century of the Christian era, supposing them to have been forged at that period.