I base my conclusion upon the epithets applied to him in common with Hoa and Nin, and inconsistently applied if, according to the evidence, p. 177, "mythologically he was a deity of no very great eminence," but in no way conflicting with the supposition that he represented the tradition of Noah, the counterpart to the tradition of Hoa and Nin, among some subordinate nationality, and such appears to be the fact. "When Nebo first appears in Assyria, it is as a foreign god, whose worship is brought thither from Babylonia," p. 178. Of Nebo it is said, "his name is the same or nearly so, both in Babylonian and Assyrian, and we may perhaps assign it a _Semitic_ derivation, from the root _'nibbah,' to prophesy_. It is his special function to preside over _knowledge_ and _learning_. He is called 'the god who possesses intelligence'--'he who hears from afar'--'he who _teaches_,' or 'he who teaches and instructs.' In this point of view he of course approximates to Hoa, _whose son_ he is called in some inscriptions, and to whom he bears a general resemblance. Like Hoa, he is symbolised by the simple wedge or arrow-head, the primary and essential element of cuneiform writing, to mark his _joint_ presidency with that god over writing and literature. At the same time Nebo has, like so many of the Chaldæan gods, a number of general titles, implying divine powers, which, if they had belonged to him only, would have seemed to prove him the supreme deity. He is 'the lord of lords, who has no equal in power,' _'the supreme chief_,' '_the sustainer_,' 'the supporter,' the 'ever ready,' 'the guardian over the heavens and the earth,' 'the lord of the constellations,' 'the holder of the sceptre of power,' 'he who grants to kings the sceptre of royalty for the _governance_ of their people'" (Rawlinson, i. 177). There is just a possibility, however, that Nebo may be Sem or Shem. He would be the son of Hoa as Nebo was stated to be. I think, moreover, a striking resemblance will be seen between the above epithets and the traditions concerning _Shem_, collected by Calmet (Dict. "Sem.") "The Jews attribute to Sem the theological _tradition_ of the _things which Noah taught to the first men_.... They say that he is the same as Melchisedek.... In fine, the Hebrews believe that he taught _men the law of justice_, the manner of counting the months and years, and the intercalations of the months. They pretend that _God gave him the spirit of prophecy_ one hundred years after the Deluge, and that he continued _to prophesy_ during four hundred years, with little fruit among mankind, who had become very corrupt. Methodius says that he remained in the isle of the sun, that he invented astronomy, and that he was _the first king who ruled over the earth_."[164]