Page:The Chaldean Account of Genesis (1876).djvu/264

 55. my only brother thou didst never wrong me

56. In the day that Dumuzi adorned me, with rings of rubies, with bracelets of emeralds, with him adorned me,

57. with him adorned me, men mourners and women mourners,

58. on a bier may they raise, and gashes? may they cut?

This remarkable text shows Ishtar fulfilling her threat and descending to Hades, but it does not appear that she accomplished her vengeance against Izdubar yet.

At the opening of the sixth tablet we have the final scene of the contest with Humbaba. Izdubar, after slaying Humbaba, takes the crown from the head of the monarch and places it on his own head, thus signifying that he assumed the empire. There were, as we are informed in several places, kings, lords, and princes, merely local rulers, but these generally submitted to the greatest power; and just as they had bowed to Humbaba, so they were ready now to submit to Izdubar. The kingdom promised to Izdubar when he started to encounter Humbaba now became his by right of superior force, and he entered the halls of the palace of Erech and feasted with his heroes.

We now come to a curious part of the story, the romance of Izdubar and Ishtar. One of the strange and dark features of the Babylonian religion was the Ishtar or Venus worship, which was an adoration of