In later times he was also called “the god of the waters,” and from him some of the attributes of Neptune may have been derived. It was said that Chaos was his wife.
NIN-CI-GAL.
In later mythology Nin-ci-gal, instead of Chaos, was the wife of Hea—she was the “lady of the mighty country” and “queen of the dead.” This goddess may have been the prototype of Proserpine, who was carried away by Pluto in his golden chariot to be the “queen of hades.”
SIN.
This name signifies brightness, and the moon-god was the father of Ishtar. Nannaru, “the brilliant one,” was one of his titles.
A golden tablet[[75]] found in the “timmin,” or cornerstone of a palace or temple at Khorsabed, contains an account of the splendid temples which King Sargon II built in a town near Nineveh (Dur Sārkin) and dedicated to Hea, Sin (the moon-god), Chemosh (the sun-god), and Ninip, the god of forces. The king’s inscription[[76]] states that “I constructed palaces covered with skins, sandal wood, ebony, cedar, tamarisk, pine, cypress, and wood of pistachio tree.” Among the gods presented on the tablets we find also
HEA-BANI.
This god was the companion of Izdūbar, and on account of the peculiar circumstances attending his death was shut out of heaven. He is represented as a satyr, with the legs, head, and tail of an ox. This figure occurs very frequently on the gems, and may always be recognized by these characteristics. He is doubtless the original of Mendes, the goat-formed god of Egypt, and also of Pan, the goat-footed god of the Arcadian herdsman with his pipe of seven reeds. Hea-bani is represented as dwelling in a remote place three days’ journey from Erech, and it was said that he lived in a cave and associated with the cattle and the creeping things of the field.
NERGAL,
the patron deity of Cutha, is identified with Nerra, the god of pestilence, and also with Ner, the mythical monarch of Babylonia, who it was claimed reigned before the flood. He was “the god of bows and arms.” The cuneiform inscriptions show that the Lion-god, under the name of Nergal[[77]] was worshipped at Kuti or Cutha, where an elaborate temple was built in his honor, and an Assyrian copy of an old Babylonian text belonging to the library of Cutha, speaks of “the memorial stone which I wrote for thee, for the worship of Nergal which I left for thee.” According to Dr. Oppert, Nergal represented the planet Mars, hence the Grecian god of war, “raging round the field,” appears to have been merely a perpetuation of this early deity.