We have no distinct evidence that Nergal was worshipped in the primitive times. He is first mentioned by some of the early Assyrian kings, who regard him as their ancestor. It has, however, been conjectured that, like Bil-Nipru, he represented the deified hero, Nimrod, who may have been worshipped in different parts of Chaldaea under different titles.
The city peculiarly dedicated to Nergal was Cutha or Tiggaba, which is constantly called his city in the inscriptions. He was worshipped also at Tarbisa, near Nineveh, but in Tiggaba he was said to “live,” and his shrine there was one of great celebrity. Hence “the men of Cuth,” when transported to Samaria by the Assyrians, naturally enough “made Nergal their god,” carrying his worship with them into their new country.
It is probable that Nergal’s symbol was the Man Lion. [PLATE XX.] Nir is sometimes used in the inscriptions in the meaning of “lion;” and the Semitic name for the god himself is “Aria”—the ordinary term for the king of beasts both in Hebrew and in Syriac. Perhaps we have here the true derivation of the Greek name for the god of war, Ares, which has long puzzled classical scholars. The lion would symbolize both the fighting and the hunting propensities of the god, for he not only engages in combats upon occasions, but often chases his prey and runs it down like a hunter. Again, if Nergal is the Man-Lion, his association in the buildings with the Man-Bull would be exactly parallel with the conjunction, which we so constantly find, between him and Nin in the inscriptions.
Nergal had a wife, called Laz, of whom, however, nothing is known beyond her name. It is uncertain which among the emblems of the gods appertains to him.
ISHTAR, or NANA.
Ishtar, or Nana, is the planetary Venus, and in general features corresponds with the classical goddess. Her name Ishtar is that by which she was known in Assyria; and the same term prevailed with slight modifications among the Semitic races generally. The Phoenician form was Astarte, the Hebrew Ashtoreth; the later Mendaean form was Ashtar. In Babylonia the goddess was known as Nana, which seems to be the Naneea of the second book of Maccabees, and the Nani of the modern Syrians. No satisfactory account can at present be given of the etymology of either name; for the proposal to connect Ishtar with the Greek (Zend starann, Sanscrit tara, English star, Latin stella), though it has great names in its favor, is not worthy of much attention.
Ishtar’s aphrodisiac character, though it can scarcely be doubted, does not appear very clearly in the inscriptions. She is “the goddess who rejoices mankind,” and her most common epithet is “Asurah,” “the fortunate,” or “the happy.” But otherwise her epithets are vague and general, insomuch that she is often scarcely distinguishable from Beltis. She is called “the mistress of heaven and earth,” “the great goddess,” “the queen of all the gods,” and again “the goddess of war and battle,” “the queen of victory,” “she who arranges battles,” and “she who defends from attacks.” She is also represented in the inscriptions of one king as the goddess of the chase.
The worship of Ishtar was wide-spread, and her shrines were numerous. She is often called “the queen of Babylon,” and must certainly have had a temple in that city. She had also temples at Asshur (Kileh-Sherghat), at Arbela, and at Nineveh. It may be suspected that her symbol was the naked female form, which is not uncommon upon the cylinders. [PLATE XXI., Figs. 1, 2.] She may also be represented by the rude images in baked clay so common throughout the Mesopotamian ruins, which are generally regarded as images of Mylitta. Ishtar is sometimes coupled with Nebo in such a way as to suggest the notion that she was his wife. This, however, can hardly have been her real position in the mythology, since Nebo had, as will presently appear, another wife, Varamit, whom there is no reason to believe identical with Ishtar. It is most probable that the conjunction is casual and accidental, being due to special and temporary causes.