A penitential psalm on the destruction of the ancient city of Erech has been preserved in a fragment which in Theodore G. Pinches’s translation reads thus:[13]
“How long, my Lady, shall the strong enemy hold thy sanctuary?
There is want in Erech, thy principal city;
Blood is flowing like water in E-ulbar, the house of thine oracle;
He, the enemy, has kindled and poured out fire like hailstones on all thy lands.
My Lady, sorely am I fettered by misfortune;
My Lady, thou hast surrounded me, and brought me to grief.
The mighty enemy has smitten me down like a single reed.
Not wise myself, I cannot take counsel;[14]
I mourn day and night like the fields.
I, thy servant, pray to thee.”
As Venus Victrix, the warlike goddess akin to the Greek Pallas Athene, Istar, appears to Asurbanipal in a vision, recorded in a cuneiform inscription of the annals of this powerful Assyrian king, and refers to the invasion of Tiumman, King of Elam. The passage reads in H. Fox Talbot’s translation thus:[15]
“In the month Ab, the month of the heliacal rising of Sagittarius, in the festival of the great Queen [Istar] daughter of Bel, I [Asurbanipal, King of Assyria,] was staying at Arbela, the city most beloved by her, to be present at her high worship.
“There they brought me news of the invasion of the Elamite, who was coming against the will of the gods. Thus:
“‘Tiumman has said solemnly, and Istar has repeated to us the tenor of his words: thus: “I will not pour out another libation until I have gone and fought with him.”’
“Concerning this threat which Tiumman had spoken, I prayed to the great Istar. I approached to her presence, I bowed down at her feet, I besought her divinity to come and save me. Thus:
“‘O goddess of Arbela, I am Asurbanipal, King of Assyria, the creature of thy hands, [chosen by thee and] thy father [Asur] to restore the temples of Assyria, and to complete the holy cities of Akkad. I have gone to honor thee, and I have gone to worship thee. But he Tiumman, King of Elam, never worships the gods....
[Here some words are lost.]
“‘O thou Queen of queens, Goddess of war, Lady of battles, Queen of the gods, who in the presence of Asur thy father speakest always in my favor, causing the hearts of Asur and Marduk to love me.... Lo! now, Tiumman, King of Elam, who has sinned against Asur thy father, and has scorned the divinity of Marduk thy brother, while I Asurbanipal have been rejoicing their hearts. He has collected his soldiers, amassed his army, and has drawn his sword to invade Assyria. O thou archer of the gods, come like a [thunderstorm] ... in the midst of the battle, destroy him, and crush him with a fiery bolt from heaven!’