THE  WORSHIP  OF  YAHWEH  AS  A  BULL

In the artistry of primitive religions the gods were depicted with definite characteristics that set them apart as deities.  Hindu gods were distinguished by their sky-blue skins and multiple appendages.  Egyptian gods were animal-headed, and they grasped the ankh, or crux ansata, symbolic of immortality.  Medieval artists distinguished Christ and the saints by means of halos.*  As for ancient Near Eastern deities, they were characteristically horned.  From the time of Sumer down to the eclipse of the Ugaritic pantheon, the heads of divinities bore the horns of either bulls or rams.

          When the Hebrews invaded Canaan they lived for centuries alongside native worshipers of the mighty bull god, Baal.  And as time passed, it was inevitable that Yahweh should come to resemble His chief antagonist in the minds of the people.  This melding of faiths was accurately described by the novelist James Michener:

In fact, when the average citizen...prostrated himself before Yahweh he could scarcely have explained which god he was worshiping, for El had passed into Baal and he into El-Shaddaiy and all into Yahweh...**

          It was explicitly stated in the Book of Numbers that God (Elohim) had “the horns of the wild ox” (24:8 RSV).***  And His throne was guarded by human-headed bulls called cherubim.  In fact, bulls were set up as golden images of Yahweh in the two rival temples of the ten northern tribes of Israel (1 Ki. 12:28-29).  And while it is true that this was scandalous in the eyes of the southern Judæans, who made no molten images of God, it is beyond question that they also carried this bull-god conception in their minds.

*The halo, aureola, or nimbus was developed from the Hellenic convention of placing a sunburst crown on the statues of deities - as with the spiked crown of the Statue of Liberty.

**The Source by James A. Michener, Random House, 1965, p. 205

***The “wild ox” intended here is, in fact, the primeval beast known as the aurochs, a giant-sized, untamed bison that was deemed more dangerous than a lion in ancient times.

          This situation was well described in a novel by Gladys Schmitt:

A household image stood upon a pedestal opposite the bed - Yahweh in the shape of an angry bull rearing in rage against a host of unseen enemies, hewn roughly and in visionary fury from porous reddish stone.  (David) gazed in wonderment at the image.  Such things were forbidden in Judah, nor was it considered any excuse for them that they were beautiful or reverend with age.

And suddenly he felt the presence of the God of hosts, the great body of the Warrior, covered with dragon scales and blowing the hot breath of the bull.  The God of Battles was with him, panting for blood.*

          No greater zealot for Yahweh’s integrity can be found in the Old Testament than the prophet Amos.  And yet, all the evidence shows that Amos tolerated the worship of his God in the form of a golden bull.**  This rough Judæan preacher burst into the rival temple at Bethel and railed against everything evil in the northern kingdom, but he never directly attacked the cult of bull worship.  The following allusions show that the bull image must have been acceptable to Amos.

...in the house*** of their God they drink the wine of those who have been fined.  Yet I (Yahweh) destroyed the Amorite before them...                                 (2:8b-9a)

Even though you offer me (Yahweh as the golden Bull) your burnt offerings and cereal offerings, I will not accept them (because of your unjust treatment of the poor - not because of the bull image).                     (5:22)

I saw Yahweh standing beside the altar...         (9:1)****

          The golden calf of the Exodus has been thought by some to have represented the Egyptian god Ptah incarnate in the sacred bull, Apis.  But the Zondervan Bible Dictionary takes another view:

*David The King by Gladys Schmitt, Dial Press, 1946, pp. 96, 263

**Actually, Yahweh as a Bull is no more offensive than Christ as a Lamb or the Holy Spirit as a Dove.

***Note that the “house” was the temple that enshrined the golden bull.

****Note that the Deity is seen standing beside His bull statue.

   Aaron made a golden image of a male calf in order that the people might worship Jehovah under this form (Exod. 32:4).  It is very unlikely that the Golden Calf was a representation of an Egyptian deity.  The feast held in connection with this worship was “a feast of Jehovah” (Exod. 32:5).

   After the division of the kingdom, Jeroboam set up two golden calves in his kingdom, one at Bethel and one at Dan (1 Ki. 12:29) because he feared that his people might desert him if they continued to worship in Jerusalem.  He was not trying to make heathenism the state religion, for the bull images were undoubtedly supposed to represent Jehovah.  In time, these images, at first recognized as symbols, came to be regarded as common idols (1 Kings 12:30, Hosea 12:11).

          The historian Will Durant has elaborated further:

 In the artistry of primitive religions the gods were depicted with definite characteristics that set them apart as deities.  Hindu gods were distinguished by their sky-blue skins and multiple appendages.  Egyptian gods were animal-headed, and they grasped the ankh, or crux ansata, symbolic of immortality.  Medieval artists distinguished Christ and the saints by means of halos.*  As for ancient Near Eastern deities, they were characteristically horned.  From the time of Sumer down to the eclipse of the Ugaritic pantheon, the heads of divinities bore the horns of either bulls or rams.

          When the Hebrews invaded Canaan they lived for centuries alongside native worshipers of the mighty bull god, Baal.  And as time passed, it was inevitable that Yahweh should come to resemble His chief antagonist in the minds of the people.  This melding of faiths was accurately described by the novelist James Michener:

In fact, when the average citizen...prostrated himself before Yahweh he could scarcely have explained which god he was worshiping, for El had passed into Baal and he into El-Shaddaiy and all into Yahweh...**

          It was explicitly stated in the Book of Numbers that God (Elohim) had “the horns of the wild ox” (24:8 RSV).***  And His throne was guarded by human-headed bulls called cherubim.  In fact, bulls were set up as golden images of Yahweh in the two rival temples of the ten northern tribes of Israel (1 Ki. 12:28-29).  And while it is true that this was scandalous in the eyes of the southern Judæans, who made no molten images of God, it is beyond question that they also carried this bull-god conception in their minds.

*The halo, aureola, or nimbus was developed from the Hellenic convention of placing a sunburst crown on the statues of deities - as with the spiked crown of the Statue of Liberty.

**The Source by James A. Michener, Random House, 1965, p. 205

***The “wild ox” intended here is, in fact, the primeval beast known as the aurochs, a giant-sized, untamed bison that was deemed more dangerous than a lion in ancient times.

          This situation was well described in a novel by Gladys Schmitt:

A household image stood upon a pedestal opposite the bed - Yahweh in the shape of an angry bull rearing in rage against a host of unseen enemies, hewn roughly and in visionary fury from porous reddish stone.  (David) gazed in wonderment at the image.  Such things were forbidden in Judah, nor was it considered any excuse for them that they were beautiful or reverend with age.

And suddenly he felt the presence of the God of hosts, the great body of the Warrior, covered with dragon scales and blowing the hot breath of the bull.  The God of Battles was with him, panting for blood.*

          No greater zealot for Yahweh’s integrity can be found in the Old Testament than the prophet Amos.  And yet, all the evidence shows that Amos tolerated the worship of his God in the form of a golden bull.**  This rough Judæan preacher burst into the rival temple at Bethel and railed against everything evil in the northern kingdom, but he never directly attacked the cult of bull worship.  The following allusions show that the bull image must have been acceptable to Amos.

...in the house*** of their God they drink the wine of those who have been fined.  Yet I (Yahweh) destroyed the Amorite before them...                                 (2:8b-9a)

Even though you offer me (Yahweh as the golden Bull) your burnt offerings and cereal offerings, I will not accept them (because of your unjust treatment of the poor - not because of the bull image).                     (5:22)

I saw Yahweh standing beside the altar...         (9:1)****

          The golden calf of the Exodus has been thought by some to have represented the Egyptian god Ptah incarnate in the sacred bull, Apis.  But the Zondervan Bible Dictionary takes another view:

*David The King by Gladys Schmitt, Dial Press, 1946, pp. 96, 263

**Actually, Yahweh as a Bull is no more offensive than Christ as a Lamb or the Holy Spirit as a Dove.

***Note that the “house” was the temple that enshrined the golden bull.

****Note that the Deity is seen standing beside His bull statue.

   Aaron made a golden image of a male calf in order that the people might worship Jehovah under this form (Exod. 32:4).  It is very unlikely that the Golden Calf was a representation of an Egyptian deity.  The feast held in connection with this worship was “a feast of Jehovah” (Exod. 32:5).

   After the division of the kingdom, Jeroboam set up two golden calves in his kingdom, one at Bethel and one at Dan (1 Ki. 12:29) because he feared that his people might desert him if they continued to worship in Jerusalem.  He was not trying to make heathenism the state religion, for the bull images were undoubtedly supposed to represent Jehovah.  In time, these images, at first recognized as symbols, came to be regarded as common idols (1 Kings 12:30, Hosea 12:11).

          The historian Will Durant has elaborated further:

As they first entered the historic scene the Jews were nomad Bedouins who feared the djinns of the air, and worshiped rocks, cattle, sheep, and the spirits of caves and hills.  The cult of the bull, the sheep, and the lamb was not neglected; Moses could never quite win his flock from the adoration of the Golden Calf, for the Egyptian worship of the bull was still fresh in their memories, and Yahweh was for a long time symbolized in that ferocious vegetarian.*

          The Bible scholar Harry Emerson Fosdick has also explained:

...even in the central temple at Jerusalem...grew up the worship of Yahweh under the likeness of bulls, such as Jeroboam set up at Dan and Bethel.  The story of Aaron and the golden calf in all probability was written in this later age to help understand the polluting identification of Yahweh’s worship with the adoration of bulls.**

*Our Oriental Heritage by Will Durant, Simon and Schuster, 1954, p. 309.

**A Guide To Understanding The Bible by Harry Emerson Fosdick, Harper ChapelBooks, 1965, p. 16

          In keeping with this idea, one may compare the two rival accounts of the Decalogue given in Exodus, chapters 20 and 34.  The Exodus 20 version, from Israel, denounced “other gods” and “graven (stone) images.”  But the Judæan version in Exodus 34 was explicitly directed against “molten gods,” doubtless in reference to the metalic bulls of Bethel and Dan.

          The archæologist William F. Albright confirmed this view.

...the erection of a “golden calf” at Dan...refers to an attempted return by the Israelites of Moses’ time to the ancient practice of representing the chief divinity in the form of a storm-god standing on a young bull...though we do not know whether or not the figure of the god standing on the young bull was supposed to be visible or invisible.  The latter was true later.  In view of the archaism of Exodus 32 and Jeroboam’s obvious intention, over 350 years later, to restore pre-Solomonic faith and practice rather than to create a new paganism, it is much safer to assume that the Israelites did not erect a visible image (of Yahweh atop the bull) at either Bethel or Dan.*

          Now, it should be noted that whenever a god was shown standing on a bull as his totem animal, he often incorporated the horns and tail of the animal with his his otherwise human features.  Thus, he remained himself a bull god.  In fact, the chief god of Babylon, who was identified with both the bull and the dragon, carried the meaningful name Marduk, which signified “Young Sun Bull.”

          Finally, bull gods were always associated with cow goddesses as their consorts.  And thus, Baal’s mistress was the bovine deity Anath.  So, it is significant that when the old god of Canaan, Baal, was dethroned by a new King of heaven, Yahweh, it was natural to some of the Hebrews that Yahweh should acquire the harem of the vanquished.

*Yahweh And The Gods Of Canaan by William Foxwell Albright, Doubleday, 1968, p. 197

          Evidence for this wife-stealing in heaven comes from documents attributed to a Jewish military garrison at Elephantine in Egypt.  These old records, written about 500 B.C. bear witness to the fact that the soldiers had built for themselves a temple for their God, Yahu (Yahweh), and for the goddess Anath-yahu.  Thus, they had married Yahweh to Baal’s former wife, the cow goddess of Canaan!

Ēl (Hebrew: אל) is a northwest Semitic word meaning "god" or "God." In the English Bible, the derivative name Elohim is normally translated as "God," while Yahweh is translated as "The Lord." El can be translated either as "God" or "god," depending upon whether it refers to the one God or to a lesser divine being. As an element in proper names, "el" is found in ancient Aramaic, Arabic, and Ethiopic languages, as well as Hebrew (e.g. "Samu·el" and "Jo·el"). In the post-biblical period, "el" becomes a regular element in the names of angels such as "Gabri·el," "Micha·el," and "Azri·el," to denote their status as divine beings. The semantic root of the Islamic word for God "Allah" is related to the semitic word El.

In the Bible, El was the deity worshiped by the Hebrew patriarchs, for example as El Shaddai (God Almighty) or El Elyon (God Most High) before the revelation of his name Yahweh to Moses. But El was also worshiped by non-Israelites, such as Melchizedek (Genesis 14:9). Scholars have found much extra-biblical evidence of Canaanite worship of El as the supreme deity, creator of heaven and earth, the father of humankind, the husband of the goddess Asherah, and the parent of many other gods. Canaanite mythology about El may have directly influenced the development of the later Greco-Roman stories of the gods.

Contents  [hide] 1 Ēl in the Bible 1.1 The Patriarchs and El 1.2 Debate over origins 1.3 The Council of El 1.4 Northern El versus Southern Yahweh? 1.5 Various forms of El 2 El outside the Bible 2.1 Middle Eastern Literature 2.2 Sanchuniathon's Account 2.3 El and Poseidon 3 Linguistic forms and meanings 4 References 5 External Links 6 Credits

The theological position of Jews and Christians is that Ēl and Ĕlōhîm, when used to mean the supreme God, refer to the same being as Yahweh—the one supreme deity who is the Creator of the universe and the God of Israel. Whether or not this was the original belief of the earliest Biblical writers is a subject of much debate. Some form of monotheism probably existed among the Israelites from an early date, but scholars debate the extent to which they borrowed or inherited numerous polytheistic ideas from their Canaanite neighbors and forebears.

Ēl in the Bible

The Patriarchs and El

In Exodus 6:2–3, Yahweh states:

I revealed myself to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as Ēl Shaddāi, but was not known to them by my name Yahweh.

Today we commonly hear the phrase "the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." Abraham entered into a relationship with the God who was known as the "Shield of Abraham," Isaac covenanted with "the Fear of Isaac," and Jacob with "the Mighty One." The Bible identifies these personal gods as forms of the one high god El. Genesis indicates that not only the Hebrew patriarchs, but also their neighbors in Canaan and others throughout Mesopotamia, worshiped El as the highest God. For example, the king of the town of Salem (the future Jerusalem) greeted and blessed Abraham in the name of the "God Most High"—El Elyon:

Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High [El Elyon], and he blessed Abram, saying, "Blessed be Abram by God Most High" (Gen. 14:19).

Soon after this, Abraham swore an oath to the king of Sodom in the name of El Elyon, identifying him as "The Creator of Heaven and earth" (Gen. 14:22). Later, when God established the covenant of circumcision with Abraham, he identified himself as El Shaddai—God Almighty (Gen. 17:1). It is also El Shaddai who blessed Jacob and told him to change his name to "Isra·el" (Gen. 35:10-11). And it is in El Shaddai's name that Jacob conferred his own blessing to his sons, the future patriarchs of the tribes of Israel:

By the God (El) of you father, who helps you … the Almighty (Shaddai), who blesses you with blessings of the heavens above, blessings of the deep that lies below, blessings of the breast and womb (Gen. 49:25).

In Genesis 22, Abraham planted a sacred tree in Beersheba, calling upon the name of "El Olam"—God Everlasting. At Shechem, he established an altar in the name of "El Elohe Israel"—God, the God of Israel. (Gen. 33:20)

Finally, in Genesis 35, "Elohim" appeared to Jacob and ordered him and to move his clan to the town of Luz, there to build an altar to commemorate God's appearance. Jacob complied, erecting an altar to "El," and renaming the town "Beth-el"—the house, or place, of El.

Debate over origins

While the traditional view is that El later revealed himself to Moses as Yahweh, some scholars believe that Yahweh was originally thought to be one of many gods—or perhaps the god of one particular Israelite tribe, or the Kenite god of Moses' wife—and was not necessarily identified with Ēl at first (Smith 2002). They cite as evidence, for example, the fact that in some Biblical verses, Yahweh is clearly envisioned as a storm god, something not true of Ēl so far as is known.

The voice of the Yahweh is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the Lord thunders over the mighty waters…. The voice of the Yahweh strikes with flashes of lightning (Psalm 29:3-7).

Today a more widespread view is that such names as Ēl Shaddāi, Ēl ‘Ôlām, and Ēl ‘Elyôn were originally understood as one God with different titles according to their place of worship, just as today Catholics worship the same Mary as "Our Lady of Fatima" or "the Virgin of Guadalupe." Thus, it is possible that the religious identity of these figures was established in the popular Israelite mind from an early date. Otherwise, one is led to the view that all of traditions and terms of the various tribes were unified as one God by the religious authorities, who combined the J, E, D, and P sources of scripture, as the Israelites organized their nation during and after the Babylonian exile.

The Council of El

Psalm 82 presents a vision of God that may hearken back to the age in which El was seen as Israel's chief deity, rather than as the only God:

Elohim (God) stands in the council of ēl

he judges among the gods (elohim). (Psalm 82:1)

In context, this appears to signify that God stands in the divine council as the supreme deity, judging the other gods. He goes on to pronounce that although they are "sons of god" (bene elohim) these beings shall no longer be immortal, but shall die, as humans do.

I said, 'You are gods (elohim); you are all sons of the Most High (Elyon);' But you will die like mere men; you will fall like every other ruler (82:6-7).

The passage bears striking similarities to a Canaanite text (see below) uncovered at Ugarit, describing El's struggle against the rebellious Baal and those deities who supported him. The Hebrew version could mark a point at which the earlier polytheistic tradition of Israel was giving way to a monotheistic tradition whereby God no longer co-existed with other lesser deities. Defenders of strict Biblical monotheism, however, insist that Psalm 82 does not refer to a literal council of "the gods," but to a council in which God judged either the fallen angels or human beings who had put themselves in the position of God.

The Bible contains several other references to the concept of the heavenly council. For example, Psalm 89:6-7 asks:

Who is like Yahweh among the sons of El? In the council of the holy ones, El is greatly feared; he is more awesome than all who surround him.

Another version of the heavenly council using only Yahweh's name appears in I Kings 22, in which the prophet Michaiah reports the following vision:

I saw the Yahweh sitting on his throne with all the host of heaven standing around him on his right and on his left. And Yahweh said, 'Who will entice (King) Ahab into attacking Ramoth Gilead and going to his death there?' One suggested this, and another that. Finally, a spirit came forward, stood before Yahweh and said, 'I will entice him.' 'By what means?' Yahweh asked. 'I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouths of all his prophets,' he said. 'You will succeed in enticing him,' said Yahweh. 'Go and do it' (I Kings 22:19-22).

Here it is no longer lesser gods or "sons of El," but "spirits" who respond to God in the council. By the time of the Book of Job, the concept of the heavenly council had evolved from the more primitive version expressed in Psalms 82 and 86 to one in which "the angels came to present themselves before Yahweh, and Satan also came with them." (Job 1:6) Some scholars have thus concluded that what were once considered lesser deities or literal "sons of El" in Hebrew mythology had became mere angels of Yahweh by the time of the writing of Job.

Tammuz (Syriac: ܬܡܘܙ; Hebrew: תַּמּוּז, Transliterated Hebrew: Tammuz, Tiberian Hebrew: Tammûz; Arabic: تمّوز‎ Tammūz; Akkadian: Duʾzu, Dūzu; Sumerian:Dumuzid (DUMU.ZI(D), "faithful or true son") was the name of a Sumerian god of food and vegetation, also worshiped in the later Mesopotamian states ofAkkad, Assyria and Babylonia.

Ritual mourning[edit]

In Babylonia, the month Tammuz was established in honor of the eponymous god Tammuz, who originated as a Sumerian shepherd-god, Dumuzid or Dumuzi, the consort of Inanna and, in his Akkadian form, the parallel consort of Ishtar. The Levantine Adonis ("lord"), who was drawn into the Greek pantheon, was considered byJoseph Campbell among others to be another counterpart of Tammuz,^[1] son and consort. The Aramaic name "Tammuz" seems to have been derived from the Akkadian form Tammuzi, based on early Sumerian Damu-zid.^{[citation needed]} The later standard Sumerian form, Dumu-zid, in turn became Dumuzi in Akkadian. Tamuzi also is Dumuzid or Dumuzi.

Beginning with the summer solstice came a time of mourning in the Ancient Near East, as in the Aegean: the Babylonians marked the decline in daylight hours and the onset of killing summer heat and drought with a six-day "funeral" for the god. Recent discoveries reconfirm him as an annual life-death-rebirth deity: tablets discovered in 1963 show that Dumuzi was in fact consigned to the Underworld himself, in order to secure Inanna's release,^[2] though the recovered final line reveals that he is to revive for six months of each year (see below).

In cult practice, the dead Tammuz was widely mourned in the Ancient Near East. Locations associated in antiquity with the site of his death include both Harran andByblos, among others. A Sumerian tablet from Nippur (Ni 4486) reads:

She can make the lament for you, my Dumuzid, the lament for you, the lament, the lamentation, reach the desert — she can make it reach the house Arali; she can make it reach Bad-tibira; she can make it reach Dul-šuba; she can make it reach the shepherding country, the sheepfold of Dumuzid

"O Dumuzid of the fair-spoken mouth, of the ever kind eyes," she sobs tearfully, "O you of the fair-spoken mouth, of the ever kind eyes," she sobs tearfully. "Lad, husband, lord, sweet as the date, [...] O Dumuzid!" she sobs, she sobs tearfully.^[3]

Tammuz in the Hebrew Bible[edit]

These mourning ceremonies were observed at the door of the Temple in Jerusalem in a vision the Israelite prophet Ezekiel was given, which serves as a Biblical prophecy which expresses YHWH's message at His people's apostate worship of idols:

"Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the Lord's house which was toward the north; and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz. Then said he unto to me, 'Hast thou seen this, O son of man? turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these." —Ezekiel 8:14-15

It is quite possible that among other Judeans the Tammuz cult was not regarded as inconsistent with Yahwism.^[4]

Ezekiel's testimony is the only direct mention of Tammuz in the Hebrew Bible, though echoes of Tammuz have been seen in the books of Isaiah, and Daniel.^[5]

Dumuzid in the Sumerian king list[edit]

In the Sumerian king list two kings named Dumuzi appear:

• Dumuzid of Bad-tibira, the shepherd (reigning 36 000 years), the fifth King before the Flood
• Dumuzid of Kuara, the fisherman (reigning 100 years), the third King of the first dynasty of Uruk, reigning between Lugalbanda and Gilgamesh, circa 2,700 BC.

Other Sumerian texts showed that kings were to be married to Inanna in a sacred marriage, for example a hymn that describes the sacred marriage of King Iddid-Dagan (ca 1900 BC).^[6]

Dumuzid and Inanna[edit]

Today several versions of the Sumerian death of Dumuzi have been recovered, "Inanna's Descent to the Underworld", "Dumuzi's dream" and "Dumuzi and the galla", as well as a tablet separately recounting Dumuzi's death, mourned by holy Inanna, and his noble sister Geštinanna, and even his dog and the lambs and kids in his fold; Dumuzi himself is weeping at the hard fate in store for him, after he had walked among men, and the cruel galla of the Underworld seize him.^[7]

A number of pastoral poems and songs relate the love affair of Inanna and Dumuzid the shepherd. A text recovered in 1963 recounts "The Courtship of Inanna and Dumuzi" in terms that are tender and frankly erotic.

According to the myth of Inanna's descent to the underworld, represented in parallel Sumerian and Akkadian^[8] tablets, Inanna (Ishtar in the Akkadian texts) set off for the netherworld, or Kur, which was ruled by her sister Ereshkigal, perhaps to take it as her own.^{[citation needed]} Ereshkigal is in mourning at the death of her consort, Gugalanna (The Wild Bull of Heaven Sumerian Gu = Bull, Gal = Great, An = Heaven). She passed through seven gates and at each one was required to leave a garment or an ornament so that when she had passed through the seventh gate she was a simple woman, entirely naked. Despite warnings about her presumption, she did not turn back but dared to sit herself down on Ereshkigal's throne. Immediately the Anunnaki of the underworld judged her, gazed at her with the eyes of death, and she became a corpse, hung up on a meathook.

Based on the incomplete texts as first found, it was assumed that Ishtar/Inanna's descent into Kur occurred after the death of Tammuz/Dumuzid rather than before and that her purpose was to rescue Tammuz/Dumuzid. This is the familiar form of the myth as it appeared in M. Jastrow's Descent of the Goddess Ishtar into the Lower World, 1915, widely available on the Internet. New texts uncovered in 1963 filled in the story in quite another fashion,^[2] showing that Dumuzi was in fact consigned to the Underworld himself, in order to secure Inanna's release.

Inanna's faithful servant attempted to get help from the other gods but only wise Enki/Ea responded. The details of Enki/Ea's plan differ slightly in the two surviving accounts, but in the end, Inanna/Ishtar was resurrected. However, a "conservation of souls" law required her to find a replacement for herself in Kur. She went from one god to another, but each one pleaded with her and she had not the heart to go through with it until she found Dumuzid/Tammuz richly dressed and on her throne. Inanna/Ishtar immediately set her accompanying demons on Dumuzid/Tammuz. At this point the Akkadian text fails as Tammuz' sister Belili, introduced for the first time, strips herself of her jewelry in mourning but claims that Tammuz and the dead will come back.

There is some confusion here. The name Belili occurs in one of the Sumerian texts also, but it is not the name of Dumuzid's sister who is there named Geshtinana, but is the name of an old woman whom another text calls Bilulu.

In any case, the Sumerian texts relate how Dumuzid fled to his sister Geshtinana who attempted to hide him but who could not in the end stand up to the demons. Dumuzid has two close calls until the demons finally catch up with him under the supposed protection of this old woman called Bilulu or Belili and then they take him. However Inanna repents.

Inanna seeks vengeance on Bilulu, on Bilulu's murderous son G̃irg̃ire and on G̃irg̃ire's consort Shirru "of the haunted desert, no-one's child and no-one's friend". Inanna changes Bilulu into a waterskin and G̃irg̃ire into a protective god of the desert while Shirru is assigned to watch always that the proper rites are performed for protection against the hazards of the desert.

Finally, Inanna relents and changes her decree thereby restoring her husband Dumuzi to life; an arrangement is made by which Geshtinana will take Dumuzid's place in Kur for six months of the year: "You (Dumuzi), half the year. Your sister (Geštinanna), half the year!" This newly recovered final line upset Samuel Noah Kramer's former interpretation, as he allowed: "my conclusion that Dumuzi dies and "stays dead" forever (cf e.g. Mythologies of the Ancient World p. 10) was quite erroneous: Dumuzi according to the Sumerian mythographers rises from the dead annually and, after staying on earth for half the year, descends to the Nether World for the other half".^[9]

The "Courtship of Inanna and Dumuzi"[edit]

Aside from this extended epic "The Descent of Inanna," a previously unknown "Courtship of Inanna and Dumuzi" was first translated into English and annotated by Sumerian scholar Samuel Noah Kramer and folklorist Diane Wolkstein working in tandem, and published in 1983.^[10] In this tale Inanna's lover, the shepherd-king Dumuzi, brought a wedding gift of milk in pails, yoked across his shoulders.

The myth of Inanna and Dumuzi formed the subject of a Lindisfarne Symposium, published as The Story of Inanna and Dumuzi: From Folk-Tale to Civilized Literature: A Lindisfarne Symposium, (William Irwin Thompson, editor, 1995).

In Arabic sources[edit]

Tammuz is the month of July in Iraqi Arabic and Levantine Arabic (see Arabic names of calendar months),^[11] and references to Tammuz appear in Arabic literature from the 9th to 11th centuries AD.^[12] In a translation of an ancient Nabataean text by Kuthami the Babylonian, Ibn Wahshiyya (c. 9th-10th century AD), adds information on his own efforts to ascertain the identity of Tammuz, and his discovery of the full details of the legend of Tammuz in another Nabataean book:

"How he summoned the king to worship the seven (planets) and the twelve (signs) and how the king put him to death several times in a cruel manner Tammuz coming to life again after each time, until at last he died; and behold! it was identical to the legend of St. George which is current among the Christians."^[13]

Ibn Wahshiyya also adds that Tammuz lived in Babylonia before the coming of the Chaldeans and belonged to an ancient Mesopotamian tribe called Ganbân.^[12] On rituals related to Tammuz in his time, he adds that the Sabaeans in Harran and Babylonia still lamented the loss of Tammuz every July, but that the origin of the worship had been lost.^[12]

Al-Nadim in his 10th century work Kitab al-Fehrest drawing from a work on Syriac calendar feast days, describes a Tâ'ûz festival that took place in the middle of the month of Tammuz.^[12] Women bewailed the death of Tammuz at the hands of his master who was said to have "ground his bones in a mill and scattered them to the wind."^[12] Consequently, women would forgo the eating of ground foods during the festival time.^[12] The same festival is mentioned in the 11th century by Ibn Athir as still taking place at the appointed time on the banks of the Tigris river.^[12]