THE LADY OF THE WATERS 381 



by-product of her lavatiun. Possibly the fish of Chabiira (like 

 the thyme fish) exhaled a " most sweet scent," and so effected 

 " the sweet smelling." But probably to preserve their power, 

 " they will come to feed from men's hands." ^ 



I have adduced sufficient proof that fish were plentiful in 

 Mesopotamia. Additional testimony has needlessly been 

 sought in Professor Sayce's now fairly accepted suggestion 

 that the ideogram for Nineveh implies the House of the Waters 

 or of Fish. 2 



Another explanation of Nineveh as The Lady of the Waters 

 deduces from Nina (said to be a daughter of Ea and a fish 

 goddess) lengthening into Nineveh. But the term The Lady, 

 i.e. The Lady par excellence, in Assyrian especially apphes 

 to Beht the spouse of Asur, who became generally identified 

 with Ishtar of Nineveh. ^ 



If The Lady of the Waters translate correctly the ideogram 

 of Nineveh, the term may have sprung from a temple to this 

 reputed Fish Goddess standing in that city. But even if the 

 existence of such a temple can be inferred, its original site 

 probably lay in Sumerian Lagash, not in Nineveh. 



» N. H., XXXII. 7. 



* Hibbert Lecture (London, 1S87), p. 57. 



• On the ancient goddess NinS,, see Langdon, Tammuz and Ishtar (London, 

 1914). There is no known representation of Nin&. Of Belit, or Ishtar, many 

 exist; of Ishtar arma jereyis that on a seal in Tammuz and Ishtar, I'late I., 

 No. I. is perhaps the best. 



