THE SHEPHEED KINGS OF EGYPT. 229 



complete form of Achashtari. The children of Xisuthrus, according 

 to Berosus, were Zervan, Titan and Japetosthes. The last of these 

 is Jabez, who comes several generations after Achashtari, yet seems 

 to be related to him in some way which I have not yet discovered. 

 Zervan is the same word as Zirpanit, a name connected with Nana 

 and the epithet Serbonian, applied to the bog or marsh of Lower 

 Egypt near Casius, Avaris and Sethrum. Zirpanit also is made the 

 wife of Bel, the son of Aos and Danke, whom we have seen to be 

 probably the same as Jehaleleel. El Khalil, the name of the temple 

 of Nana at Borsippa, seems also to indicate that slie was the wife of 

 Jehaleleel. Her name is lunar in its associations, like that of the 

 son of Achuzam, and the geographical connection indicated favours 

 this relation. It is also confirmed, as we shall see, in the Greek 

 mythology, which presents her under the name Proserpine as the 

 wife of Pluto. The Italian legend of Kasutru and Paltuce warring 

 with Kaluchasu is a reproduction of the Babylonian, in which Titan 

 and Japetosthes oppose Zervan.^^ In either case a sister interferes, — 

 Turan in the former, Astlich in the latter. Kasutru of the Etruscan 

 myth is Caystrus, Achashtaii and Xisuthrus. Kaluchasu might be 

 Jehaleleel, but Paltuce resembles the forms Balot, Philitis and Pluto, 

 under which he has been found. Nothing could be more natural 

 than the marriage of a son of Achuzam to a daughter of the house of 

 Achashtari. In Vara and Bel Vara we may find Beor and Bela his 

 son, as Baal Peor or Belphegor. 



The sons of Helah are not without their record in Assyria and 

 Babylonia. The Carduchi, Gordyeans or Kurds, in whose territory 

 Xisuthrus is said to have landed, are the Cherethites, whom we have 

 already derived from Zereth. Zaretis, a name of Astarte, likewise 

 connects him with the family of Ashchur in the east. Strabo informs 

 us that the Gordyeans derived their name from Gordys, son of 

 Triptolemus.^' The latter word is a form of Dar Bethlehem, and is 

 connected with Gordys or Zereth, because, as I shall show when I 

 come to treat of the line of Salma, father of Bethlehem (1 Chron. 

 ii. 51), Helah, the mother of Zereth and wife of Ashchur, belonged 

 to that family. 



The name of Zochar survived in the Zagras mount and river of 

 Assyria as well as in Zahiii, an ancient appellation of the same 

 country. He may also be represented by Zikar Sin, one of the oldest 

 monarchs of Chaldea. 



12 Gmgniaut, ii. 1082. « Strabon. Geog. xvl. 1, 25. 



