INTO HADES : A STUDY IN COMPARATIVE RELIGION. 211 



image of his dead wife, Orpheus resolves to seek her in Hades, 

 and there enchants its inhabitants by his lyre. Pluto and 

 Persephone are moved to pity and grant the restoration if 

 Orpheus will observe one condition, that of not looking back 

 till he reaches earth. But just before arriving at the fatal 

 limit his love overcame him ; he looked back and lost Eurydice 

 for ever. Other Greek myths tell of the rescue of Semele by 

 Dionysos and of Alcestis by Heracles. 



The Babylonian instance is that of the descent of Ishtar 

 presumably to rescue her dead lover Tammuz. She arrives at 

 the gate of Hades and demands admission, threatening to break 

 down the gate and set free the dead if it is refused. Allatu, 

 the goddess of Hades, allows her to enter, but at each of the 

 seven gates she is stripped of her ornaments and apparel, and 

 is then struck with disease. All things languish on earth and 

 die. The gods take steps to remedy matters, and Uddushu- 

 namir is sent to Hades to demand the water of life for Ishtar. 

 Allatu is finally compelled to give this ; Ishtar is restored and 

 led back through the gates. The story, as connected with 

 Tammuz, should have described his restoration, but the 

 references at the end of the poem are obscure. In all pro- 

 bability two myths of descent have here coalesced — that of 

 Ishtar to recover Tammuz, and that of Uddushunamir to rescue 

 the dead Ishtar. 



The Hindu and Buddhist descent stories of this class are 

 told either of divinities or of mortals, living or dead, and they 

 usually end in the success of the seeker.* 



2. Descent to assist the lost. — This class is most certainly an 

 extension of the former and perhaps has a natural place in 

 religions in which the ethical aspect was fairly well developed 

 and the idea of divine benevolence strong. In several Hindu 

 and Buddhist legends the mere presence of a god or a pious 

 mortal who has descended to the hells is sufficient to alter the 

 whole condition of things there. The torments cease, anguish 

 and despair change to joy and hope, and hell becomes a 

 paradise. In some cases a dead person sent to hell to expiate 

 a single slight fault is bidden to leave it when the expiation is 

 complete. But his enormous treasury of merit has relieved 

 the damned of their miseries. They beg him to stay, and 

 though pressed by the gods he refuses to go and finally ransoms 



* For all these rayths see an article in the forthcoming volume of 

 Hastings' Encyclopcedia of Religion and Ethics^ on " Descent to Hades 

 (Ethnic)," by the present writer. 



