FIGURES OF DEITIES. 375 
Ningirsu; and in that of Nippur he would be Bel, and equally he might be Anu, 
or any other god. He may wear various forms of headdress and may carry in his 
hand a vase or the notched sword of Shamash. 
f ( NTT 
DOVLANT UN 
AYATELUNILY 

d e g 
10. The Agricultural God may very likely be Ningirsu, who provided fertility, 
or perhaps Tammuz in one of his protean forms. Like the corresponding goddess 
he may carry the plow and is adorned with grain. He may be either sitting or 
standing. In the latter case we see him with his foot on a mountain, which relates 
him to Shamash. Indeed there is no reason why the god of rain should not also 
at times be considered the god of 
fertility. (see Chapter X1x.) 
11. The Agricultural God- 
dess: It is by no means certain 
who this seated goddess is who 
is adorned with wheat and is re- ~ fyoa)=Sté«w OD] ne 
lated to the plow. She belongs to a very early period, if not to the most archaic. 
She is likely to be Bau-Gula, who was goddess of fertility, or perhaps Nisabu. 
(See Chapter XIx.) 
12. The Goddess with a Child: A very few cylinders, 
and all of an early period, give us this design. The 
identity of this goddess is not clear. She may be any 
protecting goddess, perhaps Bau; and there is no particu- 
lar reason to identify the child with ‘Tammuz, who does 
not have the infantile relation in Babylonian mythology, 
so far as we know, that Horus bears to Isis. It may be, quite as likely, that in this 
naive way the protection of the goddess over the owner of the seal is represented. 
(See Chapter xxIv.) 


13. The Goddess with a Winged Gate over a Bull: This goddess it is impossible 
to identify, with the scanty literary sources at our command. No design is more 
puzzling. It is not evident why the gate should have wings, nor what is the mean- 
ing of the streams from below the wings, nor what is the relation to the bull. This 
