The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 09 of 12)

792

Socrates, Historia Ecclesiastica, v. 22; Sozomenus, Historia Ecclesiastica, vii. 19 (Migne, Patrologia Graeca, lxvii. coll. 632-636, 1477); W. Smith and S. Cheetham, Dictionary of Christian Antiquities, s. v. “Lent,” vol. ii. pp. 972 sq.; Mgr. L. Duchesne, Origines du Culte Chrétien (Paris, 1903), pp. 241-243.

793

Firmicus Maternus, De errore profanarum religionum, 27.

794

Plutarch, Isis et Osiris, 69: καὶ γὰρ Ἀθήνῃσι νηστεύουσιν αἱ γυναῖκες ἐν θεσμοφορίοις χαμαὶ καθήμεναι, καὶ Βοιωτοὶ τὰ τῆς Ἀχαιᾶς μέγαρα κινοῦσιν, ἐπαχθῆ τὴν ἑορτὴν ἐκείνην ὀνομάζοντες, ὡς διὰ τὴν τῆς Κόρης κάθοδον ἐν ἄχει τῆς Δήμητρος οὕσης. Ἔστι δὲ ὁ μὴν οὗτος περὶ πλειάδα σπόριμος, ὂν Ἀθὺρ Αἰγύπτιοι, Πυανεψιῶνα δ᾽ Ἀθηναῖοι, Βοιωτοὶ δὲ Δαμάτριον καλοῦσι. As to the festival and the rule of chastity observed at it, see further Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild, i. 116, ii. 17 sq.

795

H. Fielding, The Soul of a People (London, 1898), pp. 172 sq. The orthodox explanation of the custom is that during these three months the Buddha retired to a monastery. But “the custom was far older even than that – so old that we do not know how it arose. Its origin is lost in the mists of far-away time.” Compare C. J. F. S. Forbes, British Burma (London, 1878), pp. 170 sq.; Shway Yoe, The Burman, his Life and Notions (London, 1882), i. 257, 262 sqq.

796

Athenaeus, xiv. 44 sq., pp. 639 B-640 a.

797

Macrobius, Saturn. i. 7. 37 and i. 10. 22; Demosthenes, Or. xxiv. 26, p. 708. As to the temple of Cronus and Rhea, see Pausanias, i. 18. 7; Im. Bekker's Anecdota Graeca (Berlin, 1814-1821), i. p. 273, lines 20 sq. That the Attic month Hecatombaeon was formerly called Cronius is mentioned by Plutarch (Theseus, 12). Other Greek states, including Samos, Amorgos, Perinthus, and Patmos, had a month called Cronion, that is, the month of Cronus, which seems to have coincided with June or July. See G. Dittenberger, Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum2 (Leipsic, 1898-1901), Nos. 644 and 645; E. Bischoff, “De fastis Graecorum antiquioribus,” Leipziger Studien für classischen Philologie, vii. (1884) p. 400. At Magnesia on the Maeander the month of Cronion was the time of sowing (Dittenberger, op. cit. No. 553, lines 15 sq.), which cannot have fallen in the height of summer. Compare Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild, ii. 8.

798

Corpus Inscriptionum Atticarum, iii. No. 77; Ch. Michel, Recueil d'Inscriptions Grecques (Brussels, 1900), No. 692, pp. 595 sq.; I. de Prott et L. Ziehen, Leges Graecorum Sacrae, i. (Leipsic, 1896), No. 3, pp. 7 sq.; E. S. Roberts and E. A. Gardner, Introduction to Greek Epigraphy, Part II. (Cambridge, 1905), No. 142, pp. 387 sq. From the same inscription we learn that cakes with twelve knobs were offered to other deities, including Apollo and Artemis, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hercules.

799

Scholiast on Hesiod, Works and Days, 370 (p. 170 ed. E. Vollbehr, Kiel, 1844): Καὶ ἐν τοῖς πατρίοις ἐστιν ἑορτὴ Πιθοιγία, καθ᾽ ἣν οὒτε οἰκέτην οὔτε μισθωτὸν εἴργειν τῆς ἀπολαύσεως τοῦ οἴνου θεμιτὸν ἦν, ἀλλὰ θύσαντας πᾶσι μεταδιδόναι τοῦ δώρου τοῦ Διονύσου. As to the festival of the opening of the wine-jars see August Mommsen, Heortologie (Leipsic, 1864), pp. 349 sqq.; id., Feste der Stadt Athen im Altertum (Leipsic, 1898), pp. 384 sqq. “When the slaves,” says Plutarch, “feast at the Cronia or go about celebrating the festival of Dionysus in the country, the shouts they raise and the tumult they make in their rude merriment are intolerable” (Non posse suaviter vivi secundum Epicurum, 26). That the original festival of Cronus fell at Athens in Anthesterion is the view of Aug. Mommsen (Heortologie, pp. 22, 79; Feste der Stadt Athen, p. 402).

800

Pausanias, vi. 20. 1. Compare Dionysius Halicarnasensis, Antiquit. Rom. i. 34. The magistrates called “kings” (βασίλαι) by Pausanias are doubtless identical with “the kings” (τοὶ βασιλᾶες) mentioned in a law of Elis, which was found inscribed on a bronze plate at Olympia. See H. Roehl, Inscriptiones Graecae Antiquissimae (Berlin, 1882), No. 112, p. 39; C. Cauer, Delectus Inscriptionum Graecarum propter dialectum memorabilium2 (Leipsic, 1883), No. 253, p. 175; H. Collitz, Sammlung der griechischen Dialekt-Inschriften, No. 1152 (vol. i. Göttingen, 1884, p. 321); Ch. Michel, Recueil d'Inscriptions Grecques, No. 195, p. 179.

801

See The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, i. 44 sqq., ii. 177, 361.

802

Hesiod, Works and Days, 111, 169; Plato, Politicus, p. 269 a; Diodorus Siculus, iii. 61, v. 66; Julian, Epistola ad Themistium, p. 258 c (pp. 334 sq., ed. F. C. Hertlein, Leipsic, 1875-1876); “Anonymi Chronologica,” printed in L. Dindorf's edition of J. Malalas (Bonn, 1831), p. 17. See further M. Mayer's article “Kronos,” in W. H. Roscher's Lexikon der griech. und röm. Mythologie, ii. (Leipsic, 1890-1897) col. 1458.

803

See M. Mayer, op. cit. ii. 1501 sqq.

804

Pausanias, vi. 20. 4 sq.

805

Plato, Republic, ix. p. 565 d e; pseudo-Plato, Minos, p. 315 c; Pliny, Nat. Hist. viii. 81; Pausanias, viii. 2 and 38; Porphyry, De abstinentia, ii. 27; Augustine, De civitate Dei, xviii. 17. The suggestion that Lycaean Zeus may have been merely a successor of Cronus is due to my friend Professor W. Ridgeway.

806

Porphyry, De abstinentia, ii. 54.

807

The Dying God, pp. 161 sqq.

808

The Dying God, pp. 113 sqq.

809

Athenaeus, xiv. 44, p. 639 c; Dio Chrysostom, Or. iv. 69 sq. (vol. i. p. 76 ed. L. Dindorf, Leipsic, 1857). From Athenaeus we learn that the festival was described or mentioned by Berosus in his first book and by Ctesias in his second.

810

Strabo, xi. 8. 5, p. 512.

811

Strabo, xi. 14. 16, pp. 532 sq.; Ed. Meyer's article “Anaitis,” in W. H. Roscher's Lexikon der griech. und röm. Mythologie, i. (Leipsic, 1884-1890) pp. 330 sqq.

812

By A. H. Sayce, Religion of the Ancient Babylonians (London and Edinburgh, 1887), p. 68; Bruno Meissner, “Zur Entstehungsgeschichte des Purimfestes,” Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenländischen Gesellschaft, l. (1896) pp. 296-301; H. Winckler, Altorientalische Forschungen, Zweite Reihe, ii. Heft 3 (Leipsic, 1900), p. 345; C. Brockelmann, “Wesen und Ursprung des Eponymats in Assyrien,” Zeitschrift für Assyriologie, xvi. (1902) pp. 391 sq.

813

P. Jensen, Die Kosmologie der Babylonier (Strasburg, 1890), pp. 84 sqq.; H. Zimmern, “Zur Frage nach dem Ursprunge des Purimfestes,” Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft, xi. (1891) pp. 159 sqq.; A. Jeremias, s. v. “Marduk,” in W. H. Roscher's Lexicon der griech. und röm. Mythologie, ii. 2347 sq.; M. Jastrow, Religion of Babylonia and Assyria (Boston, U.S.A., 1898), pp. 186, 677 sqq.; R. F. Harper, Assyrian and Babylonian Literature (New York, 1901), pp. 136 sq., 137, 140, 149; C. Brocklemann, “Wesen und Ursprung des Eponymats in Assyrien,” Zeitschrift für Assyriologie, xvi. (1902) pp. 391 sqq.; H. Zimmern, in E. Schrader's Die Keilinschriften und das Alte Testament3 (Berlin, 1902), pp. 370 sq., 374, 384 n.4, 402, 514 sqq.; id., “Zum Babylonischen Neujahrsfest,” Berichte über die Verhandlungen der königlich Sächsischen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig, Philologisch-historische Klasse, lviii. (1906) pp. 126-156; M. J. Lagrange, Études sur les Religions Sémitiques2 (Paris, 1905); pp. 285 sqq. King Gudea is thought to have flourished about 2340 b. c. See Ed. Meyer, Geschichte des Altertums,2 i. 2. (Stuttgart and Berlin, 1909) pp. 488 sq. As to the ceremony of grasping the hands of Marduk's image, see also C. F. Lehmann (-Haupt), Šamaššumukin, König von Babylonien (Leipsic, 1892), pp. 50 sqq.; Sir G. Maspero, Histoire Ancienne des Peuples de l'Orient Classique, iii. Les Empires (Paris, 1899). pp. 381 sq.

814

On this subject the Master of St. Catharine's College, Cambridge (the Rev. C. H. W. Johns), has kindly furnished me with the following note: “ZAG is the name of the ideogram meaning ‘head or beginning.’ MU is the sign for ‘year.’ When put together ZAG-MU means ‘beginning of year.’ But ZAG-MU-KU means ZAG MU-d, i. e. ZAG with MU suffixed. Therefore it is the name of the ideogram, and there is as yet no proof that it was ever read Zakmuk. Hence any similarity of sound with either Sacaea or Zoganes is precarious. I cannot prove that the signs were never read Zakmuku, but that is not a Semitic word nor a Sumerian word.”

815

The statement occurs in an inscription of Nebuchadnezzar. See P. Jensen, Die Kosmologie der Babylonier, p. 85; H. Zimmern, in E. Schrader's Die Keilinschriften und das Alte Testament3 (Berlin, 1902), p. 402. The title of the president of the divine synod, “king of the gods of heaven and earth,” is believed by Professor Zimmern to have originally referred to the god Nabu, though at a later time it was applied to Marduk.

816

See The Dying God, p. 116 note 1. In Egypt the Macedonian calendar seems to have fallen into great confusion. See W. Dittenberger, Orientis Graeci Inscriptiones Selectae (Leipsic, 1903-1905), ii. pp. 649 sq. I would remind the reader that while the dates of the Syro-Macedonian months varied in different places, their order was the same everywhere.

817

See above, p. 355, note 5. On the other hand Prof. H. Zimmern prefers to suppose that the Sacaea was quite distinct from Zakmuk, and that it fell in July at the time of the heliacal rising of Sirius, which seems to have been associated with the goddess Ishtar. See H. Zimmern, in E. Schrader's Die Keilinschriften und das Alte Testament3 (Berlin, 1902), pp. 426 sq.

818

Encyclopaedia Biblica, s. v. “Year,” vol. iv. (London, 1903) coll. 5365 sqq.

819

The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, ii. 59 sqq.

820

The Golden Bough, Second Edition, iii. 237 sqq.

821

J. Marquardt, Römische Staatsverwaltung2 (Leipsic, 1885), pp. 200 sq.

822

H. Zimmern, “Zur Frage nach dem Ursprunge des Purimfestes,” Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft, xi. (1891) pp. 157-169; W. Nowack, Lehrbuch der hebräischen Archäologie (Freiburg i. B. and Leipsic, 1894), ii. 198 sqq.; Br. Meissner, “Zur Entstehungsgeschichte des Purimfestes,” Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenländischen Gesellschaft, l. (1896) pp. 296-301; Fr. Cumont, “Le roi des Saturnales,” Revue de Philologie, xxi. (1897) p. 150; P. Haupt, Purim (Leipsic, 1906). The various theories which have been propounded as to the origin of Purim are stated and discussed by Prof. L. B. Paton in his Commentary on the Book of Esther (Edinburgh, 1908), pp. 77-94. See also Encyclopaedia Biblica, s. v. “Purim,” vol. iii. (London, 1902) coll. 3976 sqq.

823

S. R. Driver, Introduction to the Literature of the Old Testament8 (Edinburgh, 1909), p. 484. Professor T. Witton Davies would date the book about 130 b. c. See Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther, edited by Rev. T. Witton Davies (Edinburgh and London, n. d.), pp. 299-301 (The Century Bible).

824

2 Maccabees xv. 36. As to the date of this book, see S. R. Driver, op. cit. p. 481.

825

We know from Josephus (Antiquit. iii. 10. 5) that in the month Nisan, the first month of the Jewish year, the sun was in Aries. Now the sun is in Aries from March 20th or 21st to April 19th or 20th; hence Nisan answers approximately to April, and Adar to March.

826

Esther iii. 7.

827

Esther iii. 7, ix. 26.

828

This is the view of H. Zimmern (Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft, xi. (1891) pp. 157 sqq.), and it is favoured by W. Nowack (Lehrbuch der hebräischen Archäologie, ii. 198 sq.). Compare H. Zimmern, in E. Schrader's Die Keilinschriften und das Alte Testament3 (Berlin, 1902), p. 518.

829

P. Jensen, Die Kosmologie der Babylonier, pp. 240 sq.

830

The explanation is that of P. Jensen, quoted by Th. Nöldeke in Encyclopaedia Biblica, s. v. “Esther,” vol. ii. (London, 1901) col. 1404 note 1. In Greek, for a similar reason, the word for “pebble” and “vote” is identical (ψῆφος). As to this etymology see also C. H. W. Johns, s. v. “Purim,” Encyclopaedia Biblica, iii. (London, 1902) coll. 3979 sq.

831

Esther x. 22.

832

J. Buxtorf, Synagoga Judaica (Bâle, 1661), pp. 554 sq., 559 sq.

833

J. Buxtorf, op. cit. p. 559; Schickard, quoted by Lagarde, “Purim,” Abhandlungen der kön. Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, xxxiv. (1887) pp. 54 sq. Compare J. Chr. G. Bodenschatz, Kirchliche Verfassung der heutigen Juden (Erlangen, 1748), ii. 256. For the rule forbidding men and women to exchange garments, see Deuteronomy xxii. 5.

834

J. J. Schudt, Jüdische Merkwürdigkeiten (Frankfort and Leipsic, 1714), ii. Theil, pp. 309, 314, 316, iv. Theiles die ii. Continuation, p. 347; I. Abrahams, Jewish Life in the Middle Ages (London, 1896), pp. 261 sqq. I have to thank my learned friend Dr. S. Schechter for bringing both these works to my notice.

835

P. Jensen, “Elamitische Eigennamen,” Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes, vi. (1892) pp. 47-70; compare ib. pp. 209-212. All Jensen's etymologies are accepted by W. Nowack (Lehrbuch der hebräischen Archäologie, Freiburg i. Baden and Leipsic, 1894, ii. 199 sq.); H. Gunkel (Schöpfung und Chaos, Göttingen, 1895, pp. 310 sq.); D. G. Wildeboer (in his commentary on Esther, pp. 173 sqq., forming part of K. Marti's Kurzer Hand-Commentar zum alten Testament, Freiburg i. B. 1898); Th. Nöldeke (s. v. “Esther,” Encyclopaedia Biblica, vol. ii. coll. 1404 sq.); and H. Zimmern (in E. Schrader's Die Keilinschriften und das Alte Testament,3 Berlin, 1902, pp. 485, 516 sq.). On the other hand, Br. Meissner (Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenländischen Gesellschaft, I. (1896) p. 301) and M. Jastrow (The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, p. 686, note 2) suspend their judgment as to the identification of Haman and Vashti with Elamite deities, though they apparently regard the identification of Mordecai and Esther with Marduk and Ishtar as quite certain. The doubt which these scholars felt as to the derivation of one at least of these names (Vashti) is now known to be well founded. See below, p. , note 3.

It deserves to be noted that on the twenty-seventh day of the month Tammuz the heathen of Harran used to sacrifice nine male lambs to Haman, “the supreme God, the father of the gods,” and they ate and drank on that day. Chwolsohn suggests a comparison of the festival with the Athenian Cronia. See D. Chwolsohn, Die Ssabier und der Ssabismus (St. Petersburg, 1856), ii. 27 sq., 211 sqq.

836

Th. Nöldeke, s. v. “Esther,” in Encyclopaedia Biblica, vol. ii. (London, 1901) coll. 1405. But in a letter, written to me (20th May 1901) since the publication of the last edition of this book, Professor Nöldeke expresses a doubt whether he has not followed Jensen's mythological identifications in the book of Esther too far.

837

“The change of m to w or v (the Hebrew ו = waw) is frequent and certain” (the Rev. C. H. W. Johns in a letter to me, May 19th, 1913). The change is vouched for also by my friend Professor A. A. Bevan, who cites as an instance the name of the Babylonian king Amel-Marduk, which in Hebrew is changed into Evil-Merodach (2 Kings xxv. 27; Jeremiah lii. 31). See E. Schrader, Die Keilinschriften und das Alte Testament3 (Berlin, 1902), p. 396.

838

The name of the Elamite goddess is read as Parti by the Rev. Father Scheil. See E. Cosquin, Le Prologue-cadre des Mille et Une Nuits, les Légendes Perses, et le Livre d'Esther (Paris, 1909), p. 68 (extract from the Revue Biblique Internationale, Janvier et Avril, 1909, published by the Dominicans of Jerusalem). The Master of St. Catharine's College, Cambridge (the Rev. C. H. W. Johns), has kindly examined the facsimile of the inscriptions for me. He informs me that Father Scheil's reading is correct and that the reading Mashti is quite wrong. He further tells me that Jensen was misled by an incorrect edition of the inscriptions to which alone he had access. The signs for par (or bar) and mash in the inscriptions resemble each other and therefore might easily be confused by a copyist. All Jensen's etymologies, except that of Mordecai, are adversely criticized by M. Emile Cosquin in the work to which I have referred (pp. 67 sqq.). He prefers with Oppert to derive all the names except Mordecai (the identity of which with Marduk he does not dispute) from the old Persian. However, these derivations from the Persian are rejected by Professor Th. Nöldeke, whose opinion on such a point is entitled to carry great weight. See Encyclopaedia Biblica, ii. (London, 1901) col. 1402, s. v. “Esther.”

839

F. C. Movers, Die Phoenizier, i. (Bonn, 1841) pp. 490 sq.; 2 Samuel xvi. 21 sq., compare xii. 8. It was a well-attested custom of the Assyrian kings, when they had conquered a city, to take into their harem the daughters of the vanquished princes and rulers. See C. F. Lehmann (-Haupt), Šamaššumutkîn König von Babylonien (Leipsic, 1892), p. 31. The Persian and Scythian kings seem also to have married the wives of their predecessors. See Herodotus, iii. 68 and 88, iv. 78; K. Neumann, Die Hellenen im Skythenlande, i. (Berlin, 1855) p. 301. Such a custom points to an old system of mother-kin under which the royal dignity was transmitted through women. See The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, ii. 268 sqq.

840

Ed. Meyer, s. v. “Anaitis,” in W. H. Roscher's Lexikon der griech. und röm. Mythologie, i. (Leipsic, 1884-1890) coll. 352 sq. At the temple of Anaitis in Acilisena, a city of Armenia, the daughters of the noblest families regularly prostituted themselves for a long time before marriage (Strabo, xi. 14. 16, p. 532). Agathias identified Anaitis with Aphrodite (Hist. ii. 24), and when the Greeks spoke of the Oriental Aphrodite, they meant Astarte or one of her equivalents. Jensen proposes to identify Anaitis with an Elamite goddess Nahuntí, whom he takes to have been equivalent to Ishtar or Astarte, especially in her quality of the Evening Star. See his article, “Elamitische Eigennamen,” Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes, vi. (1892) pp. 64-67, 70.

841

Diodorus Siculus, ii. 20; Aelian, Var. Hist. vii. 1.

842

W. Robertson Smith, “Ctesias and the Semiramis Legend,” English Historical Review, ii. (1887) pp. 303-317. Amongst other evidence, Smith refers to Diodorus Siculus, from whose account (ii. 4) of the birth of Semiramis he infers that she “is the daughter of Derceto, the fish goddess of Ascalon, and is herself the Astarte whose sacred doves were honoured at Ascalon and throughout Syria.” It seems probable that the legendary Semiramis is to be identified with Shammuramat, the “palace wife” of Samsi-Adad, king of Assyria, and mother of King Adad-Nirari; she lived towards the end of the ninth century b. c., and is known to us from Assyrian inscriptions. See C. F. Lehmann-Haupt, Die historische Semiramis und ihre Zeit (Tübingen, 1910), pp. 1 sqq.; id., s. v. “Semiramis,” in W. H. Roscher's Lexicon der griech. und röm. Mythologie, iv. coll. 678 sqq.

843

Strabo, xii. 3. 37, p. 559, compare xi. 8. 4, p. 512. Zela is the modern Zileh, a town of about 20,000 inhabitants clustered at the foot of the so-called mound of Semiramis, which is an inconsiderable protuberance of natural rock crowned by the walls of an old citadel. The place is singularly destitute of ancient remains, but every year in the first fortnight of December a fair is held in the town, to which merchants come not only from the whole of Asia Minor, but also from the Caucasus, Armenia, and Persia. This fair may very well be a direct descendant of a great festival held in honour of Anaitis or Astarte. See G. Perrot et Ch. Chipiez, Histoire de l'Art dans l'Antiquité, iv. (Paris, 1887) p. 649; F. Cumont et E. Cumont, Voyage d'Exploration archéologique dans le Pont et la Petite Arménie (Brussels, 1906), pp. 188 sqq.

844

Berosus, cited by Clement of Alexandria, Protrept. v. 65, p. 57 ed. Potter (where for Ταναΐδος we should read Ἀναΐτιδος, as is done by C. Müller, Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum, ii. 509).

845

Strabo, xi. 8. 4, p. 512, xii. 3. 37, p. 559. The nature of the ἱερόδουλοι at Zela is indicated by Strabo in a passage (xii. 3. 36) where he describes a similar state of things at Comana, a city not far from Zela. His words are πλῆθος γυναικῶν τῶν ἐργαζομένων ἀπὸ τοῦ σώματος, ὦν αἰ πλείους εἰσὶν ἰεραί.

846

Herodotus, i. 184; Strabo, xvi. i. 2, p. 737; Diodorus Siculus, ii. 14.

847

Ctesias, cited by John of Antioch, in C. Müller's Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum, iv. 539.

848

Diodorus Siculus, ii. 13. Note that the first husband of Semiramis is said to have hanged himself (Diodorus Siculus, ii. 6).

849

A. Jeremias, Izdubar-Nimrod, (Leipsic, 1891), pp. 23 sqq.; M. Jastrow, The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria (Boston, U.S.A., 1898), p. 482; L. W. King, Babylonian Religion and Mythology (London, 1899), pp. 159 sqq.; P. Jensen, Assyrisch-Babylonische Mythen und Epen (Berlin, 1900), pp. 169, 171; R. F. Harper, Assyrian and Babylonian Literature (New York, 1901), pp. 338 sq.; Das Gilgamesch-Epos, neu übersetzt von Arthur Ungnad und gemeinverständlich erklärt von Hugo Gressmann (Göttingen, 1911), pp. 31 sq. The true name of the Babylonian hero, which used to be read as Izdubar, has been found to be Gilgamesh. See M. Jastrow, op. cit. pp. 468 sq.; H. Zimmern, in E. Schrader's Die Keilinschriften und das Alte Testament3 (Berlin, 1902), p. 566 note 4; A. Ungnad, Das Gilgamesch-Epos, pp. 76 sq. Aelian mentions (De natura animalium, xii. 21) a Babylonian king, Gilgamus, whose name is doubtless identical with that of the hero.