* It follows from this passage that Ishtar could be delivered only at the cost of another life: it was for this reason, doubtless, that Ea, instead of sending the ordinary messenger of the gods, created a special messenger. Allât, furious at the insignificance of the victim sent to her, contents herself with threatening Uddushanâmir with an ignominious treatment if he does not escape as quickly as possible.
Dumuzi was a god, the lover, moreover, of a goddess, and the deity succeeded where mortals failed.* Ea, Nebo, Gula, Ishtar, and their fellows possessed, no doubt, the faculty of recalling the dead to life, but they rarely made use of it on behalf of their creatures, and their most pious votaries pleaded in vain from temple to temple for the resurrection of their dead friends; they could never obtain the favour which had been granted by Allât to Dumuzi.
* Merodach is called "the merciful one who takes pleasure in raising the dead to life," and "the lord of the pure libation," the "merciful one who has power to give life." In Jeremias may be found the list of the gods who up to the present are known to have had the power to resuscitate the dead; it is probable that this power belonged to all the gods and goddesses of the first rank.
[Illustration: 229.jpg DUMUZI REJUVENATED ON THE KNEES OF ISHTAR.]
Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a Chaldæan intaglio.