Explorations in Bible lands during the 19th century - H. V. Hilprecht

474 EXPLORATIONS IN BIBLE LANDS
gods, for the house (es/i)
of Nippur [and, or namely] Duranki,
Gudea, patesi of Lagash, has presented the long boat
(/. e. y
a turradd) of Ekur for [the preservation of] his life."
It soon
became evident that the house of Bel at the side
of the ziggurrat must have existed as early as the time of
Sargon I and Naram-Sin. A few brick stamps of the latter,
and a door-socket and many brick stamps of the former
were discovered
slightly above their well-known pavement.
Soon afterwards the workmen unearthed a small piece of
spirited sculpture (exhibiting the larger part of an incised
quadruped), which doubtless belongs to the fourth millennium,
and a round marble slab over 2 feet in diameter
and nearly 3 inches thick, which contained the name ot
" Naram-Sin, king of Agade, king of the four regions
of the world," accompanied by the somewhat effaced name
of a contemporaneous "priest of Bel, thy servant."
Even the pre-Sargonic period was represented by several
fairly well preserved objects. We refer briefly to the fragment
of a perforated votive tablet in limestone showing a
sacrificial scene with Nin-lil, or Beltis, 1 in the centre. The
goddess, accompanied by a bird, apparently sacred to her, 2
is seated on a low chair and holds a pointed cup in her
right hand. A burning altar (which became the regular
ideogram for "fire" in Assyrian) and a lighted candlestick
stand in front of Beltis, while behind her a priest, remarkable
for the long hair of his beard and the back of his head,
leads a shaved worshipper, carrying a young goat on his
right arm, before the goddess. Among the other antiquities
found in the immediate neighborhood of Bel's house,
I mention a small carving in mother-of-pearl (a warrior
1
If it were Bel, he would be represented with a beard, according to the
general custom observed. The garment and the peculiar hair-dress of the
deity likewise favor my interpretation.
2
Comp. the raven of Ningirsu (p. 230, note 1, above), the raven of
Woden, the eagle of Jupiter, the peacock of Juno, the owl of Athene, etc.