t reconcile the evident
dissolution of the body with a continuation of even a shadowy outline.
When a man died, the 'spirit,' which, according to the animistic theory,
lodged somewhere within the body and produced the manifestations of
life, sought for refuge in some other substance. The ease with which
birds moved from one place to another suggested these beings as the ones
in which the dislodged spirit found a home. The Babylonian thinkers were
not alone in developing the view that the dead assumed the form of
birds. Parallels to the pictures of the dead in the story of Ishtar's
descent may be found in Egypt and elsewhere.[1166] But what is important
for our purposes is the consideration that, in Babylonia at least, the
view in question is not the popular one, but the result of speculations
about a problem that appeals only to those who make the attempt, at
least, to clarify their ideas regarding the mystery of death. The next
section of the story affords us a picture of the entrance to Aralu:

When Ishtar arrived at the gate of the land without return,
She spoke to the watchman of the gate:
Ho! watchman--open thy gate.
Open thy gate that I may enter.
If thou dost not open the gate, if thou refusest me admission,
I will smash the door, break the bolt.
I will smash the threshold, force open the portals.
I will raise up the dead to eat the living
Until the dead outnumber the living.

The entrance to the nether world is strongly guarded. From other sources
we learn that there was a 'spy'--perhaps identical with the
watchman--stationed at the portal of the lower world, who reports all
happenings to the queen Allatu through Namtar, the god (or spirit) of
pestilence. The watchman is to prevent the living from entering, and
also the dead from escaping.

The violence of Ishtar is an interesting touch in the narrative. As a
goddess, she resents any opposition to her desires. Her anxiety to enter
Aralu indicates that the original form of the myth, which must have
represented the descent as forced and not voluntary, has been modified
by the introduction of a new factor,--the search for her dead consort,
Tammuz. The character of Ishtar as the goddess of war[1167] may also
have influenced this portrayal of her rage. In her violence, she
threatens a conflict between the dead and the living. The former will
destroy[1168] the latter, as a victorious army butchers the hostile
host. The watchman endeavors to paci