Accad's battle lines!
Before thy feet thy Queen descends,
Before thy will thine Ishtar bends,
To fight thine enemy,
To war I go with thee!
My word is spoken, thou hast heard,
For thee, my favor thou hast stirred.
As I am Ishtar of mine Or divine,
Thine enemy shall fall! Be glory thine!

"Before mine Izdubar I go,
And at thy side direct thy blow.
I go with thee, fear not, my King,
For every doubt and fear, I bring
Relief, to thy heart rest!
Of Sars, I love thee best!"

[Footnote 1: The account given by Herodotus of the worship of Beltis or
Ishtar, if true (see Herodotus, i. 199), was one of the darkest features
of Babylonian religion. It is probable that the first intention was only
to represent love as heaven-born, and that it afterward became sensual in
the time of Herodotus. (See Sayce's edition Smith's "C.A. of Gen.," p.
50.) The presence of the women may have been intended at first to present
an innocent attraction. See also Rawlinson's "Ancient Monarchies," vol.
iii. p. 21.]

[Footnote 2: See Herodotus, vol. i. p. 199. Ishtar was called Mylitta or
Beltis in the time of Herodotus. We have taken the above description from
Herodotus, whose work is mostly confirmed by the cuneiform inscriptions.]

[Footnote 3: The above psalm is found in vol. iii. of Rawlinson's "British
Museum Inscriptions," pl. 66, and was translated by H.F. Talbot, F.R.S.,
in vol. i. of the "Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archaeology," p.
108, and also by M. Lenormant in his "Premieres Civilisations," p. 177. We
have used Mr. Talbot's transcription.]

[Footnote 4: See terra-cotta tablet numbered "S. 954" in the British
Museum; also translation by Rev. A.H. Sayce, M.A., in the "Records of the
Past," vol. v. p. 157.]

[Footnote 5: See fragment in Sayce's edition Smith's "Chald. Acc. of
Gen.," p. 220, col. iii.]

[Footnote 6: The harvest month was the month of Sivan, which is mentioned
by the Oracle of Ishtar of Arbela. See "Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western
Asia," vol. iv. pl. 68; also "Records of the Past," vol. xi. pp. 61-62.]

COLUMN IV

THE KING GOES FROM ISHTAR'S TEMPLE TO THE TEMPLE OF SAMAS

He rose and raised the pendant mystic charms
And kissed them, and the jewels of her arms
And ornaments upon her breast divine,
And then her crown with jewels iridine
He placed upon his brow, and it returned;
And from the shrine in reverence he t