Page 266 - Records of Bahrain (2)(ii)_Neat

592 Records of Bahrain

THE ISLANDS OF BAHREIN. 211

who was in a later ago worshipped in Babylonia under at
least threo different forms, namely, Ziru-punU, wifo of
Mcrodach ; Tasmit, wife of Nebo; and Gula, wifo of Ninip,
tho Assyrian Hercules. The attributes at any rate of Gula,1
who in the general lists is sometimes bracketed with Lakhmu,
tho male principle of nature, are exactly suited to the Goddess
of Bahrein; for she is, 1st, “the great mother (ummu aliclat
or ‘gcncti^x7) of tho, black-heads,” 2nd, she is “the Queen of
Karrak,” “ she who blesses the tomb ” (abrikkat aralli) ; and
3rd, slio is “tho Queen of life/' “she who resuscitates the
dead,” the lady in fact of the resurrection, and the Goddess
accordingly around whose shrine the “ the black-heads ” or
Erythrocans would naturally desire to be buried; precisely
as at the present day the Persian sectaries desire to bo
buried at Kcrbcla and Ncjcf, not so much out of respect to
tho tombs of the martyred Imams, as because the hist
judgment is traditionally expected to take place in the
IVadi-as-Salam in tho immediate neighbourhood ; and I may
add, as a parallel ease, that I attribute tho multitude of
ancient graves at Warkd or Iluru/c to the celebrity of the
neighbouring shrine of Istar, who, as another representative
of the productive power of nature, was also probably
supposed to preside over tho resurrection ; and here it
becomes necessary to take up the general geographical

1 A few references seem to bo boro required. Gula is associated with
I—y >’^S -Lakhmu (to be distinguished from Lakhamu),
apparently as man and wife, on a fragment in tho Museum giving a very com­
plete list of the Gods, and as yet unpublished. For her title ns * great mother
of the black-heads,* see B.M.I. yoI. iy. p. 61, 1. 27, where she is joined with
>->-*y JHfy or Ninip, her usual partner, either uuder his own name or
uuder the secondary form of >->-y £>^yy Doom. Her best-known titlo
is Lady of Nisi nun or Karrak% which was probably tho samo place ns the Kara ha
of tho list of Darius, and tho Charax of later geography (modern Mohamrah, near
tho mouth of tho Euphrates), see B.M.I. vol. ii. p. 51,1. 3*1, and comparo B.M.I.
vol. iv. p. 63, lines 15 and 21. For her title of Jlupallidal mill ‘ she who restores
tho dead to life,’ 600 B.M.I. vol. iv. p. 19, 1. 8, and B.M.I. vol. ii. p. 39, 1. 31,
and p. 62, 1. 15. From tho many passages indeed in which she is invoked, it is
evident she was considered tho arbitress of life and death, see Miclmux »Stono, col.
4, 1. 5, B.M.I. vol. iii. p. 41, 1. 29, and p. 43, col. 4, 1. 15. It must be admitted
that tlicro is no ovidcnco to connect Gala directly with NiduUci or Bahrein,
though it is tolerably certain that hor worship prevailed oxtensivoly in tho Persian
Gulf.