the protection of a god or goddess, of whom he was the servant, or
rather the son. These deities accompanied him by day and by night to
guard him from the evil genii ready to attack him on every side. The
Chaldæans had not such clear ideas as to what awaited them in the other
world as the Egyptians possessed.

The Chaldæan hades is a dark country surrounded by seven high walls, and
is approached by seven gates, each guarded by a pitiless warder. Two
deities rule within it--Nergal, "the lord of the great city," and
Peltis-Allat, "the lady of the great land," whither everything which has
breathed in this world descends after death. A legend relates that Allat
reigned alone in hades and was invited by the gods to a feast which they
had prepared in heaven. Owing to her hatred of the light she refused,
sending a message by her servant, Namtar, who acquitted himself, with
such a bad grace, that Anu and Ea were incensed against his mistress,
and commissioned Nergal to chastise her. He went, and finding the gates
of hell open, dragged the queen by her hair from the throne, and was
about to decapitate her, but she mollified him by her prayers and saved
her life by becoming his wife.

The nature of Nergal fitted him well to play the part of a prince of the
departed; for he was the destroying sun of summer, and the genius of
pestilence and battle. His functions in heaven and earth took up so much
of his time that he had little leisure to visit his nether kingdom, and
he was consequently obliged to content himself with the rôle of
providing subjects for it by dispatching thither the thousands of
recruits which he gathered daily from the abodes of men or from the
field of battle.