BELIT (signifying the " lady," par excellence)

This article appears in Volume V03, Page 683 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: BEC-BER

BELIT (signifying the " lady," par excellence) , in the Babylonian religion the designation of the

consort

CONSORT (Lat. consors, a companion)

of Bel (q.v.).' Her real name was Nin-lil, i.e. the " lady of power," if the explanation suggested in BEL for the second

element

ELEMENT (Lat. elementum)

is correct. She is also designated as Nin-Khar-sag, " Lady of the

mountain

MOUNTAIN (0. Fr. montaigne; popular Lat. montanea, an adjectival form from the classical
mons
- MONS (Flemish Bergen)
, montis, whence Eng. " mount," a form usually used along with the name of an individual mountain, e.g. Mt Everest)
MOUNTAIN, THE (La Montagne)

," which name stands in some relationship to Im-Khar-sag, "

storm

STORM (in O. Eng..storm, and so in Du. and Low Ger.; in O. H. Ger. and mod. Ger.
Sturm
- STURM
- STURM, JULIUS (1816-1896)
; the root is probably that seen in " stir," to rouse, move, disturb, cf. Ger. storen)
STORM, THEODOR WOLDSEN (1817-1888)

mountain

MOUNTAIN (0. Fr. montaigne; popular Lat. montanea, an adjectival form from the classical
mons
- MONS (Flemish Bergen)
, montis, whence Eng. " mount," a form usually used along with the name of an individual mountain, e.g. Mt Everest)
MOUNTAIN, THE (La Montagne)

"the name of the staged tower or sacred edifice to
Bel at

Nippur

NIPPUR

. As the

consort

CONSORT (Lat. consors, a companion)

of En-lil, the goddess Nin-lil or Belit belongs to

Nippur

NIPPUR

and her titles as " ruler of heaven and earth," and "

mother

MOTHER

of the gods " are all due to her position as the wife of Bel. While recognized by a temple of her own in Nippur and honoured by rulers at various times by having votive offerings made in her honour and fortresses dedicated in her name, she, as all other goddesses in Babylonia and Assyria with the single exception of Ishtar, is overshadowed by her male consort. The

title

TITLE (0. Fr. title, mod. titre, from Lat. titulus)

Belit was naturally transferred to the

great

GREAT

mother

MOTHER

-goddess Ishtar after the decline of the cult at Nippur, and we also find the consort of Marduk, known as Sarpanit, designated as Belit, for the sufficient reason that Marduk, after the rise of the city of Babylon as the seat of his cult, becomes the Bel or " lord " of later days. (M. JA.)

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