TAMMUZ

God of springtime verdure in ancient Sumer and Babylonia. He became very popular in Syria and Phoenicia as 'ădōnî (my lord) and in Hellenistic lands as Adonis. In Mesopotamian mythology he was the brotherconsort of Ishtar, the goddess of fertility (J. B. Pritchard Ancient Near Eastern Texts relating to the Old Testament 84). According to the myth, Tammuz was killed every year by a wild boar but was rescued from the nether world by Ishtar, who brought him back to life and assured a new springtime. The natural cycle was thus symbolized by the myth. In ancient Egypt a similar myth was told of isis and Osiris. The 4th month of the year counting from the vernal equinox (June–July), when vegetation began to wither in the dry heat of summer, was called the month of Tammuz and was the occasion for a feast reenacting his descent to the nether regions. In pots filled with earth various herbs were planted and allowed to wither in the sun, symbolizing Tammuz's death. A wooden image of Tammuz, hidden in one of the pots, was then the object of a search by the women. When they found it, they buried it again or threw it, along with the pots, into a body of water amidst loud lamentation. Explicit reference to such a rite is found only once in the Bible (Ez 8.14), although the rite may be the background for the fastgrowing plants of Is 17.10–11 that forebode an incurable blight.

Bibliography: Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Bible, translated and adapted by l. hartman (New York, 1963) 2392–93. s. h. hooke, Babylonian and Assyrian Religion (New York 1953). a. moortgart, Tammuz: Der Unsterblichkeitsglaube in der altorientalischen Bildkunst (Berlin 1949). r. de vaux, "Sur quelques rapports entre Adonis et Osiris," Revue Biblique 42 (1933) 31–56.

[h. mueller]