TATIPTILUZ, A deity of Babylonian origin whose cult is referred to by the prophet Ezekiel (viii. 14), who describes his horror at seeing wo men sitting in the north gates of the temple and weeping for Tammuz. The worship of Tammuz (under the form Dumu-zi) may now be traced back to the oldest period of the Babylonian religion. He appears to have been originally an agricultural deity, whose seat of worship may have been at Eridu on the Persian Gulf. In the developed Babylonian mythology, however, he became the symbol of the decay of vegetation after the close of the summer season, pictured as slain by the goddess Ishtar after she has secured him as her husband. The death of Tammuz gave rise in Babylonia to the mourn ing ceremonies described by Ezekiel, and from Babylonia as a centre the euit spread to the \Vest. Among the Canaanites and Phcenieians, Tammuz was known as ddonai, 'the lord,' and this name survives under the form Adonis (q.v.), Among the Phoenicians the chief temple and worship of Adonis was at Bybhis (or Gebal), and from Phcenieia the Adonis cult, was carried to Cyprus and Greece, where he was connected with Aphrodite. His festivals were partly the expressions of joy, partly of mourning. In the latter the women gave themselves up to the most unmitigated grief over the `lost Adonis,' shaved off their hair, and sacrificed their chastity in his temples. The days of mourning were completed
by a solemn burial of an image of the god. This period was followed by a succession of festive and joyful days, in honor of the resurrection of Adonis. The river Adonis (Nahr Ibrahim), which once a year 'ran purple to the sea' from the Lebanon, was supposed to be tinged by the blood of the god: and a vessel sent off from Alexandria, and carried by the tide to Byblus, used to inform the mourners by letter that he had been found again. These feasts were cele brated during the summer solstice. The fonrth month in the Babylonian calendar, known as Tam muz and adopted by the Hebrews, preserves the name of the god and furnishes a valuable testi mony as to the time when his festival was cele brated, since the Babylonian year began in the spring. Adonis of Byblus was identified at a later period with Osiris, and the myth under went various transformations in thus passing from one people to the other. Consult: Robert son Smith, Religion of the Semites (London, 1894) : Frazer, The Golden Baugh (London, 1900).