The gods which seize on men
      Came forth from the grave;
    The evil wind gusts
      Have come forth from the grave,
    To demand payment of rites and the pouring out of libations
      They have come forth from the grave;
    All that is evil in their hosts, like a whirlwind,
      Hath come forth from the grave.[59]

The Hebrew “nephesh ruach” and “neshamah” (in Arabic “ruh” and “nefs”) pass from meaning “breath” to “spirit".[60] In Egypt the god Khnumu was “Kneph” in his character as an atmospheric deity.  The ascendancy of storm and wind gods in some Babylonian cities may have been due to the belief that they were the source of the “air of life”.  It is possible that this conception was popularized by the Semites.  Inspiration was perhaps derived from these deities by burning incense, which, if we follow evidence obtained elsewhere, induced a prophetic trance.  The gods were also invoked by incense.  In the Flood legend the Babylonian Noah burned incense.  “The gods smelled a sweet savour and gathered like flies over the sacrificer.”  In Egypt devotees who inhaled the breath of the Apis bull were enabled to prophesy.

In addition to water and atmospheric deities Babylonia had also its fire gods, Girru, Gish Bar, Gibil, and Nusku.  Their origin is obscure.  It is doubtful if their worshippers, like those of the Indian Agni, believed that fire, the “vital spark”, was the principle of life which was manifested by bodily heat.  The Aryan fire worshippers cremated their dead so that the spirits might be transferred by fire to Paradise.  This practice, however, did not obtain among the fire worshippers of Persia, nor, as was once believed, in Sumer or Akkad either.  Fire was, however, used in Babylonia for magical purposes.  It destroyed demons, and put to flight the spirits of disease.  Possibly the fire-purification ceremonies resembled those which were practised by the Canaanites, and are referred to in the Bible.  Ahaz “made his son to pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the heathen".[61] Ezekiel declared that “when ye offer your gifts, when ye make your sons to pass through the fire, ye pollute yourselves with all your idols".[62] In Leviticus it is laid down:  “Thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Moloch".[63] It may be that in Babylonia the fire-cleansing ceremony resembled that which obtained at Beltane (May Day) in Scotland, Germany, and other countries.  Human sacrifices might also have been offered up as burnt offerings.  Abraham, who came from the Sumerian city of Ur, was prepared to sacrifice Isaac, Sarah’s first-born.  The fire gods of Babylonia never achieved the ascendancy of the Indian Agni; they appear to have resembled him mainly in so far as he was connected with the sun.  Nusku, like Agni, was also the “messenger of the gods”.  When Merodach or Babylon was exalted as chief god of the pantheon his messages were carried to Ea by Nusku.  He may have therefore