Note 4 — Chapter XII

The most striking of these comparisons is that of Asari, a Sumerian god who was afterwards identified with Marduk, and Asar, the Egyptian god Osiris. For not only is there identity of name-sound, but there is also a resemblance between the Egyptian and Sumerian sign-groups for the names (cf. Sayce, "The Archaeology of the Cuneiform Inscriptions," p. 119). The resemblance, however, is not quite so close as it is sometimes represented, for the Sumerian sign eri or uru is invariably employed for "city," a meaning which never attaches to as, the character in the corresponding half of the Egyptian group. To regard the resemblance as other than a coincidence, it is necessary to assume a very close relationship between the early religious ideas of Sumer and Egypt, an assumption that would only be justified by the strongest proofs of connection from the archaeological side.