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232 of the Yaminites. When the traveler answered in the negative, the god complained why he had not been kept abreast of developments and instructed the dreamer to take a message to the king, demanding that he send messengers to update the god on the situation. "This is what this man saw in his dream," the urgent report to the king stated, adding that "this man is trustworthy." Aewatha dn L Another dream concerning Dagan and the wars in which Zimri-Lim was engaged was reported by a temple priestess. In the dream, she stated, "I entered the temple of the goddess Belet-ekallim ("Mistress of Temples") but she was not in residence nor did I see the statues presented to her. As I saw this I began to weep." Then I heard "an eery voice crying, saying over and over again: ‘Come back, O Dagan, come back, O Dagan!' This it was crying over and over." Then the voice became more ecstatic, filling the temple of the god- dess with the voice, saying: "O Zimri-Lim, do not go on an expedition, stay in Mari, and then I alone will take responsi- bility." The goddess who spoke out in this dream, offering to do the fighting for the beleaguered king, is named in the report Annunitum, a Semitic rendering of Inanna, i.e. Ishtar. Her reported willingness to so act for Zimri-Lim makes historical sense, for she was the one who anointed Zimri-Lim to be king of Mari—a divine act that was commemorated in the magnificent murals found in the palace of Mari (Fig. 79) when it was unearthed by French archaeologists. The priestess who had reported the dream as _ related, Addu-duri by name, was an oracle priestess. In her report she pointed out that while her oracles were based in the past on "signs," this was the first time she had had an oracle dream. Her name is mentioned in another dream report, but this time of a dream by a male priest in which he saw the Goddess of Oracles speak to him about the king's "negli- gence in guarding himself." (In other instances oracle priest- esses reported to the king divine messages obtained while they were in a self-induced trance, rather than sleeping and dreaming). Mari was situated on the Euphrates River where Syria and Iraq meet today, and served as the way station from Mesopo- DIVINE ENCOUNTERS