If any conclusion is to be drawn from this omission, it is certainly this,--that there are several stages in the development of the ancient theological system of Babylonia.

At first a duality of kingdoms--the kingdom of what is above and below--was conceived as comprising all the personified powers of nature, but this duality was replaced by a triad through the addition of the god who stands at the head of all water-deities.

Of course the assumption of a duality instead of a triad may have been due to a difference among existing schools of thought.

At all events, there seems to be no political reason for the addition of Ea, and it is difficult to say, therefore, how soon the conception of a triad standing at the head of the pantheon arose.

We have found it in Gudea's days, and it must, therefore, have existed in the days of Hammurabi, without, perhaps, being regarded as an essential dogma as yet.