It accords, however, with the northward movement of culture and civilization in Mesopotamia.

If this connection between the two Ninevehs be accepted, the question suggests itself whether, in time, Nina did not become merely another form of Ishtar.

The Assyrian capital is frequently spoken of as the 'beloved city' of Ishtar, and unless it be supposed that this epithet simply reflects the comparatively late popularity of the distinctively Assyrian Ishtar, the most natural explanation would be to propose the equation Nina = Ishtar.
In the incantation texts, Nina is frequently appealed to as the daughter of Ea,--the god of the deep.

This relationship, as well as the interpretation of the ideogram above set forth, points to the original character of the goddess as a water-deity.

This goddess, therefore, would be of an entirely different form from the ones discussed in the previous paragraphs.