Tammuz (deity)  

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Northwest Semitic Tammuz (Assyrian ܬܡܘܙ, Hebrew תַּמּוּז, Standard Hebrew Tammuz, Tiberian Hebrew Tammûz, Arabic تمّوز Tammūz; Akkadian Duʾzu, Dūzu; Sumerian Dumuzidwas the name of a Sumerian god of food and vegetation.

Literary references

• John Milton, "Paradise Lost", Book I

THAMMUZ came next behind,
Whose annual wound in LEBANON allur'd
The SYRIAN Damsels to lament his fate
In amorous dittyes all a Summers day,
While smooth ADONIS from his native Rock
Ran purple to the Sea, suppos'd with blood
Of THAMMUZ yearly wounded: the Love-tale
Infected SIONS daughters with like heat,
Whose wanton passions in the sacred Porch
EZEKIEL saw, when by the Vision led
His eye survay'd the dark Idolatries
Of alienated JUDAH.

• Oscar Wilde, "Charmides"

And then each pigeon spread its milky van,
The bright car soared into the dawning sky
And like a cloud the aerial caravan
Passed over the Ægean silently,
Till the faint air was troubled with the song
From the wan mouths that call on bleeding Thammuz all night long