Tammuz

Tammuz was a Sumerian and Babylonian deity of vegetation and the grain harvest, the divine shepherd and consort of Inanna/Ishtar, whose annual death and descent to the underworld explained the withering of crops in summer. Mourning rites for Tammuz — women weeping at his death — were performed annually. In Ezekiel's throne-vision of the abominations in the Jerusalem temple, he saw "women weeping for Tammuz" at the north gate of the inner court (Ezek. 8:14) — a pagan ritual that had infiltrated the worship of the LORD. This is the only direct biblical mention of the deity. The fourth month of the Hebrew calendar (approximately June–July) bears the name Tammuz, adopted from Babylonia during the exile and retained in the Jewish calendar to the present.