Wikipedia article on "Dumuzid"
Dumuzid (Sumerian: 𒌉𒍣𒉺𒇻, romanized: Dumuzid sipad) or Dumuzi, later known by the alternative form Tammuz, is an ancient Mesopotamian god associated with shepherds, who was also the primary consort of the goddess Inanna (later known as Ishtar). In Sumerian mythology, Dumuzid's sister was Geshtinanna, the goddess of agriculture, fertility, and dream interpretation. In the Sumerian King List, Dumuzid is listed as an antediluvian king of the city of Bad-tibira and also an early king of the city of Uruk. In Inanna's Descent into the Underworld, Dumuzid fails to mourn Inanna's death and, when she returns from the Underworld, she allows the galla demons to drag him down to the Underworld as her replacement. Inanna later regrets this decision and decrees that Dumuzid will spend half the year in the Underworld, but the other half of the year with her, while his sister Geshtinanna stays in the Underworld in his place, thus resulting in the cycle of the seasons.... Dumuzid was associated with fertility and vegetation and the hot, dry summers of Mesopotamia were believed to be caused by Dumuzid's yearly death. During the month in midsummer bearing his name, people all across Mesopotamia would engage in public, ritual mourning for him. The cult of Dumuzid was later spread to the Levant and to Greece, where he became known under the West Semitic name Adonis.
(י) וָאָבוֹא֮ וָאֶרְאֶה֒ וְהִנֵּ֨ה כׇל־תַּבְנִ֜ית רֶ֤מֶשׂ וּבְהֵמָה֙ שֶׁ֔קֶץ וְכׇל־גִּלּוּלֵ֖י בֵּ֣ית יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל מְחֻקֶּ֥ה עַל־הַקִּ֖יר סָבִ֥יב ׀ סָבִֽיב׃ (יא) וְשִׁבְעִ֣ים אִ֣ישׁ מִזִּקְנֵ֣י בֵֽית־יִ֠שְׂרָאֵ֠ל וְיַאֲזַנְיָ֨הוּ בֶן־שָׁפָ֜ן עֹמֵ֤ד בְּתוֹכָם֙ עֹמְדִ֣ים לִפְנֵיהֶ֔ם וְאִ֥ישׁ מִקְטַרְתּ֖וֹ בְּיָד֑וֹ וַעֲתַ֥ר עֲנַֽן־הַקְּטֹ֖רֶת עֹלֶֽה׃ (יב) וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֵלַי֮ הֲרָאִ֣יתָ בֶן־אָדָם֒ אֲשֶׁ֨ר זִקְנֵ֤י בֵֽית־יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ עֹשִׂ֣ים בַּחֹ֔שֶׁךְ אִ֖ישׁ בְּחַדְרֵ֣י מַשְׂכִּית֑וֹ כִּ֣י אֹמְרִ֗ים אֵ֤ין יְהֹוָה֙ רֹאֶ֣ה אֹתָ֔נוּ עָזַ֥ב יְהֹוָ֖ה אֶת־הָאָֽרֶץ׃ (יג) וַיֹּ֖אמֶר אֵלָ֑י ע֣וֹד תָּשׁ֥וּב תִּרְאֶ֛ה תּוֹעֵב֥וֹת גְּדֹל֖וֹת אֲשֶׁר־הֵ֥מָּה עֹשִֽׂים׃ (יד) וַיָּבֵ֣א אֹתִ֗י אֶל־פֶּ֙תַח֙ שַׁ֣עַר בֵּית־יְהֹוָ֔ה אֲשֶׁ֖ר אֶל־הַצָּפ֑וֹנָה וְהִנֵּה־שָׁם֙ הַנָּשִׁ֣ים יֹשְׁב֔וֹת מְבַכּ֖וֹת אֶת־הַתַּמּֽוּז׃ {ס}
(10) I entered and looked, and there all detestable forms of creeping things and beasts and all the fetishes of the House of Israel were depicted over the entire wall. (11) Before them stood seventy men, elders of the House of Israel, with Jaazaniah son of Shaphan standing in their midst. Everyone had a censer in his hand, and a thick cloud of incense smoke ascended. (12) Again He spoke to me, “O mortal, have you seen what the elders of the House of Israel are doing in the darkness, everyone in his image-covered chamber? For they say, ‘The LORD does not see us; the LORD has abandoned the country.’” (13) And He said to me, “You shall see even more terrible abominations which they practice.” (14) Next He brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the House of the LORD;-g and there sat the women bewailing Tammuz.
מבכות את התמוז. דמות א' שמחממו' אותו מבפני' והיו עיניו של עופר' והם נתוכין מחום ההיסק ונראה כאלו בוכה ואומרת תקרובת הוא שואל:
“Making the Tammuz weep.” There was an image that they would heat up from the inside, and its eyes, which were of lead, would melt from the heat of the fire, and it would appear as though it was weeping, and they would say, “It is asking for an offering.”
ובספר ההוא סופר על איש מ'נביאי עבודה זרה' שהיה שמו 'תמוז' קרא מלך לעבוד השבעה כוכבים והשנים עשר מזלות והרגו המלך ההוא הרג משונה. וזכר שליל מותו התקבצו הצלמים מקצות הארץ אל ההיכל אשר בבבל אל צלם הזהב הגדול אשר הוא צלם השמש והיה הצלם ההוא נתלה בין השמים והארץ ונפל באמצע ההיכל והצלמים כולם סביבו; והתחיל לאנות על תמוז ולהגיד מה שקרהו; והצלמים כולם בוכים ומקוננים כל הלילה וכעלות השחר עפו הצלמים ושבו להיכליהם בכנפות הארץ; והיה זה מנהג מתמיד בתחילת יום מחודש תמוז יקוננו ויבכו על תמוז ויספדו עליו הנשים ויאנו.
In [Ibn Washiyya's Nabatean Agriculture] the following story is also related: One of the idolatrous prophets, named Tammuz, called upon the king to worship the seven planets and the twelve constellations of the Zodiac: whereupon the king killed him in a dreadful manner. The night of his death the images from all parts of the land came together in the temple of Babylon which was devoted to the image of the Sun, the great golden image. This image, which was suspended between heaven and earth, came down into the midst of the temple, and surrounded by all other images commenced to mourn for Tammuz, and to relate what had befallen him. All other images cried and mourned the whole night; at dawn they flew away and returned to their temples in every corner of the earth. Hence the regular custom arose for the women to weep, lament, mourn, and cry for Tammuz on the first day of the month of Tammuz.
מבכות את התמוז.... ויש מפרשים התמוז השרוף מן למזא לאתונא רוצה לומר שהיו בוכות על אותו שהיה שרוף שהיו שורפין בניהם ובנותיהם באש והנשים היו בוכות אותם:
Bewailing Tammuz.... There are commentators [who explain that this passage refers to] that Tammuz who was burned in a heated furnace, and I want to say that this was wailing over the one who was burned, that their sons and their daughters were burned in the fire, and the women were weeping over them.
R. Jill Hammer, The Jewish Book of Days, p. 323
The prophet Ezekiel complains of Israelite women mourning the death of Tammuz at the gates of the Temple. Yet the mourning for Tammuz allowed women to express the poignancy of the harvest and the mortality of human beings.