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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria + +Author: Morris Jastrow + +Release Date: March 7, 2007 [EBook #20758] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RELIGION OF BABYLONIA *** + + + + +Produced by Paul Murray and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net. (This file was +produced from images generously made available by the +Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF/Gallica) at +http://gallica.bnf.fr) + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + +<h1> +HANDBOOKS +ON THE +HISTORY OF RELIGIONS +</h1> + +<h2> +EDITED BY<br/> +MORRIS JASTROW, Jr., PH.D.<br/> +<i>Professor of Semitic Languages in the University of Pennsylvania</i> +</h2> + +<h3>VOLUME II</h3> + + + + +<h1> +THE RELIGION +OF +BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA +</h1> + +<h3>BY</h3> +<h2>MORRIS JASTROW, Jr., PH.D.<br/> +(LEIPZIG)<br/> +PROFESSOR OF SEMITIC LANGUAGES IN THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA +</h2> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="GINN_COMPANY" id="GINN_COMPANY"></a>GINN & COMPANY</h2> + +<h3>BOSTON · NEW YORK · CHICAGO · LONDON</h3> + +<h3>COPYRIGHT, 1893<br/> +By MORRIS JASTROW, Jr.</h3> + +<h3>ALL RIGHTS RESERVED</h3> + +<h3>35.11</h3> + + +<h3>The Athenæum Press<br/> +GINN & COMPANY · PROPRIETORS<br/> +BOSTON · USA</h3> + +<p>[Transcriber's Note: This file was produced from images generously made +available by the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF/Gallica) +at http://gallica.bnf.fr.]</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="TO" id="TO"></a>TO</h2> + +<p class="center">H. B. J.</p> + +<p class="center">MY FAITHFUL COLLABORATOR</p> + + + + +<h2>PREFACE.</h2> + + +<p>It requires no profound knowledge to reach the conclusion +that the time has not yet come for an exhaustive treatise on the +religion of Babylonia and Assyria. But even if our knowledge +of this religion were more advanced than it is, the utility of an +exhaustive treatment might still be questioned. Exhaustive +treatises are apt to be exhausting to both reader and author; +and however exhaustive (or exhausting) such a treatise may be, +it cannot be final except in the fond imagination of the writer. +For as long as activity prevails in any branch of science, all +results are provisional. Increasing knowledge leads necessarily +to a change of perspective and to a readjustment of views. +The chief reason for writing a book is to prepare the way for +the next one on the same subject.</p> + +<p>In accordance with the general plan of this Series<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> of Handbooks, +it has been my chief aim to gather together in convenient +arrangement and readable form what is at present +known about the religion of the Babylonians and Assyrians. +The investigations of scholars are scattered through a large +variety of periodicals and monographs. The time has come +for focusing the results reached, for sifting the certain from +the uncertain, and the uncertain from the false. This work of +gathering the <i>disjecta membra</i> of Assyriological science is +essential to future progress. If I have succeeded in my chief +aim, I shall feel amply repaid for the labor involved.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</a></span></p> +<p>In order that the book may serve as a guide to students, the +names of those to whose researches our present knowledge of +the subject is due have frequently been introduced, and it will +be found, I trust, that I have been fair to all.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> At the same +time, I have naturally not hesitated to indicate my dissent from +views advanced by this or that scholar, and it will also be +found, I trust, that in the course of my studies I have advanced +the interpretation of the general theme or of specific facts at +various points. While, therefore, the book is only in a secondary +degree sent forth as an original contribution, the discussion +of mooted points will enhance its value, I hope, for the +specialist, as well as for the general reader and student for +whom, in the first place, the volumes of this series are +intended.</p> + +<p>The disposition of the subject requires a word of explanation. +After the two introductory chapters (common to all the +volumes of the series) I have taken up the pantheon as the +natural means to a survey of the field. The pantheon is +treated, on the basis of the historical texts, in four sections: +(1) the old Babylonian period, (2) the middle period, or the +pantheon in the days of Hammurabi, (3) the Assyrian pantheon, +and (4) the latest or neo-Babylonian period. The most +difficult phase has naturally been the old Babylonian pantheon. +Much is uncertain here. Not to speak of the chronology which +is still to a large extent guesswork, the identification of many +of the gods occurring in the oldest inscriptions, with their later +equivalents, must be postponed till future discoveries shall have +cleared away the many obstacles which beset the path of the +scholar. The discoveries at Telloh and Nippur have occasioned +a recasting of our views, but new problems have arisen +as rapidly as old ones have been solved. I have been especially +careful in this section not to pass beyond the range of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</a></span> +what is definitely <i>known</i>, or, at the most, what may be regarded +as tolerably certain. Throughout the chapters on the pantheon, +I have endeavored to preserve the attitude of being 'open to +conviction'—an attitude on which at present too much stress +can hardly be laid.</p> + +<p>The second division of the subject is represented by the +religious literature. With this literature as a guide, the views +held by the Babylonians and Assyrians regarding magic and +oracles, regarding the relationship to the gods, the creation of +the world, and the views of life after death have been illustrated +by copious translations, together with discussions of the specimens +chosen. The translations, I may add, have been made +direct from the original texts, and aim to be as literal as is +consonant with presentation in idiomatic English.</p> + +<p>The religious architecture, the history of the temples, and the +cult form the subject of the third division. Here again there +is much which is still uncertain, and this uncertainty accounts +for the unequal subdivisions of the theme which will not +escape the reader.</p> + +<p>Following the general plan of the series, the last chapter of +the book is devoted to a general estimate and to a consideration +of the influence exerted by the religion of Babylonia and Assyria.</p> + +<p>In the transliteration of proper names, I have followed conventional +methods for well-known names (like Nebuchadnezzar), +and the general usage of scholars in the case of others. In +some cases I have furnished a transliteration of my own; and +for the famous Assyrian king, to whom we owe so much of the +material for the study of the Babylonian and Assyrian religion, +Ashurbanabal, I have retained the older usage of writing it +with a <i>b</i>, following in this respect Lehman, whose arguments<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> +in favor of this pronunciation for the last element in the name +I regard as on the whole acceptable.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[Pg x]</a></span></p> +<p>I have reasons to regret the proportions to which the work +has grown. These proportions were entirely unforeseen when +I began the book, and have been occasioned mainly by the +large amount of material that has been made available by +numerous important publications that appeared after the actual +writing of the book had begun. This constant increase of +material necessitated constant revision of chapters; and such +revision was inseparable from enlargement. I may conscientiously +say that I have studied these recent publications thoroughly +as they appeared, and have embodied at the proper +place the results reached by others and which appeared to me +acceptable. The work, therefore, as now given to the public +may fairly be said to represent the state of present knowledge.</p> + +<p>In a science that grows so rapidly as Assyriology, to which +more than to many others the adage of <i>dies diem docet</i> is applicable, +there is great danger of producing a piece of work that +is antiquated before it leaves the press. At times a publication +appeared too late to be utilized. So Delitzsch's important contribution +to the origin of cuneiform writing<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> was published long +after the introductory chapters had been printed. In this +book he practically abandons his position on the Sumerian +question (as set forth on p. <a href="#Page_22">22</a> of this volume) and once more +joins the opposite camp. As far as my own position is concerned, +I do not feel called upon to make any changes from +the statements found in <a href="#chapter-i">chapter i.</a>, even after reading Weissbach's +<i>Die Sumerische Frage</i> (Leipzig, 1898),—the latest contribution +to the subject, which is valuable as a history of +the controversy, but offers little that is new. Delitzsch's name +must now be removed from the list of those who accept +Halévy's thesis; but, on the other hand, Halévy has gained a +strong ally in F. Thureau-Dangin, whose <i>special</i> studies in the +old Babylonian inscriptions lend great weight to his utterances +on the origin of the cuneiform script. Dr. Alfred Jeremias, of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[Pg xi]</a></span> +Leipzig, is likewise to be added to the adherents of Halévy. +The Sumero-Akkadian controversy is not yet settled, and meanwhile +it is well to bear in mind that not <i>every</i> Assyriologist is +qualified to pronounce an opinion on the subject. A special +study is required, and but few Assyriologists have made such +a study. Accepting a view or a tradition from one's teacher +does not constitute a person an authority, and one may be a +very good Assyriologist without having views on the controversy +that are of any particular value.</p> + +<p>Lastly, I desire to call attention to the Bibliography, on which +much time has been spent, and which will, I trust, be found +satisfactory. In a list of addenda at the end of the book, I +have noted some errors that slipped into the book, and I have +also embodied a few additions. The copious index is the +work of my student, Dr. S. Koppe, and it gives me pleasure to +express my deep obligations to him for the able and painstaking +manner in which he has carried out the work so kindly undertaken +by him. The drawing for the map was made by Mr. J. +Horace Frank of Philadelphia.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>To my wife more thanks are due than I can convey in +words for her share in the work. She copied almost all of +the manuscript, and in doing so made many valuable suggestions. +Without her constant aid and encouragement I would +have shrunk from a task which at times seemed too formidable +to be carried to a successful issue. As I lay down my pen +after several years of devotion to this book, my last thought is +one of gratitude to the beloved partner of my joys and sorrows.</p> + +<p> +<span class="smcap">MORRIS JASTROW, Jr.</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">University of Pennsylvania,</span><br /> +<i>June, 1898.</i><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">[Pg xii]</a></span></p> + +<h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Set forth in the announcement of the series at the back of the book and in +the +Editor's Prefatory Note to Volume I.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> In the Index, however, names of scholars have only been introduced where +absolutely necessary to the subject.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> In his work, <i>Shamassum-ukin König von Babylonien</i>, pp. 16-21. +Hence, I also +write Ashurnasirbal.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> <i>Die Entstehung des ältesten Schriftsystems</i> (Leipzig, 1897).</p></div> + + + + +<h2><a name="corrections" id="corrections"></a>CORRECTIONS AND ADDITIONS.</h2> + +<p>[Transcriber's Note: These changes and additions are printed only here; +the main text is as it was in the original.]</p> + + +<p>Page, Line.</p> + +<p><a href="#Page_22">22</a>. See Preface.</p> + +<p><a href="#Page_35">35</a>, 10. Isin or Nisin, see Lehmann's <i>Shamash-shumukin</i>, I. 77; Meissner's +<i>Beiträge zum altbabylonischen Privatrecht</i>, p. 122.</p> + +<p><a href="#Page_61">61</a>. Bau also appears as Nin-din-dug, <i>i.e.</i>, 'the lady who restores life.' +See Hilprecht, <i>Old Babylonian Inscriptions</i>, I. 2, Nos. 95, +106, 111.</p> + +<p><a href="#Page_74">74</a>. On Ã, see Hommel, <i>Journal of Transactions of Victoria Institute</i>, +XXVIII. 35-36.</p> + +<p><a href="#Page_99">99</a>, 24. Ur-shul-pa-uddu is a ruler of Kish.</p> + +<p><a href="#Page_102">102</a>, 13. For Ku-anna, see IIIR. 67, 32 c-d.</p> + +<p><a href="#Page_102">102</a>, 24. For another U-mu as a title of Adad, see Delitzsch, <i>Das Babylonische +Weltschöpfungsepos</i>, p. 125, note.</p> + +<p><a href="#Page_111">111</a>, 2. Nisaba is mentioned in company with the great gods by Nebopolassar +(Hilprecht, <i>Old Babylonian Inscriptions</i>, I. 1. Pl. +32, col. II. 15).</p> + +<p><a href="#Page_165">165</a>. Note 2. On these proper names, see Delitzsch's "Assyriologische +Miscellen" (<i>Berichte der phil.-hist. Classe der kgl. sächs. Gesell. +d. Wiss.</i>, 1893, pp. 183 seq.).</p> + +<p><a href="#Page_488">488</a>. Note 1. See now Scheil's article "Recueil de Travaux," etc., +XX. 55-59.</p> + +<p><a href="#Page_529">529</a>. The form Di-ib-ba-ra has now been found. See Scheil's "Recueil +de Travaux," etc., XX. 57.</p> + +<p><a href="#Page_589">589</a>. Note 3. See now Hommel, <i>Expository Times</i>, VIII. 472, and +Baudissin, <i>ib.</i> IX. 40-45.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xiii" id="Page_xiii">[Pg xiii]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> + +<p> +<span class="smcap"><a href="#chapter-i">I. Introduction</a></span><br/> +<span class="smcap"><a href="#chapter-ii">II. The Land and the People</a></span><br/> +<span class="smcap"><a href="#chapter-iii">III. General Traits of the Old Babylonian Pantheon</a></span><br/> +<span class="smcap"><a href="#chapter-iv">IV. Babylonian Gods Prior to the Days of Hammurabi</a></span><br/> +<span class="smcap"><a href="#chapter-v">V. The Consorts of the Gods</a></span><br/> +<span class="smcap"><a href="#chapter-vi">VI. Gudea's Pantheon</a></span><br/> +<span class="smcap"><a href="#chapter-vii">VII. Summary</a></span><br/> +<span class="smcap"><a href="#chapter-viii">VIII. The Pantheon in the Days of Hammurabi</a></span><br/> +<span class="smcap"><a href="#chapter-ix">IX. The Gods in the Temple Lists and in the Legal and Commercial Documents</a></span><br/> +<span class="smcap"><a href="#chapter-x">X. The Minor Gods in the Period of Hammurabi</a></span><br/> +<span class="smcap"><a href="#chapter-xi">XI. Survivals of Animism in the Babylonian Religion</a></span><br/> +<span class="smcap"><a href="#chapter-xii">XII. The Assyrian Pantheon</a></span><br/> +<span class="smcap"><a href="#chapter-xiii">XIII. The Triad and the Combined Invocation of Deities</a></span><br/> +<span class="smcap"><a href="#chapter-xiv">XIV. The Neo-babylonian Period</a></span><br/> +<span class="smcap"><a href="#chapter-xv">XV. The Religious Literature of Babylonia</a></span><br/> +<span class="smcap"><a href="#chapter-xvi">XVI. The Magical Texts</a></span><br/> +<span class="smcap"><a href="#chapter-xvii">XVII. The Prayers and Hymns</a></span><br/> +<span class="smcap"><a href="#chapter-xviii">XVIII. Penitential Psalms</a></span><br/> +<span class="smcap"><a href="#chapter-xix">XIX. Oracles and Omens</a></span><br/> +<span class="smcap"><a href="#chapter-xx">XX. Various Classes of Omens</a></span><br/> +<span class="smcap"><a href="#chapter-xxi">XXI. The Cosmology of the Babylonians</a></span><br/> +<span class="smcap"><a href="#chapter-xxii">XXII. The Zodiacal System of the Babylonians</a></span><br/> +<span class="smcap"><a href="#chapter-xxiii">XXIII. The Gilgamesh Epic</a></span><br/> +<span class="smcap"><a href="#chapter-xxiv">XXIV. Myths and Legends</a></span><br/> +<span class="smcap"><a href="#chapter-xxv">XXV. The Views of Life After Death</a></span><br/> +<span class="smcap"><a href="#chapter-xxvi">XXVI. The Temples and the Cult</a></span><br/> +<span class="smcap"><a href="#chapter-xxvii">XXVII. Conclusion</a></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xiv" id="Page_xiv">[Pg xiv]</a></span> +</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;"> +<a href="images/map.png"> +<img width="500" height="700" src="images/map.png" alt="Map of Babylonia and Assyria"/></a></div> + +<p>(From a drawing by Mr. J. HORACE FRANK.)]<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>THE RELIGION OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.</h2> + +<h2><a name="chapter-i" id="chapter-i"></a>CHAPTER I.—INTRODUCTION.</h2> + +<h3>SOURCES AND METHODS OF STUDY.</h3> + +<h3>I.</h3> + + +<p>Until about the middle of the 19th century, our knowledge of +the religion of the Babylonians and Assyrians was exceedingly +scant. No records existed that were contemporaneous with the +period covered by Babylonian-Assyrian history; no monuments +of the past were preserved that might, in default of records, +throw light upon the religious ideas and customs that once +prevailed in Mesopotamia. The only sources at command were +the incidental notices—insufficient and fragmentary in character—that +occurred in the Old Testament, in Herodotus, in +Eusebius, Syncellus, and Diodorus. Of these, again, only the +two first-named, the Old Testament and Herodotus, can be +termed direct sources; the rest simply reproduce extracts from +other works, notably from Ctesias, the contemporary of Xenophon, +from Berosus, a priest of the temple of Bel in Babylonia, +who lived about the time of Alexander the Great, or shortly +after, and from Apollodorus, Abydenus, Alexander Polyhistor, +and Nicolas of Damascus, all of whom being subsequent to +Berosus, either quote the latter or are dependent upon him.</p> + +<p>Of all these sources it may be said, that what information +they furnish of Babylonia and Assyria bears largely upon the +political history, and only to a very small degree upon the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span> +religion. In the Old Testament, the two empires appear only +as they enter into relations with the Hebrews, and since +Hebrew history is not traced back beyond the appearance of +the clans of Terah in Palestine, there is found previous to this +period, barring the account of the migrations of the Terahites +in Mesopotamia, only the mention of the Tigris and Euphrates +among the streams watering the legendary Garden of Eden, +the incidental reference to Nimrod and his empire, which is +made to include the capitol cities of the Northern and Southern +Mesopotamian districts, and the story of the founding of the +city of Babylon, followed by the dispersion of mankind from +their central habitation in the Euphrates Valley. The followers +of Abram, becoming involved in the attempts of Palestinian +chieftains to throw off the yoke of Babylonian supremacy, an +occasion is found for introducing Mesopotamia again, and so +the family history of the Hebrew tribes superinduces at odd +times a reference to the old settlements on the Euphrates, but it +is not until the political struggles of the two Hebrew kingdoms +against the inevitable subjection to the superior force of +Assyrian arms, and upon the fall of Assyria, to the Babylonian +power, that Assyria and Babylonia engage the frequent attention +of the chronicler's pen and of the prophet's word. Here, too, +the political situation is always the chief factor, and it is only +incidentally that the religion comes into play,—as when it is +said that Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, was murdered while +worshipping in the temple dedicated to a deity, Nisroch; or +when a prophet, to intensify the picture of the degradation to +which the proud king of Babylon is to be reduced, introduces +Babylonian conceptions of the nether world into his discourse.<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> +Little, too, is furnished by the Book of Daniel, despite the fact +that Babylon is the center of action, and what little there is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> +bearing on the religious status, such as the significance attached +to dreams, and the implied contrast between the religion of +Daniel and his companions, and that of Nebuchadnezzar and +the Babylonians, loses some of its force by the late origin of +the book. The same applies, only in a still stronger degree, +to the Book of Judith, in which Nineveh is the center of the +incidents described.</p> + +<p>The rabbinical literature produced in Palestine and Babylonia +is far richer in notices bearing on the religious practices +of Mesopotamia, than is the Old Testament. The large settlements +of Jews in Babylonia, which, beginning in the sixth +century <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>, were constantly being increased by fresh accessions +from Palestine, brought the professors of Judaism face to face +with religious conditions abhorrent to their souls. In the +regulations of the Rabbis to guard their followers from the +influences surrounding them, there is frequent reference, open +or implied, to Babylonish practices, to the festivals of the Babylonians, +to the images of their gods, to their forms of incantations, +and other things besides; but these notices are rendered +obscure by their indirect character, and require a commentary +that can only be furnished by that knowledge of the times +which they take for granted. To this difficulty, there must be +added the comparatively late date of the notices, which demands +an exercise of care before applying them to the very early period +to which the religion of the Babylonians may be traced.</p> + +<p>Coming to Herodotus, it is a matter of great regret that the +history of Assyria, which he declares it was his intention to +write,<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> was either never produced, or if produced, lost. In +accordance with the general usage of his times, Herodotus +included under Assyria the whole of Mesopotamia, both +Assyria proper in the north and Southern Mesopotamia. His +history would therefore have been of extraordinary value, and +since nothing escaped his observant eye and well-trained mind,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> +the religious customs of the country would have come in for +their full share of attention. As it is, we have only a few +notices about Babylonia and Assyria, incidental to his history +of Persia.<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> Of these, the majority are purely historical, chief +among which is an epitome of the country's past—a curious +medley of fact and legend—and the famous account of the +capture of Babylon by Cyrus. Fortunately, however, there are +four notices that treat of the religion of the inhabitants: the +first, a description of an eight-storied tower, surmounted by a +temple sacred to the god Bel; a second furnishing a rather +detailed account of another temple, also sacred to Bel, and +situated in the same precinct of the city of Babylon; a third +notice speaks, though with provoking brevity, of the funeral +customs of the Babylonians; while in a fourth he describes the +rites connected with the worship of the chief goddess of the +Babylonians, which impress Herodotus, who failed to appreciate +their mystic significance, as shameful. We have no reason to +believe that Ctesias' account of the Assyrian monarchy, under +which he, like Herodotus, included Babylonia, contained any +reference to the religion at all. What he says about Babylonia +and Assyria served merely as an introduction to Persian history—the +real purpose of his work—and the few fragments known +chiefly through Diodorus and Eusebius, deal altogether with +the succession of dynasties. As is well known, the lists of +Ctesias have fallen into utter discredit by the side of the +ever-growing confidence in the native traditions as reported by +Berosus.</p> + +<p>The loss of the latter's history of Babylon is deplorable +indeed; its value would have been greater than the history of +Herodotus, because it was based, as we know, on the records +and documents preserved in Babylonian temples. How much +of the history dealt with the religion of the people, it is difficult +to determine, but the extracts of it found in various writers show<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> +that starting, like the Old Testament, with the beginning of +things, Berosus gave a full account of the cosmogony of the +Babylonians. Moreover, the early history of Babylonia being +largely legendary, as that of every other nation, tales of the +relations existing between the gods and mankind—relations +that are always close in the earlier stages of a nation's history—must +have abounded in the pages of Berosus, even if he did +not include in his work a special section devoted to an account +of the religion that still was practiced in his days. The +quotations from Berosus in the works of Josephus are all of a +historical character; those in Eusebius and Syncellus, on the +contrary, deal with the religion and embrace the cosmogony of +the Babylonians, the account of a deluge brought on by the +gods, and the building of a tower. It is to be noted, moreover, +that the quotations we have from Berosus are not direct, for +while it is possible, though not at all certain, that Josephus was +still able to consult the works of Berosus, Eusebius and +Syncellus refer to Apollodorus, Abydenus, and Alexander +Polyhistor as their authorities for the statements of Berosus. +Passing in this way through several hands, the authoritative +value of the comparatively paltry extracts preserved, is diminished, +and a certain amount of inaccuracy, especially in details +and in the reading of proper names,<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> becomes almost inevitable. +Lastly, it is to be noted that the list of Babylonian kings found +in the famous astronomical work of Claudius Ptolemaeus, +valuable as it is for historical purposes, has no connection with +the religion of the Babylonians.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span></p> +<h3>II.</h3> + +<p>The sum total of the information thus to be gleaned from +ancient sources for an elucidation of the Babylonian-Assyrian +religion is exceedingly meagre, sufficing scarcely for determining +its most general traits. Moreover, what there is, requires for +the most part a control through confirmatory evidence which +we seek for in vain, in biblical or classical literature.</p> + +<p>This control has now been furnished by the remarkable discoveries +made beneath the soil of Mesopotamia since the year +1842. In that year the French consul at Mosul, P. E. Botta, +aided by a government grant, began a series of excavations in +the mounds that line the banks of the Tigris opposite Mosul. +The artificial character of these mounds had for some time +been recognized. Botta's first finds of a pronounced character +were made at a village known as Khorsabad, which stood on +one of the mounds in question. Here, at a short distance +below the surface, he came across the remains of what proved +to be a palace of enormous extent. The sculptures that were +found in this palace—enormous bulls and lions resting on +backgrounds of limestone, and guarding the approaches to +the palace chambers, or long rows of carvings in high relief +lining the palace walls, and depicting war scenes, building +operations, and religious processions—left no doubt as to their +belonging to an ancient period of history. The written characters +found on these monuments substantiated the view that +Botta had come across an edifice of the Assyrian empire, while +subsequent researches furnished the important detail that the +excavated edifice lay in a suburb of the ancient capitol of +Assyria, Nineveh, the exact site of which was directly opposite +Mosul. Botta's labors extended over a period of two years; +by the end of which time, having laid bare the greater part of +the palace, he had gathered a large mass of material including<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> +many smaller objects—pottery, furniture, jewelry, and ornaments—that +might serve for the study of Assyrian art and of +Assyrian antiquities, while the written records accompanying +the monuments placed for the first time an equally considerable +quantity of original material at the disposal of scholars for the +history of Assyria. All that could be transported was sent to +the Louvre, and this material was subsequently published. +Botta was followed by Austen Henry Layard, who, acting as +the agent of the British Museum, conducted excavations during +the years 1845-52, first at a mound Nimrud, some fifteen miles +to the south of Khorsabad, and afterwards on the site of Nineveh +proper, the mound Koyunjik, opposite Mosul, besides visiting +and examining other mounds still further to the south within +the district of Babylonia proper.</p> + +<p>The scope of Layard's excavations exceeded, therefore, those +of Botta; and to the one palace at Khorsabad, he added three +at Nimrud and two at Koyunjik, besides finding traces of a +temple and other buildings. The construction of these edifices +was of the same order as the one unearthed by Botta; and +as at the latter, there was a large yield of sculptures, inscriptions, +and miscellaneous objects. A new feature, however, of +Layard's excavations was the finding of several rooms filled with +fragments of small and large clay tablets closely inscribed on both +sides in the cuneiform characters. These tablets, about 30,000 +of which found their way to the British Museum, proved to be +the remains of a royal library. Their contents ranged over all +departments of thought,—hymns, incantations, prayers, epics, +history, legends, mythology, mathematics, astronomy constituting +some of the chief divisions. In the corners of the palaces, the +foundation records were also found, containing in each case +more or less extended annals of the events that occurred during +the reign of the monarch whose official residence was thus +brought to light. Through Layard, the foundations were laid +for the Assyrian and Babylonian collections of the British<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> +Museum, the parts of which exhibited to the public now fill +six large halls. Fresh sources of a direct character were thus +added for the study, not only of the historical unfolding of +the Assyrian empire, but through the tablets of the royal +library, for the religion of ancient Mesopotamia as well.</p> + +<p>The stimulus given by Botta and Layard to the recovery of +the records and monuments of antiquity that had been hidden +from view for more than two thousand years, led to a refreshing +rivalry between England and France in continuing a work +that gave promise of still richer returns by further efforts. +Victor Place, a French architect of note, who succeeded Botta +as the French consul at Mosul, devoted his term of service, +from 1851 to 1855, towards completing the excavations at +Khorsabad. A large aftermath rewarded his efforts. Thanks, +too, to his technical knowledge and that of his assistant, Felix +Thomas, M. Place was enabled more accurately to determine +the architectural construction of the temples and palaces of +ancient Assyria. Within this same period (1852-1854) another +exploring expedition was sent out to Mesopotamia by +the French government, under the leadership of Fulgence +Fresnel, in whose party were the above-mentioned Thomas +and the distinguished scholar Jules Oppert. The objective +point this time was Southern Mesopotamia, the mounds of +which had hitherto not been touched, many not even identified +as covering the remains of ancient cities. Much valuable +work was done by this expedition in its careful study of the +site of the ancient Babylon,—in the neighborhood of the modern +village Hillah, some forty miles south of Baghdad. Unfortunately, +the antiquities recovered at this place, and elsewhere, +were lost through the sinking of the rafts as they carried +their precious burden down the Tigris. In the south again, +the English followed close upon the heels of the French. J. +E. Taylor, in 1854, visited many of the huge mounds that were +scattered throughout Southern Mesopotamia in much larger<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> +numbers than in the north, while his compatriot, William K. +Loftus, a few years previous had begun excavations, though on +a small scale, at Warka, the site of the ancient city of Erech. +He also conducted some investigations at a mound Mugheir, +which acquired special interest as the supposed site of the +famous Ur,—the home of some of the Terahites before the +migration to Palestine. Of still greater significance were the +examinations made by Sir Henry Rawlinson, in 1854, of the +only considerable ruins of ancient Babylonia that remained +above the surface,—the tower of Birs Nimrud, which proved +to be the famous seven-staged temple as described by Herodotus. +This temple was completed, as the foundation records +showed, by Nebuchadnezzar II., in the sixth century before +this era; but the beginnings of the structure belong to a +much earlier period. Another sanctuary erected by this same +king was found near the tower. Subsequent researches by +Hormuzd Rassam made it certain that Borsippa, the ancient +name of the place where the tower and sanctuaries stood, was +a suburb of the great city of Babylon itself, which lay directly +opposite on the east side of the Euphrates. The scope of the +excavations continued to grow almost from year to year, and +while new mounds were being attacked in the south, those in +the north, especially Koujunjik, continued to be the subject of +attention.</p> + +<p>Rassam, who has just been mentioned, was in a favorable +position, through his long residence as English consul at Mosul, +for extracting new finds from the mounds in this vicinity. Besides +adding more than a thousand tablets from the royal library +discovered by Layard, his most noteworthy discoveries were +the unearthing of a magnificent temple at Nimrud, and the +finding of a large bronze gate at Balawat, a few miles to the +northeast of Nimrud. Rassam and Rawlinson were afterwards +joined by George Smith of the British Museum, who, instituting +a further search through the ruins of Koujunjik, Nimrud,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> +Kalah-Shergat, and elsewhere, made many valuable additions +to the English collections, until his unfortunate death in 1876, +during his third visit to the mounds, cut him off in the prime +of a brilliant and most useful career. The English explorers +extended their labors to the mounds in the south. Here it was, +principally at Abu-Habba, that they set their forces to work. +The finding of another temple dedicated to the sun-god rewarded +their efforts. The foundation records showed that the +edifice was one of great antiquity, which was permitted to fall +into decay and was then restored by a ruler whose date can +be fixed at the middle of the ninth century <span class="smcap">B.C.</span> The ancient +name of the place was shown to be Sippar, and the fame of the +temple was such, that subsequent monarchs vied with one another +in adding to its grandeur. It is estimated that the temple +contained no less than three hundred chambers and halls +for the archives and for the accommodation of the large body of +priests attached to this temple. In the archives many thousands +of little clay tablets were again found, not, however, of a +literary, but of a legal character, containing records of commercial +transactions conducted in ancient Sippar, such as sales of +houses, of fields, of produce, of stuffs, money loans, receipts, +contracts for work, marriage settlements, and the like. The +execution of the laws being in the hands of priests in ancient +Mesopotamia, the temples were the natural depositories for the +official documents of the law courts. Similar collections to +those of Sippar have been found in almost every mound of +Southern Mesopotamia that has been opened since the days +of Rassam. So at Djumdjuma, situated near the site of +the ancient city of Babylon, some three thousand were unearthed +that were added to the fast growing collections of the +British Museum. At Borsippa, likewise, Rawlinson and Rassam +recovered a large number of clay tablets, most of them legal +but some of them of a literary character, which proved to be +in part duplicates of those in the royal library of Ashurbanabal.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> +In this way, the latter's statement, that he sent his scribes +to the large cities of the south for the purpose of collecting +and copying the literature that had its rise there, met with a +striking confirmation. Still further to the south, at a mound +known as Telloh, a representative of the French government, +Ernest de Sarzec, began a series of excavations in 1877, which, +continued to the present day, have brought to light remains of +temples and palaces exceeding in antiquity those hitherto discovered. +Colossal statues of diorite, covered with inscriptions, +the pottery, tablets and ornaments, showed that at a period as +early as 3500 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span> civilization in this region had already reached +a very advanced stage. The systematic and thorough manner +in which De Sarzec, with inexhaustible patience, explored the +ancient city, has resulted in largely extending our knowledge +of the most ancient period of Babylonian history as yet known +to us. The Telloh finds were forwarded to the Louvre, which +in this way secured a collection from the south that formed a +worthy complement to the Khorsabad antiquities.</p> + +<p>Lastly, it is gratifying to note the share that our own country +has recently taken in the great work that has furnished the +material needed for following the history of the Mesopotamian +states. In 1887, an expedition was sent out under the auspices +of the University of Pennsylvania, to conduct excavations +at Niffer,—a mound to the southeast of Babylon, situated on +a branch of the Euphrates, and which was known to be the +site of one of the most famous cities in this region. The Rev. +John P. Peters (now in New York), who was largely instrumental +in raising the funds for the purpose, was appointed +director of the expedition. Excavations were continued for +two years under Dr. Peters' personal supervision, and since +then by Mr. John H. Haynes, with most satisfactory success. +A great temple dedicated to the god Bel was discovered, and +work has hitherto been confined chiefly to laying bare the +various parts of the edifice. The foundation of the building<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> +goes back to an earlier period than the ruins of Telloh. It +survived the varying fortunes of the city in which it stood, and +each period of Babylonian history left its traces at Niffer +through the records of the many rulers who sought the favor +of the god by enlarging or beautifying his place of worship. +The temple became a favorite spot to which pilgrims came +from all sides on the great festivals, to offer homage at the +sacred shrines. Votive offerings, in the shape of inscribed +clay cones, and little clay images of Bel and of his female +consort, were left in the temple as witnesses to the piety of +the visitors. The archives were found to be well stocked with +the official legal documents dating chiefly from the period of +1700 to 1200 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>, when the city appears to have reached the +climax of its glory. Other parts of the mound were opened at +different depths, and various layers which followed the chronological +development of the place were determined.<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> After its +destruction, the sanctity of the city was in a measure continued +by its becoming a burial-place. The fortunes of the place can +thus be followed down to the ninth or the tenth century of our +era, a period of more than four thousand years. Already +more than 20,000 tablets have been received at the University +of Pennsylvania, besides many specimens of pottery, bowls, +jars, cones, and images, as well as gold, copper, and alabaster +work.</p> + +<p>From this survey of the work done in the last decades in +exploring the long lost and almost forgotten cities of the Tigris +and of the Euphrates Valley, it will be apparent that a large +amount of material has been made accessible for tracing the +course of civilization in this region. Restricting ourselves to +that portion of it that bears on the religion of ancient Mesopotamia, +it may be grouped under two heads, (1) literary, and +(2) archaeological. The religious texts of Ashurbanabal's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> +library occupy the first place in the literary group. The +incantations, the prayers and hymns, lists of temples, of gods +and their attributes, traditions of the creation of the world, +legends of the deities and of their relations to men, are sources +of the most direct character; and it is fortunate that among +the recovered portions of the library, such texts are largely +represented. Equally direct are the dedicatory inscriptions +set up by the kings in the temples erected to the honor of +some god, and of great importance are the references to the +various gods, their attributes, their powers, and their deeds, +which are found at every turn in the historical records which +the kings left behind them. Many of these records open or +close with a long prayer to some deity; in others, prayers are +found interspersed, according to the occasion on which they +were offered up. Attributing the success of their undertakings—whether +it be a military campaign, or the construction of +some edifice, or a successful hunt—to the protection offered +by the gods, the kings do not tire of singing the praises of the +deity or deities as whose favorites they regarded themselves. +The gods are constantly at the monarch's side. Now we are +told of a dream sent to encourage the army on the approach of +a battle, and again of some portent which bade the king be +of good cheer. To the gods, the appeal is constantly made, and +to them all good things are ascribed. From the legal documents, +likewise, much may be gathered bearing on the religion. +The protection of the gods is invoked or their curses called +down; the oath is taken in their name; while the manner in +which the temples are involved in the commercial life of ancient +Babylonia renders these tablets, which are chiefly valuable as +affording us a remarkable insight into the people's daily life, of +importance also in illustrating certain phases of the religious +organization of the country. Most significant for the position +occupied by the priests, is the fact that the latter are invariably +the scribes who draw up the documents.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span></p> +<p>The archaeological material furnished by the excavations +consists of the temples of the gods, their interior arrangement, +and provisions for the various religious functions; secondly, +the statues of the gods, demigods, and the demons, the altars +and the vessels; and thirdly, the religious scenes,—the worship +of some deity, the carrying of the gods in procession, +the pouring of libations, the performance of rites, or the +representation of some religious symbols sculptured on the +palace wall or on the foundation stone of a sacred building, +or cut out on the seal cylinders, used as signatures<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> +and talismans.</p> + +<p>Large as the material is, it is far from being exhausted, and, +indeed, far from sufficient for illustrating all the details of the +religious life. This will not appear surprising, if it be remembered +that of the more than one hundred mounds that have been +identified in the region of the Tigris and Euphrates as containing +remains of buried cities, only a small proportion have been +explored, and of these scarcely more than a half dozen with +an approach to completeness. The soil of Mesopotamia +unquestionably holds still greater treasures than those which +it has already yielded. The links uniting the most ancient +period—at present, <i>c.</i> 4000 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>—to the final destruction of the +Babylonian empire by Cyrus, in the middle of the sixth century +<span class="smcap">B.C.</span>, are far from being complete. For entire centuries we are +wholly in the dark, and for others only a few skeleton facts +are known; and until these gaps shall have been filled, our +knowledge of the religion of the Babylonians and Assyrians +must necessarily remain incomplete. Not as incomplete, +indeed, as their history, for religious rites are not subject to +many changes, and the progress of religious ideas does not +keep pace with the constant changes in the political kaleidoscope +of a country; but, it is evident that no exhaustive treatment<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> +of the religion can be given until the material shall have +become adequate to the subject.</p> + + +<h3>III.</h3> + +<p>Before proceeding to the division of the subject in hand, +some explanation is called for of the method by which the +literary material found beneath the soil has been made intelligible.</p> + +<p>The characters on the clay tablets and cylinders, on the +limestone slabs, on statues, on altars, on stone monuments, +are generally known as cuneiform, because of their wedge-shaped +appearance, though it may be noted at once that in +their oldest form the characters are linear rather than wedge-shaped, +presenting the more or less clearly defined outlines +of objects from which they appear to be derived. At the +time when these cuneiform inscriptions began to be found +in Mesopotamia, the language which these characters expressed +was still totally unknown. Long previous to the beginning +of Botta's labors, inscriptions also showing the cuneiform +characters had been found at Persepolis on various monuments +of the ruins and tombs still existing at that place. The +first notice of these inscriptions was brought to Europe by a +famous Italian traveler, Pietro della Valle, in the beginning of +the seventeenth century. For a long time it was doubted +whether the characters represented anything more than mere +ornamentation, and it was not until the close of the 18th century, +after more accurate copies of the Persepolitan characters had +been furnished through Carsten Niebuhr, that scholars began +to apply themselves to their decipherment. Through the +efforts chiefly of Gerhard Tychsen, professor at Rostock, +Frederick Münter, a Danish scholar, and the distinguished +Silvestre de Sacy of Paris, the beginnings were made which +finally led to the discovery of the key to the mysterious writings,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> +in 1802, by Georg Friedrich Grotefend, a teacher at a public +school in Göttingen. The observation was made previous +to the days of Grotefend that the inscriptions at Persepolis +invariably showed three styles of writing. While in all three +the characters were composed of wedges, yet the combination +of wedges, as well as their shape, differed sufficiently to make +it evident, even to the superficial observer, that there was as +much difference between them as, say, between the English +and the German script. The conclusion was drawn that the +three styles represented three languages, and this conclusion +was strikingly confirmed when, upon the arrival of Botta's finds +in Europe, it was seen that one of the styles corresponded to +the inscriptions found at Khorsabad; and so in all subsequent +discoveries in Mesopotamia, this was found to be the case. +One of the languages, therefore, on the monuments of Persepolis +was presumably identical with the speech of ancient Mesopotamia. +Grotefend's key to the reading of that style of cuneiform +writing which invariably occupied the first place when +the three styles were ranged one under the other, or occupied +the most prominent place when a different arrangement was +adopted, met with universal acceptance. He determined that +the language of the style which, for the sake of convenience, we +may designate as No. 1, was Old Persian,—the language spoken +by the rulers, who, it was known through tradition and notices +in classical writers, had erected the series of edifices at Persepolis, +one of the capitols of the Old Persian or, as it is also called, +the Achaemenian empire. By the year 1840 the decipherment +of these Achaemenian inscriptions was practically complete, the +inscriptions had been read, the alphabet was definitely settled, +and the grammar, in all but minor points, known. It was +possible, therefore, in approaching the Mesopotamian style of +cuneiform, which, as occupying the third place, may be designated +as No. 3, to use No. 1 as a guide, since it was only +legitimate to conclude that Nos. 2 and 3 represented translations<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> +of No. 1 into two languages, which, by the side of Old +Persian, were spoken by the subjects of the Achaemenian kings. +That one of these languages should have been the current +speech of Mesopotamia was exactly what was to be expected, +since Babylonia and Assyria formed an essential part of the +Persian empire.</p> + +<p>The beginning was made with proper names, the sound of +which would necessarily be the same or very similar in both, +or, for that matter, in all the three languages of the Persepolitan +inscriptions.<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> In this way, by careful comparisons between the +two styles, Nos. 1 and 3, it was possible to pick out the signs +in No. 3 that corresponded to those in No. 1, and inasmuch as +the same sign occurred in various names, it was, furthermore, +possible to assign, at least tentatively, certain values to the +signs in question. With the help of the signs thus determined, +the attempt was made to read other words in style No. 3, in +which these signs occurred, but it was some time before satisfactory +results were obtained. An important advance was made +when it was once determined, that the writing was a mixture of +signs used both as words and as syllables, and that the language +on the Assyrian monuments belonged to the group known as +Semitic. The cognate languages—chiefly Hebrew and Arabic—formed +a help towards determining the meaning of the words +read and an explanation of the morphological features they +presented. For all that, the task was one of stupendous +proportions, and many were the obstacles that had to be +overcome, before the principles underlying the cuneiform writing +were determined, and the decipherment placed on a firm and +scientific basis. This is not the place to enter upon a detailed +illustration of the method adopted by ingenious scholars,—notably<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> +Edward Hincks, Isidor Löwenstern, Henry Rawlinson, +Jules Oppert,—to whose united efforts the solution of the +great problems involved is due;<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> and it would also take too +much space, since in order to make this method clear, it would +be necessary to set forth the key discovered by Grotefend for +reading the Old Persian inscriptions. Suffice it to say that the +guarantee for the soundness of the conclusions reached by +scholars is furnished by the consideration, that it was from +small and most modest beginnings that the decipherment +began. Step by step, the problem was advanced by dint of a +painstaking labor, the degree of which cannot easily be exaggerated, +until to-day the grammar of the Babylonian-Assyrian +language has been clearly set forth in all its essential particulars: +the substantive and verb formation is as definitely known +as that of any other Semitic language, the general principles +of the syntax, as well as many detailed points, have been +carefully investigated, and as for the reading of the cuneiform +texts, thanks to the various helps at our disposal, and the +further elucidation of the various principles that the Babylonians +themselves adopted as a guide, the instance is a rare one when +scholars need to confess their ignorance in this particular. At +most there may be a halting between two possibilities. The +difficulties that still hinder the complete understanding of +passages in texts, arise in part from the mutilated condition in +which, unfortunately, so many of the tablets and cylinders are +found, and in part from a still imperfect knowledge of the +lexicography of the language. For many a word occurring<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> +only once or twice, and for which neither text nor comparison +with cognate languages offers a satisfactory clue, ignorance +must be confessed, or at best, a conjecture hazarded, until +its more frequent occurrence enables us to settle the question +at issue. Such settlements of disputed questions are taking +place all the time; and with the activity with which the study +of the language and antiquities of Mesopotamia is being +pushed by scholars in this country, in England, France, Austria, +Germany, Italy, Norway, and Holland, and with the constant +accession of new material through excavations and publications, +there is no reason to despair of clearing up the obscurities, +still remaining in the precious texts that a fortunate chance has +preserved for us.</p> + + +<h3>IV.</h3> + +<p>A question that still remains to be considered as to the origin +of the cuneiform writing of Mesopotamia, may properly be +introduced in connection with this account of the excavations +and decipherment, though it is needless to enter into it in +detail.</p> + +<p>The "Persian" style of wedge-writing is a direct derivative +of the Babylonian, introduced in the times of the Achaemenians, +and it is nothing but a simplification in form and principle of +the more cumbersome and complicated Babylonian. Instead +of a combination of as many as ten and fifteen wedges to make +one sign, we have in the Persian never more than five, and +frequently only three; and instead of writing words by syllables, +sounds alone were employed, and the syllabary of several +hundred signs reduced to forty-two, while the ideographic style +was practically abolished.</p> + +<p>The second style of cuneiform, generally known as Median or +Susian,<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> is again only a slight modification of the "Persian."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> +Besides these three, there is a fourth language (spoken in the +northwestern district of Mesopotamia between the Euphrates +and the Orontes), known as "Mitanni," the exact status of +which has not been clearly ascertained, but which has been +adapted to cuneiform characters. A fifth variety, found on +tablets from Cappadocia, represents again a modification of the +ordinary writing met with in Babylonia. In the inscriptions +of Mitanni, the writing is a mixture of ideographs and syllables, +just as in Mesopotamia, while the so-called "Cappadocian" +tablets are written in a corrupt Babylonian, corresponding in +degree to the "corrupt" forms that the signs take on. In +Mesopotamia itself, quite a number of styles exist, some due to +local influences, others the result of changes that took place +in the course of time. In the oldest period known, that is +from 4000 to 3000 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>, the writing is linear rather than wedge-shaped. +The linear writing is the modification that the original +pictures underwent in being adapted for engraving on stone; +the wedges are the modification natural to the use of clay, +though when once the wedges became the standard method, +the greater frequency with which clay as against stone came +to be used, led to an imitation of the wedges by those who +cut out the characters on stone. In consequence, there +developed two varieties of wedge-writing: the one that may +be termed lapidary, used for the stone inscriptions, the official +historical records, and such legal documents as were prepared +with especial care; the other cursive, occurring only on legal +and commercial clay tablets, and becoming more frequent as +we approach the latest period of Babylonian writing, which +extends to within a few decades of our era. In Assyria, +finally, a special variety of cuneiform developed that is easily +distinguished from the Babylonian by its greater neatness and +the more vertical position of the wedges.</p> + +<p>The origin of all the styles and varieties of cuneiform writing +is, therefore, to be sought in Mesopotamia; and within Mesopotamia,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> +in that part of it where culture begins—the extreme +south; but beyond saying that the writing is a direct development +from picture writing, there is little of any definite character +that can be maintained. We do not know when the +writing originated, we only know that in the oldest inscriptions +it is already fully developed.</p> + +<p>We do not know who originated it; nor can the question be as +yet definitely answered, whether those who originated it spoke +the Babylonian language, or whether they were Semites at all. +Until about fifteen years ago, it was generally supposed that +the cuneiform writing was without doubt the invention of a +non-Semitic race inhabiting Babylonia at an early age, from +whom the Semitic Babylonians adopted it, together with the +culture that this non-Semitic race had produced. These inventors, +called Sumerians by some and Akkadians by others, +and Sumero-Akkadians by a third group of scholars, it was +supposed, used the "cuneiform" as a picture or 'ideographic' +script exclusively; and the language they spoke being agglutinative +and largely monosyllabic in character, it was possible for +them to stop short at this point of development. The Babylonians +however, in order to adapt the writing to their language, +did not content themselves with the 'picture' method, but +using the non-Semitic equivalent for their own words, employed +the former as syllables, while retaining, at the same time, the +sign as an ideograph. To make this clearer by an example, +the numeral '1' would represent the word 'one' in their own +language, while the non-Semitic word for 'one,' which let us +suppose was "<i>ash</i>," they used as the phonetic value of the +sign, in writing a word in which this sound occurred, as <i>e.g.</i>, +<i>ash-es</i>. Since each sign, in Sumero-Akkadian as well as in +Babylonian, represented some general idea, it could stand for +an entire series of words, grouped about this idea and associated +with it, 'day,' for example, being used for 'light,' 'brilliancy,' +'pure,' and so forth. The variety of syllabic and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> +ideographic values which the cuneiform characters show could +thus be accounted for.</p> + +<p>This theory, however, tempting as it is by its simplicity, +cannot be accepted in this unqualified form. Advancing +knowledge has made it certain that the ancient civilization, +including the religion, is Semitic in character. The assumption +therefore of a purely non-Semitic culture for southern +Babylonia is untenable. Secondly, even in the oldest inscriptions +found, there occur Semitic words and Semitic constructions +which prove that the inscriptions were composed by Semites. As +long, therefore, as no traces of purely non-Semitic inscription +are found, we cannot go beyond the Semites in seeking for the +origin of the culture in this region. In view of this, the theory +first advanced by Prof. Joseph Halévy of Paris, and now supported +by the most eminent of German Assyriologists, Prof. +Friedrich Delitzsch, which claims that the cuneiform writing is +Semitic in origin, needs to be most carefully considered. There +is much that speaks in favor of this theory, much that may more +easily be accounted for by it, than by the opposite one, which was +originally proposed by the distinguished Nestor of cuneiform +studies, Jules Oppert, and which is with some modifications +still held by the majority of scholars.<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> The question is one which +cannot be answered by an appeal to philology alone. This is +the fundamental error of the advocates of the Sumero-Akkadian +theory, who appear to overlook the fact that the testimony +of archaeological and anthropological research must be confirmatory +of a philological hypothesis before it can be accepted as +an indisputable fact.<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> The time however has not yet come for +these two sciences to pronounce their verdict definitely, though +it may be added that the supposition of a variety of races once<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> +inhabiting Southern Mesopotamia finds support in what we +know from the pre-historic researches of anthropologists.</p> + +<p>Again, it is not to be denied that the theory of the Semitic +origin of the cuneiform writing encounters obstacles that cannot +easily be set aside. While it seeks to explain the syllabic values +of the signs on the general principle that they represent elements +of Babylonian words, truncated in this fashion in order +to answer to the growing need for phonetic writing of words +for which no ideographs existed, it is difficult to imagine, as +Halévy's theory demands, that the "ideographic" style, as +found chiefly in religious texts, is the deliberate invention of +priests in their desire to produce a method of conveying their +ideas that would be regarded as a mystery by the laity, and +be successfully concealed from the latter. Here again the +theory borders on the domain of archaeology, and philology +alone will not help us out of the difficulty. An impartial +verdict of the present state of the problem might be summed +up as follows:</p> + +<p>1. It is generally admitted that all the literature of +Babylonia, including the oldest and even that written in +the "ideographic" style, whether we term it "Sumero-Akkadian" +or "hieratic," is the work of the Semitic settlers +of Mesopotamia.</p> + +<p>2. The culture, including the religion of Babylonia, is likewise +a Semitic production, and since Assyria received its culture +from Babylonia, the same remark holds good for entire +Mesopotamia.</p> + +<p>3. The cuneiform syllabary is largely Semitic in character. +The ideas expressed by the ideographic values of the signs +give no evidence of having been produced in non-Semitic +surroundings; and, whatever the origin of the system may be, +it has been so shaped by the Babylonians, so thoroughly +adapted to their purposes, that it is to all practical purposes +Semitic.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span></p> + +<p>4. Approached from the theoretical side, there remains, +after making full allowance for the Semitic elements in the +system, a residuum that has not yet found a satisfactory explanation, +either by those who favor the non-Semitic theory or by +those who hold the opposite view.</p> + +<p>5. Pending further light to be thrown upon this question, +through the expected additions to our knowledge of the archaeology +and of the anthropological conditions of ancient prehistoric +Mesopotamia, philological research must content itself +with an acknowledgment of its inability to reach a conclusion +that will appeal so forcibly to all minds, as to place the solution +of the problem beyond dispute.</p> + +<p>6. There is a presumption in favor of assuming a mixture +of races in Southern Mesopotamia at an early day, and a +possibility, therefore, that the earliest form of picture writing +in this region, from which the Babylonian cuneiform is derived, +may have been <i>used</i> by a non-Semitic population, and that +traces of this are still apparent in the developed system after +the important step had been taken, marked by the advance from +picture to phonetic writing.</p> + +<p>The important consideration for our purpose is, that the +religious conceptions and practices as they are reflected in the +literary sources now at our command, are distinctly Babylonian. +With this we may rest content, and, leaving theories aside, +there will be no necessity in an exposition of the religion of +the Babylonians and Assyrians to differentiate or to attempt +to differentiate between Semitic and so-called non-Semitic +elements. Local conditions and the long period covered +by the development and history of the religion in question, +are the factors that suffice to account for the mixed and +in many respects complicated phenomena which this religion +presents.</p> + +<p>Having set forth the sources at our command for the study +of the Babylonian-Assyrian religion, and having indicated the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> +manner in which these sources have been made available for +our purposes, we are prepared to take the next step that will +fit us for an understanding of the religious practices that +prevailed in Mesopotamia,—a consideration of the land and +of its people, together with a general account of the history of +the latter.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span></p> + +<h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Isaiah, xlv. For the Babylonian views contained in this chapter, see Alfred +Jeremias, <i>Die Babylonisch-Assyrischen Vorstellungen vom Leben nach dem Tode</i>, +pp. 112-116.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Book i. sec. 184.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> Book I. ("Clio"), secs. 95, 102, 178-200.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> An instructive instance is furnished by the mention of a mystic personage, +"Homoroka," which now turns out to be—as Professor J. H. Wright has shown—a +corruption of Marduk. (See <i>Zeitschrift für Assyriologie</i>, x. 71-74.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> The excavations are still being continued, thanks to the generosity of some +public-spirited citizens of Philadelphia.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> +The parties concerned rolled their cylinders over the clay tablet recording a legal +or commercial transaction.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> +Besides those at Persepolis, a large tri-lingual inscription was found at Behistun, +near the city of Kirmenshah, in Persia, which, containing some ninety proper names, +enabled Sir Henry Rawlinson definitely to establish a basis for the decipherment of +the Mesopotamian inscriptions.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> The best account is to be found in Hommel's <i>Geschichte Babyloniens und +Assyriens</i>, pp. 58-134. A briefer statement was furnished by Professor Fr. Delitzsch +in his supplements to the German translation of George Smith's <i>Chaldaean Genesis</i> +(<i>Chaldäische Genesis</i>, pp. 257-262). A tolerably satisfactory account in English +is furnished by B. T. A. Evetts in his work, <i>New Light on the Bible and the Holy +Land</i>, pp. 79-129. For a full account of the excavations and the decipherment, +together with a summary of results and specimens of the various branches of the +Babylonian-Assyrian literature, the reader may be referred to Kaulen's <i>Assyrien und +Babylonien nach den neuesten Entdeckungen</i> (5th edition).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> +The most recent investigations show it to have been a 'Turanian' language. See +Weissbach, <i>Achämeniden Inschriften sweiter Art</i>, Leipzig, 1893.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> +Besides Delitzsch, however, there are others, as Pognon, Jäger, Guyard, McCurdy +and Brinton, who side with Halévy.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> +See now Dr. Brinton's paper, "The Protohistoric Ethnography of Western Asia" +(<i>Proceed. Amer. Philos. Soc.</i>, 1895), especially pp. 18-22.</p></div> + + + + +<h2><a name="chapter-ii" id="chapter-ii"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2> + +<h3>THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE.</h3> + +<h3>I.</h3> + + +<p>The Babylonians and Assyrians with whom we are concerned +in this volume dwelt in the region embraced by the +Euphrates and the Tigris,—the Babylonians in the south, or +the Euphrates Valley, the Assyrians to the northeast, in the +region extending from the Tigris into the Kurdish Mountain +districts; while the northwestern part of Mesopotamia—the +northern half of the Euphrates district—was the seat of various +empires that were alternately the rivals and the subjects of +either Babylonia or Assyria.</p> + +<p>The entire length of Babylonia was about 300 miles; the +greatest breadth about 125 miles. The entire surface area +was some 23,000 square miles, or about the size of West +Virginia. The area of Assyria, with a length of 350 miles and +a breadth varying from 170 to 300 miles, covered 75,000 square +miles, which would make it somewhat smaller than the state of +Nebraska. In the strict sense, the term Mesopotamia should +be limited to the territory lying between the Euphrates and +the Tigris above their junction, in the neighborhood of +Baghdad, and extending northwards to the confines of the +Taurus range; while the district to the south of Baghdad, and +reaching to the Persian Gulf, may more properly be spoken of +as the Euphrates Valley; and a third division is represented +by the territory to the east of the Tigris, from Baghdad, and +up to the Kurdish Mountains; but while this distinction is one +that may be justly maintained, in view of the different character +that the southern valley presents from the northern plain,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> +it has become so customary, in popular parlance, to think of the +entire territory along and between the Euphrates and Tigris as +one country, that the term Mesopotamia in this broad sense +may be retained, with the division suggested by George Rawlinson, +into Upper and Lower Mesopotamia. The two streams, +as they form the salient traits of the region, are the factors +that condition the character of the inhabitants and the culture +that once flourished there. The Euphrates, or, to give the +more correct pronunciation, Purat, signifies the 'river' <i>par +excellence</i>. It is a quiet stream, flowing along in majestic +dignity almost from its two sources, in the Armenian mountains, +not far from the town of Erzerum, until it is joined by the +Tigris in the extreme south. As the Shatt-el Arab, <i>i.e.</i>, Arabic +River, the two reach the Persian Gulf. Receiving many +tributaries as long as it remains in the mountains, it flows +first in a westerly direction, as though making direct for the +Mediterranean Sea, then, veering suddenly to the southeast, it +receives but few tributaries after it once passes through the +Taurus range into the plain,—on the right side, only the +Sadschur, on the left the Balichus and the Khabur. From +this point on for the remaining distance of 800 miles, so far +from receiving fresh accessions, it loses in quantity through +the marsh beds that form on both sides. When it reaches the +alluvial soil of Babylonia proper, its current and also its +depth are considerably diminished through the numerous +canals that form an outlet for its waters. Of its entire length, +1780 miles, it is navigable only for a small distance, cataracts +forming a hindrance in its northern course and sandbanks in +the south. In consequence, it never became at any time an +important avenue for commerce, and besides rafts, which could +be floated down to a certain distance, the only means of communication +ever used were wicker baskets coated within and +without with bitumen, or some form of a primitive ferry for +passing from one shore to another.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span></p> + +<p>An entirely different stream is the Tigris—a corrupted form +of 'Idiklat.' It is only 1146 miles in length, and is marked, as +the native name indicates, by the 'swiftness' of its flow. Starting, +like the Euphrates, in the rugged regions of Armenia, +it continues its course through mountain clefts for a longer +period, and joined at frequent intervals by tributaries, both +before it merges into the plain and after doing so, the volume +of its waters is steadily increased. Even when it approaches +the alluvial soil of the south, it does not lose its character until +well advanced in its course to the gulf. Advancing towards +the Euphrates and again receding from it, it at last joins the +latter at Korna, and together they pour their waters through +the Persian Gulf into the great ocean. It is navigable from +Diabekr in the north, for its entire length. Large rafts may +be floated down from Mosul to Baghdad and Basra, and even +small steamers have ascended as far north as Nimrud. The +Tigris, then, in contrast to the Euphrates, is the avenue of +commerce for Mesopotamia, forming the connecting bond +between it and the rest of the ancient world,—Egypt, India, +and the lands of the Mediterranean. Owing, however, to the +imperfect character of the means of transportation in ancient +and, for that matter, in modern times, the voyage up the stream +was impracticable. The rafts, resting on inflated bags of goat +or sheep skin, can make no headway against the rapid stream, +and so, upon reaching Baghdad or Basra, they are broken up, +and the bags sent back by the shore route to the north.</p> + +<p>The contrast presented by the two rivers is paralleled by the +traits distinguishing Upper from Lower Mesopotamia. Shut +off to the north and northeast by the Armenian range, to +the northwest by the Taurus, Upper Mesopotamia retains, +for a considerable extent, and especially on the eastern side, +a rugged aspect. The Kurdish mountains run close to the +Tigris' bed for some distance below Mosul, while between the +Tigris and the Euphrates proper, small ranges and promontories<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> +stretch as far as the end of the Taurus chain, well on towards +Mosul.</p> + +<p>Below Mosul, the region begins to change its character. +The mountains cease, the plain begins, the soil becomes alluvial +and through the regular overflow of the two rivers in the rainy +season, develops an astounding fertility. This overflow begins, +in the case of the Tigris, early in March, reaches its height in +May, and ceases about the middle of June. The overflow of +the Euphrates extends from the middle of March till the beginning +of June, but September is reached before the river resumes +its natural state. Not only does the overflow of the Euphrates +thus extend over a longer period, but it oversteps its banks with +greater violence than does the Tigris, so that as far north as the +juncture with the Khabur, and still more so in the south, the +country to both sides is flooded, until it assumes the appearance +of a great sea. Through the violence of these overflows, +changes constantly occur in the course that the river takes, so +that places which in ancient times stood on its banks are to-day +removed from the main river-bed. Another important change +in Southern Babylonia is the constant accretion of soil, due to +the deposits from the Persian Gulf.</p> + +<p>This increase proceeding on an average of about one mile in +fifty years has brought it about that the two rivers to-day, +instead of passing separately into the Gulf, unite at Korna—some +distance still from the entrance. The contrast of seasons +is greater, as may be imagined, in Upper Mesopotamia than in +the south. The winters are cold, with snowfalls that may last +for several months, but with the beginning of the dry season, +in May, a tropical heat sets in which lasts until the beginning +of November, when the rain begins. Assyria proper, that is, +the eastern side of Mesopotamia, is more affected by the +mountain ranges than the west. In the Euphrates Valley, the +heat during the dry season, from about May till November, +when for weeks, and even months, no cloud is to be seen,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> +beggars description; but strange enough, the Arabs who dwell +there at present, while enduring the heat without much discomfort, +are severely affected by a winter temperature that for +Europeans and Americans is exhilarating in its influence.</p> + +<p>From what has been said, it will be clear that the Euphrates +is, <i>par excellence</i>, the river of Southern Mesopotamia or Babylonia, +while the Tigris may be regarded as the river of Assyria. +It was the Euphrates that made possible the high degree of +culture, that was reached in the south. Through the very +intense heat of the dry season, the soil developed a fertility +that reduced human labor to a minimum. The return for +sowing of all kinds of grain, notably wheat, corn, barley, is +calculated, on an average, to be fifty to a hundred-fold, while the +date palm flourishes with scarcely any cultivation at all. +Sustenance being thus provided for with little effort, it needed +only a certain care in protecting oneself from damage through +the too abundant overflow, to enable the population to find that +ease of existence, which is an indispensable condition of culture. +This was accomplished by the erection of dikes, and by directing +the waters through channels into the fields.</p> + +<p>Assyria, more rugged in character, did not enjoy the same +advantages. Its culture, therefore, not only arose at a later +period than that of Babylonia, but was a direct importation +from the south. It was due to the natural extension of the +civilization that continued for the greater part of the existence +of the two empires to be central in the south. But when once +Assyria was included in the circle of Babylonian culture, the +greater effort required in forcing the natural resources of the +soil, produced a greater variety in the return. Besides corn, +wheat and rice, the olive, banana and fig tree, mulberry and +vine were cultivated, while the vicinity of the mountain ranges +furnished an abundance of building material—wood and limestone—that +was lacking in the south. The fertility of Assyria +proper, again, not being dependent on the overflow of the Tigris,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> +proved to be of greater endurance. With the neglect of the +irrigation system, Babylonia became a mere waste, and the +same river that was the cause of its prosperity became the foe +that, more effectually than any human power, contributed to +the ruin and the general desolation that marks the greater +part of the Euphrates Valley at the present time. Assyria +continued to play a part in history long after its ancient glory +had departed, and to this day enjoys a far greater activity, and +is of considerable more significance than the south.</p> + + +<h3>II.</h3> + +<p>In so far as natural surroundings affect the character of two +peoples belonging to the same race, the Assyrians present that +contrast to the Babylonians which one may expect from the +differences, just set forth, between the two districts. The +former were rugged, more warlike, and when they acquired +power, used it in the perfection of their military strength; the +latter, while not lacking in the ambition to extend their dominion, +yet, on the whole, presented a more peaceful aspect that led to +the cultivation of commerce and industrial arts. Both, however, +have very many more traits in common than they have +marks of distinction. They both belong not only to the +Semitic race, but to the same branch of the race. Presenting +the same physical features, the languages spoken by them +are identical, barring differences that do not always rise to +the degree of dialectical variations, and affect chiefly the pronunciation +of certain consonants. At what time the Babylonians +and Assyrians settled in the district in which we find +them, whence they came, and whether the Euphrates Valley or +the northern Tigris district was the first to be settled, are +questions that cannot, in the present state of knowledge, be +answered. As to the time of their settlement, the high degree +of culture that the Euphrates Valley shows at the earliest<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> +period known to us,—about 4000 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>,—and the indigenous +character of this culture, points to very old settlement, and +makes it easier to err on the side of not going back far enough, +than on the side of going too far. Again, while, as has been +several times intimated, the culture in the south is older than +that of the north, it does not necessarily follow that the settlement +of Babylonia antedates that of Assyria. The answer to +this question would depend upon the answer to the question +as to the original home of the Semites.<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> The probabilities, +however, are in favor of assuming a movement of population, +as of culture, from the south to the north. At all events, +the history of Babylonia and Assyria begins with the former, +and as a consequence we are justified also in beginning with +that phase of the religion for which we have the earliest records—the +Babylonian.</p> + + +<h3>III.</h3> + +<p>At the very outset of a brief survey of the history of the +Babylonians, a problem confronts us of primary importance. +Are there any traces of other settlers besides the Semitic +Babylonians in the earliest period of the history of the Euphrates +Valley? Those who cling to the theory of a non-Semitic origin +of the cuneiform syllabary will, of course, be ready to answer +in the affirmative. Sumerians and Akkadians are the names +given to these non-Semitic settlers who preceded the Babylonians +in the control of the Euphrates Valley. The names +are derived from the terms Sumer and Akkad, which are +frequently found in Babylonian and Assyrian inscriptions, in +connection with the titles of the kings. Unfortunately, scholars +are not a unit in the exact location of the districts comprised +by these names, some declaring Sumer to be in the north and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> +Akkad in the south; others favoring the reverse position. +The balance of proof rests in favor of the former supposition; +but however that may be, Sumer and Akkad represent, from +a certain period on, a general designation to include the whole +of Babylonia. Professor Hommel goes so far as to declare +that in the types found on statues and monuments of the oldest +period of Babylonian history—the monuments coming from +the mound Telloh—we have actual representations of these +Sumerians, who are thus made out to be a smooth-faced race +with rather prominent cheek-bones, round faces, and shaven +heads.<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> He pronounces in favor of the highlands lying to the +east of Babylonia, as the home of the Sumerians, whence they +made their way into the Euphrates Valley. Unfortunately, the +noses on these old statues are mutilated, and with such an +important feature missing, anthropologists, at least, are unwilling +to pronounce definitely as to the type represented. Again, +together with these supposed non-Semitic types, other figures +have been found which, as Professor Hommel also admits, +show the ordinary Semitic features. It would seem, therefore, +that even accepting the hypothesis of a non-Semitic type +existing in Babylonia at this time, the Semitic settlers are +just as old as the supposed Sumerians; and since it is admitted +that the language found on these statues and figures contains +Semitic constructions and Semitic words, it is, to say the least, +hazardous to give the Sumerians the preference over the Semites +so far as the period of settlement and origin of the Euphratean +culture is concerned. As a matter of fact, we are not warranted +in going beyond the statement that all evidence points in favor +of a population of mixed races in the Euphrates Valley from the +earliest period known to us. No positive proof is forthcoming +that Sumer and Akkad were ever employed or understood in +any other sense than as geographical terms.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> +This one safe conclusion, however, that the Semitic settlers +of Babylonia were not the sole occupants, but by their side +dwelt another race, or possibly a variety of races, possessing +entirely different traits, is one of considerable importance. At +various times the non-Semitic hordes of Elam and the mountain +districts to the east of Babylonia swept over the valley, and +succeeded, for a longer or shorter period, in securing a firm +foothold. The ease with which these conquerors accommodated +themselves to their surroundings, continuing the form of government +which they found there, making but slight changes in +the religious practices, can best be accounted for on the +supposition that the mixture of different races in the valley +had brought about an interchange and interlacing of traits +which resulted in the approach of one type to the other. +Again, it has recently been made probable that as early at +least as 2000, or even 2500 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>, Semitic invaders entering +Babylonia from the side of Arabia drove the native Babylonian +rulers from the throne;<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> and at a still earlier period intercourse +between Babylonia and distant nations to the northeast +and northwest was established, which left its traces on the +political and social conditions. At every point we come across +evidence of this composite character of Babylonian culture, and +the question as to the origin of the latter may, after all, resolve +itself into the proposition that the contact of different races +gave the intellectual impetus which is the first condition of a +forward movement in civilization; and while it is possible that, +at one stage, the greater share in the movement falls to the +non-Semitic contingent, the Semites soon obtained the intellectual +ascendency, and so absorbed the non-Semitic elements +as to give to the culture resulting from the combination, the +homogeneous character it presents on the surface.</p> +<h3><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span>IV.</h3> + +<p>Our present knowledge of Babylonian history reaches back +to the period of about 4000 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span> At that time we find the +Euphrates Valley divided into a series of states or principalities, +parcelling North and South Babylonia between them. +These states group themselves around certain cities. In fact, +the Babylonian principalities arise from the extension of the +city's jurisdiction, just as the later Babylonian empire is naught +but the enlargement, on a greater scale, of the city of Babylon.</p> + +<p>Of these old Babylonian cities the most noteworthy, in the +south, are Eridu, Lagash,<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> Ur, Larsa, Uruk, Isin; and in the +north, Agade, Sippar, Nippur, Kutha, and Babylon. The rulers +of these cities call themselves either 'king' (literally 'great +man') or 'governor,' according as the position is a purely independent +one, or one of subjection to a more powerful chieftain. +Thus the earliest rulers of the district of Lagash, of whom we +have inscriptions (<i>c.</i> 3200 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>) have the title of 'king,' but a +few centuries later Lagash lost its independent position and +its rulers became 'patesis,' <i>i.e.</i>, governors. They are in a +position of vassalage, as it would appear, to the contemporaneous +kings of Ur, though this does not hinder them from engaging +in military expeditions against Elam, and in extensive +building operations. The kings of Ur, in addition to their +title as kings of Ur, are styled kings of Sumer and Akkad. +Whether at this time, Sumer and Akkad included the whole +of Babylonia, or, as seems more likely, only the southern part, +in either case, Lagash would fall under the jurisdiction of +these kings, if their title is to be regarded as more than an +empty boast. Again, the rulers of Uruk are known simply as +kings of that place, while those of Isin incorporate in their +titles, kingship over Ur as well as Sumer and Akkad.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> +For this early period, extending from about 4000 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span> to +2300, the chronology is as yet uncertain. Beyond the titles +of the rulers over Babylonian states, there are but few safe +indications for determining the succession of dynasties. So +much, however, is now certain,—that simultaneous with the +governors of Lagash and the older kings of Ur, there was an +independent state in Northern Babylonia with its seat at Agade. +Indeed the history of this state can now be traced back +six centuries beyond that of Lagash. Two rulers of Agade, +Naram-Sin (<i>c.</i> 3800 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>) and Sargon (or to give his fuller name, +Shargani-shar-ali<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a>), are the earliest rulers as yet known. These +kings of Agade extended their jurisdiction as far north, at +least, as Nippur on the one side and Sippar on the other. +The city of Babylon itself, if it existed at this period, was +therefore included within the territory of these kings; and it +follows that if there existed rulers of Babylon at this time, +which is doubtful (since the city is not mentioned), they were +in the same position of dependency upon the rulers of Agade +as the 'governors' of Lagash were upon some greater power. +It is not until about the middle of the third millennium before +this era, that Babylon comes into prominence.</p> + +<p>In the south, as already intimated, the rulers of Lagash +and the dynasty of Ur are the earliest of which we have any +record. There is every reason to believe that further excavations +at Mugheir will bring to light the names of older kings, +and the presumption is in favor of regarding the southern +states, or at least some of them, earlier than any in the north. +The climax in the power of the kings of Ur, the period when<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> +they exerted, in fact as well as in name, the sovereignty over +all Sumer and Akkad may be fixed approximately at 3000 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span> +How far we shall be able to go beyond that, for the beginnings +of this state, must, for the present, remain doubtful, with the +chances in favor of a considerably earlier date; and it may +be that prior to Ur and Lagash there were dynasties established +elsewhere,—at Eridu, perhaps,—the existence of which +will be revealed by future discoveries. An independent state +with its seat at Uruk follows upon the culminating period of the +glory of Ur, and may be regarded, indeed, as an indication that +the rulers of Ur had lost their control over the whole of Southern +Babylonia. Isin, whose site has not yet been determined, +but which lay probably to the north of Uruk, was another +political center. Its rulers, so far as we know them, curiously +assign the fourth place to the title 'king of Isin,' giving precedence +to their control over Nippur, Eridu, and Uruk. We may +conclude from this, that at the time when Isin extended its +supremacy, the greater luster attaching to the old towns of +Nippur and Uruk, was emphasized by the precedence given +to these centers over Isin, although the Isin kings are only +'shepherds' and 'merciful lords' over Nippur and Uruk, and +not kings.</p> + +<p>At a subsequent period, the kings of Ur appear to have +regained the supremacy, which was wrested from them by Isin; +and the rulers of the latter acknowledge their dependence upon +the kings of Ur. This so-called second dynasty of Ur includes +Nippur. The kings are proud of calling themselves the +guardians of the temple of Bel in Nippur, nominated to the +office by the god himself, and reviving an old title of the kings of +Agade, style themselves also 'king of the four regions.' Another +change in the political horoscope is reflected in the subjection +of Ur to a district whose center was Larsa, not far from Ur, and +represented by the mound Senkereh. There are two kings, +Nur-Rammân (<i>i.e.</i>, light of Ramman) and Sin-iddina (<i>i.e.</i>, Sin<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> +judges), who call themselves guardians of Ur and kings of +Larsa, showing that the center of this principality was Larsa, +with Ur as a dependent district. That these rulers take up +the dominion once held by the kings of Ur is further manifest +in the additional title that they give to themselves, as 'kings of +Sumer and Akkad,' whereas the omission of the title 'king of +the four regions' indicates apparently the exclusion of Agade +and Nippur; and with these, probably North Babylonia in +general, from their supremacy. The power of Larsa receives +a fatal check through the invasion of Babylonia by the Elamites +(<i>c.</i> 2350 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>).</p> + +<p>These variations in official titles are a reflection of the natural +rivalry existing between the various Babylonian states, which +led to frequent shiftings in the political situation. Beyond this, +the inscriptions of these old Babylonian rulers, being ordinarily +commemorative of the dedication to a deity, of some temple +or other construction—notably canals—or of some votive +offering, a cone or tablet, unfortunately tell us little of the +events of the time. Pending the discovery of more complete +annals, we must content ourselves with the general indications +of the civilization that prevailed, and of the relations in which +the principalities stood to one another, and with more or less +doubtful reconstructions of the sequence in the dynasties. In +all of this period, however, the division between North and +South Babylonia was kept tolerably distinct, even though occasionally, +and for a certain period, a North Babylonian city, +like that of Agade and Nippur, extended its jurisdiction over +a section bordering on the south and <i>vice versa</i>. It remained +for a great conqueror, Hammurabi, the sixth king of a dynasty +having its seat in the city of Babylon itself, who about the year +2300 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span> succeeded in uniting North and South Babylonia +under one rule. With him, therefore, a new epoch in the history +of the Euphrates Valley begins. Henceforth the supremacy +of the city of Babylon remains undisputed, and the other<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> +ancient centers, losing their political importance, retain their +significance only by virtue of the sanctuaries existing there, +to which pilgrimages continued to be made, and through the +commercial activity that, upon the union of the various Babylonian +districts, set in with increased vigor.</p> + +<p>Attention was directed a few years ago by Pognon and Sayce +to the fact that the name of Hammurabi, as well as the names of +four kings that preceded him, and of a number that followed, are +not Babylonian. Sayce expressed the opinion that they were +Arabic, and Professor Hommel has recently reënforced the +position of Sayce by showing the close resemblance existing +between these names and those found on the monuments of +Southern Arabia.<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> While no evidence has as yet been found +to warrant us in carrying back the existence of the Minean +empire in Southern Arabia beyond 1500 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>, still since at this +period, this empire appears in a high state of culture, with +commercial intercourse established between it and Egypt, as +well as Palestine, the conclusion drawn by Hommel that +Babylonia was invaded about 2500 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span> by an Arabic-speaking +people is to be seriously considered. Elam, as we have seen, +was constantly threatening Babylonia from the East, and shortly +before Hammurabi's appearance, succeeded in putting an end +to the dynasty of Larsa. It now appears that the inhabitants +of the Euphrates Valley were also threatened by an enemy +lodged somewhere in the southwest. Though Hommel's hypothesis +still needs confirmation, and may perhaps be somewhat +modified by future researches, still so much seems certain: that +the great union of the Babylonian states and the supremacy of +the city of Babylon itself was achieved not by Babylonians but +by foreigners who entered Babylonia from its western (or southwestern) +side. The dynasty of which Hammurabi is the chief +representative comes to an end <i>c.</i> 2100, and is followed by another<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> +known as Shish-Kha,<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> whose rulers likewise appear to be +foreigners; and when this dynasty finally disappears after a +rule of almost four centuries, Babylonia is once more conquered +by a people coming from the northern parts of Elam +and who are known as the Cassites.<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> These Cassites, of whose +origin, character, and language but little is known as yet, ruled +over Babylonia for a period of no less than 576 years; but +adapting themselves to the customs and religion of the country, +their presence did not interfere with the normal progress of +culture in the Euphrates Valley. We may therefore embrace +the period of Hammurabi and his successors, down through +the rule of the Cassite kings, under one head. It is a period +marked by the steady growth of culture, manifesting itself in +the erection of temples, in the construction of canals, and in the +expansion of commerce. Active relationships were maintained +between Babylonia and distant Egypt.</p> + +<p>This movement did not suffer an interruption through the +invasion of the Cassites. Though Nippur, rather than Babylon, +appears to have been the favorite city of the dynasty, the course +of civilization flows on uninterruptedly, and it is not until the +growing complications between Babylonia and Assyria, due to +the steady encroachment on the part of the latter, that decided +changes begin to take place.</p> + +<p>About 1500 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span> the first traces of relationship between +Babylonia and the northern Mesopotamian power, Assyria, +appear. These relations were at first of a friendly character, +but it is not long before the growing strength of Assyria +becomes a serious menace to Babylonia. In the middle of +the thirteenth century, Assyrian arms advance upon the city of +Babylon. For some decades, Babylon remains in subjection to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> +Assyria, and although she regains her independence once +more, and even a fair measure of her former glory, the power +of the Cassites is broken. Internal dissensions add to the +difficulties of the situation and lead to the overthrow of the +Cassites (1151 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>). Native Babylonians once more occupy +the throne, who, although able to check the danger still threatening +from Elam, cannot resist the strong arms of Assyria. +At the close of the twelfth century Tiglathpileser I. secures a +firm hold upon Babylonia, which now sinks to the position of a +dependency upon the Assyrian kings.</p> + + +<h3>V.</h3> + +<p>In contrast to Babylonia, which is from the start stamped +as a civilizing power, Assyria, from its rise till its fall, is +essentially a military empire, seeking the fulfillment of its +mission in the enlargement of power and in incessant warfare. +Its history may be traced back to about 1800 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>, when its +rulers, with their seat in the ancient city of Ashur, first begin +to make their presence felt. The extension of their power proceeds, +as in Babylonia, from the growing importance of the +central city, and soon embraces all of Assyria proper. They +pass on into the mountain regions to the east, and advancing +to the west, they encounter the vigorous forces of Egypt, +whose Asiatic campaigns begin about the same time as the +rise of Assyria. The Egyptians, abetted by the Hittites—the +possessors of the strongholds on the Orontes—successfully +check the growth of Assyria on this side, at least for a period +of several centuries. In the meanwhile, the Assyrian king +gathers strength enough to make an attack upon Babylonia.</p> + +<p>The conflict, once begun, continues, as has been indicated, +with varying fortunes. Occasional breathing spells are brought +about by a temporary agreement of peace between the two +empires, until at the end of the twelfth century, Assyria,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> +under Tiglathpileser I., secures control over the Babylonian +empire. Her kings add to their long list of titles that of +'ruler of Babylonia.' They either take the government of +the south into their hands or exercise the privilege of appointing +a governor of their choice to regulate the affairs of the +Euphrates Valley. From this time on, the history of Babylonia +and Assyria may be viewed under a single aspect. The +third period of Babylonian history—the second of Assyrian +history—thus begins about 1100 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>, and continues till the +fall of Assyria in the year 606 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span> These five centuries +represent the most glorious epoch of the united Mesopotamian +empire. During this time, Assyria rises to the height of an +all-embracing power. With far greater success than Egypt, she +securely established her sovereignty over the lands bordering +on the Mediterranean. After severe struggles, the Hittites +are overcome, the names of their strongholds on the Orontes +changed, in order to emphasize their complete possession by +the Assyrians, and the principalities of Northern Syria become +tributary to Assyria. Phoenicia and the kingdom of Israel are +conquered, while the southern kingdom of Judah purchases a +mere shadow of independence by complete submission to the +conditions imposed by the great and irresistible monarchy. +Far to the northeast Assyria extends her sway, while Babylonia, +though occasionally aroused to a resistance of the +tyrannical bonds laid upon her, only to be still further weakened, +retains a distinctive existence chiefly in name. The +culture of the south is the heritage bequeathed by old Babylonia +to the north. Babylonian temples become the models +for Assyrian architecture. The literary treasures in the +archives of the sacred cities of the south are copied by the +scribes of the Assyrian kings, and placed in the palaces of the +latter. Meanwhile, the capital of Assyria moves towards the +north. Ashur gives way under the glorious reign of Ashurnasirbal +to Calah, which becomes the capitol in the year 880 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> +and Calah, in turn, yields to Nineveh, which becomes, from +the time of Tiglathpileser II., in the middle of the eighth +century, the center of the great kingdom. Under Ashurbanabal, +who rules from 668 to 626 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>, the climax of Assyrian +power is reached. He carries his arms to the banks of the +Nile, and succeeds in realizing the dreams of his ancestors of a +direct control over the affairs of Egypt. A patron of science +and literature, as so many great conquerors, Ashurbanabal succeeds +in making Nineveh a literary as well as a military center.</p> + +<p>A vast collection of the cuneiform literature of Babylonia is +gathered by him for the benefit of his subjects, as he is at +constant pains to tell us. The city is further embellished with +magnificent structures, and on every side he establishes his +sovereignty with such force, that the might of Assyria appears +invincible. The fatal blow, dealt with a suddenness that +remains a mystery, came from an unexpected quarter. A +great movement of wild northern hordes, rather vaguely known +as the Cimmerians and Scythians, and advancing towards the +south, set in shortly after the death of Ashurbanabal, and +created great political disturbances. The vast number of +these hordes, their muscular strength, and their unrestrained +cruelty, made them a foe which Assyria found as hard to +withstand, as Rome the approach of the Vandals and Goths. +The sources for our knowledge of the last days of the Assyrian +empire are not sufficient to enable us to grasp the details, but +it is certain that the successful attempt of the Babylonians to +throw off the Assyrian yoke almost immediately after Ashurbanabal's +death, was a symptom of the ravages which the hordes +made in reducing the vitality of the Assyrian empire. Her +foes gained fresh courage from the success that crowned the +revolt of Babylonia. The Medes, a formidable nation to the +east of Assyria, and which had often crossed arms with the +Assyrians, entered into combination with Babylonia, and the +two making several united assaults upon Nineveh, under the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> +leadership of Kyaxares, at last succeeded in effecting an +entrance. The city was captured and burned to the ground. +With the fall of Assyria, a feeling of relief passed over the +entire eastern world. A great danger, threatening to extinguish +the independence of all of the then known nations of the globe, +was averted. The Hebrew prophets living at the time of this +downfall, voice the general rejoicing that ensued when they +declared, that even the cedars of Lebanon leaped for joy. +The province of Assyria proper, fell into the hands of the +Medes, but Babylonia, with her independence established on +a firm footing, was the real heir of Assyria's spirit. Her most +glorious monarch, Nebuchadnezzar II. (604-561 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>), seems +to have dreamed of gaining for Babylon the position, once held +by Nineveh, of mistress of the world. Taking Ashurbanabal as +his model, he carried his arms to the west, subdued the +kingdom of Judah, and, passing on to Egypt, strove to secure +for Babylon, the supremacy exercised there for a short time by +Assyrian monarchs. In addition to his military campaigns, +however, he also appears in the light of a great builder, enlarging +and beautifying the temples of Babylonia, erecting new +ones in the various cities of his realm, strengthening the walls +of Babylon, adorning the capital with embankment works and +other improvements, that gave it a permanent place in the +traditions of the ancient world as one of the seven wonders of +the universe.</p> + +<p>The glory of this second Babylonian empire was of short +duration. Its vaulting ambition appears to have overleaped +itself. Realizing for a time the Assyrian ideal of a world +monarchy, the fall was as sudden as its rise was unexpected. +Internal dissensions gave the first indication of the hollowness +of the state. Nebuchadnezzar's son was murdered in 560 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>, +within two years after reaching the throne, by his own brother-in-law, +Neriglissar; and the latter dying after a reign of only +four years, his infant child was put out of the way and Nabonnedos,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> +a high officer of the state, but without royal prerogative, +mounted the throne. In the year 550 news reached Babylon +that Cyrus, the king of Anzan, had dealt a fatal blow to the +Median empire, capturing its king, Astyages, and joining Media +to his own district. He founded what was afterwards known +as the Persian empire.</p> + +<p>The overthrow of the Medes gave Cyrus control over Assyria, +and it was to be expected that his gaze should be turned in the +direction of Babylonia. Nabonnedos recognized the danger, +but all his efforts to strengthen the powers of resistance to the +Persian arms were of no avail. Civil disturbances divided the +Babylonians. The cohesion between the various districts was +loosened, and within the city of Babylon itself, a party arose +antagonistic to Nabonnedos, who in their short-sightedness +hailed the advance of Cyrus. Under these circumstances, +Babylon fell an easy prey to the Persian conqueror. In the +autumn of the year 539 Cyrus entered the city in triumph, and +was received with such manifestations of joy by the populace, as +to make one almost forget that with his entrance, the end of a +great empire had come. Politically and religiously, the history +of Babylonia and Assyria terminates with the advent of Cyrus; +and this despite the fact that it was his policy to leave the state +of affairs, including religious observances, as far as possible, +undisturbed. A new spirit had, however, come into the land +with him. The official religion of the state was that practiced +by Cyrus and his predecessors in their native land. The +essential doctrines of the religion, commonly known as Mazdeism +or Zoroastrianism, presented a sharp contrast to the +beliefs that still were current in Babylonia, and it was inevitable +that with the influx of new ideas, the further development +of Babylonian worship was cut short. The respect paid by +Cyrus to the Babylonian gods was a mere matter of policy. +Still, the religious rites continued to be practiced as of old in +Babylonia and Assyria for a long time, and when the religion<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> +finally disappeared, under the subsequent conquests of the +Greeks, Romans, and Arabs, it left its traces in the popular +superstitions and in the ineradicable traditions that survived. +But so far as the <i>history</i> of this religion is concerned, it +comes to an end with the downfall of the second Babylonian +empire.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The period, then, to be covered by a treatment of the +religion of the Babylonians and Assyrians extends over the +long interval between about 4000 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span> and the middle of the +sixth century. The development of this religion follows closely +the course of civilization and of history in the territory under +consideration. The twofold division, accordingly, into Babylonia +and Assyria, is the one that suggests itself also for the +religion. The beginning, as is evident from the historical +sketch given, must be made with Babylonia. It will be seen +that, while the rites there and in Assyria are much the same, +the characters of the gods as they developed in the south +were quite different from those of the north; and, again, it +was inevitable that the Assyrian influence manifest in the +second Babylonian empire should give to the religion of the +south at this time, some aspects which were absent during the +days of the old Babylonian empire. In Babylonia, again, the +political changes form the basis for the transformation to be +observed in the position occupied by the deities at different +periods; and the same general remark applies to the deities +peculiar to Assyria, who must be studied in connection with +the course pursued by the Assyrian empire.</p> + +<p>The division of the subject which thus forces itself upon us +is twofold, (1) geographical, and (2) historical.</p> + +<p>It will be necessary to treat first of the beliefs and pantheon +developed during the first two periods of Babylonian +history, down to the practical conquest of Babylonia by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> +Assyria. Then, turning to Assyria, the traits of the pantheon +peculiar to Upper Mesopotamia will be set forth. In the third +place, the history of the religion will be traced in Babylonia +during the union of the Babylonian-Assyrian empire; and, +lastly, the new phases of that religion which appeared in the +days of the second Babylonian empire. Turning after this to +other aspects of the religion, it will be found that the religious +rites were only to a small degree influenced by political changes, +while the literature and religious art are almost exclusively +products of Babylonia. In treating of these subjects, accordingly, +no geographical divisions are called for, in setting forth +their chief features.</p> + +<p>The general estimate to be given at the close of the volume +will furnish an opportunity of making a comparison between +the Babylonian-Assyrian religion and other religions of the +ancient world, with a view to determining what foreign influences +may be detected in it, as well as ascertaining the +influence it exerted upon others.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span></p> + +<h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> +I may be permitted to refer to a publication by Dr. Brinton and myself, <i>The +Cradle of the Semites</i> (Philadelphia, 1889), in which the various views as to this +home are set forth.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> +It has been suggested that since the statues of Telloh are those of the priest-kings, +only the priestly classes shaved their hair off.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> See an interesting discussion of the question by Professor Hommel, "Arabia +according to the Latest Discoveries and Researches."—<i>Sunday School Times</i>, 1895, +nos. 41 and 43.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> +Also known as Shirpurla which Jensen (<i>Keils Bibl.</i> 3, 1, 5) thinks was the later +name.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> +See Hilprecht, <i>Old Babylonian Inscriptions</i>, i. 16-18. Naram-Sin signifies +'beloved of the god Sin' (the moon-god); Shargani-shar-ali—'the legitimate king, +king of the city.' The excavations of the University of Pennsylvania have cast new +light upon this most ancient period of Babylonian history. It is now known that +the temple of Bel at Nippur antedates the reign of Naram-Sin, and in the further +publications of the University, we may look for material which will enable us to pass +beyond the period of Sargon.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> <i>Sunday School Times</i>, 1895, no. 41.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> +For various views regarding the name and character of this dynasty see Winckler, +<i>Geschichte</i>, pp. 67, 68, 328; Hilprecht, <i>Assyriaca</i>, pp. 25-28, 102, 103; +Winckler, +<i>Altorientalische Forschungen</i>, I. 275-277, and Rogers, <i>Outlines</i>, 32, note.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> See Delitzsch, <i>Die Sprache der Kossaer</i>.</p></div> + + + + +<h2><a name="chapter-iii" id="chapter-iii"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2> + +<h3>GENERAL TRAITS OF THE OLD BABYLONIAN PANTHEON.</h3> + + +<p>The Babylonian religion in the oldest form known to us +may best be described as a mixture of local and nature cults. +Starting with that phase of religious beliefs known as Animism, +which has been ascertained to be practically universal in +primitive society, the Babylonians, from ascribing life to the +phenomena of nature, to trees, stones, and plants, as well as to +such natural events, as storm, rain, and wind, and as a matter of +course to the great luminaries and to the stars—would, on the +one hand, be led to invoke an infinite number of spirits who +were supposed to be, in some way, the embodiment of the life +that manifested itself in such diverse manners; and yet, on +the other hand, this tendency would be restricted by the +experience which would point to certain spirits, as exercising a +more decisive influence upon the affairs of man than others. +The result of this would be to give a preponderance to the +worship of the sun and moon and the water, and of such +natural phenomena as rain, wind, and storms, with their accompaniment +of thunder and lightning, as against the countless +sprites believed to be lurking everywhere. The latter, however, +would not for this reason be ignored altogether. Since everything +was endowed with life, there was not only a spirit of the +tree which produced the fruit, but there were spirits in every +field. To them the ground belonged, and upon their mercy +depended the success or failure of the produce. To secure the +favor of the rain and the sun was not sufficient to the agriculturist; +he was obliged to obtain the protection of the guardian +spirits of the soil, in order to be sure of reaping the fruit of his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> +labors. Again, when through association, the group of arable +plots grew into a hamlet, and then through continued growth +into a town, the latter, regarded as a unit by virtue of its +political organization under a chief ruler, would necessarily be +supposed to have some special power presiding over its destinies, +protecting it from danger, and ready to defend the rights +and privileges of those who stood immediately under its jurisdiction. +Each Babylonian city, large or small, would in this +way obtain a deity devoted to its welfare, and as the city grew +in extent, absorbing perhaps others lying about, and advancing +in this way to the dignity of a district, the city's god would +correspondingly increase his jurisdiction. As it encroached +upon the domain of other local deities, it would by conquest +annihilate the latter, or reduce them to a subservient position. +The new regime would be expressed by making the conquered +deity, the servant of the victorious, or the two might be viewed +in the relation of father to son; and again, in the event of a +peaceful amalgamation of two cities or districts, the protecting +deities might join hands in a compact, mirroring the partnership +represented by the conjugal tie. In this way, there arose in +Babylon a selection, as it were, out of an infinite variety of personified +forces, manifest or concealed, that at one time may +have been objects of worship. The uniformity of the spirit +world, which is the characteristic trait of primitive Animism, +gave way to a differentiation regulated by the political development +and the social growth of Babylonia. The more important +natural forces became gods, and the inferior ones were, as a +general thing, relegated to the secondary position of mere +sprites, like the <i>jinns</i>, in Arabic beliefs. Only in the case of +the guardian spirit of an entire city or district, would there +result—and even this not invariably—an elevation to the +grade of deity, in the proper sense of the word. In many cases, +however, this guardian deity might be a heavenly body, as the +moon or sun or stars, all of which were supposed to regulate<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> +the fate of mankind or some force of nature, as the rain or the +storm; and even if this were not originally the case, the protecting +deity might, in the course of time, become identified +with one of the forces of nature; and, if for no other reason, +simply because of the prominence which the worship of the +force in question acquired in the place. As a consequence, +the mixture of local and nature cults is so complete that it is +often impossible to distinguish the one from the other. It is +hard in many cases to determine whether the deity which is +identified with a certain city was originally a mere local spirit +watching over a certain restricted territory, or a personification +of a natural force associated in some way with a certain section +of Babylonia.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2><a name="chapter-iv" id="chapter-iv"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + +<h3>BABYLONIAN GODS PRIOR TO THE DAYS OF HAMMURABI.</h3> + + +<p>With these preliminary remarks, we may turn, as the first +part of our subject, to a consideration of the oldest of the +Babylonian gods. Our main sources are the inscriptions of +the old Babylonian rulers, above referred to. These are, in +most cases, of a dedicatory character, being inscribed on statues, +cylinders, or tablets, placed in the temples or on objects—cones, +knobs, stones—presented as votive offerings to some +god. Besides the inscriptions of the rulers, we have those of +officials and others. Many of these are likewise connected +directly or indirectly with religious worship.</p> + +<p>The advantage of the historical texts over the purely religious +ones consists in their being dated, either accurately or approximately. +For this reason, the former must be made the basis for +a rational theory of the development of the Babylonian pantheon +through the various periods above instanced. The data furnished +by the religious texts can be introduced only, as they +accord with the facts revealed by the historical inscriptions in +each period.</p> + +<p>Taking up the group of inscriptions prior to the union of the +Babylonian States under Hammurabi, <i>i.e.</i>, prior to 2300 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>, we +find these gods mentioned: Bel, Belit, Nin-khar-sag, Nin-girsu, +also appearing as Shul-gur, Bau, Ga-tum-dug, Ea, Nin-a-gal, +Nergal, Shamash, under various forms Â, who is the consort +of Shamash, Nannar or Sin, Nanâ, Anunit, Ishtar, Innanna or +Ninni, Ninâ, Nin-mar, Dun-shagga, Gal-alim, Anu, Nin-gish-zida, +Nin-si-a, Nin-shakh, Dumu-zi, Lugal-banda and his consort Nin-gul, +Dumuzi-zu-aba, Nisaba, Ku(?)anna, Lugal-erima(?), Dagan, +Ishum, Umu, Pa-sag, Nin-e-gal, Nin-gal, Shul(or Dun)-pa-uddu, +and Nin-akha-kuddu.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span></p> + +<p>Regarding these names, it may be said at once that the reading, +in many cases, is to be looked upon as merely provisional. +Written, as they usually are, in the ideographic "style," the +phonetic reading can only be determined when the deity in +question can be identified with one, whose name is written at +some place phonetically, or when the ideographs employed are +so grouped as to place the phonetic reading beyond doubt. +The plan to be followed in this book will be to give the +ideographic reading<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> as provisional wherever the real pronunciation +is unknown or uncertain. The ideographic designation of +a deity is of great value, inasmuch as the ideographs themselves +frequently reveal the character of the god, though of +course the additional advantage is obvious when the name +appears in both the ideographic and the phonetic writing. It +will, therefore, form part of a delineation of the Babylonian +pantheon to interpret the picture, as it were, under which each +deity is viewed.</p> + + +<h3>En-lil or Bel.</h3> + +<p>Taking up the gods in the order named, the first one, Bel, +is also the one who appears on the oldest monuments as yet +unearthed—the inscriptions of Nippur. His name is, at this +time, written invariably as En-lil. In the Babylonian theology, +he is 'the lord of the lower world.' He represents, as it were, +the unification of the various forces whose seat and sphere of +action is among the inhabited parts of the globe, both on the +surface and beneath, for the term 'lower world' is here used in +contrast to the upper or heavenly world. Such a conception +manifestly belongs to the domain of abstract thought, and it +may be concluded, therefore, that either the deity belongs to +an advanced stage of Babylonian culture, or that the original +view of the deity was different from the one just mentioned.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> +The latter is the case. Primarily, the ideograph Lil is used to +designate a 'demon' in general, and En-lil is therefore the 'chief +demon.' Primitive as such a conception is, it points to some +system of thought that transcends primitive Animism, which is +characterized rather by the equality accorded to all spirits. +The antiquity of the association of En-lil with Nippur justifies +the conclusion that we have before us a local deity who, +originally the protecting spirit merely, of a restricted territory, +acquires the position of 'chief demon' as the town of Nippur +grows to be the capitol of a large and powerful district. The +fame and sanctity of Nippur survives political vicissitudes; and, +indeed, in proportion as Nippur loses political prestige, the +great deity of the place is released from the limitations due to +his local origin and rises to the still higher dignity of a great +power whose domain is the entire habitable universe. As +the 'lord of the lower world,' En-lil is contrasted to a god Anu, +who presides over the heavenly bodies. The age of Sargon +(3800 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>), in whose inscriptions En-lil already occurs, is one +of considerable culture, as is sufficiently evidenced by the +flourishing condition of art, and there can therefore be no +objection against the assumption that even at this early period, +a theological system should have been evolved which gave rise +to beliefs in great powers whose dominion embraces the 'upper' +and 'lower' worlds. It was because of this wide scope of +his power that he became known as Bel, <i>i.e.</i>, the lord <i>par +excellence</i>; and it is equally natural to find his worship spread +over the whole of Babylonia. In the south, the patron deity of +Lagash is designated by Gudea as "the mighty warrior of +Bel," showing the supremacy accorded to the latter. A temple +to En-lil at Lagash, and known as E-adda, 'house of the +father,' by virtue of the relationship existing between the god +of Nippur and Nin-girsu, is mentioned by Uru-kagina. The +temple is described as a lofty structure 'rising up to heaven.' +In the north, Nippur remains the place where his worship<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> +acquired the greatest importance, so that Nippur was known +as the "land of Bel." The temple sacred to him at that place +was a great edifice, famous throughout Babylonian history as +E-Kur, <i>i.e.</i>, mountain house, in the construction of which, a long +line of Babylonian rulers took part. From Naram-Sin, ruler +of Agade, on through the period of Cassite rule, the kings of +Nippur proudly include in their titles that of 'builder of the +Temple of Bel at Nippur,' measuring their attachment to the +deity by the additions and repairs made to his sacred edifice.<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> +Besides the kings of Agade, the rulers of other places pay their +devotions to Bel of Nippur. So, a king of Kish, whose name +is read Alu-usharshid by Professor Hilprecht,<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> brings costly +vases of marble and limestone from Elam and offers them to +Bel as a token of victory; and this at a period even earlier +than Sargon. Even when En-lil is obliged to yield a modicum +of his authority to the growing supremacy of the patron deity +of the city of Babylon, the highest tribute that can be paid to +the latter, is to combine with his real name, Marduk, the title of +"Bel," which of right belongs to En-lil. We shall see how this +combination of En-lil, or Bel, with Marduk reflects political +changes that took place in the Euphrates Valley; and it is a +direct consequence of this later association of the old Bel of +Nippur with the chief god of Babylon, that the original traits of +the former become obscured in the historical and religious +texts. Dimmed popular traditions, which will be set forth +in their proper place, point to his having been at one time +regarded as a powerful chieftain armed with mighty weapons, +but engaged in conflicts for the ultimate benefit of mankind. +On the whole, he is a beneficent deity, though ready to inflict<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> +severe punishment for disobedience to his commands. We +must distinguish, then, in the case of En-lil, at least four +phases:</p> + +<p>1. His original rôle as a local deity;</p> + +<p>2. The extension of his power to the grade of a great 'lord' +over a large district;</p> + +<p>3. Dissociation from local origins to become the supreme +lord of the lower world; and</p> + +<p>4. The transfer of his name and powers as god of Nippur to +Marduk, the god of Babylon.</p> + +<p>The last two phases can best be set forth when we come to +the period, marked by the political supremacy of the city of +Babylon. It is sufficient, at this point, to have made clear his +position as god of Nippur.</p> + + +<h3>Nin-lil or Belit.</h3> + +<p>The consort of En-lil is Nin-Lil, the 'mistress of the lower +world.' She is known also as Belit, the feminine form to Bel, +<i>i.e.</i>, the lady <i>par excellence</i>. She, too, had her temple at Nippur, +the age of which goes back, at least, to the first dynasty of Ur. +But the glory of the goddess pales by the side of her powerful +lord. She is naught but a weak reflection of Bel, as in general +the consorts of the gods are. Another title by which this same +goddess was known is</p> + + +<h3>Nin-khar-sag.<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a></h3> + +<p>which means the 'lady of the high or great mountain.' The +title may have some reference to the great mountain where the +gods were supposed to dwell, and which was known to Babylonians<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> +as the 'mountain of the lands.' Bel, as the chief of +the gods, is more particularly associated with this mountain. +Hence his temple is called the 'mountain house.' From being +regarded as the inhabitant of the mountain, he comes to be +identified with the mountain itself. Accordingly, he is sometimes +addressed as the "great mountain,"<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> and his consort +would therefore be appropriately termed 'the lady of the great +mountain.' Besides the temple at Nippur, Belit, as Nin-khar-sag, +had a sanctuary at Girsu, one of the quarters at Lagash +(see under Nin-girsu), the earliest mention of which occurs on +an inscription of Ur-Bau. The latter calls the goddess 'the +mother of the gods,' which further establishes her identity with +the consort of Bel. Entemena, another governor of Lagash, +places his domain under the protection of Nin-khar-sag. The +worship at Nippur, however, remained most prominent. The +continued popularity of her cult is attested by the fortress +Dur-zakar, which a later king, Samsu-iluna (<i>c.</i> 2200), erected in +her honor.</p> + + +<h3>Nin-girsu.</h3> + +<p>In the inscriptions of Gudea and of his time, the god most +prominently mentioned is the "Lord of Girsu." Girsu itself, +as the inscriptions show, is one of the four sections into which +the capitol city of Lagash was divided. It was there that the +temple stood which was sacred to the patron deity, and we may +conclude from this that Girsu is the oldest part of the city. +Afterwards, Lagash became the general name for the capitol +through being the quarter where the great palace of the king +was erected. That Girsu was once quite distinct from Lagash +is also evident from the title of "king of Girsu," with which a +certain Uru-kagina, who is to be placed somewhat before +Gudea, contents himself. The other three quarters, all of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> +which were originally independent cities, are Uru-azagga, Ninâ, +and apparently Gish-galla.<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a></p> + +<p>Nin-girsu is frequently termed the warrior of Bel,—the one +who in the service of the 'lord of the lower world,' appears in +the thick of the fight, to aid the subjects of Bel. In this rôle, he +is identical with a solar deity who enjoys especial prominence +among the warlike Assyrians, whose name is provisionally read +Nin-ib, but whose real name may turn out to be Adar.<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> The +rulers of Lagash declare themselves to have been chosen for +the high office by Nin-girsu, and as if to compensate themselves +for the degradation implied in being merely <i>patesis</i>, or governors, +serving under some powerful chief, they call themselves +the patesis of Nin-girsu, implying that the god was the master +to whom they owed allegiance. The temple sacred to him at +Girsu was called E-ninnu, and also by a longer name that +described the god as the one 'who changes darkness into +light,'—the reference being to the solar character of the god +Nin-ib with whom Nin-girsu is identified. In this temple, +Gudea and other rulers place colossal statues of themselves, +but temper the vanity implied, by inscribing on the front and +back of these statues, an expression of their devotion to their +god. To Nin-girsu, most of the objects found at Tell-loh are +dedicated; conspicuous among which are the many clay cones, +that became the conventional objects for votive offerings. +There was another side, however, to his nature, besides the +belligerent one. As the patron of Lagash, he also presided<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> +over the agricultural prosperity of the district. In this rôle he +is addressed as Shul-gur or Shul-gur-an, <i>i.e.</i>, the "god of the +corn heaps"; Entemena and his son Enanna-tuma in erecting a +kind of storehouse which they place under the protection of +Nin-girsu, declare that their god is Shul-gur;<a name="FNanchor_31_31" id="FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> and an old hymn<a name="FNanchor_32_32" id="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> +identifies him with Tammuz, the personification of agricultural +activity. Such a combination of apparently opposing attributes +is a natural consequence of the transformation of what +may originally have been the personification of natural forces, +into local deities. Each field had its protecting spirit, but for +the city as a whole, a local deity, whose rule mirrored the control +of the human chief over his subjects, alone was available. +To him who watched over all things pertaining to the welfare +of the territory coming under his jurisdiction, various attributes, +as occasion required, were ascribed, and quite apart from his +original character, the god could thus be regarded, as the warrior +and the peaceful husbandman at the same time.</p> + + +<h3>Bau.</h3> + +<p>Perhaps the most prominent of the goddesses in the ancient +Babylonian period was Bau. One of the rulers of Lagash +has embodied the name of the goddess in his name, calling +himself Ur-Bau. It is natural, therefore, to find him more +especially devoted to the worship of this deity. He does not +tire of singing her praises, and of speaking of the temple he +erected in her honor. Still, Ur-Bau does not stand alone in +his devotion; Uru-kagina, Gudea, and others refer to Bau frequently,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> +while in the incantation texts, she is invoked as the +great mother, who gives birth to mankind and restores the +body to health. In the old Babylonian inscriptions she is called +the chief daughter of Anu, the god of heaven. Among her +titles, the one most frequently given is that of 'good lady.' +She is the 'mother' who fixes the destinies of men and provides +'abundance' for the tillers of the soil. Gudea calls +her his mistress, and declares that it is she who "fills him +with speech,"—a phrase whose meaning seems to be that +to Bau he owes the power he wields. Locally, she is identified +with Uru-azagga (meaning 'brilliant town'), a quarter of +Lagash; and it was there that her temple stood. As a +consequence, we find her in close association with Nin-girsu, +the god of Girsu. We may indeed go further and assume +that Girsu and Uru-azagga are the two oldest quarters of the +city, the combination of the two representing the first natural +steps in the development of the principality, afterwards known +as Lagash, through the addition of other quarters<a name="FNanchor_33_33" id="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a>. She +is indeed explicitly called the consort of Nin-girsu; and this +relation is implied also, in the interesting phrase used by +Gudea, who presents gifts to Bau in the name of Nin-girsu, +and calls them 'marriage gifts'.<a name="FNanchor_34_34" id="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> It is interesting to find, at +this early period, the evidence for the custom that still prevails +in the Orient, which makes the gifts of the bridegroom to his +chosen one, an indispensable formality.<a name="FNanchor_35_35" id="FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> These gifts were +offered on the New Year's Day, known as Zag-muk, and the +importance of the worship of Bau is evidenced by the designation +of this day, as the festival of Bau.</p> + +<p>The offerings, themselves, consist of lambs, sheep, birds, +fish, cream, besides dates and various other fruits. When<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> +Uru-azagga becomes a part of Lagash, Bau's dignity is heightened +to that of 'mother of Lagash.' As the consort of Ningirsu, +she is identified with the goddess Gula, the name more +commonly applied to the 'princely mistress' of Nin-ib, whose +worship continues down to the days of the neo-Babylonian +monarchy.</p> + +<p>It is quite certain, however, that Bau is originally an independent +goddess, and that the association of Uru-azagga and +Girsu<a name="FNanchor_36_36" id="FNanchor_36_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> lead to her identification with Gula. Regarding her +original nature, a certain index is her character as "daughter +of Anu." Anu being the god of heaven, Bau must be sought +in the upper realm of personified forces, rather than elsewhere; +but exactly which one she is, it is difficult to say. Hommel, +indeed,<a name="FNanchor_37_37" id="FNanchor_37_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> is of opinion that she is the personified watery depth, +the primitive chaos which has only the heavens above it; but +in giving this explanation, he is influenced by the desire to +connect the name of Bau with the famous term for chaos in +Genesis, <i>Tohu-wa-bohu</i>. There is, however, no proof whatsoever +that Bau and Bohu have anything to do with one +another. A goddess who can hardly be distinguished from +Bau is</p> + + +<h3>Ga-tum-dug.<a name="FNanchor_38_38" id="FNanchor_38_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a></h3> + +<p>Indeed, from the fact that she is also the 'mother of Lagash,' +it might seem that this is but another name for Bau. However, +elsewhere, in two lists of deities invoked by Gudea (Inscr. +B, col. ii. 17), Ga-tum-dug is given a separate place by the side +of Bau, once placed before and once after the latter; and it is +clear therefore that she was originally distinct from Bau. For +Gudea, Ga-tum-dug is the mother who produced him. He is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> +her servant and she is his mistress. Lagash is her beloved +city, and there he prepares for her a dwelling-place, which +later rulers, like Entena, embellish. She is called the 'brilliant' +(<i>Azag</i>), but as this title is merely a play upon the element +found in the city, Uru-azagga, sacred to Bau, not much stress +is to be laid upon this designation. Unfortunately, too, the +elements composing her name are not clear,<a name="FNanchor_39_39" id="FNanchor_39_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> and it must be +borne in mind that the reading is purely provisional. So much, +at least, seems certain: that Bau and Ga-tum-dug are two forms +under which one and the same natural element was personified. +Bau is called in the incantation texts, the mother of Ea. The +latter being distinctly a water god, we may conclude that in +some way, Bau is to be connected with water as a natural +element. The conjecture may be hazarded that she personifies +originally the waters of the upper realm—the clouds. Since +Ea, who is her son, represents the waters of the lower realm, +the relation of mother and son reflects perhaps a primitive +conception of the origin of the deep, through the descent of +the upper waters. When we come to the cosmogony of the +Babylonians, it will be seen that this conception of a distinction +between the two realms of waters is a fundamental one. This +character as a spirit of the watery elements is shared by others +of the goddesses appearing in the old Babylonian inscriptions.<a name="FNanchor_40_40" id="FNanchor_40_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a></p> + + +<h3>En-ki or Ea.</h3> + +<p>This god, who, as we shall see, becomes most prominent in +the developed form of Babylonian theology, does not occupy +the place one should expect in the early Babylonian inscriptions. +Ur-Bau erects a sanctuary to Ea, at Girsu. Another of the governors +of Lagash calls himself, priest of Ea, describing the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> +god as the "supreme councillor." From him, the king receives +"wisdom."<a name="FNanchor_41_41" id="FNanchor_41_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> A ruler, Rim-Sin, of the dynasty of Larsa, +associates Ea with Bel, declaring that these "great gods" entrusted +Uruk into his hands with the injunction to rebuild the +city that had fallen in ruins. The ideograms, with which his +name is written, En-ki, designate him as god of that 'which is +below,'—the earth in the first place; but with a more precise +differentiation of the functions of the great gods, Ea becomes +the god of the waters of the deep. When this stage of belief +is reached, Ea is frequently associated with Bel, who, it will be +recalled, is the 'god of the lower region,' but who becomes the +god of earth <i>par excellence</i>. When, therefore, Bel and Ea are +invoked, it is equivalent, in modern parlance, to calling upon +earth and water; and just as Bel is used to personify, as it +were, the unification of the earthly forces, so Ea becomes, in a +comprehensive sense, the watery deep. Ea and Bel assume +therefore conspicuous proportions in the developed Babylonian +cosmogony and theology. In the cosmogony, Bel is the creator +and champion of mankind, and Ea is the subterranean deep +which surrounds the earth, the source of wisdom and culture; +in the theology, Ea and Bel are pictured in the relation of +father and son, who, in concert, are appealed to, when misfortune +or disease overtakes the sons of man; Ea, the father, +being the personification of knowledge, and Bel, the practical +activity that 'emanates from wisdom,' as Professor Sayce,<a name="FNanchor_42_42" id="FNanchor_42_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a> +adopting the language of Gnosticism, aptly puts it; only that, +as already suggested, Marduk assumes the rôle of the older Bel.</p> + +<p>Confining ourselves here to the earlier phases of Ea, it seems +probable that he was originally regarded as the god of Eridu,—one +of the most ancient of the holy cities of Southern Babylonia, +now represented by Abu-Shahrein, and which once stood +on the shores of the Persian Gulf. Ur-Bau expressly calls the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> +god the 'king of Eridu.' The sacredness of the place is +attested by Gudea, who boasts of having made the temple of +Nin-girsu as sacred as Eridu.<a name="FNanchor_43_43" id="FNanchor_43_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> It is over this city that Ea +watches. The importance of the Persian Gulf to the growth +of the city, would make it natural to place the seat of the god +in the waters themselves. The cult of water-deities arises, +naturally, at places which are situated on large sheets of water; +and in the attributes of wisdom which an older age ascribed to +Ea, there may be seen the embodiment of the tradition that the +course of civilization proceeds from the south. The superiority +of the Persian Gulf over the other waters of Babylon—over +the two great rivers with their tributary streams and +canals—would be another factor that would lead to the god +of the Persian Gulf being regarded as the personification of +the watery element in general. For the Babylonians, the Persian +Gulf, stretching out indefinitely, and to all appearances +one with the great ocean whose ulterior shores could not be +reached, was the great 'Okeanos,' that flowed around the earth +and on which the earth rested. Ea, accordingly (somewhat +like En-lil), was delocalized, as it were, and his worship was +maintained long after the recollection of his connection with +Eridu had all but disappeared. At the same time, for the very +reason that he was cut loose from local associations, no place +could lay claim to being the seat of the deity. Ur-Bau, when +erecting a sanctuary to Ea at Girsu, significantly calls the god +'the king of Eridu.' The sanctuary is not, in this case, the +dwelling-place of the god.</p> + +<p>We are justified, therefore, in going back many centuries, +before reaching the period when Ea was, merely, the local god +of Eridu. Whether Ea is to be regarded as the real name of +the god, or is also an ideograph like En-ki, is again open to +doubt. If Ea is the real pronunciation, then the writing of the +name is a play upon the character of the deity, for it is composed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> +of two elements that signify 'house' and 'water,'—the +name thus suggesting the character and real seat of the deity. +A point in favor of regarding Ea as the real name, albeit not +decisive, is the frequent use of the unmistakable ideographic +description of the god as En-ki. The consort of Ea who +is Dam-kina also occurs in the historical texts of the first +period.</p> + +<p>The origin of Babylonian civilization at the Persian Gulf, +together with the dependence of Babylonia for her fertility upon +the streams and canals, account for the numerous water-deities +to be found in the ancient Babylonian pantheon, some of which +have already been discussed. We will meet with others further +on. Every stream, large or small, having its special protecting +deity, the number of water-deities naturally increases as +the land becomes more and more dissected by the canal system +that conditioned the prosperity of the country.</p> + +<p>Ea, as we shall see, appears under an unusually large number +of names.<a name="FNanchor_44_44" id="FNanchor_44_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> One of these is</p> + + +<h3>Nin-a-gal,</h3> + +<p>which, signifying 'god of great strength,' is given to him as +the patron of the smith's art.<a name="FNanchor_45_45" id="FNanchor_45_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a> A god of this name is mentioned +by Ur-Bau,<a name="FNanchor_46_46" id="FNanchor_46_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a> who speaks of a sanctuary erected in honor +of this deity. But since the king refers to Ea (as En-ki) a +few lines previous, it would appear that at this period Nin-agal +is still an independent deity. The later identification with Ea +appears to be due to the idea of 'strength' involved in the +name of Nin-agal. In the same way, many of the names of Ea +were originally descriptive of independent gods who, because +of the similarity of their functions to those of the great Ea,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> +were absorbed by the latter. Their names transferred to Ea, +are frequently the only trace left of their original independent +existence.</p> + + +<h3>Nergal.</h3> + +<p>Nergal, the local deity of Cuthah (or Kutu), represented by +the mound Tell-Ibrahim, some distance to the east of Babylon, +was of an entirely different character from Ea, but his history +in the development of the Babylonian religion is hardly less +interesting. The first mention of his famous temple at Cuthah +is found in an inscription of Dungi (to be read Ba'u-ukin, +according to Winckler<a name="FNanchor_47_47" id="FNanchor_47_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a>) who belongs to the second dynasty of +Ur (<i>c.</i> 2700 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>). Its origin, however, belongs to a still earlier +period. Such was the fame of the temple known as E-shid-lam, +and the closeness of the connection between the deity and his +favorite seat, that Nergal himself became known as shid-lam-ta-ud-du-a, +<i>i.e.</i>, the god that rises up from E-shid-lam. It is by this +epithet that the same Dungi describes him in one of his inscriptions.<a name="FNanchor_48_48" id="FNanchor_48_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a> +Down to the latest period of Assyro-Babylonian history, +Nergal remains identified with Kutu, being known at all times +as the god of Kutu.<a name="FNanchor_49_49" id="FNanchor_49_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> When Sargon, the king of Assyria, upon +his conquest of the kingdom of Israel (<i>c.</i> 722 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>), brought people +from Babylon, Cuthah, Ava, and so forth, across to the lands +of the Jordan to take the place of the deported Israelites, the +Hebrew narrator (II Kings, xvii. 24-35) tells us in an interesting +manner of the obnoxious foreign worship which these people +brought to the land, each division bringing the gods of their +place with them. The men of Cuthah, he adds (v. 30), made a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> +statue of Nergal. Singamil, of the dynasty, having its capital +at Uruk (<i>c.</i> 2750 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>), likewise testifies to his devotion to +Nergal by busying himself with improvements and additions to +his temple at Cuthah. His worship, therefore, was not confined +to those who happened to reside at Cuthah; and closely as he is +identified with the place, the character of the god is a general +and not a special one. The full form of his name appears to +have been Ner-unu-gal, of which Nergal, furnished by the Old +Testament passage referred to, would then be a contraction or +a somewhat corrupt form. The three elements composing his +name signify "the mighty one of the great dwelling-place," but +it is, again, an open question whether this is a mere play upon +the character of the god, as in the name of Ea (according to +one of the interpretations above suggested), or whether it is an +ideographic form of the name. The Old Testament shows, conclusively, +that the name had some such pronunciation as +Nergal. Jensen, from other evidences, inclines to the opinion +that the writing Ner-unu-gal is the result of a species of etymology, +brought about by the prominence given to Nergal as +the god of the region of the dead. It is in this capacity that +he already appears in the inscription of Singamil, who calls +him 'king of the nether world.' The "great dwelling-place," +therefore, is clearly the dominion over which Nergal rules, +and when we come to the cosmogony of the Babylonians,<a name="FNanchor_50_50" id="FNanchor_50_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> it +will be found that this epithet for the nether world—the great +dwelling-place—accords with their conception of the life after +death. But while Nergal, with a host of lesser demons about +him, appears as the Babylonian Pluto, particularly in the +religious texts, his functions are not limited to the control of +the dead. He is the personification of some of the evils that +bring death to mankind, particularly pestilence and war. The +death that follows in his path is a violent one, and his destructive +force is one that acts upon large masses rather than<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> +upon the individual. Hence, one of the most common ideographs +used to express his name is that which signifies 'sword.'</p> + +<p>War and pestilence are intimately associated in the mind of +the Babylonians. Among other nations, the sword is, similarly, +the symbol of the deity, as the plague-bringer as well as the +warrior.</p> + +<p>To this day, a pestilence is the general accompaniment of war +in the East, or follows in its wake. Different from Nin-ib, +who is also a god of war, Nergal symbolizes more particularly +the <i>destruction</i> which accompanies war, and not the strong +champion who aids his subjects in the fight. Nergal is essentially +a destroyer, and the various epithets applied to him in +the religious texts, show that he was viewed in this light. He +is at times the 'god of fire,' again 'the raging king,' 'the +violent one' 'the one who burns'; and finally identified with +the glowing heat of flame. Often, he is described by these attributes, +instead of being called by his real name.<a name="FNanchor_51_51" id="FNanchor_51_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> Dr. Jensen +has recently shown in a satisfactory manner, that this phase of +his character must be the starting-point in tracing the order of +his development. As the 'glowing flame,' Nergal is evidently +a phase of the sun, and Jensen proves that the functions and +aspects of the sun at different periods being differentiated +among the Babylonians, Nergal is more especially the hot sun +of midsummer or midday, the destructive force of which was +the chief feature that distinguished it. The hot sun of Babylonia, +that burns with fierce intensity, brings pestilence and +death, and carries on a severe contest against man. From +being the cause of death, it is but a step, and a natural one, +to make Nergal preside over the region, prepared for those +whom he has destroyed. The course taken by Babylonian +theology is responsible for the prominence given to the latter +rôle of Nergal, which finally overshadows his other phases to the +extent of suggesting the fanciful interpretation of his name as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> +the 'ruler of the great dwelling place for the dead.' In the +light of the facts set forth, another explanation for his name +must be looked for that would connect the god with solar +functions. The name may in fact be divided into two elements, +the first having the force of chief or ruler, the second +'great.' The combination would be an appropriate designation +for the sun, in the rôle of a destructive power. But Nergal, after +all, represents only one phase of the sun-god. The god who +was worshipped as the personification of the sun <i>par excellence</i> +and the sun as a whole, was</p> + + +<h3>Shamash.</h3> + +<p>Written with an ideograph that describes him as the 'god of +the day,' there is no deity whose worship enjoys an equally +continued popularity in Babylonia and Assyria. Beginning at +the earliest period of Babylonian history, and reaching to the +latest, his worship suffers no interruption. Shamash, moreover, +maintains his original character with scarcely any modification +throughout this long period. For all that, he bears a +name which signifies 'attendant' or 'servitor,' and which +sufficiently shows the subsidiary position that he occupied in +the Babylonian pantheon. One of the rulers belonging to the +dynasty of Isin calls the sun-god, the offspring of Nannar,—one +of the names of the moon-god,—and the last king of +Babylonia, Nabonnedos, does the same. In combination with +the moon-god, the latter takes precedence of Shamash,<a name="FNanchor_52_52" id="FNanchor_52_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> and in +the enumeration of the complete pantheon, in the inscriptions +of both Assyrian and Babylonian kings, the same order is +preserved. Other evidence that points to the superior rank +accorded to Sin, the moon-god over the sun deity in Babylonia, +is the reckoning of time by the moon phases. The day +begins with the evening, and not with sunrise. The moon, as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> +the chief of the starry firmament, and controlling the fate of +mankind, was the main factor in giving to the orb of night, this +peculiar prominence. The 'service,' accordingly implied in the +name of Shamash appears to have been such as was demanded +by his subsidiary position to the moon-god. Beyond the general +recognition, however, of this relationship between the two, it +does not appear that the worship paid to Shamash, was at all +affected by the secondary place, that he continued to hold in +the theoretically constructed pantheon. Less than is the case +with the other gods, is he identified with any particular city, +and we therefore find in the most ancient period, two centers of +Southern Babylonia claiming Shamash as their patron saint,—Larsa, +represented by the mound of Senkereh, and Sippar, +occupying the site of the modern Abu-Habba. It is difficult +to say which of the two was the older; the latter, in the +course of time, overshadowed the fame of the former, and its +history can be traced back considerably beyond the sun-worship +at Larsa, the first mention of which occurs in the +inscriptions of rulers of the second dynasty of Ur (<i>c.</i> 2900 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>). +Since Ur, as we shall see, was sacred to the moon-god, it is +hardly likely that the Shamash cult was introduced at Larsa by +the rulers of Ur. The kings of Ur would not have forfeited +the protection of Sin, by any manifestation of preference for +Shamash. When Ur-Gur, therefore, tells us that he 'built' a +temple to Shamash at Larsa, he must mean, as Sin-iddina of +the dynasty of Larsa does, in using the same phrase, that he +enlarged or improved the edifice. What makes it all the more +likely that Ur-Gur found sun-worship at Larsa in existence is, +that in the various places over which this ruler spread his +building activity, he is careful in each case to preserve the +status of the presiding deity. So at Nippur, he engages in +work at the temples of En-lil and of Nin-lil; while at Uruk he +devotes himself to the temple of Nanâ. In thus connecting +their names with the various sacred edifices of Babylonia, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> +rulers emphasized, on the one hand, their control of the territory +in which the building lay, and on the other, their allegiance +to the deity of the place, whose protection and favor they sought +to gain.</p> + +<p>The mention of a temple to Shamash at Sippar reverts to a +still earlier period than that of its rival. Nabonnedos tells us +that it was founded by Naram-Sin. Sargon has put his name +on some object<a name="FNanchor_53_53" id="FNanchor_53_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a> that he dedicates to the sun-god at Sippar. +That there was an historical connection between the two +temples may be concluded from the fact that the name of the +sacred edifices was the same in both,—E-babbara, signifying the +'house of lustre.' Such a similarity points to a dependence +of one upon the other, and the transfer or extension of the +worship directly from one place to the other; but, as intimated, +we have no certain means of determining which of the two is +the older. In view of the general observation to be made in +what pertains to the religion of the Babylonians, that fame and +age go hand in hand, the balance is in favor of Sippar, which +became by far the more famous of the two, received a greater +share of popular affection, and retained its prominence to the +closing days of the neo-Babylonian monarchy. We shall have +occasion in a succeeding chapter to trace the history of the sun-temple +at Sippar so far as known. It is interesting to note +that Nabonnedos, feeling the end of his power to be near, +undertakes, as one of the last resorts, the restoration of this +edifice, in the hope that by thus turning once more to the +powerful Shamash, he might secure his protection, in addition +to that of Marduk, the head of the later Babylonian pantheon.</p> + +<p>In Ur itself, Shamash was also worshipped in early days by +the side of the moon-god. Eannatum, of the dynasty of +Isin (<i>c.</i> 2800 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>), tells of two temples erected to him at that +place; and still a third edifice, sacred to both Nannar (the +moon god) and Shamash at Ur, is referred to by a king of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> +Larsa dynasty, Rim-Sin (<i>c.</i> 2300 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>). The titles given to +Shamash by the early rulers are sufficiently definite to show +in what relation he stood to his worshippers, and what the +conceptions were that were formed of him. He is, alternately, +the king and the shepherd. Since the kings also called +themselves shepherds, no especial endearment is conveyed +by this designation. In the incantations, Shamash is frequently +appealed to, either alone, or when an entire group of +spirits and deities are enumerated. He is called upon to give +life to the sick man. To him the body of the one who is +smitten with disease is confided. As the god of light, he is +appropriately called upon to banish 'darkness' from the house, +darkness being synonymous with misfortune; and the appeal is +made to him more particularly as the 'king of judgment.' From +this, it is evident that the beneficent action of the sun, was the +phase associated with Shamash. He was hailed as the god that +gives light and life to all things, upon whose favor the prosperity +of the fields and the well-being of man depend. He creates +the light and secures its blessings for mankind. His favor +produces order and stability; his wrath brings discomfiture and +ruin to the state and the individual. But his power was, perhaps, +best expressed by the title of "judge"—the favorite one +in the numerous hymns that were composed in his honor. He +was represented as seated on a throne in the chamber of judgment, +receiving the supplications of men, and according as he +manifested his favor or withdrew it, enacting the part of the +decider of fates. He loosens the bonds of the imprisoned, +grants health to the sick, and even revivifies the dead. On the +other hand, he puts an end to wickedness and destroys enemies. +He makes the weak strong, and prevents the strong from +crushing the weak. From being the judge, and, moreover, the +supreme judge of the world, it was but natural that the conception +of justice was bound up with him. His light became +symbolical of righteousness, and the absence of it, or darkness,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> +was viewed as wickedness. Men and gods look expectantly +for his light. He is the guide of the gods, as well as the ruler +of men.</p> + +<p>While there are no direct indications in the historical texts +known at present, that this conception of the sun-god existed +in all its details before the days of Hammurabi, there is every +reason to believe that this was the case; the more so, in that +it does not at all transcend the range of religious ideas that we +have met with in the case of the other gods of this period. +Nor does this conception in any way betray itself, as being due +to the changed political conditions that set in, with the union of +the states under Hammurabi. Still, the age of the religious +texts not being fixed, it is thus necessary to exercise some +caution before using them without the basis of an allusion in +the historical texts.</p> + + +<h3>Utu.</h3> + +<p>It but remains, before passing on, to note that the same +deity appears under various names. Among these are Utu<a name="FNanchor_54_54" id="FNanchor_54_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> +and apparently also Babbar<a name="FNanchor_55_55" id="FNanchor_55_55"></a><a href="#Footnote_55_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a> in the old Babylonian inscriptions. +For the latter, a Semitic etymology is forthcoming, and we may +therefore regard it as representing a real pronunciation, and +not an ideographic writing. Babbar, a contracted form from +Barbar, is the reduplication of the same stem <i>bar</i><a name="FNanchor_56_56" id="FNanchor_56_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a> that we have +already met with, in the name of the temple sacred to Shamash. +Like E-babbara, therefore, Babbar is the "brilliantly shining +one,"—a most appropriate name for the sun, and one frequently +applied to him in the religious texts. As to Utu, there is some +doubt whether it represents a real pronunciation or not. My +own opinion is that it does, and that the underlying stem is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> +<i>atû</i>, which in Babylonian has almost the same meaning as <i>bar</i> +or <i>barû</i>, viz., 'to see.' 'Utu' would thus again designate the +sun as 'that which shines forth.'</p> + +<p>It will be recalled, that other instances have been noted of +the same god appearing under different names. The most +natural explanation for this phenomenon is, that the variation +corresponds to the different localities where the god was worshipped. +The identification would not be made until the union +of the various Babylonian states had been achieved. Such a +union would be a potent factor in systematizing the pantheon. +When once it was recognized that the various names represented, +in reality, one and the same deity, it would not be long +before the name, peculiar to the place where the worship was +most prominent, would set the others aside or reduce them to +mere epithets.</p> + +<p>It may well be that Shamash was the name given to the god +at Sippar, whereas at Ur he may have been known as Utu. +Ur-Bau (of the first Ur dynasty) calls him Utu also, when +speaking of the temple at Larsa, but it would be natural for +the kings of Ur to call the sun-god of Larsa by the same name +that he had in Ur. That Hammurabi, however, calls the sun-god +of Larsa, Utu, may be taken as an indication that, as +such he was known at that place, for since we have no record +of a sun-temple at Babylon in these days, there would be no +motive that might induce him to transfer a name, otherwise +known to him, to another place. The testimony of Hammurabi +is therefore as direct as that of Sargon, who calls the sun-god +of Sippar, Shamash. It is not always possible to determine, +with as much show of probability, as in the case of the sun-god, +the distribution of the various names, but the general conclusion, +for all that, is warranted in every instance, that a variety of +names refers, originally, to an equal variety of places over which +the worship was spread,—only that care must be exercised to +distinguish between distinctive names and mere epithets.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span></p> + +<h3>Â.</h3> + +<p>A consort of the sun-deity, appearing frequently at his side in +the incantation texts, is Â. It is more particularly with the +Shamash of Sippar, that  is associated. She is simply the +'beloved one' of the sun-deity, with no special character of her +own. In the historical texts, her rôle is quite insignificant, and +for the period with which we are at present concerned she is +only mentioned once by a North Babylonian ruler, Ma-an-ish-tu-su,<a name="FNanchor_57_57" id="FNanchor_57_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a> +who dedicates an object to her. The reading of the +ideogram Â, or Nin- (<i>i.e.</i>, Lady Â), is doubtful. Malkatu +("mistress" or "queen") is offered as a plausible conjecture.<a name="FNanchor_58_58" id="FNanchor_58_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a> +Lehman (<i>Keils Bibl.</i> iii. I, 202) suggests <i>A-Ja</i>, but on insufficient +grounds. In any case  has the force of mistress, and Nin- +simply designates the goddess as the lady, mistress, or queen. +It is likely that  was originally an independent deity, and one +of the names of the sun-god in a particular locality. It +occurs in proper names as a title of Shamash. Instead, however, +of becoming identified with Shamash,  degenerated +into a pale reflection of Shamash, pictured under the relationship +of consort to him. This may have been due to the union +of Shamash with the place where  was worshipped. If, as +seems likely, that near Sippar, there was another city on the +other side of the Euphrates, forming a suburb to it (as Borsippa +did to Babylon), the conclusion is perhaps warranted that  +was originally the sun-god worshipped at the place which +afterwards became incorporated with Sippar.<a name="FNanchor_59_59" id="FNanchor_59_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a> Such an amalgamation +of two originally male deities into a combination of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> +male and female, strange as it may seem to us, is in keeping +with the lack of sharp distinction between male and female in +the oldest forms of Semitic religions. In the old cuneiform +writing the same sign is used to indicate "lord" or "lady" +when attached to deities. Ishtar appears among Semites both +as a male<a name="FNanchor_60_60" id="FNanchor_60_60"></a><a href="#Footnote_60_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a> and as a female deity. Sex was primarily a question +of strength. The stronger god was viewed as masculine; +the weaker as feminine.</p> + + +<h3>Nannar and Sin.</h3> + +<p>Nannar, a reduplicated form like Babbar, with the assimilation +of the first r to n (nar-nar = nannar), has very much the same +meaning as Babbar. The latter, as we have seen, is the "lustrous +one," the former, the "one that furnishes light." The +similarity in meaning is in keeping with the similarity of function +of the two deities, thus named: Babbar being the sun and +Nannar, the moon. It was under the name of Nannar that the +moon-god was worshipped at Ur, the most famous and probably +the oldest of the cities over which the moon-god presided. +The association of Nannar with Ur is parallel to that of Shamash +with Sippar,—not that the moon-god's jurisdiction or +worship was confined to that place, but that the worship of +the deity of that place eclipsed others, and the fame and +importance at Ur led to the overshadowing of the moon-worship +there, over the obeisance to him paid elsewhere.</p> + +<p>What further motives led to the choice of the moon-god as +the patron of Ur, lies beyond the scope of our knowledge. +Due allowance must be made for that natural selection, which +takes place in the realm of thought as much as in the domain +of nature. Attention has already been called to the predominance +given by the Babylonians to the moon over the sun.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> +The latter is expressly called the "offspring of the lord of +brilliant beginning," that is, the moon-god (Delitzsch, <i>Assyr. +Hdw.</i>, p. 234 <i>a</i>). It is needless, therefore, to do more, at +this place, than to emphasize the fact anew. The moon serving +much more as a guide to man, through the regular character +of its constant changes, than the sun, was connected in the +religious system with both the heavenly and the terrestrial +forces. In view of Nannar's position in the heavens, he +was called the "heifer of Anu." Anu, it will be recalled, was +the god of heaven (and heaven itself), while the "heifer"<a name="FNanchor_61_61" id="FNanchor_61_61"></a><a href="#Footnote_61_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a> is +here used metaphorically for offspring, the picture being suggested +probably by the "horn" that the moon presents at a +certain phase. This 'horn' constitutes his crown, and he is +frequently represented on seal cylinders with a crescent over +his head, and with a long flowing beard, that is described as +having the color of lapislazuli. A frequent title is the 'lord +of the crown.' On the other hand, by virtue of its influence +on the earth, regulating, as the ancients observed, the tides, +the moon was connected by the Babylonians with the reckoning +of time. Because of this connection with the 'lower world,' +it seems, he was also regarded as the first-born of Bel. His +sacred edifice at Ur was one to which all rulers of the place +devoted themselves. Ur-Gur, Nur-Rammân, Sin-iddina, and +Kudur-mabuk tell of their embellishment of the temple, each +one appropriating to himself the title of 'builder,' in which +they gloried. So close, again, was the identification of the city +with the deity, that the latter was frequently known simply as +the god of Ur, and the former, as the city of Nannar.</p> + +<p>Another name of the moon-god was Sin,—the meaning of +which escapes us. At the side of Ur, Harran is the place most +celebrated by reason of its moon-worship, and there is every +reason to believe that the name Sin was originally attached to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> +Harran. The migrations of the ancient Hebrews were connected +as we now know with political movements in Babylonia. +They proceed from Ur—or Ur-Kasdim, <i>i.e.</i>, Chaldean Ur—northward +to Harran, which, by virtue of its position, became a +town of much importance. This association of Ur with Harran +furnishes an indication for historical relations of some sort, +existing between the two places. It is therefore not accidental, +that the patron deity of both places was the same. As yet, no +excavations have been made at Harran, and we are, therefore, +dependent upon incidental notices for our knowledge of its history. +These sufficiently show that the place continued through +a long period to preserve its sacred character. The old temple +there, was one of the many that stirred up the religious zeal of +Nabonnedos; and previous to this, we find several Assyrian +kings occupied in embellishing and restoring the structure. An +interesting reference to Harran, bearing witness to its ancient +dignity, is found in an inscription of Sargon II. of Assyria +(722-706 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>), who enumerates among his claims to the favor +of the gods, that he restored the "laws and customs of Harran," +by which he evidently means that he was instrumental in giving +the place, the dignity it once enjoyed. A curious feature +connected with Sin, is the occurrence of the name in Mount +Sinai, in the wilderness of Sin, as well as in an inscription of +Southern Arabia. May not this be a further testimony to the +association of Harran with Sin, since it is from Harran that +the departure of the Hebrews for the west took place? What +more natural than that in the migrations which carried the +Hebrews to the west, the worship of Sin should have been +transferred to Arabia?<a name="FNanchor_62_62" id="FNanchor_62_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a> Important as Ur and Harran are as +sacred towns, politically they do not retain their prominence +after the days of Hammurabi. The amalgamation of Nannar<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> +with Sin, and the almost exclusive occurrence of the latter +name in later times, does not of necessity point to a preponderating +influence of Harran over Ur, but may be due to the +greater fame which the former place acquired as the goal of religious +pilgrimages. The situation of Harran—the name itself +signifies 'road'—as the highway leading to the west, must +have been an important factor, in bringing this about. However +this may be, Sin and Nannar are as thoroughly identical +in the period following Hammurabi, as Babbar and Shamash. +The attributes of the one are transferred to the other so completely, +that a separation of the two is no longer possible.</p> + +<p>The ideographs with which the name of Sin is written show +him to have been regarded as the god of wisdom, but while +wisdom and light may be connected, it is Nannar's character as +the "illuminator" that becomes the chief trait of the god. No +doubt the preëminence of Ea in this respect, who is the personification +of wisdom, <i>par excellence</i>, made it superfluous to +have another deity possessing the same trait. It is, accordingly, +as the god of light, that Sin continues to be adored in the +Babylonian religion; and when he is referred to, in the historical +texts and hymns, this side of his nature is the one dwelt upon. +Through his light, the traps laid by the evil spirits, who are +active at night, are revealed. In later times, apparently through +Assyrian influence, the reckoning of time was altered to the +extent of making the day begin with sunrise, instead of with the +approach of night; and this, together with the accommodation +of the lunar cycle to the movements of the sun, brought about +a partial change of the former conditions, and gave somewhat +greater prominence to Shamash. As a consequence, the rôle +of Sin is not as prominent in the hymns that belong to a later +period as in those of earlier days.</p> + +<p>The oracles of the Assyrian kings are addressed to Shamash, +and not to Sin. Moreover, the personal factor in the case of +Sin, if one may express oneself thus, is not as strong as in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> +that of some other gods. His traits are of a more general +kind. He is supreme; there is none like him, and the spirits +are subservient to his will. But terms of endearment are few, +while on the mythological side, comparatively little is made of +him. He is strong and he is holy. He is called upon to clothe +the evil-doer with leprosy, as with a dress. In a robe, befitting +his dignity, he stalks about. Without him, no city is founded, no +district restored to former glory. Sin is called the father of the +gods, but in a metaphorical rather than in a real sense. The +only one of his children who takes an important part in the later +phases of Babylonian-Assyrian worship is his daughter Ishtar. +She seems to have taken to herself some of the traits of right +belonging to Sin, and the prominence of her worship may +be regarded as an additional factor in accounting for the +comparative obscurity to which Sin gradually is assigned. At +all events, Sin is a feature of the earlier period of the Babylonian +religion rather than of the later periods.</p> + + +<h3>Innanna.</h3> + +<p>The secondary position held by the female deities in the +Babylonian pantheon has been repeatedly referred to. This +trait of the religion finds an illustration not only in the +'shadowy' character of the consorts of the gods, but also in +the manner in which goddesses, originally distinct from one +another and enjoying an existence independent of any male +consort, lose their individuality, as it were, and become merely +so many forms of one and the same deity. Indeed, as we +approach the moment when the gods of the Babylonian +pantheon are ranged into a system, the tendency becomes +pronounced to recognize only <i>one</i> goddess, representative of +the principle of generation—one 'great mother,' endowed with +a variety of traits according to the political and social conditions +prevailing at different times in Babylonia and Assyria.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> +In the earliest period which we are now considering, we can +still distinguish a number of goddesses who afterwards became +merged into this one great goddess. These are Ninni (or +Innanna), Nanâ, and Anunit.</p> + +<p>Ninni and Innanna are names that appear to have a common +origin.<a name="FNanchor_63_63" id="FNanchor_63_63"></a><a href="#Footnote_63_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a> Both embody the notion of 'ladyship.' The worship +of this goddess centers in the district of Lagash. Ur-Bau +(c. 3000 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>), who addresses her as 'glorious and supreme,' +builds a temple in her honor at Gishgalla, and Gudea refers to +a temple known as E-anna, <i>i.e.</i>, heavenly house in Girsu.<a name="FNanchor_64_64" id="FNanchor_64_64"></a><a href="#Footnote_64_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a> For +Gudea, Ninni is the "mistress of the world." Another ruler +of Lagash whose name is doubtfully read as E-dingir-ra-na-gin,<a name="FNanchor_65_65" id="FNanchor_65_65"></a><a href="#Footnote_65_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a> +but who is even earlier than Ur-Bau, declares that he has been +'called' by Innanna to the throne. She is mentioned by the +side of Nin-khar-sag. We are still in the period where local +associations formed a controlling factor in ensuring the popularity +of a deity, and while the goddesses attached to the gods +of the important centers are still differentiated, the tendency +already exists to designate the female consorts simply as the +'goddess,'—to apply to all, the traits that may once have been +peculiar to one. As we pass from one age to the other, there is +an increasing difficulty in keeping the various local 'goddesses' +apart. Even the names become interchangeable; and since +these goddesses all represented essentially the same principle +of generation and fertility, it was natural that with the union +of the Babylonian states they should become merged into one +great mother-goddess. A 'local' goddess who retains rather +more of her individuality than others, is</p> + +<h3><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span>Nanâ.</h3> + +<p>Her name is again playfully interpreted by the Babylonians—through +association with Nin—as 'the lady' <i>par excellence</i>. +She was the chief goddess of the city of Uruk. Her temple at +Uruk is first mentioned by Ur-Gur, of the second dynasty of +Ur. It is restored and enlarged by Dungi, the successor of +Ur-Bau, and so thoroughly is she identified with her edifice +known as E-anna (again a play upon her name), that she +becomes known as the Lady of E-anna.<a name="FNanchor_66_66" id="FNanchor_66_66"></a><a href="#Footnote_66_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a> She appears to have +had a temple also at Ur, and it is to this edifice that later +rulers of Larsa—Kudur-Mabuk and Rim-Sin, as well as the +kings of the Isin dynasty, Gamil-Ninib, Libit-Ishtar, and Ishme-Dagan—refer +in their inscriptions.</p> + +<p>The members of the Isin dynasty pride themselves upon +their control over Uruk, and naturally appear as special devotees +to Nanâ, whose chosen "consort" they declare themselves +to be, wielding the sceptre, as it were, in union with her. +Already at this period, Nanâ is brought into connection with the +moon-god, being called by Kudur-Mabuk the daughter of Sin. +The relationship in this case indicates, primarily, the supremacy +exercised by Ur, and also a similarity in the traits of the two +deities. In the fully developed cosmology, Nanâ is the planet +Venus, whose various aspects, as morning and evening star, +suggested an analogy with the phases of the moon.</p> + +<p>Venus, like the moon, served as a guide to man, while her +inferiority in size and importance to the former, would naturally +come to be expressed under the picture of father and +daughter. In a certain sense, all the planets appearing at the +same time and in the same region with the moon were the +children of the latter. Sin, therefore, is appropriately called<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> +the father of gods, just as Anu, the personification of the +heaven itself, is the supreme father of Sin and Shamash, and +of all the heavenly bodies. The metaphorical application of +'father' as 'source,' throughout Oriental parlance, must be +kept in mind in interpreting the relationship between the +gods. Still another name of the goddess is Anunit, which +appears to have been peculiar to the North Babylonian city +Agade, and emphasizes her descent from "Anu," the god of +heaven. Her temple at Agade, known as E-ul-mash, is the +object of Sargon's devotion, which makes her, with Bel and +Shamash, the oldest triad of gods mentioned in the Babylonian +inscriptions. But the name which finally displaces all others, is</p> + + +<h3>Ishtar.</h3> + +<p>Where the name originated has not yet been ascertained, as +little as its etymology,<a name="FNanchor_67_67" id="FNanchor_67_67"></a><a href="#Footnote_67_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a> but it seems to belong to Northern +Babylonia rather than to the south.</p> + +<p>In time, all the names that we have been considering—Innanna, +Nanâ, and Anunit—became merely so many designations +of Ishtar. She absorbs the titles and qualities of all, and +the tendency which we have pointed out finds its final outcome +in the recognition of Ishtar as the one and only goddess +endowed with powers and an existence independent of association +with any male deity, though even this independence does +not hinder her from being named at times as the associate of +the chief god of Assyria—the all-powerful Ashur. The attempt +has been made by Sayce and others to divide the various +names of Ishtar among the aspects of Venus as morning +and evening star, but there is no evidence to show that the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> +Babylonians distinguished the one from the other so sharply +as to make two goddesses of one and the same planet.</p> + +<p>It is more in accord with what, as we have seen, has been +the general character of the Babylonian pantheon, to account +for the identification of Ninni, Nanâ, and Anunit with Ishtar +on the supposition that the different names belonged originally +to different localities. Ishtar was appropriately denominated +the brilliant goddess. She is addressed as the mother +of gods, which signals her supreme position among the +female deities. 'The mistress of countries' alternating with +'the mistress of mountains,'<a name="FNanchor_68_68" id="FNanchor_68_68"></a><a href="#Footnote_68_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a> is one of her common titles; +and as the growing uniqueness of her position is one of the +features of the Babylonian-Assyrian religion, it is natural that +she should become simply <i>the</i> goddess. This was especially +the case with the Assyrians, to whom Ishtar became a goddess +of war and battle, the consort, at times, of the chief god +of the Assyrian pantheon. At the same time it is important +to note that the warlike character of the goddess goes back +to the time of Hammurabi (<i>Keils Bibl.</i> 3, 1, 113), and is dwelt +upon by other Babylonian kings (<i>e.g.</i>, Nebuchadnezzar I., c. 1130 +<span class="smcap">B.C.</span>) prior to the rise of the Assyrian power. How Ishtar +came to take on so violent a character is not altogether clear. +There are no indications of this rôle in the incantation texts, +where she is simply the kind mother who is appealed to, to +release the sufferer from the power of the disease-bringing +spirits. In the prayers, as will be shown in the proper place, +she becomes the vehicle for the expression of the highest +religious and ethical thought attained by the Babylonians. On +the other hand, in the great Babylonian epic,<a name="FNanchor_69_69" id="FNanchor_69_69"></a><a href="#Footnote_69_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a> dealing with +the adventures of a famous hero, Gilgamesh, Ishtar, who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> +makes her appearance at the summer solstice, is a raging goddess +who smites those who disobey her commands with wasting +disease. Starting with this phase of the goddess' character, +one can at least understand the process of her further development +into a fierce deity presiding over the fortunes of war. +The epic just referred to belongs to the old Babylonian period. +It embodies ancient traditions of rivalry between the Babylonian +principalities, though there are traces of several recastings +which the epic received. The violent Ishtar, therefore, is a +type going back to the same period as the other side of her +character that is emphasized elsewhere. Since, moreover, the +Ishtar in the Gilgamesh epic is none other than the chief goddess +of Uruk, all further doubt as to the union of such diverging +traits in one and the same personage falls to the ground. +In this same epic, Ishtar appears as sympathizing with the +sufferings of mankind, and bewailing the destruction that +was at one time decreed by the gods. It is noteworthy +that the violent Ishtar appears in that portion of the epic +which, on the assumption of a zodiacal interpretation for the +composition, corresponds to the summer solstice, whereas, the +destruction which arouses her sympathy takes place in the +eleventh month. It is quite possible, therefore, that the two +aspects of Venus, as evening and morning stars, corresponding, +as they do, to the summer and winter seasons, are reflected in +this double character of the goddess. We are not justified, +however, in going further and assuming that her double rôle as +daughter of Sin and daughter of Anu is to be accounted for in +the same manner. In the Gilgamesh epic, she is found in association +with Anu, and to the latter she appeals for protection as +her father, and yet it is as the daughter of Sin that she enters +the world of the dead to seek for the waters that may heal her +bridegroom, Tammuz.<a name="FNanchor_70_70" id="FNanchor_70_70"></a><a href="#Footnote_70_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a> Evidently, the distinction between<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> +Ishtar as the daughter of Anu and as the daughter of Sin is not +an important one, the term daughter in both cases being a +metaphor to express a relationship both of physical nature and +of a political character. Of the various forms under which the +goddess appears, that of Anunit—a feminine form indicating +descent from and appertaining to Anu—attaches itself most +clearly to the god of heaven, and it may be that it was not +until the assimilation of Anunit and Nanâ with Ishtar that the +goddess is viewed as at once the daughter of Anu and of Sin. +If this be so, there is surely nothing strange in the fact that a +planet like Venus should be regarded in one place as the +daughter of heaven and in another brought into relationship +with the moon. She actually belongs to both.</p> + +<p>Just as in Babylonia, so in Assyria, there were various +Ishtars, or rather various places where the goddess was worshipped +as the guardian spirit, but her rôle in the north is so +peculiar that all further consideration of it must be postponed +until we come to consider, in due time, the Assyrian pantheon. +There will be occasion, too, when treating of the Gilgamesh epic, +to dwell still further on some of her traits. All that need be +said here is to emphasize the fact that the popularity of the +Babylonian Ishtar in Assyria, as manifested by Esarhaddon's +zeal in restoring her temple at Uruk, and Ashurbanabal's restoration +of Nanâ's statue (<i>c.</i> 635 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>) which had been captured by +the Elamites 1635 years before Ashurbanabal's reign, is largely +due to the effected identity with the goddess who, for the +Assyrians, was regarded chiefly as the goddess of war and +strife. In worshipping the southern Ishtars, the Assyrian kings +felt themselves to be showing their allegiance to the same deity +to whom, next to Ashur, most of their supplications were +addressed, and of whom as warriors they stood in dread.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span></p> + +<h3>Ninâ.</h3> + +<p>A goddess who, while sharing the fate of her sister goddesses +in being overshadowed by Ishtar, yet merits a special +treatment, is one whose name is plausibly conjectured to be +read Ninâ. The compound ideogram expressing the deity +signifies 'house of the fish.' The word 'house' in Semitic +parlance is figuratively extended to convey the idea of +'possessing or harboring.' Applied to a settlement, the ideogram +would be the equivalent of our 'Fishtown.' It is with +this same ideogram that the famous capitol of Assyria, +Nineveh, is written in the cuneiform texts, and since the +phonetic reading for the city, Ni-na-a, also occurs, it is only +legitimate to conclude that the latter is the correct reading for +the deity as well. As a matter of course, if the goddess bears +a name identical with that of a city, it cannot be the Assyrian +city which is meant in the old Babylonian inscriptions, but +some other place bearing the same name. Such a place +actually occurs in the inscriptions of Gudea. It is, in fact, +one of the three towns that combined with Shirpurla to create +the great capitol bearing the latter name; and Jensen<a name="FNanchor_71_71" id="FNanchor_71_71"></a><a href="#Footnote_71_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a> has +called attention to a passage in one of Gudea's inscriptions in +which the goddess is brought into direct association with the +town, so that it would appear that Ninâ is the patron of Ninâ, +in the same way that Nin-girsu is the protector of Girsu. In keeping +with this we find the mention of the goddess limited to the +rulers of Lagash. Several of them—En-anna-tuma, Entemena, +and Gudea—declare themselves to have been chosen by her. +She is said to regard Gudea with special favor. She determines +destinies. Another king, Ur-Ninâ, embodies the name of the +goddess in his own, and devotes himself to the enlargement of her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> +temple. From the manner in which she is associated with Nin-girsu, +aiding the latter in guarding his temple E-ninnu, and uniting +with the god in granting the sceptre to Gudea, one is tempted +to conclude that the two towns, Girsu and Ninâ, were amalgamated +before their absorption into Lagash, so that the god +and goddess acquired the relationship to one another of +husband and consort. As for the connection between this +Babylonian Ninâ and the late Assyrian capital, it is quite +possible that the origin of the latter is to be traced to a settlement +made by inhabitants of the former, although it should be +added that there is no positive evidence that can be adduced +in support of this proposition. 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, Ninâ 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 Ninâ = +Ishtar.</p> + +<p>In the incantation texts, Ninâ 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. Instead +of being a member of the heavenly pantheon, her place is with +the kingdom over which Ea presides, and whose dwelling-place +is the watery deep. In any case, Ninâ is originally +distinct from Ishtar, Nanâ, and Anunit; and she retains an +independent existence to a later period than most of the other +great goddesses that have been discussed. In an inscription +of the days of Belnâdinaplu (<i>c.</i> 1100 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>), published by Hilprecht,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span><a name="FNanchor_72_72" id="FNanchor_72_72"></a><a href="#Footnote_72_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a> +Ninâ appears as the patron deity of Dêr,—a city of +Southern Babylonia. There too she is called the 'daughter of Ea,' +the creator of everything. She is 'the mistress of goddesses.' +Attached to her temple there are lands that having been +wrongfully wrested from the priests are returned upon royal +command, under solemn invocation of the goddess. How her +worship came to be transferred to Dêr we do not know. She +appears in the inscription in question by the side of a goddess +who—following Hommel—is none other than Bau. Dêr is +called the city of the god Anu, and we can only suppose that +it must at one time have risen to sufficient importance to harbor +in its midst a number of deities. It is presumably<a name="FNanchor_73_73" id="FNanchor_73_73"></a><a href="#Footnote_73_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a> the place +whence Nebuchadnezzar I. sets out in the twelfth century to +drive the Cassites off the throne of Babylonia. May it be +that, during the days of the foreign rule, priests attached to +the service of various of the old gods and goddesses transferred +the worship of these deities to places more secure from +interference?</p> + +<p>Be this as it may, if our Ninâ has any connection with the +goddess of Nineveh, it is certain that Ishtar has retained none +of Ninâ's traits. The fusion in this case has been so complete +that naught but the faintest tradition of an original and +independent Ninâ has survived in the North.</p> + + +<h3>Anu.</h3> + +<p>This god, who, from a theoretical point of view (as will be +shown in a subsequent chapter), was regarded as standing at +the head of the organized Babylonian pantheon, figures only +incidentally in the inscriptions prior to the days of Hammurabi. +Ur-Gur of the second dynasty of Ur, in invoking Nannar, calls<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> +the latter 'the powerful bull of Anu.' The reference is interesting, +for it shows that already in these early days the position +of Anu, as the god of the heavenly expanse, was fixed. The +moon appearing in the heavens, and the resemblance of its +crescent to a bull's horn,<a name="FNanchor_74_74" id="FNanchor_74_74"></a><a href="#Footnote_74_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a> are the two factors that account for +the expressive epithet used by Ur-Bau. That the worship of +the god of heaven <i>par excellence</i> should not have enjoyed great +popularity in the early days of the Babylonian religion might +seem strange at first sight. A little reflection, however, will +make this clear. A god of the heavens is an abstract conception, +and while it is possible that even in an early age, such a +conception may have arisen in some minds, it is not of a +character calculated to take a popular hold. As we proceed +in our attempt to trace the development of the Babylonian +religion, we will find the line of demarcation separating the +theological system, as evolved by the schoolmen, from the +popular phases of the religion, becoming more marked. In the +inscriptions of the old Babylonian rulers, comparatively little of +the influence of the Babylonian theologians is to be detected. +Even the description of the moon as the bull of heaven falls +within the domain of popular fancy. It is different in the days +after Hammurabi, when political concentration leads to the +focussing of intellectual life in the Euphrates Valley, with all +the consequences that the establishment of a central priesthood, +with growing powers over ever-increasing territory, involves. +It is to be noted, moreover, that the manner in which in the +old Babylonian inscriptions <i>Anu</i> is written,<a name="FNanchor_75_75" id="FNanchor_75_75"></a><a href="#Footnote_75_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a> indicates that +the abstraction involved in the conception of a god of heaven +had not yet been reached, though some measure of personification +was of course inevitable at a time when animistic<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> +notions still held sway. A direct indication of this personification +of heaven without the deification appears in +the epithet 'child of Anu,' bestowed upon the goddess +Bau. The reference to the heavens in this connection is +an allusion to Bau's position as the patroness of that quarter +of Lagash known as the 'brilliant town,'<a name="FNanchor_76_76" id="FNanchor_76_76"></a><a href="#Footnote_76_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a> and where Bau's +temple stood. The transference of the quality of 'brilliancy' +from the town to the goddess would be expressed by calling +the latter the offspring of that part of visible nature which is +associated in the mind with 'brilliancy.' Somewhat mysterious, +and still awaiting a satisfactory explanation, is the title 'sacrificer,' or +'priest of Anu,' which one of the rulers of Lagash, +Ur-Nin-girsu, assumes. It is scarcely possible that the god of +heaven can be meant; and, on the other hand, if we are to +assume merely a personification of heaven, we encounter fresh +difficulties. It seems to me that the use of Anu<a name="FNanchor_77_77" id="FNanchor_77_77"></a><a href="#Footnote_77_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a> here is +purely metaphorical for 'high' or 'lofty,' and that the king +merely wishes to emphasize the dignity of his station by +declaring himself to be the heavenly priest, somewhat as we +should say 'priest by divine grace,' or 'supreme priest.'</p> + + +<h3>Nin-si<a name="FNanchor_78_78" id="FNanchor_78_78"></a><a href="#Footnote_78_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a>-a.</h3> + +<p>Ur-Bau and Gudea alone of the ancient rulers refer to this +god. The former erects a temple in honor of the god in some +quarter of his capitol city, while the latter emphasizes the +strength that the god has given him. These references, however, +show that the god must have been of considerable importance, +and in this case, his disappearance from the later +pantheon is probably due to the absorption of his rôle by the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> +greater god of Lagash,—Nin-girsu. Like Nin-girsu, Nin-si-a +was a god of war, and his worship, imported perhaps from +some ancient site to Lagash, falls into desuetude, as the +attribute accorded to him becomes the distinguishing trait of +the chief deity of the place.</p> + + +<h3>Gal-alim.</h3> + +<p>Among the various deities to whom Gudea gives praise for +the position and glory which he attains is Gal-alim.<a name="FNanchor_79_79" id="FNanchor_79_79"></a><a href="#Footnote_79_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a> From +him he has received great rule and a lofty sceptre. The +phrase is of a very general nature and reveals nothing as to +the special character of the god in question. An earlier king, +Uru-kagina, refers to the temple of the god at Lagash. Gal-alim +may have been again a merely local deity belonging to one of the +towns that fell under Gudea's rule, and whose attributes again +were so little marked that this god too disappeared under the +overshadowing importance of Nin-girsu. He and another god, +Dun-shagga, are viewed as the sons of Nin-girsu.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Coming to some of the deities that we may designate as +minor, it is to be noted that in the case of certain ones, at least, +it will be found that they may be identified with others more +prominent, and that what seem to be distinct names are in +reality descriptive epithets of gods already met with. This +remark applies more particularly to such names as begin with +the element Nin, signifying either 'lord' or 'lady,' and which, +when followed by the name of a place, always points to its +being a title, and, when followed by an ideographic compound, +only diminishes that probability to a slight degree. We have +already come across several instances; thus Nin-girsu, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> +lord of Girsu, has been shown to be a form of Ninib, itself an +ideogram, the reading of which, it will be recalled, is still +uncertain; and again, Nin-khar-sag has been referred to, as +one of the titles of the great goddess Belit. Similarly, Nin-gish-zida, +whose name signifies 'the lord of the right-hand (or +propitious) sceptre,' becomes a title and not a name, and +when Gudea speaks of this god as the one who leads him to +battle, and calls him 'king,' he is simply describing the +same god who is elsewhere spoken of as Nin-girsu. By the +side of Nin-girsu and Nin-gish-zida appears Nin-shakh, who, as +Oppert<a name="FNanchor_80_80" id="FNanchor_80_80"></a><a href="#Footnote_80_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a> has shown, is like Nin-girsu the prototype of the well-known +god of war, Ninib. However, Nin-shakh occupies, in +contradistinction to Nin-gish-zida and others, a position in the +old Babylonian pantheon of an independent character, so that +it is hardly justifiable, in such a case, to identify him completely +with Ninib, and place the name on a par with the +epithets just referred to. The dividing line between the mere +title and an independent god thus becomes at times very faint, +and yet it is well to maintain it whenever called for. In the +following enumeration of the minor gods of the old Babylonian +pantheon, the attempt will be made to bring out this distinction +in each instance.</p> + +<p>Beginning with</p> + + +<h3>Nin-shakh</h3> + +<p>the element <i>Nin</i>, as has several times been mentioned, points +to an ideographic form. The second element signifies 'wild +boar,' and from other sources we know that this animal was +a sacred one in Babylonia, as among other Semitic nations.<a name="FNanchor_81_81" id="FNanchor_81_81"></a><a href="#Footnote_81_81" class="fnanchor">[81]</a> +Its flesh, on certain days of the Babylonian calendar, was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> +forbidden to be eaten, from which we are permitted to conclude +that these days were dedicated to the animal, and the prohibition +represents perhaps the traces of some old religious festival. +May Nin-shakh therefore have been a 'swine deity,' just as +Nergal is symbolized by the 'lion'? In both cases the animal +would be a symbol of the violent and destructive character of +the god.</p> + +<p>The ferocious character of the 'swine' would naturally +result in assigning to Nin-shakh warlike attributes; and as a +matter of fact he is identified at times with Ninib. His subordinate +position, however, is indicated by his being called the +'servant,' generally of En-lil, occasionally also of Anu, and as +such he bears the name of Pap-sukal,<a name="FNanchor_82_82" id="FNanchor_82_82"></a><a href="#Footnote_82_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a> <i>i.e.</i>, 'divine messenger.' +Rim-Sin builds a temple to Nin-shakh at Uruk, and from its +designation as his 'favorite dwelling place' we may conclude +that Rim-Sin only restores or enlarges an ancient temple of the +deity. In the light of this, the relationship above set forth +between Nin-girsu, Nin-gish-zida, and Nin-shakh becomes somewhat +clearer. The former, the local deity of Girsu, would naturally +be called by the kings 'the lord of the true sceptre,' while +the subordination of Girsu as a quarter of Lagash finds its reflection +in the relationship of master and servant pictured as +existing between En-lil and Nin-girsu. Again, the warlike +character of the patron deity of Girsu would lead to an identification +with Nin-shakh of Uruk, possessing the same traits; +and the incorporation of Uruk as a part of the same empire +which included Lagash and its quarters, would be the last +link bringing about the full equation between the three. With +Ninib—the solar deity—coming into prominence as the god +of war, all three names, Nin-girsu, Nin-gish-zida, and Nin-shakh,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> +would be regarded by a later age as merely descriptive +of one and the same god.</p> + + +<h3>Dun-shagga.</h3> + +<p>Gudea makes mention in one of his inscriptions, by the side +of Nin-gish-zida, of a god Dun-shagga,<a name="FNanchor_83_83" id="FNanchor_83_83"></a><a href="#Footnote_83_83" class="fnanchor">[83]</a> whose name signifies +the 'chief hero,' but the phonetic reading of which it is impossible +to determine.<a name="FNanchor_84_84" id="FNanchor_84_84"></a><a href="#Footnote_84_84" class="fnanchor">[84]</a> Like Nin-gish-zida, he is a warlike god, +and from that one might suppose that he too is only another +form of Nin-girsu-Ninib. At all events, he did not differ +materially from the latter. It is from him, that Gudea again +declares his power to be derived, just as elsewhere he accords +to Nin-girsu this distinction. The element 'Dun,' which is +very much the same as 'Nin,' speaks in favor of regarding +Dun-shagga as a title; but, in default of positive evidence, it +will not be out of place to give him an independent position, +and to regard his identification with Nin-girsu as a later phase +due to the extension of Nin-girsu's jurisdiction and his corresponding +absorption of a varying number of minor gods. This +tendency on the part of the greater gods to absorb the minor +ones is as distinctive a trait in the development of the Babylonian +religion, as is the subordination of one god to the other, +whether expressed by making the subordinate god the consort, +the chief, or the servant of a superior one. We have seen +that such terms of relationship correspond to certain degrees +of political conditions existing between the conquering and the +conquered districts. Amalgamation of two cities or districts +is portrayed in the relation of the two patron deities as husband +and wife, the stronger of the two being the former, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> +more subservient pictured as the latter. The more pronounced +superiority of the one place over the other finds expression in +the relation of father to child, while that of master and servant +emphasizes the complete control exercised by the one over the +other. Lastly, the absorption of one deity into another, is +correlative either with the most perfect form of conquest, or +the complete disappearance of the seat of his worship in +consequence of the growing favor of one possessing sufficiently +similar qualities to warrant identification with the other.</p> + + +<h3>Lugal-banda.</h3> + +<p>Sin-gashid of the dynasty of Uruk makes mention of this +deity at the beginning of one of his inscriptions. To him +and to his consort, Nin-gul, a temple as 'the seat of their joy' +at that place is devoted. This association of the god with the +town points again to a local deity, but possessing a character +which leads to the absorption of the god in the solar god, +Nergal, whom we have already encountered, and who will +occupy us a good deal when we come to the period after +Hammurabi. The identification of the two is already foreshadowed +in an inscription of another member of the same +dynasty, Sin-gamil, who places the name of Nergal exactly +where his predecessor mentions Lugal-banda. The first element +in his name signifies 'king,' the second apparently 'strong,' +so that in this respect, too, the god comes close to Nergal, +whose name likewise indicates 'great lord.' The consort of +Lugal-banda is</p> + + +<h3>Nin-gul.</h3> + +<p>Her name signifies 'the destructive lady,'—an appropriate +epithet for the consort of a solar deity. It is Sin-gashid again +who associates Ningul with Lugal-banda, and emphasizes his +affection for the goddess by calling her his mother. In one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> +inscription, moreover, Sin-gashid addresses himself exclusively +to the goddess, who had an equal share in the temple at Uruk.</p> + + +<h3>Dumuzi-zu-aba.</h3> + +<p>Among the deities appealed to by Ur-Bau appears one whose +name is to be interpreted as the 'unchangeable child of the +watery deep.' The great god of the deep we have seen is Ea. +Dumuzi-zu-aba therefore belongs to the water-deities, and one +who, through his subordinate rank to Ea, sinks to the level +of a water-spirit. Ur-Bau declares himself to be the darling +of this deity, and in the town of Girsu he erects a temple to +him. Girsu, however, was not the patron city of the god, +for Ur-Bau gives Dumuzi-zu-aba, the appellation of 'the lord of +Kinunira,'<a name="FNanchor_85_85" id="FNanchor_85_85"></a><a href="#Footnote_85_85" class="fnanchor">[85]</a> a place the actual situation of which is unknown. +Dumuzi-zu-aba, accordingly, is to be regarded as a local deity +of a place which, situated probably on an arm of the Euphrates, +was the reason for the watery attributes assigned to the god. +The comparative insignificance of the place is one of the +factors that accounts for the minor importance of the god, and +the second factor is the popularity enjoyed by another child of +the great Ea, his child <i>par excellence</i>, Marduk, who is best +known as the patron god of the city of Babylon. By the side +of Marduk, the other children of Ea, the minor water-deities, +disappear, so that to a later generation Dumuzi-zu-aba appears +merely as a form of Marduk. With Dumuzi-zu-aba, we must be +careful not to confuse</p> + + +<h3>Dumu-zi,</h3> + +<p>who in the old Babylonian inscriptions is mentioned once by +Sin-iddina,<a name="FNanchor_86_86" id="FNanchor_86_86"></a><a href="#Footnote_86_86" class="fnanchor">[86]</a> in connection with the sun-god. Dumu-zi, signifying +'child of life,' has a double aspect—an agricultural deity<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> +and at the same time a god of the lower world. He plays an +important part in the eschatological literature of the Babylonians, +but hardly none at all in the historical and incantation +texts. A fuller treatment may therefore be reserved for a future +chapter.</p> + + +<h3>Lugal-erima.</h3> + +<p>A purely local deity, if the reading and interpretation offered +by Jensen, 'King of the city Erim,' is correct. The mention +of the deity in an inscription of Ur-Bau, who calls himself the +'beloved servant' of this god, would be due to the circumstance +that the district within which the city in question lay +was controlled by the rulers of Lagash. To invoke as large a +number of deities as possible was not only a means of securing +protection from many sides, but was already in the early days +of Babylonian history indulged in by rulers, as a means of +emphasizing the extent and manifold character of their jurisdiction.</p> + + +<h3>Nin-e-gal and Ningal.</h3> + +<p>A temple was erected to Nin-e-gal by the wife of Rim-Sin, +of the dynasty ruling in Larsa. Her name as interpreted +in the tablet dedicated to her, signifies again, as in several +cases already noted, 'great lady.' She was probably therefore +only the consort of some patron deity; and Nannar +being the most prominent god invoked by Rim-Sin, it would +seem that the goddess to whom the queen pays her respects is +again one of the consorts of the moon-god.<a name="FNanchor_87_87" id="FNanchor_87_87"></a><a href="#Footnote_87_87" class="fnanchor">[87]</a> This conclusion +is supported by the direct association of Nannar of Ur and +Ningal in an inscription emanating from an earlier member of +the same dynasty to which Rim-Sin belongs. Nur-Rammân +speaks of building temples to these deities in the city of Ur. +Hence the goddess is also represented as interceding with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> +Sin on behalf of those who appeal to her. The form Nin-e-gal +is but a variant of Nin-gal, so that the identification +of the two lies beyond doubt, and it may very well be that +the temple erected by the consort of Rim-Sin is the same +as the one referred to by Nur-Rammân. In a land where +polygamy was a prevailing custom, the gods too might be +represented as having a number of consorts. There would +of course be, just as in human relations, one chief consort, but +there might be others ranged at the side of the latter.<a name="FNanchor_88_88" id="FNanchor_88_88"></a><a href="#Footnote_88_88" class="fnanchor">[88]</a> Some +of these may have been consorts of other minor deities, worshipped +in the same district, and who were given to the more +important divinity as he gradually overshadowed the others. +In this way, we may account for the large variety of 'ladies' +and 'great ladies' met with in the Babylonian pantheon, and +who, being merely 'reflections' of male deities, with no +sharply marked traits of their own, would naturally come to be +confused with one another, and finally be regarded as various +forms of one and the same goddess. A member of the dynasty +ruling in Isin, En-anna-tuma, earlier even than Nur-Rammân, +invokes Nin-gal in an inscription found in the ancient capital, +Ur. Here, too, the goddess appears in association with Nannar; +but, curiously enough, she is designated as the mother of +Shamash. It will be borne in mind that in the city of Ur, the +sun-god occupied a secondary place at the side of the moon-god. +This relationship is probably indicated by the epithet +'offspring of Nin-gal,' accorded to Shamash in the inscription +referred to. The moon being superior to the sun, the consort +of the moon-god becomes the mother of the sun-god.</p> + +<p>Reference has several times been made to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span></p> + +<h3>Nin-gish-zida,</h3> + +<p>who, originally a distinct solar deity, becomes scarcely distinguishable +from Nin-girsu, and is eventually identified with the +great Nin-ib.<a name="FNanchor_89_89" id="FNanchor_89_89"></a><a href="#Footnote_89_89" class="fnanchor">[89]</a> It is noticeable that these four deities, Nin-girsu, +Nin-shakh, Nin-gish-zida, and Nin-ib, who are thus associated +together, all contain the element <i>Nin</i> in their names,—a +factor that may turn out to be of some importance when +more abundant material shall be forthcoming for tracing their +development in detail. One of Gudea's inscriptions<a name="FNanchor_90_90" id="FNanchor_90_90"></a><a href="#Footnote_90_90" class="fnanchor">[90]</a> begins +with the significant statement, 'Nin-gish-zida is the god of +Gudea'; and elsewhere when speaking of him, he is 'my god,' +or 'his god.' None of the ancient Babylonian rulers make +mention of him except Gudea, though in the incantation texts +he is introduced and significantly termed 'the throne-bearer' of +the earth. The purely local character of the deity is, furthermore, +emphasized by the reference to his temple in Girsu, on a +brick and on a cone containing dedicatory inscriptions, inscribed +by Gudea in honor of the god.<a name="FNanchor_91_91" id="FNanchor_91_91"></a><a href="#Footnote_91_91" class="fnanchor">[91]</a></p> + + +<h3>Shul (or Dun)-pa-uddu.</h3> + +<p>The wife of the famous Gudea, Gin-Shul-pa-uddu, bears a +name in which one of the elements is a deity, the phonetic +reading of whose name is still uncertain.<a name="FNanchor_92_92" id="FNanchor_92_92"></a><a href="#Footnote_92_92" class="fnanchor">[92]</a> The elements comprising +it, namely, 'lord' (?), 'sceptre,' and 'radiant,' leave little +doubt as to the solar character of the god. Besides Gudea's +wife, a ruler, Ur-Shul-pa-uddu,<a name="FNanchor_93_93" id="FNanchor_93_93"></a><a href="#Footnote_93_93" class="fnanchor">[93]</a> belonging apparently to a somewhat +earlier period, embodies this deity in his name. The worship +of the deity, therefore, belongs to a very early epoch, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> +appears at one time to have enjoyed considerable popularity +within a certain district of Babylonia. To what region of +Babylonia he belongs has not yet been ascertained. Judging +from analogous instances, he represented some phase of the sun +worshipped in a particular locality, whose cult, with the disappearance +of the place from the surface of political affairs, +yielded to the tendency to concentrate sun-worship in two or +three deities,—Shamash and Ninib more especially. In the +astronomy of the Babylonians the name survived as a designation +of Marduk-Jupiter.<a name="FNanchor_94_94" id="FNanchor_94_94"></a><a href="#Footnote_94_94" class="fnanchor">[94]</a></p> + + +<h3>Nin-Mar.</h3> + +<p>A local deity, designated as the lady of Mar, is invoked by +Ur-Bau, from whom we learn that she was the daughter of +Ninâ. <i>Mar</i>, with the determinative for country, <i>Ki</i>, appears +to have been the name of a district extending to the Persian +Gulf.<a name="FNanchor_95_95" id="FNanchor_95_95"></a><a href="#Footnote_95_95" class="fnanchor">[95]</a> The capital of the district is represented by the mound +Tel-Id, not far from Warka. Her subsidiary position is indicated +in these words, and we may conclude that Nin-Mar at +an early period fell under the jurisdiction of the district in +which Ninâ was supreme. For all that, Nin-Mar, or the city +in which her cult was centralized, must have enjoyed considerable +favor. Ur-Bau calls her the 'gracious lady,' and erects a +temple, the name of which, Ish-gu-tur,<a name="FNanchor_96_96" id="FNanchor_96_96"></a><a href="#Footnote_96_96" class="fnanchor">[96]</a> <i>i.e.</i>, according to Jensen's +plausible interpretation, 'the house that serves as a court for +all persons,' points to Mar as a place of pilgrimage to which +people came from all sides. Gudea, accordingly, does not omit +to include 'the lady of Mar' in his list of the chief deities to +whom he pays his devotions; and on the assumption of the +general favor in which the city of Mar stood as a sacred town, +we may account for the fact that a much later ruler, Dungi, +of the dynasty of Ur,<a name="FNanchor_97_97" id="FNanchor_97_97"></a><a href="#Footnote_97_97" class="fnanchor">[97]</a> erects a temple to her honor.</p> + +<h3><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span>Pa-sag.</h3> + +<p>A deity, the phonetic reading of whose name is unknown, or +at all events uncertain,<a name="FNanchor_98_98" id="FNanchor_98_98"></a><a href="#Footnote_98_98" class="fnanchor">[98]</a> is mentioned once by Gudea in the +long list of deities that has been several times referred to. +The ideographs with which his name is written designate him +as a chief of some kind, and in accord with this, Gudea calls +him 'the leader of the land.' Pa-sag is mentioned immediately +after the sun-god Utu, and in view of the fact that another +solar deity, I-shum, whom we shall come across in a future +chapter, is designated by the same title<a name="FNanchor_99_99" id="FNanchor_99_99"></a><a href="#Footnote_99_99" class="fnanchor">[99]</a> as Pa-sag, it seems +safe to conclude that the latter is likewise a solar deity, and in +all probability, the prototype of I-shum, if not indeed identical +with him.</p> + + +<h3>Nisaba (or Nidaba).</h3> + +<p>In a dream which the gods send to Gudea, he sees among +other things, a goddess, whose name may be read Nisaba or +Nidaba.<a name="FNanchor_100_100" id="FNanchor_100_100"></a><a href="#Footnote_100_100" class="fnanchor">[100]</a> Ninâ, who interprets the dream to the ruler of +Shirpurla, declares that Nisaba is her sister. In a text belonging +to a still earlier age, the deity is mentioned as the begetter +of a king whose name is read Lugal-zaggisi.<a name="FNanchor_101_101" id="FNanchor_101_101"></a><a href="#Footnote_101_101" class="fnanchor">[101]</a> From the manner +in which the name of the goddess is written, as well as +from other sources, we know that Nisaba is an agricultural +deity. In historical texts she plays scarcely any rôle at all, but +in incantations she is often referred to; and from the fact that +Nisaba is appealed to, to break the power of the demons in +conjunction with Ea, it would appear that the position once +occupied by her was no insignificant one. Nin-girsu, it will<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> +be recalled, has also traits which connect him with agricultural +life, and Ninâ being the daughter of Nin-si-a, one of the forms +under which Ningirsu-Ninib appears, we may connect Nisaba +directly with the cults of which Lagash formed the center. +Nisaba must have been the consort of one of the agricultural +gods, whose jurisdiction falls within Gudea's empire. Lugal-zaggisi, +as the king of Uruk, assigns to the goddess a first +place. Her origin must, therefore, be sought in this region. +In later days the name of the goddess is used to describe the +fertility of the soil in general. So Ashurbanabal, describing +the prosperity existing in his days, says that grain was abundant +through the 'increase of Nisaba.'<a name="FNanchor_102_102" id="FNanchor_102_102"></a><a href="#Footnote_102_102" class="fnanchor">[102]</a></p> + + +<h3>KU(?)-Anna.</h3> + +<p>A goddess of this name—reading of the first sign doubtful—is +mentioned by Ur-Bau, who builds a temple to her in Girsu. If +Amiaud is correct in his reading of the first sign, the goddess +was identified at one time by the Babylonians with the consort of +Ramman—the storm-god. This would accord with the description +that Ur-Bau gives of the goddess. She is the one who +deluges the land with water—belonging therefore to the same +order as Bau.</p> + +<p>In a list of deities enumerated by a ruler of Erech, Lugal-zaggisi,<a name="FNanchor_103_103" id="FNanchor_103_103"></a><a href="#Footnote_103_103" class="fnanchor">[103]</a> +are found (1) a local goddess,</p> + + +<h3>Umu,</h3> + +<p>designated as the 'priestess of Uruk,'<a name="FNanchor_104_104" id="FNanchor_104_104"></a><a href="#Footnote_104_104" class="fnanchor">[104]</a> and occupying an +inferior rank to (2) a goddess,</p> + +<h3><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span>Nin-akha-kuddu,<a name="FNanchor_105_105" id="FNanchor_105_105"></a><a href="#Footnote_105_105" class="fnanchor">[105]</a></h3> + +<p>who is called 'the mistress of Uruk.' The importance of Erech +in the early history of Babylonia is emphasized by the inscriptions +from Nippur, recently published by Dr. Hilprecht. It is +natural, therefore, to find several deities of a purely local type +commemorated by kings who belong to this region. The +goddess Umu is not heard of again. The great goddess of +Uruk, Nanâ, absorbs the smaller ones, and hence Nin-akha-kuddu +survives chiefly in incantation texts as 'the lady of +shining waters,' of 'purification,' and of 'incantations.'<a name="FNanchor_106_106" id="FNanchor_106_106"></a><a href="#Footnote_106_106" class="fnanchor">[106]</a></p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Lastly, a passing reference may be made to several deities +to whom sanctuaries are erected by Uru-Kagina in the great +temple of Bau at Uru-azaga, and whom Amiaud regards as +sons of Bau.</p> + +<p>Uru-Kagina enumerates three, Za-za-uru, Im-pa-ud-du, and +Gim-nun-ta-ud-du-a.<a name="FNanchor_107_107" id="FNanchor_107_107"></a><a href="#Footnote_107_107" class="fnanchor">[107]</a> The element <i>ud-du</i> in the last two names +signifies 'radiant' or 'rising up'; while <i>pa-ud-du</i> (like in Shul-pa-ud-du, +p. <a href="#Page_99">99</a>) means 'radiant sceptre.' If to this, we add +that <i>Im</i> is 'storm,' it will appear plausible to see in the second +name a form of a raging solar deity and perhaps also in the +third; <i>gim nun</i> in the latter name may mean 'creating lord.' +To these Amiaud<a name="FNanchor_108_108" id="FNanchor_108_108"></a><a href="#Footnote_108_108" class="fnanchor">[108]</a> adds from other sources, Khi-gir-nunna, +Khi-shaga, Gurmu, and Zarmu. He takes these seven deities +as sons of Bau, but he offers no conclusive evidence for his +theory. Some of these deities may turn out to be synonymous +with such as have already been met with.</p> + +<h3><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> Indicated by separating the syllables composing the name.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> +At the period when the kings of Ur extend their rule over Nippur, they, too, do +not omit to refer to the distinction of having been called to the service of the great +god at his temple.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> +The name signifies, 'He has founded the city,' the subject of the verb being some +deity whose name is omitted.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> Jensen, <i>Keils Bibl.</i> 3, 1, p. 23, proposes to read Nin-Ur-sag, +but without sufficient +reason, it seems to me. The writing being a purely ideographic form, an <i>epitheton +ornans</i>, the question of how the ideographs are to be read is not of great +moment.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> We may compare the poetic application 'rock' to Yahweh in the Old Testament, +<i>e.g.</i>, Job 1. 12, and frequently in Psalms,—lxii. 3, 7; xcii. 16, 18, etc.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> +Reading doubtful. Jensen suggests Erim. Hommel (<i>Proc. Soc. Bibl. Arch.</i> xv. +37 <i>seq.</i>) endeavored to identify the place with Babylon, +but his views are untenable. +If Gish-galla was not a part of Lagash, it could not have been far removed from it. +It was Amiaud who first suggested that Shir-pur-la (or Lagash) was the general +name for a city that arose from an amalgamation of four originally distinct quarters. +("Sirpurla" in <i>Revue Archéologique</i>, 1888.) The suggestion has been generally, +though not universally accepted.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> That Ninib is only an ideographic form is sufficiently clear from the element +NIN-, lord. The proof, however, that Ninib is Adar, is still wanting. See Jensen, +<i>Kosmologie der Babylonier</i>, pp. 457, 458.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> +From the context (De Sarzec, <i>Découvertes</i>, pl. 6, no. 4, ll. 13-21, and pl. 31, +no. 3, col iii. ll. 2-6), there can be no doubt that Shul-gur (or Shul-gur-ana) is an +epithet of Nin-girsu. The ideographs descriptive of the edifice suggest a corn magazine +of some kind. One is reminded of the storehouses for grain in Egypt. See +Jensen's Notes, <i>Keils Bibl.</i> 3, 1, pp. 15, 18, 73. A comparison of the two texts in +question makes it probable that Ab-gi and E-bi-gar are synonymous.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> Rawlinson, iv. 27, no. 6; 11, 45-46.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_33" id="Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> It is noticeable that there is no mention made of a special god of Lagash, +which points to the later origin of the name.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_34" id="Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> Inscr. D, col. li. 13; G, col. ii. ll. 1-8; iii. 4 <i>seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_35" id="Footnote_35_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> +See Gen. xxiv. 53. Burkhardt, <i>Notes on the Bedouins</i>, i. 109, gives an example +of the custom.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_36" id="Footnote_36_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> +The two names are used by Gudea (Inscr. G, col. iii. 12) in a way to indicate that +they embrace the whole district of Lagash.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_37" id="Footnote_37_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> <i>Semit. Völker</i>, p. 382.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_38" id="Footnote_38_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> See Jensen, <i>Keils Bibl.</i> 3, 1, 28, note 2.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39_39" id="Footnote_39_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> +The first signifies 'to make,' the third means "good, favorable," but the second, +upon which so much depends, is not clear. Amiaud reads <i>tum</i> instead of <i>sig</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40_40" id="Footnote_40_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> <i>E.g.</i>, Ninâ (see below).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_41_41" id="Footnote_41_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> De Sarzec, pl. 7, col. i. 12.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_42_42" id="Footnote_42_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> <i>Hibbert Lectures</i>, p. 104.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_43_43" id="Footnote_43_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> Inscr. D, col. iv. ll. 7, 8.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_44_44" id="Footnote_44_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> In Rawlinson, ii. 58, no. 6, there is a list of some seventy names.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_45_45" id="Footnote_45_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> Rawlinson, ii. 58, no. 6, 58.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_46_46" id="Footnote_46_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> De Sarzec, pl. 8, col v. ll. 4-6.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_47_47" id="Footnote_47_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> <i>Keils Bibl.</i> 3, 1, 80, note 3.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_48_48" id="Footnote_48_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> Rawlinson, iv. 35, no. 2, 1.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_49_49" id="Footnote_49_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> +See a syllabary giving lists of gods, Rawlinson, ii. 60, 12. Dungi, indeed, calls +Nergal once the king of lawful control over Lagash (Rawlinson, iv. 35, no. 2, ll. 2, 3). +The exact force of the title is not clear, but in no case are we permitted to conclude +as Amiaud does (<i>Rec. of the Past</i>, N.S., i. 59) that Shid-lam-ta-udda is identical +with Nin-girsu.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_50_50" id="Footnote_50_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> See Jensen, <i>Kosmologie der Babylonier</i>, pp. 476-87.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_51_51" id="Footnote_51_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> See Jensen, <i>Kosmologie der Babylonier</i>, pp. 476-87.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_52_52" id="Footnote_52_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> So in the inscription of Rim-Sin (<i>Keils Bibl.</i> 3, 1, p. 97).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_53_53" id="Footnote_53_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> Perhaps the knob of a sceptre. <i>Proc. Soc. Bibl. Arch.</i> viii. 68.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_54_54" id="Footnote_54_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> +<i>E.g.</i>, Hammurabi (<i>Revue d'Assyriologie</i>, ii. col. i. 21); +but also Gudea and a +still earlier king.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_55_55" id="Footnote_55_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> So Amlaud; and there seems some reason to believe that the name was used by +the side of Utu, though perhaps only as an epithet.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_56_56" id="Footnote_56_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> Compare <i>birbiru</i>, 'sheen,' and the stem <i>barû</i>, 'to see,' etc.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_57_57" id="Footnote_57_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> See <i>Keils Bibl.</i> 3, I, 100. Reading of name uncertain.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_58_58" id="Footnote_58_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> Suggested by Rawlinson, ii. 57, 10. See Schrader, <i>Zeits. +f. Assyr.</i> iii. 33 <i>seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_59_59" id="Footnote_59_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59_59"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> +On Sippar, see Sayce, <i>Hibbert Lectures</i>, etc., 168-169, who finds in the Old +Testament form "Sepharvayim" a trace of this double Sippar. Dr. Ward's suggestion, +however, in regard to Anbar, as representing this 'second' Sippar, is erroneous.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_60_60" id="Footnote_60_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60_60"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> +<i>E.g.</i>, in Southern Arabia. See W. Robertson Smith, <i>The Religion of the +Semites</i>, I. 59.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_61_61" id="Footnote_61_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61_61"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> In Rabbinical literature, the moon is compared to a 'heifer' (Talmud Babli +Rosh-hashana 22 <i>b</i>).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_62_62" id="Footnote_62_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62_62"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> That the name of Sin should have been introduced into Mesopotamia through +the 'Arabic' dynasty (see above, p. <a href="#Page_39">39</a>) is less probable, though not impossible in +the light of recent discoveries.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_63_63" id="Footnote_63_63"></a><a href="#FNanchor_63_63"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> +Innanna may be separated into <i>In</i> = lord or lady, and <i>nanna</i>; +<i>in</i> and <i>nanna</i> +would then be elements added to "lady," conveying perhaps the idea of greatness. +See Jensen's remarks, <i>Keils Bibl.</i> 3, I, 20, note 4.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_64_64" id="Footnote_64_64"></a><a href="#FNanchor_64_64"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> <i>Rec. of the Past</i>, N.S., ii. p. 104.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_65_65" id="Footnote_65_65"></a><a href="#FNanchor_65_65"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> +<i>Keils Bibl.</i> 3, I, 16. See Jensen's note on the reading of the name.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_66_66" id="Footnote_66_66"></a><a href="#FNanchor_66_66"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> +The fame of this temple outlasts the political importance of the place, and as +late as the days of the Assyrian monarchy is an object of fostering care on the part +of the kings.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_67_67" id="Footnote_67_67"></a><a href="#FNanchor_67_67"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> That the name is Semitic is no longer seriously questioned by any scholar. +The underlying stem suggests etymological relationship with the god Ashur. If +this be so, Ishtar may mean 'the goddess that brings blessing' to mankind, but all +this is tentative, as are the numerous other etymologies suggested.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_68_68" id="Footnote_68_68"></a><a href="#FNanchor_68_68"><span class="label">[68]</span></a> The ideographs for 'country' and 'mountain' are identical Assyrian. The +alternation in the title of Ishtar must not be taken to point to a mountainous origin +of the goddess.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_69_69" id="Footnote_69_69"></a><a href="#FNanchor_69_69"><span class="label">[69]</span></a> A full account of this epic will be given at its proper place.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_70_70" id="Footnote_70_70"></a><a href="#FNanchor_70_70"><span class="label">[70]</span></a> +Again, in the incantation texts she appears only as the daughter of Anu, coördinate +with Sin and Shamash.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_71_71" id="Footnote_71_71"></a><a href="#FNanchor_71_71"><span class="label">[71]</span></a> +<i>Keils Bibl.</i> 3, 1, 72, note. Some scholars, as Hommel +(<i>Gesch. d. alt. Morgenlandes</i>, +p. 68), propose to identify this place with the Assyrian Nineveh, but the conjecture +lacks proof and is altogether improbable.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_72_72" id="Footnote_72_72"></a><a href="#FNanchor_72_72"><span class="label">[72]</span></a> +<i>Old Babylonian Inscriptions</i>, I. pls. 30, 31. (See now Peiser, <i>Keils Bibl.</i> 4, +pp. 64-66.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_73_73" id="Footnote_73_73"></a><a href="#FNanchor_73_73"><span class="label">[73]</span></a> Questioned by Peiser, <i>ib.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_74_74" id="Footnote_74_74"></a><a href="#FNanchor_74_74"><span class="label">[74]</span></a> Among many nations the moon is pictured as a horned animal. See Robert +Brown's interesting monograph on <i>The Unicorn</i>, pp. 27 <i>seq. et passim</i>; +also above, p. <a href="#Page_76">76</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_75_75" id="Footnote_75_75"></a><a href="#FNanchor_75_75"><span class="label">[75]</span></a> Simply the sign AN (= god, heaven) and the phonetic complement <i>na</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_76_76" id="Footnote_76_76"></a><a href="#FNanchor_76_76"><span class="label">[76]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_59">59</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_77_77" id="Footnote_77_77"></a><a href="#FNanchor_77_77"><span class="label">[77]</span></a> +Written An-na, without the determinative for deity. De Sarzec, <i>Découvertes en +Chaldée</i>, pl. 37, no. 8.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_78_78" id="Footnote_78_78"></a><a href="#FNanchor_78_78"><span class="label">[78]</span></a> +The second element may also be read <i>dar</i>. +See Jensen, <i>Keils Bibl.</i> 3, 1, p. 24, +note 1.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_79_79" id="Footnote_79_79"></a><a href="#FNanchor_79_79"><span class="label">[79]</span></a> Inscription B, col. ii. 19.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_80_80" id="Footnote_80_80"></a><a href="#FNanchor_80_80"><span class="label">[80]</span></a> See Hommel, <i>Semitische Kulturen</i>, p. 389.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_81_81" id="Footnote_81_81"></a><a href="#FNanchor_81_81"><span class="label">[81]</span></a> For the sacred character of the swine among the Semites, see W. Robertson +Smith's <i>The Religion of the Semites</i>, pp. 201, 272, 332, 457. +Rawlinson, iii. 68, 22, +occurs a deity, 'swine of the right hand,' <i>i.e.</i>, propitious.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_82_82" id="Footnote_82_82"></a><a href="#FNanchor_82_82"><span class="label">[82]</span></a> +Rawlinson, ii. 59, 23. The second element in Pap-sukal is the common Babylonian +word for 'servant,' or 'messenger;' other deities therefore standing in a +subsidiary position are also called Pap-sukal. So <i>e.g.</i>, Nebo and Nusku. See +further on and compare Hommel, <i>Semiten</i>, pp. 479, 480.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_83_83" id="Footnote_83_83"></a><a href="#FNanchor_83_83"><span class="label">[83]</span></a> Inscription B, col iii. 2.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_84_84" id="Footnote_84_84"></a><a href="#FNanchor_84_84"><span class="label">[84]</span></a> +Uru-kagina, earlier than Gudea (de Sarzec, pl. 32), appears to have built a temple +to Dun-shagga, but the passage is not altogether clear. The element also appears +in the name of the ruler of Ur, <i>Dungi</i>, <i>i.e.</i>, +'the legitimate hero,' as Sargon is the +'legitimate king.'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_85_85" id="Footnote_85_85"></a><a href="#FNanchor_85_85"><span class="label">[85]</span></a> +Signifying, according to Jensen, <i>Keils Bibl.</i> 3, 1, p. 25, 'fighting-place'.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_86_86" id="Footnote_86_86"></a><a href="#FNanchor_86_86"><span class="label">[86]</span></a> Published by Delitzsch, <i>Beiträge zur Assyr.</i> I. 301-311.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_87_87" id="Footnote_87_87"></a><a href="#FNanchor_87_87"><span class="label">[87]</span></a> So also Jensen, <i>Kosmologie</i>, p. 14, note 3.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_88_88" id="Footnote_88_88"></a><a href="#FNanchor_88_88"><span class="label">[88]</span></a> So Anu appears to have concubines.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_89_89" id="Footnote_89_89"></a><a href="#FNanchor_89_89"><span class="label">[89]</span></a> See above, pp. <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_90_90" id="Footnote_90_90"></a><a href="#FNanchor_90_90"><span class="label">[90]</span></a> Inscription C.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_91_91" id="Footnote_91_91"></a><a href="#FNanchor_91_91"><span class="label">[91]</span></a> De Sarzec, pl. 37, no. 5; <i>Trans. Soc. Bibl. Arch.</i> vi. 279.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_92_92" id="Footnote_92_92"></a><a href="#FNanchor_92_92"><span class="label">[92]</span></a> Jensen, <i>Kosmologie</i>, p. 127, proposes to read Umun-pauddu.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_93_93" id="Footnote_93_93"></a><a href="#FNanchor_93_93"><span class="label">[93]</span></a> +Hilprecht, <i>Old Babylonian Inscriptions</i>, i. 2, no. 93. The name also appears in +syllabaries as Shul-pa-ud-du-a. For the element <i>pa-udda</i>, see p. <a href="#Page_103">103</a>. In Nergal's +name Shid-lam-ta-uddu-a (p. <a href="#Page_65">65</a>), the same final elements are found which appear to be +characteristic epithets of solar deities. The first element in the name has also the +value Dun (as in Dun-gi).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_94_94" id="Footnote_94_94"></a><a href="#FNanchor_94_94"><span class="label">[94]</span></a> Jensen, <i>Kosmologie</i>, pp. 125, 126.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_95_95" id="Footnote_95_95"></a><a href="#FNanchor_95_95"><span class="label">[95]</span></a> See <i>Journal Asiatique</i>, September-October, 1895, p. 393.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_96_96" id="Footnote_96_96"></a><a href="#FNanchor_96_96"><span class="label">[96]</span></a> De Sarzec, pl. 8, col. v. ll. 8-12.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_97_97" id="Footnote_97_97"></a><a href="#FNanchor_97_97"><span class="label">[97]</span></a> IR. pl. 2, no. 4.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_98_98" id="Footnote_98_98"></a><a href="#FNanchor_98_98"><span class="label">[98]</span></a> Jensen regards Pa-sag as a possible phonetic form, but his view is hardly +tenable.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_99_99" id="Footnote_99_99"></a><a href="#FNanchor_99_99"><span class="label">[99]</span></a> See Zimmern, <i>Busspsalmen</i>, pp. 60, 61.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_100_100" id="Footnote_100_100"></a><a href="#FNanchor_100_100"><span class="label">[100]</span></a> Cylinder A, cols. iv. and v. Amiaud read the name <i>Nirba</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_101_101" id="Footnote_101_101"></a><a href="#FNanchor_101_101"><span class="label">[101]</span></a> +Just published by Hilprecht, <i>Old Babylonian Inscriptions</i>, i. 2, pls. 38-47. +<i>Cf.</i> p. <a href="#Page_52">52</a></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_102_102" id="Footnote_102_102"></a><a href="#FNanchor_102_102"><span class="label">[102]</span></a> VR. col. i. 48.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_103_103" id="Footnote_103_103"></a><a href="#FNanchor_103_103"><span class="label">[103]</span></a> See at close of <a href="#chapter-vi">chapter vi</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_104_104" id="Footnote_104_104"></a><a href="#FNanchor_104_104"><span class="label">[104]</span></a> Hilprecht, <i>ib.</i> no. 87, col i. 30.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_105_105" id="Footnote_105_105"></a><a href="#FNanchor_105_105"><span class="label">[105]</span></a> +<i>Ib.</i> i. 32. Hilprecht reads Nin-a-gid-kha-du, but this can hardly be correct.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_106_106" id="Footnote_106_106"></a><a href="#FNanchor_106_106"><span class="label">[106]</span></a> The two ideas, 'water' and 'incantation,' are correlated. The 'waters' meant +are those used for purification purposes in connection with the magic formulas.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_107_107" id="Footnote_107_107"></a><a href="#FNanchor_107_107"><span class="label">[107]</span></a> De Sarzec, pl. 32, col. ii. 9-11.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_108_108" id="Footnote_108_108"></a><a href="#FNanchor_108_108"><span class="label">[108]</span></a> <i>Records of the Past</i>, N.S., i. 59. Amiaud reads the second name +Im-ghud-êna +and the third Gim (or Ur)-nun-ta-êna. The publication in De Sarzec favors my +readings.</p></div> + + + + +<h2><a name="chapter-v" id="chapter-v"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2> + +<h3>THE CONSORTS OF THE GODS.</h3> + + +<p>Attention has already been directed to the comparatively +small number of female deities that appear in the inscriptions of +the first period of Babylonian history. We must, however, not +conclude from this, that such deities did not exist in larger numbers. +On the contrary, we may feel certain that every god had his +consort, and in some cases more than one. Several instances +of such consorts have been furnished in this chapter; but if +the consorts of the larger number of these gods are unknown, +it is because of the insignificant rôle that these consorts played. +The goddesses of Babylonia, with few exceptions, become mere +shadowy reflections of the gods, with but little independent +power, and in some cases none at all. They owe what popularity +they enjoyed to their association with their male companions. +In consequence of this inferior rôle played by the +female deities, the tendency becomes more pronounced, as we +pass from the first to the second period of Babylonian history, +to reduce by assimilation the small number that have independent +attributes, until we reach a condition in which we have +practically only one goddess, appearing under many forms. It +is only in the religious texts, and in some phases of the popular +beliefs, that goddesses retain a certain degree of prominence. +So, a goddess Allat, as we shall see, plays an important part +as the chief goddess of the subterranean cave that houses the +dead. Allat appears to have been originally a consort of the +famous Bel of Nippur, but through association with Nergal, +who becomes the chief god of the lower world, almost all traces +of the original character of the goddess disappear. Again,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> +Gula, the consort of Nin-ib, while occasionally mentioned in +the historical texts of the second and third period, and under the +form Ma-ma, as an element in a proper name belonging to the +oldest period,<a name="FNanchor_109_109" id="FNanchor_109_109"></a><a href="#Footnote_109_109" class="fnanchor">[109]</a> is more frequently invoked in incantations as the +healer of disease. The same is the case with other goddesses; +so that we may conclude that from the earliest times, the Babylonian +religion shared the trait so marked in all Semitic cults, of a +combination of the male and female principle in the personification +of the powers that controlled the fate of man. In part, no +doubt, the minor importance of women, so far as the outward +aspects of social and political life were concerned, is a factor in +the altogether secondary importance attaching to the consorts of +the gods; but we may feel certain that there was no god, however +restricted in his jurisdiction, or however limited in the +number of his worshippers, who had not associated with him a +female companion, who follows him as the shadow follows the +substance.</p> + +<h3><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_109_109" id="Footnote_109_109"></a><a href="#FNanchor_109_109"><span class="label">[109]</span></a> +According to Hilprecht, <i>ib.</i> p. 48, note 6. For <i>Ma-ma</i> and <i>Me-me</i>, +as names +of Gula, see <a href="#chapter-viii">chapter viii</a>.</p></div> + + + + +<h2><a name="chapter-vi" id="chapter-vi"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + +<h3>GUDEA'S PANTHEON.</h3> + + +<p>Gudea manifests a fondness for giving to his pantheon as +large a compass as possible. In this respect, he follows earlier +examples, and also sets an example which is followed by many of +the rulers of Babylonia and Assyria, who felt that the larger the +number of gods invoked by them, the more impressive would +their own position appear in the eyes of their subjects. Moreover, +by incorporating in their pantheon the gods associated with +districts that they controlled, they would not only secure the protection +of these deities, but would emphasize their own claim +to an extended sovereignty. The beginning and the close of +dedicatory and commemorative inscriptions were the favorite +opportunities, seized upon by the kings, for parading the list +of the powers under whose patronage they wished to appear. +These lists are both interesting and valuable, as furnishing in a +convenient form a summary of the chief gods included in the +Babylonian pantheon at the various historical periods. At the +close of one of his inscriptions,<a name="FNanchor_110_110" id="FNanchor_110_110"></a><a href="#Footnote_110_110" class="fnanchor">[110]</a> Gudea furnishes a list of no +less than eighteen deities. In rapid succession he enumerates +Anu, En-lil (Bel), Nin-khar-sag, En-ki (Ea), En-zu (Sin), Nin-girsu, +Ninâ, Nin-si-a, Ga-tum-dug, Bau, Ninni, Utu (Shamash), +Pa-sag, Gal-alim, Dun-shagga, Nin-Mar, Dumuzi-zuaba, Nin-gish-zida. +These deities may be taken as indicative of the +territorial extent of Gudea's jurisdiction. They are called upon +to punish him who attempts to alter the decrees of the ruler, or +to efface the memory of his deeds. Again, at the beginning +of one of his inscriptions, he appeals to Nin-girsu, En-lil, Ninâ,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> +Bau, Ga-tum-dug, Gal-alim, and Dun-shagga. He recounts +what he has done to promote the cults of these deities, and +upon his conduct he grounds his hope that they will aid him in +his undertakings. The lists, as will be observed, vary in the +number and in the order of the gods enumerated. In the +second list, the position of Nin-girsu at the head is due to the +fact that the inscription commemorates the dedication of a +sanctuary to that god. But Nin-girsu, despite his rank as the +chief god of Lagash, belongs to a second class of deities. +Standing far above him is the triad, Anu, Bel, and Ea, the +gods that personify, as we have seen, the great divisions of the +universe,—heaven, earth, and water. These gods, accordingly, +take precedence of Nin-girsu in the first list. In a succeeding +chapter, the significance of this triad for the Babylonian religion +will be fully set forth. For the present, it is sufficient to note +that the systematization of popular beliefs, involved in the +distinctions thus emphasized in the groupings of deities into +classes, begins at so early a period. This systematization, +however, has not yet assumed final shape. True, the moon-god +has already been given the place, immediately following +upon the triad, that he will hold in the developed form of Babylonian +theology; but while, as we have seen, Sin properly takes +precedence of the sun-god, the latter should follow in the wake +of his associate. Not only, however, does Nin-girsu precede, +but two other deities who are closely related in general character +to the 'warrior deity' of Gudea's dominion. Then, the +two great goddesses, Bau and Ninni, are introduced, and it is +not until they are disposed of that the sun-god, together again +with Pa-sag as a kind of lieutenant,<a name="FNanchor_111_111" id="FNanchor_111_111"></a><a href="#Footnote_111_111" class="fnanchor">[111]</a> is invoked. In the +arrangement of the five remaining deities, no special principle +can be recognized. They, evidently, occupy a minor rank. It +is possible, then, to distinguish no less than four classes in the +old Babylonian pantheon: (1) the great triad, Anu, Bel, and Ea;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> +(2) a second group, as yet incomplete, but which will eventually +include Sin, Shamash, and Ramman, representing the great +powers of nature—moon, sun, and storm; (3) the great gods, +the patron deities of the more important political centers of +the country; and (4) the minor ones, representing the local +cults of less important places. Naturally, the dividing line +between the two last-named classes is not sharply marked, and +in accordance with the ever-varying political kaleidoscope, local +deities will rise from the rank of minor gods to a higher place +in the pantheon; while such as once enjoyed high esteem will, +through decline in the political fortunes of their worshippers, +be brought down from the higher to an inferior rank.<a name="FNanchor_112_112" id="FNanchor_112_112"></a><a href="#Footnote_112_112" class="fnanchor">[112]</a> It is +this constant interaction between the political situation and the +relationship of the gods to one another, that constitutes one of +the most striking features of the religion of Babylonia and +Assyria. In the course of time, as an organized pantheon +leads to greater stability in the domain of theological speculation, +the influence of the politics of the country on the religion +becomes less marked, without, however, disappearing altogether. +The various classes into which the gods are divided, are definitely +fixed by the schools of theology that, as we shall see, take +their rise in the Euphrates Valley. The rivalry, on the one +hand, between the Babylonian empire united under one head, +and the Assyrian empire on the other, alone remains to bring +about an occasional exchange of places between the two gods +who stand at the head of the great gods of the Babylonian and +Assyrian pantheon respectively. The attempt has been made +by Amiaud<a name="FNanchor_113_113" id="FNanchor_113_113"></a><a href="#Footnote_113_113" class="fnanchor">[113]</a> to arrange the pantheon of this oldest period in a +genealogical order. In Gudea's long list of deities, he detects +three generations,—the three chief gods and one goddess, as +the progenitors of Sin, Shamash, Nin-girsu, Bau, and others.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> +The gods of this second division give rise to a third class, +viewed again as the offspring of the second. Professor Davis, +taking up this idea of Amiaud, has quite recently maintained<a name="FNanchor_114_114" id="FNanchor_114_114"></a><a href="#Footnote_114_114" class="fnanchor">[114]</a> +that the family idea must form our starting-point for an understanding +of the pantheon of Lagash. The theory, however, +does not admit of consistent application. There are gods, as +Amiaud recognized, who cannot be brought under his scheme, +so far at least as present testimony is concerned; and others +can only by an arbitrary assumption be forced into accord with +the theory. Moreover, we should expect to find traces of this +family idea in the later phases of the Assyro-Babylonian pantheon. +Such, however, is not the case. A more reasonable +and natural explanation of the relationship existing between +many—not all—of the gods of Gudea's pantheon has already +been suggested. In part, we must look to the development of +a theological system of thought in the Euphrates Valley to +account for the superior position accorded to certain gods, and +in part, political conditions and political changes afford an +explanation for the union of certain deities into a family +group. So far, indeed, Amiaud is correct, that the relationship +existing between the various deities, was as a rule expressed in +terms applicable to human society. The secondary position +occupied, <i>e.g.</i>, by Sin when compared with a god whose domain +is the entire 'lower regions,' would be aptly expressed by +calling the moon-god the eldest son of En-lil or Bel; and, +similarly, a goddess like Bau would be called the daughter of +Anu. It is a mistake, however, to interpret the use of 'daughter' +and 'son' literally. Such terms are employed in all Semitic +languages in a figurative sense, to indicate a dependent position +of some sort. Again, we have seen that the union of a number +of cities or states under one head would be followed by a union +of the deities proper to these cities or states. That union would<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> +be expressed, according to circumstances, either by placing the +deities on a footing of equality—in which case they would be +consorts, or brothers and sisters, <i>offsprings</i> therefore of one +and the same god—or, the superior rank of one patron god +would be indicated by assigning to the god of a conquered or +subordinate territory the rank of offspring or attendant.</p> + +<p>In studying such a list as that presented by Gudea, we must, +therefore, make due allowance for what may be called local +peculiarities and local conditions. It is only by comparing his +list with others that we can differentiate between the general +features of Babylonian cults and the special features due to +political and local associations. We are in a position now to +institute this comparison for a period which is certainly some +centuries earlier than Gudea. The date of the reign of Lugal-zaggisi, +king of Uruk, who has been several times referred to +in a previous chapter, is fixed by Hilprecht at <i>c.</i> 4500 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>, +but it is doubtful whether so high an age will be accepted +by scholars. The chronology for the period beyond Gudea is +still in a very uncertain condition. Lugal-zaggisi, in a long list +of deities at the beginning of an important inscription, enumerates +in succession Anu, the goddess Nisaba, the gods En-lil +(or Bel), En-ki (=Ea), En-zu (Sin), Utu (the sun-god), the +goddess Ninni (or Nanâ(?)), Nin-khar-sag, Umu, and Nin-akha-kuddu. +As for Anu, the king introduces the name, as Ur-Ningirsu +of Lagash does (see above, p. <a href="#Page_90">90</a>), in calling himself +'priest of Anu,' and which, according to the explanation suggested, +means simply 'divine priest.'</p> + +<p>Bel, Ea, Sin, and Shamash (or Utu) are common to Gudea +and Lugal-zaggisi. These constitute, then, the great gods +whose worship is no longer limited to any particular district. +They have become common property, in part through the sanctity +attached to the places where the gods were worshipped, +in part through the antiquity of these places, and in part, +no doubt, as the result of a political development lying behind<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> +the period under consideration. The prominence given by +Lugal-zaggisi to Nisaba is rather surprising. He calls himself +and also his father, 'hero' of Nisaba. If, however, it be borne +in mind that of the goddesses at least two, Umu and Nin-akha-kuddu, +are of a local character, the conclusion appears justified +that Nisaba was a goddess associated more particularly with +the district in which Uruk lay. The goddess Ninni (written +simply as 'the goddess') is no doubt identical with the great +Nanâ of Uruk, and Nin-khar-sag is introduced as the consort +of En-lil.</p> + +<p>As a result of this comparison, we may note the tendency +towards a general recognition of certain great gods, which is +more fully developed in the period of Hammurabi. At the +same time, the loyalty of the rulers to the gods, peculiar to their +own district, is manifested by the prominent place assigned in +the several cases to gods who otherwise play an insignificant +rôle, and who eventually are absorbed by others; and lastly, as +between Lugal-zaggisi and Gudea, the observation may be +made of the disposition to emphasize local gods, less for their +own sake, than because of the éclat furnished by the enumeration +of a large pantheon, which shall be coequal in extent and +dignity to the district claimed by the rulers and to the rank +assumed by them.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span></p> + +<h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_110_110" id="Footnote_110_110"></a><a href="#FNanchor_110_110"><span class="label">[110]</span></a> Inscr. B, cols. viii. ix.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_111_111" id="Footnote_111_111"></a><a href="#FNanchor_111_111"><span class="label">[111]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_101">101</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_112_112" id="Footnote_112_112"></a><a href="#FNanchor_112_112"><span class="label">[112]</span></a> +See Winckler's excellent remarks on the relationship between the city and the god +in ancient Babylonia (<i>Altorientalische Forschungen</i>, III. 232-235).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_113_113" id="Footnote_113_113"></a><a href="#FNanchor_113_113"><span class="label">[113]</span></a> <i>Records of the Past</i>, N.S., i. 57-59.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_114_114" id="Footnote_114_114"></a><a href="#FNanchor_114_114"><span class="label">[114]</span></a> In a paper on "The Gods of Shirpurla," read before the American Oriental +Society in April, 1895. (<i>Proceedings</i>, ccxiii-ccxviii.)</p></div> + + + + +<h2><a name="chapter-vii" id="chapter-vii"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + +<h3>SUMMARY.</h3> + + +<p>We have thus passed in review the old Babylonian pantheon, +so far as the discovered texts have revealed their names +and epithets. The list does not claim to be exhaustive. +That future texts will add to its length, by revealing the +existence at this early period of many known to us at +present only from later texts or from the religious literature,<a name="FNanchor_115_115" id="FNanchor_115_115"></a><a href="#Footnote_115_115" class="fnanchor">[115]</a> +is more than likely. The nature of the old Babylonian religion +entails, as a necessary consequence, an array of gods that +might be termed endless. Local cults would ever tend to +increase with the rise of new towns, and while the deities thus +worshipped would not rise to any or much importance, still +their names would become known in larger circles, and a ruler +might, for the sake of increasing his own lustre, make mention +of one or more of them, honoring them at the same time by +an epithet which might or might not accurately define their +character. As long as the various districts of Babylonia were +not formally united under one head, various local cults might +rise to equally large proportions, while the gods worshipped +as the special patrons of the great centers, as Lagash, Ur, +Uruk, Nippur, and the like, would retain their prominence, +even though the political status of the cities sacred to them<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> +suffered a decline. The ruler of the district that claimed a +supremacy over one that formerly occupied an independent +position, would hasten to emphasize this control by proudly +claiming the patron deity as part of his pantheon. The popularity +of Sin at Ur suffered no diminution because the supremacy +of Ur yielded to that of Uruk. On the contrary, the god gained +new friends who strove to rival the old ones in manifestations +of reverence; and when, as happened in several instances, the +patron deities were personifications of natural phenomena, whose +worship through various circumstances became associated with +particular localities, there was an additional reason for the +survival, and, indeed, growing importance of such local cults, +quite independent of the political fortunes that befell the cities +in which the gods were supposed to dwell.</p> + +<p>As a consequence, there are a considerable number of deities +who are met with both at the beginning and at the end of the +first period of Babylonian history—a period, be it remembered, +that, so far as known, already covers a distance of 2,000 +years. These are of two classes, (<i>a</i>) deities of purely local +origin, surviving through the historical significance of the +places where they were worshipped, and (<i>b</i>) deities, at once +local in so far as they are associated with a fixed spot, but at +the same time having a far more general character by virtue of +being personifications of the powers of nature. The jurisdiction +of both classes of deities might, through political vicissitudes, +be extended over a larger district than the one to which +they were originally confined, and in so far their local character +would tend to be obscured. It would depend, however, upon +other factors, besides the merely political ones, whether these +cults would take a sufficiently deep hold upon the people to +lead to the evolution of deities, entirely dissociated from fixed +seats, who might be worshipped anywhere, and whose attributes +would tend to become more and more abstract in character. +Such a process, however, could not be completed by the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> +silent working of what, for want of a better name, we call +the genius of the people. It requires the assistance, conscious +and in a measure pedantic, of the thinkers and spiritual guides +of a people. In other words, the advance in religious conceptions +from the point at which we find them when the union of +the Babylonian states takes place, is conditioned upon the +infusion of the theological spirit into the mass of beliefs that +constituted the ancient heritage of the people.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, various circumstances have already been +suggested that coöperated, already prior to the days of Hammurabi, +in weeding out the superfluity of deities, at least so +far as recognition of them in the official inscriptions of the +rulers were concerned. Deities, attached to places of small +and ever-diminishing importance would, after being at first +adopted into the pantheon by some ruler desirous of emphasizing +his control over the town in question, end in being entirely +absorbed by some more powerful god, whose attributes were +similar to those of his minor companion. Especially would +this be the case with deities conceived as granting assistance +in warfare. The glory of the smaller warrior gods would fade +through the success achieved by a Nin-girsu. The names and +epithets would be transferred to the more powerful god, and, +beyond an occasional mention, the weaker would entirely pass +out of consideration. Again, the worship of the moon or of +the sun, or of certain aspects of the sun,—the morning sun, +the noonday sun, and the like,—at localities of minor importance, +would yield to the growing popularity of similar worship +in important centers. As a consequence, names that formerly +designated distinct deities or different phases of one and the +same deity, would, by being transferred to a single one, come +to be mere epithets of this one. The various names would be +used interchangeably, without much regard to their original force.</p> + +<p>All the essential elements of the Babylonian religion are +already to be found in the conditions prevailing during the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> +period that we have been considering. Some new deities are +met with in the periods that followed, but there is no reason to +believe that any profound changes in the manner of worship, +or in the conceptions regarding the gods, were introduced. +The relations, however, which the gods bear to one another +are considerably modified, their attributes become more sharply +defined, the duties and privileges pertaining to each are regulated. +Hand in hand with this systematization, the organization +of the cult becomes more perfect, the ritual enters upon further +phases of development, speculations regarding the unknown have +their outcome in the establishment of dogmas. Finally the past, +with its traditions and legends, is viewed under the aspect of +later religious thought. The products of popular fancy are +reshaped, given a literary turn that was originally foreign to +them, and so combined and imbued with a meaning as to reflect +the thoughts and aspirations of a comparatively advanced +age. What may be called the flowering of the theological +epoch in the history of the Babylonian religion, viewed as a +unit, is so directly dependent upon the political union of the +Babylonian states, brought about by Hammurabi (<i>c.</i> 2300 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>), +that it may be said to date from this event.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span></p> + +<h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_115_115" id="Footnote_115_115"></a><a href="#FNanchor_115_115"><span class="label">[115]</span></a> +Quite recently there have been found at Telloh some thirty thousand clay tablets, +chiefly lists of sacrifices, temple inventories, and legal documents. These tablets +will probably furnish additional names of deities, and perhaps throw further light on +those known. Further excavations at Nippur will likewise add to the material. +But after all, for our main purpose in this chapter, which is the illustration of +the chief traits of the Babylonian pantheon in early days, these expected additions +to the pantheon will not be of paramount significance.</p></div> + + + + +<h2><a name="chapter-viii" id="chapter-viii"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + +<h3>THE PANTHEON IN THE DAYS OF HAMMURABI.</h3> + + +<h3>Marduk.</h3> + +<p>The immediate result of Hammurabi's master-stroke in bringing +the various states of the Euphrates Valley under a single +control, was the supremacy secured for his capital, of the city +of Babylon over all other Babylonian cities, and with this +supremacy, the superior position henceforth assumed by the +patron deity of the capital, Marduk.<a name="FNanchor_116_116" id="FNanchor_116_116"></a><a href="#Footnote_116_116" class="fnanchor">[116]</a> It is needless for our +purposes to enter upon the question as to the age of the city +of Babylon,<a name="FNanchor_117_117" id="FNanchor_117_117"></a><a href="#Footnote_117_117" class="fnanchor">[117]</a> nor as to its political fortunes prior to the rise of +the dynasty of which Hammurabi was the sixth member. That +its beginnings were modest, and that its importance, if not its +origin, was of recent date in comparison with such places as +Eridu, Nippur, Lagash, Ur, and the like, is proved by the absence +of the god Marduk in any of the inscriptions that we have +been considering up to this point. The first mention of the +god occurs in the inscriptions of Hammurabi, where he appears +distinctly as the god of the city of Babylon. No doubt the +immediate predecessors of Hammurabi regarded Marduk in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> +the same light as the great conqueror, so that we are justified +in applying the data, furnished by the inscriptions of Hammurabi +to such of his predecessors, of whom records are still +lacking. It is to Marduk, that Hammurabi ascribes his success. +The king regards himself as the beloved of Marduk. +The god rejoices his heart and gives him power and plenty. +Even when paying his homage at the shrines of other deities, +he does not forget to couple the name of Marduk with that of +the deity whose protection he invokes. So at Sippar, sacred to +Shamash, and where the king deposits a cylinder recording the +improvements that he instigated in the city, he associates the +sun-god with Marduk, whereas in contradistinction to the rulers +of the old Babylonian cities or states, when addressing Marduk, +he does not find it necessary to make mention at the same +time of an entire pantheon. Marduk's protection suffices for +all purposes. This, of course, does not exclude the worship of +other gods. A reference has already been made to the king's +care for the city of Shamash. In this respect, he was but +following the example of his predecessors, who, while regarding +Babylon as their capital, were zealous in doing honor to ancient +centers of worship. So one of these predecessors, Zabu, +restores the temple of Shamash at Sippar, and that of Anunit +at Agade. Hammurabi, besides his work at Sippar, builds +a temple to Innanna at Hallabi.<a name="FNanchor_118_118" id="FNanchor_118_118"></a><a href="#Footnote_118_118" class="fnanchor">[118]</a> Babylon, however, is the +beloved city of Marduk, and upon its beautification and +improvement Hammurabi expends his chief energy. Such are +the endearing terms in which he speaks of his god, as to give +one the impression that, when thinking of Marduk, the king +for the moment loses sight of the existence of other gods. +The most striking tribute, however, that is paid to Marduk in +the period of Hammurabi is his gradual assumption of the +rôle played by the old En-lil or Bel of Nippur, once the +head of the Babylonian pantheon. This identification is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> +already foreshadowed in the title <i>bêlu rabu</i>, <i>i.e.</i>, 'great lord,' +which Hammurabi is fond of bestowing upon Marduk. It is +more clearly indicated in an inscription of his son, Samsu-iluna, +who represents Bel, 'the king of heaven and earth,' as transferring +to Marduk, the 'first-born son of Ea,' rulership over +'the four regions,'—a phrase that at this time had already +assumed a much wider meaning than its original portent. In +the religious literature of this age, which reflects the same +tendency, Bel expressly transfers his title 'lord of the lands'<a name="FNanchor_119_119" id="FNanchor_119_119"></a><a href="#Footnote_119_119" class="fnanchor">[119]</a> +to Marduk, while Ea likewise pays homage to his son, declaring +that the latter's 'name' shall also be Ea. The transference of +the name, according to Babylonian notions, is equivalent to a +transference of power. As a consequence, Bel and Marduk +are blended into one personage, Marduk becoming known as +Bel-Marduk, and finally, the first part of the compound sinking +to the level of a mere adjective, the god is addressed as 'lord +Marduk,' or 'Marduk, the lord.' The old Bel is entirely forgotten, +or survives at best in conventional association with +Anu and Ea, as a member of the ancient triad.</p> + +<p>It has been satisfactorily shown<a name="FNanchor_120_120" id="FNanchor_120_120"></a><a href="#Footnote_120_120" class="fnanchor">[120]</a> that Marduk was originally +a solar deity. His association with Babylon, therefore, must +be viewed in the same light as the association of Sin, the +moon-god, with the city of Ur, and the association of Shamash, +the sun-god, with Larsa and Sippar. Just as in the latter +places, other cults besides that of the patron deity prevailed, +so in Babylon it was merely the prominence which, for some +reason, the worship of the sun-god acquired, that led to the +closer identification of this particular deity with the city, until +he became viewed as the god <i>par excellence</i> of the city, and the +city itself as his favorite residence. As long as Larsa and +Sippar retained a prominence overshadowing that of Babylon,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> +the sun cult at the latter place could attract but little attention. +Only as Babylon began to rival, and finally to supersede, other +centers of sun-worship, could Marduk be brought into the +front rank of prevailing cults. It may appear strange, in view +of this original character of Marduk, that neither in the inscriptions +of Hammurabi, nor in those of his successors, is there +any direct reference to his qualities as a solar deity. However, +in the ideographs composing his name, which are to be interpreted +as 'child of the day,'<a name="FNanchor_121_121" id="FNanchor_121_121"></a><a href="#Footnote_121_121" class="fnanchor">[121]</a> and in the zodiacal system, as +perfected by the Babylonian scholars, there lurk traces of the +god's solar origin, and beyond this, perhaps, in certain set phrases, +surviving in prayers addressed to him. The explanation for +this absence of solar traits is to be sought in the peculiar +political conditions that resulted in bringing Marduk into such +prominence. Hammurabi was preëminently a conquering king. +He waged war on all sides, and carried on his campaigns for +many years. When he finally succeeded in bringing both +North and South Babylonia under his sway, it still required +constant watching to keep his empire together. His patron +god, therefore, the protector of the city, whose jurisdiction was +thus spread over a larger extent of territory than that of any +other deity, must have appeared to Hammurabi and his followers, +as well as to those vanquished by him, essentially as a +warrior. It is he who hands over to kings the land and its +inhabitants. The fact that he was a solar deity would become +obscured by the side of the more potent fact that, as god of the +city of Babylon, his sway was supreme. He therefore became +Marduk, the 'great lord.' The epithets bestowed upon him +naturally emphasized the manner in which he manifested himself, +and these epithets, therefore, referred to his power, to his +supremacy over other gods, to his favor shown to his worshippers<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> +by granting them unprecedented glory; and since the +political supremacy remained undisputed for many centuries, +no opportunity was afforded for ever reverting to the attributes +of the god as a solar deity. He remained—if one may so +express it—a political deity. The political significance of +Babylon permitted only one phase of his nature to be brought +forward.</p> + +<p>In the religious texts, however, preserving as they do the +more primitive conceptions by the side of the most advanced +ones, some traces of other attributes besides prowess in war +are found. By virtue of his character as a solar deity, Marduk, +like the orb personified through him, is essentially a life-giving +god. Whereas Shamash is viewed as the 'judge of mankind,' +Marduk becomes the god who restores the dead to life, though +he shares this power with Shamash, Gula, Nebo, and Nergal. +But after all, even in the religious texts, his more prominent +rôle is that of a ruler,—a magnified king. He protects the +weak, releases the imprisoned, and makes great the small. +He controls by his powerful hand the mountains and rivers and +fountains. He is the counsellor who guides the decrees, even +of the great gods, Anu and Bel. On his head rests a crown +with high horns, as the symbol of rulership. As the supreme +ruler, life and death are in his hands. Blessings flow from +him; and of awe-inspiring appearance, his wrath inflicts severe +punishment on the evil-doer.</p> + +<p>It is a noteworthy circumstance, and characteristic of the +phase of the Babylonian religion which we are considering, +that the extension of Marduk's political sway did not lead to +the establishment of Marduk cults outside of Babylon. One +reason for this was that, in accordance with the political conceptions, +dwelt upon in the introductory chapter, the empire of +Babylonia was regarded simply as an extension of the city of +Babylon. Babylonia, therefore, being identified in theory with +the city of Babylon, there was no need of emphasizing the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> +power of Marduk by establishing his cult elsewhere. Within the +limits of Babylon, however, there might be more than one shrine +to Marduk, and accordingly, when the city was extended so as +to include the place known as Borsippa, a temple to Marduk was +also erected there. The temple on the east side of the Euphrates, +known as E-Sagila, 'the lofty house,' was the older, and dates +probably from the beginnings of Babylon itself; that in Borsippa, +known as E-Zida, 'the true house,' seems to have been +founded by Hammurabi.<a name="FNanchor_122_122" id="FNanchor_122_122"></a><a href="#Footnote_122_122" class="fnanchor">[122]</a> While it was not in accord with the +dignity attaching to Marduk that his cult should be established +outside of the precincts of the city of Babylon, it would only +add to his glory to have the worship of other deities grouped +around his own sanctuary. Such a course would emphasize the +central position of Marduk among the gods, and accordingly, +we find that the chief gods of Babylonia are represented by +shrines within the sacred precincts of his great temples at +Babylon and Borsippa. First among these shrines is that of +Marduk's consort,</p> + + +<h3>Sarpanitum.</h3> + +<p>Neither Hammurabi nor his immediate successor make mention +of Sarpanitum, and at no time does she appear independently +of Marduk. The glory of Marduk did not permit of +any rival, and so his consort becomes merely his shadow,—less +significant than most of the consorts of the male deities. +Her name, signifying the 'silvery bright one,' evidently stands +in some connection with the solar character of her consort. +Popular etymology, by a play upon the name, made of Sarpanitum +(as though Zer-banit) the 'offspring-producing' goddess. She +had her shrine within the precincts of the great temple E-Sagila, +but we are not told of any special honors being paid her, nor do +we find her invoked to any extent in incantations or in votive +inscriptions. Agumkakrimi, or Agum (as he is also called),<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> +who rules about five centuries after Hammurabi, speaks of +having recovered the image of Sarpanitum, and that of Marduk, +out of the hands of a mountainous people living to the northwest +of Babylonia, in the district between the Bay of Iskenderun +and the Euphrates. The capture of the statues of the patron +gods points to a great humiliation which Babylon must have +encountered. Upon receiving a favorable omen from the sun-god, +Agum undertakes the task of bringing Marduk and Sarpanitum +back to their seats. Their temples, too, at Babylon +appear to have suffered damage during the invasion of the city, +and accordingly the statues are placed in the temple of Shamash +pending the restoration of E-Sagila. Agum dwells at length +upon the handsome garments and head-dress, studded with +precious stones, that he prepared for the god and his consort. +In all this description, one feels that it is Marduk for whom +the honors are intended, and that Sarpanitum is of less than +secondary importance,—shining merely by the reflected glory +of her great liege, whose presence in Babylon was essential to +a restoration of Babylon's position.</p> + +<p>There are reasons for believing, however, that Sarpanitum +once enjoyed considerable importance of her own, that prior to +the rise of Marduk to his supreme position, a goddess was +worshipped in Babylon, one of whose special functions it was +to protect the progeny while still in the mother's womb. A late +king of Babylon, the great Nebuchadnezzar, appeals to this attribute +of the goddess. To her was also attributed the possession +of knowledge concealed from men. Exactly to what class of +deities she belonged, we are no longer able to say, but it is +certain that at some time, probably about the time of Hammurabi, +an amalgamation took place between her and another goddess +known as Erua,<a name="FNanchor_123_123" id="FNanchor_123_123"></a><a href="#Footnote_123_123" class="fnanchor">[123]</a>—a name that etymologically suggests the idea<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> +of 'begetting.'<a name="FNanchor_124_124" id="FNanchor_124_124"></a><a href="#Footnote_124_124" class="fnanchor">[124]</a> She is represented as dwelling in the temple +of E-Zida at Borsippa, and was originally the consort of Nabu, +the chief god of this place.<a name="FNanchor_125_125" id="FNanchor_125_125"></a><a href="#Footnote_125_125" class="fnanchor">[125]</a> A late ruler of Babylon—Shamash-shumukin—calls +her the queen of the gods, and +declares himself to have been nominated by her to lord it over +men.</p> + +<p>A factor in this amalgamation of Erua and Sarpanitum was +the close association brought about in Babylon between Marduk +and a god whose seat was originally at the Persian Gulf—Ea. +The cult of this god, as we shall see, survived in Babylonia +through all political vicissitudes, and so did that of some other +minor water-deities that belong to this region. Among these +was Erua, whose worship centered in one of the islands in or +near the gulf. Wisdom and the life-giving principle were two +ideas associated in the Babylonian mind with water. As +inferior in power to Ea, Erua appears to have been regarded +as the daughter of Ea, and such was the sway exercised by Ea +over men's minds, that even the Babylonian schoolmen did not +venture to place Marduk over Ea, but pictured him as Ea's +son. Erua, however, was not prominent enough to become +Marduk's mother, and so she was regarded as his consort. In +this capacity she was associated with Sarpanitum, and the two +were merged into one personality. It rarely happens that all +the links in such a process are preserved, but in this case, the +epithets borne by Sarpanitum-Erua, such as 'lady of the deep,' +'mistress of the place where the fish dwell,' 'voice of the deep,' +point the way towards the solution of the problem involved in +the amalgamation of Erua and Sarpanitum.<a name="FNanchor_126_126" id="FNanchor_126_126"></a><a href="#Footnote_126_126" class="fnanchor">[126]</a></p> + +<h3><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span>Nabu.</h3> + +<p>The god Nabu (or Nebo) enjoys a great popularity in the +Babylonian cult, but he owes his prestige to the accident that, +as god of Borsippa, he was associated with Marduk. Indeed, +his case is a clear instance of the manner in which Marduk +overshadows all his fellows. Only as they are brought into +some manner of relationship with him do they secure a position +in the pantheon during this second period of Babylonian history. +Since Nabu's position in the pantheon, once established, +incurs but little change, it will be proper, in treating of him, +to include the testimony furnished by the historical records of +the Assyrian kings. The most prominent attribute of Nabu, +at least in the later phases of the Babylonian religion, is that +of wisdom. He is the wise, the all-knowing. He embodies in +his person all the wisdom of the gods. To him the Assyrian +kings are particularly fond of ascribing, not merely the understanding +that they possess, but the thought of preserving the +wisdom of the past for future ages; and in doing this the +Assyrians were but guided by examples furnished by the south. +Wisdom being associated, in the minds of the Babylonians, with +the watery deep, one is tempted to seek an aqueous origin for +Nabu. Such a supposition, although it cannot be positively +established, has much in its favor. It is not necessary, in order +to maintain this proposition, to remove Nabu from Borsippa. +The alluvial deposits made by the Euphrates yearly have +already demonstrated that Babylon lay much nearer at one +time to the Persian Gulf than it does at present. The original +seat of Ea, whose worship continued through all times to enjoy +great popularity at Babylon, was at Eridu, which, we know, +once lay on the Persian Gulf, but does so no longer. The +similarity of the epithets bestowed in various texts upon Ea +and Nabu point most decidedly to a similar starting-point for +both; and since in a syllabary<a name="FNanchor_127_127" id="FNanchor_127_127"></a><a href="#Footnote_127_127" class="fnanchor">[127]</a> we find the god actually identified<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> +with a deity of Dilmun,—probably one of the islands near +Bahrein,—there are grounds for assuming that a tradition +survived among the schoolmen, which brought Nabu into some +connection with the Persian Gulf. Sayce<a name="FNanchor_128_128" id="FNanchor_128_128"></a><a href="#Footnote_128_128" class="fnanchor">[128]</a> has already suggested +that Borsippa may have originally stood on an inlet of +the Persian Gulf. Nabu is inferior to Ea, and were it not for +the priority of Marduk, he would have become in Babylonian +theology, the son of Ea. Since this distinction<a name="FNanchor_129_129" id="FNanchor_129_129"></a><a href="#Footnote_129_129" class="fnanchor">[129]</a> is given to +Marduk, no direct indication of an original relationship to Ea +has survived.</p> + +<p>But besides being the god of wisdom and intelligence, Nabu +is a patron of agriculture, who causes the grain to sprout forth. +In religious and historical texts, he is lauded as the deity who +opens up the subterranean sources in order to irrigate the +fields. He heaps up the grain in the storehouses, and on the +other hand, the withdrawal of his favor is followed by famine +and distress. Jensen<a name="FNanchor_130_130" id="FNanchor_130_130"></a><a href="#Footnote_130_130" class="fnanchor">[130]</a> would conclude from this that he was +originally (like Marduk, therefore) a solar deity. This, however, +is hardly justified, since it is just as reasonable to deduce +his rôle as the producer of fertility from his powers as lord of +some body of water. However this may be, in the case of +Nabu, there are no grounds for supposing that he represents +the combination of two originally distinct deities. A later—chiefly +theoretical—amalgamation of Nabu with a god Nusku +will be discussed in a subsequent chapter.<a name="FNanchor_131_131" id="FNanchor_131_131"></a><a href="#Footnote_131_131" class="fnanchor">[131]</a> Hammurabi and his +immediate successors, it is noteworthy, do not make mention of +Nabu. A sufficient number of inscriptions of this period exists +to make it probable that this omission is not accidental. This +dynasty was chiefly concerned in firmly establishing the position +of Marduk. Other deities could, indeed, be tolerated at his side, +provided they were subservient to him; but Nabu, the god of a +place so near Babylon, might prove a dangerous rival because<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> +of this proximity. The city on the west bank of the Euphrates +was probably as old as that on the east, if not, indeed, older. +It did not seem consistent with this devotion to Marduk that +Hammurabi and his successors should also recognize Nabu. +Policy dictated that Nabu should be ignored, that the attempt +must be made to replace his worship, even in Borsippa, by that +of Marduk. Viewed in this light, Hammurabi's establishment +of the Marduk cult in Borsippa assumes a peculiar significance. +It meant that Borsippa was to be incorporated as part of Babylon, +and that Marduk was henceforth to take the place occupied +by Nabu. In order to emphasize this, Hammurabi actually +transfers the name of Nabu's temple in Borsippa, E-Zida, to the +one erected by him at that place to Marduk. Did he perhaps +entirely suppress the worship of Nabu at Borsippa? It would +almost appear so from Agum's utter omission of Nabu. Only +the statues of Marduk and Sarpanitum seem to have been +robbed by the Hani. Not a word is said as to Nabu. Either +there was no statue at the time at Borsippa, or the cult was of +such insignificance that the capture of the god was not considered +of sufficient moment to occupy the thoughts of the enemy, +as little as it did that of the rulers of Babylon at the time. In +the inscription in which Hammurabi recounts the building of +E-Zida in Borsippa, there are certain expressions which go to +substantiate the proposition that Nabu is intentionally ignored.<a name="FNanchor_132_132" id="FNanchor_132_132"></a><a href="#Footnote_132_132" class="fnanchor">[132]</a> +He calls Marduk the lord of E-Sagila and of E-Zida; he speaks +of Borsippa as the beloved city of Marduk, just as though it +were Babylon. Taking unto himself the functions of Nabu, +he even appears to play upon the name, which signifies 'proclaimer,'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> +and styles himself the <i>nabiu Anu</i>, 'the proclaimer of +Anu.' However this may be, the attempt to suppress Nabu +did not succeed,—a proof that in early times he had gained +popular favor. He had to be readmitted into the Babylonian +pantheon, though in a subordinate position to Marduk. He +took his place in the theological system as the son of Marduk, +and on the great festival—the New Year's day—celebrated +in honor of the great god of Babylon, the son shared some of +the honors accorded to the father. In time, his sanctuary at +Borsippa was again recognized. The former rivalry gave way +to a cordial <i>entente</i>. Nabu was even granted a chapel in +E-Sagila at Babylon, to which likewise the name of E-Zida was +given. Every New Year's day the son paid a visit to his +father, on which occasion the statue of Nabu was carried in +solemn procession from Borsippa across the river, and along +the main street of Babylon leading to the temple of Marduk; +and in return the father deity accompanied his son part way on +the trip back to E-Zida. In this way, due homage was accorded +to Marduk, and at the same time the close and cordial bonds +of union between Babylon and Borsippa found satisfactory +illustration. E-Sagila and E-Zida become, and remain throughout +the duration of the Babylonian religion, the central sanctuaries +of the land around which the most precious recollections +cluster, as dear to the Assyrians as to the Babylonians. The +kings of the northern empire vie with their southern cousins in +beautifying and enlarging the structures sacred to Marduk and +Nabu.</p> + +<p>In view of the explanation offered for the silence maintained +by Hammurabi and his successors regarding Nabu, we are +justified in including Nabu in the Babylonian pantheon of +those days. In later times, among the Assyrians, the Nabu +cult, as already intimated, grows in popularity. The northern +monarchs, in fact, seem to give Nabu the preference over +Marduk. They do not tire of proclaiming him as the source<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> +of wisdom. The staff is his symbol, which is interpreted in a +double sense, as the writer's stylus and as the ruler's sceptre. +He becomes, also, the bestower of royal power upon his favorites. +Without his aid, order cannot be maintained in the land. Disobedience +to him is punished by the introduction of foreign rule. +Political policy may have had a share in this preference shown +for the minor god of Babylon. The Assyrian kings were +always anxious to do homage to the gods of Babylon, in order +to indicate their control over the southern districts. They +were particularly proud of their title 'governor of Bel.'<a name="FNanchor_133_133" id="FNanchor_133_133"></a><a href="#Footnote_133_133" class="fnanchor">[133]</a> On +the other hand, they were careful not to give offence to the +chief of the Assyrian pantheon,—the god Ashur,—by paying +too much honor to Marduk, who was in a measure Ashur's +rival. In consequence, as Hammurabi and his successors +endeavored to ignore Nabu, the Assyrian rulers now turned +the tables by manifesting a preference for Nabu; and obliged +as they were to acknowledge that the intellectual impulses came +from the south, they could accept a southern god of wisdom +without encroaching upon the province of Ashur, whose claims +to homage lay in the prowess he showed in war. Marduk was +too much like Ashur to find a place at his side. Nabu was a +totally different deity, and in worshipping him who was the son +of Marduk, the Assyrian kings felt that they were paying due +regard to the feelings of their Babylonian subjects. The cult +of Nabu thus became widely extended in Assyria. Statues of +the god were erected and deposited in shrines built for the +purpose, although the fact was not lost sight of that the real +dwelling-place of the god was in Borsippa. At the end of the +ninth century <span class="smcap">B.C.</span> this cult seems to have reached its height. +We learn of a temple at Calah, and of no less than eight +statues of the god being erected in the days of Ramman-nirari +III., and the terms in which the god is addressed might lead +one to believe that an attempt was made to concentrate the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> +cult in Assyria on him.<a name="FNanchor_134_134" id="FNanchor_134_134"></a><a href="#Footnote_134_134" class="fnanchor">[134]</a> This, however, was an impossibility. +As long as Assyria continued to play the rôle of the subduer +of nations, Ashur—the god of war <i>par excellence</i>—necessarily +retained his position at the head of the Assyrian pantheon. +The popularity of Nabu, which continued to the end +of the Assyrian empire, and gained a fresh impetus in the days +of Ashurbanabal, who, as a patron of literature, invokes Nabu +on thousands of the tablets of his library as 'the opener of +ears to understanding,' reacted on his position in the Babylonian +cult. In the new Babylonian empire, which continued +to so large a degree the traditions of Assyria, it is no accident +that three of the kings—Nabupolassar, Nebuchadnezzar, and +Nabonnedos—bear names containing the deity as one of the +elements. While paying superior devotion to Marduk, who +once more became the real and not merely the nominal head +of the pantheon, they must have held Nabu in no small esteem; +and indeed the last-named king was suspected of trying actually +to divert the homage of the people away from Marduk to +other gods, though he did not, as a matter of course, go so far +as to endeavor to usurp for the son, the position held by the +father. It is probably due to Assyrian influence that even in +Babylonia, from the eighth century on, Nabu is occasionally +mentioned before Marduk. So Marduk-baladan II. (721-710) +calls himself the "worshipper of Nabu and Marduk," and +similarly others. In official letters likewise, and in astronomical +reports, Nabu is given precedence to Marduk, but this may be +due to Nabu's functions, as the god of writing and the patron +of science.</p> + +<p>The Neo-Babylonian kings are not sparing in the epithets +they bestow on Nabu, though they emphasize more his qualities +as holder of the 'sceptre' than as lord of the 'stylus.' So +Nebuchadnezzar declares that it is he 'who gives the sceptre of +sovereignty to kings to rule over all lands.' In this capacity<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> +he is 'the upholder of the world,' 'the general overseer,' and +his temple is called 'the house of the sceptre of the world.'</p> + +<p>His name signifies simply the 'proclaimer,' or herald, but +we are left in doubt as to what he proclaims,—whether wisdom +or sovereignty. Sometimes he appears as the 'herald' of the +gods. In this rôle he receives the name of Papsukal (<i>i.e.</i>, +supreme or sacred messenger), and it may be that this function +was a very old one. But, again, as god of fertility he could +also be appropriately termed the 'proclaimer.' The question +must, accordingly, be left open as to the precise force of the +attribute contained in his name. Finally, an interesting feature +connected with Nabu, that may be mentioned here, is that in +the name borne by a famous mountain in Moab, Nebo, where +Moses—himself a 'proclaimer'<a name="FNanchor_135_135" id="FNanchor_135_135"></a><a href="#Footnote_135_135" class="fnanchor">[135]</a>—died, there survives a testimony +that the worship of this popular deity extended beyond +the Euphrates and the Tigris, to Semites living considerably to +the west. To Nabu, as to Marduk, a consort was given. Her +name was</p> + + +<h3>Tashmitum.</h3> + +<p>The name Tashmitum appears for the first time in the days +of Hammurabi. Attention has already been called to the king's +ignoring of the god of Borsippa. While his attempt to suppress +the cult of Nabu was not successful, he did succeed in causing +the old consort of Nabu to disappear. This consort appears +to have been no other than Erua. It will be recalled that up +to very late times the tradition survived that her dwelling-place +was Borsippa.<a name="FNanchor_136_136" id="FNanchor_136_136"></a><a href="#Footnote_136_136" class="fnanchor">[136]</a> This is never said of Sarpanitum. Despite, +therefore, the amalgamation of Sarpanitum and Erua, the +association of the latter with Nabu's dwelling-place remains<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> +impressed upon the memory of the Babylonian scholars, at +least. Nabu's consort having thus been transferred to Marduk, +a new mate had to be found for the former, when once his +rivalry was no longer to be dreaded, and his cult again rose to +prominence. 'Tashmitum' is an abstract noun in Assyrian, +signifying 'revelation.' As such, it is bestowed in historical texts +upon Nabu himself, who is called <i>itu tashimêti</i>, 'god of revelation.' +Nabu is, above all, a 'revealing' god,—revealing +knowledge, the art of writing, and the method of ruling. The +appellation is therefore a most appropriate one, and there +seems little reason to question that Tashmitum was originally +nothing but one of the terms by which Nabu was designated, +just as he was called Papsukal in his rôle as 'messenger' of the +gods,—the messenger of his father Marduk and of his grandfather +Ea, in particular. But Tashmitum, being feminine in +gender, as an abstract noun, seemed appropriate as the designation +of a goddess. It would appear, then, that 'Revelation,' +from being so constantly associated with Nabu, was personified, +dissociated from him, as it were, through the conception of a +distinct goddess bearing the name of 'Tashmitum.' This +process of thought, in giving rise to a new goddess, may have +been, in part, a popular one. The translation of a metaphor +into reality is a phenomenon that may be observed in almost all +religions of antiquity. But the process, whatever its course in +detail may have been, was not uninfluenced by the theological +dogma whereby a god was supposed to have a 'reflection' who +was pictured as his consort. Through this conception, as we +have already seen, many a goddess once ruling in her own +right, and enjoying an independent existence, degenerated into +a mere shadow of some male deity, though, on the other hand, +it must be borne in mind that these female deities would have +disappeared altogether but for the opportunity thus afforded +them of becoming 'attachées' to some male deity. This theory +of the <i>quasi</i>-artificial character and origin of Tashmit finds<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> +support in the manner in which the mention of her name is +entwined with that of Nabu. Sarpanitum, bound up as the +goddess is with Marduk, has at least a shrine of her own, and +occasionally she is spoken of in the texts without her husband +Marduk.<a name="FNanchor_137_137" id="FNanchor_137_137"></a><a href="#Footnote_137_137" class="fnanchor">[137]</a> The mention of Tashmitum, however, invariably follows +that of Nabu. It is always 'Nabu and Tashmitum,' and it +is never Tashmitum without Nabu. While the creation of Tashmitum +may be a product of Babylonian religious thought, it is +in Assyrian texts that her name is chiefly found. The great +Ashurbanabal, in the conventional subscript attached to his +tablet, is particularly fond of coupling Tashmitum with Nabu, +as the two deities who opened his ears to understanding and +prompted him to gather in his palace the literary treasures +produced by the culture that flourished in the south. Tashmit +has no shrine or temple, so far as known, either in Borsippa or +in any of the places whither the Nabu cult spread. She has +no attributes other than those that belong to Nabu, and, what +is very remarkable, the later Babylonian kings, such as Nebuchadnezzar +II., when they deem it proper to attach a consort to +Nabu call her Nanâ,<a name="FNanchor_138_138" id="FNanchor_138_138"></a><a href="#Footnote_138_138" class="fnanchor">[138]</a> <i>i.e.</i>, simply the lady, and not Tashmitum, +a proof, how little hold the name had taken upon the Babylonian +populace. If to this it be added, that in by far the greater +number of instances, no reference whatsoever to a consort is +made when Nabu is spoken of, an additional reason is found +for the unreal, the shadowy character of this goddess.</p> + + +<h3>Ea.</h3> + +<p>In treating of the position occupied by Ea in the oldest +period of Babylonian history (see above, pp. <a href="#Page_61">61</a>-64), it has +already been mentioned that he grows to much larger proportions +under the influence of a more fully developed theological +system. Indeed, there is no god who shows such profound<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> +traces of having been submitted to a theological treatment, +and indirectly, therefore, furnishes so distinct a proof of the +existence of theological schools in the ancient centers of Babylonian +culture, as Ea. The question may with propriety be +here discussed, to what period we are to attribute the completion +of the process, which, to summarize his position, made Ea +the special god of humanity, the father of Marduk, the third in +a great triad, of which the other two members were Anu, the +god of heaven, and Bel, the god of earth. Already, in the +days preceding the union of the Babylonian states under one +head, we have had occasion to see traces of an attempt to +systematize the relations existing between the gods. A high +degree of culture, such as the existence of a perfected form of +writing, an advanced form of architecture, and commercial +enterprise reflect, cannot be dissociated from a high degree of +activity in the domain of philosophic or religious thought. +Accordingly, we are in no danger of attributing too great an +antiquity to the beginnings of theological speculation in Babylonia. +Be it remembered that from the earliest to the latest +days, the priests were the scribes and that in their capacity as +writers of the texts, they would be enjoying the advantages of +an intellectual impulse. But they were also the composers of +the texts, as well as the writers, and the prominence given to +the gods in texts of whatever description, would inevitably lead +their thoughts to speculations regarding the attributes of the +gods. The attempt would at an early period be made to find +some unifying principles in the tangled mass of gods. By the +time that Hammurabi appears on the scene, we have every +reason to believe that some of the ancient libraries of the +south, whither Ashurbanabal sent his scribes, were already well +stocked, and that a goodly portion of the Babylonian literature +known to us already existed. What these portions were, we will +have occasion to point out when we come to discuss the literature +of Babylonia. On the other hand, this literature would<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> +not only necessarily increase as long as any degree of intellectual +activity existed in the country, but this activity would also +manifest itself in transforming this literature, so as to adapt it +to the thoughts and aspirations of a later age. Especially +would this be the case in the purely religious divisions of +literature. The ancient traditions, legends, and myths, once +committed to writing, would serve as a point of departure for +further speculations. The existence of a text to which any +measure of value is attached, is bound to give rise to various +attempts at interpretation, and if this value be connected with +the religion of a people, the result is, invariably, that the ancient +words are invested with a meaning conformable to a later age. +Each generation among a people characterized by intellectual +activity has a signature of its own, and it will seek to give to +the religious thoughts of the time its own particular impress. +Since, however, the material upon which any age works is not +of its own making, but is furnished by a preceding one, it +follows that much of the intellectual activity of an age manifests +itself in a transformation of its literary or speculative heritage. +This process was constantly going on in Babylonia, and had +we more material—and older material—at our disposal, we +would be able to trace more clearly than we can at present, the +various stages that led to the system of theology, as embodied +in the best productions of the ancient Babylonian schoolmen.</p> + +<p>The days of Hammurabi, as they were politically of great +importance, also appear to have ushered in a new era in the +religious life of the people. Stirring political events are always +apt to bring in their wake intellectual movements, and in a +country like Babylonia, where politics react so forcibly on religious +conditions, the permanent establishment of the supremacy +of the city of Babylon would be fraught with important consequences +for the cult. The main change brought about by this +new epoch of Babylonian history was, as we have seen, the +superior position henceforth accorded in the pantheon to Marduk<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> +as the patron deity of Babylon; but this change entailed +so many others, that it almost merits being termed a revolution. +In order to ensure Marduk's place, the relations of the other +deities to him had to be regulated, the legends and traditions +of the past reshaped, so as to be brought into consistent accord +with the new order of things, and the cult likewise to be, at +least in part, remodelled, so as to emphasize the supremacy of +Marduk. This work, which was an inevitable one, was primarily +of an intellectual order. We are justified, then, in +looking for traces of this activity in the remains that have +been recovered of ancient Babylonian literature. We know +from direct evidence that the commercial life of Babylonia had +already, in the period preceding Hammurabi, led to regulated +legal forms and practices for the purpose of carrying out +obligations and of settling commercial and legal difficulties. +The proof has been furnished by Dr. Meissner<a name="FNanchor_139_139" id="FNanchor_139_139"></a><a href="#Footnote_139_139" class="fnanchor">[139]</a> that syllabaries +prepared for the better understanding of the formulas +and words employed in preparing the legal and commercial +tablets, date, in part, from the period which we may roughly +designate as that of Hammurabi,—covering, say, the three +centuries 2300 to 2000 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span> With this evidence for the existence +of pedagogues devoted to the training of novices in the art +of reading and writing, in order to fit them for their future tasks +as official scribes, we are safe in assuming that these same +schoolmen were no less active in other fields of literature. If, +in addition to this, we find that much of the religious literature, +in the shape that we have it, reflects the religious conditions +such as they must have shaped themselves in consequence of +the promotion of Marduk to the head of the pantheon, the +conclusion is forced upon us that such literary productions +date from this same epoch of Hammurabi. This influence of +the schoolmen while centering, as repeatedly pointed out, +around the position of Marduk, manifests itself in a pronounced<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> +fashion, also, in the changed position henceforth +accorded to the god Ea. It will be recalled that in the earliest +period of Babylonian history, Ea does not figure prominently. +At the same time we must beware of laying too much stress +upon the negative testimony of the historical texts. Besides +the still limited material of this character at our disposal, the +non-mention of a deity may be due to a variety of circumstances, +that may properly be designated as accidental. The +gods to whom the kings of the ancient Babylonian states would +be apt to appeal would be, in the first instance, the local +deities, patrons of the city that happened to be the capital of +the state; in the second instance, the gods of the vanquished +towns; and thirdly, some of the great deities worshipped at +the sacred centers of the Euphrates valley, and who constituted, +as it were, the common heritage of the past. Ea, as the +god of the Persian gulf, the region which forms the starting-point +of Babylonian culture, and around which some of the +oldest and most precious recollections center, would come +within the radius of the third instance, since, in the period we +have in mind, Eridu no longer enjoyed any political importance. +We may be sure, then, despite the silence of the texts, that Ea +was always held in great esteem, and that even the absence of +temples in his honor, did not affect the reverence and awe that +he inspired. As for the epoch of Hammurabi, the historical +spirit that is never absent in a truly intellectual age would be +certain to restore Ea to his proper prestige, assuming that a +previous age had permitted him to fall into neglect. Next to +Marduk, there is no deity who is given such distinction in +Babylonia, after the union of the Babylonian states, as Ea. In +the religious literature, moreover, as reshaped by the schoolmen +of the time, his rôle is even more prominent than that of +Marduk. As a water-god, and more particularly as the god to +whom the largest body of water known to the Babylonians was +sacred, Ea was regarded as the source and giver of wisdom.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> +Fountains everywhere were sacred to him; and so he becomes +also the giver of fertility and plenty. Berosus tells us of a +mystic being, half man, half fish, who spent his nights in the +waters of the gulf, but who would come out of the waters +during the day to give instruction to the people, until that time +steeped in ignorance and barbarism. This 'Oannes,' as Berosus +is said<a name="FNanchor_140_140" id="FNanchor_140_140"></a><a href="#Footnote_140_140" class="fnanchor">[140]</a> to have called him, was none other than Ea. As +the great benefactor of mankind, it is natural that Ea should +have come to be viewed as the god whose special function it is +to protect the human race, to advance it in all its good undertakings, +to protect it against the evil designs of gods or demons. +In this rôle, he appears in the religious literature—in the +epics, the cosmogony, and the ritual—of Babylonia. There +is no god conceived in so universal a manner as Ea. All local +connection with Eridu disappears. He belongs to no particular +district. His worship is not limited to any particular spot. +All of Babylonia lays claim to him. The ethical import of +such a conception is manifestly great, and traces of it are to +be found in the religious productions. It impressed upon the +Babylonians the common bond uniting all mankind. The cult +of Ea must have engendered humane feelings, softening the +rivalry existing among the ancient centers of Babylonian power, +and leading the people a considerable distance, on the road to +the conception of a common humanity. When the gods decide +to destroy mankind, it is Ea who intercedes on behalf of humanity; +when the demon of disease has entered a human body, it +is to Ea that, in the last resort, the appeal is made to free the +sufferer from his pain. Ea is the god of the physicians. Nay, +more, it is Ea who presided at the birth of humanity, so that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> +his protection reaches far back, beyond even the beginnings of +civilization, almost to the beginning of things. Lastly, as the +god of civilization, it is to him that the great works of art are +ascribed. He is the god of the smithy, the patron of the gold +and silversmiths, of workers in lapis-lazuli, and all kinds of +precious stones. He is the god of sculpture. The great bulls +and lions that guarded the approaches to the temple and palace +chambers, as well as the statues of the gods and kings, were +the work of his hands. Furthermore, he is the patron of +weavers, as of other arts. This conception may have been +perfected in a general way, and in all probability was perfected +before the days of Hammurabi, though perhaps not prominently +brought forward; but important modifications were +introduced into it, through the compromise that had to be +arranged between the position of Ea and that of Marduk. +Of course, neither the rulers nor the priests of Babylon could +have permitted the reverence for Ea to have gone to the +length of throwing Marduk into the shade. Many of the +functions assigned to Ea seemed to belong of right to Marduk, +who, as the patron of Babylon, presided over the destinies of +what to the Babylonians was the essential part of mankind,—namely, +themselves. Moreover, Babylon being the seat of +culture as well as of power, in the period following upon +Hammurabi, Marduk was necessarily conceived as possessing +the same wisdom that distinguishes Ea. As a consequence, +the attributes of Ea were transferred in a body to Marduk. +An amalgamation of the two, however, such as took place in +the case of other deities, was neither possible, nor, indeed, +desirable. It was not possible, because of the antiquity of the +Ea cult and the peculiar position that he, as a common heirloom +of all Babylonia, occupied; nor was it desirable, for to +do so would be to cut off completely the bond uniting Babylon +to its own past and to the rest of Babylonia. The solution of +the problem was found in making Ea, the father of Marduk—the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> +loving and proud father who willingly transfers all his +powers and qualities to his son, who rejoices in the triumph of +his offspring, and who suffers no pangs of jealousy when +beholding the superior honors shown to Marduk, both by the +gods and by men.</p> + + +<h3>Ea and Marduk.</h3> + +<p>The combination of the two gods is particularly frequent in +the so-called incantation texts. Marduk becomes the mediator +between Ea and mankind. The man smitten with disease, or +otherwise in trouble, appeals to Marduk for help, who promptly +brings the petition to his father Ea. The latter, after modestly +declaring that there is nothing that he knows which his son +Marduk does not know, gives Marduk the necessary instructions, +which in turn are conveyed to the one crying for divine +succor. It is clear that these texts have been reshaped with +the intention of adding to the glory of Marduk. They must, +therefore, have been remodelled at a time when the Marduk +cult was in the ascendancy. This was after the days of +Hammurabi, and before the subjugation of Babylonia to +Assyrian rule. The limits thus assigned are, to be sure, +broad, but from what has above been said as to the intellectual +activity reigning in the days of Hammurabi, we need not +descend far below the death of the great conqueror to find the +starting-point for the remodelling of the texts in question. +Not all of them, of course, were so reshaped. There are quite +a number in which Ea is alone and directly appealed to, and +these form a welcome confirmation of the supposition that +those in which Ea is joined to Marduk have been reshaped +with a desire to make them conform to the position of Marduk +in the Babylonian pantheon. Again, there are incantations in +which the name of Marduk appears without Ea. Such are +either productions of a later period, of the time when Marduk +had already assumed his superior position, or what is also<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> +possible, though less probable, old compositions in which the +name of Ea has been simply replaced by that of Marduk. An +especially interesting example of the manner in which ancient +productions have been worked over by the Babylonian theologians, +with a view to bringing their favorite Marduk into +greater prominence, appears in one of the episodes of the +Babylonian cosmogony. Prior to the creation of man a great +monster known as Tiâmat had to be subdued. The gods all +shrink in terror before her. Only one succeeds in conquering +her. In the form of the story, as we have it, this hero is +Marduk, but it is quite evident<a name="FNanchor_141_141" id="FNanchor_141_141"></a><a href="#Footnote_141_141" class="fnanchor">[141]</a> that the honor originally +belonged to an entirely different god, one who is much older, +and who stands much higher than the god of Babylon. This +was Bel,—the old god of Nippur who was conceived as the +god of earth <i>par excellence</i>, and to whom therefore the task of +preparing the earth for the habitation of mankind properly +belonged. How do the Babylonian theologians, who stand +under the influence of the political conditions prevailing in +Babylonia after the union of the Babylonian states, reconcile +this older and true form of the episode with the form in which +they have recast it? The gods who are called the progenitors +of Marduk are represented as rejoicing upon seeing Marduk +equipped for the fray. In chorus they greet and bless him, +"Marduk be king." They present him with additional weapons, +and encourage him for the contest. Upon hearing of his +success the gods vie with one another in conferring honors +upon Marduk. They bestow all manner of glorious epithets +upon him; and, to cap the climax, the old Bel, known as 'father +Bel,' steps forward and transfers to him his name, <i>bêl matâti</i>,<a name="FNanchor_142_142" id="FNanchor_142_142"></a><a href="#Footnote_142_142" class="fnanchor">[142]</a> +'lord of lands.' To bestow the name was equivalent to transferring +Bel's powers to Marduk; and so Marduk is henceforth<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> +known as <i>Bel</i>. But Ea must be introduced into the episode. It +is not sufficient that Bel, the original subduer of Tiâmat, should +pay homage to Marduk; Ea also greets his son, and bestows +his name upon him,<a name="FNanchor_143_143" id="FNanchor_143_143"></a><a href="#Footnote_143_143" class="fnanchor">[143]</a>—that is, transfers his powers to his son. +There is a special reason for this. The overthrow of Tiâmat +is followed by the creation of man. This function properly +belongs to Bel, both as the god of earth and as the subduer of +Tiâmat. According to one—and probably the oldest—version +of this part of the Babylonian cosmogony which was embodied +in the work of Berosus<a name="FNanchor_144_144" id="FNanchor_144_144"></a><a href="#Footnote_144_144" class="fnanchor">[144]</a>, it is Bel who creates mankind. The +substitution of Marduk for Bel necessitated the transference of +the rôle of creator to Marduk likewise, and yet the latter could +not take this upon himself without the consent of his father +Ea, who had become the god of humanity <i>par excellence</i>. Ea +could interpose no objection against Bel being replaced by +Marduk in vanquishing the monster, but when it came to drawing +the conclusion and replacing Bel by Marduk also in the +creation of man, the case was different. If Bel was to be +replaced, Ea had a prior claim. Marduk could only take +the new functions upon himself after receiving the powers of +Ea. That is the force of Ea's saying that Marduk's name also +shall be Ea just as his. This transference of the name of Ea +to Marduk is in itself an indication that there must have +existed a second version in Babylonia—probably of later +origin than the other—of the creation of man, according +to which Ea, and not Bel, was the creator. We shall +have occasion to see, in a future chapter, that there were +at least two different versions current in Babylonia of the +creation of the gods and of the universe. The opening +chapters in Genesis form an interesting parallel to +show the manner in which two different versions of one and +the same subject may be combined. There is, therefore,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> +nothing improbable in the supposition that a later version, +reflecting a period when Bel had sunk into comparative insignificance, +made Ea the creator of mankind instead of Bel, and +that still later a solution of the apparent inconsistency involved +in transferring only part of Bel's powers to Marduk was found +by securing Ea's consent to the acknowledgment of Marduk +not merely as creator of mankind but of the heavenly vault as +well. Jensen<a name="FNanchor_145_145" id="FNanchor_145_145"></a><a href="#Footnote_145_145" class="fnanchor">[145]</a> has brought other evidence to show that Ea was +once regarded as the creator of mankind. One of his titles +is that of 'potter,' and mankind, according to Babylonian +theories, was formed of 'clay.' Moreover, in a Babylonian +myth that will be set forth in its proper place, Ea expressly +figures in the rôle of creating a mysterious being, <i>Uddushu-na-mir</i>, +whose name signifies 'his light shines.' Such a proper +name, too, as "Ea-bani," <i>i.e.</i>, 'Ea creates,' points in the same +direction.</p> + +<p>In other literary productions of Babylonia, such as, <i>e.g.</i>, +the so-called Izdubar epic, Ea again appears without Marduk, +showing that this story has not been remodeled, or that the +later version, in which the traces of a recasting may have been +seen, has not been discovered. In the deluge story, which +forms part of the Izdubar epic, Ea alone is the hero. It is he +who saves humanity from complete annihilation, and who pacifies +the angered Bel. Marduk's name does not appear in the +entire epic. We have found it necessary to dwell thus at +length upon these evidences of the recasting of the literary +products of ancient Babylonia under the influence of changed +conceptions of the gods and of their relations to one another, +for upon the understanding of these changes, our appreciation +of the development of religious beliefs in Babylonia, and all +connected with these beliefs, hinges. The epoch of Hammurabi +was a crucial one for Babylonia from a religious as well +as from a political point of view.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span></p> + +<h3>Damkina.</h3> + +<p>The consort of Ea figures occasionally in the historical texts +of Hammurabi's successors. Agumkakrimi invokes Ea and +Damkina, asking these gods, who 'dwell in the great ocean' +surrounding the earth, to grant him long life. In addition to +this, the antiquity of the literary productions in which her +name appears justifies us in reckoning her among the gods of +Babylonia of Hammurabi's time. Her name signifies 'lady +of the earth,' and there is evidently a theoretical substratum +to this association of Ea, the water-god, with an earth-goddess. +The one forms the complement to the other; and Marduk, as +the son of water and earth, takes his place in the theory as the +creator of the world. In this form the 'natural philosophy' of +Babylonia survived to a late period. Nicolas of Damascus +still knows (probably through Berosus) that Ea and Damkina<a name="FNanchor_146_146" id="FNanchor_146_146"></a><a href="#Footnote_146_146" class="fnanchor">[146]</a> +had a son Bel (<i>i.e.</i>, Marduk). The survival of the name is a +proof that, despite the silence of the historical texts, she was +a prominent personage in Babylonian mythology, even though +she did not figure largely in the cult. She appears in the +magical texts quite frequently at the side of Ea. In a hymn<a name="FNanchor_147_147" id="FNanchor_147_147"></a><a href="#Footnote_147_147" class="fnanchor">[147]</a> +where a description occurs of the boat containing Ea, Damkina +his wife, and Marduk their son, together with the ferryman +and some other personages sailing across the ocean, we may +see traces of the process of symbolization to which the old +figures of mythology were subjected.</p> + + +<h3>Shamash.</h3> + +<p>Passing on, we find Hammurabi as strongly attached to the +worship of the old sun-god as any of his predecessors. Next +to Babylon, he was much concerned with making improvements +in Sippar. The Temple of Shamash at Larsa also was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> +improved and enlarged by him. Hammurabi's example is followed +by his successors. Agumkakrimi invokes Shamash as +'warrior of heaven and earth'; and it is likely that the precedent +furnished by these two kings, who considered it consistent +with devotion to Marduk to single out the places sacred to +Shamash for special consideration, had much to do in maintaining +the popularity of sun-worship in Babylonia and Assyria. +Kara-indash, of the Cassite dynasty (<i>c.</i> 1450 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>), restores the +temple of Shamash at Larsa, and Mili-shikhu, two centuries later, +assigns to Shamash the second place in his pantheon, naming +him before Marduk. Foreign rulers were naturally not so deeply +attached to Marduk as were the natives of Babylon. In the +Assyrian pantheon Shamash occupies the third place, following +immediately upon the two special deities of Assyria. One of the +greatest of the northern kings erects a temple in honor of the +god, and the later Babylonian kings vie with one another in +doing honor to the two oldest sanctuaries of Shamash, at +Sippar and Larsa. Perhaps the pristine affinity between Marduk, +who, as we saw, was originally a sun-deity, and Shamash, +also had a share in Hammurabi's fondness for coupling these +two gods. When describing his operations at Sippar he speaks +of himself as 'doing good to the flesh of Shamash and Marduk.' +Hammurabi felt himself to be honoring Marduk, through paying +homage to a deity having affinity with the patron protector of +Babylon.</p> + + +<h3>Innanna.</h3> + +<p>We have already come across a deity of this name in a +previous chapter.<a name="FNanchor_148_148" id="FNanchor_148_148"></a><a href="#Footnote_148_148" class="fnanchor">[148]</a> Hammurabi tells us, in one of his inscriptions, +that he has restored the temple in honor of Innanna at +Hallabi—a town near Sippar.<a name="FNanchor_149_149" id="FNanchor_149_149"></a><a href="#Footnote_149_149" class="fnanchor">[149]</a> Innanna, or Ninni, signifying<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> +merely 'lady,' or 'great lady,' appears to have become a very +general name for a goddess, hence the addition 'of Hallabi,' +which Hammurabi is careful to make. At the same time the +designation 'lady of Hallabi' points to her being a consort of +a male deity who was the patron of the place. May this have +been the moon-god again, as in the case of the other Innanna? +Our knowledge of this goddess is confined to what the king +tells us about her. For him she is the mistress whose glory +fills heaven and earth, but when he adds that she has placed in +his hands the reins of government, this only means that the +goddess recognizes his right to supreme authority over the +Babylonian states—not that he owes his power to her. It is +after he has succeeded in making Babylon the capital of a great +kingdom that he proceeds to improve the temple of Innanna.</p> + + +<h3>Bel and the Triad of Babylonian Theology.</h3> + +<p>Among the literary remains of Hammurabi's days we have a +hymn in which the chief gods worshipped by the king are +enumerated in succession. The list begins with Bel, and then +mentions Sin, Ninib, Ishtar, Shamash, and Ramman. We +should expect to find at the head of the list Marduk. The +hymn may be older than Hammurabi, who, perhaps, is quoting +or copying it, and since the Bel who is here at the head of the +pantheon is the god of Nippur, the hymn may originally have +belonged to the ritual of that place. For Hammurabi the +highest 'Bel,' or lord, is Marduk, and there is hardly room for +doubt that in using this hymn as a means of passing on to singing +his own praises, with which the inscription in question ends, +Hammurabi has in mind the patron god of Babylon when +speaking of Bel.<a name="FNanchor_150_150" id="FNanchor_150_150"></a><a href="#Footnote_150_150" class="fnanchor">[150]</a> It is this amalgamation of the old Bel with +Marduk that marks, as we have seen, the transition to the use +of Bel's name as a mere title of Marduk. Elsewhere, however,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> +Hammurabi uses Bel to designate the old god. So when he +calls himself the proclaimer of Anu and Bel<a name="FNanchor_151_151" id="FNanchor_151_151"></a><a href="#Footnote_151_151" class="fnanchor">[151]</a> the association +with Anu makes it impossible that Marduk should be meant. +At times he appears to refer in the same inscription, now to +the old Bel and again to Bel-Marduk, under the same designation. +When Kurigalzu, a member of the Cassite dynasty +(<i>c.</i> 1400 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>), speaks of 'Bel, the lord of lands,' to whom he +erects a temple in the new city, Dur-Kurigalzu—some forty +miles to the northeast of Babylon—it is the old Bel who is again +meant. While acknowledging Marduk as one of the chief gods, +these foreign rulers in Babylonia—the Cassites—did not feel +the same attachment to him as Hammurabi did. They gave the +preference to the old god of Nippur, and, indeed, succeeded in +their attempt to give to the old city of Nippur some of its pristine +glory. They devoted themselves assiduously to the care of the +great temple at Nippur. There are some indications of an +attempt made by them to make Nippur the capital of their +empire. In the case of Hammurabi's immediate successor, as +has been pointed out, the equation Bel-Marduk is distinctly set +down, but, for all that, the double employment of the name continues +even through the period of the Assyrian supremacy over +Babylonia. The northern rulers now use Bel to designate the +more ancient god, and, again, merely as a designation of Marduk. +Tiglathpileser I. (see note 1, below) expressly adds 'the +older' when speaking of Bel. When Sargon refers to Bel, 'the +lord of lands, who dwells on the sacred mountain of the gods,' +or when Tiglathpileser I. calls Bel 'the father of the gods,' +'the king of the group of spirits' known as the Anunaki, it is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> +of course only the old Bel, the lord of the lower region, or of the +earth, who can be meant; but when, as is much more frequently +the case, the kings of Assyria, down to the fall of the empire, +associate Bel with Nabu, speak of Bel and the gods of Akkad +(<i>i.e.</i>, Babylonia), and use Bel, moreover, to designate Babylonia,<a name="FNanchor_152_152" id="FNanchor_152_152"></a><a href="#Footnote_152_152" class="fnanchor">[152]</a> +it is equally clear that Marduk is meant. In the Neo-Babylonian +empire Marduk alone is used.</p> + +<p>The continued existence of a god Bel in the Babylonian +pantheon, despite the amalgamation of Bel with Marduk, is a +phenomenon that calls for some comment. The explanation +is to be found in the influence of the theological system that +must have been developed in part, at least, even before the +union of the Babylonian states.<a name="FNanchor_153_153" id="FNanchor_153_153"></a><a href="#Footnote_153_153" class="fnanchor">[153]</a> Bel, as the god of earth, was +associated with Anu, as the god of heaven, and Ea, as the god +of the deep, to form a triad that embraced the entire universe. +When, therefore, Anu, Bel, and Ea were invoked, it was equivalent +to naming all the powers that influenced the fate of man. +They embraced, as it were, the three kingdoms of the gods, +within which all the other gods could be comprised. The systematization +involved in the assumption of a triad of gods +controlling the entire pantheon can hardly be supposed to have +been a popular process. It betokens an amount of thought +and speculation, a comprehensive view of the powers of nature, +that could only have arisen in minds superior to the average +intelligence. In other words, the conception of the triad Anu, +Bel, and Ea is again an evidence of the existence of schoolmen +and of schools of religious thought in the days of the +ancient empire. So far, however, as Hammurabi is concerned, +he only refers to a duality—Anu and Bel—which, for him, comprises +all the other gods. He is the 'proclaimer of Anu and Bel.' +It is Anu and Bel who give him sovereignty over the land. In<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> +the texts of the second period the triad does not occur until we +come to the reign of a king, Mili-shikhu, who lives at least eight +centuries after Hammurabi. Ea, in fact, does not occur at all +in those inscriptions of the king that have as yet been discovered. +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. A +direct and natural consequence of Bel's position in the triad +was that, by the side of Bel-Marduk, the older Bel continued to +be invoked in historical inscriptions. Since Anu and Ea +were appealed to by themselves, the former occasionally, the +latter more frequently, there was no reason why a ruler should +not at times be prompted to introduce an invocation to Bel, +without the direct association with Anu and Ea. The confusion +that thus ensues between the two Bels was not of serious +moment, since from the context one could without difficulty +determine which of the two was meant; and what we, with our +limited knowledge of ancient Babylonia, are able to do, must +have been an easy task for the Babylonians themselves.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span><a name="FNanchor_154_154" id="FNanchor_154_154"></a><a href="#Footnote_154_154" class="fnanchor">[154]</a> +It is tempting to suppose that the first command of the +Decalogue (Exodus, xx) contains an implied reference to the +Babylonian triad.</p> + + +<h3>Anu, Bel, and Ea.</h3> + +<p>The theory of the triad succeeds in maintaining its hold +upon Babylonian minds from a certain period on, through +all political and intellectual vicissitudes. To invoke Anu, +Bel, and Ea becomes a standing formula that the rulers +of Babylonia as well as of Assyria are fond of employing. +These three are the great gods <i>par excellence</i>. They occupy a +place of their own. The kings do not feel as close to them +as to Marduk, or to Ashur, or even to the sun-god, or to the +moon-god. The invocation of the triad partakes more of a +formal character, as though in giving to these three gods the +first place, the writers felt that they were following an ancient +precedent that had more of a theoretical than a practical value +for their days. So among Assyrian rulers, Ashur-rish-ishi +(<i>c.</i> 1150 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>) derives his right to the throne from the authority +with which he is invested by the triad. Again, in the formal +curses which the kings called down upon the destroyers of +the inscriptions or statues that they set up, the appeal to Anu, +Bel, and Ea is made. Ashurnasirbal calls upon the triad not +to listen to the prayers of such as deface his monuments. +Sargon has an interesting statement in one of his inscriptions, +according to which the names of the months were +fixed by Anu, Bel, and Ea. This 'archaeological' theory +illustrates very well the extraneous position occupied by the +triad. The months, as we shall see, are sacred, each to a +different god. The gods thus distinguished are the ones that +are directly concerned in the fortunes of the state,—Sin, +Ashur, Ishtar, and the like. Anu, Bel, and Ea are not in the +list, and the tradition, or rather the dogma according to which +they assign the names is evidently an attempt to make good<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> +this omission by placing them, as it were, beyond the reach of +the calendar. In short, so far as the historical texts are concerned +which reflect the popular beliefs, the triad represents a +theological doctrine rather than a living force. In combination, +Anu, Bel, and Ea did not mean as much, nor the +same thing, to a Babylonian or an Assyrian, as when he said +Marduk, or Nabu, or Ashur, or Sin, as the case might be. It +was different when addressing these gods individually, as was +occasionally done. The Assyrians were rather fond of introducing +Anu by himself in their prayers, and the Babylonians +were prompted to a frequent mention of Ea by virtue of his +relationship to Marduk, but when this was done Anu and Ea +meant something different than when mentioned in one breath +along with Bel.</p> + + +<h3>Belit.</h3> + +<p>One might have supposed that when Bel became Marduk, +the consort of Bel would also become Marduk's consort. +Such, however, does not appear to be the case, at least so far +as the epoch of Hammurabi is concerned. When he calls +himself 'the beloved shepherd of Belit,' it is the wife of the +old Bel that is meant, and so when Agumkakrimi mentions +Bel and Belit together, as the gods that decree his fate on +earth, there is no doubt as to what Belit is meant. In later +days, however, and in Assyria more particularly, there seems +to be a tendency towards generalizing the name (much as that +of Bel) to the extent of applying it in the sense of 'mistress' +to the consort of the chief god of the pantheon; and that +happening to be Ashur in Assyria accounts for the fact, which +might otherwise appear strange, that Tiglathpileser I. (<i>c.</i> 1140 +<span class="smcap">B.C.</span>) calls Belit the 'lofty consort and beloved of Ashur.' +Ashurbanabal (668-626 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>) does the same, and even goes +further and declares himself to be the offspring of Ashur and +Belit. On the other hand, in the interval between these two<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> +kings we find Shalmaneser II. (860-825 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>) calling Belit 'the +mother of the great gods' and 'the wife of Bel,' making it evident +that the old Belit of the south is meant, and since Ashurbanabal +on one occasion also calls the goddess 'the beloved of +Bel,'<a name="FNanchor_155_155" id="FNanchor_155_155"></a><a href="#Footnote_155_155" class="fnanchor">[155]</a> it follows that in his days two Belits were still recognized, +or perhaps it would be more accurate to say two uses of the +term,—one specifically for the consort of the Babylonian Bel, +the god of the earth, with his ancient seat at Nippur; the other +of a more general character, though still limited as 'lady' to +the consort of the <i>chief</i> gods, just as 'Bel,' while acquiring the +general sense of 'lord,' was restricted in actual usage to the +<i>greatest</i> 'lords' only. An indication of this distinction, somewhat +parallel to the addition of Dagan to Bel, to indicate that the +old Bel was meant,<a name="FNanchor_156_156" id="FNanchor_156_156"></a><a href="#Footnote_156_156" class="fnanchor">[156]</a> appears in the sobriquet 'of Babylonia,'<a name="FNanchor_157_157" id="FNanchor_157_157"></a><a href="#Footnote_157_157" class="fnanchor">[157]</a> +which Ashurbanabal gives to the goddess in one place where +the old Belit is meant. Under the influence of this Assyrian +extension of the term, Nabopolassar, in the Neo-Babylonian +period, applies the title to the consort of Shamash at Sippar, +but he is careful to specify 'Belit of Sippar,' in order to avoid +misunderstanding. Besides being applied to the consorts of +Ashur and of Shamash, 'Belit,' in the general sense of 'mistress,' +is applied only to another goddess, the great Ishtar of the +Assyrian pantheon—generally, however, as a title, not as a +name of the goddess. The important position she occupied in +the Assyrian pantheon seemed to justify this further modification +and extension in the use of the term. Occasionally, Ishtar is +directly and expressly called 'Belit.' So, Ashurbanabal speaks +of a temple that he has founded in Calah to 'Belit mâti,'<a name="FNanchor_158_158" id="FNanchor_158_158"></a><a href="#Footnote_158_158" class="fnanchor">[158]</a> 'the +Belit (or lady) of the land,' where the context speaks in favor +of identifying Belit with the great goddess Ishtar. Again<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> +Ashurbanabal, in a dedicatory inscription giving an account of +improvements made in the temple of Ishtar, addresses the +goddess as Belit 'lady of lands, dwelling in E-mash-mash.'<a name="FNanchor_159_159" id="FNanchor_159_159"></a><a href="#Footnote_159_159" class="fnanchor">[159]</a></p> + + +<h3>Anu and Anatum.</h3> + +<p>In the second period of Babylonian history the worship of +the supreme god of heaven becomes even more closely bound +up with Anu's position as the first member of the inseparable +triad than was the case in the first period. For Hammurabi, +as has been noted, Anu is only a half-real figure who in +association with Bel is represented as giving his endorsement +to the king's authority.<a name="FNanchor_160_160" id="FNanchor_160_160"></a><a href="#Footnote_160_160" class="fnanchor">[160]</a> The manner in which Agumkakrimi +introduces Anu is no less characteristic for the age +of Hammurabi and his successors. At the beginning of his +long inscription,<a name="FNanchor_161_161" id="FNanchor_161_161"></a><a href="#Footnote_161_161" class="fnanchor">[161]</a> he enumerates the chief gods under whose +protection he places himself. As a Cassitic ruler, he assigns +the first place to the chief Cassite deity, Shukamuna, a god of +war whom the Babylonian scholars identified with their own +Nergal.<a name="FNanchor_162_162" id="FNanchor_162_162"></a><a href="#Footnote_162_162" class="fnanchor">[162]</a> Shukamuna is followed by the triad Anu, Bel, and +Ea. Marduk occupies a fifth place, after which comes a +second triad, Sin, Shamash "the mighty hero," and Ishtar<a name="FNanchor_163_163" id="FNanchor_163_163"></a><a href="#Footnote_163_163" class="fnanchor">[163]</a> +"the strong one among the gods." The inscription is devoted +to the king's successful capture of the statues of Marduk and +Sarpanitum out of the hands of the Khani, and the restoration<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> +of the shrines of these deities at Babylon. At the close, the +king Agumkakrimi appeals to Anu and his consort Anatum,<a name="FNanchor_164_164" id="FNanchor_164_164"></a><a href="#Footnote_164_164" class="fnanchor">[164]</a> +who are asked to bless the king in heaven, to Bel and Belit +who are asked to fix his fate on earth, and to Ea and Damkina, +inhabiting the deep,<a name="FNanchor_165_165" id="FNanchor_165_165"></a><a href="#Footnote_165_165" class="fnanchor">[165]</a> who are to grant him long life. As +in the beginning of the inscription, the thought of the triad—Anu, +Bel, Ea—evidently underlies this interesting invocation, +but at the same time the association of a consort with Anu +brings the god into closer relationship with his fellows. He +takes on—if the contradiction in terms be permitted—a +more human shape. His consort bears a name that is simply +the feminine form to Anu, just as Belit is the feminine to Bel. +'Anu,' signifying 'the one on high,'—a feminine to it was +formed, manifestly under the influence of the notion that every +god must have a consort of some kind. After Agumkakrimi no +further mention of Anatum occurs, neither in the inscriptions +of Babylonian nor of Assyrian rulers. We are permitted to +conclude, therefore, that Anatum was a product of the schools, +and one that never took a strong hold on the popular mind. +Among the Assyrian kings who in other respects also show +less dependence upon the doctrines evolved in the Babylonian +schools, and whose inscriptions reflect to a greater degree the +purely popular phases of the faith, we find Anu mentioned +with tolerable frequency, and in a manner that betrays less +emphasis upon the position of the god as a member of the +triad. Still, it is rather curious that he does not appear even +in the inscriptions of the Assyrian kings by himself, but in +association with another god. Thus Tiglathpileser I. (<i>c.</i> 1130 +<span class="smcap">B.C.</span>) gives an elaborate account of an old temple to Anu and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> +Ramman in the city of Ashur that he restores to more than +its former grandeur.<a name="FNanchor_166_166" id="FNanchor_166_166"></a><a href="#Footnote_166_166" class="fnanchor">[166]</a> This dedication of a temple to two +deities is unusual. Ramman is the god of thunder and storms, +whose seat of course is in the heavens. He stands close, +therefore, to Anu, the supreme god of heaven. In the religious +productions, this relationship is expressed by making Ramman +the son of Anu. From a passage descriptive of this temple it +would appear that the old temple founded by King Samsi-Ramman, +who lived several centuries before Tiglathpileser, +was dedicated to Ramman. It looks, therefore, as though the +association of Anu with Ramman was the work of the later +king. What his motive was in thus combining Anu with +Ramman it is difficult to say, but in his account of the restoration +of the sanctuary, he so consistently mentions Anu and +Ramman together,<a name="FNanchor_167_167" id="FNanchor_167_167"></a><a href="#Footnote_167_167" class="fnanchor">[167]</a> designating them unitedly as 'the great +gods my lords,' that one gains the impression that the two were +inseparable in his mind, Ramman being perhaps regarded +simply as a manifestation of Anu. The supposition finds some +support in the closing words of the inscription, where, in hurling +the usual curses upon those who should attempt to destroy +his monuments, he invokes Ramman alone, whom he asks to +punish the offender by his darts, by hunger, by distress of every +kind, and by death.</p> + +<p>Elsewhere Anu appears in association with Dagan, of whom +we shall have occasion to speak in the chapter on the Assyrian +pantheon. Suffice it to say here that Dagan in this connection +is an equivalent of Bel. When, therefore, Ashurbanabal and +Sargon call themselves 'the favorite of Anu and Dagan,' it is +the same as though they spoke of Anu and Bel. Apart from +this, Anu only appears when a part or the whole of the Assyrian +pantheon is enumerated. Thus we come across Anu, Ramman, +and Ishtar as the chief gods of the city of Ashur,<a name="FNanchor_168_168" id="FNanchor_168_168"></a><a href="#Footnote_168_168" class="fnanchor">[168]</a> and again<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> +Anu, Ashur, Shamash, Ramman, and Ishtar.<a name="FNanchor_169_169" id="FNanchor_169_169"></a><a href="#Footnote_169_169" class="fnanchor">[169]</a> Finally, Sargon +who names the eight gates of his palace after the chief gods of +the land does not omit Anu, whom he describes as the 'one who +blesses his handiwork.' Otherwise we have Anu only when +the triad Anu, Bel, and Ea is invoked. Once Ramman-nirari I. +(<i>c.</i> 1325 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>) adds Ishtar to the triad. After Sargon we no +longer find Anu's name at all among the deities worshipped in +Assyria. On the whole, then, Anu's claim to reverence rests +in Assyria as well as in Babylonia upon his position in the triad, +and while Assyria is less influenced by the ancient system +devised in Babylonia whereby Anu, Bel, and Ea come to be the +representatives of the three kingdoms among which the gods +are distributed, still Anu as a specific deity, ruling in his own +right, remains a rather shadowy figure. The only temple in his +honor is the one which he shares with Ramman, and which, +as noted, appears to have been originally devoted to the service +of the latter. One other factor that must be taken into +account to explain the disappearance of Anu is the gradual +enforcement of Ashur's claim to the absolute headship of the +Assyrian pantheon. Either Anu or Ashur had to be assigned +to this place, and when circumstances decided the issue in +favor of Ashur, there was no place worthy of Anu as a specific +deity. Ashur usurps in a measure the rôle of Anu. So far as +Babylonia was concerned, there was still in the twelfth century +<span class="smcap">B.C.</span> a city 'Der' which is called the 'city of Anu.' The city +is probably of very ancient foundation, and its continued association +with Anu forms an interesting survival of a local conception +that appears to have been once current of the god.</p> + +<p>In the religious literature, especially in that part of it which +furnishes us with the scholastic recastings of the popular traditions, +Anu is a much more prominent figure than in the historical +texts. From being merely the personification of the +heavens, he is raised to the still higher dignity of symbolizing,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> +as Jensen puts it,<a name="FNanchor_170_170" id="FNanchor_170_170"></a><a href="#Footnote_170_170" class="fnanchor">[170]</a> the abstract principle of which both the +heavens and earth are emanations. All the earliest gods conceived +of by popular tradition as existing from the beginning +of things are viewed as manifestations of Anu, or of Anu and +Anatum in combination. He gives ear to prayers, but he is not +approached directly. The gods are his messengers, who come +and give him report of what is going on.<a name="FNanchor_171_171" id="FNanchor_171_171"></a><a href="#Footnote_171_171" class="fnanchor">[171]</a> He is a god for the +gods rather than for men. When his daughter Ishtar is insulted +she appeals to her father Anu; and when the gods are terrified +they take refuge with Anu. Armed with a mighty weapon +whose assault nothing can withstand, Anu is surrounded by a +host of gods and powerful spirits who are ready to follow his +lead and to do his service.</p> + + +<h3>Ramman.</h3> + +<p>With Ramman we reach a deity whose introduction into the +Babylonian pantheon and whose position therein appears to be +entirely independent of Marduk.</p> + +<p>The reading of the name as Ramman (or Rammanu) is provisional. +The ideograph <i>Im</i> with which the name is written +designates the god as the power presiding over storms; and +while it is certain that, in Assyria at least, the god was known +as Ramman, which means 'the thunderer,' it is possible that +this was an epithet given to the god, and not his real or his +oldest name. It is significant that in the El-Amarna tablets +(<i>c.</i> 1500 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>), where the god <i>Im</i> appears as an element in +proper names, the reading <i>Addu</i> is vouched for, and this +form has been justly brought into connection with a very famous +solar deity of Syria,—Hadad. The worship of Hadad, we know, +was widely spread in Palestine and Syria, and there is conclusive +evidence that Hadad (or Adad), as a name for the god <i>Im</i>, +was known in Babylonia. Professor Oppert is of the opinion<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> +that Adad represents the oldest name of the god. Quite +recently the proposition has been made that the real name of +the deity was <i>Immeru</i>.<a name="FNanchor_172_172" id="FNanchor_172_172"></a><a href="#Footnote_172_172" class="fnanchor">[172]</a> The ideograph in this case would arise +through the curtailment of the name (as is frequently the case +in the cuneiform syllabary), and the association of <i>Im</i> with +'storm' and 'wind' would be directly dependent upon the +nature of the deity in question. The material at hand is not +sufficient for deciding the question. Besides Immeru, Adad, +and Ramman, the deity was also known as <i>Mer</i>—connected +apparently with Immeru.<a name="FNanchor_173_173" id="FNanchor_173_173"></a><a href="#Footnote_173_173" class="fnanchor">[173]</a> So much is certain, that Ramman +appears to have been the name currently used in Assyria for +this god. Adad may have been employed occasionally in Babylonia, +as was <i>Mer</i> in proper names, but that it was not the +common designation is proved by a list of gods (published by +Bezold<a name="FNanchor_174_174" id="FNanchor_174_174"></a><a href="#Footnote_174_174" class="fnanchor">[174]</a>) in which the <i>foreign</i> equivalent for <i>Im</i> is set down as +Adad. We may for the present, therefore, retain Ramman, +while bearing in mind that we have only proof of its being an +epithet applied to the god, not necessarily his real name and +in all probabilities not the oldest name.</p> + +<p>We meet with the god for the first time in the hymn to which +reference has already been made,<a name="FNanchor_175_175" id="FNanchor_175_175"></a><a href="#Footnote_175_175" class="fnanchor">[175]</a> and where the god is mentioned +together with Shamash. If the suggestion above thrown +out is correct, that the hymn is older than the days of Hammurabi, +Ramman too would be older than his first mention in +historical texts. However, it is worthy of note that in this +hymn each of the other gods mentioned receives a line for himself, +and that Ramman is the only one who is tacked on to +another deity. It is not strange that in making copies of older<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> +texts, especially those of a religious character, the scribes should +have introduced certain modifications. At all events, the god +does not acquire any degree of prominence until the days of +Hammurabi; so that whatever his age and origin, he belongs in +a peculiar sense to the pantheon of Hammurabi rather than to +that of the old Babylonian period. The successor of Hammurabi, +Samsu-iluna, dedicates a fort, known as Dur-padda, to +Ramman whom he addresses as his 'helper', along with several +other gods. Despite this fact, his worship does not appear to +have been very firmly established in Babylonia, for Agumkakrimi, +who follows upon Samsu-iluna, does not make mention +of Ramman. During the reign of the Cassite dynasty, however, +the worship of Ramman appears to have gained a stronger +foothold. Several kings of this dynasty have incorporated the +name of this deity into their own names, and in an inscription +dealing with events that transpired in the reign of one of these +kings, Ramman occupies a prominent place. Immediately after +the great triad, Anu, Bel, and Ea, there is enumerated a second, +Sin, Shamash, and Ramman, and only then there follows +Marduk.<a name="FNanchor_176_176" id="FNanchor_176_176"></a><a href="#Footnote_176_176" class="fnanchor">[176]</a> More than this, Ramman is introduced for a second +time in conjunction with Shamash, as in the hymn of Hammurabi. +The two are appealed to as 'the divine lords of +justice.' The conqueror of the Cassites, Nebuchadnezzar I., +also holds Ramman in high esteem. For him, Ramman is +the god of battle who in companionship with Ishtar abets the +king in his great undertakings. He addresses Ramman as +the great lord of heaven, the lord of subterranean waters and +of rain, whose curse is invoked against the one who sets aside +the decrees of Nebuchadnezzar or who defaces the monument +the king sets up. While acknowledging the supremacy of +Marduk, upon whose appeal he proceeds to Babylonia to rid +the country of its oppressors, Nebuchadnezzar nevertheless<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> +shows remarkable partiality for Ramman, perhaps as a matter +of policy to offset the supposed preference shown by Ramman +towards the previous dynasty. Ramman with Nergal and Nanâ +are also enumerated as the special gods of Namar—a Babylonian +district which caused the king considerable annoyance, and +which may have been one of the strongholds whence the +Cassitic kings continued their attacks upon Nebuchadnezzar.</p> + +<p>In order to determine more precisely the nature of this deity, +it is necessary to turn to Assyria, where his worship dates from +the very earliest times, and where he appears consistently in a +single rôle,—that of the god of storms, more particularly of +thunder and lightning. The oldest Assyrian ruler known to us +is Samsi-Ramman (<i>c.</i> 1850 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>), whose name, containing the +god as one of its elements, points to the antiquity of the cult of +Ramman in the north. Another king who has frequently been +mentioned, Ramman-nirari (<i>i.e.</i>, Ramman is my helper), bears +evidence to the same effect, and Tiglathpileser I. speaks of a +temple to Ramman whose foundation carries us back several +centuries beyond the period of these two kings—almost to +the days of Hammurabi. The theory has accordingly been +advanced that the worship of Ramman came to Babylonia +from the north, and since the cult of this same god is found in +Damascus and extended as far south as the plain of Jezreel, +the further conclusion has been drawn that the god is of +Aramaic origin and was brought to Assyria through Aramaic +tribes who had settled in parts of Assyria. The great antiquity +of the Ramman cult in Assyria argues against a foreign +origin. It seems more plausible to regard the Ramman cult as +indigenous to Assyria; but reverting to a time when the population +of the north was still in the nomadic state of civilization, +the cult may have been carried to the west by some of the +wandering tribes who afterwards established themselves around +Damascus. Up to a late period Aramaic hordes appear from +time to time in western Assyria; and in a higher stage of culture,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> +contact between Aramaeans and Assyrians was maintained +by commercial intercourse and by warfare. Since the earliest +mention of Ramman's cult is in the city of Ashur, it may be +that he was originally connected with that place. As already +intimated, he was essentially a storm-god, whose manifestation +was seen in the thunder and lightning, and the god was known +not merely as 'the thunderer,' but also as Barku, <i>i.e.</i>, lightning. +Perhaps it was because of this that he was also brought into +association with the great light of heaven,—the sun-god. In +many mythologies, the sun and lightning are regarded as +correlated forces. At all events, the frequent association of +Shamash and Ramman cannot have been accidental. This +double nature of Ramman—as a solar deity representing some +particular phase of the sun that escapes us and as a storm-god—still +peers through the inscription above noted from the Cassite +period where Ramman is called 'the lord of justice,'—an +attribute peculiar to the sun-god; but in Assyria his rôle as +the thunder-and storm-god overshadows any other attributes +that he may have had.</p> + +<p>There are two aspects to rainstorms in Babylonia. The +flooding of the fields while committing much havoc is essential +to the fertility of the soil. Ramman is therefore the carrier +of blessings to the cities, the one who supplies wells and fields +with water; but the destructive character of the rain and +thunder and lightning are much more strongly emphasized +than their beneficent aspects. Even though the fields be +flooded, Ramman can cause thorns to grow instead of herbs. +The same ideograph <i>Im</i> that signifies Ramman also means +distress. When the failure of the crops brings in its wake +hunger and desolation, it is the 'god of the clouds,' the 'god +of rain,' the 'god of the overflow,' whose wrath has thus manifested +itself. It is he who (as a hymn puts it) 'has eaten +the land.' No wonder that the 'roar' of the god is described +as 'powerful,' and that he is asked to stand at the right side<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> +of the petitioner and grant protection. When Ramman lets +his voice resound, misfortune is at hand. It was natural +that he who thus presided over the battle of the elements +should come to be conceived essentially as a god of war to a +people whose chief occupation grew to be conquest. As such +he appears constantly in the inscriptions of Assyrian kings, +and to such a degree as to be a formidable rival, at times, to +the head of the Assyrian pantheon. The final victory of the +Assyrian arms is generally attributed to Ashur alone, but just +before the battle and in the midst of the fray, Ramman's presence +is felt almost as forcibly as that of Ashur. He shares +with the latter the honor of invocations and sacrifices at such +critical moments. In this capacity Ramman is so essentially an +Assyrian god that it will be proper to dwell upon him again in +the following chapter, when the specially Assyrian phases of +the religion we are investigating will be taken up. The consort +of Ramman also, the goddess Shala, will best be treated of in +connection with the Assyrian phases of the Ramman cult.</p> + +<p>Of the other gods whose names occur in the inscriptions of +Hammurabi, but little of a special character is to be noted. +The attributes that he gives them do not differ from those that +we come across in the texts of his predecessors. It is sufficient, +therefore, to enumerate them. The longest list is furnished by +the hymn which has already been referred to. The text is unfortunately +fragmentary, and so we cannot be sure that the names +embrace the entire pantheon worshipped by him. The list +opens with Bel (who, as we have seen, is the old Bel of Nippur); +then follow Sin, Ninib, Ishtar, Shamash, Ramman. Here the +break in the tablet begins and, when the text again becomes +intelligible, a deity is praised in such extravagant terms that +one is tempted to conclude that Hammurabi has added to an +old hymn a paean to his favorite Marduk<a name="FNanchor_177_177" id="FNanchor_177_177"></a><a href="#Footnote_177_177" class="fnanchor">[177]</a>. To Bel is given<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> +the honor of having granted royal dignity to the king. Sin has +given the king his princely glory; from Ninib, the king has +received a powerful weapon; Ishtar fixes the battle array, while +Shamash and Ramman hold themselves at the service of the +king. With this list, however, we are far from having exhausted +the pantheon as it had developed in the days of Hammurabi. +From the inscriptions of his successors we are permitted to add +the following: Nin-khar-sag, Nergal, and Lugal-mit-tu, furnished +by Samsu-iluna; Shukamuna, by Agumkakrimi; and passing +down to the period of the Cassite dynasty, we have in addition +Nin-dim-su, Ba-kad, Pap-u, Belit-ekalli, Shumalia.<a name="FNanchor_178_178" id="FNanchor_178_178"></a><a href="#Footnote_178_178" class="fnanchor">[178]</a></p> + +<p>During the Cassitic rule, Marduk does not play the prominent +part that he did under the native rulers, but he is +restored to his position by Nebuchadnezzar I., who, it will be +recalled, succeeds in driving the Cassites out of power. But +besides Marduk, Nebuchadnezzar invokes a large number of +other deities. For purposes of comparison with the pantheon +of Hammurabi, and of his immediate successors, I give the +complete list and in the order mentioned by him in the only +inscription that we have of this king. They are Ninib, Gula, +Ramman, Shumalia, Nergal, Shir, Shubu, Sin, Belit of Akkad. +Moreover, Anu is referred to as the especial god of Der, and a +goddess Eria<a name="FNanchor_179_179" id="FNanchor_179_179"></a><a href="#Footnote_179_179" class="fnanchor">[179]</a> is worshipped in Elam. Passing still further +down, we obtain as additional names, Malik and Bunene, from +the inscription of Nabubaliddin (<i>c.</i> 883-852 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>).<a name="FNanchor_180_180" id="FNanchor_180_180"></a><a href="#Footnote_180_180" class="fnanchor">[180]</a></p> + +<p>We may divide this long period from Hammurabi down to +the time that the governors of Babylonia became mere puppets +of the Assyrian rulers into three sections: (1) Hammurabi and +his successors, (2) the Cassite dynasty, (3) the restoration of +native rulers to the throne. A comparison of the names furnished +by the inscriptions from these three sections shows that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> +the gods common to all are Marduk, Bel, Shamash, Ramman. +But, in addition, our investigations have shown that we are justified +in adding the following as forming part of the Babylonian +pantheon during this entire period: Sarpanitum, Belit, Tashmitum, +Sin, Ninib, Ishtar, Nergal, Nin-khar-sag, and the two +other members of the triad, Anu and Ea, with their consorts, +Anatum and Damkina. All these gods and goddesses are found +in the texts from the first and third section of the period, and +the absence of some of them from texts of the second section +is simply due to the smaller amount of material that we have +for the history of the Cassite dynasty in Babylonia. Some of +the deities in this list, which is far from being exhaustive,<a name="FNanchor_181_181" id="FNanchor_181_181"></a><a href="#Footnote_181_181" class="fnanchor">[181]</a> are +foreign, so <i>e.g.</i>, Shukamuna and Shumalia, who belong to the +Cassitic pantheon; others are of purely local significance, as +Shir and Shubu.<a name="FNanchor_182_182" id="FNanchor_182_182"></a><a href="#Footnote_182_182" class="fnanchor">[182]</a> As for Sin, Ninib, and Ishtar, the worship +of none of these deities assumes any great degree of prominence +during this period. No doubt the local cult was continued +at the old centers much as before, but except for an +occasional invocation, especially in the closing paragraphs of +an inscription, where the writers were fond of grouping a large +array of deities so as to render more impressive the curses upon +enemies and vilifiers, with which the inscriptions usually terminated, +they do not figure in the official writings of the time. +Of Sin, it is of some importance to note that under the Cassite +dynasty he stands already at the head of a second class of +triads which consists of Sin, Shamash, and Ramman, or Ishtar +(see note 3 on page <a href="#Page_152">152</a>), and that through the inscription +of Nebuchadnezzar I., we learn of an additional district of +Babylonia,—that of Bit-Khabban, where in association with +Belit of Akkad, the consort of the older Bel, he was worshipped +as the patron deity. Nebuchadnezzar himself does not enumerate<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> +Sin among the chief gods. Ninib appears in the +familiar rôle as a god of war. After Hammurabi he is only +mentioned once in inscriptions of the Cassitic period and then +again in the days of Nebuchadnezzar I., who assigns a prominent +place to him. It is Ninib who, with the title 'king of +heaven and earth,' leads off in the long list of gods whose +curses are invoked upon the king's opponents. Similarly, the +belligerent character of Ishtar is the only phase of the goddess +dwelt upon during this period. While for Agumkakrimi, she +still occupies a comparatively inferior rank, coming seventh in +his list, Nebuchadnezzar places her immediately after Anu +and before Ramman and Marduk. This advance foreshadows +the superior rôle that she is destined to play in the pantheon +during the period of Assyrian supremacy. The cult of Nergal +does not figure prominently during this period. In fact, so +far as the historical texts go, he disappears from the scene +till the time of Nebuchadnezzar I., when he is incidentally +invoked in a group with Ramman and Nanâ as the gods of a +district in Babylonia known as Namar. Exactly where Namar +lay has not yet been ascertained. Since Nergal, as was shown +in the previous chapter, was the local patron of Cuthah, it may +be that the latter city was included in the Namar district. At +all events, we may conclude from the silence of the texts as to +Nergal, that Cuthah played no conspicuous part in the empire +formed of the Babylonian states, and that the cult of Nergal, +apart from the association of the deity in religious texts with the +lower world, did not during this entire period extend beyond +local proportions. Lastly, it is interesting to note that Samsu-iluna, +the son of Hammurabi, refers to Belit of Nippur as Nin-khar-sag, +which we have seen was one of her oldest titles.</p> + +<h3><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_116_116" id="Footnote_116_116"></a><a href="#FNanchor_116_116"><span class="label">[116]</span></a> The name is also written Ma-ru-duk, which points to its having been regarded +(for which there is other evidence) as a compound of <i>maru</i>, 'son,' and an element, +<i>duk</i>(<i>u</i>), +which in religious and other texts designates the 'glorious chamber' in which +the god determines the fate of humanity. Such an 'etymology' is, however, merely +a play upon the name, similar to the plays upon proper names found in the Old +Testament. The real etymology is unknown. The form Marduk is Semitic, and +points to an underlying stem, <i>rdk</i>. Marduk appears under a variety of names which +will be taken up at their proper place. +See Schrader's <i>Assyrisch-Babyl. Keilschriften</i>, +p. 129; and the same author's <i>Cuneiform Inscrip. and the O. T.</i> (p. 422) for other +etymologies.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_117_117" id="Footnote_117_117"></a><a href="#FNanchor_117_117"><span class="label">[117]</span></a> +Hommel's view that Gish-galla, in Gudea's inscriptions, is Babylon lacks convincing +evidence, but the city may be as old as Gudea's days for all that.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_118_118" id="Footnote_118_118"></a><a href="#FNanchor_118_118"><span class="label">[118]</span></a> Near Sippar.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_119_119" id="Footnote_119_119"></a><a href="#FNanchor_119_119"><span class="label">[119]</span></a> <i>Bêl matâti</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_120_120" id="Footnote_120_120"></a><a href="#FNanchor_120_120"><span class="label">[120]</span></a> Sayce, <i>Religion of the Ancient Babylonians</i>, pp. 98 +<i>seq.</i>; Jensen, <i>Kosmologie der Babylonier</i>, p. 88.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_121_121" id="Footnote_121_121"></a><a href="#FNanchor_121_121"><span class="label">[121]</span></a> So Delitzsch, <i>Beiträge sur Assyriologie</i>, ii. 623. +The first part of the name is also used to designate the 'young +bullock,' and it is possible, therefore, that the god was pictured in +this way, as both Anu and Sin are occasionally called 'bulls.'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_122_122" id="Footnote_122_122"></a><a href="#FNanchor_122_122"><span class="label">[122]</span></a> Louvre Inscription II, col ii. ll. 12-17.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_123_123" id="Footnote_123_123"></a><a href="#FNanchor_123_123"><span class="label">[123]</span></a> There is also a goddess <i>Eria</i> worshipped in Elam, who +may be identical with Erua. The scribes in the days of Nebuchadnezzar +(<i>c.</i> 1140 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>), at least, appear to have thought so, for +they associate her with Bel, just as Sarpanitum is associated with +Del-Marduk. (See the Inscription VR. 57, col. ii. ll. 11, 12.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_124_124" id="Footnote_124_124"></a><a href="#FNanchor_124_124"><span class="label">[124]</span></a> Whether, however, this was the real meaning of the name is doubtful, for the +name of the goddess is also written Aru and Arua, which points to a different verbal +stem.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_125_125" id="Footnote_125_125"></a><a href="#FNanchor_125_125"><span class="label">[125]</span></a> See below under Tashmitum.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_126_126" id="Footnote_126_126"></a><a href="#FNanchor_126_126"><span class="label">[126]</span></a> +There are indications also of an arrested amalgamation of Erua-Sarpanitum with +Tashmitum, the wife of Nabu. (See Sayce, <i>Hibbert Lectures</i>, p. 112.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_127_127" id="Footnote_127_127"></a><a href="#FNanchor_127_127"><span class="label">[127]</span></a> Rawlinson, ii. 60, 30.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_128_128" id="Footnote_128_128"></a><a href="#FNanchor_128_128"><span class="label">[128]</span></a> <i>Hibbert Lectures</i>, p. 117.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_129_129" id="Footnote_129_129"></a><a href="#FNanchor_129_129"><span class="label">[129]</span></a> See further on, <i>sub</i> Ea.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_130_130" id="Footnote_130_130"></a><a href="#FNanchor_130_130"><span class="label">[130]</span></a> <i>Kosmologie</i>, p. 239.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_131_131" id="Footnote_131_131"></a><a href="#FNanchor_131_131"><span class="label">[131]</span></a> <i>Sub</i> Nusku, chapter xiii.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_132_132" id="Footnote_132_132"></a><a href="#FNanchor_132_132"><span class="label">[132]</span></a> +Tiele, <i>Geschichte d. Religion i. Alterthum</i>, i. 171 and 188, is of the opinion that +Nabu is a late deity whose worship dates from a period considerably subsequent to +Hammurabi. This conclusion from the non-occurrence of the god in early inscriptions +is not justified. There is no reason why Nabu should have been added as a deity +in later times, and in general we must be on our guard against assuming new deities +subsequent to Hammurabi. It is much more plausible to assume the restored +popularity of very old ones.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_133_133" id="Footnote_133_133"></a><a href="#FNanchor_133_133"><span class="label">[133]</span></a> +Bel being Marduk, the title was equivalent to that of 'governor of Babylonia.'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_134_134" id="Footnote_134_134"></a><a href="#FNanchor_134_134"><span class="label">[134]</span></a> So, Tiele, <i>Geschichte d. Religion i. Alterthum</i>, i. 191.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_135_135" id="Footnote_135_135"></a><a href="#FNanchor_135_135"><span class="label">[135]</span></a> +The Hebrew word for prophet, <i>nabi</i>, is of the same stem as the Assyrian Nabu, +and the popular tradition is placing the last scene in the life of Moses on Mt. Nebo +is apparently influenced by the fact that Moses was a <i>nabi</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_136_136" id="Footnote_136_136"></a><a href="#FNanchor_136_136"><span class="label">[136]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_123">123</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_137_137" id="Footnote_137_137"></a><a href="#FNanchor_137_137"><span class="label">[137]</span></a> So in the cylinder of Shamash-shum-ukin (Lehmann's +publication, pls. viii. <i>seq.</i>).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_138_138" id="Footnote_138_138"></a><a href="#FNanchor_138_138"><span class="label">[138]</span></a> <i>E.g.</i>, in the so-called Grotefend Cylinder, col. ii. +34.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_139_139" id="Footnote_139_139"></a><a href="#FNanchor_139_139"><span class="label">[139]</span></a> <i>Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde d. Morgenlandes</i>, +iv. 301-307.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_140_140" id="Footnote_140_140"></a><a href="#FNanchor_140_140"><span class="label">[140]</span></a> We only know the name through Eusebius' extract from +Alexander Polyhistor's digest of Berosus. The form, therefore, cannot be +vouched for. The various modern attempts to explain the name have failed +(see <i>e.g.</i>, Lenormant's <i>Magic und Wahrsagekunst der +Chaldaer</i>, 2d German edition, pp. 376-379). There may be some +ultimate connection between Oannes and Jonah (see Trumbull in <i>Journal +of Bibl. Liter.</i> xl. 58, note).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_141_141" id="Footnote_141_141"></a><a href="#FNanchor_141_141"><span class="label">[141]</span></a> For fuller proof, see the <a href="#chapter-xxi">chapter</a> on "The Cosmology of the +Babylonians."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_142_142" id="Footnote_142_142"></a><a href="#FNanchor_142_142"><span class="label">[142]</span></a> This, it will be remembered (see above, p. <a href="#Page_118">118</a>), is one of +the titles of Marduk in one of Hammurabi's inscriptions,—an important +point for the date of the episode in its present form.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_143_143" id="Footnote_143_143"></a><a href="#FNanchor_143_143"><span class="label">[143]</span></a> Literally, 'Ea shall be his name, his as mine.'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_144_144" id="Footnote_144_144"></a><a href="#FNanchor_144_144"><span class="label">[144]</span></a> According to Syncellus. In cuneiform texts the old Bel is +at times invoked as the creator of mankind.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_145_145" id="Footnote_145_145"></a><a href="#FNanchor_145_145"><span class="label">[145]</span></a> <i>Kosmologie</i>, pp. 293, 294.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_146_146" id="Footnote_146_146"></a><a href="#FNanchor_146_146"><span class="label">[146]</span></a> <i>Aos</i> and <i>Dauke</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_147_147" id="Footnote_147_147"></a><a href="#FNanchor_147_147"><span class="label">[147]</span></a> Rawlinson, iv. 25.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_148_148" id="Footnote_148_148"></a><a href="#FNanchor_148_148"><span class="label">[148]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_79">79</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_149_149" id="Footnote_149_149"></a><a href="#FNanchor_149_149"><span class="label">[149]</span></a> See Jensen, <i>Keils Bibl.</i>. 3, 1, p. 108, note 5. +Tiele, <i>Gesch.</i> p. 126, apparently identifies Innanna of Hallabi +with Tashmit, but, so far as I can see, without sufficient reason.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_150_150" id="Footnote_150_150"></a><a href="#FNanchor_150_150"><span class="label">[150]</span></a> Here written En-lil, as the Bel of Nippur.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_151_151" id="Footnote_151_151"></a><a href="#FNanchor_151_151"><span class="label">[151]</span></a> Attached to the name here (Rawlinson, i. 4, no. xv-9), +which is written ideographically En-Lil, is the designation +<i>da-gan-ni</i>, which has occasioned considerable discussion. See +Jensen, <i>Kosmologie</i>, pp. 449-456. It seems to me that the addition +which emphasizes this identity of Bel with another god, Dagan, is to +indicate that the Bel of the triad, and not Bel-Marduk, is here meant. +Somewhat in the same way Tiglathpileser I. (Rawlinson, i. 14, vi. 87) +distinguishes the older Bel by calling him 'Bel latura,' <i>i.e.</i>, +'Bel the older.'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_152_152" id="Footnote_152_152"></a><a href="#FNanchor_152_152"><span class="label">[152]</span></a> 'Governor of Bel' for governor of Babylonia, and 'subjects +of Bel' for subjects of Babylonia.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_153_153" id="Footnote_153_153"></a><a href="#FNanchor_153_153"><span class="label">[153]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_89">89</a> and <a href="#chapter-vii">chapter vii</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_154_154" id="Footnote_154_154"></a><a href="#FNanchor_154_154"><span class="label">[154]</span></a> Occasionally a king (so <i>e.g.</i> Nabubaliddin, <i>c.</i> +883 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>) associates Anu with Ea, and omits Bel (Rawlinson, v. +60, ii. 21), as though with the intent of avoiding confusion.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_155_155" id="Footnote_155_155"></a><a href="#FNanchor_155_155"><span class="label">[155]</span></a> Rassam, Cylinder ix. 75.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_156_156" id="Footnote_156_156"></a><a href="#FNanchor_156_156"><span class="label">[156]</span></a> See <a href="#chapter-xii">chapter xii.</a>, "The Assyrian Pantheon," p. <a href="#Page_208">208</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_157_157" id="Footnote_157_157"></a><a href="#FNanchor_157_157"><span class="label">[157]</span></a> Rassam, Cylinder viii. 98, 99. 'Belit of Babylonia, honored +among the great gods.'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_158_158" id="Footnote_158_158"></a><a href="#FNanchor_158_158"><span class="label">[158]</span></a> <i>Annals</i>, iii. 135.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_159_159" id="Footnote_159_159"></a><a href="#FNanchor_159_159"><span class="label">[159]</span></a> The name of the temple. See IIR. 66, ll. 1 and 10. The +title 'belit matâti,' 'lady of the lands' is evidently introduced in +imitation of 'bel matâti,' 'lord of lands,' belonging to Bel and then to +Marduk.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_160_160" id="Footnote_160_160"></a><a href="#FNanchor_160_160"><span class="label">[160]</span></a> Sayce's view (<i>Hibbert Lectures</i>, p. 186), according +to which Anu was originally the local god of Erech, is erroneous.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_161_161" id="Footnote_161_161"></a><a href="#FNanchor_161_161"><span class="label">[161]</span></a> VR. pl. 33.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_162_162" id="Footnote_162_162"></a><a href="#FNanchor_162_162"><span class="label">[162]</span></a> Delitzsch, <i>Die Kossaer</i>, pp. 25, 27.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_163_163" id="Footnote_163_163"></a><a href="#FNanchor_163_163"><span class="label">[163]</span></a> The omission of Ramman here, though invoked at the close of +the inscription, is noticeable. Ishtar takes the place that in the more +developed system belongs to the god of storms, who with the moon-god and +sun-god constitutes a second triad. See p. <a href="#Page_163">163</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_164_164" id="Footnote_164_164"></a><a href="#FNanchor_164_164"><span class="label">[164]</span></a> Written with the sign <i>An</i>, and the feminine ending +<i>tum</i>, but probably pronounced Anatum. The form Anat (without the +ending) is used by many scholars, as Sarpanit and Tashmit are used +instead of Sarpanitum and Tashmitum. I prefer the fuller forms of these +names. Anum similarly is better than Anu, but the latter has become so +common that it might as well be retained.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_165_165" id="Footnote_165_165"></a><a href="#FNanchor_165_165"><span class="label">[165]</span></a> VR. 33, vii. 34-44.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_166_166" id="Footnote_166_166"></a><a href="#FNanchor_166_166"><span class="label">[166]</span></a> IR. pl. 15, col. vii. 71-pl. 16, col. viii. 88.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_167_167" id="Footnote_167_167"></a><a href="#FNanchor_167_167"><span class="label">[167]</span></a> No less than nine times.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_168_168" id="Footnote_168_168"></a><a href="#FNanchor_168_168"><span class="label">[168]</span></a> Tiglathpileser I.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_169_169" id="Footnote_169_169"></a><a href="#FNanchor_169_169"><span class="label">[169]</span></a> Ramman-nirari I.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_170_170" id="Footnote_170_170"></a><a href="#FNanchor_170_170"><span class="label">[170]</span></a> <i>Kosmologie</i>, p. 274.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_171_171" id="Footnote_171_171"></a><a href="#FNanchor_171_171"><span class="label">[171]</span></a> See the list IIIR. 68, 26 <i>seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_172_172" id="Footnote_172_172"></a><a href="#FNanchor_172_172"><span class="label">[172]</span></a> Thureau-Dangin, <i>Journal Asiatique</i>, 1895, pp. +385-393. The name of this deity has been the subject of much discussion. +For a full discussion of the subject with an account of the recent +literature, see an article by the writer in <i>The American Journal of +Semitic Languages and Literatures</i>, xii. 159-162.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_173_173" id="Footnote_173_173"></a><a href="#FNanchor_173_173"><span class="label">[173]</span></a> Arising perhaps after <i>Im</i> came into use as the +ideographic form.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_174_174" id="Footnote_174_174"></a><a href="#FNanchor_174_174"><span class="label">[174]</span></a> <i>Proc. Soc. Bibl. Arch.</i>, xi. 173-174 and pl. 1, col. +i. 7.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_175_175" id="Footnote_175_175"></a><a href="#FNanchor_175_175"><span class="label">[175]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_145">145</a> and also p. <a href="#Page_161">161</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_176_176" id="Footnote_176_176"></a><a href="#FNanchor_176_176"><span class="label">[176]</span></a> Belser in Haupt and Delitzsch, <i>Beiträge sur +Assyriologie</i>, ii. 187 <i>seq.</i>, col. vi. i. 3 <i>seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_177_177" id="Footnote_177_177"></a><a href="#FNanchor_177_177"><span class="label">[177]</span></a> The character of this part of the hymn is quite different +from that which precedes.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_178_178" id="Footnote_178_178"></a><a href="#FNanchor_178_178"><span class="label">[178]</span></a> For further notices of these gods, see <a href="#chapter-x">chapter x</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_179_179" id="Footnote_179_179"></a><a href="#FNanchor_179_179"><span class="label">[179]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_122">122</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_180_180" id="Footnote_180_180"></a><a href="#FNanchor_180_180"><span class="label">[180]</span></a> One might include in the list also Nin-igi-nangar-bu, +Gushgin-banda, Nin-kurra, Nin-zadim (from Nabubaliddin's Inscription), +but these are only so many epithets of Ea or various <i>forms</i> under +which the god came to be worshipped. See p. <a href="#Page_177">177</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_181_181" id="Footnote_181_181"></a><a href="#FNanchor_181_181"><span class="label">[181]</span></a> We may now look forward to finding many more gods in the +rich material for this period unearthed by the University of +Pennsylvania Expedition to Niffer.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_182_182" id="Footnote_182_182"></a><a href="#FNanchor_182_182"><span class="label">[182]</span></a> See <a href="#chapter-x">chapter x</a>.</p></div> + + + + +<h2><a name="chapter-ix" id="chapter-ix"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2> + +<h3>THE GODS IN THE TEMPLE LISTS AND IN THE LEGAL AND +COMMERCIAL DOCUMENTS.</h3> + + +<p>Besides the historical texts in the proper sense, there is another +source for the study of the Babylonian pantheon.</p> + +<p>Both for the first and for the second periods we now have a +large number of lists of offerings made to the temples of Babylonia +and of thousands of miscellaneous legal documents. De +Sarzec found a number of such documents at Telloh some +years ago, and quite recently some thirty thousand tablets of +the temple archives have come to light.<a name="FNanchor_183_183" id="FNanchor_183_183"></a><a href="#Footnote_183_183" class="fnanchor">[183]</a> At Tell-Sifr, Abu-Habba, +and elsewhere, many thousands also have been found, +belonging chiefly to the second period. A feature of these +documents is the invocation of the gods, introduced for various +purposes, at times in connection with oaths, at times as a +guarantee against the renewal of claims. Again, certain gods +are appealed to as witnesses to an act, and in the lists of +temple offerings, gods are constantly introduced. Since many +of the commercial transactions recorded in these documents, +moreover, concern the temples of Babylonia, further occasions +were found for the mention of a god or gods. The proper +names occurring in these documents, compounded as these +names in most cases are with some deity,<a name="FNanchor_184_184" id="FNanchor_184_184"></a><a href="#Footnote_184_184" class="fnanchor">[184]</a> furnish some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> +additions to the pantheon of Babylonia. Naturally, a distinction +is to be made between deities introduced in temple +lists and in the course of legal proceedings, and such as are +merely known through forming an element in proper names. +The former constitute a part of what might be called the +'active' pantheon of the time. Deities that are actually invoked +by contracting parties for whatever purpose are such as are +endowed with real significance; and if any of these are not +mentioned in the historical texts proper, the omission is due to +the lack of material. The testimony of the legal documents in +this respect is fully as valid as is that of the historical texts. +In proper names the case is different. Custom being a prominent, +if not a controlling, factor in the giving of names, it may +happen that the deity appearing as an element in a name is one +who, for various reasons, is no longer worshipped, or whose +worship has diminished in significance at the time we meet +with the name. Again, deities of very restricted local fame, +deities that occupy the inferior rank of mere spirits or demons +in the theological system of the Babylonians, may still be incorporated +in proper names. Lastly, in view of the descriptive +epithets by which some deities are often known, as much as by +their real names, it frequently happens in the case of proper +names that a deity otherwise known is designated by one of +his attributes. Thus we find in legal documents of the second +period a goddess, Da-mu-gal, who is none other than the well-known +Gula, the great healing deity; Ud-zal, who is identical +with Ninib, and so written as the god of 'the rising sun';<a name="FNanchor_185_185" id="FNanchor_185_185"></a><a href="#Footnote_185_185" class="fnanchor">[185]</a> and +Mar-tu (lit., 'the west god'), which is a designation of Ramman.<a name="FNanchor_186_186" id="FNanchor_186_186"></a><a href="#Footnote_186_186" class="fnanchor">[186]</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> +Bearing in mind all these considerations, we find in the +tablets of the first period, so far as published,<a name="FNanchor_187_187" id="FNanchor_187_187"></a><a href="#Footnote_187_187" class="fnanchor">[187]</a> the same +deities that are met with in the historical inscriptions: En-lil, +Bau, En-zu (or Sin), Nin-girsu, Nin-gish-zida, Nin-mar, Nanâ, +Ninâ, Shul-pa-uddu, and others. No doubt a complete publication +of the Telloh archives will furnish some—not many—new +deities not occurring in the historical texts of this period. A +rather curious feature, illustrated by these temple archives, and +one upon which we shall have occasion to dwell, is the divine +honors that appear to have been paid towards the end of the first +period of Babylonian history to some of the earlier rulers, notably +Gudea and Dungi.<a name="FNanchor_188_188" id="FNanchor_188_188"></a><a href="#Footnote_188_188" class="fnanchor">[188]</a> Alongside of wine, oil, wheat, sheep, etc., +offered to Bau, Nin-gish-zida, and Shul-pa-uddu, the great kings +and <i>patesis</i> of the past are honored. More than this, sanctuaries +sacred to these rulers are erected, and in other respects they are +placed on a footing of equality with the great gods of the period. +Passing on to the lists and the legal documents of the second +period,<a name="FNanchor_189_189" id="FNanchor_189_189"></a><a href="#Footnote_189_189" class="fnanchor">[189]</a> we may note that the gods in whose name the oath is +taken are chiefly Marduk, Shamash,<a name="FNanchor_190_190" id="FNanchor_190_190"></a><a href="#Footnote_190_190" class="fnanchor">[190]</a> Â, Ramman, and Sin. Generally +two or three are mentioned, and often the name of the +reigning king is added to lend further solemnity to the oath. +Other gods directly introduced are Nanâ, Ishtar, Nebo, Tashmitum, +and Sarpanitum, after whom the years are at times +designated, probably in consequence of some special honors +accorded to the gods. The standing phrase is 'the year of the +throne,' or simply 'the year' of such and such a deity. Nin-mar<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> +appears in the days of Hammurabi as the daughter of Marduk. +Among gods appearing for the first time are Khusha<a name="FNanchor_191_191" id="FNanchor_191_191"></a><a href="#Footnote_191_191" class="fnanchor">[191]</a>, Nun-gal, +and Zamama. Mentioned in connection with the gates of the +temple where the judges held court, the association of Khusha +with Marduk, Shamash, Sin, and Nin-mar points to a considerable +degree of prominence enjoyed by this deity. Of his nature +and origin, however, we know nothing. Nun-gal signifies the +'great chief.' His temple stood in Sippar,<a name="FNanchor_192_192" id="FNanchor_192_192"></a><a href="#Footnote_192_192" class="fnanchor">[192]</a> and from this we +may conclude that he was one of the minor gods of the place +whose original significance becomes obscured by the side of +the all-powerful patron of Sippar—the sun-god. A syllabary +describes the god as a 'raging' deity, a description that suggests +solar functions. Nun-gal appears, therefore, to be the +ideograph proper to a deity that symbolized, like Nergal, Ninib, +and Â, some phase of the sun. The disappearance of the +god would thus be naturally accounted for, in view of the tendency +that we have found characteristic of the religion, whereby +powerful gods absorb the functions of weaker ones whose +attributes resemble their own. But while the god disappears, +the name survives. Nun-gal with the plural sign attached +becomes a collective designation for a group of powerful +demons.<a name="FNanchor_193_193" id="FNanchor_193_193"></a><a href="#Footnote_193_193" class="fnanchor">[193]</a> In this survival and use of the name we have an +interesting example of the manner in which, by a species of differentiation, +local gods, unable to maintain themselves by the +side of more powerful rivals, sink to the lower grade of demons, +either beneficent or noxious. In this grade, too, distinctions +are made, as will be pointed out at the proper place. There is +a 'pantheon' of demons as well as of gods in the Babylonian +theology. Nun-gal accordingly recovers some of his lost dignity +by becoming an exceptionally powerful demon—so powerful +as to confer his name upon an entire class. The god Zamama +appears in connection with a date attached to a legal document<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> +of the days of Hammurabi. The building of a sanctuary in +honor of this deity and his consort was of sufficient importance +to make the year known by this event. Zamama is occasionally +mentioned in the religious hymns. He belongs to the deities +that form a kind of court around Marduk. From syllabaries, +we learn that he was a form of the sun-god, worshipped in the +city of Kish in northern Babylonia, and it also appears that he +was identified at one period with Ninib. The temple to Zamama—perhaps +only a shrine—stood in the city of Kish, which was +remodeled by Hammurabi. The shrine, or temple, bore the +significant name 'house of the warrior's glory.' The warrior is +of course the god, and the name accordingly shows clearly the +character of the god in whose honor the sanctuary was built. +Elsewhere, he is explicitly called a 'god of battle.' Associated +with Zamama of Kish was his consort, who, however, is +merely termed again in a general way, 'Ninni,' <i>i.e.</i>, 'the lady.' +In the case of such a deity as Zamama, it is evident that the +absence of the name in historical texts is accidental, and that +we may expect to come across it with the increase of historical +material. In the proper names, all of the prominent deities +discussed in this and the previous chapters are found, though +with some notable exceptions. Anu, <i>e.g.</i>, is not met with as an +element in proper names, but among those occurring may be +mentioned Shamash, Â, Ishtar, Ramman (also under the forms +Im-me-ru and Mar-tu), Marduk, sometimes called Sag-ila after +his temple in Babylon, Nabu, Ishum, Shala, Bau, Nin-ib, Nin-girsu, +Sin, Bunene, Annuit, and Ea. Among gods appearing +for the first time in connection with the names, it is sufficient +to record a goddess Shubula, who from other sources<a name="FNanchor_194_194" id="FNanchor_194_194"></a><a href="#Footnote_194_194" class="fnanchor">[194]</a> we know +was the local patron of the city Shumdula, a goddess Bashtum,<a name="FNanchor_195_195" id="FNanchor_195_195"></a><a href="#Footnote_195_195" class="fnanchor">[195]</a> +a goddess Mamu (a form of Gula), Am-na-na, Lugal-ki-mu-na,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> +E-la-li (perhaps an epithet for the fire-god Gibil), Ul-mash-shi-tum, +and a serpent god Sir. Most of these may be safely +put down as of purely local origin and jurisdiction, and it is +hardly likely that any of them embody an idea not already +covered by those which we have discussed. From the lists of +gods prepared by the Babylonian scholars, it is clear that the +number of local deities whose names at least survived to a late +period was exceedingly large, ranging in the thousands; and +since, as seems likely, these lists were prepared (as so much of +the lexicographical literature) on the basis of the temple lists +and of the commercial and legal documents, we may conclude +that all, or at any rate most, of these deities were in use as +elements in proper names, without, however, having much +importance beyond this incorporation.</p> + +<h3><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_183_183" id="Footnote_183_183"></a><a href="#FNanchor_183_183"><span class="label">[183]</span></a> The museums of Europe and America have secured a large +proportion of these through purchase.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_184_184" id="Footnote_184_184"></a><a href="#FNanchor_184_184"><span class="label">[184]</span></a> The longer names consist of three elements: subject, verb, +and object. The deity is generally the subject; <i>e.g.</i>, +Sinacherib=Sin-akhe-irba, <i>i.e.</i>, may the god Sin increase the +brothers. But there are many variations. So the imperative of the verb +is often used, and in that case, the deity is in the vocative case. +Instead of three elements, there are frequently only two, a deity and a +participle or an adjective; <i>e.g.</i>, Sin-magir, <i>i.e.</i>, Sin is +favorable, or a person is called 'the son' or 'the servant' of a god. +The name of the deity alone may also constitute a proper name; and many +names of course do not contain the mention of a deity at all, though +such names are often abbreviations from longer ones in which some god +was introduced.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_185_185" id="Footnote_185_185"></a><a href="#FNanchor_185_185"><span class="label">[185]</span></a> Jensen, <i>Kosmologie</i>, p. 458.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_186_186" id="Footnote_186_186"></a><a href="#FNanchor_186_186"><span class="label">[186]</span></a> Arnold, <i>Ancient Babylonian Temple Records</i>, p. 5, is +of the opinion that Id-nik-mar-tu is also a designation of Ramman. His +view is plausible, but it still remains to be proved.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_187_187" id="Footnote_187_187"></a><a href="#FNanchor_187_187"><span class="label">[187]</span></a> Scheil, "Le Culte de Gudea sous le II<sup>e</sup> Dynastie d'Ur" +(<i>Recueil des Travaux, etc.</i> xviii. 64-74). W. R. Arnold, +<i>Ancient Babylonian Temple Records</i> (New York, 1896). The Telloh +tablets appear to be largely lists of offerings made to the temples at +Lagash, and temple accounts. (See now Reisner, Tempelurkunden aus Telloh +(Berlin, 1901).)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_188_188" id="Footnote_188_188"></a><a href="#FNanchor_188_188"><span class="label">[188]</span></a> See besides Scheil's article (above), Lehmann's note, +<i>Zeits. für Assyr.</i> x. 381.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_189_189" id="Footnote_189_189"></a><a href="#FNanchor_189_189"><span class="label">[189]</span></a> Our knowledge of the documents of this period is due +chiefly to Strassmaier and Meissner.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_190_190" id="Footnote_190_190"></a><a href="#FNanchor_190_190"><span class="label">[190]</span></a> At times under rather curious forms, <i>e.g.</i>, +Shush-sha; Strassmaier, Warka, no. 30, l. 21. The form Sha-ash-sha also +occurs in nos. 43 and 105 (<i>cf.</i> Meissner's note, <i>Beiträge zum +Altbabylonischen Privatrecht</i>, p. 156).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_191_191" id="Footnote_191_191"></a><a href="#FNanchor_191_191"><span class="label">[191]</span></a> Meissner, no. 42. Also in a proper name, Khusha-ilu, +<i>i.e.</i>, 'Khusha is god.'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_192_192" id="Footnote_192_192"></a><a href="#FNanchor_192_192"><span class="label">[192]</span></a> Meissner, nos. 40 and 118.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_193_193" id="Footnote_193_193"></a><a href="#FNanchor_193_193"><span class="label">[193]</span></a> See <a href="#chapter-xi">chapter xi</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_194_194" id="Footnote_194_194"></a><a href="#FNanchor_194_194"><span class="label">[194]</span></a> IIR. 60, 18a. Pinches (<i>Journal Victoria Institute</i>, +xxviii. 36 reads Shu-gid-la; Hommel, <i>ib.</i> 36, Shu-sil-la).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_195_195" id="Footnote_195_195"></a><a href="#FNanchor_195_195"><span class="label">[195]</span></a> For this deity, see a paper by the writer, "The Element +<i>Bosheth</i> in Hebrew Proper Names," in the <i>Journal of Bibl. +Liter.</i> xiii. 20-30.</p></div> + + + + +<h2><a name="chapter-x" id="chapter-x"></a>CHAPTER X.</h2> + +<h3>THE MINOR GODS IN THE PERIOD OF HAMMURABI.</h3> + + +<p>Coming back now to the historical texts and placing the +minor deities together that occur in the inscriptions of Hammurabi +and his successors down through the restoration of +native rulers on the throne of Babylonia, we obtain the following +list: Zakar, Lugal-mit-tu (?), Nin-dim-su, Ba-kad, Pap-u, +Belit-ekalli, Shumalia, Shukamuna, Gula, Shir, Shubu, Belit of +Akkad, Malik, Bunene, Nin-igi-nangar-bu, Gushgin-banda, Nin-kurra, +Nin-zadim. In view of the limited amount of historical +material at our disposal for the second period of Babylonian +history, the list of course does not permit us to form a definite +notion of the total number of minor gods that were still occasionally +invoked by the side of the great gods. By comparison, +however, with the pantheon so far as ascertained of the first +period, the conclusion is justified that with the systematization +of cults and beliefs characteristic of the Hammurabi, a marked +tendency appears towards a reduction of the pantheon, a weeding +out of the numerous local cults, their absorption by the +larger ones, and the relegation of the minor gods of only local +significance to a place among the spirits and demons of the +Babylonian religion. Brief statements of these minor gods +will suffice to indicate their general character. Of most of +the gods in this list there is but little we know as yet beyond +the name. Some of them will occur again in the Assyrian +and Neo-Babylonian historical texts, others in the hymns +and incantations; some are only found in the period we are +considering, though with the material constantly increasing +we must beware of drawing any conclusions from the fact of a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> +single mention. 'Zakar,' signifying, probably, 'heroic,' appears +to have been worshipped in Nippur, where a wall known as the +'wall of Zakar' was built by Samsu-iluna. From the fact that +this wall was sacred to Nin-khar-sag or Belit, we may, perhaps, +be permitted to conclude that 'Zakar' stood in close relationship +to Bel and Belit of Nippur,—possibly a son,—or, at all +events, belonged to the inner circle of deities worshipped in +the old city sacred to the great Bel.</p> + +<p>Another wall in Nippur was dedicated by this Samsu-iluna +to a god whose name is provisionally read by Winckler, Lugal-mit-tu.<a name="FNanchor_196_196" id="FNanchor_196_196"></a><a href="#Footnote_196_196" class="fnanchor">[196]</a> +Lugal, signifying 'king,' is an element that enters as +an ideograph in the composition of the names of several deities. +Thus we have Lugal-edinna, 'king of the field,' which is the +equivalent of Nergal, and again for the same god, the combination +Lugal-gira, which is, as Jensen<a name="FNanchor_197_197" id="FNanchor_197_197"></a><a href="#Footnote_197_197" class="fnanchor">[197]</a> has shown, 'raging king,' +and a title of Nergal in his character as the god of pestilence +and war. Nin-dim-su, Ba-kad, Pap-u, Belit-ekalli, Shumalia, and +Shukamuna occur at the close of the inscription of Melishikhu, +among the gods asked to curse the transgressors of the royal +decree.<a name="FNanchor_198_198" id="FNanchor_198_198"></a><a href="#Footnote_198_198" class="fnanchor">[198]</a> That some of these are Cassite deities imported into +Babylonia, and whose position in the pantheon was therefore of +a temporary character, there seems little reason to question. Ba-kad +may, and Shumalia quite certainly does, belong to this class. +As for Shukamuna, the fact that Agumkakrimi, who places his +title, 'king of Cassite land,' before that of Akkad and Babylon, +opens his inscription with the declaration that he is the glorious +offspring of Shukamuna, fixes the character of this god beyond +all doubt; and Delitzsch has shown<a name="FNanchor_199_199" id="FNanchor_199_199"></a><a href="#Footnote_199_199" class="fnanchor">[199]</a> that this god was regarded +by the Babylonian schoolmen as the equivalent of their own +Nergal. Shukamuna, accordingly, was the Cassite god of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> +war, who, like Nergal, symbolized the mid-day sun,—that is, +the raging and destructive power. Shumalia is the consort of +Shukamuna<a name="FNanchor_200_200" id="FNanchor_200_200"></a><a href="#Footnote_200_200" class="fnanchor">[200]</a>, and is invoked as the 'lady of the shining mountains.' +Nin-dim-su is a title of Ea, as the patron of arts. +Belit-ekalli—<i>i.e.</i>, Belit of the palace—appears as the consort +of Ninib, the epithet 'ekalli' being added to specify what Belit +is meant, and to avoid confusion with the consort of Bel. At +the same time it must be confessed that the precise force of +the qualification of 'Belit of the palace' (or temple) escapes us. +Ninib's consort, as we know from other sources, was Gula.<a name="FNanchor_201_201" id="FNanchor_201_201"></a><a href="#Footnote_201_201" class="fnanchor">[201]</a> +This name is in some way connected with an Assyrian stem +signifying 'great,' and it is at least worthy of note that the +word for palace is written by a species of punning etymology +with two signs, e=house and gallu=large. The question +suggests itself whether the title 'Belit-ekalli' may not have its +rise in a further desire to play upon the goddess's name, just as +her title Kallat-Eshara (bride of Eshara, or earth) rests upon +such a play. Such plays on names are characteristic of the +Semites, and indeed in a measure are common to all ancient +nations, to whom the name always meant much more than to +us. Every <i>nomen</i>, as constituting the essence of an object, was +always and above all an <i>omen</i>. It is, therefore, plausible to +suppose that titles of the gods should have been chosen in part +under the influence of this idea.<a name="FNanchor_202_202" id="FNanchor_202_202"></a><a href="#Footnote_202_202" class="fnanchor">[202]</a> A further suggestion that +I would like to offer is that 'ekallu,' as temple or palace (lit., +large house), may be one of the numerous names of the nether +world. A parallel would be furnished by Ekur, which signifies +both 'temple' and 'earth,'<a name="FNanchor_203_203" id="FNanchor_203_203"></a><a href="#Footnote_203_203" class="fnanchor">[203]</a> and is also one of the names of the +gathering-place of the dead. Gula, being the goddess of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> +nether world who restores the dead to life, would be appropriately +called 'the lady of the nether world.' One should like to +know more of Pap-u (the phonetic reading unknown), who is +called the offspring of Eshara, and 'the lord of the boundary.' +Eshara, as Jensen has shown,<a name="FNanchor_204_204" id="FNanchor_204_204"></a><a href="#Footnote_204_204" class="fnanchor">[204]</a> is a poetical name for earth. +The god Ninib, in his capacity as a god of agriculture, is called +the 'product of Eshara.'<a name="FNanchor_205_205" id="FNanchor_205_205"></a><a href="#Footnote_205_205" class="fnanchor">[205]</a> Pap-u, therefore, must be a god somewhat +of the same character—a conclusion which is borne out +by the description given of him as the protector of the boundary. +He is probably one of the numerous forms of boundary +gods that are met with among all nations. That we do not +encounter more in Babylonia is due to the decided tendency +that has been noted towards a centralization of power in a +limited number of deities. Instead of gods of boundaries, we +have numerous demons and spirits in the case of the developed +Babylonian religion, into whose hands the care of preserving +the rights of owners to their lands is entrusted. Symbols of +these spirits—serpents, unicorns, scorpions, and the like—are +added on the monuments which were placed at the boundaries, +and on which the terms were specified that justified +the land tenure. To this class of monuments the name of +'Kudurru,' or 'boundary' stones, was given by the Babylonians +themselves. The inscription on which the name of Pap-u +occurs belongs to this class; and he is invoked, as already said, +along with many other gods—in fact, with the whole or a +goodly portion of the pantheon. It would seem, therefore, +that we have in Pap-u a special boundary god who has survived +in that rôle from a more primitive period of Babylonian culture. +He occupies a place usually assigned to the powerful demons +who are regarded as the real owners of the soil.<a name="FNanchor_206_206" id="FNanchor_206_206"></a><a href="#Footnote_206_206" class="fnanchor">[206]</a></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span>Perhaps the most interesting of the minor deities during this +second period is</p> + + +<h3>Gula.</h3> + +<p>As has just been stated, she is the consort of Ninib. She +is not mentioned in any of the inscriptions of this period till +we come to the days of Nebuchadnezzar I., who invokes her +as the bride of Eshara,—<i>i.e.</i>, of the earth.<a name="FNanchor_207_207" id="FNanchor_207_207"></a><a href="#Footnote_207_207" class="fnanchor">[207]</a> We also meet +with her name in that of several individuals, Balatsu-Gula<a name="FNanchor_208_208" id="FNanchor_208_208"></a><a href="#Footnote_208_208" class="fnanchor">[208]</a> +and Arad-Gula,<a name="FNanchor_209_209" id="FNanchor_209_209"></a><a href="#Footnote_209_209" class="fnanchor">[209]</a> and we have seen that she is also known as +<i>Damu</i> and <i>Mamu</i>, or <i>Meme</i>. We have a proof, therefore, of +her cult being firmly established at an early period of Babylonian +history. Her rôle is that of a 'life-giver,' in the widest +sense of the word. She is called the 'great physician,' who +both preserves the body in health and who removes sickness +and disease by the 'touch of her hand.' Gula is the one who +leads the dead to a new life. She shares this power, however, +with her husband Ninib. Her power can be exerted for evil +as well as for good. She is appealed to, to strike the enemy +with blindness; she can bring on the very diseases that she is +able to heal, and such is the stress laid upon these qualities +that she is even addressed as the 'creator of mankind.' But +although it is the 'second' birth of mankind over which she +presides, she does not belong to the class of deities whose +concern is with the dead rather than the living. The Babylonians, +as we shall have occasion to point out, early engaged +in speculations regarding the life after death, and, as a result, +there was developed a special pantheon for the nether world. +Gula occupies a rather unique place intermediate, as it were, +between the gods of the living and the gods of the dead.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span>Of the other deities occurring in the inscription of this same +Nebuchadnezzar I. it is sufficient to note that two, Shir and +Shubu, are enumerated among the gods of Bit-Khabban. They +were, therefore, local deities of some towns that never rose to +sufficient importance to insure their patrons a permanent place +in the Babylonian pantheon. 'Belit of Akkad,' whom Nebuchadnezzar +invokes, is none other than the great Belit, the consort +of Bel. 'Akkad' is here used for Babylonia, and the +qualification is added to distinguish her from other 'ladies,' +as, <i>e.g.</i>, 'Belit-ekalli,' who, we have seen, was Gula.</p> + + +<h3>Malik and Bunene.</h3> + +<p>Upon reaching so late a period as the days of Nabubaliddin +(<i>c.</i> 850 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>), it becomes doubtful whether we are justified in +including the additional deities occurring in his inscription +among the Babylonian pantheon of the second period. The +occurrence of some of these gods in the religious literature is +a presumption in favor of regarding them as ancient creations, +rather than due to later influences. Certainly this appears to +be the case with Malik and Bunene, who, with Shamash, form +a triad that constitutes the chief object of worship in the great +temple E-babbara at Sippar, to whose restored cult Nabubaliddin +devotes himself. Both names, moreover, occur as parts +of proper names in the age of Hammurabi. Malik—<i>i.e.</i>, ruler—is +one of the names frequently assigned to Shamash, just as +the god's consort was known as Malkatu, but for all that Malik +is not the same as Shamash. Accompanying the inscription of +Nabubaliddin is a design<a name="FNanchor_210_210" id="FNanchor_210_210"></a><a href="#Footnote_210_210" class="fnanchor">[210]</a> representing the sun-god seated in +his shrine. Before him on a table rests a wheel, and attached +to the wheel are cords held by two figures, who are evidently +directing the course of the wheel. These two figures are Malik<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> +and Bunene, a species of attendants, therefore, on the sun-god, +who drive the fiery chariot that symbolized the great orb. +Bunene, through association with Malik, becomes the latter's +consort, and it is interesting to observe the extent to which the +tendency of the Babylonian religion to conceive the gods in +pairs goes. Bunene is not the only instance of an originally +male deity becoming through various circumstances the female +consort to another. Originally, Malik may have been a name +under which the sun-god was worshipped at some place, for +the conception that makes him the chariot-driver to Shamash +appears to be late. The absorption by the greater sun-cults +(at Sippar and Larsa more particularly) of the lesser ones leads +to the complete transfer of the names of minor sun-deities to +the great Shamash, but in some instances the minor deities +continue to lead a shadowy existence in some rôle of service to +the greater ones.</p> + + +<h3>Nin-igi-nangar-bu, Gushgin-banda, Nin-kurra, and Nin-zadim.</h3> + +<p>We have seen that Ea, among other powers assigned to him, +was regarded as the god of fine arts,—in the first instance as +the god of the smithy, because of the antiquity and importance +of the smith's art, and then of art in general, including +especially the production of great statues. In accordance with +this conception, Nabubaliddin declares that it was through the +wisdom of Ea that he succeeded in manufacturing the great +image of Shamash that was set up by him in the temple at +Sippar. But in the days of Nabubaliddin the arts had been +differentiated into various branches, and this differentiation +was expressed by assigning to each branch some patron god +who presided over that section. In this way, the old belief +that art comes to men from the gods survived, while at the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> +same time it entered upon new phases.<a name="FNanchor_211_211" id="FNanchor_211_211"></a><a href="#Footnote_211_211" class="fnanchor">[211]</a> Accordingly, Nabubaliddin +assigns several deities who act the part of assistants +to Ea. The names of these deities point to their functions. +Nin-igi-nangar-bu is the 'lord who presides over metal-workers'; +Gushgin-banda, 'brilliant chief,' is evidently the patron of those +skilled in the working of the bright metals; Nin-kurra, 'lord +of mountain,' the patron of those that quarried the stones; +while Nin-zadim is the patron of sculpture. Ea stands above +these as a general overseer, but the four classes of laborers +symbolized by gods indicate the manner of artistic construction +in the advanced state of Babylonian art, and of the various +distinct professions to which this art gave birth. In a certain +sense, of course, these four gods associated with Ea belong to +the Babylonian pantheon, but not in the same sense in which +Ea, for example, or the other gods discussed in this chapter, +belong to it. They cannot even be said to be gods of a minor +order—they are hardly anything more than personifications of +certain phenomena that have their source in the human intellect. +In giving to these personified powers the determinative +indicative of deity, the Babylonian schoolmen were not conscious +of expressing anything more than their belief in the divine +origin of the power and skill exercised by man. To represent +such power as a god was the only way in which the personification +could at all be effected under the conditions presented +by Babylonian beliefs. When, therefore, we meet with such +gods as Nin-zadim, 'lord of sculpture,' it is much the same as +when in the Old Testament we are told that Tubal-cain was +the 'father' of those that work in metals, and where similarly +other arts are traced back to a single source. 'Father' in +Oriental hyperbole signifies 'source, originator, possessor, or +patron,' and, indeed, includes all these ideas. The Hebrew +writer, rising to a higher level of belief, conceives the arts to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> +have originated through some single personage endowed with +divine powers;<a name="FNanchor_212_212" id="FNanchor_212_212"></a><a href="#Footnote_212_212" class="fnanchor">[212]</a> the Babylonian, incapable as yet of making +this distinction, ascribes both the origin and execution of the +art directly to a god. In this way, new deities were apparently +created even at an advanced stage of the Babylonian religion, +but deities that differed totally from those that are characteristic +of the earlier periods. The differentiation of the arts, +and the assignment of a patron to each branch, reflect the +thoughts and the aspirations of a later age. These views +must have arisen under an impulse to artistic creation that was +called forth by unusual circumstances, and I venture to think +that this impulse is to be traced to the influence of the Assyrian +rulers, whose greatest ambition, next to military glory, was to +leave behind them artistic monuments of themselves that might +unfold to later ages a tale of greatness and of power. Sculpture +and works in metal were two arts that flourished in a +special degree in the days when Assyria was approaching the +zenith of her glory. Nabubaliddin's reign falls within this +period; and we must, therefore, look from this time on for +traces of Assyrian influence in the culture, the art, and also +to some extent in the religious beliefs of the southern district +of Mesopotamia.</p> + +<h3><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_196_196" id="Footnote_196_196"></a><a href="#FNanchor_196_196"><span class="label">[196]</span></a> The text is defective at the point where the god's name is +mentioned. See <i>Keils Bibl.</i> 3, 1, p. 133. King reads, +Lugal-diri-tu-gab.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_197_197" id="Footnote_197_197"></a><a href="#FNanchor_197_197"><span class="label">[197]</span></a> <i>Kosmologie</i>, pp. 481 <i>seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_198_198" id="Footnote_198_198"></a><a href="#FNanchor_198_198"><span class="label">[198]</span></a> Belser, <i>Beiträge zur Assyr.</i> ii. 203, col. vi.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_199_199" id="Footnote_199_199"></a><a href="#FNanchor_199_199"><span class="label">[199]</span></a> <i>Kossaer</i>, pp. 25-27.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_200_200" id="Footnote_200_200"></a><a href="#FNanchor_200_200"><span class="label">[200]</span></a> Delitzsch, <i>Kossaer</i>, p. 33.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_201_201" id="Footnote_201_201"></a><a href="#FNanchor_201_201"><span class="label">[201]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_105">105</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_202_202" id="Footnote_202_202"></a><a href="#FNanchor_202_202"><span class="label">[202]</span></a> Examples of punning etymologies on names of gods are +frequent. See Jensen's discussion of Nergal for examples of various +plays upon the name of the god. <i>Kosmologie</i>, pp. 185 <i>seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_203_203" id="Footnote_203_203"></a><a href="#FNanchor_203_203"><span class="label">[203]</span></a> Jensen, <i>Kosmologie</i>, pp. 185 <i>seq.</i> and p. 218.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_204_204" id="Footnote_204_204"></a><a href="#FNanchor_204_204"><span class="label">[204]</span></a> <i>Kosmologie</i>, p. 195.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_205_205" id="Footnote_205_205"></a><a href="#FNanchor_205_205"><span class="label">[205]</span></a> Rawlinson, i. 29, 16.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_206_206" id="Footnote_206_206"></a><a href="#FNanchor_206_206"><span class="label">[206]</span></a> This notion that the ground belongs to the gods, and that +man is only a tenant, survives to a late period in Semitic religions. +The belief underlies the Pentateuchal enactments regarding the holding +of the soil, which is only to be temporary. See W. R. Smith, <i>Religion +of the Semites</i>, pp. 91 <i>seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_207_207" id="Footnote_207_207"></a><a href="#FNanchor_207_207"><span class="label">[207]</span></a> In Babylonian, <i>Kallat Eshara</i>, with another play upon +her name. See above, p. <a href="#Page_173">173</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_208_208" id="Footnote_208_208"></a><a href="#FNanchor_208_208"><span class="label">[208]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, (Protect) his life, O Gula.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_209_209" id="Footnote_209_209"></a><a href="#FNanchor_209_209"><span class="label">[209]</span></a> Servant of Gula.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_210_210" id="Footnote_210_210"></a><a href="#FNanchor_210_210"><span class="label">[210]</span></a> See V.R. pl. 60.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_211_211" id="Footnote_211_211"></a><a href="#FNanchor_211_211"><span class="label">[211]</span></a> To this day in the Orient, fine productions of man's skill +are attributed to the influence of hidden spirits, good or bad, as the +case may be.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_212_212" id="Footnote_212_212"></a><a href="#FNanchor_212_212"><span class="label">[212]</span></a> This position does not, of course, exclude the fact that in +the original form of the tradition, Tubal-cain, Naamah, and other +personages in the fourth chapter of Genesis were deities.</p></div> + + + + +<h2><a name="chapter-xi" id="chapter-xi"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2> + +<h3>SURVIVALS OF ANIMISM IN THE BABYLONIAN RELIGION.</h3> + + +<p>The Assyrian influence however was only one factor, and a +minor factor at that, in maintaining the belief in countless +spirits that occupied a place of more or less importance by +the side of the great and lesser gods. That conservatism +which is a distinguishing trait of the popular forms of religion +everywhere, served to keep alive the view that all the acts +of man, his moods, the accidents that befell him, were under +the control of visible or invisible powers. The development +of a pantheon, graded and more or less regulated under +the guidance of the Babylonian schoolmen, did not drive the +old animistic views out of existence. In the religious literature, +and more especially in those parts of it which reflect +the popular forms of thought, the unorganized mass of spirits +maintain an undisputed sway. In the incantation texts, which +will be discussed at length in a subsequent chapter, as well as +in other sections of Babylonian literature embodying both the +primitive and the advanced views of the Babylonians regarding +the origin of the universe, its subdivisions, and its order of +development, and, thirdly, in the legends and epics, hundreds +of spirits are introduced, to which some definite function or functions +were assigned. In many, indeed in the majority of cases, +the precise character of these functions still escapes us. The +material at our disposal is as yet inadequate for any satisfactory +treatment of this phase of Babylonian belief, and we must content +ourselves for the present with some generalizations, or at +the most with some broad classifications. Besides the texts +themselves, we have proper names containing a spirit as an element, +and also lists of those spirits prepared by the schoolmen<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> +on the basis of the texts. When, as sometimes happens, these +lists contain explanatory comments on the spirits enumerated, +we are able to take some steps forward in our knowledge of the +subject.</p> + +<p>In the first place, then, it is important to bear in mind that +the numerous spirits, when introduced into the religious and +other texts, are almost invariably preceded by a sign—technically +known as a determinative—which stamps them as divine. +This sign being the same as the one placed before the +names of the gods, it is not always possible to distinguish +between deities and spirits. The use of a common sign is +significant as pointing to the common origin of the two classes +of superior powers that thus continue to exist side by side. A +god is naught but a spirit writ large. As already intimated in +a previous chapter, a large part of the development of the Babylonian +religion consists in the differentiation between the gods +and the spirits,—a process that, beginning before the period +of written records, steadily went on, and in a certain sense was +never completed. In the historical texts, the gods alone, with +certain exceptions, find official recognition, and it is largely +through these texts that we are enabled to distinguish between +the two classes of powers, the gods and the spirits; but as a +survival of a primitive animism, the demons, good, bad, and +indifferent, retain their place in the popular forms of religion. +Several hundred spirits occur in the incantation texts, and almost +as many more in other religious texts. We may distinguish several +classes. In the first place, there are the demons that cause +disease and all manner of physical annoyances. The chief of +these will be considered when we come to the analysis of the +incantation texts. Against these demons the sufferer seeks +protection by means of formulas, the utterance of which is +invested with peculiar power, and again by means of certain +rites of an expiatory or purificatory character. Next, we have +the demons supposed to inhabit the fields, and to whom<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> +the ground is supposed to belong. These were imaged under +various animal forms, serpents and scorpions being the favorite +ones. When possession was taken of the field, the spirits +inhabiting it had to be propitiated. The owner placed himself +under their protection, and endeavored to insure his rights +against wrongful encroachment by calling upon the demons to +range themselves on his side. It was customary, especially in +the case of territory acquired by special grant of the monarch, +or under extraordinary circumstances, to set up a so-called +boundary stone,<a name="FNanchor_213_213" id="FNanchor_213_213"></a><a href="#Footnote_213_213" class="fnanchor">[213]</a> on which the owner of the field detailed his +right to possession, through purchase or gift, as the case may +be. This inscription closed with an appeal to various gods to +strike with their curses any intruder upon the owner's rights. +In addition to this, the stones are embellished with serpents, +scorpions, unicorns, and various realistic or fantastic representations +of animal forms. These, it would seem, symbolize the +spirits, the sight of which, it was hoped, might act as a further and +effectual warning against interference with the owner's rights.<a name="FNanchor_214_214" id="FNanchor_214_214"></a><a href="#Footnote_214_214" class="fnanchor">[214]</a></p> + +<p>A special class of demons is formed by those which were +supposed to infest the resting-places of the dead, though they +stand in a certain relationship to the demons that plague the +living. A remarkable monument found a number of years ago,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> +and which will be fully described in a subsequent chapter, +affords us a picture of some of these demons whose sphere of +action is more particularly in the subterranean cave that forms +the gathering-place of the dead. They are represented as half +human, half animal, with large grotesque and terror-inspiring +features.<a name="FNanchor_215_215" id="FNanchor_215_215"></a><a href="#Footnote_215_215" class="fnanchor">[215]</a> Their power, however, is limited. They are subject +to the orders of the gods whose dominion is the lower world, +more particularly to Nergal and his consort Allatu. In the +advanced eschatology of the Babylonians the demons play a +minor part. It is with the gods that the dead man must make +his peace. Their protection assured, he has little to fear; but +the demons of the lower world frequently ascend to the upper +regions to afflict the living. Against them precautions must be +taken similar to the means employed for ridding one's self of +the baneful influence of the disease-and pain-bringing spirits. +Reference has already been made to the spirits that belong to +the higher phases of Mesopotamian culture,—those that have +a share in the production of works of skill and art. We have +seen that in accounting for these we are justified in assuming a +higher phase of religious belief. The dividing line between god +and spirit becomes faint, and the numerous protecting patrons +of the handicrafts that flourished in Babylonia and Assyria can +hardly be placed in the same category with those we have so +far been considering. Still, to the popular mind the achievements +of the human mind were regarded as due to the workings +of hidden forces. Strange as it may seem, there was an indisposition +to ascribe everything to the power of the gods. Ea +and Nabu, although the general gods of wisdom, did not concern +themselves with details. These were left to the secondary +powers,—the spirits. Hence it happens that by the side of the +great gods, we have a large number of minor powers who preside +over the various branches of human handiwork and control +the products of the human mind.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span>Reserving further details regarding the several classes of +demons and spirits enumerated, it will suffice to say a few +words about one particular group of spirits whose rôle was +peculiarly prominent in both historical, liturgical, and general +religious texts. The tendency to systematize the beliefs in +spirits manifests itself in Babylonia, equally with the grouping +of the gods into certain classes. In consequence of this general +tendency, the conception arose of a group of spirits that comprised +the associated secondary powers of earth and heaven, +somewhat as Anu, Bel, and Ea summed up the quintessence of +the higher powers or gods. This group was known as the</p> + + +<h3>Anunnaki and Igigi.</h3> + +<p>Regarding these names it may be said that the former has +not yet been satisfactorily interpreted. On the assumption +that the union of the syllables A-nun-na-ki<a name="FNanchor_216_216" id="FNanchor_216_216"></a><a href="#Footnote_216_216" class="fnanchor">[216]</a> represents a compound +ideograph, the middle syllable <i>nun</i> signifies 'strength,' +whereas the first is the ordinary ideograph for 'water.' Hommel<a name="FNanchor_217_217" id="FNanchor_217_217"></a><a href="#Footnote_217_217" class="fnanchor">[217]</a> +proposed to interpret the name therefore as 'gods of the +watery habitation.' The artificiality of this manner of writing +points, as in several instances noted, to a mere 'play' upon +the real name. <i>Anunna</i> reminds one forcibly of the god <i>Anu</i> +and of the goddess <i>Anunit</i>, and the element <i>ak</i> is quite a +common afformative in Babylonian substantives, conveying a +certain emphatic meaning to the word. If therefore we may +compare Anun with the name of the god of heaven, the name +<i>Anunnak</i> embodying, as it does in this case, the idea of power, +would be an appropriate designation for the spirits, or a group +of spirits collectively. Be it understood that this explanation +is offered merely as a conjecture, which, however, finds support +in the meaning attached to the term 'Igigi.' This, as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> +Halévy and Guyard have recognized, is a formation of a +well-known stem occurring in Babylonian, as well as in other +Semitic languages, that has the meaning 'strong.' The ideographic +form of writing the name likewise designates the spirits +as 'the great chiefs.' The 'Igigi,' therefore, are 'the strong +ones,' and strength being the attribute most commonly assigned +to the Semitic deities,<a name="FNanchor_218_218" id="FNanchor_218_218"></a><a href="#Footnote_218_218" class="fnanchor">[218]</a> there is a presumption, at least, in favor +of interpreting Anunnak, or Anunnaki,<a name="FNanchor_219_219" id="FNanchor_219_219"></a><a href="#Footnote_219_219" class="fnanchor">[219]</a> in the same way. The +'Igigi' are at times designated as the seven gods, but this +number is simply an indication of their constituting a large +group. Seven is a round number which marked a large quantity. +At an earlier period five represented a numerical magnitude, +and hence the Anunnaki are at times regarded as a group +of five.<a name="FNanchor_220_220" id="FNanchor_220_220"></a><a href="#Footnote_220_220" class="fnanchor">[220]</a> The Anunnaki and Igigi appear for the first time +in an historical text in the inscription of the Assyrian king +Ramman-nirari I., who includes them in his appeal to the +great gods. He designates the Igigi as belonging to heaven, +the Anunnaki as belonging to the earth. The manner in +which he uses the names shows conclusively that, at this early +period, the two groups comprehended the entire domain over +which spirits, and for that matter also the gods, exercised their +power. Indeed, it would appear that at one time the two +names were used to include the gods as well as the spirits. +At least this appears to be the case in Assyria, and the conclusion +may be drawn, from the somewhat vague use of the terms, +that the names belong to a very early period of the religion, +when the distinction between gods and spirits was not yet<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> +clearly marked. However that may be, in Babylonian hymns +and incantations the Igigi and Anunnaki play a very prominent +part. Anu is represented as the father of both groups. But +they are also at the service of other gods, notably of Bel, who +is spoken of as their 'lord,' of Ninib, of Marduk, of Ishtar, and +of Nergal. They prostrate themselves before these superior +masters, and the latter at times manifest their anger against +the Igigi. They are sent out by the gods to do service. Their +character is, on the whole, severe and cruel. They are not +favorable to man, but rather hostile to him. Their brilliancy +consumes the land. Their power is feared, and Assyrian kings +more particularly are fond of adding the Igigi and Anunnaki to +the higher powers—the gods proper—when they wish to +inspire a fear of their own majesty. At times the Igigi alone +are mentioned, but generally the Igigi and Anunnaki appear in +combination. To the latest period of Babylonian history these +two groups continue to receive official recognition. Nebuchadnezzar +II.<a name="FNanchor_221_221" id="FNanchor_221_221"></a><a href="#Footnote_221_221" class="fnanchor">[221]</a> dedicates an altar, which he erects at the wall of the +city of Babylon, to the Igigi and Anunnaki. The altar is called +a structure of 'joy and rejoicing,' and on the festival of Marduk, +who is the 'lord of the Anunnaki and Igigi,' sacrifices were +offered at this altar. In the great temple of Marduk there was +a fountain in which the gods and the Anunnaki, according to a +Babylonian hymn, 'bathe their countenance'; and when to this +notice it be added that another hymn praises them as the +'shining chiefs' of the ancient city of Eridu, it will be apparent +that the conceptions attached to this group span the entire +period of Babylonian-Assyrian history.</p> + +<p>Besides the Igigi and Anunnaki there is still a third group of +seven spirits, generally designated as the 'evil demons,' who +represent the embodiment of all physical suffering to which +man is subject. They appear, however, only in the incantation +texts, and we may, therefore, postpone their consideration<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> +until that subject is reached. The point to be borne in mind, +and which I have attempted to emphasize in this place, is the +close relationship existing in the <i>popular</i> forms of the Babylonian +religion between the gods and the spirits. The latter +belong to the pantheon as much as the former. Primitive +animism continues to enchain the minds of the people, despite +the differentiation established between the higher and the +secondary powers, and despite the high point of development +reached by the schoolmen in their attempts to systematize and, +in a measure, to purify the ancient beliefs.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span></p> + +<h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_213_213" id="Footnote_213_213"></a><a href="#FNanchor_213_213"><span class="label">[213]</span></a> The technical name for this class of monuments was +<i>Kudurru</i>, <i>i.e.</i>, mark, and then used like the German word +<i>Mark</i> both for boundary and for the territory included within the +bounds. A notable contribution to the interpretation of the Kudurru +monuments was made by Belser, in the <i>Beiträge zur Assyriologie</i>, +ii. 111-203.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_214_214" id="Footnote_214_214"></a><a href="#FNanchor_214_214"><span class="label">[214]</span></a> The question has been raised (see Belser, <i>ib.</i> p. +111) by Pinches whether these representations are not the symbols of the +zodiac, but, as Belser justly remarks, the attempt to interpret the +pictures in this way has not been successful. It still seems most +plausible to regard the pictures as symbols of spirits or demons. Such +an interpretation is in accord with the Babylonian and general Semitic +view of land ownership. At the same time it must be confessed that we +are still in the dark as to the motives underlying the choice of the +animals portrayed. There may be some ultimate connection with +<i>some</i> of the signs of the zodiac,—so Hommel believes,—but such +connection would have to be judged from the earlier forms that animism +takes on, and not in the light of an advanced theology such as appears +in the zodiacal system of the Babylonians.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_215_215" id="Footnote_215_215"></a><a href="#FNanchor_215_215"><span class="label">[215]</span></a> See Perrot and Chiplez, <i>History of Art in Chaldaea and Assyria</i>, +I. 351.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_216_216" id="Footnote_216_216"></a><a href="#FNanchor_216_216"><span class="label">[216]</span></a> The element <i>ki</i> is sometimes omitted. The force of +<i>na</i> is not clear, unless it be a phonetic complement merely.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_217_217" id="Footnote_217_217"></a><a href="#FNanchor_217_217"><span class="label">[217]</span></a> <i>Semitische Völker</i>, p. 369.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_218_218" id="Footnote_218_218"></a><a href="#FNanchor_218_218"><span class="label">[218]</span></a> Very many of the names of the Semitic gods and heroes +signify strong, <i>e.g.</i>, <i>El</i>, <i>Adon</i>, <i>Baal</i>, +<i>Etana</i>, <i>Kemosh</i>, etc.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_219_219" id="Footnote_219_219"></a><a href="#FNanchor_219_219"><span class="label">[219]</span></a> The final vowel <i>i</i> would, on the basis of the +explanation offered, be paralleled by the <i>i</i> of Igigi—an +indication of the plural. See Delitzsch, <i>Assyr. Gram.</i> § 67, 1.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_220_220" id="Footnote_220_220"></a><a href="#FNanchor_220_220"><span class="label">[220]</span></a> The Igigi are designated ideographically as v plus ii, and +Hommel (<i>Semitische Völker</i>, p. 491) properly suggests that this +peculiar writing points to an earlier use of five as constituting the +group. Hommel, however, does not see that neither five nor seven are to +be interpreted literally, but that both represent a large round number, +and, therefore, also a holy one.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_221_221" id="Footnote_221_221"></a><a href="#FNanchor_221_221"><span class="label">[221]</span></a> IR. 55, col. iv. ll. 7-13.</p></div> + + + + +<h2><a name="chapter-xii" id="chapter-xii"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2> + +<h3>THE ASSYRIAN PANTHEON.</h3> + + +<p>We have now reached a point where it will be proper to set +forth the phases that the Babylonian religion assumed during +the days of Assyrian supremacy.</p> + +<p>An enumeration of the gods occurring in the inscriptions of +the rulers of Assyria from the earliest days to the close of the +empire, so far as published, will show better than any argument +the points of similarity between the Babylonian and the +Assyrian pantheon. These gods are in alphabetical order:<a name="FNanchor_222_222" id="FNanchor_222_222"></a><a href="#Footnote_222_222" class="fnanchor">[222]</a> +Anu, Ashur, Bel, Belit, Gaga, Gibil, Gamlat, Gula, Dibbarra, +Dagan, Damkina, Ea, Ishtar, Kadi, Khani, Marduk, Nabu, +Nanâ, Nin-gal, Nergal, Ninib, Nusku, Ramman, Sin, Shala, +Shalman, Shamash, Shanitka(?), Tashmitum. Of these quite a +number are only mentioned incidentally, and in a manner that +indicates that they do not belong to the pantheon in the strict +sense. Others, like Khani<a name="FNanchor_223_223" id="FNanchor_223_223"></a><a href="#Footnote_223_223" class="fnanchor">[223]</a> and Gamlat,—<i>i.e.</i>, 'the merciful +one,'<a name="FNanchor_224_224" id="FNanchor_224_224"></a><a href="#Footnote_224_224" class="fnanchor">[224]</a>—may turn out to be mere epithets of deities otherwise +known; and it would hardly be legitimate to extend the list by +including deities that have not yet been identified,<a name="FNanchor_225_225" id="FNanchor_225_225"></a><a href="#Footnote_225_225" class="fnanchor">[225]</a> and which +may similarly be only variant forms, descriptive of such as are +already included. But however much this list may be extended +and modified by further publications and researches, +the historical material at hand for the Assyrian period of the +religion is sufficient to warrant us in setting up two classes +of the pantheon,—one class constituting the active pantheon,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> +the other, deities introduced by the kings merely for +purposes of self-glorification, or to give greater solemnity to +the invocations and warnings that formed a feature of all commemorative +and dedicatory inscriptions, as well as of the +annals proper. The future additions to the list, it is safe to +assert, will increase the second class and only slightly modify, +if at all, the first class. Bearing in mind this distinction we +may put down as active forces in Assyria the following: Anu, +Ashur, Bel, Belit, Gula, Dagan, Ea, Khani, Ishtar, Marduk, +Nabu, Nergal, Ninib, Nusku, Ramman, Sin, Shala, Shamash, +Tashmitum.</p> + +<p>Comparing both the fuller and the restricted list with the +Babylonian pantheon during the two periods treated of in +the preceding chapters, we are struck by three facts: (1) +the smaller compass of the Assyrian pantheon; (2) the more +restricted introduction of what, for want of a better term, we +may call minor deities; and (3) the small number of new +deities met with. To take up the latter point, the only gods +in the above list that are not found in Babylonian inscriptions +are Ashur, Gibil, Gamlat, Dibbarra, Kadi, Nusku, Shala, Shanitka. +Of these it is purely accidental that Gibil, Dibbarra, +Nusku, and Shala are not mentioned, for, except those that +are foreign importations, they belong to Babylonia as much +as to Assyria and fall within the periods of the Babylonian +religion that have been treated of. Kadi is a foreign deity.<a name="FNanchor_226_226" id="FNanchor_226_226"></a><a href="#Footnote_226_226" class="fnanchor">[226]</a> +Shanitka(?) may only be a title of some goddess, and Shalman +(or Shalmannu) occurs only in proper names, and may likewise +be only a title of some god.<a name="FNanchor_227_227" id="FNanchor_227_227"></a><a href="#Footnote_227_227" class="fnanchor">[227]</a> There remains, as the +only god peculiar to Assyria, the god Ashur. But for this +god, the Babylonian and the Assyrian pantheon are identical.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> +When we come, however, to the position held by the gods in +the pantheon, their relationship to one another, and the traits +which secured for them popular and royal favor, the differences +between the Babylonian and the Assyrian phases of the +religion will be found to be more accentuated.</p> + +<p>As for the smaller compass of the Assyrian pantheon, we +may recognize in this a further advance of the tendency +already noted in the second period of the Babylonian religion. +There, too, we found the minor local cults yielding to the +growing influence and favor of certain gods associated with +the great centers of Babylonian life, or possessing attributes +that accorded more with the new political order and the +general advance of culture. One of the chief factors in this +tendency towards centralization was, as we saw, the supremacy +accorded to Marduk in the new empire as the patron god of +the capital, and that not only led to his absorbing the rôle of +other deities,<a name="FNanchor_228_228" id="FNanchor_228_228"></a><a href="#Footnote_228_228" class="fnanchor">[228]</a> but resulted also in strengthening the belief +that there were only a limited number of deities upon whose +power and willingness to aid dependence could be placed. +This tendency was in a measure offset by the pride that the +rulers of the second Babylonian period still took in parading +at times, as large a number as possible of deities under whose +protection they claimed to stand. As we pass from one age to +the other, the number of minor deities thus invoked also tends +to diminish, and the occasions likewise when they are invoked +become limited to the more solemn invocations at the beginning +and the close of inscriptions. Now, in Assyria we have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> +much the same political conditions as in Babylonia, only +intensified. Here, too, we have one god towering above the +others, only to a still greater degree even than Marduk in +Babylonia. Marduk, while absorbing the rôle of the old Bel, +is still bound to acknowledge the fathership of Ea. For a +time he has to fear the rivalry of Nabu, and we have seen that +during the Cassitic rule, the glory of Marduk is somewhat +dimmed. The god who comes to stand at the head of the +Assyrian pantheon—Ashur—suffers from none of these +restrictions. He is independent of other gods and is under +no obligations to any of his fellows, and his rule once acknowledged +remains supreme, with, perhaps, one short period +excepted,<a name="FNanchor_229_229" id="FNanchor_229_229"></a><a href="#Footnote_229_229" class="fnanchor">[229]</a> throughout all the vicissitudes that the empire +undergoes. As a consequence of this unique position, Ashur +is so completely identified with Assyria, that with the fall +of the empire he, too, disappears,—whereas the Marduk cult +survives the loss of Babylonian independence, and is undisturbed +even by the final absorption of Babylonia into the +empire of Cyrus. The tendency towards centralization of the +cult is even more pronounced, therefore, in Assyria than in +Babylonia. Marduk is a leader who has many gods as followers, +but all of whom have their distinct functions. Ashur +is a host in himself. He needs no attendants. His aid suffices +for all things, and such is the attachment of his subjects +to him that it would almost appear like an insult to his dignity +to attach a long array of minor gods to him. For the Assyrian +kings the same motives did not exist as for the Babylonians +to emphasize their control over all parts of their empire by +adding the chief gods of these districts to the pantheon. +Assyria was never split up into independent states like Babylonia +before the days of Hammurabi. The capital, it is true, +changed with considerable frequency, but there was always +only one great center of political power. So far as Assyrian<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> +control over Babylonia was concerned, it was sufficient for the +purposes of the Assyrian rulers to claim Marduk as their patron +and protector, and, as we shall see, they always made a point +of emphasizing this claim. Hence we have only 'great gods,'<a name="FNanchor_230_230" id="FNanchor_230_230"></a><a href="#Footnote_230_230" class="fnanchor">[230]</a> +and no minor deities, in the train of Ashur. These 'great +gods' could not be expunged from the pantheon without a +complete severance of the ties that bound the Assyrians to +their past. Kings of great empires seldom favor religious +revolutions. But by the side of Ashur these great gods pale, +and in the course of time the tendency becomes more marked +to regard them merely as formal members of a little court with +few functions of their own, beyond that of adding by their +presence to the majesty and glory of Ashur. One receives the +impression that in Assyria only a few of the gods invoked by +the kings at the side of Ashur exert any real influence on the +lives of the people; and such as do, gain favor through possessing +in some measure the chief attribute that distinguished +Ashur,—prowess in war. They are little Ashurs, as it were, +by the side of the great one. The position of Ashur in the +Assyrian pantheon accounts for the general tendencies manifested +by the religion of the northern empire, and upon a clear +conception of the character of Ashur depends our understanding +of the special points that distinguish the other gods from +what we have learned of their character and traits in the southern +states. The beginning, therefore, of an account of the +Assyrian pantheon is properly to be made with Ashur.</p> + + +<h3>Ashur.</h3> + +<p>The starting-point of the career of Ashur is the city of +Ashur, situated on the west bank of the Tigris, not far from +the point where the lower Zab flows into the Tigris. Ashur is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> +therefore distinctly a local deity, and so far as the testimony of +the texts goes, he was never regarded in early days in any other +light than as the local patron of the city to which he has given +his name. He was never worshipped, so far as can be ascertained, +as a manifestation of any of the great powers of nature,—the +sun or the moon; though, if anything, he was originally a +solar deity<a name="FNanchor_231_231" id="FNanchor_231_231"></a><a href="#Footnote_231_231" class="fnanchor">[231]</a>. Nor was he a symbol of any of the elements,—fire +or water. In this respect he differs from Sin, Shamash, Nusku,<a name="FNanchor_232_232" id="FNanchor_232_232"></a><a href="#Footnote_232_232" class="fnanchor">[232]</a> +and Ea, whose worship was localized, without affecting the +<i>quasi</i>-universal character that these deities possessed. As a +local deity his worship must have been limited to the city over +which he spread his protecting arm; and if we find the god +afterwards holding jurisdiction over a much larger territory +than the city of Ashur, it is because in the north, as in the +south, a distinct state or empire was simply regarded as the +extension of a city. Ashur became the god of Assyria as +the rulers of the city of Ashur grew in power,—in the same +way that Marduk, upon the union of the Babylonian states +under the supremacy of the city of Babylon, became the god +of all Babylonia. But a difference between the north and +the south is to be noted. Whereas Marduk, although the +god of Babylonia, was worshipped only in the city of Babylon +where he was supposed to have his seat, temples to +Ashur existed in various parts of the Assyrian empire. The +god accompanied the kings in their wars, and wherever the +rulers settled, there the god was worshipped. So in the various +changes of official residences that took place in the course +of Assyrian history from Ashur to Calah, and from Calah +to Nineveh, and from Nineveh to Khorsabad, the god took +part, and his central seat of worship depended upon the place +that the kings chose for their official residence. At the +same time, while the cult in the various temples that in the +course of time were erected in his honor probably continued<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> +without interruption, there was always one place—the official +residence—which formed the central spot of worship. There +the god was supposed to dwell for the time being. One +factor, perhaps, that ought to be taken into consideration in +accounting for this movable disposition of the god was that +he was not symbolized exclusively by a statue, as Marduk +and the other great gods were. His chief symbol was a standard +that could be carried from place to place, and indeed was +so made that it could be carried into the thick of the fray, +in order to assure the army of the god's presence. The +standard consisted of a pole surrounded by a disc enclosed +within two wings, while above the disc stood the figure of a +warrior in the act of shooting an arrow.<a name="FNanchor_233_233" id="FNanchor_233_233"></a><a href="#Footnote_233_233" class="fnanchor">[233]</a> The statues of the +gods were deposited in shrines, and after being carried about, +as was done on festive days or other occasions, they would +be replaced in their shrines. The military standard, however, +followed the camp everywhere, and when the kings chose to +fix upon a new place for their military encampment—and +such the official residences of the Assyrian warrior-kings in large +measure were—the standard would repose in the place selected. +How this standard came to be chosen, and when, is another question, +and one more difficult to answer. It may be that the representation +of the god by a standard was a consequence of the +fondness that the rulers of Ashur manifested for perpetual warfare; +or, in other words, that the god Ashur was represented by +a standard so that he might be carried into the battle and be +moved from place to place. At all events, the two things—the +standard and the warlike character of the subjects of +Ashur—stood in close relationship to one another, and the +further conclusion is justified that when a military standard +came to be chosen as the symbol of Ashur, the god was recognized<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> +distinctly as a god of war. The symbols accompanying +the standard are of importance as enabling us to determine +something more regarding the character of Ashur. In the first +place, the fact that it contained a figure may be taken as an +indication that the god was at one time represented by a statue,—as +indeed we know from other evidence,<a name="FNanchor_234_234" id="FNanchor_234_234"></a><a href="#Footnote_234_234" class="fnanchor">[234]</a>—and that the +change of his symbol from a statue to a standard is a result of +the military activity of the Assyrians. The winged disc is so +general a symbol of the sun in the religious system of various +ancient nations<a name="FNanchor_235_235" id="FNanchor_235_235"></a><a href="#Footnote_235_235" class="fnanchor">[235]</a> that one cannot escape the conclusion that +the symbol must be similarly interpreted in the case before us. +Is it possible, therefore, that in a period lying beyond that +revealed by the oldest inscriptions at our disposal, Ashur was +worshipped as a solar deity? One is bound to confess that +the evidence does not warrant us in regarding Ashur as anything +but the patron of the city of Ashur. Nowhere do we +find any allusion from which we are justified in concluding that +he originally represented some elemental power or phenomenon. +Tiele<a name="FNanchor_236_236" id="FNanchor_236_236"></a><a href="#Footnote_236_236" class="fnanchor">[236]</a> is of the decided opinion that Ashur was at his origin a +nature god of some kind, and he goes so far as to suggest, +though with due reserve, the possible identification of Ashur +with Sin. No doubt Tiele is prompted to this view by the +example of the great god of the south, Marduk, who is originally +a solar deity, and by all the other great gods who represent, +or represented, some power of nature. Analogy, however, is +not a sufficiently reliable guide to settle a question for the +solution of which historical material is lacking. So much, +however, may be said, that if we are to assume that Ashur +personified originally some natural power, the symbol of the +winged disc lends a strong presumption in favor of supposing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> +him to have been some phase of the sun. So much, then, for +the general character of Ashur. Before passing on to a specification +of his rôle and his traits, as revealed by the historical +texts, a word remains to be said as to the etymology and form +of the name. Ashur is the only instance that we have of a +god expressly giving his name to a city, for the name of the +city can only be derived from that of the god, and not <i>vice +versa</i>. The identification of the god with his favorite town +must have been so complete that the town, which probably had +some specific name of its own, became known simply as the +'city of the god Ashur.' From such a designation it is but +a small step to call the city simply, Ashur. The difference +between the god and the city would be indicated by the determinative +for deity, which was only attached to the former, +while the latter was written with the determinative attached +to towns. When this city of Ashur extended its bounds until +it became coequal with the domain of Assyria, the name +of the god was transferred to the entire northern district of +Mesopotamia, which, as the country of the god Ashur, was +written with the determinative for country.<a name="FNanchor_237_237" id="FNanchor_237_237"></a><a href="#Footnote_237_237" class="fnanchor">[237]</a> The ideographs +which the Assyrian scribes employed in writing the name of +the god reveal the meaning they attached to it. He is +described ideographically as the 'good god.' This interpretation +accords admirably with the general force of the +verbal stem underlying the name. In both Hebrew and +Assyrian <i>a-sh-r</i> signifies 'to be gracious, to grant blessing, to +cause to prosper.' Ashur, therefore, is the god that blesses +his subjects, and to the latter he would accordingly appear +as the 'good god' <i>par excellence</i>. If the tempting etymology +of our own word 'god,' which connects it with 'good,' be +correct, 'god' would be almost the perfect equivalent of +Ashur. It is not necessary to conclude, as Tiele does,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span><a name="FNanchor_238_238" id="FNanchor_238_238"></a><a href="#Footnote_238_238" class="fnanchor">[238]</a> +that Ashur, as the 'good one,' is an ethical abstraction, but +certainly a designation of a god as 'a good one' sounds more +like a descriptive epithet than like a name. The supposition +that Ashur was not, therefore, the original name of the god +receives a certain measure of force from this consideration. +Moreover, there are indications that there actually existed +another form of his name, namely, Anshar.<a name="FNanchor_239_239" id="FNanchor_239_239"></a><a href="#Footnote_239_239" class="fnanchor">[239]</a> This form +Anshar would, according to the phonetic laws prevailing in +Assyria, tend to become Ash-shar.<a name="FNanchor_240_240" id="FNanchor_240_240"></a><a href="#Footnote_240_240" class="fnanchor">[240]</a> Ashur—the 'good one'—would +thus turn out to be an epithet of the god, chosen +as a 'play' suggested by Ash-shar, just as we found Gula +called the lady of <i>Ekalli</i>, and again <i>Kallat</i> (bride).<a name="FNanchor_241_241" id="FNanchor_241_241"></a><a href="#Footnote_241_241" class="fnanchor">[241]</a> The +etymology of Anshar is as obscure as that of most of the +ancient gods of Babylonia,—as of Sin, Marduk, Ishtar, and +many more. But before leaving the subject, it will be proper +to call attention to the rôle that a god Anshar plays in the +Babylonian-Assyrian cosmological system. <i>Anshar</i> and <i>Kishar</i> +are the second pair of deities to be created, the first pair being +<i>Lakhmu</i> and <i>Lakhamu</i>. In the great fight of the gods against +the monster Tiâmat, it would appear that, according to one +version at least, Anshar sends Anu, Ea, and finally Bel-Marduk, +in turn to destroy the monster. He appears, therefore, to have +exercised a kind of supremacy over the gods. Assuming the +correctness of the deductions, according to which Ashur is an +epithet arising by a play upon Ash-shar (from an original +Anshar), it is hardly open to doubt that this Anshar is the +same as the one who appears in the cosmology. On the +other hand, it is difficult to suppose that Anshar should have +played so significant a part in Babylonian traditions and yet +find no mention in the text of the rulers of Babylonia. Bearing +in mind what has been said as to the manner in which ancient<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> +traditions and myths were remodeled by the schoolmen to conform +to later ideas,—we have seen how in this process the popularity +of Marduk led to his assuming the rôle originally played by +Bel,—may not the recognition given to Anshar be a concession, +made at the time that Assyria had begun her glorious +career (<i>c.</i> 1400 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>), to the chief god of the northern empire?</p> + +<p>That such tendencies to glorify Ashur may justly be sought +for in part of the religious literature is proved by a version of +one of the series of tablets giving an account of the creation, +and which assigns to Anshar the work of building Esharra,—<i>i.e.</i>, +the earth,—that, according to another version, belongs +to Marduk.<a name="FNanchor_242_242" id="FNanchor_242_242"></a><a href="#Footnote_242_242" class="fnanchor">[242]</a> Evidently, then, just as the Babylonian theologians +sought to glorify Marduk at the expense of Bel, so +Assyrian theologians, or such as stood under Assyrian influences, +did not hesitate to replace Marduk by their own favorite, +Anshar. In the chapter on the 'Cosmology' we will have +occasion to come back to this point. For present purposes it +is sufficient to have shown that the position of Anshar in the +remodeled traditions is an argument in favor of regarding +Anshar as the real name of the god who stands at the head +of the Assyrian pantheon.</p> + +<p>In the oldest Assyrian inscription known to us, the god +Ashur is mentioned. Samsi-Ramman, who does not yet +assume the title of king, but only <i>patesi</i>,—<i>i.e.</i>, 'religious +chief,'<a name="FNanchor_243_243" id="FNanchor_243_243"></a><a href="#Footnote_243_243" class="fnanchor">[243]</a>—prides himself upon being 'the builder of the temple +of Ashur.' The phrase does not mean that he founded +the temple, but only that he undertook building operations +in connection with it. The date of this ruler may be fixed +roughly at 1850 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>, and since the two inscribed bricks +that we have of Samsi-Ramman were found in the ruins +of Kalah-Shergat,—the site of the ancient city of Ashur,—there<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> +can, of course, be no doubt that the temple at that +place is referred to.</p> + +<p>The rulers of Assyria, even after they assumed the title of +'king' (<i>c.</i> 1500 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>), were still fond of calling themselves +the 'priest' of the god Ashur, and frequently gave this title +the preference over others. In the fourteenth century the +temple of Ashur seems to have suffered at the hands of the +Cassites, who attempted to extend their power to the north. +This plan was, however, frustrated by Ramman-nirari I., who +forces the Cassites to retreat, successfully opposes other enemies +of Assyria, and restores the injured parts of Ashur's temple. +From this time on, and for a period of several centuries, +Assyria assumes an aggressive attitude, and as a consequence +the dependency upon the god is more keenly felt than +before. The enemies against whom the kings proceed are +called 'the enemies of Ashur,' the troops of the king are the +troops of Ashur, and the weapons with which they fight are the +weapons of Ashur. It is he who causes the arms of Tiglathpileser +I. to strike down his foes. The nations cannot endure +the awful sight of the god. His brilliancy—the reference being +no doubt to the shining standard as it was carried into the +fray—inspires on every side a terror that casts all enemies to +the ground. All warfare is carried on in the name of Ashur. +The statement may be taken literally, for an oracle was sought +at critical moments to determine the course that was to be +pursued. The fight itself takes place with the help of the god,—again +to be taken literally, for the god, represented by his +symbol, is present on the battlefield. The victory, accordingly, +belongs to the god in the first instance, and only in a +secondary degree to the king. The nations are vanquished by +Ashur, the conquered cities become subject to Ashur, and +when the tribute is brought by the conquered foe, it is to Ashur +that it is offered by the kings. Proud and haughty as the latter +were, and filled with greed for glory and power, they never<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> +hesitated to humble themselves before their god. They freely +acknowledged that everything they possessed was due to Ashur's +favor. It was he who called them to the throne, who gave +them the sceptre and crown, and who firmly established their +sovereignty. Through Ashur, who gives the king his invincible +weapon,—the mighty bow,—the kingdom is enlarged, until +the kings feel justified in saying of themselves that, by +the nomination of Ashur, they govern the four quarters of the +world. Nay, the rulers go further and declare themselves to +be the offspring of Ashur. It is not likely that they ever desired +such an assertion also to be interpreted literally. The phrase is +rather to be taken as the strongest possible indication of the +attachment they felt for their chief god. Everything that they +possessed coming directly from their god, how could this be +better expressed than by making the god the source of their +being? The phrase, at all events, is interesting as showing +that the element of love was not absent in the emotions that +the thought of Ashur aroused in the breasts of his subjects. +The kings cannot find sufficient terms of glorification to bestow +upon Ashur. Tiglathpileser I. calls him 'the great lord ruling +the assembly of gods,' and in similar style, Ashurnasirbal +invokes him as 'the great god of all the gods.' For Ramman-nirari +III., he is the king of the Igigi—the heavenly host +of spirits. Sargon lovingly addresses him as the father of the +gods. Sennacherib calls him the great mountain or rock,—a +phrase that recalls a Biblical metaphor applied to the deity,—and +Esarhaddon speaks of him as the 'king of gods.' Frequently +Ashur is invoked together with other gods. He is +'the guide of the gods.' There is only one instance in +which he does not occupy the first place. Ramman-nirari I., +to whom reference has above been made, gives Anu the preference +over Ashur in a list of gods,<a name="FNanchor_244_244" id="FNanchor_244_244"></a><a href="#Footnote_244_244" class="fnanchor">[244]</a> to whom conjointly he +ascribes his victories. We have already had occasion (see<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> +pp. <a href="#Page_153">153</a>-155) to note the antiquity of Anu worship in Assyria, +the foundation of whose temple takes us beyond the period +of Samsi-Ramman. Ashur's importance begins only with the +moment that the rulers of his city enter upon their career +of conquest. Before that, his power and fame were limited +to the city over which he presided. Those gods who in the +south occupied a superior rank were also acknowledged in the +north. The religion of the Assyrians does not acquire traits +that distinguish it from that of Babylonia till the rise of a distinct +Assyrian empire. Here, as in Babylonia, the religious +conceptions, and in a measure the art, are shaped by the course +of political events. Anu, accordingly, takes precedence to +Ashur previous to the supremacy of the city of Ashur. This +superior rank belongs to him as the supreme god of heaven. +Ramman-nirari's reign marks a turning-point in the history +of Assyria. The enemies of Ashur, who had succeeded for +a time in obscuring the god's glory through the humiliation +which his land endured, were driven back, but neither the +people nor the rulers had as yet become conscious of the fact +that it was solely to Ashur that the victory was due. Hence, +other gods are associated with Ashur by Ramman-nirari, and +the old god Anu is accorded his proper rank. After the days +of Ramman-nirari, however, Ashur's precedence over all other +gods is established. Whether associated with Bel or with +Ramman, or with Shamash and Ramman, or with a larger +representation of the pantheon, Ashur is invariably mentioned +first.</p> + +<p>From what has been said of the chief trait of Assyrian +history, it follows, as a matter of course, that the popularity of +Ashur is due to the military successes of the Assyrian armies; +and it follows, with equal necessity, that Ashur, whatever he +may originally have been, becomes purely a god of war, from +the moment that Assyria enters upon what appeared to be her +special mission. All the titles given to Ashur by the kings may<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> +be said to follow from his rôle as the god who presides over the +fortunes of the wars. If he is the 'ruler of all the gods,' and +their father, he is so simply by virtue of that same superior +strength which makes him the 'law-giver' for mankind, and not +because of any ancient traditions, nor as an expression of some +nature-myth. He lords it over gods and spirits, but he lords it +solely because of his warlike qualities. Ashur is the giver of +crown and sceptre, and the kings of Assyria are the <i>patesis</i> +of the god, his lieutenants. He is the god that embodies the +spirit of Assyrian history, and as such he is the most characteristic +personage of the Assyrian pantheon—in a certain +sense the only characteristic personage. So profound is his +influence that almost all the other gods of the pantheon take +on some of his character. Whenever and wherever possible, +those phases of the god's nature are emphasized which point +to the possession of power over enemies. The gods of the +Assyrian pantheon impress one as diminutive Ashurs by the +side of the big one, and in proportion as they approach nearer +to the character of Ashur himself, is their hold upon the royal +favor strengthened.</p> + + +<h3>Ishtar.</h3> + +<p>Second in rank to Ashur during the most glorious part of +Assyrian history stands the great goddess Ishtar. That the +Assyrian Ishtar is identical with the great goddess of the Babylonian +pantheon is beyond reasonable doubt. She approaches +closest to Nanâ,—the Ishtar of Erech; but just as we found the +Babylonian Ishtar appearing under various names and forms, +so there are no less than three Ishtars in Assyria, distinguished +in the texts as Ishtar of Nineveh, Ishtar of Arbela, and Ishtar +who presides over the temple known as Kidmuru and who for +that reason is generally called 'the queen of Kidmuru.' The +seat of the latter was in Nineveh, as was of course also the seat<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span> +of Ishtar of Nineveh. The third Ishtar had her cult at Arbela,<a name="FNanchor_245_245" id="FNanchor_245_245"></a><a href="#Footnote_245_245" class="fnanchor">[245]</a> +a town lying to the east of Calah about midway between the +upper and lower Zab. It is not easy to determine which of +these three Ishtars is the oldest. The Assyrians themselves +seem to have been aware of the Babylonian origin of Ishtar, +for Tiglathpileser I. is at pains to emphasize that the temple he +builds to Ishtar in his capital is dedicated to the 'Assyrian Ishtar.'<a name="FNanchor_246_246" id="FNanchor_246_246"></a><a href="#Footnote_246_246" class="fnanchor">[246]</a> +This being the oldest mention of Ishtar in Assyrian texts, +we are perhaps warranted in concluding that the cult of the +goddess was transferred with the seat of government to Nineveh. +This would not necessarily make Ishtar of Nineveh the oldest +of the three, but accounts for the higher rank that was accorded +to her, as against the other two. Ishtar of Arbela and the +queen of Kidmuru do not make their appearance so far as the +historical texts are concerned till the time of Esarhaddon (681, +<span class="smcap">B.C.</span>)—a comparatively late date. Tiele<a name="FNanchor_247_247" id="FNanchor_247_247"></a><a href="#Footnote_247_247" class="fnanchor">[247]</a> suggests that Arbela +became the seat of a school of prophets in the service of Ishtar. +The curious name of the place, the 'four-god' city, certainly +speaks in favor of supposing Arbela to have been a great religious +center, but until excavations shall have been conducted on +the modern site of the town, the problems connected with the +worship of Ishtar of Arbela cannot be solved. It is quite possible, +if not probable, that the three Ishtars are each of independent +origin. The 'queen of Kidmuru,' indeed, I venture +to think, is the indigenous Ishtar of Nineveh, who is obliged to +yield her place to the so-called 'Assyrian Ishtar' upon the +transfer of the capitol of Assyria to Nineveh, and henceforth +is known by one of her epithets to distinguish her from her +formidable rival. The cult of Ishtar at Arbela is probably, too, +of ancient date; but special circumstances that escape us appear<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> +to have led to a revival of interest in their cults during the +period when Assyria reached the zenith of her power. The important +point for us to bear in mind is that no essential distinctions +between these three Ishtars were made by the Assyrians. +Their traits and epithets are similar, and for all practical purposes +we have only one Ishtar in the northern empire. Next +to Ashur, or rather by the side of Ashur, Ishtar was invoked +as the great goddess of battle and war. This trait, however, +was not given to her by the Assyrians. Hammurabi views the +goddess in this light,<a name="FNanchor_248_248" id="FNanchor_248_248"></a><a href="#Footnote_248_248" class="fnanchor">[248]</a> and in the Izdubar or Gilgamesh epic, +as already pointed out, she appears at times in the rôle of a +violent destroyer. The warlike phase of the goddess's nature is +largely accentuated in the Assyrian pantheon and dwelt upon +to the exclusion of that softer and milder side which we have +seen characterized her as 'the mother of mankind.' Her rôle +as the goddess of war grows in prominence as the Assyrian +rulers proceed in their triumphal careers. Ashurrishishi (<i>c</i>. +1150 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>) invokes her simply as the superior goddess, but for +Tiglathpileser I. and from his days on, she is primarily the lady +of war, who arranges the order of battle and encourages her +favorites to fight. She appears in dreams at critical moments, +and whispers words of cheer to King Ashurbanabal. When +danger threatens, it is to her that the great king spreads +his hands in prayer. She is not merely the goddess of the +kings, but of the people as well. The latter are instructed to +honor her. No deity approaches her in splendor. As Ashur +rules the Igigi, so Ishtar is declared to be 'mighty over the +Anunnaki.' Her commands are not to be opposed. Her +appearance is that of a being clothed with fiery flames, and +streams of fire are sent down by her upon the enemies of +Ashurbanabal—a description that expresses admirably the +conception formed by the Assyrians of a genuine goddess of +war. Like Ashur, she is given a supreme rank among the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> +gods. Shalmaneser II. calls her the first-born of heaven and +earth, and for Tiglathpileser I., she is the first among the gods. +Her milder attributes as the gracious mother of creation, the +giver of plenty, and the hearer of the supplications of the sinner, +so prominent in the religious literature,<a name="FNanchor_249_249" id="FNanchor_249_249"></a><a href="#Footnote_249_249" class="fnanchor">[249]</a> are not dwelt upon in +the historical texts. Still, an element of love also enters into +the relationship with her subjects. Ashurnasirbal (885-860 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>) +speaks of her as the lady who 'loves him and his priesthood.' +Sennacherib similarly associates Ishtar with Ashur as the lover +of his priesthood. As a goddess of war she is of course 'perfect +in courage,' as Shalmaneser II. declares. Temples are erected +to her in the city of Ashur, in Nineveh and Arbela. Ashurbanabal +distinguishes carefully between the two Ishtars,—the +one of Nineveh and the one of Arbela; and, strange enough, +while terming Nineveh the favorite city of Ishtar, he seems to +give the preference to Ishtar of Arbela. It is to the latter<a name="FNanchor_250_250" id="FNanchor_250_250"></a><a href="#Footnote_250_250" class="fnanchor">[250]</a> that +when hard pressed by the Elamites he addresses his prayer, calling +her 'the lady of Arbela'; and it is this Ishtar who appears +to the royal troops in a dream. The month of Ab—the +fifth month of the Babylonian calendar—is sacred to Ishtar. +Ashurbanabal proceeds to Arbela for the purpose of worshipping +her during this sacred period. Something must have +occurred during his reign, to bring the goddess of Arbela into +such remarkable prominence, but even Ashurbanabal does not +go so far as to place Ishtar of Arbela before Ishtar of Nineveh, +when enumerating the gods of the pantheon. One point still +remains to be mentioned before passing on. Ashurbanabal +calls Ishtar—he is speaking of Ishtar of Nineveh—the wife +of Bel.<a name="FNanchor_251_251" id="FNanchor_251_251"></a><a href="#Footnote_251_251" class="fnanchor">[251]</a> Now Ishtar never appears in this capacity in the Babylonian<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> +inscriptions. If there is one goddess with whom she +has nothing in common, it is Belit of Nippur. To account +for this curious statement on the part of the Assyrian scribes, +it is only necessary to bear in mind that the name Belit signifies +'lady,' and Ishtar is constantly spoken of as the Belit or lady +of battle. Much the same train of thought that led to regarding +Bel in the sense of 'lord,' merely as a title of Marduk, gave +rise to the use of 'Belit,' as the title of the great 'lady' of the +Assyrian pantheon.<a name="FNanchor_252_252" id="FNanchor_252_252"></a><a href="#Footnote_252_252" class="fnanchor">[252]</a> From this it is but a small—but of course +erroneous—step, to speak of Belit-Ishtar as the consort of Bel. +Whether the error is due only to the scribe, or whether it actually +made its way into the Assyrian system of theology, it is +difficult to say. Probably the former; for the distinguishing +feature of both the Babylonian and the Assyrian Ishtar is her +independent position. Though at times brought into close +association with Ashur, she is not regarded as the mere consort +of any god—no mere reflection of a male deity, but ruling in +her own right on a perfect par with the great gods of the pantheon. +She is coequal in rank and dignity with Ashur. Her +name becomes synonymous with goddess, as Marduk becomes +the synonym for god. The female deities both native and +foreign come to be regarded as so many forms of Ishtar. In +a certain sense Ishtar is the only <i>real</i> goddess of the later +Assyrian pantheon, the only one taking an active part in the +religious and political life of the people. At the same time it +is to be noted that by the side of the Assyrian Ishtar, the +Babylonian Ishtar, especially the one associated with Erech +(or Warka) is also worshipped by the monarchs of the north. +Esarhaddon devotes himself to the improvement of the old +temple at Erech, and Ashurbanabal prides himself upon having +rescued out of the hands of the Elamites a statue of Ishtar or +Nanâ of Erech that had been captured 1635 years previous.<a name="FNanchor_253_253" id="FNanchor_253_253"></a><a href="#Footnote_253_253" class="fnanchor">[253]</a></p> + +<h3><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span>Anu.</h3> + +<p>Reference has already been made to the antiquity of the Anu +cult in Assyria, and that prior to the time that the city of Ashur +assumes the rôle of mistress of the northern district, Anu stood +at the head of the pantheon, just as theoretically he continued +to occupy this place in the pantheon of the south. What is +especially important, he had a temple in the very city of Ashur, +whose patron god succeeded in usurping the place of the old +'god of heaven.' The character of Anu in the north differs in +no way from the traits assigned to him in the south. He is +the king of the Igigi and Anunnaki, that is, of all the heavenly +and earthly spirits, and he is this by virtue of being the supreme +god of heaven. His cult, however, appears to have suffered +through the overshadowing supremacy of Ashur. Even in his +old temple at Ashur, which Tiglathpileser I. on the occasion of +his rebuilding it, tells us was founded 641 years before this +restoration,<a name="FNanchor_254_254" id="FNanchor_254_254"></a><a href="#Footnote_254_254" class="fnanchor">[254]</a> he is no longer accorded sole homage. Ramman, +the god of thunder and of storms, because correlated to Anu, +is placed by the side of the latter and permitted to share the +honors with Anu.<a name="FNanchor_255_255" id="FNanchor_255_255"></a><a href="#Footnote_255_255" class="fnanchor">[255]</a> Anu survives in the Assyrian as in the Babylonian +pantheon by virtue of being a member of the theological +triad, composed as we have seen of Anu, Bel, and Ea. Tiglathpileser +I. still invokes Anu as a deity of practical importance. +He associates him with Ramman and Ishtar as the great gods +of the city of Ashur or with Ramman alone, but beyond an +incidental mention by Ashurnasirbal, who in a long list of gods +at the beginning of his annals emphasizes the fact of his being +the favorite of Anu, he appears only in combination with Bel +and Ea. The same degree of reverence, however, was shown +to the old triad in Assyria as in Babylonia. The three gods +are asked not to listen to the prayers of the one who destroys<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span> +the monuments set up by the kings. Sargon tells us that it is +Anu, Bel, and Ea who fix the names of the months,<a name="FNanchor_256_256" id="FNanchor_256_256"></a><a href="#Footnote_256_256" class="fnanchor">[256]</a> and this +same king when he comes to assign names to the eight gates of +his great palace, does not forget to include Anu in the list of +deities,<a name="FNanchor_257_257" id="FNanchor_257_257"></a><a href="#Footnote_257_257" class="fnanchor">[257]</a> describing him as the god who blesses his handiwork.</p> + + +<h3>Dagan.</h3> + +<p>Coequal in antiquity with the cult of Anu in Assyria is that +of Dagan. Although occurring in Babylonia as early as the +days of Hammurabi, and indeed earlier,<a name="FNanchor_258_258" id="FNanchor_258_258"></a><a href="#Footnote_258_258" class="fnanchor">[258]</a> it would appear that +his worship was imported from the north into the south.<a name="FNanchor_259_259" id="FNanchor_259_259"></a><a href="#Footnote_259_259" class="fnanchor">[259]</a> At +all events, it is in the north that the cult of Dagan rises to +prominence. The name of the god appears as an element in +the name of Ishme-Dagan (the father of Samsi-Ramman II.),<a name="FNanchor_260_260" id="FNanchor_260_260"></a><a href="#Footnote_260_260" class="fnanchor">[260]</a> +whose date may be fixed at the close of the nineteenth century +<span class="smcap">B.C.</span> The form Dagan is interesting as being almost identical +with the name of the chief god of the Philistines, Dagon,<a name="FNanchor_261_261" id="FNanchor_261_261"></a><a href="#Footnote_261_261" class="fnanchor">[261]</a> who +is mentioned in the Book of Judges. The resemblance can +hardly be entirely accidental. From other sources we know +that Dagan was worshipped in Palestine as early as the fourteenth +or fifteenth century, and the form Dagan, if derived +from <i>Dag</i>, contains an afformative element which stamps the +word as non-Assyrian. The proposition has much in its favor +which regards Dagan as a god whose worship was introduced +into Assyria at a very early period through the influence of +Aramaean hordes, who continue throughout Assyrian history +to skirt the eastern shores of the Tigris. Once introduced, +however, into Assyria, Dagan assumes a different form from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> +the one that he receives among the Philistines. To the latter +he is the god of agriculture, while in Assyria he rises to the +rank of second in the pantheon, and becomes the associate of +Anu. The latter's dominion being the heavens, Dagan is conceived +as the god of earth. Hence, there results the fusion +with the Babylonian Bel, which has already been noted,<a name="FNanchor_262_262" id="FNanchor_262_262"></a><a href="#Footnote_262_262" class="fnanchor">[262]</a> and +it is due to this fusion that Dagan disappears almost entirely +from the Assyrian pantheon. Ashurnasirbal invokes Dagan +with Anu. Two centuries later, Sargon, whose scribes, as +Jensen has noticed, manifest an 'archaeological' fondness for +the earlier deities, repeats the phrase of Ashurnasirbal, and +also calls his subjects 'troops of Anu and Dagan'; but it is +important to observe that he does not include Dagan among +the deities in whose honor he assigns names to the gates of +his palace. We may, therefore, fix upon the ninth century as +the terminus for the Dagan cult in Assyria. Proper names +compounded with Dagan do not occur after the days of +Ashurnasirbal.<a name="FNanchor_263_263" id="FNanchor_263_263"></a><a href="#Footnote_263_263" class="fnanchor">[263]</a></p> + + +<h3>Shamash.</h3> + + +<p>Besides the testimony furnished by the name of the king, +Samsi-Ramman, we have a proof for the antiquity of the +Shamash cult in Assyria in the express statement of Pudilu +(<i>c.</i> 1350 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>) that he built a temple to the sun-god in the city +of Ashur. He calls Shamash the 'protecting deity,' but the +protection vouchsafed by Shamash is to be understood in a +peculiar sense. Shamash does not work by caprice. He is, as +we have seen, preëminently a god of justice, whose favors are +bestowed in accordance with unchangeable principles. So far +as Assyria is concerned, the conceptions regarding Shamash +reach a higher ethical level than those connected with any other +deity. Ashur and Ishtar are partial to Assyria, and uphold<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> +her rulers at any cost, but the favors of Shamash are bestowed +upon the kings because of their righteousness, or, what is the +same thing, because of their claim to being righteous. For +Tiglathpileser I., great and ruthless warrior as he is, Shamash +is the judge of heaven and earth, who sees the wickedness of +the king's enemies, and shatters them because of their guilt. +When the king mercifully sets certain captives free, it is in the +presence of Shamash that he performs this act. It is, therefore, +as the advocate of the righteous cause that Tiglathpileser +claims to have received the glorious sceptre at the hands of +Shamash; and so also for the successors of Tiglathpileser, +down to the days of Sargon, Shamash is above all and first of +all the judge, both of men and of the gods. There is, of +course, nothing new in this view of Shamash, which is precisely +the one developed in Babylonia; but in Assyria, perhaps +for the reason that in Shamash is concentrated almost all +of the ethical instinct of the northern people, the judicial traits +of Shamash appear to be even more strongly emphasized. +Especially in the days of Ashurnasirbal and Shalmaneser II.—the +ninth century—does the sun-cult receive great prominence. +These kings call themselves the <i>sun</i> of the world. The +phrase,<a name="FNanchor_264_264" id="FNanchor_264_264"></a><a href="#Footnote_264_264" class="fnanchor">[264]</a> indeed, has so distinctly an Egyptian flavor, that, in +connection with other considerations, it seems quite plausible +to assume that the influence of Egyptian reverence for <i>Ra</i> had +much to do with the popularity of the sun-cult about this time. +Shalmaneser bestows numerous epithets upon Shamash. He +is the guide of everything, the messenger of the gods, the hero, +the judge of the world who guides mankind aright, and, what is +most significant, the lord of law. The word used for law, +<i>têrtu</i>, is identical with the Hebrew term <i>torâ</i> that is used to +designate the Pentateuchal legislation. No better testimony +could be desired to show the nature of the conceptions that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span> +must have been current of Shamash. Sargon, again, who is +fond of emphasizing the just principles that inspire his acts, +goes to the length of building a sanctuary<a name="FNanchor_265_265" id="FNanchor_265_265"></a><a href="#Footnote_265_265" class="fnanchor">[265]</a> for Shamash far +beyond the northern limits of Assyria. But the kings, in thus +placing themselves under the protection of the great judge, were +not oblivious to the fact that this protection was particularly +desired on the battlefield. War being uppermost in their +thoughts, the other side of Shamash's nature—his power and +violence—was not overlooked. Tiglathpileser invokes him +also as the warrior,—a title that is often given to Shamash in +the religious literature. There can be little doubt that a nation +of warriors whose chief deities were gods of war, was attracted +to Shamash not merely because he was the judge of all things, +but also, and in a large degree, because he possessed some of +the traits that distinguished Ashur and Ishtar.</p> + + +<h3>Ramman.</h3> + +<p>The association of Ramman with Shamash in the name of +the old ruler of Assyria, Samsi-Ramman, is not accidental or +due to mere caprice. Only such deities are combined in +proper names that are, or may be, correlated to one another. +Ramman, as the god of storms, is naturally viewed as a power +complementary to the great orb of light.<a name="FNanchor_266_266" id="FNanchor_266_266"></a><a href="#Footnote_266_266" class="fnanchor">[266]</a> The two in combination, +viewed as the beneficent and the destructive power, constitute +the most powerful elements of nature, whose good will +it was most important, especially for a nation of warriors, to +secure. Some such thought surely underlies this association +of Shamash with Ramman. The Assyrian Ramman differs in +no way from the Ramman of Babylonia, but he is much more +popular in the north than in the south. The popularity of the +god is but a reflection of the delight that the Assyrians took<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> +in military pursuits. Ramman is hardly anything more than +another Ashur. Tiglathpileser I., who once calls the god +Mar-tu, <i>i.e.</i>, "the West god,"<a name="FNanchor_267_267" id="FNanchor_267_267"></a><a href="#Footnote_267_267" class="fnanchor">[267]</a> has left us an admirable description +of him. He is the hero who floods the lands and houses +of the country's enemies. The approach of the Assyrian +troops is compared to an onslaught of Ramman. His curses +are the most dreadful that can befall a nation or an individual, +for his instruments of destruction are lightning, hunger, and +death. Reference has several times been made to the manner +in which Tiglathpileser honors Ramman by making him a partner +of Anu in the great temple of the latter at Ashur. But the +successors of Tiglathpileser are no less zealous in their reverence +for Ramman. It is to Ramman that the kings offer +sacrifices during the campaign, and when they wish to depict +in the strongest terms the destruction that follows in the wake +of an onslaught of the Assyrian troops, they declare that they +swept over everything like Ramman. It is natural, in view of +this, that Ramman should have been to the Assyrians also the +'mightiest of the gods.'<a name="FNanchor_268_268" id="FNanchor_268_268"></a><a href="#Footnote_268_268" class="fnanchor">[268]</a> Through the Assyrian inscriptions +we learn something of the consort of Ramman.</p> + + +<h3>Shala.</h3> + +<p>Sennacherib tells us that in the course of his campaign +against Babylonia he removes out of the city of Babylon, and +replaces in Ekallâte<a name="FNanchor_269_269" id="FNanchor_269_269"></a><a href="#Footnote_269_269" class="fnanchor">[269]</a> the statues of Ramman and Shala. This, +he says, he did 418 years after the time that they had been +carried captive from Ekallâte to Babylon by Marduknadinakhi.<a name="FNanchor_270_270" id="FNanchor_270_270"></a><a href="#Footnote_270_270" class="fnanchor">[270]</a> +We know nothing more of this Ekallâte except that it lay in +Assyria,—probably in the southern half,—and that Ramman<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> +and Shala are called the gods of the city. The name 'Shala' +appears to signify 'woman.' It reminds us, therefore, of 'lady' +(Ninni, Nanâ, etc.), which we have found to be the designation +for several distinct goddesses. It is possible that Shala, +likewise, being a name of so indefinite a character, was applied +to other goddesses. A 'Shala of the mountains,' who is stated +to be the wife of Marduk, is mentioned in a list of gods.<a name="FNanchor_271_271" id="FNanchor_271_271"></a><a href="#Footnote_271_271" class="fnanchor">[271]</a> The +wife of Bel, too, is once called Shala, though in this case the +confusion between Marduk and Bel may have led to transferring +the name from the consort of one to the consort of the +other. Too much importance must not be attached to the +data furnished by these lists of gods. They represent in +many cases purely arbitrary attempts to systematize the Babylonian +and Assyrian pantheon, and in other cases are valuable +only as reflecting the views of the theologians, or rather of +certain schools of theological thought, in Babylonia. In the +religious hymns, too, the consort of Ramman finds mention, +and by a play upon her name is described as the 'merciful +one.' The attribute given to her there is the 'lady of the +field,' which puts her in contrast to Ramman, rather than in +partnership with him. Since we hear little of her worship in +Assyria, beyond the notices of Sennacherib, we may conclude +that, like so many goddesses, Shala dwindled to the insignificant +proportions of a mere pale reflection of the male deity.</p> + + +<h3>Nin-ib.</h3> + +<p>Another god, who by virtue of his violent traits enjoys the +favor of the Assyrian rulers, is the old Babylonian deity whose +name is provisionally read Nin-ib. In the very first mention of +him, in the inscription of Ashurrishishi (<i>c.</i> 1150 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>), he is +called the 'mighty one of the gods.' Through the protection +of Nin-ib, Ashurrishishi secures victory over his enemies on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> +all sides. Similarly, other of the Assyrian rulers emphasize +the strength of Nin-ib. Tiglathpileser I. calls him the courageous +one, whose special function is the destruction of the king's +enemies. In doing so he becomes the god 'who fulfills the +heart's desire.' The unmistakable character of the god as a +god of war is also shown by his association with Ashur.<a name="FNanchor_272_272" id="FNanchor_272_272"></a><a href="#Footnote_272_272" class="fnanchor">[272]</a> If +Ashur is the king of Igigi and Anunnaki, Nin-ib is the hero of +the heavenly and earthly spirits. To him the rulers fly for +help. Of all the kings, Ashurnasirbal seems to have been +especially devoted to the service of Nin-ib. The annals of +this king, instead of beginning, as is customary, with an invocation +of all or many of the gods, starts out with an address to +Nin-ib, in which the king fairly exhausts the vocabulary of the +language in his desire to secure the favor of this powerful +deity. Almost all the attributes he assigns to him have reference +to the god's powers in war. Dwelling in the capital +Calah, he is 'the strong, the mighty, the supreme one,' the +perfect hero, who is invincible in battle, the 'destroyer of all +opposition, who holds the lock of heaven and earth, who opens +the deep; the strong one, endowed with youthful vigor, whose +decree is unchangeable, without whom no decision is made in +heaven or on earth, whose attack is like a flood, who sweeps +away the land of his enemies,' and so forth, through a bewildering +array of epithets. The inscriptions of the Assyrian kings, +especially in the introductions, manifest little originality. One +king, or rather his scribe, frequently copies from earlier productions, +or imitates them. Hence, it happens that the grandson +of Ashurnasirbal, Shamshi-Ramman (<i>c.</i> 825-812 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>), +furnishes us with an almost equally long array of epithets, +exalting the strength and terror of Nin-ib. Like Ashurnasirbal, +he declared himself to have been chosen by this god to +occupy the throne. A comparison of the two lists makes it +evident that the later one is modeled upon the earlier production.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> +The conclusion is justified that in the century covered +by the reigns of Ashurnasirbal<a name="FNanchor_273_273" id="FNanchor_273_273"></a><a href="#Footnote_273_273" class="fnanchor">[273]</a> and Shamshi-Ramman, the +cult of Nin-ib must have acquired great popularity, though +suffering, perhaps, an interruption during the reign of Shalmaneser +II.,—midway between these two kings,—whose +favorite we have seen was Shamash. The great temple of +Nin-ib stood in Calah, which Ashurnasirbal chose as his +official residence, and it was in this temple that the king +deposited a long inscription commemorating his deeds. In +the temple, he also places a colossal statue of the god. Upon +the completion of the edifice, he dedicates it with prayer and +sacrifices. The special festivals of the god are fixed for the +months of Shabat and Ulul,—the eleventh and sixth months,—and +provision is made for the regular maintenance of the +cult. It must, of course, not be supposed that, because Nin-ib +appears to be a favorite of the king, the latter concentrates his +attentions upon this god. He appears to have been specially +fond of temple building, and, besides the one to Nin-ib, he tells +us of sanctuaries to 'Belit of the land,' <i>i.e.</i>, Ishtar,<a name="FNanchor_274_274" id="FNanchor_274_274"></a><a href="#Footnote_274_274" class="fnanchor">[274]</a> Sin, Gula, +Ea, and Ramman,—that he erects or improves. One might be +led to regard it as strange that a god like Nin-ib, or Shamash, +should claim so large a share of the attention of the Assyrian +rulers, to the apparent neglect of Ashur, but it must be borne +in mind that the position of Ashur was so assured as to be +beyond the reach of rivalry. The fact also that Ashur's popular +symbol was the movable standard was no doubt a reason +why so few temples were erected to him. He did not stand in +need of temples. For the very reason that Ashur was the +universally acknowledged master of everything, the kings felt +called upon to choose, by the side of Ashur, some additional +deity,—a patron under whose special protection they placed +themselves. The natural desire for novelty—together with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> +other circumstances that escape us—led one to choose Ramman, +another Nin-ib, a third Shamash, and a fourth, as we +shall see, Nabu. In doing so they were not conscious of any +lack of respect towards Ashur, of whose good will they always +felt certain.</p> + +<p>Besides the service rendered by Nin-ib in war, his aid was +also invoked by the kings in their recreations, which partook +of the same violent character as their vocation. Their favorite +sport was hunting, especially of lions, wild horses, elephants, +stags, boars, and bulls. They either proceeded to districts +where these animals were to be found, or they had large parks +laid out near their residences, which were then stocked with +material for the chase. Ashurnasirbal does not shun a long +journey to distant mountainous regions to seek for sport, and +it is Nin-ib whom he invokes, together with Nergal. These +two, he declares, who, like Ashur and Ishtar, "love his priesthood," +are the ones that convey into his hands the hunting +spoils. Tiglathpileser I. was especially fond of lion and elephant +hunting. He declares that on one occasion he killed +10 elephants and 920 lions in various parts of northwestern +Mesopotamia; and he ascribes his success to Nin-ib, who +loves him, and who, again, in association with Nergal, and +Ashur, has placed in the king's hands the mighty weapons +and the glorious bow. After the days of Shamshi-Ramman we +hear of Nin-ib chiefly in the formal lists of gods which the later +kings of Assyria, from Sargon<a name="FNanchor_275_275" id="FNanchor_275_275"></a><a href="#Footnote_275_275" class="fnanchor">[275]</a> on, are fond of placing at the +beginning and end of their inscriptions. These lists, again, +copied the one from the other, are of value only as indicating +the chief gods of the pantheon, but warrant no conclusions +as to the activity reigning in the cults of the gods there mentioned. +Before leaving Nin-ib a few words need be said as to +his relations to the other gods. In the chapter on the pantheon +before Hammurabi,<a name="FNanchor_276_276" id="FNanchor_276_276"></a><a href="#Footnote_276_276" class="fnanchor">[276]</a> the identity of Nin-ib with the chief god<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span> +of Gudea's district, Nin-girsu, has been pointed out. The +solar character of the latter being clear, it follows that Nin-ib, +too, is originally a personification of the sun, like Nin-gish-zida +and Nin-shakh, whose rôles are absorbed by Nin-ib.<a name="FNanchor_277_277" id="FNanchor_277_277"></a><a href="#Footnote_277_277" class="fnanchor">[277]</a> This +has long been recognized, but it is the merit of Jensen<a name="FNanchor_278_278" id="FNanchor_278_278"></a><a href="#Footnote_278_278" class="fnanchor">[278]</a> to +have demonstrated that it is the east sun and the morning sun +which is more especially represented by Nin-ib. On this supposition, +some of the titles given to him in the inscriptions of +Ashurnasirbal and Shamshi-Ramman become perfectly clear. +Like Marduk, who, it will be remembered, is also originally a +phase of the solar deity, Nin-ib is called the first-born of Ea; +and as the rising sun he is appropriately called the offspring of +Ekur,—<i>i.e.</i>, the earth,—in allusion to his apparent ascent +from a place below the earth. Ekur and Eshara being employed +as synonyms, Shamshi-Ramman replaces Ekur by +Eshara, and since Bel is the lord of Ekur-Eshara, Nin-ib also +becomes the first-born son of Bel. Other epithets, such as +'the light of heaven and earth,' 'the one who pursues his path +over the wide world,'<a name="FNanchor_279_279" id="FNanchor_279_279"></a><a href="#Footnote_279_279" class="fnanchor">[279]</a> are all in keeping with the solar character +of the deity, and date, therefore, from a period when the +more purely 'nature' phases of the god were dwelt upon. +But just as in the case of Shamash and Nergal (also, as we +have seen, a solar deity), so in that of Nin-ib, the violent, +fiery, and destructive character that the sun has in a climate +like that of Babylonia brought it about that Nin-ib was viewed +as a destructive force, whose assistance was of great value in +military strife. He becomes the god of the cloud storm, before +whom, as he passes along, heaven and earth tremble. By his +strong weapon he humiliates the disobedient, destroys the enemies +of the kings, and grants all manner of protection to his +favorites. Only in the religious literature are other qualities<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> +dwelt upon, such as his 'holiness.'<a name="FNanchor_280_280" id="FNanchor_280_280"></a><a href="#Footnote_280_280" class="fnanchor">[280]</a> For Hammurabi, it will +be recalled, Nin-ib is already the god of war, and it is natural +that in a country like Assyria this side of the god's nature +should become accentuated to the point of obscuring all +others, until nothing more is left of his solar character than is +indicated by stray bits of mythological phrases, perhaps only +half understood, and introduced to add to the imposing array +of epithets that belong to the terrible god of war. As the +consort of Nin-ib, the Assyrians recognized</p> + + +<h3>Gula.</h3> + +<p>She is only occasionally invoked by the Assyrian rulers. A +sanctuary to Gula, as the consort of Nin-ib, is erected by Ashurnasirbal, +and a festival in honor of the goddess is referred to +by Ashurbanabal.</p> + + +<h3>Nergal.</h3> + +<p>Nergal not only shares with Nin-ib, as already mentioned, +the honor of being the god under whose auspices the royal +chase is carried on, but he is also, like Nin-ib, invoked in that +other sport of which the Assyrian rulers were so fond,—war. +He is scarcely differentiated from Nin-ib. Like the latter he +is the perfect king of battle, who marches before the monarch +together with Ashur, and he is pictured as carrying the mighty +weapons which Ashur has presented to the king. In an +inscription of Shalmaneser II.<a name="FNanchor_281_281" id="FNanchor_281_281"></a><a href="#Footnote_281_281" class="fnanchor">[281]</a> there is an interesting reference +to the city sacred to Nergal—Cuthah. The king, who +in the course of his campaign against Babylonia reaches +Cuthah, brings sacrifices to Nergal, whom he speaks of as 'the +hero of the gods, the supreme raging sun.' A later king, +Sargon, also honors the god by giving a fortress in the distant +land of Nairi, to the northeast of Assyria, the name of Kar<a name="FNanchor_282_282" id="FNanchor_282_282"></a><a href="#Footnote_282_282" class="fnanchor">[282]</a>-Nergal.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> +It would seem as though, through the influence of +Sargon, a revival of the Nergal cult took place. His successor, +Sennacherib, erects a temple in honor of the god at Tarbisu, +a suburb to the north of Nineveh proper, and Ashurbanabal, +who dwells at Tarbisu for a while, is engaged in adding to the +beauty of the edifice,—an indication of the honor in which the +god continued to be held. Nergal's consort is Laz, but she is +not referred to by the Assyrian rulers.</p> + + +<h3>Sin.</h3> + +<p>The old Babylonian moon-god plays a comparatively insignificant +rôle in Assyria. Ashurnasirbal speaks of a temple that he +founded in Calah—perhaps only a chapel—in honor of Sin. +It could not have been of much importance, for we learn nothing +further about it. Sargon, too, who manifests a great fondness +for reviving ancient cults, erects sanctuaries to Sin along +with a quantity of other gods in his official residence at Khorsabad +and beyond the northeastern confines of Assyria at +Magganubba. But when invoked by the kings, Sin shows +traces of the influence which the conceptions current about +Ashur exerted upon his fellow deities. He takes on, as other +of the gods, the attributes of the war-god. Instead of being +merely the lord of the crescent, as in Babylonia, and one of +the sources of wisdom because of the connection of astrology +with lunar observations, he is pictured as capable of inspiring +terror. At the same time he is also the lord of plenty, and +in his capacity as the wise god he is regarded as the lord of +decisions. But by the side of new epithets that are attached +to him in the Assyrian inscriptions, there is one which, just as +in the case of Nin-ib, connects the Assyrian Sin cult with the +oldest phase of moon-worship in the south. It is one of the +last kings of Assyria, Ashurbanabal, who calls Sin 'the firstborn +son of Bel.' He appears in this relationship to Bel in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span> +religious texts of Babylonia. The Bel here meant can only be +the great god of Nippur, and the title 'son of Bel' accordingly +shows that the moon-worship of Assyria is ultimately derived +from that which had its seat in the south. Sin's secondary +position is indicated by making him a son of Bel. The rise +of the science of astronomy in connection with astrology, +was, as already suggested, an important factor in spreading +and maintaining the Sin cult in the south, while the lack of +intellectual originality in Assyria would equally account for the +comparatively subordinate position occupied by Sin in the +Assyrian pantheon.</p> + + +<h3>Nusku.</h3> + +<p>That Nusku is a Babylonian god, meriting a place in the +pantheon of Hammurabi, if not of the days prior to the union +of the Babylonian states, is shown by the fact (1) that he had a +shrine in the great temple of Marduk at Babylon, along with +Nebo, Tashmiyum, and Ea;<a name="FNanchor_283_283" id="FNanchor_283_283"></a><a href="#Footnote_283_283" class="fnanchor">[283]</a> and (2) that he appears in the +religious texts. In view of this it might appear strange that we +find no reference to the god in historical texts till we reach the +Assyrian period. The reason, or at least one reason, is that +Nusku is on the one hand amalgamated with Gibil, the fire-god, +and on the other identified with Nabu. The compound ideogram +with which his name is written includes the same sign—the +stylus or sceptre—that is used to designate Nabu, the second +part of the ideogram adding the idea of 'force and strength.' +Whether this graphical assimilation is to be regarded as a factor +in bringing about the identification of Nusku and Nabu, or +is due to an original similarity in the traits of the two gods, it +is difficult to say. Hardly the latter, for Nusku is a solar +deity, whereas, as we have tried to show, Nabu is originally a +water-deity.<a name="FNanchor_284_284" id="FNanchor_284_284"></a><a href="#Footnote_284_284" class="fnanchor">[284]</a> But however we may choose to account for it,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> +the prominence of Nusku is obscured by Nabu. As a solar +deity, it is easy to see how he should have been regarded as a +phase of the fire-god, and if the various other solar deities were +not so regarded, it is because in the course of their development +they were clothed with other attributes that, while obscuring +their origin, saved them from the loss of their identity. +Apart from the formal lists of gods drawn up by Sargon and +his successors, Shalmaneser II. and Ashurbanabal are the only +kings who make special mention of Nusku. The former calls +him the bearer of the brilliant sceptre, just as Nabu is so +called; and again, just as Nabu, he is termed the wise god. +The two phases of the ideogram used in his name—the sceptre +and the stylus—are thus united in the personage of Nusku +precisely as in Nabu. On the other hand, the manner in +which Ashurbanabal speaks of him reflects the mythological +aspect of Nusku. In the religious literature Nusku is the +messenger of Bel-Marduk, who conveys the message of the +latter to Ea. From being the messenger of Bel, he comes to +be viewed as the messenger of the gods in general, and accordingly +Ashurbanabal addresses him as 'the highly honored +messenger of the gods,' but, combining with the mythological +the more realistic aspect of Nusku, refers to him also as the +one who glorifies sovereignty and who, at the command of Ashur +and Belit, stands at the king's side to aid in bringing the enemies +to fall. As for the fire-god Gibil, with whom Nusku is +identified, we have merely a reference to a month of the year +sacred to the servant of Gibil in a passage of the inscriptions +of Sargon.<a name="FNanchor_285_285" id="FNanchor_285_285"></a><a href="#Footnote_285_285" class="fnanchor">[285]</a></p> + + +<h3>Bel-Marduk.</h3> + +<p>From the time that the Assyrian rulers claimed a greater or +small measure of control over the affairs of Babylonia, that is, +therefore, from about the twelfth century, they were anxious to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> +make good their claim by including in their pantheon the chief +god of Babylonia. The Assyrian inscriptions prove that, as +early as the twelfth century, the theoretical absorption on the +part of Marduk, of the rôle taken by the old god Bel of Nippur, +which was enlarged upon in a preceding chapter,<a name="FNanchor_286_286" id="FNanchor_286_286"></a><a href="#Footnote_286_286" class="fnanchor">[286]</a> had already +taken place. Marduk is not only frequently known as Bel, but +what is more, Babylonia is the country of Bel, or simply Bel, +and the Babylonians are referred to as 'the subjects of Bel,' or +the 'humanity of Bel.' There can be no doubt that in all these +cases Bel-Marduk is meant and not the older Bel. In the days +of Ashurrishishi we already come across the title 'governor of +Bel,' that to the latest days remains the official designation for +political control over the southern empire. So general is this +use of Bel for Marduk that the latter name does not occur until +we reach Shalmaneser II., <i>i.e.</i>, the ninth century. There seems +to be no reason to question, therefore, that even when Tiglathpileser +I. applies to Bel titles that certainly belong to the older +Bel, such as 'father of the gods,' 'king of all the Anunnaki,' +'who fixes the decrees of heaven and earth,' he means Marduk, +a proof for which may be seen in the epithet <i>bêl matâti</i>, 'lord of +lands,' which follows upon these designations and which, as we +saw, is a factor in the evolution of Marduk into Bel-Marduk.<a name="FNanchor_287_287" id="FNanchor_287_287"></a><a href="#Footnote_287_287" class="fnanchor">[287]</a> +The importance that Tiglathpileser I., and therefore also his +successors, attached to their control over the old southern district, +is shown by his according to Bel the second place in the +pantheon, invoking him at the beginning of his inscriptions +immediately after Ashur. The control over Babylonia was an +achievement that stirred the pride of the Assyrian rulers to the +highest degree. Its age and its past inspired respect. Besides +being the source of the culture that Assyria possessed, Babylonia +had sacred associations for the Assyrians, as the original<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span> +dwelling-places of most of the gods worshipped by them. The +old sacred centers like Ur, Nippur, Uruk, Sippar, with their +great temples, their elaborate cults, their great storehouses of +religious literature, and their great body of influential priests +and theologians and astrologers were as dear to the people +of the north as to those of the south; and in proportion as +these old cities lost their political importance, their rank as +sacred centers to which pilgrimages were made on the occasion +of the festivals of the gods was correspondingly raised. Hence +the value that the Assyrian rulers attached to the possession of +Babylonia. They do not like to be reminded that they rule the +south by force of arms. They prefer, as Tiglathpileser I. +declares, to consider themselves 'nominated by the gods to rule +over the land of Bel.' They want to be regarded as the favorites +of Bel, and they ascribe to him the greatness of their rule. +It is he who fulfills the wishes of the kings; and when the kings +enter upon a campaign against Babylonia, as they frequently +did to quell the uprisings that were constantly occurring in the +one or the other of the southern districts, they emphasize, as +Shalmaneser II. does, that he enters upon this course at the +command of Marduk. They set themselves up as Marduk's +defenders, and it must be said for the Assyrian rulers that they +were mild and sparing in their treatment of their southern subjects. +They do not practise those cruelties—burning of cities, +pillage, and promiscuous slaughter—that form the main feature +in their campaigns against the nations to the northeast and +northwest, and against Elam. They accord to the Babylonians as +much of the old independence as was consistent with an imperial +policy. The internal affairs continue for a long time to be +regulated by rulers who are natives of Babylonia, and it is not +until a comparatively late day—the time of Sennacherib—that +in consequence of the endless trouble that these native +rulers gave the Assyrians through their constant attempt to +make themselves independent, it became customary for the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> +Assyrian kings to appoint a member of the royal house—a son +or brother—to the lieutenancy over Babylonia. As for the +cult, the Assyrian kings were at great pains to leave it undisturbed, +or where it had been interrupted to restore it, and thus +secure the favor of the southern gods. So Shalmaneser II. +upon the completion of his campaign enters Marduk's great +temple at Babylon, E-sagila, and offers prayers and sacrifices +to Bel and Belit, <i>i.e.</i>, Marduk and Sarpanitum. From E-sagila +he crosses over to Borsippa, and pays homage to Nabu and to +Nabu's consort, whom he calls Nanâ.<a name="FNanchor_288_288" id="FNanchor_288_288"></a><a href="#Footnote_288_288" class="fnanchor">[288]</a> The kings are fond, +especially when speaking of the Babylonian campaigns, of slipping +in the name of Marduk after that of Ashur. With the +help of Ashur and Marduk their troops are victorious. Marduk +shares Ashur's terrible majesty. At times Shamash, or Shamash +and Ramman, are added to form a little pantheon whose +assistance is invoked in the Babylonian wars. From being +used in restricted application to Babylonian affairs, Ashur and +Marduk came to be invoked in a general way. Esarhaddon expressly +sets up the claim of being the savior of Marduk's honor, +as a kind of apology for proceeding against Babylonia with his +armies. Sargon, to emphasize his legitimate control over Babylonia +as well as Assyria, says that he has been called to the +throne by Ashur and Marduk, but Ashurbanabal goes further +even than his predecessors. He proceeds to Babylon on the +occasion of the formal installation of his brother Shamash-shumukin +as viceroy of the district, enters the temple of Marduk, +whom he does not hesitate to call 'the lord of lords,' performs +the customary rites, and closes the ceremonies by a fervent +prayer to Marduk for his continued good will and blessing.<a name="FNanchor_289_289" id="FNanchor_289_289"></a><a href="#Footnote_289_289" class="fnanchor">[289]</a> +The great gods Nergal, Nabu, and Shamash come from their +respective shrines to do homage to Marduk. Ashurbanabal's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span> +brother Shamash-shumukin, when he attempts as governor of +Babylon to make himself independent of his brother, endeavors +by means of sacrifices and other devices to secure the favor of +Marduk, well aware that in this way he will also gain the support +of the Babylonians. On another occasion, incidental to a +northern campaign, Ashurbanabal mentions that the day on +which he broke up camp at Damascus was the festival of Marduk,—an +indication that the Babylonian god was in his thoughts, +even when he himself was far away from Babylonia. Esarhaddon +and Ashurbanabal, when approaching the sun-god to obtain +an oracle, make mention of Marduk by the side of Shamash. +There are, however, a number of passages in the Assyrian +inscriptions in which when Bel is spoken of, not Marduk but +the old god Bel is meant.</p> + + +<h3>Bel.</h3> + +<p>Tiglathpileser I. tells us that he rebuilt a temple to Bel in +the city of Ashur, and he qualifies the name of the god by +adding the word 'old' to it. In this way he evidently distinguished +the god of Nippur from Bel-Marduk, similarly as Hammurabi +in one place adds Dagan to Bel,<a name="FNanchor_290_290" id="FNanchor_290_290"></a><a href="#Footnote_290_290" class="fnanchor">[290]</a> to make it perfectly +clear what god he meant. Again, it is Sargon who in consistent +accord with his fondness for displaying his archaeological +tastes, introduces Bel, the 'great mountain,' 'the lord of countries,' +who dwells in E-khar-sag-kurkura, <i>i.e.</i>, the sacred mountain +on which the gods are born, as participating in the festival +that takes place upon the dedication of the king's palace +in Khorsabad. The titles used by the king are applicable only +to the old Bel, but whether he or his scribes were fully conscious +of a differentiation between Bel and Bel-Marduk, it is difficult +to say. Bel is introduced in the inscription in question<a name="FNanchor_291_291" id="FNanchor_291_291"></a><a href="#Footnote_291_291" class="fnanchor">[291]</a> immediately +after Ashur, and one is therefore inclined to suspect<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> +that Sargon's archaeological knowledge fails him at this point +in speaking of the old Bel, whereas he really meant to invoke +the protection of Bel-Marduk as the chief god of his most important +possession next to Assyria.<a name="FNanchor_292_292" id="FNanchor_292_292"></a><a href="#Footnote_292_292" class="fnanchor">[292]</a> Besides this, the old Bel +is of course meant, when associated with Anu, as the powers +that, together with Belit, grant victory,<a name="FNanchor_293_293" id="FNanchor_293_293"></a><a href="#Footnote_293_293" class="fnanchor">[293]</a> or as a member of the +old triad, Anu, Bel, and Ea, whose mention we have seen is as +characteristic of the Assyrian inscriptions as of the Babylonian. +Lastly, Sargon calls one of the gates of his palace after Bel, +whom he designates as the one who lays the foundation of all +things. In this case, too, the old Bel is meant.</p> + + +<h3>Belit.</h3> + +<p>In the case of Belit a curious species of confusion confronts +us in the Assyrian inscriptions. At times Belit appears as the +wife of Bel, again as the consort of Ashur, again as the consort +of Ea, and again simply as a designation of Ishtar.<a name="FNanchor_294_294" id="FNanchor_294_294"></a><a href="#Footnote_294_294" class="fnanchor">[294]</a> To +account for this we must bear in mind, as has already been +pointed out, that just as Bel in the sense of lord came to be +applied merely as a title of the chief god of Babylonia, so Belit +as 'lady' was used in Assyria to designate the chief goddess. +This was, as the case may be, either Ishtar or the pale 'reflection' +associated with Ashur as his consort. Now this Belit, as +the wife of Ashur, absorbs the qualities that distinguish Belit, +the wife of Bel-Marduk. The temple in the city of Ashur, which +Tiglathpileser I.<a name="FNanchor_295_295" id="FNanchor_295_295"></a><a href="#Footnote_295_295" class="fnanchor">[295]</a> enriches with presents consisting of the images +of the deities vanquished by the king, may in reality have been +sacred to the Belit of Babylonia, but Tiglathpileser, for whom +Bel becomes merely a designation of Marduk, does not feel +called upon to pay his devotions to the Babylonian Sarpanitum,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> +and so converts the old Belit into 'the lofty wife, beloved of +Ashur.' Sargon, on the other hand, who calls one of the gates +of his palace <i>Belit ilâni</i> 'mistress of the gods,' seems to mean by +this, the consort of Ea.<a name="FNanchor_296_296" id="FNanchor_296_296"></a><a href="#Footnote_296_296" class="fnanchor">[296]</a> Similarly, Ashurbanabal regards Belit +as the wife of Ashur, and himself as the offspring of Ashur and +Belit. At the same time he gives to this Belit the title of +'mother of great gods,' which of right belongs to the consort +of the Babylonian Bel. In the full pantheon as enumerated by +him, Belit occupies a place immediately behind her consort +Ashur. Ashurbanabal, however, goes still further, and, influenced +by the title of 'Belit' as applied to Ishtar, makes the +latter the consort of Ashur. This at least is the case in an +inscription from the temple of Belit at Nineveh,<a name="FNanchor_297_297" id="FNanchor_297_297"></a><a href="#Footnote_297_297" class="fnanchor">[297]</a> known as E-mash-mash, +and in which Ashurbanabal alternately addresses +the goddess as Belit and as Ishtar, while elsewhere<a name="FNanchor_298_298" id="FNanchor_298_298"></a><a href="#Footnote_298_298" class="fnanchor">[298]</a> this same +Belit, whose seat is in E-mash-mash, is termed the consort of +Ashur. How Ashurbanabal or his scribes came to this confusing +identification we need not stop to inquire. In part, no +doubt, it was due to the general sense of 'goddess,' which +Ishtar began to acquire in his days.<a name="FNanchor_299_299" id="FNanchor_299_299"></a><a href="#Footnote_299_299" class="fnanchor">[299]</a> At all events, Ashurbanabal's +conception marks a contrast to the procedure of +Shalmaneser II., who correctly identifies the mother of the +great gods with the wife of Bel.<a name="FNanchor_300_300" id="FNanchor_300_300"></a><a href="#Footnote_300_300" class="fnanchor">[300]</a> On the other hand, the +confusion that took place in Ashurbanabal's days is foreshadowed +by the title of 'Bêlit mâti,' <i>i.e.</i>, 'mistress of the land,' +by which Ashurbanabal appears to designate some other than +Ishtar.<a name="FNanchor_301_301" id="FNanchor_301_301"></a><a href="#Footnote_301_301" class="fnanchor">[301]</a> Lastly, it is interesting to note that Ashurbanabal +recognizes by the side of Belit-Ishtar, the wife of Ashur, the +older Belit, the wife of the Bel of Nippur, to whom, in association<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> +with Anu and Bel, he attributes his victory over the +Arabs.<a name="FNanchor_302_302" id="FNanchor_302_302"></a><a href="#Footnote_302_302" class="fnanchor">[302]</a></p> + + +<h3>Sarpanitum.</h3> + +<p>The consort of Marduk is only incidentally referred to: +once by Sargon,<a name="FNanchor_303_303" id="FNanchor_303_303"></a><a href="#Footnote_303_303" class="fnanchor">[303]</a> who groups Bel with Sarpanitum and Nabu +and Tashmitum, at the head of the gods of Babylonia; and +similarly by Tiglathpileser III., on the occasion of his enumerating +the chief gods of the Babylonian pantheon.</p> + + +<h3>Nabu.</h3> + +<p>The intimate association of Nabu with Marduk in the city of +Babylon leads as a natural consequence to a similar association +in Assyria, when once the Marduk cult had for political +reasons become established in the north. The kings invoke +the favor of Bel (meaning Marduk) and Nabu, especially when +dealing with the affairs of Babylonia,<a name="FNanchor_304_304" id="FNanchor_304_304"></a><a href="#Footnote_304_304" class="fnanchor">[304]</a> as they invoke Ashur +and Ishtar. Just as we have certain kings devoted to Nin-ib +and Shamash by the side of Ashur, so there are others whose +special favorite is Nabu. In the days of Ramman-nirari III. +(812-783 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>) the Nabu cult reached its highest point of popularity +in Assyria. From the manner in which the king speaks +of the god, one might draw the conclusion that he attempted to +concentrate the whole Assyrian cult upon that god alone. He +erects a temple to the god at Calah, and overwhelms the deity +with a great array of titles. The dedicatory inscription which +the king places on a statue of Nebo closes with the significant +words, 'O Posterity! trust in Nabu. Trust in no other god.'<a name="FNanchor_305_305" id="FNanchor_305_305"></a><a href="#Footnote_305_305" class="fnanchor">[305]</a> +Still we must not press such phrases too hard. Ramman-nirari +III. had no intention of suppressing Ashur worship, for he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> +mentions the god elsewhere, and assigns to him the same rank +as the other kings do, but so much we are justified in concluding, +that next to Ashur and Ishtar he feels most strongly +attached to Nabu. That the Babylonian Nabu is meant, is clear +from such designations as 'the offspring of E-sagila, the favorite +of Bel,' 'he who dwells at E-zida,' which appear among the +epithets bestowed upon the god; and the temple in Calah, which +one of the last kings of Assyria, Ashuretililani,<a name="FNanchor_306_306" id="FNanchor_306_306"></a><a href="#Footnote_306_306" class="fnanchor">[306]</a> is engaged in +improving, bears the same name E-zida, as Nabu's great temple +at Borsippa. We have already set forth the reasons<a name="FNanchor_307_307" id="FNanchor_307_307"></a><a href="#Footnote_307_307" class="fnanchor">[307]</a> for the +popularity of the Nabu cult in Assyria. Suffice it to recall that +the peculiar character of the god as the patron of wisdom placed +him beyond the reach of any jealousy on the part of the other +members of the pantheon. So Ramman-nirari III. extols Nabu +as the protector of the arts, the all-wise who guides the stylus of +the scribe, and the possessor of wisdom in general. He is not +merely the originator of writing, but the source of all wisdom, +and for this reason he is spoken of as the son of Ea. Attributes +of mere brutal force are rarely assigned to Nabu, but as +befits a god of wisdom, mercy, nobility, and majesty constitute +his chief attractions. By virtue of his wisdom, Sargon calls +him 'the clear seer who guides all the gods,' and when the last +king of Assyria—Saracus, as the Greek writers called him—invokes +Nabu as the 'leader of forces,' he appears to have in +mind the heavenly troops rather than earthly armies. Such +patrons of learning as Sargon and Ashurbanabal were naturally +fond of parading their devotion to Nabu. The former significantly +calls him the 'writer of everything,' and as for Ashurbanabal, +almost every tablet in the great literary collection that +he made at Nineveh closes with a solemn invocation to Nabu +and his consort Tashmitum, to whom he offers thanks for having +opened his ears to receive wisdom, and who persuaded him<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span> +to make the vast literary treasures of the past accessible to his +subjects.</p> + + +<h3>Tashmitum.</h3> + +<p>The consort of Nabu was permitted to share the honors in +the temple of Nabu at Calah, but beyond this and Ashurbanabal's +constant association of Tashmitum with Nabu in the +subscript to his tablets, she appears only when the kings of +Assyria coming to Babylonia as they were wont to do,<a name="FNanchor_308_308" id="FNanchor_308_308"></a><a href="#Footnote_308_308" class="fnanchor">[308]</a> in order +to perform sacrifices, enumerate the chief gods of the Babylonian +pantheon.</p> + + +<h3>Ea.</h3> + +<p>Ea takes his place in the Assyrian pantheon in the double +capacity of god of wisdom and as a member of the old triad. +Ashurnasirbal makes mention of a sanctuary erected to the +honor of Ea in Ashur. A recollection of the rôle that Ea plays +in Babylonian mythology survives in the titles of 'creator' and +'king of the ocean,' which Shalmaneser gives him,<a name="FNanchor_309_309" id="FNanchor_309_309"></a><a href="#Footnote_309_309" class="fnanchor">[309]</a> and of the +'one who opens the fountains' as Ashurbanabal declares.<a name="FNanchor_310_310" id="FNanchor_310_310"></a><a href="#Footnote_310_310" class="fnanchor">[310]</a> +He is also, as in Babylonia, the one who determines the fates +of mankind. As the one who has a care for the arts, he is the +wise god, just as Nabu, and under various titles, as Nu-gim-mud,<a name="FNanchor_311_311" id="FNanchor_311_311"></a><a href="#Footnote_311_311" class="fnanchor">[311]</a> +Nin-igi-azag, and Igi-dug-gu,<a name="FNanchor_312_312" id="FNanchor_312_312"></a><a href="#Footnote_312_312" class="fnanchor">[312]</a> all emphasizing his skill, +he is the artificer who aids the kings in their building operations. +The similarity of the rôles of Nabu and Ea, as gods of +wisdom and the arts, might easily have led to a confusion.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> +Fortunately, the grandiloquent and all-embracing titles accorded +to the former did not alter his character as essentially the god +who presides over the art of writing, while Ea retains the control +over the architectural achievements,—the great colossi, in +the first instance, that guarded the approach of palaces, the +images of the gods in the second, and the temples and palaces +in general as his third function.</p> + + +<h3>Damkina.</h3> + +<p>Of the consort of Ea, it is sufficient to note that she is occasionally +referred to in the historical texts of the Assyrian +period. In the inscriptions of Sargon she appears under the +rather strange title of 'Belit ilâni,' <i>i.e.</i>, the mistress of the gods.<a name="FNanchor_313_313" id="FNanchor_313_313"></a><a href="#Footnote_313_313" class="fnanchor">[313]</a> +This 'mistress' cannot be, as might at first blush appear, +Ishtar or the old Belit, for elsewhere<a name="FNanchor_314_314" id="FNanchor_314_314"></a><a href="#Footnote_314_314" class="fnanchor">[314]</a> Ishtar, Belit, and Belit +ilâni occur side by side. Sargon declares that he owes his +wisdom to Ea and Belit ilâni. In naming the gates of his +palace, he again associates Ea with 'the mistress of the gods,' +from which it is clear that the epithet is used of Ea's consort.</p> + + +<h3>Nin-gal.</h3> + +<p>A sanctuary to the old Babylonian goddess Nin-gal is included +by Sargon among the holy edifices erected by him in his official +residence.<a name="FNanchor_315_315" id="FNanchor_315_315"></a><a href="#Footnote_315_315" class="fnanchor">[315]</a></p> + + +<h3>Dibharra.</h3> + +<p>We have pointed out in a previous chapter how faint the +dividing line sometimes becomes between gods and spirits. +Among the minor deities, ranking hardly above demons, is the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span> +plague-god, whose name may provisionally be read Dibbarra.<a name="FNanchor_316_316" id="FNanchor_316_316"></a><a href="#Footnote_316_316" class="fnanchor">[316]</a> +The god plays a rôle in some of the ancient legends of Babylonia. +Remains have been found of a kind of epic in which +Dibbarra is the chief personage.<a name="FNanchor_317_317" id="FNanchor_317_317"></a><a href="#Footnote_317_317" class="fnanchor">[317]</a> In the historical texts he +is once incidentally mentioned by Ashurbanabal, who in the +course of his campaign against Babylonia<a name="FNanchor_318_318" id="FNanchor_318_318"></a><a href="#Footnote_318_318" class="fnanchor">[318]</a> describes how the +corpses of those killed by Dibbarra, <i>i.e.</i>, through hunger and +want, filled the streets of the cities. Evidently Dibbarra here is +a mere personification of the dreadful demon of want that so +often follows in the wake of a military destruction. Still there +can be no doubt that at one time he was regarded as a real +deity, and not merely a spirit or demon. Dibbarra is identified +in the theological system of Babylonia with Nergal.</p> + + +<h3>Damku, Sharru-ilu, and Sha-nit(?)-ka.</h3> + +<p>In an interesting passage recounting the restoration of the +city Magganubba, Sargon<a name="FNanchor_319_319" id="FNanchor_319_319"></a><a href="#Footnote_319_319" class="fnanchor">[319]</a> says that he prayed to Damku, <i>i.e.</i>, +'grace,' Sharru-ilu, <i>i.e.</i>, 'king-god,' and Sha-nit(?)-ka. The two +former he calls the judges of mankind. That Damku and +Sharru-ilu are titles and not names is evident from the meaning +of the words, but at present it is impossible to say what +gods are meant.<a name="FNanchor_320_320" id="FNanchor_320_320"></a><a href="#Footnote_320_320" class="fnanchor">[320]</a> Perhaps that these are the translations of +names of the old deities of Magganubba. We have at least one +other example of a foreign deity introduced into the Assyrian +pantheon. At Dur-ilu, a town lying near the Elamitic frontier, +there flourished the cult of Ka-di,<a name="FNanchor_321_321" id="FNanchor_321_321"></a><a href="#Footnote_321_321" class="fnanchor">[321]</a> evidently a god imported +into the Assyrian pantheon from Elam or some other eastern +district. Sargon's scribes are fond of translating foreign names<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span> +and words, and they may have done so in this case, and thus +added two new deities to the glorious pantheon protecting their +royal chief. As for Sha-nit(?)-ka,<a name="FNanchor_322_322" id="FNanchor_322_322"></a><a href="#Footnote_322_322" class="fnanchor">[322]</a> were it not that she is +called the mistress of Nineveh, one would also put her down as +a foreign goddess. In view of this, however, it may be that +Sha-nit(?)-ka is an ideographic designation of Ishtar.</p> + +<p>Before leaving the subject, a word needs to be said regarding +the relation between the active Assyrian pantheon and the +long lists of deities prepared by the schoolmen of Babylonia +and Assyria. Reference has already been made to these lists.<a name="FNanchor_323_323" id="FNanchor_323_323"></a><a href="#Footnote_323_323" class="fnanchor">[323]</a> +They vary in character. Some of them furnish an index of the +various names under which a god was known,<a name="FNanchor_324_324" id="FNanchor_324_324"></a><a href="#Footnote_324_324" class="fnanchor">[324]</a> or the titles +assigned to him. These names and titles are frequently indications +that some great god has absorbed the attributes of +smaller ones, whose independence was in this way destroyed. +Other lists<a name="FNanchor_325_325" id="FNanchor_325_325"></a><a href="#Footnote_325_325" class="fnanchor">[325]</a> are simple enumerations of local deities, and when +to these names some indications are added, as to the locality +to which the gods belong,<a name="FNanchor_326_326" id="FNanchor_326_326"></a><a href="#Footnote_326_326" class="fnanchor">[326]</a> their importance is correspondingly +increased. There can be no doubt that most of these lists +were prepared on the basis of the occurrence of these gods in +texts, and it seems most plausible to conclude that the texts in +question were of a religious character. References to local +cults are numerous in the incantations which form a considerable +proportion of the religious literature, while in hymns and +prayers, gods are often referred to by their titles instead of their +names. In some respects, however, these lists of gods are still +obscure. It is often difficult to determine whether we are dealing +with gods or spirits, and the origin and meaning of many +of the names and epithets assigned to gods are similarly involved<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> +in doubt. Use has been made of these lists in determining +the character of the gods included in this survey of the +Babylonian and Assyrian pantheon, but it would be manifestly +precarious to make additions to this pantheon on the basis of +the lists alone. Despite the tendency towards centralization +of divine power in a limited number of gods, local cults, no +doubt, continued to enjoy some importance in Assyria as well +as Babylonia; but, in the present stage of our knowledge, we +have no means of determining either the number or the character +of these local cults. While, therefore, a complete treatment +of the pantheon of Babylonia and Assyria would include +all the minor local cults, we may feel quite certain that these +local cults furnish few, if any, additions to the concepts connected +with these gods which we have discussed. I have +therefore contented myself with some illustrations, in each of +the three divisions under which the pantheon has been surveyed, +of some of the minor deities chosen, such as actually occur in +historical, commercial, or religious texts. For the Assyrian +pantheon, we may place Nin-gal and most of the consorts of +the gods among the minor gods, and also such deities as +Ka-di, Khani, Gaga, Dibbarra, Sherua, and Azag-sir, who are +merely incidentally referred to.<a name="FNanchor_327_327" id="FNanchor_327_327"></a><a href="#Footnote_327_327" class="fnanchor">[327]</a> These illustrations suffice +for placing clearly before us the distinction to be made in the +pantheon between gods whose worship was actively carried +on, and those who occupy more of a theoretical position in +the system perfected by the schoolmen, standing under the +political and social influences of their days. With this distinction +clearly impressed upon us, we will be prepared for +such modifications of our views of the Babylonian-Assyrian +pantheon as further researches and discoveries may render +necessary.</p> + +<h3><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_222_222" id="Footnote_222_222"></a><a href="#FNanchor_222_222"><span class="label">[222]</span></a> Semitic alphabet.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_223_223" id="Footnote_223_223"></a><a href="#FNanchor_223_223"><span class="label">[223]</span></a> A form of Nebo, according to Meissner-Rost, +<i>Bauinschriften Sanherib's</i>, p. 105.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_224_224" id="Footnote_224_224"></a><a href="#FNanchor_224_224"><span class="label">[224]</span></a> See Meissner-Rost, <i>ib.</i> p. 108.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_225_225" id="Footnote_225_225"></a><a href="#FNanchor_225_225"><span class="label">[225]</span></a> As <i>e.g.</i>, En-e-in-pal (Meissner-Rost, <i>ib.</i> p. +76). Sherua and Arag-sir (<i>ib.</i> p. 101). For further lists of +deities, see pp. <a href="#Page_234">234</a>, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_226_226" id="Footnote_226_226"></a><a href="#FNanchor_226_226"><span class="label">[226]</span></a> The Assyrian kings are fond of mentioning foreign deities, +and of adding them to their pantheon. In his annals (VR. col. vi. ll. +30-43) Ashurbanabal gives a list of twenty Elamitic deities captured by +him.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_227_227" id="Footnote_227_227"></a><a href="#FNanchor_227_227"><span class="label">[227]</span></a> Tiele (<i>Babyl.-Assyr. Geschichte</i>, p. 519) suggests +Ea.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_228_228" id="Footnote_228_228"></a><a href="#FNanchor_228_228"><span class="label">[228]</span></a> An interesting example of this tendency is furnished by a +tablet published by T. G. Pinches (<i>Journal of the Victoria +Institute</i>, xxviii. 8-10), in which the name Marduk is treated almost +as a generic term for deity. Nergal is called 'the Marduk of warfare'; +Nebo, 'the Marduk of earthly possessions'; Ninib, 'the Marduk of +strength'; En-lil, 'the Marduk of sovereignty'; and so on, in a long +enumeration, the gods are regarded as so many forms of Marduk. Pinches' +conclusion that the list points to monotheistic beliefs is, however, +unwarranted. The list only illustrates a tendency towards a +centralization of divine powers in Marduk, that accompanies the +political centralization of the period.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_229_229" id="Footnote_229_229"></a><a href="#FNanchor_229_229"><span class="label">[229]</span></a> See below, pp. <a href="#Page_228">228</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_230_230" id="Footnote_230_230"></a><a href="#FNanchor_230_230"><span class="label">[230]</span></a> So the gods of the Assyrian pantheon are generally termed +in the inscriptions of the kings.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_231_231" id="Footnote_231_231"></a><a href="#FNanchor_231_231"><span class="label">[231]</span></a> See below, p. <a href="#Page_195">195</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_232_232" id="Footnote_232_232"></a><a href="#FNanchor_232_232"><span class="label">[232]</span></a> See below, p. <a href="#Page_220">220</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_233_233" id="Footnote_233_233"></a><a href="#FNanchor_233_233"><span class="label">[233]</span></a> A description of this symbol occurs in a text of +Sennacherib (Meissner-Rost, <i>Bauinschriften Sanherib's</i>, p. 94). +The symbol itself is found on sculptured slabs and on seal cylinders.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_234_234" id="Footnote_234_234"></a><a href="#FNanchor_234_234"><span class="label">[234]</span></a> So Sennacherib still speaks of Images of Ashur, and of the +great gods erected by him (Meissner-Rost, <i>Bauinschriften +Sanherib's</i>, p. 94).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_235_235" id="Footnote_235_235"></a><a href="#FNanchor_235_235"><span class="label">[235]</span></a> See Stevenson, "The Feather and the Wing in Mythology," +<i>Oriental Studies of the Phila. Oriental Club</i>, pp. 236-239.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_236_236" id="Footnote_236_236"></a><a href="#FNanchor_236_236"><span class="label">[236]</span></a> <i>Babyl.-Assyr. Geschichte</i>, p. 533.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_237_237" id="Footnote_237_237"></a><a href="#FNanchor_237_237"><span class="label">[237]</span></a> For the sake of convenience it is customary to distinguish +between Ashur the god, and the country by writing the latter with a +double <i>sh</i>—Ashshur.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_238_238" id="Footnote_238_238"></a><a href="#FNanchor_238_238"><span class="label">[238]</span></a> <i>Geschichte</i>, p. 533.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_239_239" id="Footnote_239_239"></a><a href="#FNanchor_239_239"><span class="label">[239]</span></a> See Jensen <i>Zeits. für Assyr.</i> i. 1 <i>seq.</i> and +Delitzsch, <i>Das Babylonische Weltschöpfungsepos</i>, p. 94.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_240_240" id="Footnote_240_240"></a><a href="#FNanchor_240_240"><span class="label">[240]</span></a> By the assimilation of the <i>n</i> to the following +consonant.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_241_241" id="Footnote_241_241"></a><a href="#FNanchor_241_241"><span class="label">[241]</span></a> See above, pp. <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_242_242" id="Footnote_242_242"></a><a href="#FNanchor_242_242"><span class="label">[242]</span></a> Jensen, <i>Kosmologie</i>, p. 275.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_243_243" id="Footnote_243_243"></a><a href="#FNanchor_243_243"><span class="label">[243]</span></a> The combination of religious supremacy with political +power, which characterizes the social state of ancient Babylonia and +Assyria, gives to the title <i>patesi</i> a double significance. In +Babylonia, moreover, it acquires the force of vassal-king.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_244_244" id="Footnote_244_244"></a><a href="#FNanchor_244_244"><span class="label">[244]</span></a> The full list is Anu, Ashur, Shamash, Ramman, and Ishtar.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_245_245" id="Footnote_245_245"></a><a href="#FNanchor_245_245"><span class="label">[245]</span></a> More precisely Arba-ilu, signifying 'city of the fourfold +divinity' or 'four-god' city. <i>Cf.</i> the Palestinian form +Kiryath-Arba, "four city,"—originally perhaps, likewise, a city of four +gods, rather than four roads or four quarters, as commonly explained.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_246_246" id="Footnote_246_246"></a><a href="#FNanchor_246_246"><span class="label">[246]</span></a> IR. 14, l. 86.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_247_247" id="Footnote_247_247"></a><a href="#FNanchor_247_247"><span class="label">[247]</span></a> <i>Babyl.-Assyr. Geschichte</i>, p. 85.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_248_248" id="Footnote_248_248"></a><a href="#FNanchor_248_248"><span class="label">[248]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_83">83</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_249_249" id="Footnote_249_249"></a><a href="#FNanchor_249_249"><span class="label">[249]</span></a> See above, pp. <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_250_250" id="Footnote_250_250"></a><a href="#FNanchor_250_250"><span class="label">[250]</span></a> Cylinder B, col. v. ll. 30 <i>seq.</i>; elsewhere (Rassam +Cylinder, col. ii. ll. 115 <i>seq.</i>) he prays to Ashur and Ishtar.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_251_251" id="Footnote_251_251"></a><a href="#FNanchor_251_251"><span class="label">[251]</span></a> Rassam Cylinder, col. viii. l. 92. Elsewhere, Cylinder B, +col. v. 17, Ishtar is called the daughter of Bel. This, however, must be +an error; either Sin must be read for Bel, or <i>khirat</i> (consort) +for <i>marat</i> (daughter).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_252_252" id="Footnote_252_252"></a><a href="#FNanchor_252_252"><span class="label">[252]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_253_253" id="Footnote_253_253"></a><a href="#FNanchor_253_253"><span class="label">[253]</span></a> See Barton, "The Semitic Ishtar Cult" (<i>Hebraica</i>, x. +9-12).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_254_254" id="Footnote_254_254"></a><a href="#FNanchor_254_254"><span class="label">[254]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, <i>c.</i> 1800 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_255_255" id="Footnote_255_255"></a><a href="#FNanchor_255_255"><span class="label">[255]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_154">154</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_256_256" id="Footnote_256_256"></a><a href="#FNanchor_256_256"><span class="label">[256]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_149">149</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_257_257" id="Footnote_257_257"></a><a href="#FNanchor_257_257"><span class="label">[257]</span></a> See below, p. <a href="#Page_237">237</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_258_258" id="Footnote_258_258"></a><a href="#FNanchor_258_258"><span class="label">[258]</span></a> A king of Nippur (<i>c.</i> 2500 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>) bears the +name Ishme-Dagan.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_259_259" id="Footnote_259_259"></a><a href="#FNanchor_259_259"><span class="label">[259]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_154">154</a>; Tiele, <i>Geschichte der Religion im +Alterthum</i>, i. 172.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_260_260" id="Footnote_260_260"></a><a href="#FNanchor_260_260"><span class="label">[260]</span></a> See Hommel, <i>Geschichte</i>, p. 490. How much earlier +Samsi-Ramman I. reigned is not known—perhaps only 40 or 50 years.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_261_261" id="Footnote_261_261"></a><a href="#FNanchor_261_261"><span class="label">[261]</span></a> The <i>d</i> of Dagon would be represented by <i>d</i> in +cuneiform writing.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_262_262" id="Footnote_262_262"></a><a href="#FNanchor_262_262"><span class="label">[262]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_154">154</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_263_263" id="Footnote_263_263"></a><a href="#FNanchor_263_263"><span class="label">[263]</span></a> An eponym in his days bears the name Daganbelusur.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_264_264" id="Footnote_264_264"></a><a href="#FNanchor_264_264"><span class="label">[264]</span></a> In the El-Amarna tablets (<i>c.</i> 1400 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>) the +governors of the Palestinian states generally address their Egyptian +lord as 'my sun'.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_265_265" id="Footnote_265_265"></a><a href="#FNanchor_265_265"><span class="label">[265]</span></a> Exactly of what nature we do not know. The Assyrian word +used, Cylinder, l. 43, is obscure.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_266_266" id="Footnote_266_266"></a><a href="#FNanchor_266_266"><span class="label">[266]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_160">160</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_267_267" id="Footnote_267_267"></a><a href="#FNanchor_267_267"><span class="label">[267]</span></a> IR. 8, col. i. 85. See above, p. <a href="#Page_166">166</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_268_268" id="Footnote_268_268"></a><a href="#FNanchor_268_268"><span class="label">[268]</span></a> Ashurnasirbal calls him so in his annals, <i>e.g.</i>, col. +iii. 1. 130.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_269_269" id="Footnote_269_269"></a><a href="#FNanchor_269_269"><span class="label">[269]</span></a> Bavian Inscription, ll. 48-50. See also Meissner-Rost, +<i>Bauinschriften Sanherib's</i>, p. 102. The reading of the name of the +city is not certain. It signifies 'city of palaces.'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_270_270" id="Footnote_270_270"></a><a href="#FNanchor_270_270"><span class="label">[270]</span></a> <i>c.</i> 1120 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_271_271" id="Footnote_271_271"></a><a href="#FNanchor_271_271"><span class="label">[271]</span></a> II Rawlinson, 57, 33.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_272_272" id="Footnote_272_272"></a><a href="#FNanchor_272_272"><span class="label">[272]</span></a> So Tiglathpileser associates Ashur and Nin-ib, as those +'who fulfill his desire.'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_273_273" id="Footnote_273_273"></a><a href="#FNanchor_273_273"><span class="label">[273]</span></a> Ashurnasirbal's father bears the name Tukulti-Ninib.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_274_274" id="Footnote_274_274"></a><a href="#FNanchor_274_274"><span class="label">[274]</span></a> See above, pp. <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_275_275" id="Footnote_275_275"></a><a href="#FNanchor_275_275"><span class="label">[275]</span></a> One of the gates of Sargon's palace is called after Nin-ib.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_276_276" id="Footnote_276_276"></a><a href="#FNanchor_276_276"><span class="label">[276]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_57">57</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_277_277" id="Footnote_277_277"></a><a href="#FNanchor_277_277"><span class="label">[277]</span></a> See above, pp. <a href="#Page_92">92</a>-94.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_278_278" id="Footnote_278_278"></a><a href="#FNanchor_278_278"><span class="label">[278]</span></a> <i>Kosmologie</i>, pp. 457-475.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_279_279" id="Footnote_279_279"></a><a href="#FNanchor_279_279"><span class="label">[279]</span></a> He is also called the offspring of a goddess, Ku-tu-shar, +but this reference is not clear. See Jensen, <i>Kosmologie</i>, p. 468, +note 5.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_280_280" id="Footnote_280_280"></a><a href="#FNanchor_280_280"><span class="label">[280]</span></a> In a religious text he is addressed as 'holy, holy, holy.'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_281_281" id="Footnote_281_281"></a><a href="#FNanchor_281_281"><span class="label">[281]</span></a> Balawat, col. v. ll. 4, 5.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_282_282" id="Footnote_282_282"></a><a href="#FNanchor_282_282"><span class="label">[282]</span></a> Kar = fortress.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_283_283" id="Footnote_283_283"></a><a href="#FNanchor_283_283"><span class="label">[283]</span></a> See Sayce, <i>Hibbert Lectures</i>, p. 438, and Jensen's +important note, <i>Kosmologie</i>, pp. 492-494.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_284_284" id="Footnote_284_284"></a><a href="#FNanchor_284_284"><span class="label">[284]</span></a> See pp. <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_285_285" id="Footnote_285_285"></a><a href="#FNanchor_285_285"><span class="label">[285]</span></a> Cylinder, l. 61.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_286_286" id="Footnote_286_286"></a><a href="#FNanchor_286_286"><span class="label">[286]</span></a> See pp. <a href="#Page_117">117</a> <i>seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_287_287" id="Footnote_287_287"></a><a href="#FNanchor_287_287"><span class="label">[287]</span></a> We may therefore expect, some day, to come across the name +Marduk in Assyrian texts earlier than the ninth century.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_288_288" id="Footnote_288_288"></a><a href="#FNanchor_288_288"><span class="label">[288]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_131">131</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_289_289" id="Footnote_289_289"></a><a href="#FNanchor_289_289"><span class="label">[289]</span></a> So also Shalmaneser II., Obelisk, l. 179, unless Marduk +here is an error for Ramman, <i>cf.</i> l. 175.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_290_290" id="Footnote_290_290"></a><a href="#FNanchor_290_290"><span class="label">[290]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_146">146</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_291_291" id="Footnote_291_291"></a><a href="#FNanchor_291_291"><span class="label">[291]</span></a> The so-called <i>Prunkinschrift</i>, ll. 174 <i>seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_292_292" id="Footnote_292_292"></a><a href="#FNanchor_292_292"><span class="label">[292]</span></a> Note the frequent use of Ashur and Bel for Assyria and +Babylonia.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_293_293" id="Footnote_293_293"></a><a href="#FNanchor_293_293"><span class="label">[293]</span></a> Ashurbanabal, Rassam Cylinder, col ix. ll. 76, 77.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_294_294" id="Footnote_294_294"></a><a href="#FNanchor_294_294"><span class="label">[294]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_295_295" id="Footnote_295_295"></a><a href="#FNanchor_295_295"><span class="label">[295]</span></a> IR. II. col. iv. ll. 34, 35.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_296_296" id="Footnote_296_296"></a><a href="#FNanchor_296_296"><span class="label">[296]</span></a> See below, pp. <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_297_297" id="Footnote_297_297"></a><a href="#FNanchor_297_297"><span class="label">[297]</span></a> Rawlinson, ii. 66.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_298_298" id="Footnote_298_298"></a><a href="#FNanchor_298_298"><span class="label">[298]</span></a> Rassam Cylinder, col. x. ll. 25-27.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_299_299" id="Footnote_299_299"></a><a href="#FNanchor_299_299"><span class="label">[299]</span></a> See Tiele, <i>Babyl. Assyr. Geschichte</i>, p. 127.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_300_300" id="Footnote_300_300"></a><a href="#FNanchor_300_300"><span class="label">[300]</span></a> Obelisk, l. 52.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_301_301" id="Footnote_301_301"></a><a href="#FNanchor_301_301"><span class="label">[301]</span></a> Annals, col. ii. l. 135.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_302_302" id="Footnote_302_302"></a><a href="#FNanchor_302_302"><span class="label">[302]</span></a> Rassam Cylinder, col. x. l. 75.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_303_303" id="Footnote_303_303"></a><a href="#FNanchor_303_303"><span class="label">[303]</span></a> <i>Prunkinschrift</i>, l. 143.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_304_304" id="Footnote_304_304"></a><a href="#FNanchor_304_304"><span class="label">[304]</span></a> Esarhaddon, IR. 46, col. ii. l. 48; Rawlinson, iii. 16, col. +iii. l. 24.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_305_305" id="Footnote_305_305"></a><a href="#FNanchor_305_305"><span class="label">[305]</span></a> IR. 35, no. 2, l. 12.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_306_306" id="Footnote_306_306"></a><a href="#FNanchor_306_306"><span class="label">[306]</span></a> IR. 8, no. 3, ll. 5 <i>seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_307_307" id="Footnote_307_307"></a><a href="#FNanchor_307_307"><span class="label">[307]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_126">126</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_308_308" id="Footnote_308_308"></a><a href="#FNanchor_308_308"><span class="label">[308]</span></a> <i>E.g.</i>, Tiglathpileser III., Nimrud inscription +(Layard, pl. 17, l. 12).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_309_309" id="Footnote_309_309"></a><a href="#FNanchor_309_309"><span class="label">[309]</span></a> Obelisk, l. 5.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_310_310" id="Footnote_310_310"></a><a href="#FNanchor_310_310"><span class="label">[310]</span></a> Rassam Cylinder, col. i. l. 45.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_311_311" id="Footnote_311_311"></a><a href="#FNanchor_311_311"><span class="label">[311]</span></a> Delitzsch (<i>Das Babylonische Weltschöpfungsepos</i>, p. +99) questions whether Nu-gim-mud (or Nu-dim-mud) was originally a +designation of Ea. Nu-dim-mud being an epithet might, of course, be +applied to other gods, but there can be no doubt that it was used to +designate more particularly Ea as the artificer. See my remarks, pp. +<a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a> <i>seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_312_312" id="Footnote_312_312"></a><a href="#FNanchor_312_312"><span class="label">[312]</span></a> Meissner-Rost, <i>Bauinscriften Sanherib's</i>, p. 105.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_313_313" id="Footnote_313_313"></a><a href="#FNanchor_313_313"><span class="label">[313]</span></a> Cylinder, l. 48, ideographically as Nin-men-an-na, 'lady of +the heavenly crown.' In the parallel passage, however, as Lyon +(<i>Sargontexte</i>, p. 71) points out, <i>Belit ilâni</i> is used.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_314_314" id="Footnote_314_314"></a><a href="#FNanchor_314_314"><span class="label">[314]</span></a> Cylinder, l. 70.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_315_315" id="Footnote_315_315"></a><a href="#FNanchor_315_315"><span class="label">[315]</span></a> Cylinder, l. 68.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_316_316" id="Footnote_316_316"></a><a href="#FNanchor_316_316"><span class="label">[316]</span></a> Jensen, <i>Kosmologie</i>, p. 445, reads the name +<i>Gira</i>. See pp. 527-28.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_317_317" id="Footnote_317_317"></a><a href="#FNanchor_317_317"><span class="label">[317]</span></a> See the author's work on <i>A Fragment of the Dibbarra +Epic</i>. (Ginn & Co., Boston, 1891).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_318_318" id="Footnote_318_318"></a><a href="#FNanchor_318_318"><span class="label">[318]</span></a> Rassam Cylinder, col. lv. ll. 79 <i>seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_319_319" id="Footnote_319_319"></a><a href="#FNanchor_319_319"><span class="label">[319]</span></a> Cylinder, ll. 44-53.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_320_320" id="Footnote_320_320"></a><a href="#FNanchor_320_320"><span class="label">[320]</span></a> Delitzsch's supposition (see Lyon, <i>Sargontexte</i>, p. +71) that Sharru-ilu is Izdubar is untenable.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_321_321" id="Footnote_321_321"></a><a href="#FNanchor_321_321"><span class="label">[321]</span></a> <i>Babyl. Chronicle</i>, col. iii. l. 44.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_322_322" id="Footnote_322_322"></a><a href="#FNanchor_322_322"><span class="label">[322]</span></a> May also be read Sha-ush-ka.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_323_323" id="Footnote_323_323"></a><a href="#FNanchor_323_323"><span class="label">[323]</span></a> See above, pp. <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_324_324" id="Footnote_324_324"></a><a href="#FNanchor_324_324"><span class="label">[324]</span></a> <i>E.g.</i>, IIR. 58, no. 5, titles of Ea; IIR. 60, no. 2, +titles of Nabu.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_325_325" id="Footnote_325_325"></a><a href="#FNanchor_325_325"><span class="label">[325]</span></a> <i>E.g.</i>, IIR. 60, no. 1.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_326_326" id="Footnote_326_326"></a><a href="#FNanchor_326_326"><span class="label">[326]</span></a> <i>E.g.</i>, IIIR. 66, lists of gods worshipped in various +temples of Assyria and also of Babylonia.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_327_327" id="Footnote_327_327"></a><a href="#FNanchor_327_327"><span class="label">[327]</span></a> See pp. <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>.</p></div> + + + + +<h2><a name="chapter-xiii" id="chapter-xiii"></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> + +<h3>THE TRIAD AND THE COMBINED INVOCATION OF DEITIES.</h3> + + +<p>The Assyrian kings, in imitation of the example set by their +Babylonian predecessors, are fond of introducing into their +inscriptions, a series of gods under whose protection they place +themselves. They do not do this as the earlier Babylonian +rulers did, to emphasize the extent of their jurisdiction by adding +to their pantheon the deities of towns or districts vanquished +by them. The day of independent states being over, the importance +of merely local deities had ceased. The theological +system evolved in Babylonia in combination with the popular +instinct had led to a selection out of the mass of deities of a +limited number, each with tolerably definite attributes, and who +together embraced all the forces under whose power mankind +stood. Of these deities again, as we have seen, some acquired +greater favor in Assyria than others, but for all that, the kings +especially of the later period of Assyrian history were fond of +including in an enumeration of the pantheon, even those who +had no special significance. Policy and the meaningless imitation +of earlier examples played an equal part in thus giving +to the lists an aspect of formality that deprives them of the +impression that they might otherwise make.</p> + +<p>The combined invocations are found usually at the beginning +and at the end of the inscriptions—at the beginning for invoking +the aid of the gods, at the close for invoking their curses +upon those who would attempt to destroy the ambitious monuments +set up by the kings. Often, however, the narrative is +interrupted for the purpose of making acknowledgment to a +larger or smaller series of gods for victory, granted or hoped for.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span> +In these combined references a separate place belongs to the +triad, Anu, Bel, and Ea. While not occupying the prominent +position they have in Babylonian inscriptions, still the kings +often mention Anu, Bel, and Ea separately, or Anu and Bel +alone, ascribing victory to them, putting them down as the +originators of the calendar system, and declaring themselves to +have been nominated by them to rule over Assyria. Sargon, +with his antiquarian zeal, appears to have made an effort to +reinstate the triad as a special group in the pantheon. In general, +however, they take their place with other gods. So Ramman-nirari I. +invokes the curse of Ashur, Anu, Bel, Ea, and Ishtar, +together with the Igigi and Anunnaki; but, what is more +important, already at an early period the triad disappears altogether +from the pantheon, except for the artificial attempts of +Sargon to revive interest in them. In both the longer and +shorter lists of gods enumerated by the kings from the time of +Tiglathpileser, the triad is conspicuous for its absence.</p> + +<p>As for the other gods, it is to some extent a matter of caprice +which ones happen to be invoked, though just as frequently we +see the motive for selecting certain ones of the pantheon. Thus, +when proceeding to Babylonia for war or sacrifices, the gods +of Babylonia are invoked, either Marduk and Nabu alone, +as the chief gods, or Bel (<i>i.e.</i>, Marduk), Sarpanitum, Nabu, +Tashmitum, Nanâ, Nergal, with Ashur, or Ashur and Marduk, +or Marduk and Nabu in combination with Ashur. At other +times it depends upon the gods to whom certain kings may +be especially attached, or with whom they may have special +dealings in their inscriptions. Thus Tiglathpileser I., when +speaking of the temple of Anu and Ramman, contents himself +with invoking these two gods alone at the close of his great +inscription. Elsewhere, when referring to the special gods of +his city, he combines Anu and Ramman with Ishtar; but +again, for no special reason, his prayer is addressed to Ashur, +Shamash, and Ramman. The pantheon of Ramman-nirari I.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> +consists either of the longer one above enumerated, or of Anu, +Ashur, Shamash, Ramman, and Ishtar. As we proceed down +the centuries, the formal lists at the beginning of inscriptions +have a tendency to grow larger. Ashurnasirbal's pantheon consists +of Bel and Nin-ib, Anu and Dagan, Sin, Anu, Ramman, +and, of course, Ashur, though on special occasions, as when +speaking of his achievements in the chase, he contents himself +with a mention of Nin-ib and Nergal. He loves, too, to vary +the style of his inscriptions by naming various groups of deities +in pairs: now Ashur and Shamash, again Ashur and Nin-ib, or +Ashur and Bel; then Shamash and Ramman, or a group of +three deities, Ashur, Shamash, and Ramman, or Sin, Anu, and +Ramman. His successors imitate this example, though each +one chooses his own combinations. Shalmaneser II.'s pantheon +embraces Ashur, Anu, Bel, Ea, Sin, Shamash, Nin-ib, +Nergal, Nusku, Belit, and Ishtar—eleven in all. Sargon's +practice varies. The best list is furnished by his account of +the eight gates of his palace and of two walls, which he names +after the gods in the following order:<a name="FNanchor_328_328" id="FNanchor_328_328"></a><a href="#Footnote_328_328" class="fnanchor">[328]</a></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Shamash, who grants victory. } As the names for the</p> +<p>Ramman, who brings superabundance. } eastern gates.</p> +<p>Bel, who lays foundations. } For the northern gates.</p> +<p>Belit, who brings fertility. }</p> +<p>Anu, who blesses handiwork. } For the western</p> +<p>Ishtar, who causes the inhabitants to flourish. } gates.</p> +<p>Ea, who unlocks fountains. } For the southern gates.</p> +<p>Belit ilâni,<a name="FNanchor_329_329" id="FNanchor_329_329"></a><a href="#Footnote_329_329" class="fnanchor">[329]</a> who increases the offspring. }</p> +<p>Ashur, who permits the king to grow old, and protects the troops.—For +the inner wall.</p> +<p>Nin-ib, who lays the foundations of the city.—For the outer wall.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The order here is dictated by the directions of the gates. +Elsewhere he sets up the group Ea, Sin, Shamash, Nabu, +Ramman, Nin-ib, and their consorts.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span></p> + +<p>Sennacherib's fuller group consists of Ashur, Sin, Shamash, +Bel (<i>i.e.</i>, Marduk), Nabu, Nergal, Ishtar of Nineveh, and Ishtar +of Arbela—only eight. But at the close of one of his building +inscriptions<a name="FNanchor_330_330" id="FNanchor_330_330"></a><a href="#Footnote_330_330" class="fnanchor">[330]</a> he invokes some twenty deities, adding to these +eight, Nusku, Khani, Gaga, Sherua, Nin-gal, a god Azag-sir, +and Nin-ib under three different forms; but it is evident +that most of these are added to give effect and solemnity. +They do not form part of the active pantheon. His successor, +Esarhaddon, sets up various groups. At one time he enumerates +Ashur, Sin, Shamash, Nabu, Marduk, Ishtar of Nineveh, +Ishtar of Arbela; at another he prefers different combinations +of these gods. Ashurbanabal is more consistent than most of +the Assyrian rulers, and furnishes at the same time the best +list. While he, too, frequently mentions only a few deities, +grouping three or four together, his longer series consists, with +but one or two exceptions, invariably of the following, and +who always occur in the same order: Ashur, Belit, Sin, Shamash, +Ramman, Bel (<i>i.e.</i>, Marduk), Nabu, Ishtar of Nineveh, +the queen of Kidmuru, Ishtar of Arbela, Nin-ib, Nergal, and +Nusku—thirteen in all. Of these, as we have seen, only +some were actively worshipped at all times in Assyria; as for +the others, the popularity of their cult varied from age to age, +now being actively carried on under the stimulus afforded by +the erection or improvement of an edifice sacred to the god, +and again falling into comparative insignificance; but formally, +at least, all these gods were regarded at all times as forming +part of the pantheon of the 'great gods.' The testimony of +Ashurbanabal thus becomes valuable as a proof that to the +latest days of the Assyrian monarchy, the attachment to these +gods was still strong enough to merit the formal acknowledgments +of the king to them on all occasions, and that through +their combined aid the glorious achievements of the past and +present were attained.</p> + +<h3><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_328_328" id="Footnote_328_328"></a><a href="#FNanchor_328_328"><span class="label">[328]</span></a> Cylinder, ll. 67-73.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_329_329" id="Footnote_329_329"></a><a href="#FNanchor_329_329"><span class="label">[329]</span></a> Ea's consort; see above, p. <a href="#Page_231">231</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_330_330" id="Footnote_330_330"></a><a href="#FNanchor_330_330"><span class="label">[330]</span></a> Meissner-Rost, <i>Bauinschriften Sanherib's</i>, p. 99.</p></div> + + + + +<h2><a name="chapter-xiv" id="chapter-xiv"></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h2> + +<h3>THE NEO-BABYLONIAN PERIOD.</h3> + + +<p>When upon the fall of the Assyrian empire, in 606 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>, +Babylonia regained her full measure of independence, Marduk +once more obtained undisputed sway at the head of the pantheon. +True, so far as Babylonia was concerned, Marduk was +always the acknowledged head, but during the period that +Assyria held Babylonia in a more or less rigid form of subjection +it was inevitable that Ashur should lower the prestige of +Marduk. When the kings of Assyria paid their respects to +Marduk, it was always as second in rank to Ashur; and, what is +more, they claimed Marduk and the other gods of Babylonia as +their own, and as upholders of their own sovereignty. When +the kings feel impelled to invade the southern districts, they +not only claim to be under the protection of the Babylonian +gods, but they carry these gods with them into the land to be +invaded. 'Bel and the gods of Akkad leave Assyria and go to +Babylonia' is the official term in which a campaign against +Babylonia is described.<a name="FNanchor_331_331" id="FNanchor_331_331"></a><a href="#Footnote_331_331" class="fnanchor">[331]</a> In the eyes of the Babylonians such a +haughty assumption on the part of the Assyrians must have been +regarded as humiliating to Marduk, Nabu, and their associates.</p> + +<p>The state of affairs changed when Nebopolassar at the end +of the seventh century once more claimed independent control +over Babylonia. Marduk triumphs over Ashur. He is once +more the great god, lord of gods, supreme king of the Igigi, +the father of the Anunnaki—all titles that the Assyrians were +fond of heaping upon Ashur. One feels the anxiety of Nebopolassar<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span> +to emphasize the new order of things by attributing +once more to Marduk what was formerly claimed for Ashur. +The successor of Nebopolassar, the great Nebuchadnezzar, continues +the policy of his father. He neglects no opportunity for +exalting Marduk as the king, the creator, the leader of the gods, +the lord of everything, the merciful one, the light of the gods, the +all-wise. Nabu shares the honors with Marduk. Nebopolassar, +indeed, accords to Nabu an equal share, and he does not hesitate +at times to place the name Nabu before that of Marduk.<a name="FNanchor_332_332" id="FNanchor_332_332"></a><a href="#Footnote_332_332" class="fnanchor">[332]</a> He +does not speak of Nabu as the son of Marduk, and seems to be +at particular pains to emphasize the equality of Nabu with +Marduk. In this respect Nebopolassar presents a contrast to +Hammurabi, who, it will be recalled, made an attempt to suppress +the Nabu cult.<a name="FNanchor_333_333" id="FNanchor_333_333"></a><a href="#Footnote_333_333" class="fnanchor">[333]</a> Nebopolassar, however, does not go to +the extent of endeavoring to make Nabu supersede Marduk. +He contents himself with manifesting his partiality for the +former, and it is probably no accident that both his official +name and that of his son contain the god Nabu as one of +their elements, and not Marduk. One is inclined to suspect +that this popularity of the Nabu cult is a trace of Assyrian +influence. But whatever may have been Nebopolassar's intention +in exalting Nabu at the cost of Marduk, Nebuchadnezzar +restores the old relationship between the two. For him Nabu +is again merely the son of Marduk, and he honors Nabu in this +capacity. Like the Assyrian Nabu, the god places the sceptre +in the king's hands, but he is, after all, only the supreme +messenger of Marduk. In the closing days of the Babylonian +monarchy a more serious attempt, it would appear, was made +to displace Marduk. Nabonnedos formed the design of replacing +both Marduk and Nabu by the cult of Shamash. He incurs +the ill-will of the priests by paying much more attention to the +restoration of the various Shamash temples in Babylonia than<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span> +would appear to be consistent with devotion to Marduk. Cyrus, +therefore, in his conquest of Babylonia, sets up the claim of +being the savior of Marduk's honor.<a name="FNanchor_334_334" id="FNanchor_334_334"></a><a href="#Footnote_334_334" class="fnanchor">[334]</a></p> + +<p>The Neo-Babylonian period may properly be designated as +a religious age. The rulers, anxious to manifest their gratitude +to the gods, and prompted in part, no doubt, by the desire to +emulate the glorious architectural achievements of the Assyrian +monarchs, devote themselves assiduously to the improvement +of the great temples of the city of Babylon, and to the restoration +or enlargement of those scattered throughout the country. +Nebopolassar sets the example in this respect, which is considerably +improved upon by Nebuchadnezzar. Over forty temples +and shrines are mentioned in the latter's inscriptions as having +been improved, enlarged, or restored by him; and the last king +of Babylonia, Nabonnedos, endeavors to continue this royal +policy of temple-building. In this respect the Neo-Babylonian +rulers present a contrast to the Assyrian rulers, who were +much more concerned in rearing grand edifices for themselves. +While the gods were not neglected in Assyria, one hears much +more of the magnificent palaces erected by the kings than of +temples and shrines. In fact, as compared with Babylonia, +Assyria was poor in the number of her temples. The chief +sanctuaries to which the Neo-Babylonian kings devoted themselves +were, in the first instance, E-sagila of Babylon and +E-zida of Borsippa. Nebopolassar and his successors are +fond of giving themselves the title of 'beautifier of E-Sagila +and E-zida.' In these great temples sacred to Marduk and +Nebo, there were shrines to Sarpanitum, Tashmitum, Nusku, +Ea and others, which also engaged the energies of the rulers.</p> + +<p>After Babylon came the old sanctuaries in the ancient religious +centers of the south,—the temples to Shamash and his +consort at Sippar and Larsa, the temples to Sin at Ur and Harran,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span> +to the old Ishtar or Anunit at Agade, to Nanâ in Erech. +Thirdly, the cities of Babylon and Borsippa, to which the +kings, especially Nebuchadnezzar, are deeply attached, were +enriched with many sanctuaries more or less imposing, sacred +to a variety of deities. So Shamash, Sin, Nin-makh,—<i>i.e.</i>, the +great lady, or Ishtar,—Nin-khar-shag, Gula, also appearing as +Nin-Karrak,<a name="FNanchor_335_335" id="FNanchor_335_335"></a><a href="#Footnote_335_335" class="fnanchor">[335]</a> have their temples in Babylon, while Ramman +has one in Borsippa, and Gula no less than three sanctuaries—perhaps +only small chapels—in Borsippa. Fourthly, there +are sanctuaries of minor importance in other quarters of Babylonia. +Among these we find mention of the improvement of +sanctuaries to the local deity of Marad, whom Nebuchadnezzar +simply calls Lugal-Marada, <i>i.e.</i>, king of Marad, to Bel-sarbi, or +Shar-sarbi, in Baz,—perhaps a title of Nergal,—to Nin-ib in +Dilbat, to Ramman in Kumari(?).</p> + +<p>Most of these sanctuaries are referred to in the inscriptions +of Nebuchadnezzar—a circumstance which, in connection with +the many other gods whom he invokes on various occasions, +points to a great revival of ancient cults in his days. Some of +these cults had never reached any degree of importance prior +to his time. Hence it happens that we come across deities in +his inscriptions of whom no mention is found elsewhere. It is +probable that such gods were purely local deities, some of them, +if not many, being at the same time personifications of the powers +or phenomena of nature, while others may be familiar gods, +masquerading under strange attributes. Unfortunately most of +these gods are written in ideographic fashion, so that we cannot +be certain of the reading of their names. Among these are +Nin-lil-anna, a goddess called by Nebuchadnezzar 'the lady +who loves me,'<a name="FNanchor_336_336" id="FNanchor_336_336"></a><a href="#Footnote_336_336" class="fnanchor">[336]</a> and Tur-lil-en,<a name="FNanchor_337_337" id="FNanchor_337_337"></a><a href="#Footnote_337_337" class="fnanchor">[337]</a> a god who is described as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> +'breaking the weapons of enemies.' As for Bel-sarbi, or Shar-sarbi, +the god of Baz,<a name="FNanchor_338_338" id="FNanchor_338_338"></a><a href="#Footnote_338_338" class="fnanchor">[338]</a> they appear to be titles rather than +names. Dibbarra, Nergal and his consort Laz, and Zamama +are also included in the pantheon of Nebuchadnezzar.</p> + +<p>In regard to none of these deities do we find any conceptions +different from those developed in the period of Hammurabi, +any more than in the conceptions of those gods who occupy a +more prominent place in the pantheon. Shamash is the judge, +Sin is the wise one, Ramman the thunderer, and so on throughout +the list. It was not a period favorable to the production of +new religious thought, but only to the more or less artificial +revival of old cults.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>With the conquest of Babylonia by Cyrus in 539 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>, we +reach the close of the period to be embraced in a history of the +Babylonian-Assyrian religion. True, the Marduk and Nabu +cults were upheld by the Persian rulers, and the policy of the +latter in not disturbing the religious status was continued by +the Greeks when they in turn succeeded the Persians in their +control of Babylonia, but the presence of strange civilizations +with totally different religious trains of thought was bound to +affect the character of the old faith, and in time to threaten its +existence. At all events, it ceases to have any interest for us. +There are no further lines of development upon which it enters. +The period of decay, of slow but sure decay, has set in. The +cuneiform writing continues to be used till almost the beginning +of our era, and so the religious cults draw out their +existence to a late period; but as the writing and the civilization +yield before new forces that entirely alter the character +of Oriental culture, so also the religion, after sinking ever<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span> +lower into the bogs of superstition, disappears, much as the +canals and little streams of the Euphrates valley, through +the neglect which settled over the country, become lost in the +death-breeding swamps and marshes.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span></p> + +<h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_331_331" id="Footnote_331_331"></a><a href="#FNanchor_331_331"><span class="label">[331]</span></a> Babylonian Chronicle B, col. iv. ll. 34, 35.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_332_332" id="Footnote_332_332"></a><a href="#FNanchor_332_332"><span class="label">[332]</span></a> <i>Zeitschrift für Assyriologie</i>, II. 72, col. i. ll. 2, 3.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_333_333" id="Footnote_333_333"></a><a href="#FNanchor_333_333"><span class="label">[333]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_127">127</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_334_334" id="Footnote_334_334"></a><a href="#FNanchor_334_334"><span class="label">[334]</span></a> See a paper by Tiele, on "Cyrus and the Babylonian +Religion," in the <i>Proceedings of the Amsterdam Academy</i>, 1896.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_335_335" id="Footnote_335_335"></a><a href="#FNanchor_335_335"><span class="label">[335]</span></a> For the identity of Nin-Karrak and Gula, see the 'Shurpu' +Incantation Series, iv. l. 86 (ed. Zimmern), where the former is called +the 'great physician,'—the epithet peculiar to Gula.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_336_336" id="Footnote_336_336"></a><a href="#FNanchor_336_336"><span class="label">[336]</span></a> East India House Inscription, col. iv. l. 44.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_337_337" id="Footnote_337_337"></a><a href="#FNanchor_337_337"><span class="label">[337]</span></a> VR. 34, col. ii. l. 26, or simply Tur-lil (East India House +Inscription, col. iv. l. 49, not Tur-e, as Winckler, <i>Keils Bibl.</i> +3, 2, 18, reads).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_338_338" id="Footnote_338_338"></a><a href="#FNanchor_338_338"><span class="label">[338]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, king or lord of Sarbi. Pognon (<i>Les +Inscriptions Babyloniennes de Wadl Brissa</i>), p. 46, is of the opinion +that <i>sarbi</i> is the palm, but he fails to bring sufficient proof, +and his theory is improbable. The stem <i>sarabu</i> means to burn, and +the "fiery lord" is certainly an epithet belonging to some solar deity.</p></div> + + + + +<h2><a name="chapter-xv" id="chapter-xv"></a>CHAPTER XV.</h2> + +<h3>THE RELIGIOUS LITERATURE OF BABYLONIA.</h3> + + +<p>The pantheon of a religion presents us with the external +phases of the religion in question. In order to penetrate +further towards the core of the religion, and to see it at its +best, the religious thought as manifested in the national literature +constitutes our most valuable guide. The beginnings of +Babylonian literature are enveloped in obscurity. We have +seen that we are justified in passing beyond the period of +Hammurabi<a name="FNanchor_339_339" id="FNanchor_339_339"></a><a href="#Footnote_339_339" class="fnanchor">[339]</a> for these beginnings, but exactly when and precisely +how the literary spirit first manifested itself in Babylonia +will probably remain for a long time, if not for always, a matter +of conjecture. The great political and religious centers of +Babylonia, such as Ur, Sippar, Agade, Eridu, Nippur, Uruk, +perhaps also Lagash, and later on Babylon, formed the foci of +literary activity, as they were the starting-points of commercial +enterprise. This intimate connection of religion with literature +left its impress upon all branches into which the Babylonian +literature was in the course of time differentiated. In a certain +sense all the literature of Babylonia is religious. Even the +legal formulas, as embodied in the so-called contract tablets, +have a religious tinge. The priests being the scribes, a contract +of any kind between two or more parties was a religious +compact. The oath which accompanied the compact involved +an invocation of the gods. The decree of the judges in a disputed +suit was confirmed by an appeal to the gods. The terms +in which the parties bound themselves consisted largely of +religious phrases, and finally the dating of the tablet often contained +a reference to some religious festival or to some event<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> +of religious import—such as the building of a sanctuary. +Science, so far as it existed in Babylonia, never loosened the +leading-strings that bound it to the prevailing religious thought. +The observation of the stars was carried on under the belief of +the supposed influence exerted by the heavenly bodies upon +the fate of man; and surprising as we find the development of +astronomical calculations and forecasts to be, mathematics does +not pass beyond the limits of astrology. Medicine was likewise +the concern of the priests. Disease was a divine infliction +supposed to be due to the direct presence in the body, or to +the hidden influence, of some pernicious spirit. The cure was +effected by the exorcising of the troublesome spirit through +prescribed formulas of supposed power, accompanied by symbolical +acts. There is indeed no branch of human knowledge +which so persistently retains its connection with religious beliefs +among all peoples of antiquity as the one which to-day is +regarded as resting solely upon a materialistic basis. As a +consequence the Babylonians, although they made some progress +in medicinal methods, and more especially in medical +diagnosis, never dissociated medicinal remedies from the appeal +to the gods. The recital of formulas was supposed to secure +by their magic force the effectiveness of the medical potions +that were offered to the sufferer.</p> + +<p>As for the historical texts, the preceding chapters have illustrated +how full they are of religious allusions, how at every +turn we meet with the influence exerted by the priests as the +composers of these texts. Almost all occurrences are given a +religious coloring. That these texts furnish us with such valuable +material, and such a quantity of it, is indeed to be traced +directly to the fact that the historical literature is also the direct +production of the religious leaders and guides of the people, +acting at the command of rulers, who were desirous of emphasizing +their dependence upon the gods of the country, and who +made this dependence the basis of the authority they exerted.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span></p> + +<p>Such being the general aspect of Babylonian literature, it is +not always possible to draw a sharp line separating religious +productions from such as may properly be termed secular. For +example, the zodiacal system of the Babylonians, which we +shall have occasion to discuss, although presenting a scientific +aspect, is in reality an outcome of the religious thought; and +so at other points it is necessary to pass over into the region of +secular thought for illustrations of the religious beliefs. Bearing +this in mind, we may set up a fivefold division of the +religious literature of the Babylonians in the stricter sense: (1) +the magical texts, (2) the hymns and prayers, (3) omens and +forecasts, (4) the cosmology, (5) epics and legends. It will be +apparent that the first three divisions represent a practical part +of the literature, while the two latter are of a more purely +literary character. The magical texts, as well as the hymns +and prayers and omens, we can well imagine were produced as +circumstances called them forth, and one can also understand +how they should, at an early age, have been committed to writing. +The incantations serving the practical purpose already referred +to of securing a control over the spirit, it will be readily seen +that such as had demonstrated their effectiveness would become +popular. The desire would arise to preserve them for +future generations. With that natural tendency of loose custom +to become fixed law, these incantations would come to be +permanently associated with certain temples. Rituals would +thus arise. The incantation would be committed to writing so +that one generation of priests might be certain of furnishing +orthodox instruction to the other; and, once written, they would +form part of the temple archives, finding a place in these archives +by the side of the contract tablets, for which the sacred edifices +of the country also served as depositories. The large quantity +of incantation texts that have been found in Ashurbanabal's +library,<a name="FNanchor_340_340" id="FNanchor_340_340"></a><a href="#Footnote_340_340" class="fnanchor">[340]</a> as well as the variations and contrasts they present<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span> +when compared with one another, are probably due to the +various sources whence the scribes of the king, who were sent +to the libraries of the south, collected their material. It is +only reasonable to suppose that each great temple acquired in +the course of time a ritual of its own, which, while perhaps not +differing in any essential points from that introduced in another +place, yet deviated from it sufficiently to impart to it a character +of its own. In the case of some of the texts that have +been preserved, it is still possible to determine through certain +traits that they exhibit in what religious center they were produced. +With considerable more guarantee of accuracy can +this be done in the case of the hymns and prayers. Addressed +as the latter were to certain deities, it stands to reason that +they were written for use in the temples sacred to those deities, +or, if not to be used, at least composed in honor of certain +sanctuaries that contained the images of the deities thus exalted. +Again, in the historical inscriptions of the Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian +periods, prayers are introduced, and we are as a +general thing expressly told on what occasion they were composed +and in what sanctuary they were uttered. We may +therefore conclude that those which have been preserved independently +also served a practical purpose, and were written, not +merely for certain occasions, but for certain places. The practical +purpose served by texts containing omens and forecasts +derived from the observation of the planets and stars, from +monstrosities—human and animal—from strange occurrences, +accidents, and the like, is too obvious to require demonstration. +But while duly emphasizing the practical purpose that gave rise +to the incantation texts, the hymns, the prayers and omens, +we must be careful not to press this point too far. The +rituals of the various temples once being fixed, the impulse +to literary composition would still go on in an age marked by +intellectual activity. The practical purpose would be followed +by the pure love of composition. The attachment to certain<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span> +sanctuaries or certain deities would inspire earnest and gifted +priests to further efforts. Accordingly, while we cannot be +certain that among the actual remains of magical texts and +hymns we may not have specimens that belong to this class, +there is no reason to question that such must have been produced. +The guarantee for this hypothesis is furnished by the +compositions that reflect the cosmological beliefs, the epics +and legends that form the second half of the religious productions +of Babylonia.</p> + +<p>Speculation regarding the origin of the universe belongs to +an early period in the development of culture. There are few +people, however primitive their culture, who are not attracted +by the spirit of curiosity to seek for some solution of the mysteries +which they daily witness; but the systematization of these +speculations does not take place until a body of men arises +among a people capable of giving to the popular fancies a logical +sequence, or the approach at least to a rational interpretation. +This process, which resulted in producing in Babylonia +compositions that unfold a system of creation, is one of long +duration. It proceeds under the influence of the intellectual +movements that manifest themselves from time to time with the +attendant result that, as the conceptions become more definite +and more elaborate, they reflect more accurately the aspirations +of the various generations engaged in bringing these conceptions +to their final form. When finally these beliefs and speculations +are committed to writing, it is done in part for the +purpose of assuring them a greater degree of permanence, and +in part to establish more definitely the doctrines developed in +the schools—to define, as it were, the norm of theological and +philosophical thought.</p> + +<p>In examining, therefore, the cosmological speculations of the +Babylonians as they appear in the literary productions, we must +carefully distinguish between those portions which are the productions +of popular fancy, and therefore old, and those parts<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span> +which give evidence of having been worked out in the schools. +In a general way, also, we must distinguish between the contents +and the form given to the speculations in question. We +shall see in due time that a certain amount of historical tradition, +however dimmed, has entered into the views evolved in +Babylonia regarding the origin of things, inasmuch as the science +of origins included for the Babylonians the beginning, not +merely of gods, men, animals, and plants, but also of cities and +of civilization in general. Still more pronounced is the historical +spirit in the case of the epics and legends that here, as +everywhere else, grew to even larger proportions, and were +modified even after they were finally committed to writing. +The great heroes of the past do not perish from the memory +of a people, nor does the recollection of great events entirely +pass away. In proportion as the traditions of the past become +dimmed, the more easily do they lend themselves to a blending +with popular myths regarding the phenomena of nature. To this +material popularly produced, a literary shape would be given +through the same medium that remodeled the popular cosmological +speculations. The task would have a more purely +literary aspect than that of systematizing the current views +regarding the origin and order of things, since it would be free +from any doctrinal tendency. The chief motive that would +prompt the <i>literati</i> to thus collect the stories of favorite heroes +and the traditions and the legends of the past would be—in +addition, perhaps, to the pure pleasure of composition—the +desire to preserve the stories for future generations, while a +minor factor that may have entered into consideration would be +the pedagogical one of adding to the material for study that +might engage the attention and thoughts of the young aspirants +to sacred and secular lore. While the ultimate aim of learning +in Babylonia remained for all times a practical one, namely, +the ability to act as a scribe or to serve in the cult, to render +judicial decisions or to observe the movements of the stars, to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span> +interpret the signs of nature and the like, it was inevitable that +through the intellectual activity thus evoked there would arise +a spirit of a love of learning for learning's sake, and at all +events a fondness for literary pursuits independent of any +purely practical purposes served by such pursuits.</p> + +<p>In this way we may account for the rise of the several +divisions of the religious literature of Babylonia. Before turning +to a detailed exposition of each of these divisions, it only +remains to emphasize the minor part taken in all these literary +labors by the Assyrians. The traditions embodied in the cosmological +productions, the epics and legends of Babylonia, are +no doubt as much the property of the Assyrians as of their +southern cousins, just as the conceptions underlying the incantation +texts and the hymns and prayers and omens, though produced +in the south, are on the whole identical with those current +in the north. Whatever differences we have discovered between +the phases of the Babylonian-Assyrian religion, as manifested in +the north and in the south, are not of a character to affect the +questions and views involved in the religious literature. The +stamp given to the literary products in this field, taken as a +whole, is distinctly Babylonian. It is the spirit of the south +that breathes through almost all the religious texts that have as +yet been discovered. Only in some of the prayers and oracles +and omens that are inserted in the historical inscriptions of Assyrian +kings, or have been transmitted independently, do we recognize +the work of Assyrian <i>literati</i>, imbued with a spirit peculiar +to Assyria. Perhaps, too, in the final shape given to the tales +connected with the creation of the gods and of men we may +detect an Assyrian influence on Babylonian thought, some concession +made at a period of Assyrian supremacy to certain +religious conceptions peculiar to the north. But such influences +are of an indirect character, and we may accept the statement +of Ashurbanabal as literally true that the literature collected by +him is a copy of what was found in the great literary archives<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span> +of the south—and not only found, but produced there. In +imitation of the example set by the south, schools were of a +certainty established in Nineveh, Arbela, and elsewhere for the +education of priests, scribes, and judges; but we have no evidence +to show that they ever developed to the point of becoming +intellectually independent of Babylonian <i>models</i>, except +perhaps in minor particulars that need not enter into our calculations. +This relationship between the intellectual life of +Babylonia and Assyria finds its illustration and proof, not +merely in the religious literature, but in the religious art and +cult which, as we shall see, like the literature, bear the distinct +impress of their southern origin, though modified in passing +from the south to the north.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span></p> + +<h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_339_339" id="Footnote_339_339"></a><a href="#FNanchor_339_339"><span class="label">[339]</span></a> See above, pp. <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a> <i>seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_340_340" id="Footnote_340_340"></a><a href="#FNanchor_340_340"><span class="label">[340]</span></a> See pp. <a href="#Page_12">12</a>-14.</p></div> + + + + +<h2><a name="chapter-xvi" id="chapter-xvi"></a>CHAPTER XVI.</h2> + +<h3>THE MAGICAL TEXTS.</h3> + + +<p>Turning to the first subdivision of Babylonian religious +literature, we find remains sufficient to justify us in concluding +that there must have been produced a vast number of texts containing +formulas and directions for securing a control over the +spirits which were supposed at all times to be able to exercise +a certain amount of power over men. By virtue of the aim +served by these productions we may group them under the head +of magical texts, or incantations. We have already indicated +the manner in which these incantations grew into more or less +rigid temple rituals. This growth accounts for the fact that +the incantations generally framed in by ceremonial directions, +prayers, and reflections, were combined into a continuous +series (or volume, as we would say) of varying length, covering +nine, ten, a dozen, twenty tablets or more. It has been generally +assumed that these incantation texts constitute the oldest +division of the religious literature of the Babylonians. The +assertion in an unqualified form is hardly accurate, for the +incantation texts, such as they lie before us, give evidence of +having been submitted to the influences of an age much later +than the one in which their substance was produced. Conceptions +have been carried into them that were originally absent, +and a form given to them that obliges us to distinguish between +the underlying concepts, and the manner in which these concepts +have been combined with views that reflect a later and, +in many respects, a more advanced period. The incantation +texts are certainly no older than texts furnishing omens. Some +of the incantation texts indeed may not be any older than portions +of the creation epic, and in the latter, as in other parts of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span> +the religious literature, there are elements as ancient and as +primitive as anything to be found in the omens or incantations. +So much, however, is true, that the incantations represent the +earliest ritual proper to the Babylonian cult, and that the conceptions +underlying this ritual are the emanation of popular +thought, or, if you choose, of popular fancy of a most primitive +character. It is also true that, on the whole, the incantation +texts retain more traces of primitive popular thought than other +divisions of the religious literature with the exception of the +omens. The remodeling to which they were subjected did not +destroy their original character to the extent that might have +been expected—a circumstance due in the first instance to +the persistency of the beliefs that called these texts forth.</p> + +<p>Many of the texts containing incantations were found by the +modern explorers in so mutilated a condition, that one can +hardly hazard any generalizations as to the system followed in +putting the incantations together. From the fact, however, that +in so many instances the incantations form a series of longer +or shorter extent, we may, for the present at least, conclude that +the serial form was the method generally followed; and at all +events, if not the general method, certainly a favorite one. +Deviating from the ordinary custom of calling the series +according to the opening line of the first tablet, the incantation +texts were given a distinct title, which was either descriptive or +chosen with reference to their general contents. So one series +which covered at least sixteen tablets was known by the very +natural name of the 'evil demon'; the incantations that it contained +being intended as a protection against various classes of +demons. Another is known as the series of 'head sickness,' +and which deals, though not exclusively, with various forms of +derangements having their seat in the brain. It covered +no less than nine tablets. Two others bear names that +are almost synonymous,—"Shurpu" and "Maklu," both +signifying 'burning,' and so called from the chief topic dealt<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span> +with in them, the burning of images of the sorcerers, and the +incantations to be recited in connection with this symbolical +act. The "Maklu" series embraced eight tablets and contained, +according to Tallqvist's calculations,<a name="FNanchor_341_341" id="FNanchor_341_341"></a><a href="#Footnote_341_341" class="fnanchor">[341]</a> originally about +1,550 lines, or upwards of 9,000 words. The "Shurpu" series, +although embracing nine tablets, appears to have been somewhat +shorter. In view of the extensive character of these +series we are justified in speaking of incantation 'rituals.' The +texts were evidently prepared with a practical purpose in view. +The efficacy of certain formulas having been demonstrated, it +was obviously of importance that their exact form should be +preserved for future reference. But a given formula was effective +only for a given case, or at most for certain correlated +cases, and accordingly it became necessary to collect as many +formulas as possible to cover all emergencies. The priests, +acting as exorcisers, would be the ones interested in making +such collections, and we may assume, as already suggested, +that each temple would develop a collection of its own,—an +incantation code that served as a guide for its priests. The +natural tendency would be for these codes to increase from +generation to generation, perhaps not rapidly, but steadily. New +cases not as yet provided for would arise, and new formulas +with new instructions would be produced; or the exorcisers +at a certain temple would learn of remedies tried elsewhere, +and would embody them in their own special code. In short, +the growth of these incantation 'rituals' was probably similar +to the manner in which, on the basis of actual practice, religious +codes grew up around the sanctuaries of ancient Israel,—a +process that terminated in the production of the various codes +and rituals constituting the legal documents embodied in the +Pentateuch.</p> + +<p>The prominence given to Ea and to his favorite seat, the +city of Eridu, in the incantations suggests the theory that many<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span> +of our texts are to be ultimately traced to the temple of Ea, +that once stood at Eridu. In that case an additional proof +would be furnished of the great antiquity of the use of incantations +in Babylonia. We must sharply distinguish however, as +already emphasized, between the origin and the present form +of the rituals. Again, those parts of a ritual in which Gibil, or +Nusku, appears prominently would most naturally be produced +by priests connected with a temple sacred to the one or the +other of these gods. The practice of incantation, however, +being common to all parts of Babylonia, we can hardly suppose +that any temple should have existed which did not have its +exorcising formulas. In the combination of these formulas +into a ritual, due consideration would naturally be had to the +special gods invoked, the obvious result of which would be to +produce the long lists of deities that are often embodied in a +single incantation. The details of this process can of course +no longer be discerned, but the inevitable tendency would be +towards increasing complications. The effort would be made +to collect everything, and from all known quarters. Hence the +heterogeneous elements to be detected in the texts, and which, +while adding to their interest, also increase the difficulty of +their interpretation. In consequence of the presence of such +heterogeneous elements, it is difficult to determine within an +incantation series any guiding principles that prompted the +collectors. Still we can often distinguish large groups in a +series that belong together. So we have whole series of +addresses to the fire-god ending with incantations, and again a +series of descriptions of the group of seven spirits serving a +similar purpose as introductions to incantations, but we cannot +see on what grounds the transition from one subject to the +other takes place. Indeed the transitions are generally marked +by their abruptness.</p> + +<p>The only legitimate inference is that the main purpose of the +collectors of incantation texts was to exhaust the subject so far<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span> +as lay in their power. They included in their codes as much +as possible. The exorciser would have no difficulty in threading +his way through the complicated mass. He would select the +division appropriate to the case before him without much concern +of what preceded or followed in the text. Moreover, these +divisions in the texts were clearly marked by dividing lines, +still to be seen on the clay tablets. These divisions correspond +so completely to divisions in the subject-matter that the +purely practical purpose they served can hardly be called into +question, while at the same time they furnish additional proof +for the compiled character of the texts.</p> + +<p>As for the date of the composition of the texts, the union of +the Babylonian states under Hammurabi, with its necessary +result, the supremacy of Marduk, that finds its reflection in the +texts, furnishes us with a terminus <i>a quo</i> beyond which we need +not proceed for <i>final</i> editing. On the other hand, there are +indications in the language which warrant us in not passing +below 2000 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span> as the period when many of the incantation +texts received their present form, and the editions were completed +from which many centuries afterwards the Assyrian +scribes prepared their copies for their royal masters.</p> + +<p>There is, of course, no reason for assuming that all our texts +should be of one age, or that the copying and, in part, the editing +should not have gone on continually. Necessity for further +copies would arise with the steady growth of the temples. Priests +would be engaged in making copies for themselves, either for +their edification as a pious work, or for real use; and accordingly, +in fixing upon any date for the texts, one can hardly do more than +assign certain broad limits within which the texts, so far as their +present contents are concerned, may have been completed. The +<i>copies</i> themselves may of course belong to a much later period +without, for that reason, being more recent productions.</p> + +<p>Attention must also be directed to the so-called 'bilingual' +form, in which many of the incantation texts are edited; each<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span> +line being first written in the ideographic style, and then followed +by a transliteration into the phonetic style.<a name="FNanchor_342_342" id="FNanchor_342_342"></a><a href="#Footnote_342_342" class="fnanchor">[342]</a> The use of +the ideographic style is a survival of the ancient period when +all texts were written in this manner, and the conservatism +attaching to all things religious accounts for the continuation +of the ideographic style in the religious rituals down to the +latest period, beyond the time when even according to those +who see in the ideographic style a language distinct from Babylonian, +this supposed non-Semitic tongue was no longer spoken +by the people, and merely artificially maintained, like the Latin +of the Middle Ages. The frequent lack of correspondence in +minor points between the ideographic style and the phonetic +transliteration shows that the latter was intended merely as a +version, as a guide and aid to the understanding of the 'conservative' +method of writing. It was not necessary for a transliteration +to be accurate, whereas, in the case of a translation, +the greatest care would naturally be taken to preserve the +original sacred text with all nicety and accuracy, since upon +accuracy and nicety the whole efficacy of the formulas rested. +The redaction of the incantation texts in the double style must +not be regarded as a necessary indication of high antiquity, but +only as a proof that the oldest incantation texts were written in +the ideographic style, and that for this reason the custom was +continued down to the latest period. On the other hand, the +addition of the transliteration points to a period when the old +style could no longer be read by the priests with facility without +some guide, and incidentally proves again that the texts +have gone through an editing process. But in the course of +time, additions to the ritual were made, written in the phonetic +style; and then it would happen, as a concession to religious +conservatism, that the text would be translated back into the +ideographic form. We would then have a "bilingual" text,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span> +consisting of Babylonian and an artificial "Sumero-Akkadian." +That incantations were also composed in pure Babylonian +without reference to any "Sumero-Akkadian" original is conclusively +shown by the metrical traits frequently introduced. +Many of the sections—by no means all—can be divided into +regular stanzas of four, six, or eight lines, and frequently to the +stanza is added a line which forms what Professor D. H. Müller<a name="FNanchor_343_343" id="FNanchor_343_343"></a><a href="#Footnote_343_343" class="fnanchor">[343]</a> +calls the "response." The same metrical traits being found in +other parts of the Babylonian literature,—so, <i>e.g.</i>, in the creation +epic,—their occurrence in the incantation texts is of course not +accidental. When, therefore, we come across a ritual as the +"Maklu" series, written exclusively in the phonetic style, and +giving evidence of being in part a metrical composition, we are +justified in assuming this to have been the original form. Again, +in the case of another series,—the "Shurpu," in part Babylonian, +in part bilingual,<a name="FNanchor_344_344" id="FNanchor_344_344"></a><a href="#Footnote_344_344" class="fnanchor">[344]</a>—since the Babylonian section shows +the metrical form, it is likely that the ideographic style represents +a transliteration of a phonetic, or pure Babylonian, +original.</p> + +<p>The chief value of the incantation texts lies, naturally, in the +insight they afford into the popular beliefs. As among other +nations, so among the Babylonians, the use of certain formulas +to secure release from ills, pains, and evils of any kind, either +actual or portending, rests upon the theory that the accidents +and misfortunes to which man is heir are due largely to the +influence of more or less powerful spirits or demons, acting +independently or at the command of higher powers,—the gods.</p> + +<p>Through the incantation rituals we are enabled to specify +the traits popularly ascribed to these demons and the means +employed to rid oneself of their baneful grasp.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span></p> + +<h3>Demons.</h3> + +<p>The demons were of various kinds and of various grades of +power. The names of many of them, as <i>utukku</i>, <i>shedu</i>, <i>alu</i>, +<i>gallu</i>, point to 'strength' and 'greatness' as their main attribute; +other names, as <i>lilu</i>, 'night-spirit,' and the feminine form +<i>lilitu</i>, are indicative of the moment chosen by them for their +work; while again, names like <i>ekimmu</i>, the 'seizer,' <i>akhkhazu</i>, +the 'capturer,' <i>rabisu</i>, 'the one that lies in wait,' <i>labartu</i>, 'the +oppressor,' and <i>labasu</i>, 'the overthrower,' show the aim that +the demons have in view. Putting these names together, we +may form a general idea of the conceptions connected with the +demons. They lurk in hidden or remote places, in graves, in +the shadow of ruins, on the tops of mountains, in the wilderness. +Their favorite time of activity is at dead of night. They +glide noiselessly like serpents, entering houses through holes +and crevices. They are powerful, but their power is directed +solely towards evil. They take firm hold of their victims and +torture them mercilessly.</p> + +<p>To these demons all manner of evil is ascribed. Their presence +was felt in the destructive winds that swept the land. +The pestilent fevers that rise out of the marshes of the Euphrates +valley and the diseases bred by the humid heat of summer +were alike traced to demons lurking in the soil. Some of these +diseases, moreover, were personified, as <i>Namtar</i>, the demon +of 'plague,' and <i>Ashakku</i>, the demon of 'wasting disease.' +But the petty annoyances that disturb the peace of man—a +sudden fall, an unlucky word, a headache, petty quarrels, and +the like—were also due to the instigation of the demons; while +insanity and the stirring up of the passions—love, hatred, and +jealousy—were in a special sense indicative of the presence +and power of the demons. Men and women stood in constant +danger of them. Even the animals were not safe from their +attacks. They drive the birds out of their nests, strike down<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span> +lambs and bulls. It was impossible to forestall their attacks. +They enter a man's dwelling, they wander through the streets, +they make their way into food and drink. There is no place, +however small, which they cannot invade, and none, however +large, that they cannot fill. In a text which furnishes the sacred +formulas by means of which one can get rid of the demoniac +influence, a description is given of the demons which may +serve as an illustration of what has just been said. The incantation +is directed against a variety of the demons:<a name="FNanchor_345_345" id="FNanchor_345_345"></a><a href="#Footnote_345_345" class="fnanchor">[345]</a></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>The <i>utukku</i><a name="FNanchor_346_346" id="FNanchor_346_346"></a><a href="#Footnote_346_346" class="fnanchor">[346]</a> of the field and the <i>utukku</i> of the mountain,</p> +<p>The <i>utukku</i> of the sea and the one that lurks in graves,</p> +<p>The evil <i>shedu</i>, the shining <i>alu</i>.</p> +<p>The evil wind, the terrible wind,</p> +<p>That sets one's hair on end.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Against these the spirits of heaven and earth are invoked. +The text proceeds:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>The <i>utukku</i> that seizes hold of a man,</p> +<p>The <i>ekimmu</i> that seizes hold of a man,</p> +<p>The <i>ekimmu</i> that works evil,</p> +<p>The <i>utukku</i> that works evil.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>And after invoking against these demons, likewise, the spirits +of heaven and earth, the text passes on to an enumeration of a +long list of physical ills: sickness of the entrails, of the heart, +of the head, of the stomach, of the kidneys, of the limbs and +muscles, of the skin, and of the senses, which are all ascribed +to the influence of the demons.</p> + +<p>Apart from the demons that are naught but the personification +of certain diseases, it does not appear that the demons were +limited in their power to one specific kind of action. In other +words, sharp distinctions between the demons do not appear +to have been drawn. As appears from the extracts above<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span> +translated, the <i>utukku</i>, <i>shedu</i>, <i>alu</i>, and <i>ekimmu</i> were grouped +together, and hardly regarded as anything more than descriptive +epithets of a general class of demons. At the same time +it appears likely that at one time they were differentiated with +a greater degree of preciseness. So the <i>ekimmu</i> appears to be +the shadowy demon that hovers around graves, a species of +ghost or vampire that attacks people in the dead of night +and lays them prostrate. <i>Lilu</i> and <i>lilitu</i> are the spirits that +flit by in the night. Of a specific character likewise are +the conceptions connected with a demon known as <i>ardat lili</i>, +'maid of the night,' a strange female 'will-o'-the-wisp,' who +approaches men, arouses their passions, but does not permit a +satisfaction of them. Great importance being attached by the +Babylonians to dreams, the belief in a 'maid of the night' was +probably due to the unchecked play of the imagination during +the hours of sleep. Bad dreams came at the instigation of the +demons, and such a demon as the <i>rabisu</i> or the <i>labartu</i> appears +to have been especially associated with the horrible sensations +aroused by a 'nightmare.'<a name="FNanchor_347_347" id="FNanchor_347_347"></a><a href="#Footnote_347_347" class="fnanchor">[347]</a> Again the <i>utukku</i> is represented +at times as attacking the neck of man; the <i>gallu</i> attacks the +hand, the <i>ekimmu</i> the loins, the <i>alu</i> the breast. But these distinctions +count for little in the texts. <i>Utukku</i> becomes a general +name for demon, and <i>gallu</i>, <i>alu</i>, and <i>shedu</i> are either used +synonymously with <i>utukku</i> or thrown together with the latter +in a manner that clearly shows the general identity of the conceptions +ultimately connected with them. The same is the +case with the <i>rabisu</i> and <i>gallu</i>, with the <i>labartu</i>, +<i>akhkhazu</i>, and +<i>ekimmu</i>.</p> + +<p>The demons were always given some shape, animal or +human, for it was a necessary corollary of the stage of religious +thought to which the belief in demons belongs, that the demon +must not only be somewhere, though invisible to mankind, but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span> +also <i>in</i> something that manifests life. Among animals, those +calculated to inspire terror by their mysterious movements +were chosen, as serpents appearing and disappearing with +startling suddenness, or ugly scorpions, against whom it was +difficult to protect oneself, or the fabulous monsters with which +graves and pestiferous spots were peopled. Regions difficult +of access—the desert, the deep waters, the high mountains—were +the favorite haunts of the demons. Some of these demons +were frequently pictured in the boundary stones between fields, +in order to emphasize the curses hurled upon the head of him +who should trespass on the lawful rights of the owner of the +land.<a name="FNanchor_348_348" id="FNanchor_348_348"></a><a href="#Footnote_348_348" class="fnanchor">[348]</a> It is to such demons embodied in living form that +epithets such as the 'seizer,' the 'one that lurks,' and the like +apply with peculiar aptness. In a tablet belonging to a long +series of incantations,<a name="FNanchor_349_349" id="FNanchor_349_349"></a><a href="#Footnote_349_349" class="fnanchor">[349]</a> we find references to various animals—the +serpent, the scorpion, monsters—that are regarded as the +embodiment of demons.</p> + +<p>In the distinctively religious art, the evil spirits are often +pictured as ugly monsters that were to inspire terror by their +very aspect. Depicted on the monuments, singly or in groups,<a name="FNanchor_350_350" id="FNanchor_350_350"></a><a href="#Footnote_350_350" class="fnanchor">[350]</a> +the shape of wild animals was given to the head, while the +remainder of the body was suggestive of a human form. With +gaping mouths and armed with some weapon, they stand ready +to make an attack. The Assyrian kings, up to the latest period, +acknowledged the power of the demons by making huge representations +of them, which they placed at the approaches, +entrances, and divisions of their temples and palaces, in the +hope of thus securing their protection. The great bulls and +lions with human heads—so familiar to every one—are but +another form of the same idea. These colossal statues were +actually known by the name <i>shedu</i>, which we have seen is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span> +one of the general terms for 'demon.' But as a general thing, +this personal phase of the demon's existence is lost sight of. +Even though embodied in animal form, the demons could make +themselves invisible to man; and since most of their actions +were performed in secret, so that people were totally at their +mercy, the differentiation of the demons became a factor of +minor importance. With so large a quantity of demons at +command, it was difficult to hit upon the one who was manifesting +himself by some evil at any given moment. Accordingly, +instead of a single mention, a number or a group were enumerated, +and the magic formulas pronounced against them in +concert. We have one such group of seven to whom quite +a number of references are found in the incantation texts. A +section in one of these texts gives a vivid description of them:<a name="FNanchor_351_351" id="FNanchor_351_351"></a><a href="#Footnote_351_351" class="fnanchor">[351]</a></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Seven are they, they are seven,</p> +<p>In the subterranean deep, they are seven,</p> +<p>Perched (?) in the sky, they are seven,</p> +<p>In a section of the subterranean deep they were reared,</p> +<p>They are neither male nor are they female,</p> +<p>They are destructive whirlwinds,</p> +<p>They have no wife, nor do they beget offspring.</p> +<p>Compassion and mercy they do not know,</p> +<p>Prayer and supplication they do not hear,</p> +<p>Horses bred on the mountains, are they</p> +<p>Hostile to Ea<a name="FNanchor_352_352" id="FNanchor_352_352"></a><a href="#Footnote_352_352" class="fnanchor">[352]</a> are they,</p> +<p>Powerful ones among the gods are they.</p> +<p>To work mischief in the street they settle themselves in the highway.</p> +<p>Evil are they, they are evil,</p> +<p>Seven are they, they are seven, seven, and again seven<a name="FNanchor_353_353" id="FNanchor_353_353"></a><a href="#Footnote_353_353" class="fnanchor">[353]</a> are they.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>These seven spirits, who are elsewhere compared to various +animals, have power even to bewitch the gods. The eclipse of +the moon was attributed to their baneful influence. The number<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span> +seven is probably not to be taken literally. As among so +many nations,<a name="FNanchor_354_354" id="FNanchor_354_354"></a><a href="#Footnote_354_354" class="fnanchor">[354]</a> seven had a sacred significance for the Babylonians; +but largely, if not solely, for the reason, as I venture to +think, because seven was a large number. In the Old Testament +seven is similarly used to designate a large number. A +group of seven spirits, accordingly, meant no more than a miscellaneous +mass of spirits, and we may therefore regard this +'song of the seven' as a general characterization of the demons +who, according to this view, appear to move together in groups +rather than singly. Elsewhere<a name="FNanchor_355_355" id="FNanchor_355_355"></a><a href="#Footnote_355_355" class="fnanchor">[355]</a> we are told of this same +group of spirits 'that they were begotten in the mountain of +sunset,' <i>i.e.</i>, in the west, 'and were reared in the mountain of +sunrise,' <i>i.e.</i>, the east; 'that they dwell in the hollow of the +earth, and that they are proclaimed on the mountain tops.' +Evidently a description of this kind is intended to emphasize +the universal presence of the spirits. There is no place where +they are not found; and when we are furthermore told (apparently +in contradiction to what has just been said) 'that neither +in heaven nor earth is their name pronounced (<i>i.e.</i>, are they +known to be), that among the gods of the earth (<i>i.e.</i>, the pantheon) +they are not recognized, that neither in heaven nor +earth do they exist,' this is but the reverse of the picture +intended to illustrate the capability of the spirits to disappear +without leaving any trace of their presence. They are everywhere +and yet invisible. They come and they go, and no one +knows their place. Nothing is proof against their approach. +Of all the demons it is true, as of this group, that they slip +through bolts and doorposts and sockets, gliding, as we are +told, 'like snakes.' Such are the demons against whom man +must seek to protect himself.</p> + +<p>The relationship of the demons or spirits to the gods of the +pantheon has been touched upon in a previous chapter.<a name="FNanchor_356_356" id="FNanchor_356_356"></a><a href="#Footnote_356_356" class="fnanchor">[356]</a> It is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span> +sufficient here to emphasize the fact that the dividing line +between the two becomes at times exceedingly faint. A deity, +we have seen, is a spirit writ large; but often the demon assumes +dimensions and is clothed with power that makes him 'little +short of divine.' Strength is the attribute of the demons as it +is the chief feature of the gods. Both classes of powers influence +man's career. The names of the demons are preceded by +the same determinative that is used for the gods. As a matter +of fact, many of the spirits were originally worshipped as local +deities in some restricted territory, which, losing its importance, +bequeaths the name of its protective genius to posterity. In +the realm of religious belief, as in the domain of nature, absolute +loss of something that once had existence does not take +place. Something remains. Hundreds of old local gods of +Babylonia thus survived in the literature as spirits or demons. +The tendency towards making a selection out of the great mass +of gods goes hand in hand with the multiplication of spirits +that might, as occasion presented itself, be invoked. In general, +the larger affairs of life were consigned into the hands of the +gods; the petty annoyances—accidents, pains, ill luck, and the +like—were put down to the account of the spirits. The gods +were, on the whole, favorably disposed towards man. They +were angry at times, they sent punishments, but they could be +appeased. The spirits were, on the whole, hostile; and although +the Babylonians also invoked favorable and kind spirits, when +a spirit was hostile there was only one method of ridding oneself +of the pernicious influence,—to drive it out by means of +formulas, and with the help of a priest acting as exorciser.</p> + + +<h3>Sorcerers and Sorceresses.</h3> + +<p>A widespread and apparently very ancient belief among the +Babylonians and Assyrians was that certain human beings possessed +demoniac power, and could exercise it for evil purposes +over whomsoever they pleased. This belief may have originated<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span> +in the abnormal appearance presented by certain individuals +in consequence of physical deformities or peculiarities. The +uncanny impression made by dwarfs, persons with misshapen +limbs, with a strange look in their eyes, and, above all, the +insane would give rise to the view that some people, for the +very reason of their variation from the normal type, possessed +peculiar powers. But by the side of such as were distinguished +by bodily defects, those who outranked their fellows by virtue +of their prowess or of natural gifts, by keenness of intellect or +cunning, would also be supposed to have received their power +through some demoniac source. With the giant and the +artificer there would thus be associated ideas of sorcery and +witchcraft, as with dwarfs, the deformed, and insane. The +sorcerers might be either male or female, but, for reasons which +are hard to fathom, the preference was given to females. +Accordingly, it happens that among the Babylonians, as in the +Middle Ages, the witch appears more frequently than the male +sorcerer. The witches have all the powers of the demons, and +in the incantation texts the two are often thrown together. Just +as the demons, so the witches take away the breath of man, +defile his food and drink, or close up his mouth. They are +able to penetrate into the body of men, and thus produce +similar physical and mental disturbances as the animalic +demons. In view of this close relationship between witches +and demons, we are justified in regarding the two as varying +aspects of one and the same belief. The witch appears to +be merely the person through whom the hitherto 'invisible' +demon has chosen to manifest itself. From being identical +in character with the demons, the witches reached a stage +which made them superior to the former. They could not +only do everything that the demons did, but they could also +control the latter, whereas the demons had no power over +witches. Witches could invoke the demons at their will and +bring such persons as they chose within the demons' power.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span> +Various means were at their disposal for bringing this about. +The glance of a witch's 'evil eye' was supposed to have great +power.<a name="FNanchor_357_357" id="FNanchor_357_357"></a><a href="#Footnote_357_357" class="fnanchor">[357]</a> Terrible were the sufferings of the one on whom a +witch threw the glance that kept the person under her spell. +The 'evil word,' as it was called, and by which the use of certain +magic formulas was meant, was another effective means at +her command for inflicting all manner of evil. Magical potions, +too, compounded of poisonous weeds, appear to have been prepared +by them, and which, entering the body of those whom +they desired to punish, had a disastrous effect. Such means +might be denominated as direct. There were others indirect +which were even more effective, and which rested upon the +principle commonly known as 'sympathetic magic.'<a name="FNanchor_358_358" id="FNanchor_358_358"></a><a href="#Footnote_358_358" class="fnanchor">[358]</a> Under +the notion that the symbolical acts of the sorcerers would have +their effect upon the one to be bewitched, the male sorcerer or +the witch, as the case might be, would tie knots in a rope. +Repeating certain formulas with each fresh knot, the witch +would in this way symbolically strangle the victim, seal his +mouth, wrack his limbs, tear his entrails, and the like.</p> + +<p>Still more popular was the making of an image of the desired +victim of clay or pitch, honey, fat, or other soft material,<a name="FNanchor_359_359" id="FNanchor_359_359"></a><a href="#Footnote_359_359" class="fnanchor">[359]</a> and +either by burning it inflict physical tortures upon the person +represented, or by undertaking various symbolical acts with it, +such as burying it among the dead, placing it in a coffin, casting +it into a pit or into a fountain, hiding it in an inaccessible +place, placing it in spots that had a peculiar significance, as +the doorposts, the threshold, under the arch of gates, would +prognosticate in this way a fate corresponding to one of these +acts for the unfortunate victim.</p> + +<h3><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span>The Exorcisers.</h3> + +<p>As a protection against the demons and witches, small images +of some of the protecting deities were placed at the entrances +to houses, and amulets of various kinds were carried about the +person. Tablets, too, were hung up in the house,—probably +at the entrance,—on which extracts from the religious texts +were inscribed. These texts by virtue of their sacred character +assured protection against the entrance of demons.<a name="FNanchor_360_360" id="FNanchor_360_360"></a><a href="#Footnote_360_360" class="fnanchor">[360]</a> But when +once a person had come under the baneful power of the demons, +recourse was had to a professional class of exorcisers, who +acted as mediators between the victims and the gods to whom +the ultimate appeal for help was made. These exorcisers were +of course priests, and at an early period of Babylonian culture +it must have been one of the main functions of priests to combat +the influence of evil spirits. It was for this purpose chiefly +that the people came to the temples, and in so far we are justified +in regarding incantation formulas as belonging to the oldest +portion of the Babylonian temple rituals. In the course of +time, as the temples in the great religious centers developed into +large establishments, the priests were divided into classes, each +with special functions assigned to them. Some were concerned +with the sacrifices, others presided over the oracles, others were +set aside for the night and day watches which were observed in +the temple, and it is likely that the scribes formed a class by +themselves. To this age of differentiation in priestly functions +belongs the special class who may be regarded as the forerunners +of the eastern <i>magi</i> or magicians, and who by powers and +methods peculiar to them could ward off the dangerous attacks<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span> +of the demons and witches. The means employed by them +may in general be described as forming the complement to +those used by the witches,—the reverse side of the picture,—only +that they were supposed to be effective against sorcerers, +witches, and demons alike. Against the incantation formulas +of the witches, incantations of superior force were prescribed +that might serve to overcome the baneful influence of the +former. The symbolical tying of knots was offset by symbolical +loosening, accompanied by formulas that might effect the +gradual release of the victim from the meshes of both the +witches and the demons; or the hoped-for release was symbolized +by the peeling of the several skins of an onion. Corresponding +to the images made by the witches, the exorcising priests +advised the making of counter images of the witches, and by +a symbolical burning, accompanied by certain ceremonies and +conciliatory gifts to the gods, hoped to destroy the witches +themselves. Since, moreover, the favorite time chosen by the +demons and witches for their manifestations was the night, the +three divisions of the nights—evening, midnight, and dawn—that +correspond to the temple watches were frequently selected +as the time for the incantations and the symbolical acts. The +address was often made to the gods of night. A series of +incantation formulas begins:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>I call upon you, gods of the night,</p> +<p>With you I call upon the night, the veiled bride,<a name="FNanchor_361_361" id="FNanchor_361_361"></a><a href="#Footnote_361_361" class="fnanchor">[361]</a></p> +<p>I call at evening, midnight, and at dawn.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The formulas themselves, as we shall see, are characterized +by their large number rather than by any elements that they +have in common. At times they constitute a direct appeal to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span> +some god or gods, to some particular spirit, or to the associated +spirits of heaven and earth, together with a direct indication of +what is desired. An incantation addressed to Nusku, the god +of fire, closes:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Fire-god, mighty and lofty one of the gods,</p> +<p>Who dost overpower the wicked and the hostile,</p> +<p>Overpower them (the witches) so that I be not destroyed.</p> +<p>Let me thy servant live, let me</p> +<p>unharmed stand before thee,</p> +<p>Thou art my god, thou art my lord,</p> +<p>Thou art my judge, thou art my helper,</p> +<p>Thou art my avenger.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Preceding the direct appeal, there is usually a recital more or +less detailed of the woes with which one is afflicted. The +victim tells of the pains which torture him. Says one +bewitched:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>I stand upright, and cannot lie down,</p> +<p>neither night nor day. The witches have filled my</p> +<p>mouth with their knots.</p> +<p>With the aid of <i>upuntu</i> weed,<a name="FNanchor_362_362" id="FNanchor_362_362"></a><a href="#Footnote_362_362" class="fnanchor">[362]</a></p> +<p>they have stuffed up my mouth.</p> +<p>The water that I drink have they diminished,</p> +<p>My joy is changed to pain, my pleasure to sorrow.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>This recital, which is often wearisome by its length, may or +may not end in a direct appeal to some god or gods. The +narrative of woes, however, is merely introductory to the incantation +itself. To prescribe the formula to be used to the one +appealing for help, is the special function of the priest acting +as exorciser. He recites the formula, which is then repeated +by the communicant.</p> + +<p>Instead of an appeal to the gods for help, the incantation +often embodies threats hurled in the name of the gods at the +demons or witches in case they do not release their victim.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span> +Such incantations appear to derive their power chiefly through +the personage of the exorciser, who believes himself to be able +to control the evil spirits. So in one case, after the sufferer +has poured out his troubles, the exorciser replies, threatening +the witches with the same evils that they have inflicted:<a name="FNanchor_363_363" id="FNanchor_363_363"></a><a href="#Footnote_363_363" class="fnanchor">[363]</a></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>They have used all kinds of charms</p> +<p>to entwine me as with ropes,</p> +<p>to catch me as in a cage,</p> +<p>to tie me as with cords,</p> +<p>to overpower me as in a net,</p> +<p>to twist me as with a sling,</p> +<p>to tear me as a fabric,</p> +<p>to fill me with dirty water as that which runs down a wall (?)</p> +<p>to throw me down as a wall.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>At this point the exorciser takes up the thread and declares:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>But I by command of Marduk, the lord of charms,</p> +<p>by Marduk, the master of bewitchment,</p> +<p>Both the male and female witch</p> +<p>as with ropes I will entwine,</p> +<p>as in a cage I will catch,</p> +<p>as with cords I will tie,</p> +<p>as in a net I will overpower,</p> +<p>as in a sling I will twist,</p> +<p>as a fabric I will tear,</p> +<p>with dirty water as from a wall I will fill,</p> +<p>as a wall throw them down.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Accompanying these threats, the actions indicated were symbolically +performed by the exorciser on effigies of the witches +made, in this case, of bitumen covered with pitch.</p> + +<p>Corresponding again to the potions prepared by the witches, +the priests prepared draughts compounded of various weeds +and herbs that were given to the victim, or concoctions that +were poured over his body. This constituted the medicinal +phase of the priest's labors, and marks the connection between<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span> +magic and medicine. Naturally such herbs and weeds were +chosen as through experience had proved effective.</p> + + +<h3>The Gods of the Incantation Texts.</h3> + +<p>A feature of the incantation texts is the appeal to the gods, +which is seldom, if ever, wanting. Just as the kings sought, +by the enumeration of a large pantheon, to secure the protection +of as large a number of powers as possible, so the priests +endeavored to strengthen their magic formulas by including the +mention of all the chief and a varying number of the minor +deities. This invocation of groups of deities, as the invocation +of groups of spirits, became more or less conventional, so much +so that, instead of mentioning the gods individually, the scribe +would content himself with an indication, at the proper point, +of the number of gods to be appealed to,—six, ten, fifteen, as the +case may be, to as many as fifty.<a name="FNanchor_364_364" id="FNanchor_364_364"></a><a href="#Footnote_364_364" class="fnanchor">[364]</a> Precisely what gods he had +in mind we are no longer in a position to know, but no doubt +the chief members of the pantheon were included in the first +place. Lists of these deities are often added. The superior +triad, Anu, Bel, and Ea, head the list, at times accompanied by +their consorts, at times standing alone. The second class of +triads, Sin, Shamash, and Ramman, follow, and then the other +great gods, Nin-ib, Marduk, Nergal, Nusku, and Gibil; and +finally the chief goddesses are added, notably Ishtar, Nin-karrak, +or Gula, and Bau.</p> + +<p>But besides the chief deities, an exceedingly large number +of minor ones are found interspersed through the incantation +texts. Some are well known, as Nin-girsu, Zamama, and +Papsukal. Many of them are found in other branches of the +religious literature or in invocations attached to historical +texts, commemorative of some work undertaken and completed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span> +by the kings; but a large proportion of these powers, not often +distinguishable from mere spirits, only appear once in the literary +remains of Babylonia. It is manifestly impossible, under +such circumstances, to specify their traits. In most cases, +indeed, the phonetic reading is unknown or uncertain. While +a considerable proportion may be put down as local gods, +enjoying an independent, albeit obscure, existence, at least an +equal number will turn out to be mere epithets of gods already +known. In all cases where the god's name actually appears as +an epithet, we may be certain that such is the case. So when +a god is called simply <i>Dainu</i>, <i>i.e.</i>, Judge, there can be little +doubt that Shamash, the sun-god, is meant; a god, 'great +mountain,' is none other than Bel; and similarly, such names +as 'merciful,' 'hearer of prayer,' 'conqueror of enemy' are +manifestly titles belonging to certain well-known deities, and +used much as among the Greeks the gods were often referred +to by the traits, physical or moral, that distinguished them. As +for the residue, who are independent deities, while of course +our knowledge of the Babylonian religion would be increased +did we know more of them than their names, it is not likely +that the worship of these gods, nor the conceptions connected +with them, involved any new principle. A mere enumeration +would of course be of little use. Moreover, such an enumeration +would not be exhaustive, for new deities are found in +almost every additional text that is published. Already this +list counts considerably over two hundred. At most, such an +enumeration would merely illustrate what we already know,—the +exceedingly large number of local cults that once existed in +Babylonia and Assyria, and disappeared without leaving any +trace but the more or less accidental preservation of the name +of the deity, who was once regarded as the patron of the place. +Lastly it is to be noted that, besides gods, stars are invoked, as +well as rivers, temples, and even towns,—in short, anything +that has sacred associations.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span></p> + +<p>On a different level from the gods enumerated in groups +stand those deities who are introduced into the incantation +texts at essential points individually and for a special reason. +Such deities are comparatively few,—hardly more than half a +dozen. These gods may be called the gods of the incantation +texts <i>par excellence</i>. Their help is essential to ensure the effectiveness +of the exorciser's task. They stand in close and +direct connection with the troubles from which relief is prayed +for. For physical ills, they act as healers. If the evil for +which the individual or the country suffers is due to some natural +phenomena,—an eclipse of the moon, of which people stood +in great terror, or a deluge or a famine,—the moon-god, the +storm-god, some phase of the sun-deity, or an agricultural god +would naturally be implored; while in a general way the heads +of the pantheon, Marduk in Babylonia and Ashur in Assyria, +come in for a large share of attention.</p> + +<p>As already intimated in a previous chapter,<a name="FNanchor_365_365" id="FNanchor_365_365"></a><a href="#Footnote_365_365" class="fnanchor">[365]</a> the god who +plays perhaps the most prominent rôle in the incantation texts +is Ea. He occupies this rank primarily by virtue of his being +the god of humanity; but another factor which enters into consideration, +though in an indirect fashion, is his character as a +water-god. Water, being one of the means of purification frequently +referred to in the texts, acquires a symbolical significance +among the Babylonians, as among so many other nations. +Ea, therefore, as the water-god of the ancient sacred town, +Eridu, acquires additional popularity through this circumstance. +The titles that he receives in the texts emphasize his power to +heal and protect. He is the great physician who knows all +secret sources whence healing can be obtained for the maladies +and ills caused by the demons and sorcerers. He is therefore +in a peculiar sense 'the lord of the fates' of mankind, the chief +exorciser, the all-wise magician of the gods, at whose command +and under whose protection, the priest performs his symbolical<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span> +acts. Not only does humanity turn to Ea: the gods, too, appeal +to him in their distress. The eclipse of the moon was regarded +by the popular faith as a sort of bewitchment of the great orb +through the seven evil spirits. All the heavenly bodies are +affected by such an event. Anu is powerless. It is only +through Ea that Sin is released, just as though he were a human +individual. But Ea is rarely approached directly. At his side +stands his son Marduk, who acts as a mediator. Marduk +listens to the petition addressed to him by the exorcising priest +on behalf of the victim, and carries the word to Father Ea. The +latter, after first declaring Marduk to be his equal in knowledge, +proceeds to dictate the cure. Marduk, accordingly, is +given the same titles as his father, Ea. He, too, is the lord of +life, the master of the exorcising art, the chief magician among +the gods.</p> + +<p>The importance thus given to Marduk is an indication of a +later period, and must be taken in connection with the supremacy +accorded to the god after the union of the Babylonian +states. Originally, Ea is the god to whom the direct appeal +was made. Marduk is an afterthought that points to the +remodeling of the ancient texts after the period of Hammurabi. +Damkina, the consort of Ea, is occasionally invoked, +but it is significant that Sarpanitum, the consort of Marduk, is +rarely mentioned.</p> + +<p>The burning of images and witches, or of other objects, +being so frequently resorted to as a means of destroying baneful +influences, the god of fire occupies a rank hardly secondary +to Ea. Here, too, the mystical element involved in the use of +fire adds to the effectiveness of the method. Water and fire +are the two great sources of symbolical purification that we +meet with in both primitive and advanced rituals of the past.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span><a name="FNanchor_366_366" id="FNanchor_366_366"></a><a href="#Footnote_366_366" class="fnanchor">[366]</a> +The fire-god appears in the texts under the double form of +Gibil and Nusku. The former occurs with greater frequency +than the latter, but the two are used so interchangeably as to +be in every respect identical. The amalgamation of the two +may indeed be due to the growth of the incantation rituals of +Babylon. In some districts Gibil was worshipped as the special +god of fire, in others Nusku, much as we found the sun-god +worshipped under the names of <i>Shamas</i> and <i>Utu</i>, and similarly +in the case of other deities. On the supposition that the +incantation rituals are the result of a complicated literary +process, involving the collection of all known formulas, and the +bringing of them into some kind of connection with one another, +this existence of a twofold fire-god finds a ready explanation. +At Babylon we know Nusku was worshipped as the fire-god. +Gibil belongs therefore to another section, perhaps to one +farther south. He is in all probability the older god of the +two, and the preponderating occurrence of his name in the +texts may be taken as a proof of the ancient origin of those +parts in which it occurs. There being no special motive why +he should be supplanted by Nusku, his preëminence was not +interfered with through the remodeling to which the texts were +subjected. While bearing in mind that Gibil and Nusku are +two distinct deities, we may, for the sake of convenience, treat +them together under the double designation of Gibil-Nusku.</p> + +<p>Gibil and Nusku are called 'sons of Anu'; Gibil, indeed, is +spoken of as the first-born of heaven, and the image of his +father. The conception is probably mythological, resting upon +the belief in the heavenly origin of fire held by all nations. +Gibil-Nusku is exalted as the 'lofty one' among the gods, +whose command is supreme. He is at once the great messenger +of the gods and their chief counsellor. Clothed in splendor, +his light is unquenchable. A large variety of other attributes +are assigned to him, all emphasizing his strength, his majesty, +his brilliancy, and the terror that he is able to inspire. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span> +importance of fire to mankind made Gibil-Nusku the founder +of cities, and in general the god of civilization. As the fire-god, +Gibil-Nusku is more especially invoked at the symbolical +burning of the images of the witches. With a raised torch in +one hand, the bewitched person repeats the incantation recited +by the exorciser. Frequently the instruction is added that +the incantation is to be recited in a whisper, corresponding to +the soft tones in which the demons, witches, and ghosts are +supposed to convey their messages. The incantations in +which the fire-god is exalted in grandiloquent terms belong to +the finest productions of this branch of the religious literature. +The addresses to Gibil-Nusku are veritable hymns that are +worthy of better associations. One of these addresses begins:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Nusku, great god, counsellor of the great gods,<a name="FNanchor_367_367" id="FNanchor_367_367"></a><a href="#Footnote_367_367" class="fnanchor">[367]</a></p> +<p>Guarding the sacrificial gifts<a name="FNanchor_368_368" id="FNanchor_368_368"></a><a href="#Footnote_368_368" class="fnanchor">[368]</a> of all the heavenly spirits,</p> +<p>Founder of cities, renewer of the sanctuaries,</p> +<p>Glorious day, whose command is supreme,</p> +<p>Messenger of Anu, carrying out the decrees of Bel,</p> +<p>Obedient to Bel, counsellor, mountain<a name="FNanchor_369_369" id="FNanchor_369_369"></a><a href="#Footnote_369_369" class="fnanchor">[369]</a> of the earthly spirits,</p> +<p>Mighty in battle, whose attack is powerful,</p> +<p>Without thee no table is spread in the temple.</p> +<p>Without thee, Shamash, the judge executes no judgment.</p> +<p> </p> +<p>I, thy servant so and so, the son of so and so,<a name="FNanchor_370_370" id="FNanchor_370_370"></a><a href="#Footnote_370_370" class="fnanchor">[370]</a></p> +<p>Whose god is so and so, and whose goddess so and so,<a name="FNanchor_371_371" id="FNanchor_371_371"></a><a href="#Footnote_371_371" class="fnanchor">[371]</a></p> +<p>I turn to thee, I seek thee, I raise my hands to thee,</p> +<p>I prostrate myself before thee.</p> +<p>Burn the sorcerer and sorceress,</p> +<p>May the life of my sorcerer and sorceress be destroyed.</p> +<p>Let me live that I may exalt thee and proudly pay homage to thee.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>This incantation, we are told, is to be recited in a whisper, +in the presence of an image of wax. The image is burnt as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span> +the words are spoken, and as it is consumed the power of the +witch is supposed to wane. The reference to the indispensable +presence of the fire-god in the temple is rather interesting. +Sacrifice always entailed the use of fire. To whatever deity +the offering was made, Gibil-Nusku could not in any case be +overlooked. The fire constituted the medium, as it were, between +the worshipper and the deity addressed. The fire-god +is in truth the messenger who carries the sacrifice into the +presence of the god worshipped. Even Shamash, though +himself personifying fire, is forced to acknowledge the power +of Gibil-Nusku, who, we are told elsewhere, is invoked, even +when sacrifices are made to the sun-god.</p> + +<p>Besides being the son of Anu, Gibil-Nusku is brought into +association with the two other members of the triad, Bel and +Ea. He is the messenger of Bel and the son of Ea. The former +conception is again mythical. Fire is also the instrument +of the gods, and Nusku is particularly called the messenger of +Bel because Bel is one of the highest gods. In reality he is +the messenger of all the gods, and is frequently so designated. +His connection with Ea, on the other hand, seems to be the +result of the systematizing efforts of the schoolmen. Ea occupying +the chief rank in the incantations, the subsidiary rôle of +Gibil-Nusku is indicated by making him, just as Marduk, the +son of Ea. In this way, too, the two great means of purification—water +and fire—are combined under a single aspect. +The combination was all the more appropriate since the fire-god, +as the promoter of culture, shared with Ea the protection +of humanity. Accordingly, all the titles of Ea are bestowed in +one place or the other upon Gibil-Nusku. But, after all, Gibil-Nusku +is merely a phase of the solar deity,<a name="FNanchor_372_372" id="FNanchor_372_372"></a><a href="#Footnote_372_372" class="fnanchor">[372]</a> and hence by the +side of this fire-god, Shamash and the other solar deities, +though in a measure subsidiary to Gibil-Nusku, are frequently +invoked. Shamash, as the great judge, was a personage especially<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span> +appropriate for occasions which involved a decision +in favor of the bewitched and against the witches or demons. +Gibil-Nusku, like Shamash, is exalted as the great judge who +comes to the aid of the oppressed. Similarly, the fire-god +receives the attributes belonging to Ninib, Nergal, and the +various phases of the latter, such as Lugal-edinna, Lugal-gira, +and Alamu. These gods, then, and their consorts, because of +their relationship to the fire-god, are introduced into the incantations, +and what is more to the point, the various phases of +Nergal and Ninib are introduced without any trace of the distinctions +that originally differentiated them from one another.<a name="FNanchor_373_373" id="FNanchor_373_373"></a><a href="#Footnote_373_373" class="fnanchor">[373]</a> +Besides the great solar deities, minor ones, as Nin-gish-zida<a name="FNanchor_374_374" id="FNanchor_374_374"></a><a href="#Footnote_374_374" class="fnanchor">[374]</a> +and I-shum, are frequently added in long lists of protecting +spirits to whom the appeal for help is directed. The attempt +is also made to illustrate their relationship to the great fire-god. +So I-shum becomes the messenger of Nusku, while Nin-gish-zida +(though in the days of Gudea a male deity<a name="FNanchor_375_375" id="FNanchor_375_375"></a><a href="#Footnote_375_375" class="fnanchor">[375]</a>) appears +to be regarded, as Tallqvist has suggested, as the consort of +Nusku.</p> + +<p>Night being a favorite time for the recital of the incantations, +it was natural that the orb of night, the god Sin, should +be added to the pantheon of the exorciser. Though playing a +minor rôle, the moon-god is never omitted when a long series +of protecting spirits is invoked. But there are occasions when +Sin becomes the chief deity invoked. Reference has already +been made to the general terror that moon eclipses inspired. +The disappearance of the moon was looked upon as a sign of +the god's displeasure or as a defeat of the moon in a conflict +with other planets. Disaster of some kind—war, pestilence, +internal disturbances—was sure to follow upon an eclipse, +unless the anger of the god could be appeased or his weakness<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span> +overcome. In the case of such general troubles affecting the +whole country, it is the kings themselves who seek out the +priests. Rituals were prepared to meet the various contingencies. +The king begins the ceremony by a prayer addressed to +Sin. One of these prayers begins:<a name="FNanchor_376_376" id="FNanchor_376_376"></a><a href="#Footnote_376_376" class="fnanchor">[376]</a></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>O Sin, O Nannar! mighty one ...</p> +<p>O Sin, thou who alone givest light,</p> +<p>Extending light to mankind,</p> +<p>Showing favor to the black-headed ones,<a name="FNanchor_377_377" id="FNanchor_377_377"></a><a href="#Footnote_377_377" class="fnanchor">[377]</a></p> +<p>Thy light shines in heaven ...</p> +<p>Thy torch is brilliant as fire;</p> +<p>Thy light fills the broad earth.</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p>Thy light is glorious as the Sun ...</p> +<p>Before thee the great gods lie prostrate;</p> +<p>The fate of the world rests with thee.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>An eclipse has taken place, portending evil to the country, and +libations have been poured out on days carefully selected as +favorable ones. The king continues:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>I have poured out to thee, with wailing,<a name="FNanchor_378_378" id="FNanchor_378_378"></a><a href="#Footnote_378_378" class="fnanchor">[378]</a> a libation at night;</p> +<p>I have offered thee a drink-offering with shouts;</p> +<p>Prostrate and standing erect<a name="FNanchor_379_379" id="FNanchor_379_379"></a><a href="#Footnote_379_379" class="fnanchor">[379]</a> I implore thee.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>With the prayer to Sin, appeals to other gods and also goddesses +are frequently combined,—to Marduk, Ishtar, Tashmitum, +Nabu, Ramman, and the like. The incantations themselves, +consisting of fervent appeals to remove the evil, actual +or portending, are preceded by certain ceremonies,—the burning +of incense, the pouring out of some drink, or by symbolical +acts, as the binding of cords; and the god is appealed to once +more to answer the prayer.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span> +Again, just as Gibil-Nusku entails the invocation of a large +variety of solar deities, so Ea, as the water-god, leads to the +introduction of various water-gods and spirits. Perhaps the +most prominent of these is the god Nâru, whose name, signifying +'river,'<a name="FNanchor_380_380" id="FNanchor_380_380"></a><a href="#Footnote_380_380" class="fnanchor">[380]</a> is clearly the personification of the watery element, +though of the minor bodies of water. Next in order comes the +goddess Nin-akha-kuddu.<a name="FNanchor_381_381" id="FNanchor_381_381"></a><a href="#Footnote_381_381" class="fnanchor">[381]</a> She is invoked as 'goddess of purification.' +From her association in several passages with the +great deep, and with the city of Eridu—metaphorically used +for the great deep—one may be permitted to conclude that +she, too, was conceived of as a water-god or a water-spirit. She +is 'the lady of spells,' who is asked to take possession of the +body of the sufferer, and thus free him from the control of +demons or witches. By the side of this goddess, Gula, 'the +great physician,' is often appealed to. Again, the demons +being in some cases the ghosts of the departed, or such as +hover around graves, Nin-kigal, or Allatu, the mistress of the +lower world, is an important ally, whose aid is desired in the +struggle against the evil spirits. Lastly, it is interesting to +note that Izdubar, or Gilgamesh, the famous hero of the great +Babylonian epic, occurs also in incantations<a name="FNanchor_382_382" id="FNanchor_382_382"></a><a href="#Footnote_382_382" class="fnanchor">[382]</a>—a welcome indication +of the antiquity of the myth, and the proof, at the same +time, that the epic is built on a foundation of myth. From +the mythological side, Gilgamesh appears to be a solar deity. +The connection of a solar god with fire would account for +his appearance in the magical texts. However obscure some +of the points connected with the gods of the incantation texts +may be, so much is certain, that the two factors of water and +fire, and the part played by these elements in the ceremonies, +control and explain the choice of most of the gods and goddesses<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span> +introduced, though—be it expressly noted—not of all +occurring in the magical texts.</p> + + +<h3>The Ritual and Formulas.</h3> + +<p>Coming to the incantations themselves, they can best be +characterized as appeals interspersed with words of a more or +less mystic character. The force and efficacy of the incantation +lie not so much in the meaning of the words uttered, as +in the simple fact that they <i>are</i> to be uttered. These incantations +were combined into a ritual, and indications were given +of the occasions on which the incantations were to be used. +An analysis of one of these rituals will serve to illustrate this +branch of the religious literature of the Babylonians. I choose +for this purpose the series known as Maklu, <i>i.e.</i>, Burning,<a name="FNanchor_383_383" id="FNanchor_383_383"></a><a href="#Footnote_383_383" class="fnanchor">[383]</a> the +interpretation of which has been so considerably advanced by +Dr. Tallqvist's admirable work. The first tablet of the series +opens with an invocation to the gods of night. After complaining +of his sad condition, the bewitched individual continues +as follows:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Arise ye great gods, hear my complaint;</p> +<p>Grant me justice, take cognizance of my condition.</p> +<p>I have made an image of my sorcerer and sorceress;</p> +<p>I have humbled myself before you and bring to you my cause</p> +<p>Because of the evil they (<i>i.e.</i>, the witches) have done,</p> +<p>Of the impure things which they have handled,<a name="FNanchor_384_384" id="FNanchor_384_384"></a><a href="#Footnote_384_384" class="fnanchor">[384]</a></p> +<p>May she<a name="FNanchor_385_385" id="FNanchor_385_385"></a><a href="#Footnote_385_385" class="fnanchor">[385]</a> die! Let me live!</p> +<p>May her charm, her witchcraft, her sorcery (?) be broken.</p> +<p>May the plucked sprig (?) of the <i>binu</i> tree purify me.</p> +<p>May it release me; may the evil odor<a name="FNanchor_386_386" id="FNanchor_386_386"></a><a href="#Footnote_386_386" class="fnanchor">[386]</a> of my mouth be scattered to the winds.</p> +<p>May the <i>mashtakal</i> herb<a name="FNanchor_387_387" id="FNanchor_387_387"></a><a href="#Footnote_387_387" class="fnanchor">[387]</a> which fills the earth cleanse me.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span>Before you let me shine like the <i>kankal</i> herb.</p> +<p>Let me be as brilliant and pure as the <i>lardu</i> herb.</p> +<p>The charm of the sorceress is evil;</p> +<p>May her words return to her mouth,<a name="FNanchor_388_388" id="FNanchor_388_388"></a><a href="#Footnote_388_388" class="fnanchor">[388]</a> her tongue be cut off.</p> +<p>Because of her witchcraft, may the gods of night smite her,</p> +<p>The three watches of the night<a name="FNanchor_389_389" id="FNanchor_389_389"></a><a href="#Footnote_389_389" class="fnanchor">[389]</a> break her evil charm.</p> +<p>May her mouth be wax<a name="FNanchor_390_390" id="FNanchor_390_390"></a><a href="#Footnote_390_390" class="fnanchor">[390]</a> (?), her tongue honey.</p> +<p>May the word causing my misfortune that she has spoken dissolve like wax (?).</p> +<p>May the charm that she has wound up melt like honey,</p> +<p>So that her magic knot be cut in twain, her work destroyed,</p> +<p>All her words scattered across the plains</p> +<p>By the order that the gods have given.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The section closes with the ordinary request of the exorciser +to the victim: "Recite this incantation." It will be seen how +closely the principle of sympathetic magic is followed. The +individual having been bewitched by means of certain herbs +concocted probably into potions, other herbs are prepared by +the exorciser as an antidote. The emphasis laid upon purification, +too, is noteworthy. There are numerous synonyms +employed for which it is difficult to find the adequate equivalent +in English. The terms reach out beyond the literal to the +symbolical purification. The victim wishes to become pure, +cleansed of all impurities, so that he may be resplendent as +the gods are pure, brilliant, and glorious, pure as the water, +brilliant and glorious as the fire.</p> + +<p>The length of the formulas varies. Often they consist only +of a few lines. So the one immediately following appeals to +Gilgamesh in these words:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Earth, Earth, Earth,</p> +<p>Gilgamesh is the master of your witchcraft.</p> +<p>What you have done, I know;</p> +<p>What I do, you know not.</p> +<p>All the mischief wrought by my sorceresses is destroyed, dissolved—is gone.</p> +</div></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span> +At times the conditions under which the witches are pictured +as acting are very elaborate. They are represented as dwelling +in places with which mythological conceptions are connected; +they are ferried across the river separating their city +from human habitations; they are protected against attacks by +the walls which surround their habitations. To effect a release, +the exorcisers, it would appear, made representations by means +of drawings on clay of these habitations of the witches. They +thereupon symbolically cut off the approaches and laid siege to +the towns. This, at least, appears to be the meaning of an +incantation beginning:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>My city is Sappan,<a name="FNanchor_391_391" id="FNanchor_391_391"></a><a href="#Footnote_391_391" class="fnanchor">[391]</a> my city is Sappan;</p> +<p>The gates of my city Sappan are two,</p> +<p>One towards sunrise, the other towards sunset.<a name="FNanchor_392_392" id="FNanchor_392_392"></a><a href="#Footnote_392_392" class="fnanchor">[392]</a></p> +<p>I carry a box, a pot with <i>mashtakal</i> herbs;</p> +<p>To the gods of heaven I offer water;</p> +<p>As I for you secure your purification,</p> +<p>So do you purify me!</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The victim imitates the conduct of the witch, goes about as +she does, with a pot in which the potions are made, performs +the symbolical act which should purify him of the evil that is +in him, and hopes, in this way, to obtain his own release. The +description continues:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>I have kept back the ferry, have shut off the wall,<a name="FNanchor_393_393" id="FNanchor_393_393"></a><a href="#Footnote_393_393" class="fnanchor">[393]</a></p> +<p>Have thus checked the enchantment from all quarters.</p> +<p>Anu and Anatum have commissioned me.</p> +<p>Whom shall I send to Belit of the field?<a name="FNanchor_394_394" id="FNanchor_394_394"></a><a href="#Footnote_394_394" class="fnanchor">[394]</a></p> +<p>Into the mouth of the sorcerer and sorceress cast the lock.<a name="FNanchor_395_395" id="FNanchor_395_395"></a><a href="#Footnote_395_395" class="fnanchor">[395]</a></p> +<p>Recite the incantation of the chief of gods, Marduk.<a name="FNanchor_396_396" id="FNanchor_396_396"></a><a href="#Footnote_396_396" class="fnanchor">[396]</a></p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span>'Let them<a name="FNanchor_397_397" id="FNanchor_397_397"></a><a href="#Footnote_397_397" class="fnanchor">[397]</a> call to thee but answer them not,</p> +<p>Let them address thee, but hearken not to them.</p> +<p>Let me call to thee, and do thou answer me,</p> +<p>Let me address thee, and do thou hearken unto me.'</p> +<p>By the command of Anu, Anatum, and Belit, recite the incantation.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The hymns to the fire-god, Nusku (or Girru), of which the +'Maklu' series naturally furnishes many specimens,<a name="FNanchor_398_398" id="FNanchor_398_398"></a><a href="#Footnote_398_398" class="fnanchor">[398]</a> are all +pretty much alike. I choose one which illustrates in greater +detail the symbolical burning of the image of the witch:<a name="FNanchor_399_399" id="FNanchor_399_399"></a><a href="#Footnote_399_399" class="fnanchor">[399]</a></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Nusku, great offspring of Anu,</p> +<p>The likeness of his father, the first-born of Bel,</p> +<p>The product of the deep, sprung from Ea,<a name="FNanchor_400_400" id="FNanchor_400_400"></a><a href="#Footnote_400_400" class="fnanchor">[400]</a></p> +<p>I raise the torch to illumine thee, yea, thee.</p> +<p>The sorcerer who has bewitched me,</p> +<p>Through the witchcraft by means of which he has bewitched me, do thou bewitch him.</p> +<p>The sorceress who has bewitched me,</p> +<p>Through the witchcraft by means of which she has bewitched me, bewitch thou her.</p> +<p>The charmer who has charmed me,</p> +<p>Through the charm with which he has charmed me, charm thou him.</p> +<p>The witch who has charmed me,</p> +<p>Through the charm with which she has charmed me, charm thou her.</p> +<p>Those who have made images of me, reproducing my features,</p> +<p>Who have taken away my breath, torn my hairs,</p> +<p>Who have rent my clothes, have hindered my feet from treading the dust,</p> +<p>May the fire-god, the strong one, break their charm.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Just as the witches were burnt in effigy, so also the demons +were supposed to be similarly dispelled. Immediately following +the incantation comes one directed against the demons:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>I raise the torch, their images I burn,</p> +<p><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Of the <i>utukku</i>, the <i>shedu</i>, the <i>rabisu</i>, the <i>ekimmu</i>,</span></p> +<p><span style="margin-left: 1em;">The <i>labartu</i>, the <i>labasi</i>, the <i>akhkhasu</i>,</span></p> +<p><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Of <i>lilu</i> and <i>lilitu</i> and <i>ardat lili</i>,</span></p> +<p><span style="margin-left: 1em;">And every evil that seizes hold of men.</span></p> +<p>Tremble, melt away, and disappear!</p> +<p>May your smoke rise to heaven,</p> +<p>May Shamash destroy your limbs,</p> +<p>May the son of Ea [<i>i.e.</i>, may the fire-god],</p> +<p>The great magician, restrain your strength (?).</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The witch who has caused the evil may be unknown. For +such a case one of the incantations runs:<a name="FNanchor_401_401" id="FNanchor_401_401"></a><a href="#Footnote_401_401" class="fnanchor">[401]</a></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Who art thou, sorceress, who bears her evil word within her heart,</p> +<p>Through whose tongue my misfortune is produced,</p> +<p>Through whose lips I have been poisoned,</p> +<p>In whose footsteps death follows?</p> +<p>Sorceress, I seize thy mouth, seize thy tongue,</p> +<p>I seize thy searching eyes,</p> +<p>I seize thy ever-moving feet,</p> +<p>I seize thy knees ever active,</p> +<p>I seize thy hands ever stretched out,</p> +<p>I tie thy hands behind thee.</p> +<p>May Sin ... destroy thy body,</p> +<p>May he cast thee into an abyss of fire and water.</p> +<p>Sorceress, as the circle of this seal-ring,<a name="FNanchor_402_402" id="FNanchor_402_402"></a><a href="#Footnote_402_402" class="fnanchor">[402]</a></p> +<p>May thy face grow pale and wan.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Of the same character as this, are a variety of other incantations, +all applicable to cases in which the sorceress is unknown. +As the last specimen of the 'Maklu' series, I choose an incantation +addressed to the demons, which is interesting because of +the direct character of the commands it contains:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Away, away, far away, far away,</p> +<p>For shame, for shame, fly away, fly away,</p> +<p>Round about face, go away, far away,</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span>Out of my body, away,</p> +<p>Out of my body, far away,</p> +<p>Out of my body, away for shame,</p> +<p>Out of my body, fly away,</p> +<p>Out of my body, round about face,</p> +<p>Out of my body, go away,</p> +<p>Into my body, come not back,</p> +<p>Towards my body, do not approach,</p> +<p>Towards my body, draw not nigh,</p> +<p>My body torture not.</p> +<p>By Shamash the mighty, be ye foresworn.</p> +<p>By Ea, the lord of everything, be ye foresworn.</p> +<p>By Marduk, the chief magician of the gods, be ye foresworn.</p> +<p>By the fire-god, be ye foresworn.</p> +<p>From my body be ye restrained!</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Repetition and variation in the use of certain phrases make +up, as will be seen from the specimens given, a large part of +the incantation. A curious illustration of the importance +attributed to such repetition is furnished by the eighth and +last tablet of the 'Maklu' series. It consists of seven divisions, +each beginning with a repetition of the headlines of the various +sections of the preceding seven tablets; and only after the +headlines of each of the tablets have been exhausted, does the +real incantation begin. This eighth tablet contains therefore +a kind of summary of all the others, the purpose of which is to +gather together all the power and influence of the seven others.</p> + +<p>The 'Maklu' ritual deals so largely with the fire-god that a +specimen from another series, to illustrate the position of Ea +and Marduk in the incantations, seems called for. The 'Shurpu' +series introduces Ea and Marduk more particularly. The fifth +tablet of this series begins:<a name="FNanchor_403_403" id="FNanchor_403_403"></a><a href="#Footnote_403_403" class="fnanchor">[403]</a></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>The evil curse rests like a <i>gallu</i> upon the man,</p> +<p>The pain-giving voice<a name="FNanchor_404_404" id="FNanchor_404_404"></a><a href="#Footnote_404_404" class="fnanchor">[404]</a> has settled upon him,</p> +<p>The voice that is not good has settled upon him,</p> +<p>The evil curse, the charm that produces insanity,</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span>The evil curse has killed that man as a sheep,</p> +<p>His god has departed from his body,<a name="FNanchor_405_405" id="FNanchor_405_405"></a><a href="#Footnote_405_405" class="fnanchor">[405]</a></p> +<p>His goddess has ... taken her place outside,<a name="FNanchor_406_406" id="FNanchor_406_406"></a><a href="#Footnote_406_406" class="fnanchor">[406]</a></p> +<p>The pain-giving voice covers him as a garment and confuses him.</p> +<p>Marduk sees him,</p> +<p>And proceeds to the house of his father Ea and speaks:</p> +<p>"My father, the evil curse as a demon has settled on the man."</p> +<p>He says it for a second time.</p> +<p>"What that man should do, I do not know; by what can he be cured?"</p> +<p>Ea answers his son Marduk:</p> +<p>"My son, can I add aught that thou dost not know?</p> +<p>Marduk, what can I tell thee that thou dost not know?</p> +<p>What I know, also thou knowest.</p> +<p>My son Marduk, take him to the overseer of the house of perfect purification,</p> +<p>Dissolve his spell, release him from the charm, and from the troublesome bodily disease.</p> +<p>Whether it be the curse of his father,</p> +<p>Or the curse of his mother,</p> +<p>Or the curse of his brother,</p> +<p>Or the curse of an unknown,<a name="FNanchor_407_407" id="FNanchor_407_407"></a><a href="#Footnote_407_407" class="fnanchor">[407]</a></p> +<p>May the bewitchment through the charm of Ea be peeled off like an onion.</p> +<p>May it be cut off like a date.</p> +<p>May it be removed like a husk.</p> +<p>O power of the spirit of heaven, be thou invoked!</p> +<p>O spirit of earth, be thou invoked!"</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The purification by water, which is here only incidentally +referred to, is more fully touched upon in other incantations, +where Ea tells Marduk that the victim must take</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Glittering water, pure water,</p> +<p>Holy water, resplendent water,</p> +<p>The water twice seven times may he bring,</p> +<p>May he make pure, may he make resplendent.</p> +<p>May the evil <i>rabisu</i> depart,</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span>May he betake himself outside,</p> +<p>May the protecting <i>shedu</i>, the protecting <i>lamassu</i>,</p> +<p>Settle upon his body.</p> +<p>Spirit of heaven, be thou invoked!</p> +<p>Spirit of earth, be thou invoked!<a name="FNanchor_408_408" id="FNanchor_408_408"></a><a href="#Footnote_408_408" class="fnanchor">[408]</a></p> +</div></div> + +<p>Still other methods of magical cure besides the use of water +and of potions were in vogue. In a tablet of the same ritual to +which the last extract belongs, and which is especially concerned +with certain classes of diseases produced by the demons, the +sick man is told to take</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>White wool, which has been spun into thread,</p> +<p>To attach it to his couch<a name="FNanchor_409_409" id="FNanchor_409_409"></a><a href="#Footnote_409_409" class="fnanchor">[409]</a> in front and at the top,</p> +<p>Black wool which has been spun into thread</p> +<p>To bind at his left side.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Then follows the incantation which he is to recite:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>The evil <i>ulukku, alu, ekimmu</i>,</p> +<p>The evil <i>gallu</i>, the evil god, <i>rabisu</i>,</p> +<p><i>Labartu, labasu, akhkhazu</i>,</p> +<p><i>Lilu</i> and <i>lilit</i> and <i>ardat lili</i>,</p> +<p>Sorcery, charm, bewitchment,</p> +<p>The sickness, the cruel artifice,</p> +<p>Their head against his head,</p> +<p>Their hand against his hand,</p> +<p>Their foot against his foot,</p> +<p>May they not place,</p> +<p>May they never draw nigh.</p> +<p>Spirit of heaven, be thou foresworn!</p> +<p>Spirit of earth, be thou foresworn!</p> +</div></div> + +<p>It is interesting to note the introduction of ethical ideas into +these texts, despite the primitive character of the beliefs upon +which the incantations repose. The possibility was considered +that the attack of the demons was a punishment sent in some +way for committed sins. The incantation series 'Shurpu' furnishes +us with a long list of wrongs for which a person may<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span> +be held enthralled in the power of the demons or sorcerers. +The exorciser in petitioning that the ban may be relieved, enumerates +at length the various causes for which the evil may +have been sent:<a name="FNanchor_410_410" id="FNanchor_410_410"></a><a href="#Footnote_410_410" class="fnanchor">[410]</a></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Has he sinned against a god,</p> +<p>Is his guilt against a goddess,</p> +<p>Is it a wrongful deed against his master,</p> +<p>Hatred towards his elder brother,</p> +<p>Has he despised father or mother,</p> +<p>Insulted his elder sister,</p> +<p>Has he given too little,<a name="FNanchor_411_411" id="FNanchor_411_411"></a><a href="#Footnote_411_411" class="fnanchor">[411]</a></p> +<p>Has he withheld too much,</p> +<p>For "no" said "yes,"</p> +<p>For "yes" said "no"?<a name="FNanchor_412_412" id="FNanchor_412_412"></a><a href="#Footnote_412_412" class="fnanchor">[412]</a></p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p>Has he used false weights?</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p>Has he taken an incorrect amount,</p> +<p>Not taken the correct sum,</p> +<p>Has he fixed a false boundary,</p> +<p>Not fixed a just boundary,</p> +<p>Has he removed a boundary, a limit, or a territory,</p> +<p>Has he possessed himself of his neighbor's house,</p> +<p>Has he approached his neighbor's wife,</p> +<p>Has he shed the blood of his neighbor,</p> +<p>Robbed his neighbor's dress?</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p>Was he frank in speaking,</p> +<p>But false in heart,</p> +<p>Was it "yes" with his mouth,</p> +<p>But "no" in his heart?<a name="FNanchor_413_413" id="FNanchor_413_413"></a><a href="#Footnote_413_413" class="fnanchor">[413]</a></p> +</div></div> + +<p>In this way the exorciser proceeds to enumerate an exceedingly +long list of sins—no less than one hundred—most of +which are ethical misdemeanors, while others are merely ceremonial +transgressions. In the third tablet of this series<a name="FNanchor_414_414" id="FNanchor_414_414"></a><a href="#Footnote_414_414" class="fnanchor">[414]</a> there<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span> +is even a longer list of causes for the ban which Marduk, the +"chief exorciser" among the gods, is called upon to loosen. +Here again we find an equal proportion of moral transgressions +placed on a par with errors in performing religious rites or +unwillful offences in neglecting conventional methods of doing +things.</p> + +<p>The ethical features of the texts can, without much question, +be put down as the work of the later editors. They belong to +a period when already an advanced conception not only of +right and wrong, but also of sin had arisen among the religious +leaders of the people, and perhaps had made its way already +among the masses, without, however, disturbing the confidence +in the traditional superstitions. The strange combination of +primitive and advanced religious beliefs is characteristic, as we +shall have occasion to see, of various divisions of the Babylonian +religious literature. The lapse from the ethical strain to the +incantation refrain is as sudden as it is common. The priest +having exhausted the category of possible sins or mishaps that +have caused the suffering of the petitioner, proceeds to invoke +the gods, goddesses, and the powerful spirits to loosen the +ban. There is no question of retribution for actual acts of injustice +or violence, any more than there is a question of genuine +contrition. The enumeration of the causes for the suffering +constitutes in fact a part of the incantation. The mention of the +real cause in the long list—and the list aims to be exhaustive, +so that the exorciser may strike the real cause—goes a long +way towards ensuring the departure of the evil spirit. And if, +besides striking the real cause, the exorciser is fortunate enough +in his enumeration of the various gods, goddesses, and spirits +to call by name upon the <i>right</i> god or spirit, the one who has +the power over the demon in question, his object is achieved. +Speaking the right words and pronouncing the right name, +constitute, together with the performance of the correct ceremony +and the bringing of the right sacrifice, the conditions<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span> +upon which depends the success of the priest in the incantation +ritual. Hence the striking features of these texts, the +enumeration of long lists of causes for misfortune, long lists +of powers invoked, and a variety of ceremonies prescribed, in +the hope that the priest will "hit it" at one time or the other.</p> + + +<h3>Incantations and Prayers.</h3> + +<p>The incantations naturally shade off into prayers. Frequently +they are prayers pure and simple. Powerful as the sacred formulas +were supposed to be, the ultimate appeal of the sufferer +is to the gods. Upon their favor it ultimately depends whether +the mystic power contained in the sacred words uttered shall +manifest itself to the benefit of the supplicant or not. While it +is proper, therefore, to distinguish incantations from prayers, the +combination of the two could scarcely be avoided by the priests, +who, rising in a measure superior to the popular beliefs, felt it +to be inconsistent with a proper regard for the gods not to +give them a superior place in the magical texts. The addition, +to the sacred formulas, of prayers directly addressed to certain +gods may be put down as due to the adaptation of ancient texts +to the needs of a later age; and, on the other hand, the addition +of incantations to what appear to have been originally prayers, +pure and simple, is a concession made to the persistent belief +in the efficacy of certain formulas when properly uttered. Such +combinations of prayers and incantations constituted, as would +appear, a special class of religious texts; and, in the course +of further editing,<a name="FNanchor_415_415" id="FNanchor_415_415"></a><a href="#Footnote_415_415" class="fnanchor">[415]</a> a number of prayers addressed to various +deities were combined and interspersed with incantation and +ceremonial directions which were to accompany the prayers.</p> + +<p>The incantations accordingly lead us to the next division in +the religious literature of the Babylonians,—the prayers and +hymns.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span></p> + +<h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_341_341" id="Footnote_341_341"></a><a href="#FNanchor_341_341"><span class="label">[341]</span></a> <i>Die Assyrische Beschwörungsserie, Maqlû</i>, p. 14.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_342_342" id="Footnote_342_342"></a><a href="#FNanchor_342_342"><span class="label">[342]</span></a> There are some preserved solely in the ideographic style, +and others of which we have only the phonetic transliteration.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_343_343" id="Footnote_343_343"></a><a href="#FNanchor_343_343"><span class="label">[343]</span></a> <i>Die Propheten in ihrer ursprünglichen Form</i>, pp. 1, +6. This work is a valuable investigation of the oldest form of the +poetic compositions of the Semites.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_344_344" id="Footnote_344_344"></a><a href="#FNanchor_344_344"><span class="label">[344]</span></a> The fifth and sixth tablets of the series. It is probable +that several editions were prepared,—some wholly Babylonian, others +bilingual.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_345_345" id="Footnote_345_345"></a><a href="#FNanchor_345_345"><span class="label">[345]</span></a> Haupt, <i>Akkadische und Sumerische Keilschrifttexte</i>, +p. 83. col. I. ll. 1-10.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_346_346" id="Footnote_346_346"></a><a href="#FNanchor_346_346"><span class="label">[346]</span></a> Wherever feasible, the Babylonian name of the demon will be +used in the translations.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_347_347" id="Footnote_347_347"></a><a href="#FNanchor_347_347"><span class="label">[347]</span></a> Our word 'nightmare' still embodies the same ancient view +of the cause of bad dreams as that found among the Babylonians.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_348_348" id="Footnote_348_348"></a><a href="#FNanchor_348_348"><span class="label">[348]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_182">182</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_349_349" id="Footnote_349_349"></a><a href="#FNanchor_349_349"><span class="label">[349]</span></a> IV R. pl. 5.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_350_350" id="Footnote_350_350"></a><a href="#FNanchor_350_350"><span class="label">[350]</span></a> See Perrot and Chiplez, <i>History of Art in Chaldaea and +Assyria</i>, i. 61, 62; ii. 81 for illustrations.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_351_351" id="Footnote_351_351"></a><a href="#FNanchor_351_351"><span class="label">[351]</span></a> IV R. 2, col. v. ll. 30-60.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_352_352" id="Footnote_352_352"></a><a href="#FNanchor_352_352"><span class="label">[352]</span></a> The god of humanity. The phrase is equivalent to saying +that the spirits are hostile to mankind.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_353_353" id="Footnote_353_353"></a><a href="#FNanchor_353_353"><span class="label">[353]</span></a> Literally, 'to their second time,' <i>i.e.</i>, repeat +'seven are they.'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_354_354" id="Footnote_354_354"></a><a href="#FNanchor_354_354"><span class="label">[354]</span></a> See Hopkins, <i>The Holy Numbers in the Rig-Veda</i> +(Oriental Studies), pp. 144-147.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_355_355" id="Footnote_355_355"></a><a href="#FNanchor_355_355"><span class="label">[355]</span></a> IV R. 15, col. ll. 21 <i>seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_356_356" id="Footnote_356_356"></a><a href="#FNanchor_356_356"><span class="label">[356]</span></a> See <a href="#chapter-xi">chapter xi</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_357_357" id="Footnote_357_357"></a><a href="#FNanchor_357_357"><span class="label">[357]</span></a> For the general views connected with the evil eye among all +nations, see Elworthy's recent volume, <i>The Evil Eye</i>. (London, +1896.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_358_358" id="Footnote_358_358"></a><a href="#FNanchor_358_358"><span class="label">[358]</span></a> For illustrations taken from various nations, see Fraser, +<i>The Golden Bough</i>, ii. 9-12; ii. 85-89.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_359_359" id="Footnote_359_359"></a><a href="#FNanchor_359_359"><span class="label">[359]</span></a> See for illustrations of similar practices among Egyptians and Greeks, Budge, +<i>Life and Exploits of Alexander the Great</i> (London, 1896), pp. xii-xvii.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_360_360" id="Footnote_360_360"></a><a href="#FNanchor_360_360"><span class="label">[360]</span></a> +Mr. L. W. King describes (<i>Zeits. für Assyr.</i> xl. 50-62) interesting fragments of +the Dibbarra (or 'plague-god') legend found on tablets which were evidently intended +to be hung up. Mr. King suggests that such tablets were hung up in the houses of +the Babylonians whenever a plague broke out. One is reminded of the <i>mezuzoth</i>, +the metallic or wooden cases, attached to the doorposts of their houses by the Jews, +and which originally served a similar purpose.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_361_361" id="Footnote_361_361"></a><a href="#FNanchor_361_361"><span class="label">[361]</span></a> +Tallqvist, <i>Assyr. Beschwörungsserie Maklu</i>, p. 115, suggests that the 'veiled +bride' may be a name of some goddess of the night. This is improbable. It +sounds more like a direct personification of the night, for which an epithet as 'veiled +bride' seems appropriate. The name may have arisen in consequence of mythological +conceptions affecting the relationship between day and night.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_362_362" id="Footnote_362_362"></a><a href="#FNanchor_362_362"><span class="label">[362]</span></a> A magic potion compounded of this plant. 'Maklu' series, i. +ll. 8-12.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_363_363" id="Footnote_363_363"></a><a href="#FNanchor_363_363"><span class="label">[363]</span></a> 'Maklu' series, ii. ll. 148-168.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_364_364" id="Footnote_364_364"></a><a href="#FNanchor_364_364"><span class="label">[364]</span></a> See Relsner, <i>Sumerisch-Babylonische Hymnen</i> (Berlin, +1896), p. 15.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_365_365" id="Footnote_365_365"></a><a href="#FNanchor_365_365"><span class="label">[365]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_137">137</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_366_366" id="Footnote_366_366"></a><a href="#FNanchor_366_366"><span class="label">[366]</span></a> Robertson Smith, <i>Religion of the Semites</i>, p. 352. +Grimm, <i>Deutsche Mythologie</i>, i. 508-596. Tylor, <i>Primitive +Culture</i>, ii. 383 <i>seq.</i> See also the article "Hestia" in +Roscher's <i>Ausführliches Lexikon der Griechischen und Römischen +Mythologie</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_367_367" id="Footnote_367_367"></a><a href="#FNanchor_367_367"><span class="label">[367]</span></a> 'Maklu' series, ii. ll. 1-17.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_368_368" id="Footnote_368_368"></a><a href="#FNanchor_368_368"><span class="label">[368]</span></a> A reference to the sacred action of the fire in the burnt offerings.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_369_369" id="Footnote_369_369"></a><a href="#FNanchor_369_369"><span class="label">[369]</span></a> A favorite title of several gods, Bel, Sin, etc., that +emphasizes their strength.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_370_370" id="Footnote_370_370"></a><a href="#FNanchor_370_370"><span class="label">[370]</span></a> Here the seeker for help inserts his name.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_371_371" id="Footnote_371_371"></a><a href="#FNanchor_371_371"><span class="label">[371]</span></a> Here the names of special deities are to be inserted.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_372_372" id="Footnote_372_372"></a><a href="#FNanchor_372_372"><span class="label">[372]</span></a> See above, Nusku, p. <a href="#Page_220">220</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_373_373" id="Footnote_373_373"></a><a href="#FNanchor_373_373"><span class="label">[373]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_67">67</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_374_374" id="Footnote_374_374"></a><a href="#FNanchor_374_374"><span class="label">[374]</span></a> A form of Nusku, according to Tallqvist, <i>Assyr. +Beschwör.</i> p. 146. It would be more accurate to say a form of Ninib. +See p. <a href="#Page_92">92</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_375_375" id="Footnote_375_375"></a><a href="#FNanchor_375_375"><span class="label">[375]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_91">91</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_376_376" id="Footnote_376_376"></a><a href="#FNanchor_376_376"><span class="label">[376]</span></a> King, <i>Babylonian Magic</i>, p. 3.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_377_377" id="Footnote_377_377"></a><a href="#FNanchor_377_377"><span class="label">[377]</span></a> Humanity.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_378_378" id="Footnote_378_378"></a><a href="#FNanchor_378_378"><span class="label">[378]</span></a> The reference is to the formal lamentations on the occasion +of the death of any one. The moon-god, having disappeared, is bewailed +as though dead.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_379_379" id="Footnote_379_379"></a><a href="#FNanchor_379_379"><span class="label">[379]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, under all conditions and at all times.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_380_380" id="Footnote_380_380"></a><a href="#FNanchor_380_380"><span class="label">[380]</span></a> The reading Nâru is not altogether certain, but probable. +See Tallqvist, <i>Assyr. Beschwör.</i> pp. 131, 132, whose suggestion, +however, that Nâru may be a female deity, is not acceptable. +<i>Elitti</i> is probably a scribal error.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_381_381" id="Footnote_381_381"></a><a href="#FNanchor_381_381"><span class="label">[381]</span></a> See above p. <a href="#Page_103">103</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_382_382" id="Footnote_382_382"></a><a href="#FNanchor_382_382"><span class="label">[382]</span></a> Tallqvist, I. l. 38.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_383_383" id="Footnote_383_383"></a><a href="#FNanchor_383_383"><span class="label">[383]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_254">254</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_384_384" id="Footnote_384_384"></a><a href="#FNanchor_384_384"><span class="label">[384]</span></a> To bewitch me.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_385_385" id="Footnote_385_385"></a><a href="#FNanchor_385_385"><span class="label">[385]</span></a> The witch.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_386_386" id="Footnote_386_386"></a><a href="#FNanchor_386_386"><span class="label">[386]</span></a> From which he suffers through the witches.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_387_387" id="Footnote_387_387"></a><a href="#FNanchor_387_387"><span class="label">[387]</span></a> The identification of the many herbs mentioned in the texts +is as yet impossible. The subject awaits investigation at the hands of +one versed in botanical lore.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_388_388" id="Footnote_388_388"></a><a href="#FNanchor_388_388"><span class="label">[388]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, be ineffective.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_389_389" id="Footnote_389_389"></a><a href="#FNanchor_389_389"><span class="label">[389]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, the gods presiding over the watches.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_390_390" id="Footnote_390_390"></a><a href="#FNanchor_390_390"><span class="label">[390]</span></a> Her words dissolve like wax and honey.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_391_391" id="Footnote_391_391"></a><a href="#FNanchor_391_391"><span class="label">[391]</span></a> Supposed to be situated at the northern point of the heavens.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_392_392" id="Footnote_392_392"></a><a href="#FNanchor_392_392"><span class="label">[392]</span></a> The vault of heaven was pictured as having two gates.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_393_393" id="Footnote_393_393"></a><a href="#FNanchor_393_393"><span class="label">[393]</span></a> So that the witch cannot leave her habitation.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_394_394" id="Footnote_394_394"></a><a href="#FNanchor_394_394"><span class="label">[394]</span></a> With the order 'to cast the lock,' etc.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_395_395" id="Footnote_395_395"></a><a href="#FNanchor_395_395"><span class="label">[395]</span></a> To prevent her from uttering her charms.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_396_396" id="Footnote_396_396"></a><a href="#FNanchor_396_396"><span class="label">[396]</span></a> The following four lines constitute the incantation.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_397_397" id="Footnote_397_397"></a><a href="#FNanchor_397_397"><span class="label">[397]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, the witches.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_398_398" id="Footnote_398_398"></a><a href="#FNanchor_398_398"><span class="label">[398]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_278">278</a>, where one has been given.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_399_399" id="Footnote_399_399"></a><a href="#FNanchor_399_399"><span class="label">[399]</span></a> Maklu, I. 122-143.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_400_400" id="Footnote_400_400"></a><a href="#FNanchor_400_400"><span class="label">[400]</span></a> The fiery element belongs to all three divisions of the +universe,—to heaven, earth, and water.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_401_401" id="Footnote_401_401"></a><a href="#FNanchor_401_401"><span class="label">[401]</span></a> Maklu, III. ll. 89-103.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_402_402" id="Footnote_402_402"></a><a href="#FNanchor_402_402"><span class="label">[402]</span></a> Many of the seals used by the Babylonians were of white +stone or bone.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_403_403" id="Footnote_403_403"></a><a href="#FNanchor_403_403"><span class="label">[403]</span></a> Zimmern's edition, pp. 25-29.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_404_404" id="Footnote_404_404"></a><a href="#FNanchor_404_404"><span class="label">[404]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, the evil word.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_405_405" id="Footnote_405_405"></a><a href="#FNanchor_405_405"><span class="label">[405]</span></a> His protecting deity has deserted him.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_406_406" id="Footnote_406_406"></a><a href="#FNanchor_406_406"><span class="label">[406]</span></a> Of his body.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_407_407" id="Footnote_407_407"></a><a href="#FNanchor_407_407"><span class="label">[407]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, whoever may have invoked the evil demon to +settle upon him.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_408_408" id="Footnote_408_408"></a><a href="#FNanchor_408_408"><span class="label">[408]</span></a> The translation of these lines follows in all but some +minor passages the correct one given by Sayce, <i>Hibbert Lectures</i>, +p. 446.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_409_409" id="Footnote_409_409"></a><a href="#FNanchor_409_409"><span class="label">[409]</span></a> Of the sick man.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_410_410" id="Footnote_410_410"></a><a href="#FNanchor_410_410"><span class="label">[410]</span></a> Zimmern, <i>Die Beschwörungstafeln Shurpu</i>, pp. 5, 6.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_411_411" id="Footnote_411_411"></a><a href="#FNanchor_411_411"><span class="label">[411]</span></a> In mercantile transactions.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_412_412" id="Footnote_412_412"></a><a href="#FNanchor_412_412"><span class="label">[412]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, lied.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_413_413" id="Footnote_413_413"></a><a href="#FNanchor_413_413"><span class="label">[413]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, did he say one thing, but mean the contrary?</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_414_414" id="Footnote_414_414"></a><a href="#FNanchor_414_414"><span class="label">[414]</span></a> Zimmern, <i>ib.</i> pp. 13-20.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_415_415" id="Footnote_415_415"></a><a href="#FNanchor_415_415"><span class="label">[415]</span></a> For details as to the manner in which this editing was +done, see King's admirable remarks in the Introduction to his +<i>Babylonian Magic and Sorcery</i>, pp. xx-xxiv.</p></div> + + + + +<h2><a name="chapter-xvii" id="chapter-xvii"></a>CHAPTER XVII.</h2> + +<h3>THE PRAYERS AND HYMNS.</h3> + + +<p>From what has just been said, it follows that the step from +magical formulas to prayers and hymns is but a small one, and +does not, indeed, carry with it the implication of changed or +higher religious conceptions. While the incantation texts in +their entirety may be regarded as the oldest <i>fixed</i> ritual of +the Babylonian-Assyrian religion, there were occasions even in +the oldest period of Babylonian history when the gods were +approached in prayer without the accompaniment of magic +formulas. Such occasions were the celebration of festivals in +honor of the gods, the dedication of temples or of sacred statues, +and the completion of such purely secular undertakings +as the building of a canal. Gudea, we are told, upon completing +a statue to his god Nin-girsu, prayed: 'O King, whose +great strength the land cannot endure (?); Nin-girsu! grant to +Gudea, who has built this house, a good fate.'<a name="FNanchor_416_416" id="FNanchor_416_416"></a><a href="#Footnote_416_416" class="fnanchor">[416]</a> As in the +earliest, so in the latest, period, the Babylonian kings approach +the gods in prayer upon completing their great sacred edifices. +The prayers of Nebuchadnezzar are particularly fine—remarkable, +indeed, for their diction and elevation of thought. Upon +completing the restoration of a temple to Nin-karrak or Gula +in Sippar, he prays:<a name="FNanchor_417_417" id="FNanchor_417_417"></a><a href="#Footnote_417_417" class="fnanchor">[417]</a></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Nin-karrak, lofty goddess, look with favor upon the work of my hands,</p> +<p>Mercy towards me be the command of thy lips,</p> +<p>Long life, abundance of strength,</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span>Health, and joy, grant to me as a gift.</p> +<p>In the presence of Shamash and Marduk cause my deeds to be regarded with favor,</p> +<p>Command grace for me.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>A prayer of the same king addressed to Shamash, upon +restoring the great temple at Sippar, E-babbara, runs:<a name="FNanchor_418_418" id="FNanchor_418_418"></a><a href="#Footnote_418_418" class="fnanchor">[418]</a></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>O Shamash, great lord, upon entering joyfully into thy glorious temple E-babbara,</p> +<p>Look with favor upon my precious handiwork,</p> +<p>Mercy towards me be thy command;</p> +<p>Through thy righteous order, may I have abundance of strength.</p> +<p>Long life, and a firm throne, grant to me.</p> +<p>May my rule last forever!</p> +<p>With a righteous sceptre of blissful rulership,</p> +<p>With a legitimate staff, bringing salvation to mankind, adorn my sovereignty forever.</p> +<p>With strong weapons for the fray, protect my soldiers;</p> +<p>Then, O Shamash, by oracle and dream, answer me correctly!</p> +<p>By thy supreme command, which is unchangeable,</p> +<p>May my weapons advance, and strike and overthrow the weapons of the enemies.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Nebuchadnezzar's inscriptions are characterized by the prayer +with which they almost invariably close. Whether erecting a +sanctuary or building a canal or improving the walls of Babylon, +he does not fail to add to the description of his achievements +a prayer to some deity, in which he asks for divine grace +and the blessings of long life and prosperity.</p> + +<p>There were other occasions, too, in which, both in ancient +times and in more modern periods, prayers were sent up to the +gods. Kudur-mabuk, of the second dynasty of Ur, informs us +that he built a temple, E-nun-makh, to Sin in gratitude to the +god for having hearkened to his prayer.</p> + +<p>The Assyrian kings pray to Ashur or Ishtar before the battle, +and offer thanks after the victory has been gained. "O goddess +of Arbela!" says Ashurbanabal,<a name="FNanchor_419_419" id="FNanchor_419_419"></a><a href="#Footnote_419_419" class="fnanchor">[419]</a> "I am Ashurbanabal, the +king of Assyria, the product of thy hands, created by thee in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span> +the house of my father. To renew the sanctuaries of Assyria, +and to enlarge the cities of Babylonia, ... have I devoted +myself to thy dwelling-places, and have steadfastly worshipped +thy sovereignty.... Hearken unto me! O thou mistress +of mistresses, supreme in battle, mistress of the fray, +queen of the gods, ... who speakest good things in the presence +of Ashur, the father, that produced thee. Teumman, +king of Elam, has arrayed his army and fixed upon battle, +brandishes his weapons to proceed against Assyria. Do thou +now, O warrior, like ... drive him into the midst of the fray, +pursue him with a storm, with an evil wind." Ishtar, the narrative +tells us, hearkened to the fervent words of the king. "Be +not afraid," says the goddess to her royal subject. Elsewhere +the same king prays more briefly to Ashur and Ishtar. "May +his corpse [viz., of a certain enemy] be cast before his enemy +[<i>i.e.</i>, before Ashurbanabal], and his remains be carried off."<a name="FNanchor_420_420" id="FNanchor_420_420"></a><a href="#Footnote_420_420" class="fnanchor">[420]</a></p> + +<p>Upon ascending the throne, we find Nebuchadnezzar addressing +a fervent prayer to the great god Marduk:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>O Eternal Ruler! Lord of the Universe!</p> +<p>Grant that the name<a name="FNanchor_421_421" id="FNanchor_421_421"></a><a href="#Footnote_421_421" class="fnanchor">[421]</a> of the king whom thou lovest,</p> +<p>Whose name thou hast mentioned,<a name="FNanchor_422_422" id="FNanchor_422_422"></a><a href="#Footnote_422_422" class="fnanchor">[422]</a> may flourish as seems good to thee.</p> +<p>Guide him on the right path.</p> +<p>I am the ruler who obeys thee, the creation of thy hand.</p> +<p>It is thou who hast created me,</p> +<p>And thou hast entrusted to me sovereignty over mankind.</p> +<p>According to thy mercy, O lord, which thou bestowest upon all,</p> +<p>Cause me to love thy supreme rule.</p> +<p>Implant the fear of thy divinity in my heart,</p> +<p>Grant to me whatsoever may seem good before thee,</p> +<p>Since it is thou that dost control my life.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The curses also with which so many of the historical texts +of Babylonia and Assyria close may be regarded as prayers. +We are also justified in assuming that the offering of sacrifices,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span> +which formed at all times an essential feature of the cult, both +in Babylonia and Assyria, was always accompanied by some +form of prayer addressed to some deity or to a group of deities. +In view of all this, no sharp chronological line, any more than +a logical one, can be drawn marking off the incantation formulas +from the hymns and prayers pure and simple. The +conceptions formed of the gods in the incantation texts are +precisely those which we have found to be characteristic of +them in the period when this phase of the religion reached +its highest development. Ea is the protector of humanity, +Shamash the lord of justice; and, if certain ideas that in the +prayers are attached to the gods—as wisdom to Sin—are +absent from the incantations, it may be regarded rather as an +accident than as an indication of any difference of conception. +The pantheon too, barring the omission of certain gods, is the +same that we find it to be in the historical texts, and the order +in which the gods are enumerated corresponds quite closely +with the rank accorded to them in the inscriptions of the kings. +What variations there are are not sufficiently pronounced to +warrant any conclusions. All this points, as has been emphasized +several times, to the subsequent remodeling of the texts +in question. It is true that we find more traces of earlier and +purely mythological notions in the incantations than in the +hymns and prayers, but such notions are by no means foreign +to the latter. Even in those religious productions of Babylonia +which represent the flower of religious thought, we meet with +views that reflect a most primitive mode of thought. The +proper view, therefore, to take of the prayers and hymns is to +regard them as twin productions to the magical texts, due to the +same conceptions of the power of the gods, an emanation of +the same religious spirit, and produced at the same time that +the incantation rituals enjoyed popular favor and esteem, and +without in any way interfering with the practice of the rites +that these rituals involved.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span></p> + +<p>This position does not of course preclude that among the +prayers and hymns that have been preserved there are some +betraying a loftier spirit, a higher level of religious thought, and +more pronounced ethical tendencies than others. Indeed, the +one important result of the dissociation of the address to the +gods from the purely practical magic rites was to produce +the conditions favorable to a development of higher religious +thought. An offering of praise to the gods, whether it was +for victory granted or for a favor shown, called forth the best +and purest sentiments of which the individual was capable. +Freed from all lower associations, such an act proved an +incentive to view the deity addressed from his most favorable +side, to emphasize those phases which illustrated his affection +for his worshippers, his concern for their needs, his discrimination, +and not merely his power and strength. In short, the +softer and the more humane aspects of the religion would thus +be brought out. The individual would address his god in +terms betraying his affection, and would couple with him +attributes that would reflect the worshipper's rather than the +god's view of the purpose and aim of existence. Whatever +powers of idealization there lay in the worshipper's nature +would be brought into the foreground by the intellectual effort +involved in giving expression to his best thoughts, when aiming +to come into close communion with a power upon which he +felt himself dependent. For an understanding, therefore, of +the ethical tendencies of the Babylonian religion, an appreciation +of the prayers and hymns is of prime importance; and +we shall presently see that, as a matter of fact, the highest +level of ethical and religious thought is reached in some of these +hymns.</p> + +<p>The prayers of Nebuchadnezzar represent, perhaps, the best +that has been attained in this branch of religious literature. +Returning, for a moment, to the dedication prayer to Marduk, +addressed by the king on the occasion of his mounting the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span> +throne,<a name="FNanchor_423_423" id="FNanchor_423_423"></a><a href="#Footnote_423_423" class="fnanchor">[423]</a> one cannot fail to be struck by the high sense of the +importance of his station with which the king is inspired. +Sovereignty is not a right that he can claim—it is a trust +granted to him by Marduk. He holds his great office not for +purposes of self-glorification, but for the benefit of his subjects. +In profound humility he confesses that what he has he owes +entirely to Marduk. He asks to be guided so that he may +follow the path of righteousness. Neither riches nor power +constitute his ambition, but to have the fear of his lord in his +heart. Such a plane of thought is never reached in the incantation +texts. For all that, the original dependence of the +prayers and hymns upon incantation formulas, tinges even the +best productions. Some of the finest hymns, in which elevated +thoughts are elaborated with considerable skill, reveal their +origin by having incantations attached to them. Again, others +which are entirely independent productions are full of allusions +to sickness, demons, and sorcerers, that show the outgrowth +of the hymns from the incantations; and none are entirely +free from traces of the conceptions that are characteristic of +the incantation texts. The essential difference between these +two classes of closely related texts may be summed up in the +proposition that the religious thought which produced them +both is carried to a higher point of elaboration in the hymns. +The prayers and hymns represent the attempt of the Babylonian +mind to free itself from a superstitious view of the relationship +of man to the powers around him; an attempt, but—it must +be added—an unsuccessful one.</p> + +<p>It is rather unfortunate that many of the hymns found in the +library of Ashurbanabal are in so fragmentary a condition. As +a consequence we are frequently unable to determine more +than their general contents. The colophons generally are +missing,—at least in those hymns hitherto published,<a name="FNanchor_424_424" id="FNanchor_424_424"></a><a href="#Footnote_424_424" class="fnanchor">[424]</a>—so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span> +that we are left in the dark as to the special occasion for which +the hymn was composed. Without this knowledge it is quite +impossible to assign to it any definite date except upon internal +evidence. In the course of time, the hymnal literature of the +great temples of Babylonia must have grown to large proportions, +and, in collecting them, some system was certainly followed +by the priests engaged in this work. There is evidence +of a collection having been made at some time of hymns addressed +to Shamash. Some of these were intended as a salute +upon the sun's rising, others celebrated his setting. These +hymns convey the impression of having been composed for the +worship of the god in one of his great temples—perhaps in +E-babbara, at Sippar. We have several hymns also addressed +to Marduk, and one can well suppose that at the great temple +E-sagila, in Babylon, a collection of Marduk hymns must have +been prepared, and so for others of the great gods. But, +again, many of the hymns convey the impression of being +merely sporadic productions—composed for certain occasions, +and without any reference to a possible position in a ritual.</p> + +<p>Of the hymns so far published, those to Shamash are probably +the finest. The conception of the sun-god as the judge of +mankind lent itself readily to an ethical elaboration. Accordingly, +we find in these hymns justice and righteousness as the +two prominent themes. A striking passage in one of these +hymns reads:<a name="FNanchor_425_425" id="FNanchor_425_425"></a><a href="#Footnote_425_425" class="fnanchor">[425]</a></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>The law of mankind dost thou direct,</p> +<p>Eternally just in the heavens art thou,</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span>Of faithful judgment towards all the world art thou.</p> +<p>Thou knowest what is right, thou knowest what is wrong.</p> +<p>O Shamash! Righteousness has lifted up its neck(?);</p> +<p>O Shamash! Wrong like a —— has been cut(?);</p> +<p>O Shamash! The support of Anu and Bel art thou;</p> +<p>O Shamash! Supreme judge of heaven and earth art thou.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>After a break in the tablet, the hymn continues:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>O Shamash! Supreme judge, great lord of all the world art thou;</p> +<p>Lord of creation, merciful one of the world art thou.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The following lines now reveal the purpose of the hymn. It +is a prayer for the life of the king:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>O Shamash! on this day purify and cleanse the king, the son of his god.</p> +<p>Whatever is evil within him, let it be taken out.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The next few lines are a distinct echo of the incantation +formulas, and show how readily prayer passes from a higher +to a lower stage of thought:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Cleanse him like a vessel ——<a name="FNanchor_426_426" id="FNanchor_426_426"></a><a href="#Footnote_426_426" class="fnanchor">[426]</a></p> +<p>Illumine him like a vessel of ——<a href="#Footnote_426_426" class="fnanchor">[426]</a></p> +<p>Like the copper of a polished tablet,<a name="FNanchor_427_427" id="FNanchor_427_427"></a><a href="#Footnote_427_427" class="fnanchor">[427]</a> let him be bright.</p> +<p>Release him from the ban.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The same incantation occurs at the close of another hymn +to Shamash, addressed to the sun upon his rising.<a name="FNanchor_428_428" id="FNanchor_428_428"></a><a href="#Footnote_428_428" class="fnanchor">[428]</a> The colophon +furnishes the opening line of the next tablet, which also +begins with an address to Shamash. We have here a clear +indication of a kind of Shamash ritual extending, perhaps, over +a number of tablets, and to which, in all probability, the hymn +just quoted also belongs.</p> + +<p>The opening lines of the second hymn read:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>O Shamash! out of the horizon of heaven thou issuest forth,</p> +<p>The bolt of the bright heavens thou openest,</p> +<p>The door of heaven thou dost open.</p> +<p>O Shamash! over the world dost thou raise thy head.</p> +<p>O Shamash! with the glory of heaven thou coverest the world.</p> +</div></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span> +It would be difficult to believe, but for the express testimony +furnished by the hymn itself, that a production giving evidence +of such a lofty view of the sun-god should, after all, be no more +than an incantation. The same is the case, however, with all +the Shamash hymns so far published. They either expressly +or by implication form part of an incantation ritual. Evidently, +then, such addresses to Shamash are to be viewed in +no other light than the exaltation of Nusku in the 'Maklu' +series,<a name="FNanchor_429_429" id="FNanchor_429_429"></a><a href="#Footnote_429_429" class="fnanchor">[429]</a> and which we have found were in many cases elaborate, +beautiful in diction, and elevated in thought. So—to give +one more example—a hymn addressed to the sun-god at the +setting, and which is especially interesting because of the metaphors +chosen to describe the sun's course, is proved by the +colophon to be again an incantation. It belongs to a series—perhaps, +indeed, to the same as the specimens furnished:<a name="FNanchor_430_430" id="FNanchor_430_430"></a><a href="#Footnote_430_430" class="fnanchor">[430]</a></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>O sun-god in the midst<a name="FNanchor_431_431" id="FNanchor_431_431"></a><a href="#Footnote_431_431" class="fnanchor">[431]</a> of heaven at thy setting,</p> +<p>May the enclosure of the pure heaven greet thee,<a name="FNanchor_432_432" id="FNanchor_432_432"></a><a href="#Footnote_432_432" class="fnanchor">[432]</a></p> +<p>May the gate of heaven approach thee,</p> +<p>May the directing god, the messenger who loves thee, direct thy way.</p> +<p>In E-babbara, the seat of thy sovereignty, thy supremacy rises like the dawn.</p> +<p>May Â, the wife whom thou lovest, come before thee with joy;</p> +<p>May thy heart be at rest,<a name="FNanchor_433_433" id="FNanchor_433_433"></a><a href="#Footnote_433_433" class="fnanchor">[433]</a></p> +<p>May the glory of thy divinity be established for thee.</p> +<p>O Shamash! warrior hero, mayest thou be exalted;</p> +<p>O lord of E-babbara, as thou marchest, may thy course be directed,</p> +<p>Direct thy path, march along the path fixed for thy course (?).</p> +<p>O Shamash! judge of the world, director of its laws art thou.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>In the previous chapter, the hymns addressed to the moon-god +in connection with eclipses have been referred to and short<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span> +specimens given. A more elaborate hymn to Sin will further +illustrate the conceptions current about this deity:<a name="FNanchor_434_434" id="FNanchor_434_434"></a><a href="#Footnote_434_434" class="fnanchor">[434]</a></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>O lord, chief of the gods, who on earth and in heaven alone is exalted.</p> +<p>Father Nannar,<a name="FNanchor_435_435" id="FNanchor_435_435"></a><a href="#Footnote_435_435" class="fnanchor">[435]</a> lord of increase, chief of the gods,</p> +<p>Father Nannar, heavenly lord,</p> +<p>Father Nannar, moon-god, chief of the gods,</p> +<p>Father Nannar, lord of Ur, chief of the gods,</p> +<p>Father Nannar, lord of E-gish-shir-gal,<a name="FNanchor_436_436" id="FNanchor_436_436"></a><a href="#Footnote_436_436" class="fnanchor">[436]</a> chief of the gods,</p> +<p>Father Nannar, lord of the brilliant crescent, chief of the gods,</p> +<p>Father Nannar, whose sovereignty is brought to perfection, chief of the gods,</p> +<p>Father Nannar, who passes along in great majesty,</p> +<p>O strong Bull,<a name="FNanchor_437_437" id="FNanchor_437_437"></a><a href="#Footnote_437_437" class="fnanchor">[437]</a> great of horns, perfect in form, with long flowing beard<a name="FNanchor_438_438" id="FNanchor_438_438"></a><a href="#Footnote_438_438" class="fnanchor">[438]</a> of the color of lapus-lazuli.</p> +<p>Powerful one, self-created, a product (?) beautiful to look upon, whose fullness has not been brought forth,<a name="FNanchor_439_439" id="FNanchor_439_439"></a><a href="#Footnote_439_439" class="fnanchor">[439]</a></p> +<p>Merciful one, begetter of everything, who among living things occupies a lofty seat,</p> +<p>Father, merciful one and restorer, whose weapon (?) maintains the life of the whole world.</p> +<p>Lord, thy divinity, like the distant heaven and the wide ocean, is full (?) of fear.</p> +<p>Ruler of the land, protector of sanctuaries, proclaimer of their name.</p> +<p>Father, begetter of the gods and of men, establishing dwellings and granting gifts,</p> +<p>Calling to sovereignty, giving the sceptre, who decreest destinies for distant days.</p> +<p>Strong chief, whose wide heart embraces in mercy all that exists,</p> +<p>... beautiful, whose knees do not grow weary, who opens the road (?) for the gods, his brothers,</p> +<p>... who, from the foundation of heaven till the zenith,</p> +<p>Passes along in brilliancy (?), opening the door of heaven,</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span>Preparing the fate (?) of humanity.</p> +<p>Father, begetter of everything, ...</p> +<p>Lord, proclaiming the decisions of heaven and earth,</p> +<p>Whose command is not set aside,</p> +<p>... and granting water<a name="FNanchor_440_440" id="FNanchor_440_440"></a><a href="#Footnote_440_440" class="fnanchor">[440]</a> for all that has life.</p> +<p>No god reaches to thy fullness.</p> +<p>In heaven who is exalted? Thou alone art exalted.</p> +<p>On earth who is exalted? Thou alone art exalted.</p> +<p>Thy strong command is proclaimed in heaven, and the Igigi prostrate themselves.</p> +<p>Thy strong command is proclaimed on earth, and the Anunnaki kiss the ground.</p> +<p>Thy strong command on high, like a storm in the darkness, passes along, and nourishment streams forth.</p> +<p>When thy strong command is established on the earth, vegetation sprouts forth.</p> +<p>Thy strong command stretches over meadows and heights, and life is increased.</p> +<p>Thy strong command produces right and proclaims justice to mankind.</p> +<p>Thy strong command, through the distant heavens and the wide earth, extends to whatever there is.</p> +<p>Thy strong command, who can grasp it? Who can rival it?</p> +<p>Lord, in heaven is [thy] sovereignty, on earth is thy sovereignty. Among the gods, thy brothers, there is none like thee.</p> +<p>O King of Kings, who has no judge superior to him, whose divinity is not surpassed by any other!<a name="FNanchor_441_441" id="FNanchor_441_441"></a><a href="#Footnote_441_441" class="fnanchor">[441]</a></p> +</div></div> + +<p>A more perfect idealization of the mythological notions connected +with the moon-god can hardly be imagined. The old +metaphors are retained, but interpreted in a manner that +reflects higher spiritual tendencies. The moon is still figured +as a bull, but it is the idea of strength that is extracted from +the picture and dwelt upon. The writer still thinks of the +moon as an old man with flowing beard, but he uses the figure +to convey the impression of the brilliancy of the great orb. The +influence of the moon upon the change of seasons, upon +vegetation,—a belief which the Babylonians shared with other<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span> +nations,—leads the writer to extol the benign feelings of the +god towards mankind. The sun-god, through the glowing heat +that he develops, becomes, as we have seen, the warrior and +even the destroyer, the consuming force. The moon-god is the +benefactor of mankind who restores the energies of man weakened +from the heat of the day. Nannar-Sin becomes the giver +of life, whose mercies are extended to all. The gods and the +spirits follow the example of mankind in prostrating themselves +before the great orb of night. The independence of +the course that he pursues in the heavens places him beyond +the control of the great judge of the world, the mighty Shamash. +There is no one superior to Sin, no one to whose command +he must bend. With all this, there is a total absence of +any allusion to his power of removing the influence of demons +and witches. We have here a hymn purified from all association +with the incantation texts, and there is every reason to +believe that it was composed for use in the great temple at +Ur, which is mentioned in the opening lines.</p> + +<p>In the alternating question and answer we have also a valuable +indication of the manner in which the hymn was to be recited +or sung. The whole production appears to be arranged in a +dialogue form, the lines to be alternately read by the reciting +priest and the chorus of priests or worshippers. The same +method is followed in other productions, while in some, as we +shall see, the dialogue does not proceed in alternate lines, but +is distributed among a varying number of sections. We may +see in this style of composition one of the natural outcomes of +the method pursued in the incantation texts, where, as will be +remembered, the priest first recites the formulas, and then calls +upon the individual before him to repeat it once, twice, or +oftener, as the case may be. Such a custom leads to recital +and responses in the hymns.</p> + +<p>Not many of the hymns rise to such a height as the one just +quoted. There were certain gods only, and after all not many,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span> +whose nature was such as to make an ethical development of the +conceptions formed of them possible. Besides Shamash and Sin, +Ea as the god of humanity and Nebo as the god of wisdom belong +to this class. Of Ea, however, no hymns have as yet been found. +This may of course be accidental, and still, if one bears in mind +that in the later periods of Babylonian history Ea enjoyed a +theoretical popularity rather than a practical one, the absence +of Ea hymns might be explained as due to the lack of a fixed +ritual in the Ea temples outside of the incantation texts.<a name="FNanchor_442_442" id="FNanchor_442_442"></a><a href="#Footnote_442_442" class="fnanchor">[442]</a> Ea's +position, like that of Nusku, was too marked in the magical +texts to encourage a conception of them entirely independent of +their power to release victims from the grasp of the demons.</p> + +<p>A hymn to Nebo, which unfortunately is preserved only in +part, illustrates the extent to which polytheistic conceptions may +be spiritualized:<a name="FNanchor_443_443" id="FNanchor_443_443"></a><a href="#Footnote_443_443" class="fnanchor">[443]</a></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>... Lord of Borsippa,</p> +<p>... son of E-sagila.<a name="FNanchor_444_444" id="FNanchor_444_444"></a><a href="#Footnote_444_444" class="fnanchor">[444]</a></p> +<p>O Lord! To thy power there is no rival power,</p> +<p>O Nebo! To thy power, there is no rival,</p> +<p>To thy house, E-zida, there is no rival,</p> +<p>To thy city, Borsippa, there is no rival,</p> +<p>To thy district, Babylon, there is no rival.</p> +<p>Thy weapon is U-sum-gallu,<a name="FNanchor_445_445" id="FNanchor_445_445"></a><a href="#Footnote_445_445" class="fnanchor">[445]</a> from whose mouth the breath does not issue, blood does not flow.<a name="FNanchor_446_446" id="FNanchor_446_446"></a><a href="#Footnote_446_446" class="fnanchor">[446]</a></p> +<p>Thy command is unchangeable like the heavens.</p> +<p>In heaven thou art supreme.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>There are still plenty of mythological allusions in this hymn +that take us back to a primitive period of thought, but it is a +hymn prompted by the love and reverence that Nebo inspired. +Its direct connection with the Nebo cult is shown again by the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span> +complementary character of each two lines. The whole hymn +was probably adapted in this way to public worship.</p> + +<p>Marduk, by virtue of his relationship to Ea, and by his independent +position as the supreme god of Babylon, occupies a +middle ground between Shamash, Ea, and Nusku on the one +side, and such gods as Sin and Nebo on the other. Some of +the hymns addressed to him end in incantations; others form +part of the cult arranged for solemn occasions, when the praises +of the god were sung in connection with sacrificial offerings.</p> + +<p>In confirmation of the theory as to the relationship between +magical texts and hymns above advanced, we find scarcely any +difference in the grade of religious thought between these two +classes of Marduk hymns. Both are equally distinguished by +their fine diction. A hymn which celebrates Marduk as the +restorer of the dead to life, and yet forms part of an incantation +text, reads:<a name="FNanchor_447_447" id="FNanchor_447_447"></a><a href="#Footnote_447_447" class="fnanchor">[447]</a></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>O merciful one among the gods!</p> +<p>O merciful one who loveth to give life to the dead!</p> +<p>Marduk, king of heaven and earth,</p> +<p>King of Babylon, lord of E-sagila,</p> +<p>King of E-zida, lord of E-makh-tila,</p> +<p>Heaven and earth are thine.</p> +<p>The whole of heaven and earth are thine,</p> +<p>The spell affording life is thine,</p> +<p>The breath of life is thine,</p> +<p>The pure incantation of the ocean<a name="FNanchor_448_448" id="FNanchor_448_448"></a><a href="#Footnote_448_448" class="fnanchor">[448]</a> is thine,</p> +<p>Mankind, the black-headed race,<a name="FNanchor_449_449" id="FNanchor_449_449"></a><a href="#Footnote_449_449" class="fnanchor">[449]</a></p> +<p>The living creatures, as many as there are, and exist on earth,</p> +<p>As many as there are in the four quarters,</p> +<p>The Igigi of the legions of heaven and earth,</p> +<p>As many as there are,</p> +<p>To thee do they incline (?).</p> +<p>Thou art the <i>shedu</i>, thou art the <i>lamassu</i>.</p> +<p>Thou restorest the dead to life, thou bringest things to completeness (?).</p> +<p>O merciful one among the gods!</p> +</div></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span> +One scarcely detects any difference between such a hymn +and those to Sin and Nebo. The lines are adapted, like the +other specimens, for recitation by two parties. The last line +forms a solemn close to a section of this hymn. In the section +that follows, the same character is maintained till we approach +the close, when the exorciser steps in and asks Marduk to</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Expel the disease of the sick man,</p> +<p>The plague, the wasting disease ...</p> +</div></div> + +<p>and the various classes of demons, <i>utukku, alu,</i> etc., are introduced.</p> + +<p>Compare this now with some passages in a prayer addressed +to Marduk:<a name="FNanchor_450_450" id="FNanchor_450_450"></a><a href="#Footnote_450_450" class="fnanchor">[450]</a></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>A resting-place for the lord (of E-sagila) is thy house.</p> +<p>A resting-place for the lord of E-makh-tila is thy house.</p> +<p>E-sagila, the house of thy sovereignty, is thy house.</p> +<p>May the city speak 'rest'<a name="FNanchor_451_451" id="FNanchor_451_451"></a><a href="#Footnote_451_451" class="fnanchor">[451]</a> to thee—thy house.</p> +<p>May Babylon speak peace to thee<a name="FNanchor_452_452" id="FNanchor_452_452"></a><a href="#Footnote_452_452" class="fnanchor">[452]</a>—thy house.</p> +<p>May the great Anu, the father of the gods, tell thee when there will be rest.</p> +<p>May the great mountain, the father of the gods,<a name="FNanchor_453_453" id="FNanchor_453_453"></a><a href="#Footnote_453_453" class="fnanchor">[453]</a> tell thee when there will be rest.</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p>Look favorably upon thy house,</p> +<p>Look favorably upon the city, O lord of rest!</p> +<p>May he restore to his place the bolt Babylon, the enclosure E-sagila, the edifice E-zida,<a name="FNanchor_454_454" id="FNanchor_454_454"></a><a href="#Footnote_454_454" class="fnanchor">[454]</a></p> +<p>May the gods of heaven and earth speak to thee, O lord of rest.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Here we have specific references to Marduk. Everything +about the city of Babylon is associated with the god. The +great gods pay homage to Marduk. The whole hymn, conceived +as a royal prayer to the god, clearly formed part of the +ritual prepared for the great Marduk temple at Babylon. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span> +hymn closes, as so many others, with a prayer on behalf of +the king. The god is asked</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>To establish firmly the foundation of the throne of his sovereignty,</p> +<p>So that he may nourish (?) mankind to distant days.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>'Rest,' in the liturgical language, implied cessation of anger. +Marduk, as the 'lord of rest,' was the pacified deity; and since it +was a necessary condition in obtaining an answer to petitions +that the god should be free from anger, the city, the temple, +and the gods are represented as unitedly speaking to him—appealing +to him to be at 'rest.' The production might, therefore, +be called a 'pacification hymn.' The god has shown his +anger by bringing on misfortune of some shape. His divine +associates are no less anxious than his human subjects to +pacify the mighty god.</p> + +<p>Passing on to another god, a hymn to the storm-god, Ramman, +enables us to specify the great terror that the god, as the +general source of disturbances in the heavenly phenomena, +inspired. The god is addressed<a name="FNanchor_455_455" id="FNanchor_455_455"></a><a href="#Footnote_455_455" class="fnanchor">[455]</a> as</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>The lord who in his anger holds the heavens in his control,</p> +<p>Ramman in his wrath the earth has shaken.</p> +<p>The mighty mountain—thou dost overturn it.</p> +<p>At his anger, at his wrath,</p> +<p>The gods of heaven mount up to heaven,<a name="FNanchor_456_456" id="FNanchor_456_456"></a><a href="#Footnote_456_456" class="fnanchor">[456]</a></p> +<p>The gods of earth enter the earth.</p> +<p>Into the foundation of heaven Shamash<a name="FNanchor_457_457" id="FNanchor_457_457"></a><a href="#Footnote_457_457" class="fnanchor">[457]</a> enters.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The illustrations adduced will suffice to show the manner in +which the Babylonians conceived the relationship between mankind +and the gods. The element of fear alternated with that +of love, and no matter how near the gods were felt to be, one +was never certain of their good will.</p> + +<p>Another feature of some of these hymns which calls for +special mention is the introduction of the deity as himself or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span> +herself taking part in the dialogue. A hymn addressed to +Ishtar, as the morning and evening star,<a name="FNanchor_458_458" id="FNanchor_458_458"></a><a href="#Footnote_458_458" class="fnanchor">[458]</a> belongs to this class.<a name="FNanchor_459_459" id="FNanchor_459_459"></a><a href="#Footnote_459_459" class="fnanchor">[459]</a> +It begins with a glorification of the goddess as the source of +light, of being, and of earthly blessings. The worshipper +speaks:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>O light of heaven who arises like fire over the earth, who art fixed in the earth,</p> +<p>Thou art exalted in strength like the earth.</p> +<p>As for thee, a just path be graciously granted to thee</p> +<p>When thou enterest the house of man.</p> +<p>A hyena on the hunt for a young lamb art thou,</p> +<p>A restless lion art thou.</p> +<p>A destructive handmaid, the beauty of heaven,</p> +<p>A handmaid is Ishtar, the beauty of heaven,</p> +<p>Who causest all being to emanate, O beauty of heaven,</p> +<p>Associate (?) of the sun, O beauty of heaven!</p> +</div></div> + +<p>At this point the goddess speaks, through the officiating +priest, who acts as the mediator:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>For determining oracles<a name="FNanchor_460_460" id="FNanchor_460_460"></a><a href="#Footnote_460_460" class="fnanchor">[460]</a> I have been established, in perfection have I been established.</p> +<p>For determining oracles of my father Sin, I have been established, in perfection have I been established.</p> +<p>For determining oracles of my brother Shamash, I have been established, in perfection have I been established.</p> +<p>Me has my father Sin fixed, to determine oracles I have been established,</p> +<p>Shining anew in heaven, for determining oracles I have been established, in perfection have I been established.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>From the regular repetition of the refrain at the end of each +line, one is tempted to conclude that these utterances of the +goddess were to be recited by an officiating priest with the +assistance of a chorus of priests, to whom the refrain was +assigned, or it may be that the lines were alternately recited by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span> +the priest and the chorus. In the section that follows, this +alternative character of the lines is more clearly indicated:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Full of delight is my majesty, full of delight is my supremacy,</p> +<p>Full of delight do I as a goddess walk supreme.</p> +<p>Ishtar, the goddess of morning am I,</p> +<p>Ishtar, the goddess of evening am I,</p> +<p>(I am) Ishtar,—to open the lock of heaven belongs to my supremacy.</p> +<p>Heaven I destroy, earth I devastate,<a name="FNanchor_461_461" id="FNanchor_461_461"></a><a href="#Footnote_461_461" class="fnanchor">[461]</a>—such is my supremacy.</p> +<p>The destroyer of heaven, the devastator of the earth,—such is my majesty.</p> +<p>To rise up out of the foundation of heaven,</p> +<p>Whose fame shines among the habitation of men,—such is my supremacy.</p> +<p>Queen of heaven that on high and below is invoked,—such is my supremacy.</p> +<p>The mountain I sweep away altogether,—such is my supremacy.</p> +<p>The destroyer of the mountain walls am I, their great foundation am I,—such is my supremacy.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The hymn closes with a prayer that the anger of the god be +appeased:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>May thy heart be at rest, thy liver<a name="FNanchor_462_462" id="FNanchor_462_462"></a><a href="#Footnote_462_462" class="fnanchor">[462]</a> be pacified.</p> +<p>By the great lord Anu, may thy heart be at rest.</p> +<p>By the lord, the great mountain Bel, may thy liver be pacified.</p> +<p>O goddess, mistress of heaven, may thy heart be at rest.</p> +<p>O supreme mistress of heaven, may thy liver be pacified.</p> +<p>O supreme mistress of the E-anna,<a name="FNanchor_463_463" id="FNanchor_463_463"></a><a href="#Footnote_463_463" class="fnanchor">[463]</a> may thy heart be at rest.</p> +<p>O supreme mistress of the land of Erech, may thy liver be pacified.</p> +<p>O supreme mistress of the shining Erech, may thy heart be at rest.</p> +<p>O supreme mistress of the mountain of the universe, may thy liver be pacified.</p> +<p>O supreme mistress, queen of E-tur-kalama,<a name="FNanchor_464_464" id="FNanchor_464_464"></a><a href="#Footnote_464_464" class="fnanchor">[464]</a> may thy heart be at rest.</p> +<p>O supreme mistress, queen of Babylon, may thy liver be pacified.</p> +<p>O supreme mistress, whose name is Nanâ, may thy heart be at rest.</p> +<p>O mistress of the house, lady of the gods, may thy liver be pacified.</p> +</div></div> + +<h3><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_416_416" id="Footnote_416_416"></a><a href="#FNanchor_416_416"><span class="label">[416]</span></a> Inscription D, col. v. ll. 2-7.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_417_417" id="Footnote_417_417"></a><a href="#FNanchor_417_417"><span class="label">[417]</span></a> Abel-Winckler, <i>Keilschrifttexte</i>, p. 33, col. iii. +ll. 52-58.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_418_418" id="Footnote_418_418"></a><a href="#FNanchor_418_418"><span class="label">[418]</span></a> Ball, <i>Proc. Soc. Bibl. Arch.</i> xi. 124 <i>seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_419_419" id="Footnote_419_419"></a><a href="#FNanchor_419_419"><span class="label">[419]</span></a> <i>Annals</i>, Cylinder B, col. v. ll. 30-46.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_420_420" id="Footnote_420_420"></a><a href="#FNanchor_420_420"><span class="label">[420]</span></a> Without proper burial,—the greatest misfortune that could +happen to the dead.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_421_421" id="Footnote_421_421"></a><a href="#FNanchor_421_421"><span class="label">[421]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, life.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_422_422" id="Footnote_422_422"></a><a href="#FNanchor_422_422"><span class="label">[422]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, called to the throne.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_423_423" id="Footnote_423_423"></a><a href="#FNanchor_423_423"><span class="label">[423]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_296">296</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_424_424" id="Footnote_424_424"></a><a href="#FNanchor_424_424"><span class="label">[424]</span></a> The prayers and hymns of the Babylonians are only beginning +to receive the attention they deserve at the hands of scholars. Sayce, +<i>e.g.</i>, in the specimens attached to his <i>Hibbert Lectures</i>, +pp. 479-520, does not even distinguish properly between pure hymns and +mere incantations. Now that Dr. Bezold's great catalogue of the +Koujunjik collection of the British Museum is completed, the opportunity +is favorable for some one to study the numerous unpublished fragments of +hymns in the British Museum, and produce in connection with those that +have been published a comprehensive work on the subject. Knudtzon's +<i>Assyrische Gebete an den Sonnengott</i> may serve as a model for such +a work.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_425_425" id="Footnote_425_425"></a><a href="#FNanchor_425_425"><span class="label">[425]</span></a> IVR. 28, no. 1.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_426_426" id="Footnote_426_426"></a><a href="#FNanchor_426_426"><span class="label">[426]</span></a> Some specification of the kind of vessel meant.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_427_427" id="Footnote_427_427"></a><a href="#FNanchor_427_427"><span class="label">[427]</span></a> Inscriptions were written on various metals,—gold, silver, +antimony, lead, copper, etc.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_428_428" id="Footnote_428_428"></a><a href="#FNanchor_428_428"><span class="label">[428]</span></a> IVR. 20, no. 2.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_429_429" id="Footnote_429_429"></a><a href="#FNanchor_429_429"><span class="label">[429]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_286">286</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_430_430" id="Footnote_430_430"></a><a href="#FNanchor_430_430"><span class="label">[430]</span></a> Published by Bertin in the <i>Revue d'Assyriologie</i>, no. +4, and translated by Sayce, <i>Hibbert Lectures</i>, p. 573. I adopt +Sayce's translation, Bertin's publication being inaccessible to me.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_431_431" id="Footnote_431_431"></a><a href="#FNanchor_431_431"><span class="label">[431]</span></a> Probably 'horizon.'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_432_432" id="Footnote_432_432"></a><a href="#FNanchor_432_432"><span class="label">[432]</span></a> Lit., speak to thee of peace.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_433_433" id="Footnote_433_433"></a><a href="#FNanchor_433_433"><span class="label">[433]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, may thy anger depart.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_434_434" id="Footnote_434_434"></a><a href="#FNanchor_434_434"><span class="label">[434]</span></a> IVR. 9.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_435_435" id="Footnote_435_435"></a><a href="#FNanchor_435_435"><span class="label">[435]</span></a> 'The illuminator,' one of the names of Sin. See above, p. <a href="#Page_75">75</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_436_436" id="Footnote_436_436"></a><a href="#FNanchor_436_436"><span class="label">[436]</span></a> The name of Sin's temple at Ur.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_437_437" id="Footnote_437_437"></a><a href="#FNanchor_437_437"><span class="label">[437]</span></a> A metaphor descriptive of the moon, because of the +resemblance of the crescent to a horn.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_438_438" id="Footnote_438_438"></a><a href="#FNanchor_438_438"><span class="label">[438]</span></a> The moon-god is pictured with a long beard on the seal +cylinders. See p. <a href="#Page_76">76</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_439_439" id="Footnote_439_439"></a><a href="#FNanchor_439_439"><span class="label">[439]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, unlike other products, the moon's fullness is +self-created.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_440_440" id="Footnote_440_440"></a><a href="#FNanchor_440_440"><span class="label">[440]</span></a> A reference perhaps to the supposed influence of the moon +on the tides.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_441_441" id="Footnote_441_441"></a><a href="#FNanchor_441_441"><span class="label">[441]</span></a> The rest of the hymn—some dozen lines—is too fragmentary +to warrant translation.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_442_442" id="Footnote_442_442"></a><a href="#FNanchor_442_442"><span class="label">[442]</span></a> We have, however, a list (IIR. 58, no. 5) giving many +titles and names of Ea that must have been prepared on the basis of Ea +hymns.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_443_443" id="Footnote_443_443"></a><a href="#FNanchor_443_443"><span class="label">[443]</span></a> IVR. 20, no. 3.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_444_444" id="Footnote_444_444"></a><a href="#FNanchor_444_444"><span class="label">[444]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, of Marduk.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_445_445" id="Footnote_445_445"></a><a href="#FNanchor_445_445"><span class="label">[445]</span></a> This weapon plays a part in some of the Babylonian myths.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_446_446" id="Footnote_446_446"></a><a href="#FNanchor_446_446"><span class="label">[446]</span></a> The weapon is miraculous—It kills instantly, but without +causing blood to flow. The reference is to the lightning stroke.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_447_447" id="Footnote_447_447"></a><a href="#FNanchor_447_447"><span class="label">[447]</span></a> IVR. 29, no. 1.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_448_448" id="Footnote_448_448"></a><a href="#FNanchor_448_448"><span class="label">[448]</span></a> Perhaps a reference to Ea.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_449_449" id="Footnote_449_449"></a><a href="#FNanchor_449_449"><span class="label">[449]</span></a> Name for the inhabitants of Babylonla, and then used in general for mankind. +<i>Cf.</i> p. <a href="#Page_281">281</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_450_450" id="Footnote_450_450"></a><a href="#FNanchor_450_450"><span class="label">[450]</span></a> IVR. 18, no. 2. Badly preserved.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_451_451" id="Footnote_451_451"></a><a href="#FNanchor_451_451"><span class="label">[451]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, call upon thee to be pacified.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_452_452" id="Footnote_452_452"></a><a href="#FNanchor_452_452"><span class="label">[452]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, salute thee.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_453_453" id="Footnote_453_453"></a><a href="#FNanchor_453_453"><span class="label">[453]</span></a> Bel.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_454_454" id="Footnote_454_454"></a><a href="#FNanchor_454_454"><span class="label">[454]</span></a> The strongly fortified city of Babylon is compared to a +bolt and the temple to an enclosure.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_455_455" id="Footnote_455_455"></a><a href="#FNanchor_455_455"><span class="label">[455]</span></a> IVR. 28, no. 2.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_456_456" id="Footnote_456_456"></a><a href="#FNanchor_456_456"><span class="label">[456]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, fly to a safe place.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_457_457" id="Footnote_457_457"></a><a href="#FNanchor_457_457"><span class="label">[457]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, the sun is obscured.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_458_458" id="Footnote_458_458"></a><a href="#FNanchor_458_458"><span class="label">[458]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_459_459" id="Footnote_459_459"></a><a href="#FNanchor_459_459"><span class="label">[459]</span></a> Delitzsch, <i>Assyrische Lesestücke</i> (3d edition), pp. 134-136.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_460_460" id="Footnote_460_460"></a><a href="#FNanchor_460_460"><span class="label">[460]</span></a> The portents taken through observation of the position of +Ishtar or Venus in the heavens were of especial value.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_461_461" id="Footnote_461_461"></a><a href="#FNanchor_461_461"><span class="label">[461]</span></a> Phrases introduced to illustrate the power, not the function, of Ishtar.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_462_462" id="Footnote_462_462"></a><a href="#FNanchor_462_462"><span class="label">[462]</span></a> The liver as the seat of the emotions.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_463_463" id="Footnote_463_463"></a><a href="#FNanchor_463_463"><span class="label">[463]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, house of heaven. Name of Ishtar's temple at Erech.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_464_464" id="Footnote_464_464"></a><a href="#FNanchor_464_464"><span class="label">[464]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, court of the universe. Name of one of Ishtar's temples.</p></div> + + + + +<h2><a name="chapter-xviii" id="chapter-xviii"></a>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2> + +<h3>PENITENTIAL PSALMS.</h3> + + +<p>It will be recalled that both in the Ishtar hymn and in the one +to Marduk above quoted, great stress is laid upon pacifying the +deity addressed. Starting from the primitive conception that +misfortunes were a manifestation of divine anger, the Babylonians +never abandoned the belief that transgressions could +be atoned for only by appeasing the anger of the deity. But +within this limitation, an ethical spirit was developed among the +Babylonians that surprises us by its loftiness and comparative +purity. Instead of having recourse merely to incantation +formulas, the person smitten with disease or pursued by ill +fortune would turn in prayer to some god at whose instigation +the evil has come and appeal for the pacification of the divine +wrath. But while the origin of the so-called penitential psalms +is thus closely bound up with the same order of thought that +gave rise to the incantation texts, no less significant is the +divorce between the two classes of compositions that begins +already at an early stage of the literary period. The incantations, +it is true, may be combined with compositions that belong +to a higher order of religious thought. We have seen +that they have been so combined, and yet the dividing line +between the two is also sharply marked. Zimmern, to whom, +more than to any one else, the interpretation of these penitential +psalms is due, has suggested<a name="FNanchor_465_465" id="FNanchor_465_465"></a><a href="#Footnote_465_465" class="fnanchor">[465]</a> that national misfortunes +rather than private grievances may have given an impetus +to this class of literary productions. It is true that historical +references are found in some of the hymns, and it is also significant<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span> +that not only do these psalms occasionally embody a +prayer for the king,—thus giving to them a national rather +than a personal character,—but the kings are called upon in +times of distress to accompany their libations to the gods with +the recitation of a 'lament to quiet the heart,'<a name="FNanchor_466_466" id="FNanchor_466_466"></a><a href="#Footnote_466_466" class="fnanchor">[466]</a> as the Babylonians +called this class of hymns.</p> + +<p>One can easily see how such events as defeat in war would +be ascribed to divine wrath, and not to the workings of evil +spirits or witches; and while the personal tone that pervades +most of the penitential psalms makes them applicable to conditions +affecting the individual as well as the nation, the peculiar +fitness of such psalms for occasions of national importance was +a powerful factor in bringing about their sharp separation from +the incantation formulas.</p> + +<p>Just as in the hymns we found that the mere contemplation +of the attributes of the gods, apart from the manifestation of +these attributes in any particular instance, led to a loftier +interpretation of the relationship existing between the gods +and mankind, so the thought that evil was due in the last +instance to the anger of some god led to greater emphasis +being laid upon this relationship. The anger of the god +prompted both the individual and the nation to greater zeal in +securing the deity's love. To an even greater extent than in +the hymns is the element of love introduced into the penitential +psalms, and when not directly expressed, is so clearly implied +as to form the necessary complement to the conception of +the divine wrath. These psalms indeed show the religious +and ethical thought of Babylonia at its best. Their ethical +phase manifests itself more particularly in the conception of +sin which is unfolded in them. The misfortunes of life, more +especially those which could not so readily be ascribed to the +presence of evil spirits, filled the individual with his sense of +guilt. In some way, known or unknown to him, he must have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span> +offended the deity. The thought whether the deity was justified +in exercising his wrath did not trouble him any more than the +investigation of the question whether the punishment was +meted out in accordance with the extent of the wrong committed. +It was not necessary for the deity to be just; it was +sufficient that some god felt himself to be offended, whether +through the omission of certain rights or through an error in +the performance of rites or what not. The two facts which +presented themselves with overpowering force to the penitent +were the anger of the deity and the necessity of appeasing +that anger. Beyond this conclusion the Babylonians and +Assyrians did not go, but this reasoning also sufficed to bring +the conviction home to him that his misfortunes were the result +of some offence. The man afflicted was a sinner, and the corollary +to this position was that misfortunes come in consequence +of sin. Through the evils alone which overtook one, it became +clear to an individual that he had sinned against the deity. +Within this circle of ideas the penitential psalms of Babylonia +move. They do not pass wholly outside of the general Semitic +view that sin is a 'missing of the mark,'—a failure, whether +voluntary or involuntary, to comply with what was demanded +by the deity under whose protection one stood. But one +became conscious of having 'missed the mark' only when evil in +some form—disease, ill luck, deluge, drought, defeat, destruction, +storms, pecuniary losses, family discords, the death of +dear ones—came to remind the individual or the nation of the +necessity of securing the favor of the deity again. Still within +this sphere there were great possibilities of ethical progress, +and some of the Babylonian psalms breathe a spirit and are +couched in a diction that have prompted a comparison with the +Biblical psalms.<a name="FNanchor_467_467" id="FNanchor_467_467"></a><a href="#Footnote_467_467" class="fnanchor">[467]</a> Thrown, as the sinner felt himself to be, +upon the mercy of the angry deity, it mattered little what had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span> +called forth this wrath or whether the deity was conceived as +acting in accordance with just ideas. The thought that would +engage the entire attention of the penitent would be the +appeasement of his god. To effect this, he would not stop +short at exaggerating his own guilt. He would manifest a +contrition of spirit that would not be the less sincere for being, +perhaps, out of proportion to the character of his sin when +judged by our standards.</p> + +<p>Corresponding to the humiliation of mind to which he would +be brought, his longing to be reconciled to the offended deity +would be intensified. He would address this deity in terms of +strong endearment, magnify his or her powers, as the case may +be, and belittle himself and his own worth. The result of such +a mental discipline could not but react healthfully on the mind +of the penitent. The penitent would arise from his prayer +with a more spiritual conception of the relationship existing +between himself and his god. Not appealing for any material +benefits for the time being, but concerned only with appeasing +the divine wrath, the single burden of his prayer "that the +heart of the offended god might be 'at rest'" would be marked +by an intensity all the stronger for being at least comparatively +pure of grosser associations.</p> + +<p>All these features combined serve to make the penitential +psalms the flower of the religious literature of Babylonia. The +productions not only represent the highest stage which religious +thought reached in the Euphrates Valley, but, in a certain sense, +constitute the only productions in cuneiform literature that have +a permanent literary value.</p> + +<p>We find these compositions marked by a third feature which, +however, as we have already seen, is not peculiar to them,—the +dialogue form. In order to bring about a reconciliation +with an angered god, three personages were necessary in the +drama,—the god, the penitent, and, thirdly, the priest, acting as +mediator between the sinner and his deity. The deity, according<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span> +to Babylonian notions, could not be approached directly, +but only through his chosen messengers,—the priests. This +idea of mediation, as against the immediate approach, was so +pronounced as to lead, as we have seen, to the frequent association +with a god of a second divine personage,—his son or +his servant,—through whom the petitions of mankind were +brought to the throne of grace.<a name="FNanchor_468_468" id="FNanchor_468_468"></a><a href="#Footnote_468_468" class="fnanchor">[468]</a> The priest was similarly conceived +as the messenger of the god, and, by virtue of this office, +endowed with a certain measure, at least, of divine power. He +was, in the full sense, the god's vicar on earth,—his representative, +who could, as we saw in the Ishtar hymn, speak in +the first person on behalf of the god.<a name="FNanchor_469_469" id="FNanchor_469_469"></a><a href="#Footnote_469_469" class="fnanchor">[469]</a> The more manifest +mission of the priest, however, was to intercede on behalf of +the mass of mankind. Accepting the sacrifices offered by the +laity, it was he that secured their gracious acceptance on the +part of the deity. It was the priest, as we have seen, who +instructed the individual to pronounce the magic formulas that +would be appropriate to his case; and just as in the incantation +texts the priest accompanied the recitation of the formulas +with an appeal of his own, so in the penitential psalms, he +stood at the penitent's side, instructing him what to say, +and emphasizing the confessions of the penitent by an assurance +to the deity of the sincerity of the penitent, coupled +with a fervent request that the prayer for 'appeasement,' +which involved all that we mean by forgiveness, be graciously +answered.</p> + +<p>It is unfortunate that the text of none of the penitential +psalms is perfectly preserved. We must, therefore, content +ourselves in our illustrations with more or less imperfect +extracts. It is to be noted, too, that often the exact meaning<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span> +of the lines escapes us, owing to the obscurity of terms +employed or to the gaps in the texts themselves. With few +exceptions the psalms appear in the double style characteristic +of so large a section of the religious literature of the Babylonians, +the 'ideographic' composition being accompanied by a +phonetic transliteration. The fact, however, that we have at +least one text (IVR. 59, no. 2) in the phonetic style alone, is +sufficient to show that no <i>special</i> weight is to be attached to +the supposed 'bilingual' character of the others. This double +style is not a feature that need be taken into account in determining +the age of this class of compositions. The historical +references in some of them have prompted Zimmern to give +his partial assent to the opinion which would assign them, or +some of them, to the age of Hammurabi. Beyond such references, +which are not as clear as they might be, we have no +data through which their age can be determined; but so far as +the ideas which they convey and the religious spirit manifested +in them are concerned, there is no reason why they should not +be assigned to as early a period as some of the incantation +texts. It is characteristic of the Babylonian, as, in a measure, +of all religions, that the old and the new go hand in hand; +that more advanced conceptions, so far from setting aside +primitive ones, can live and thrive in the same atmosphere +with the latter. We may, therefore, assume that penitential +psalms existed as early as 2000 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span> Whether any of these +that have been preserved go back to that period is another +question. One gains the impression from a careful study of +them that most of these, if not all, belong to a somewhat later +period, nearer to the first millennium than to the second millennium +before our era. The Assyrians adopted these psalms, +as they did the other features of the religious literature of +the Babylonians, and enriched the collection by productions +of their own which, however, follow closely the Babylonian +models.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span></p> + +<p>A particularly beautiful psalm, judging from the portion +preserved, represents the penitent addressing his goddess—probably +Ishtar—as follows:<a name="FNanchor_470_470" id="FNanchor_470_470"></a><a href="#Footnote_470_470" class="fnanchor">[470]</a></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>I, thy servant, full of sighs, call upon thee;</p> +<p>The fervent prayer of him who has sinned do thou accept.</p> +<p>If thou lookest upon a man, that man lives.</p> +<p>O all-powerful mistress of mankind,</p> +<p>Merciful one, to whom it is good to turn, who hears<a name="FNanchor_471_471" id="FNanchor_471_471"></a><a href="#Footnote_471_471" class="fnanchor">[471]</a> sighs!</p> +</div></div> + +<p>At this point the priest takes up the thread to emphasize the +appeal of the penitent by adding to it his own. He prays to +the goddess:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>His god and goddess being angry with him, he calls upon thee,</p> +<p>Turn towards him thy countenance, take hold of his hand.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The penitent continues:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Besides thee, there is no guiding deity.</p> +<p>I implore thee to look upon me and hear my sighs.</p> +<p>Proclaim pacification,<a name="FNanchor_472_472" id="FNanchor_472_472"></a><a href="#Footnote_472_472" class="fnanchor">[472]</a> and may thy soul be appeased.</p> +<p>How long, O my mistress, till thy countenance be turned towards me.</p> +<p>Like doves, I lament, I satiate myself with sighs.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The priest once more sums up the penitent's prayer:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>With pain and ache, his soul is full of sighs;</p> +<p>Tears he weeps, he pours forth lament (?).</p> +</div></div> + +<p>A trait which appears in many of these psalms is the anonymity +beneath which the offended deity is veiled. His or her +name is often not mentioned, the deity being simply referred to +as god or goddess, and at times it is left doubtful whether the +sinner has 'sinned' against the demands of a god or a goddess, +or against several deities. This feature is not without significance.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span> +In some cases, no doubt, the name of the specific deity +was to be added by the penitent,<a name="FNanchor_473_473" id="FNanchor_473_473"></a><a href="#Footnote_473_473" class="fnanchor">[473]</a> but in others this does not +appear to be indicated. The anonymity is the natural result +of the conception of sin involved in these productions. The +sinner, becoming conscious of his guilt only as a conclusion +drawn from the fact of his suffering from some misfortune, +could only surmise, but never be entirely certain, wherein his +offence consisted or what deity he had offended. In the case +of the recital of incantation formulas, the question as to the +offended deity was a minor one, and may indeed, at an earlier +stage of thought, not have entered into consideration at all. +This anonymity, therefore, which characterized the penitential +psalms was not due to any advance in thought, but one can +easily see how it led to such an advance. What may be called +the personal aspects of the gods were less accentuated. The +very fact that no particular god could in many cases be specified +entailed, as a consequence, that the views held of the gods +gained in abstractness. The general thought of one's dependence +upon these supernatural powers, without further specification, +superinduced a grouping of the gods under a common +aspect, as the directors of man's fate. In short, the notion of +deity, not indeed as a unit, but as a collective idea, begins to +dawn in Babylonia. At the same time we must beware of +exaggerating the force that this notion acquired. There is not +the slightest trace of any approach to real monotheism in Babylonia, +nor can it even be said that the penitential psalms constitute +a bridge leading to such an approach. The strong hold +that astrology at all times, and up to the latest periods, had +upon both the popular and the educated mind was in itself +sufficient to prevent the Babylonians from passing, to any considerable +degree, beyond the stage in which the powers of +nature were personified and imbued with real life. The penitential<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span> +psalms presuppose this belief as much as any other +branch of the religious literature; they merely illustrate this +belief in the purest form of which, in the course of its development, +it was capable.</p> + +<p>A psalm in which this anonymity of the offended god is +more strongly brought out begins as follows.<a name="FNanchor_474_474" id="FNanchor_474_474"></a><a href="#Footnote_474_474" class="fnanchor">[474]</a> The penitent +prays:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>O that the wrath of my lord's heart return to its former condition,<a name="FNanchor_475_475" id="FNanchor_475_475"></a><a href="#Footnote_475_475" class="fnanchor">[475]</a></p> +<p>O that the god who is unknown be pacified,</p> +<p>O that the goddess unknown be pacified,</p> +<p>O that the god known or unknown<a name="FNanchor_476_476" id="FNanchor_476_476"></a><a href="#Footnote_476_476" class="fnanchor">[476]</a> be pacified,</p> +<p>O that the goddess known or unknown be pacified,</p> +<p>O that the heart of my god be pacified,</p> +<p>O that the god or goddess known or unknown be pacified!</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The penitent, it will be seen, does not know whether it is a +god or a goddess whom he has offended. He therefore appeals +to both. He goes on to say that he is not even aware of the +sin that he has committed:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>The sin that I have committed I know not.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>And yet he must have sinned or he would not suffer as he +does. In addition to his confession, he imposes the hardship +of fasting upon himself by way of penance:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Food I have not eaten;</p> +<p>Clear water I have not drunk.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The reference to fasting occurs so frequently in these psalms +that one is tempted to conclude that such a bodily castigation +was demanded by the ritual of the Babylonians:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span><a name="FNanchor_477_477" id="FNanchor_477_477"></a><a href="#Footnote_477_477" class="fnanchor">[477]</a></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>An offence have I unwittingly committed against my god,</p> +<p>A sin against my goddess unwillingly been guilty of,</p> +<p>O lord, my sins are many, great are my transgressions,</p> +<p>O my god, my sins are many, great are my transgressions,</p> +<p>O my goddess, my sins are many, great are my transgressions,</p> +<p>Known or unknown god, my sins are many, great are my transgressions.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Again the sinner protests his innocence of the wrong he has +done. He only knows that</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>The lord has looked upon me in the rage of his heart,</p> +<p>A god has visited me in his wrath,</p> +<p>A goddess has become angry with me and brought me into pain,</p> +<p>A known or unknown god has oppressed me,</p> +<p>A known or unknown goddess has brought sorrow upon me.</p> +<p>I seek for help, but no one takes my hand.</p> +<p>I weep, but no one approaches me.</p> +<p>I call aloud, but no one hears me.</p> +<p>Full of woe, I grovel in the dust without looking up.</p> +<p>To my merciful god I turn, speaking with sighs.</p> +<p>The feet of my goddess I kiss imploringly (?).</p> +<p>To the known or unknown god do I speak with sighs,</p> +<p>To the known or unknown goddess do I speak with sighs.</p> +<p>O lord, look upon me, accept my lament,</p> +<p>O goddess, look upon me, accept my lament,</p> +<p>O known or unknown goddess, look upon me, accept my lament!</p> +</div></div> + +<p>In this strain he proceeds for some time, until he is interrupted +by the priest, who briefly adds:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>O lord, do not cast aside thy servant,</p> +<p>Overflowing with tears,<a name="FNanchor_478_478" id="FNanchor_478_478"></a><a href="#Footnote_478_478" class="fnanchor">[478]</a> take him by the hand!</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The penitent closes the prayer by another and still more +earnest appeal:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>The sin I have committed change to mercy,</p> +<p>The wrong I have done, may the wind carry off.</p> +<p>Tear asunder my many transgressions as a garment.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span>My god, my sins are seven times seven,<a name="FNanchor_479_479" id="FNanchor_479_479"></a><a href="#Footnote_479_479" class="fnanchor">[479]</a> forgive me my sins.</p> +<p>My goddess, my sins are seven times seven, forgive me my sins,</p> +<p>Known or unknown god, my sins are seven times seven, forgive me my sins.</p> +<p>Known or unknown goddess, my sins are seven times seven, forgive me my sins.</p> +<p>Forgive me my sins and I will humble myself before thee.</p> +<p>May thy heart be glad<a name="FNanchor_480_480" id="FNanchor_480_480"></a><a href="#Footnote_480_480" class="fnanchor">[480]</a> as the heart of the mother that has given birth,</p> +<p>May thy heart be glad as that of a mother who has given birth, as that of a father who has begotten a child.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The proportions between the parts taken by the priest and +penitent vary considerably. In the one quoted, the priest is +only incidentally introduced; in others,<a name="FNanchor_481_481" id="FNanchor_481_481"></a><a href="#Footnote_481_481" class="fnanchor">[481]</a> it is the penitent who +plays the minor part. The penitential ritual varied accordingly; +but since we cannot discover here, as we could in the +case of the incantation texts, the special occasions for the +variations, except for those that contain historical references, +one must suppose that they could be used indifferently at the +choice of the penitent or the priest. It is probable that at one +time a large collection of such psalms was made in Babylonia, +and that those we have represent compositions made from the +rituals of various temples. In one psalm we have a distinct +statement from which we may conclude that it belonged to the +E-sagila temple at Babylon. Only a portion of it is preserved.<a name="FNanchor_482_482" id="FNanchor_482_482"></a><a href="#Footnote_482_482" class="fnanchor">[482]</a> +It is interesting, also, because of a reference to a dream that it +contains, and which the god of Babylon is called upon to convert +into a favorable sign for the petitioner. Zimmern is of +the opinion that the hymn may have been an evening prayer, +but it seems more satisfactory to place it merely in the general +category of penitential psalms, with a request for a sign that +the deity has been appeased. The sinner, after describing his +woeful state,—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Instead of food, I eat bitter tears,</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span>Instead of date-wine, I drink the waters of misery,</p> +<p>For my drink I have bitter waters,</p> +<p>Instead of clothes, I am enveloped in sin,<a name="FNanchor_483_483" id="FNanchor_483_483"></a><a href="#Footnote_483_483" class="fnanchor">[483]</a>—</p> +</div></div> + +<p>proceeds to a fervent appeal:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>O my god who art angry with me, accept my prayer,</p> +<p>O my goddess who art wroth with me, accept my appeal,</p> +<p>Accept my appeal, may thy liver be at rest!</p> +<p>My lord in mercy and compassion [look upon me?]</p> +<p>Who guides the span of life against the encroachments (?) of death, accept my prayer!</p> +<p>O my goddess, look upon me, accept my appeal;</p> +<p>May my sins be forgiven,<a name="FNanchor_484_484" id="FNanchor_484_484"></a><a href="#Footnote_484_484" class="fnanchor">[484]</a> my transgressions be wiped out.</p> +<p>May the ban be loosened, the chain broken,</p> +<p>May the seven winds carry off my sighs.</p> +<p>Let me tear away my iniquity, let the birds carry it to heaven,</p> +<p>Let the fish take off my misfortune, the stream carry it off.</p> +<p>May the beasts of the field take it away from me,</p> +<p>The flowing waters of the stream wash me clean.</p> +<p>Let me be pure like the sheen of gold.</p> +<p>As a ring (?) of precious stone, may I be precious before thee.</p> +<p>Remove my iniquity, save my soul.</p> +<p>Thy [temple] court I will watch, thy image (?) I will set up.<a name="FNanchor_485_485" id="FNanchor_485_485"></a><a href="#Footnote_485_485" class="fnanchor">[485]</a></p> +<p>Grant to me that I may see a favorable dream,</p> +<p>The dream that I see, let it be favorable,</p> +<p>The dream that I see, let it be unfailing,</p> +<p>The dream that I see, turn it to a favorable [issue].</p> +<p>The god Makhir (?), the god of dreams stand at my head.</p> +<p>Let me enter into E-sagila, the temple of the gods, the house of life.</p> +<p>Commend me to Marduk, the merciful one, for favor,</p> +<p>I will be subservient to thy greatness, I will exalt thy divinity.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>There follows a line from which one may further conclude +that the psalm is one composed for the royal chief of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span> +Babylonia. It is evidently only a ruler who can assure the +deity that</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>The inhabitants of my city,<a name="FNanchor_486_486" id="FNanchor_486_486"></a><a href="#Footnote_486_486" class="fnanchor">[486]</a> may they glorify thy power.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>We know from the historical texts that previous to a military +engagement the kings were particularly desirous of some sign +from the deity that might serve to encourage the soldiery. +Such a sign was ordinarily a dream. The circumstances, +therefore, seem to point to our psalm being a royal prayer for +forgiveness of transgressions, uttered before some impending +national crisis, in the hope of securing, with the divine pardon, +the protection of the deity who, up to this point in the campaign, +must have manifested his displeasure rather than his +favor. More distinct references to national events are found +in another royal penitential psalm:<a name="FNanchor_487_487" id="FNanchor_487_487"></a><a href="#Footnote_487_487" class="fnanchor">[487]</a></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>How long, O my mistress, will the mighty foe oppress thy land,</p> +<p>In thy great city Erech famine has settled,</p> +<p>In E-ulbar, the house of thy oracle, blood is poured out like water,</p> +<p>Throughout thy districts he has kindled conflagrations, and poured [fire] over them in columns (?).<a name="FNanchor_488_488" id="FNanchor_488_488"></a><a href="#Footnote_488_488" class="fnanchor">[488]</a></p> +<p>O my mistress, I am abundantly yoked to misfortune,</p> +<p>O my mistress, thou hast encompassed me, thou hast brought me into pain,</p> +<p>The mighty foe has trodden me down as a reed,</p> +<p>I have no judgment, I have no wisdom,</p> +<p>Like a 'dry field' I am desolate night and day,</p> +<p>I thy servant beseech thee,</p> +<p>May thy heart be at rest, thy liver be pacified.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>At times specific requests are inserted into these hymns, +such as release from physical ills. Sickness being, as any +other evil, due to divine anger, the sick man combines with his +prayer for forgiveness of the sin of which he is guilty, the hope +that his disease, viewed as the result of his sin, may be removed.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</a></span> +A hymn addressed to Ishtar of Nineveh by Ashurnasirbal, a +king of Assyria,<a name="FNanchor_489_489" id="FNanchor_489_489"></a><a href="#Footnote_489_489" class="fnanchor">[489]</a> is of this character. It begins by an adoration +of the goddess, who is addressed as</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>The producer, the queen of heaven, the glorious lady,</p> +<p>To the one who dwells in E-babbara ... who hath spread my fame,</p> +<p>To the queen of the gods to whom has been entrusted the commands of the great gods,</p> +<p>To the lady of Nineveh ...</p> +<p>To the daughter of Sin, the twin-sister of Shamash, ruling over all kingdoms,</p> +<p>Who issues decrees, the goddess of the universe,</p> +<p>To the lady of heaven and earth, who receives prayer, who hearkens to the petition, who accepts beseeching,</p> +<p>To the merciful goddess who loves righteousness.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The king calls upon Ishtar to listen to his prayers:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Look upon me, O lady, so that through thy turning towards me the heart of thy servant may become strong.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Ashurnasirbal appeals to the goddess on the ground of what +he has done to promote the glory of the goddess in his land. +He has devoted himself to the service of the goddess. He has +observed the festivals in her honor. He has repaired her +shrines. No less than fourteen images of the goddess were set +up by the king. Nay, more, he claims that before his days +Ishtar was not properly worshipped.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>I was without understanding, and did not pray to thy ladyship,</p> +<p>The people of Assyria also lacked judgment, and did not approach thy divinity;</p> +<p>But thou, O Ishtar, mighty weapon of the great gods,</p> +<p>By thy grace<a name="FNanchor_490_490" id="FNanchor_490_490"></a><a href="#Footnote_490_490" class="fnanchor">[490]</a> thou didst instruct me, and didst desire me to rule.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The statement that the Ishtar cult was introduced or even +reinstated by Ashurnasirbal can hardly be taken literally; but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</a></span> +it distinctly points to a movement in the days of the dynasty +to which the king belonged, that brought the worship of the +goddess into great prominence.</p> + +<p>In return for all that he has done to the house of Ishtar, +the king pleads:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>I, Ashurnasirbal, full of affliction, thy worshipper,</p> +<p>Who takes hold of thy divine staff,</p> +<p>Who prays to thy sovereignty,</p> +<p>Look upon me and let me appeal to thy power!</p> +<p>May thy liver be appeased for that which has aroused thy anger;</p> +<p>Let thy whole heart be strong towards me.</p> +<p>Make my disease come forth and remove my sin,</p> +<p>Let thy mouth, O lady, proclaim forgiveness.</p> +<p>The priestly vassal who worships thee without change,</p> +<p>Grant him mercy and cut off his affliction.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The historical references found in the penitential psalms are +valuable indications, not only for determining the age of these +compositions, but for ascertaining the occasions on which they +were employed. Neither the Babylonian nor the Assyrian +rulers ever reveal to us in their official annals or dispatches +any check that they may have encountered in their careers or +any misfortune that may have occurred to them or to the state. +These psalms tell their own story. They point to seasons of +distress, when recourse had to be taken to appeals to the gods, +accompanied by the confession of wrongs committed. As +against the incantations which are the outcome of the purely +popular spirit, and which are the <i>natural</i> expression of popular +beliefs, the penitential psalms seem to represent a more official +method of appealing to the gods. The advance in religious +thought which these productions signal may, therefore, be due, +in part at least, to a growing importance attached to the relationship +existing between the gods and the kingdom as a whole, as +against the purely private pact between a god and his worshippers. +The use of these psalms by Assyrian rulers, among<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</a></span> +whom the idea of the kingdom assumes a greater significance +than among the Babylonians, points in this direction. It is significant, +at all events, that such psalms were also produced in +Assyria; and while they are entirely modeled upon the earlier +Babylonian specimens, the contribution to the religious literature +thus made in the north must be regarded, not as the +outcome of the extension of the literary spirit prevailing in +Babylonia, but as prompted by a special significance attached +to the penitential ritual in removing the obstacles to the +advancement of the affairs of state.</p> + +<p>Despite, therefore, the elevated thought and diction found +in these psalms, there is a close bond existing between them +and the next branch of the religious literature to be taken up,—the +oracles and omens, which similarly stand in close contact +with affairs of state, and to which, likewise, additions, and +indeed, considerable additions, to the stock received from +Babylonia were made by the Assyrian <i>literati</i>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[Pg 328]</a></span></p> + +<h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_465_465" id="Footnote_465_465"></a><a href="#FNanchor_465_465"><span class="label">[465]</span></a> <i>Babylonische Busspsalmen</i>, pp. 1, 2.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_466_466" id="Footnote_466_466"></a><a href="#FNanchor_466_466"><span class="label">[466]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, of the deity.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_467_467" id="Footnote_467_467"></a><a href="#FNanchor_467_467"><span class="label">[467]</span></a> See an article by Francis Brown, "The Religious Poetry of +Babylonia," <i>Presbyterian Review</i>, 1888.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_468_468" id="Footnote_468_468"></a><a href="#FNanchor_468_468"><span class="label">[468]</span></a> Compare the relationship existing between Ea and Marduk, +noted above, p. <a href="#Page_276">276</a>. Similarly, Nusku was the messenger to Bel. See p. +<a href="#Page_279">279</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_469_469" id="Footnote_469_469"></a><a href="#FNanchor_469_469"><span class="label">[469]</span></a> On the wider aspects of this conception of the priest among +ancient nations, see Frazer, <i>The Golden Bough</i>, passim.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_470_470" id="Footnote_470_470"></a><a href="#FNanchor_470_470"><span class="label">[470]</span></a> Zimmern, no. 1; IVR. 29, no. 5.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_471_471" id="Footnote_471_471"></a><a href="#FNanchor_471_471"><span class="label">[471]</span></a> Lit., 'accepts.'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_472_472" id="Footnote_472_472"></a><a href="#FNanchor_472_472"><span class="label">[472]</span></a> In the original appears a phrase which signifies literally +'when at last,'—an abbreviation for 'when will there be rest,' and +which has become a kind of technical phrase to indicate, again, the +hoped-for pacification of the deity.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_473_473" id="Footnote_473_473"></a><a href="#FNanchor_473_473"><span class="label">[473]</span></a> The colophon to one of them (IVR. 10, Reverse 52) declares +that the production in question is a "penitential psalm for any god +whatsoever."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_474_474" id="Footnote_474_474"></a><a href="#FNanchor_474_474"><span class="label">[474]</span></a> IVR. 10. Zimmern, no. 4.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_475_475" id="Footnote_475_475"></a><a href="#FNanchor_475_475"><span class="label">[475]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, be pacified.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_476_476" id="Footnote_476_476"></a><a href="#FNanchor_476_476"><span class="label">[476]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, 'whoever he may be,' as we would say.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_477_477" id="Footnote_477_477"></a><a href="#FNanchor_477_477"><span class="label">[477]</span></a> Among many nations fasting is resorted to as a means of +atonement. It must have been common among the Hebrews during the period +of the Babylonian exile—perhaps through Babylonian influence. See +Isaiah, lviii. 3.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_478_478" id="Footnote_478_478"></a><a href="#FNanchor_478_478"><span class="label">[478]</span></a> Lit., rushing water.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_479_479" id="Footnote_479_479"></a><a href="#FNanchor_479_479"><span class="label">[479]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, very numerous.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_480_480" id="Footnote_480_480"></a><a href="#FNanchor_480_480"><span class="label">[480]</span></a> Be pacified.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_481_481" id="Footnote_481_481"></a><a href="#FNanchor_481_481"><span class="label">[481]</span></a> <i>E.g.</i>, IVR. 61.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_482_482" id="Footnote_482_482"></a><a href="#FNanchor_482_482"><span class="label">[482]</span></a> <i>Ib.</i> 59, no. 2.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_483_483" id="Footnote_483_483"></a><a href="#FNanchor_483_483"><span class="label">[483]</span></a> Delitzsch, <i>Assyr. Wörterbuch</i>, p. 378. In another +psalm the penitent says similarly, "Food I have not eaten, weeping is my +nourishment, water I have not drunk, tears are my drink."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_484_484" id="Footnote_484_484"></a><a href="#FNanchor_484_484"><span class="label">[484]</span></a> Lit., 'released.' The underlying metaphor represents the +individual held fast by sin, just as the demons seize hold of a man.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_485_485" id="Footnote_485_485"></a><a href="#FNanchor_485_485"><span class="label">[485]</span></a> A somewhat puzzling line, but which appears to convey the +promise on the part of the penitent that if forgiven he will observe the +rites demanded by the deity.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_486_486" id="Footnote_486_486"></a><a href="#FNanchor_486_486"><span class="label">[486]</span></a> Babylon.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_487_487" id="Footnote_487_487"></a><a href="#FNanchor_487_487"><span class="label">[487]</span></a> IVR 19, no. 3; Zimmern, no. 5.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_488_488" id="Footnote_488_488"></a><a href="#FNanchor_488_488"><span class="label">[488]</span></a> Like a column. The metaphor is the same as in the Biblical +phrase, "column of smoke."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_489_489" id="Footnote_489_489"></a><a href="#FNanchor_489_489"><span class="label">[489]</span></a> Published by Brünnow, <i>Zeits. f. Assyr.</i> v. 66 +<i>seq.</i> The king mentions his father, Shamshi-Ramman, in the hymn. +If this is Shamshi-Ramman III., the date of the hymn would be <i>c.</i> +1100 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_490_490" id="Footnote_490_490"></a><a href="#FNanchor_490_490"><span class="label">[490]</span></a> Lit., 'lifting up of thy eyes.'</p></div> + + + + +<h2><a name="chapter-xix" id="chapter-xix"></a>CHAPTER XIX.</h2> + +<h3>ORACLES AND OMENS.</h3> + + +<p>A strong element of magic, we have seen, was always present +in the hymns and prayers of the Babylonians, and even in such +as contained religious sentiments of an elevated and pure character. +The finest prayer has almost invariably tacked on to it +an incantation, or constitutes in itself an incantation. Accompanying +the prayer were offerings to the deity addressed, or +certain symbolical rites, or both, and the efficacy of the prayer +was supposed to reside partly in the accompanying acts and +partly in the mystic power of the <i>words</i> of the prayer as such. +In large measure this indissoluble association of prayer and +incantation is due to the circumstance that both Babylonians +and Assyrians addressed their deities only when something was +desired of the latter,—the warding off of some evil or the +expectation of some favor. Even in the penitential psalms, +that merit the term 'sublime,' the penitent pours out his soul at +the shrine of grace in order to be released from some misfortune +that has come over him or that is impending. Mere praise +of the gods without any ulterior motive finds no place in the +Babylonian or Assyrian ritual. The closest approach to this +religious attitude may perhaps be seen in the prayers attached +by the kings to their commemorative or dedicatory inscriptions. +One feels that the rulers are impelled to do this from a certain +sense of love and devotion to their protecting deities. Nebuchadnezzar's +prayers form a conspicuous example of the strength +which pure love and attachment to the gods acquired in Babylonia; +but even in these specimens, a request of some kind—usually +for long life and prosperity—is made. The spiritualization<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</a></span> +of the Babylonian religion has in this way most definite +limitations imposed upon it. There is a point beyond which it +could not go without giving rise to a totally changed conception +of the gods and their relationship to men. Prayer in its higher +form, as the result of an irresistible prompting of the emotions, +without any other purpose than the longing to come into closer +communion with a superior Power, involves such a change in +religious conceptions, and hence is conspicuous in the Babylonian +ritual by its absence.</p> + +<p>A request of some kind being thus the motive that lies +behind the Babylonian prayers, it follows that the means +taken to ascertain the will or intention of the gods with regard +to that request formed an essential feature of the ritual. Indeed, +to ascertain the will of a deity constituted one of the most +important functions of the priest—perhaps <i>the</i> most important +function. The prayer was of no use unless it was answered, +and the priest alone could tell whether the answer was afforded. +The efforts of the priest were accordingly directed towards +this end—the prognostication of the future. What was the +intention of the deity? Would the hoped-for deliverance from +evil be realized? Would the demon of disease leave the body? +Would the symbolical acts, burning of effigies, loosening of knots, +and the like, have the desired effect? Upon the success of the +priest in performing this function of prognostication everything +depended, both for himself and for the petitioner.</p> + +<p>The natural and indeed necessary complement to the priest +as exorciser is the priest as the forecaster of the future. +Since no one, not even the king, could approach a deity directly, +the mediation of the priest was needed on every occasion of a +religious import. The ordinary means at the disposal of the +priest for ascertaining the divine will or caprice were twofold,—directly +through oracles or indirectly by means of omens +derived from an examination of the sacrifices offered. A complete +Babylonian ritual therefore required, besides the appeal<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[Pg 330]</a></span> +made by the petitioner through the priests or with their assistance, +an incantation introduced in some form, an offering, +certain symbolical acts and omens. The offerings and the +symbolical acts, as a matter of fact, appear to have preceded<a name="FNanchor_491_491" id="FNanchor_491_491"></a><a href="#Footnote_491_491" class="fnanchor">[491]</a> +the prayer and the incantation, but in the prayers they are +referred to again, and generally just before the interpretation +of the omens. The omens constituted the ulterior end in view. +Because of the looked-for omens the offering was brought, the +symbolical acts performed, the incantations recited. All these +rites formed the preparation for the grand <i>finale</i>. The worshipper +waited anxiously for the decision of the priest. Attached, +therefore, to the prayers we frequently find directions intended +for the priests as to the signs to which his attention should be +directed, certain peculiarities exhibited in parts of the animal +sacrificed from which certain conclusions may be drawn. The +observation of these signs grows to the dimensions of a science +equal in extent to the observation of the heavenly bodies +whose movements, as indeed the whole of the natural world, +were supposed to exert an influence over the fate of mankind.</p> + +<p>It does not of course follow that in the case of every prayer +an elaborate ritual was observed. Many of the prayers to the +gods in their present form do not embody omens, as indeed +many contain no reference to offerings or symbolical acts. +While no conclusion can be drawn from this circumstance, +since the omission may be due to the point of view from which +in a given case a collection of prayers was made by the priest, +still we may well believe that for the exorcising of evil spirits +the utterance of sacred formulas was often considered quite +sufficient. In the earlier stages of the Babylonian religion the +priest's function may have ended when he had exorcised the +demons by means of magic words. The demons were forced to +yield. If they nevertheless held out, so much the worse for +them or—for the priest, who, it was concluded, must have lost<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[Pg 331]</a></span> +his power over the spirits through some error committed by +him. The resort to omens has wider aspects, as will presently +be shown, than the connection with prayers and offerings, and +a most reasonable view is that omens were first introduced +into prayers on occasions when a worshipper wished to +ascertain the will of a deity for a certain purpose, and +to regulate his own conduct accordingly. In petitioning the +deity a sacrifice was naturally offered. Through the sacrifice, +which was rendered acceptable to the deity by the mediation +of the priest, the desired answer to a question was obtained. +From being resorted to in such instances, omens would +naturally come to form part of the ritual for almost any occasion +when a deity was appealed to, both in connection with +incantations and symbolical acts when the omens would form a +supplement to the magic element in the ritual, as well as in +cases where no specific incantations are introduced. In both +cases the omens would constitute the means resorted to for +ascertaining whether the petitioner might look for a favorable +reply to a request proffered or, in a more general way, find out +anything that it may be important for him to know. The occasions +for consulting the deity would be of a public or private +character. How far it became customary for the general public +to secure the mediation of a priest for securing aid from the +gods in matters appertaining to personal welfare we have no +means of definitely determining. We find, for example, a son +consulting an oracle on behalf of his father in order to ascertain +what day would be favorable for undertaking some building +operation,<a name="FNanchor_492_492" id="FNanchor_492_492"></a><a href="#Footnote_492_492" class="fnanchor">[492]</a> and he receives the answer that the fourth of the +month will be propitious; and so there are other occasions on +which private individuals consult the priests, but in general it +was only on occasions of real distress that an individual would +come to the sanctuary,—to seek relief from bodily ills, to ward +off blows of adversity, to pacify a deity who has manifested his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[Pg 332]</a></span> +or her displeasure. The expense involved—for the worshipper +was not to appear empty-handed—would of itself act as a +deterrent against too frequent visits to a sanctuary.</p> + +<p>The public welfare occupied a much larger share in the +Babylonian worship. In order to ensure the safety of the state, +occasions constantly arose when the deities had to be consulted. +It is no accident that so many of the prayers—the hymns and +psalms—contain references to kings and to events that transpired +during their reigns. In these references the occasions +for the prayers are to be sought. Remarkable as is the +expression which the consciousness of individual guilt finds +in the religious literature of Babylonia, the anger of the deity +against his land is much more prominently dwelt upon than the +manifestation of his wrath towards an individual. It could not +be otherwise, since the welfare of the state conditioned to so +large an extent the happiness of the individual. The startling +phenomena of nature, such as an eclipse, a flood, a storm, +while affecting individuals were not aimed directly at them, but +at the country viewed as the domain of a certain god or of certain +gods. Blighted crops, famine, and pestilence had likewise a +public as well as a private aspect. On all such occasions the +rulers would proceed to the sanctuaries in order, with the assistance +of the priests, to pacify the angered god. It was not +sufficient at such times to pronounce sacred formulas, to make +fervent appeals, but some assurances had to be given that the +words and the symbolical acts would have the desired effect. +Omens were sought for from the animals offered. There were +other occasions besides those stated, when for the sake of +the public welfare oracles were sought at the sanctuaries. +If a public improvement was to be undertaken, such as the +building of a palace, or of a temple, of a canal, or a dam, +it was of the utmost importance to know whether the enterprise +was acceptable to the deity. A day had to be carefully chosen +for laying the foundations, when the god would be favorably<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[Pg 333]</a></span> +disposed towards his subjects,—the kings under whose auspices +such work was carried on. Similar precautions had to be +taken to select a favorable day for the dedication. This again +was determined by means of omens either derived from offerings +or in some other way. The Babylonians and Assyrians believed, +as did the Jews upon their return from the Babylonian exile, that +'unless the lord assists, the builders work in vain.' When we +come to military campaigns where the individual disappears +altogether in the presence of the majestic figure of the state, +the will and disposition of the gods had to be consulted at every +step,—regarding the plans of the enemy, at the enemy's +approach, before the battle, in the midst of the fray, and at its +termination.</p> + +<p>The frequency with which the gods were approached in the +interests of the state and the public weal, plied with questions +upon which the fate of the land depended, is shown by the +stereotyped form which such official solicitations in the course +of time acquired. Dating from the reigns of Esarhaddon and +Ashurbanabal we have an elaborate series of prayers addressed +to the sun-god, all dealing with questions of a political import. +These prayers, so admirably edited and analyzed by Knudtzon,<a name="FNanchor_493_493" id="FNanchor_493_493"></a><a href="#Footnote_493_493" class="fnanchor">[493]</a> +are all arranged according to a single pattern. Each one opens +with a question or series of questions which Shamash, the sun-god, +is asked to answer. The god is then implored not to +be angry, but to lend his aid against any errors unwittingly +committed in the sacrificial rites. For a second time the same +question is put in a somewhat varying form. Another appeal +is made, and the various omens derived from the inspection of +animals are interpreted as a guide to the priests. According to +the application of these omens to the sacrifice before the priest, +a decision is rendered. It will be sufficient for our purposes to +present a single specimen of such a fixed ritual.<a name="FNanchor_494_494" id="FNanchor_494_494"></a><a href="#Footnote_494_494" class="fnanchor">[494]</a></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[Pg 334]</a></span> +Esarhaddon, being hard pressed by a group of nations to the +northeast of Assyria, led by a certain Kashtariti, and among +whose followers the Gimirrites, the Medes, and Manneans are +the most prominent, asks for an oracle from Shamash as to the +outcome of the situation. The priest, acting as mediator, +addresses<a name="FNanchor_495_495" id="FNanchor_495_495"></a><a href="#Footnote_495_495" class="fnanchor">[495]</a> the god:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>O Shamash! great lord! As I ask thee, do thou in true mercy answer +me.</p> + +<p>From this day, the 3d day of this month of Iyar<a name="FNanchor_496_496" id="FNanchor_496_496"></a><a href="#Footnote_496_496" class="fnanchor">[496]</a> to the 11th day of +the month of Ab<a name="FNanchor_497_497" id="FNanchor_497_497"></a><a href="#Footnote_497_497" class="fnanchor">[497]</a> of this year, a period of one hundred days and one hundred +nights is the proscribed term for the priestly activity.<a name="FNanchor_498_498" id="FNanchor_498_498"></a><a href="#Footnote_498_498" class="fnanchor">[498]</a></p> + +<p>Will within this period, Kashtariti, together with his soldiery, will the +army of the Gimirrites, the army of the Medes, will the army of the Manneans, +or will any enemy whatsoever succeed in carrying out their plan, +whether by strategy (?) or by main force, whether by the force of weapons +of war and fight or by the ax, whether by a breach made with machines of +war and battering rams<a name="FNanchor_499_499" id="FNanchor_499_499"></a><a href="#Footnote_499_499" class="fnanchor">[499]</a> or by hunger, whether by the power residing in the +name of a god or goddess,<a name="FNanchor_500_500" id="FNanchor_500_500"></a><a href="#Footnote_500_500" class="fnanchor">[500]</a> whether in a friendly way or by friendly grace,<a name="FNanchor_501_501" id="FNanchor_501_501"></a><a href="#Footnote_501_501" class="fnanchor">[501]</a> +or by any strategic device, will these aforementioned, as many as are +required to take a city, actually capture the city Kishassu, penetrate into +the interior of that same city Kishassu, will their hands lay hold of that +same city Kishassu, so that it falls into their power? Thy great divine +power knows it.<a name="FNanchor_502_502" id="FNanchor_502_502"></a><a href="#Footnote_502_502" class="fnanchor">[502]</a></p> + +<p>The capture of that same city, Kishassu, through any enemy whatsoever, +within the specified period, is it definitely ordained by thy great and +divine will, O Shamash! Will it actually come to pass?<a name="FNanchor_503_503" id="FNanchor_503_503"></a><a href="#Footnote_503_503" class="fnanchor">[503]</a></p></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[Pg 335]</a></span> +It will be observed that, much as in a legal document, all +contingencies are enumerated. In other prayers, still more are +mentioned. A definite answer is required, and care is taken +not to leave any loophole open by means of which the deity +may escape from the obligation imposed upon him to manifest +his intention. Shamash might answer that the city will not be +captured, with the mental reservation that it will surrender, or +he might throw Esarhaddon off his guard by announcing that +"not by might nor by strength" will the city be taken, and the +king may be surprised some morning to learn that the catastrophe +has been brought about through the power residing in the +'word.' These precautions were taken, not so much because +it was supposed that the gods and priests were tricky, but +because all conditions had to be carefully fulfilled in order to +ensure an answer, and, if at all possible, of course a favorable +answer. To the same end, great care had to be taken that in +the preparation of the offering which accompanied the prayer +no mistake should be made. The sacrificial animal—in the +case before us a lamb—had to be guarded against all imperfections, +impurities, and contaminations. The priest had to be +careful to put on the proper dress, to speak the proper words, +and to be himself free from any ritualistic impurity. Before +proceeding to the inspection of the animal, in order to forecast +the future, the priest had to take care that nothing might happen +to interfere with the proper observation of the rites. This section +of the prayer is characterized by the word "<i>ezib</i>" repeated +at the beginning of every line, and which conveys the appeal +that what follows may be precluded from happening.<a name="FNanchor_504_504" id="FNanchor_504_504"></a><a href="#Footnote_504_504" class="fnanchor">[504]</a> The +priest first prays to Shamash:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[Pg 336]</a></span>Preclude that after the specified period [the catastrophe may not come to pass],</p> +<p>Preclude whatever they [<i>i.e.</i>, the enemies] may plan may not be carried out (?),</p> +<p>Preclude them from making a slaughter and from plundering....</p> +<p>Whether the decision of this day be good or bad, ward off a stormy day with pouring rain.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>This last phrase, which is somewhat obscure, seems to be a +request made in the contingency of an unfavorable omen being +received. The sun-god is asked, at all events, not to hide his +countenance under clouds and rain on the decisive day of battle. +Coming after these preliminary requests to the sacrifice, the +priest continues:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Prevent anything unclean from defiling the place of inspection,<a name="FNanchor_505_505" id="FNanchor_505_505"></a><a href="#Footnote_505_505" class="fnanchor">[505]</a></p> +<p>Prevent the lamb of thy divinity, which is to be inspected, from being imperfect and unfit.</p> +<p>Guard him who takes hold of the body of the lamb, who is clothed in the proper sacrificial dress, from having eaten, drunk, or handled anything unclean.</p> +<p>Make his hand firm (?), guard the seer, thy servant, from speaking a word hastily.<a name="FNanchor_506_506" id="FNanchor_506_506"></a><a href="#Footnote_506_506" class="fnanchor">[506]</a></p> +</div></div> + +<p>The priest thereupon repeats his question to the sun-god:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>I ask thee, O Shamash! great lord! whether from the 3d day of this +month of Iyar, up to the 11th day of the month of Ab of this year, Kashtariti, +with his soldiers, whether the Gimirrites, the Manneans, the Medes, +or whether any enemy whatsoever will take the said city, Kishassu, enter +that said city, Kishassu, seize said city, Kishassu, with their hands, obtain +it in their power.</p></div> + +<p>The various terms used in describing the taking of a city are +once more specified, so as to fulfill all the demands of definiteness +in the question.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[Pg 337]</a></span></p> + +<p>The priest is now ready to proceed with an examination of +the animal before him. A varying list of omens are introduced +into the prayers under consideration. That they are so introduced +is a proof of the official character of these texts. The +omens were not, of course, intended to be recited. They are +enumerated as a guide to the priests. The various signs that +may be looked for are noted, and according to what the priest +finds he renders his decision. Knudtzon has made the observation<a name="FNanchor_507_507" id="FNanchor_507_507"></a><a href="#Footnote_507_507" class="fnanchor">[507]</a> +that in the prayers published by him, the signs found +on the animal are noted but not interpreted. This rather curious +omission is again naturally accounted for on the assumption +that these prayers in their present form are part of a ritual compiled +solely for the benefit of priests attached to a Shamash +sanctuary. Full directions were not required. All that the +priest needed was to know what to look for. For the rest, he +depended upon tradition or his own knowledge or judgment. +The omens themselves, or rather the signs, refer to the condition +in which certain parts of the animal are found or to +peculiarities in the composition of the animal.</p> + +<p>The priest is instructed to observe whether 'at the nape on +the left side' there is a slit; whether 'at the bottom on the left +side of the bladder' some peculiarity<a name="FNanchor_508_508" id="FNanchor_508_508"></a><a href="#Footnote_508_508" class="fnanchor">[508]</a> is found or whether it is +normal; whether 'the nape to the right side' is sunk and split or +whether the viscera are sound. The proportions, too, in the size +of the various parts of the body appear to have been of moment; +and in this way, a large number of points are given to which the +priest is to direct his attention. From a combination of all peculiarities +and signs in a given instance, he divines the disposition +of the god addressed, whether it is favorable or not. The whole +ceremony is brought to a close by another appeal to the god to +send an answer to the question put to him. The priest prays:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[Pg 338]</a></span></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>By virtue of this sacrificial lamb, arise and grant true mercy, favorable +conditions of the parts of the animal, a declaration favorable and beneficial +be ordained by thy great divinity. Grant that this may come to pass. To +thy great divinity, O Shamash! great lord! may it<a name="FNanchor_509_509" id="FNanchor_509_509"></a><a href="#Footnote_509_509" class="fnanchor">[509]</a> be pleasing,<a name="FNanchor_510_510" id="FNanchor_510_510"></a><a href="#Footnote_510_510" class="fnanchor">[510]</a> and may +an oracle be sent in answer!</p></div> + +<p>In some of the prayers a second series of omen indications +are given. What the oracle announced we are, of course, not +told. The ritual is not concerned with results.</p> + +<p>From the analysis just given it will be seen that the consultation +of a deity was often entailed with much ceremony. No +doubt the priests did all in their power to add to the solemnity +of such an occasion. The kings on their side showed their +lavishness in furnishing victims for the sacrifice. Again and +again does Esarhaddon solicit Shamash to reveal the outcome +of the military campaigns in which the king was engaged. The +same individual, Kashtariti, and the Gimirrites, Medes, etc., are +mentioned in many other prayers prepared in the course of the +campaign; and elsewhere other campaigns are introduced. What +Esarhaddon did, no doubt his successors also did, as he himself +followed the example set by his predecessors. We are justified, +then, in concluding that a regular 'oracle and omen ritual' was +developed in Babylonia and Assyria—how early it is of course +impossible to say. There is every reason to believe that in +some form such a ritual existed in Babylonia before the rise of +Assyria, but it is also evident that in a military empire like +Assyria, there would be more frequent occasion for securing +oracles than in Babylonia. The ritual may therefore have been +carried to a greater degree of perfection in the north. The +Assyrian conquerors, if we may judge from examples, were fond +of asking for an oracle at every turn in the political situation. +The king intends to send an official to a foreign land, but he is +uncertain as to the wisdom of his decision. Accordingly, he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[Pg 339]</a></span> +puts the case before the god. If this decision is taken, he +asks, Will the envoy carry out the orders of the king?</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Thy great divinity knows it.</p> +<p>Is it commanded and ordained by thy great divinity,</p> +<p>O Shamash? Is it to come to pass?<a name="FNanchor_511_511" id="FNanchor_511_511"></a><a href="#Footnote_511_511" class="fnanchor">[511]</a></p> +</div></div> + +<p>In a similar way, questions are asked with reference to the +course of a campaign. Will the Assyrian king encounter the +king of Ethiopia, and will the latter give battle? Will the king +return alive from the campaign? is a question frequently asked. +Even for their quasi-private affairs, the kings sought for an +oracle. Before giving his daughter in marriage to a foreign +potentate, Esarhaddon desires to know whether the one seeking +this favor, Bartatua, the king of Ishkuza,<a name="FNanchor_512_512" id="FNanchor_512_512"></a><a href="#Footnote_512_512" class="fnanchor">[512]</a></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>is to be trusted, will he fulfill his promises, will he observe the decrees of +Esarhaddon, the king of Assyria, and execute them in good faith?</p></div> + +<p>Again, when the king is about to associate his son with himself +in the government, he first inquires whether this is agreeable +to the deity.<a name="FNanchor_513_513" id="FNanchor_513_513"></a><a href="#Footnote_513_513" class="fnanchor">[513]</a> The king fears lest his son may cause trouble, +may provoke dissensions. Past experience prompts him to be +careful before following his inclination.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Is the entrance of Siniddinabal, the son of Esarhaddon, the king of +Assyria, whose name is written on this tablet, into the government in accord +with the command of thy great divinity? Is it to come to pass?</p></div> + +<p>The reference to the writing of the name is interesting. It +would appear that the question is actually written by the priest +and placed before the deity. The Greeks similarly put their +questions to the Delphian oracle in writing. May it be that +among the Babylonians the answer of the god was at times also<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[Pg 340]</a></span> +handed down on a tablet, as the Greek and Roman oracles were +communicated in writing on the leaves of a tree?</p> + +<p>If sickness entered the royal house, an oracle was likewise +sought. The king is sick. Is it ordained that he will recover? +We are told in one case that<a name="FNanchor_514_514" id="FNanchor_514_514"></a><a href="#Footnote_514_514" class="fnanchor">[514]</a></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Nikâ, the mother of Esarhaddon, the king of Assyria, is sick. She +sees the hand of the goddess Nanâ of Uruk laid heavily upon her.... Is +it ordained that this hand will be lifted off from the sufferer?</p></div> + +<p>The occasions, it is evident, were exceedingly numerous when +the Assyrian rulers appealed to the priests for oracles. Naturally, +this appeal was not in all cases made with the elaborate +formality illustrated by Esarhaddon's petitions to Shamash. At +times the monarch, as the individual, would content himself +with sending to the priest for an answer to a question, and the +priest would reply in an equally simple and direct manner. +Quite a number of such messages, sent by priests to their master, +are included in the valuable publication of 'Assyrian Letters,' +begun by Professor R. F. Harper.<a name="FNanchor_515_515" id="FNanchor_515_515"></a><a href="#Footnote_515_515" class="fnanchor">[515]</a> The king's son wishes to +set out on a journey. The father sends to the astrologers +Balasi and Nabu-akheirba, and receives the reply:<a name="FNanchor_516_516" id="FNanchor_516_516"></a><a href="#Footnote_516_516" class="fnanchor">[516]</a></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>As for Ashur-mukinpalea, about whom the king, our lord, has sent to +us, may Ashur, Bel, Nabu, Sin, Shamash, and Ramman bless him. May +the king, our lord, witness his welfare (?). Conditions are favorable for +the journey. The second day is favorable, the fourth day very favorable.</p></div> + +<p>Similarly, the astrologers send reports regarding the appearance +and position of the moon and the stars, and of various +phenomena that had to be taken into account in moments +where decisive action had to be taken.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[Pg 341]</a></span></p> + +<p>Before leaving the subject, it may be of interest to point out +that among the literary remains of the Assyrian period there +are "blank formulas" for oracles, the names in each instance +to be filled out by the officiating priest. Such formulas were +prepared, no doubt, for cases of common occurrence. Thus +Esarhaddon, before appointing a person to a responsible position, +took the precaution of ascertaining from some deity +whether the appointment was a wise one. The name of the +individual being written down, the priest asks the deity in a +general way:<a name="FNanchor_517_517" id="FNanchor_517_517"></a><a href="#Footnote_517_517" class="fnanchor">[517]</a></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Will the man whose name appears on this tablet, and whom he [the +king] is about to appoint to such and such a position, keep good faith, or +will he manifest hostility towards the king, inciting to rebellion?</p></div> + +<p>Esarhaddon may have had a special reason for using precautions +against his officials, and even his sons. He came to the +throne during a rebellion which involved the assassination +of his father. Esarhaddon's own brothers were the murderers. +We may well suppose that he trembled at every step he took, +but his position is after all characteristic of the Assyrian rulers +in general, many of whom came to the throne by violence and +maintained themselves through force.</p> + +<p>Other texts enable us to study the form of the oracles themselves. +As yet, no oracle texts have been found belonging to +the older Babylonian period, but we have again every reason +to believe that what holds good for the days of Assyrian power +applies to a much earlier period, though at the same time the +greater frequency with which Assyrian rulers were wont to ply +their gods with questions would increase the number of those +whose special business it was to pronounce the oracles. The +manifold duties of the priesthood would tend towards a differentiation +of the priests into various classes. The priest, as +exorciser, would become distinct from the priest as the inspector<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[Pg 342]</a></span> +of omens; and the latter different again from the pronouncer of +oracles. From the fact that Marduk was regarded as the +special god of oracles by the Assyrians as well as the Babylonians,<a name="FNanchor_518_518" id="FNanchor_518_518"></a><a href="#Footnote_518_518" class="fnanchor">[518]</a> +we may conclude that this differentiation of the priestly +classes took place already in the south, or at all events that +oracle-giving as a distinct priestly function was recognized in +Babylonia and carried over to the northern empire. If we may +draw a general conclusion from the state of affairs in Esarhaddon's +days, this function was largely in the hands of women. +We know from other evidence that women were attached to the +temple service from ancient times.<a name="FNanchor_519_519" id="FNanchor_519_519"></a><a href="#Footnote_519_519" class="fnanchor">[519]</a> As sorceresses, too, they +occupied a quasi-priestly position, since their help could be +invoked in driving evil spirits into the person of one's enemy. +The oracle-giver and the sorcerer or sorceress are correlated +personages in religion. For various reasons—in part, perhaps, +because of her physical differences from man—woman was +invested with a certain mystery by ancient nations.<a name="FNanchor_520_520" id="FNanchor_520_520"></a><a href="#Footnote_520_520" class="fnanchor">[520]</a> Hence the +fact that among so many nations witchcraft is associated with +woman, and similarly among many nations women perform the +functions of the oracle. In a series of eight oracles addressed +to Esarhaddon,<a name="FNanchor_521_521" id="FNanchor_521_521"></a><a href="#Footnote_521_521" class="fnanchor">[521]</a> six are given forth by women. These oracles, +it so happens, all issue from the goddess Ishtar of Arbela. The +cult of this goddess at Arbela stood in high favor in the eighth +century <span class="smcap">B.C.</span> An influential body of priests congregated there, +and the eight oracles in question appear to be a part of a more +extensive collection made by the theologians of Arbela, of whose +intellectual activity there are other traces. Arbela appears to +have developed a special school of theology, marked by the attempt +to accord a superior position to the great goddess Ishtar.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[Pg 343]</a></span> +The one who pronounces the oracle speaks on behalf of +Ishtar, and therefore employs the first person. The oracles all +have reference to political events. They cannot, of course, be +the answers to the questions asked in the prayers analyzed +above, since these were addressed to the sun-god; but we may +feel certain that the oracles of the Shamash priests or priestesses +were much of the same order, varying only in minor +particulars. The goddess invariably encourages the king. +The priest, it would appear, hears the voice of the deity in +the wind.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Fear not! The wind which speaks to thee—</p> +<p>Comes with speech from me, withholding nothing.<a name="FNanchor_522_522" id="FNanchor_522_522"></a><a href="#Footnote_522_522" class="fnanchor">[522]</a></p> +<p>Thine enemies, like the ... of Siwan,<a name="FNanchor_523_523" id="FNanchor_523_523"></a><a href="#Footnote_523_523" class="fnanchor">[523]</a></p> +<p>At thy feet will be poured out.</p> +<p>The great mistress am I.</p> +<p>I am Ishtar of Arbela, who forces thine enemies to submission.</p> +<p>Is there any utterance of mine that I addressed to thee upon which thou couldst not rely?</p> +<p>I am Ishtar of Arbela.</p> +<p>Thine enemies, the Ukkites (?), I give to thee, even I, Ishtar of Arbela.</p> +<p>In front and behind thee I march.</p> +<p>Fear not!</p> +</div></div> + +<p>This oracle, we are told in the subscript, was pronounced by +a certain Ishtar-la-tashiat, a son [<i>i.e.</i>, a native] of Arbela. The +dignity of the diction is very marked. The very frequent assurance +'fear not' and the solemn repetition of 'I am Ishtar' lend +impressiveness to the message. The oracle, it will be seen, +deals in general phrases. This indefiniteness characterizes +most of them; and the more impressive the diction, the greater +vagueness in the statements made. So an oracle, coming from +Ishtar and Nabu and uttered by a woman Baya, a native of +Arbela, announces:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[Pg 344]</a></span></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Fear not, Esarhaddon,</p> +<p>I, the lord, to thee do I speak.</p> +<p>The beams of thy heart I strengthen as thy mother,<a name="FNanchor_524_524" id="FNanchor_524_524"></a><a href="#Footnote_524_524" class="fnanchor">[524]</a></p> +<p>Who gave thee life.</p> +<p>Sixty great gods are with me<a name="FNanchor_525_525" id="FNanchor_525_525"></a><a href="#Footnote_525_525" class="fnanchor">[525]</a></p> +<p>Drawn up to protect thee.</p> +<p>The god Sin is on thy right, Shamash on thy left.</p> +<p>Sixty great gods are round about thee</p> +<p>Drawn up in battle array in the center of the citadel.</p> +<p>On men do not rely.</p> +<p>Lift up thine eyes to me. Look up to me!</p> +<p>I am Ishtar of Arbela.</p> +<p>Ashur is gracious to thee.</p> +<p>Thy weakness I will change to strength (?).</p> +<p>Fear not! glorify me!</p> +<p>Is not the enemy subdued</p> +<p>Who has been handed over to thee?</p> +<p>I proclaim it aloud,</p> +<p>What has been will be.<a name="FNanchor_526_526" id="FNanchor_526_526"></a><a href="#Footnote_526_526" class="fnanchor">[526]</a></p> +<p>I am Nabu, the lord of the willing tablet,</p> +<p>Glorify me.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>A message of this kind could hardly have been satisfactory +except as a general encouragement.</p> + +<p>The popularity of the Nabu cult in Assyria, it will be recalled, +is an offset against the supremacy of Marduk in the south. The +Assyrian kings found it to their interest to incorporate as much +of the Babylonian cult as was possible into their own religious +ritual. To Shamash they assigned the rôle played by Marduk. +There was no danger in paying homage to Nabu, the son of +Marduk. Ishtar they regarded as their own goddess quite as +much as Ashur. These four deities, therefore, Ishtar, Shamash, +Nabu, and Ashur, are the special gods of oracles recognized by +the Assyrian rulers. Marduk, who is the chief source of oracles<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[Pg 345]</a></span> +in the south, is more rarely appealed to in the north, though of +course recognized as powerful. He could not be expected to +regard with favor an empire that so seriously threatened his +supremacy in the pantheon.</p> + +<p>The occasion when an oracle was announced was often one +of great solemnity. Just as the prayers in which the questions +of the kings were embodied were carefully written out, so that +the priest in reciting them might not commit any mistakes, so +the answer to the prayers were transmitted to the king in writing. +Among the oracles of the days of Esarhaddon, there is one +coming from Ashur in which the ceremonies accompanying the +deliverance are instanced.<a name="FNanchor_527_527" id="FNanchor_527_527"></a><a href="#Footnote_527_527" class="fnanchor">[527]</a> The oracle deals with the Gimirrites, +the same people in regard to whom Esarhaddon so +often consults the sun-god. It is marked by the more definite +character of its announcements when compared with others. +The text is in the form of a communication made to the king, +and, like other official documents, it begins with a salutation. +The gods give Esarhaddon greeting.<a name="FNanchor_528_528" id="FNanchor_528_528"></a><a href="#Footnote_528_528" class="fnanchor">[528]</a></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Ashur has given him the four ends of the earth.</p> +<p>In the house where he shines and is great,<a name="FNanchor_529_529" id="FNanchor_529_529"></a><a href="#Footnote_529_529" class="fnanchor">[529]</a> the king has no rival.</p> +<p>Like the rising sun he shines.</p> +<p>This is the greeting from Bel Tarbasi<a name="FNanchor_530_530" id="FNanchor_530_530"></a><a href="#Footnote_530_530" class="fnanchor">[530]</a> and the assembled gods.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The god Ashur himself now addresses the king:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>As for those enemies that plot against thee, that force thee to march out,</p> +<p>Thou didst open thy mouth [saying], "Verily I implore Ashur."</p> +<p>I have heard thy cry.</p> +<p>Out of the great gate of heaven I proclaim aloud,</p> +<p>'Surely I will hasten to let fire devour them.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[Pg 346]</a></span>Thou shall stand among them.</p> +<p>In front of thee I shall rise up.<a name="FNanchor_531_531" id="FNanchor_531_531"></a><a href="#Footnote_531_531" class="fnanchor">[531]</a></p> +<p>Up onto the mountain I bring them.</p> +<p>There to rain down upon them destructive stones.</p> +<p>Thine enemies I hew down,</p> +<p>With their blood I fill the river.</p> +<p>Let them behold and glorify me,</p> +<p>For Ashur, the lord of gods, am I.'</p> +</div></div> + +<p>This important and striking message, coming direct from +Ashur we are told, is to be formally presented and read in the +presence of the king. Instructions are added to the priests to +pour out a libation of precious oil. Sacrifices of animals and +waving of incense are to accompany the presentation.</p> + +<p>The oracle, as the god's answer to the king's questions, thus +gave rise to a ritual as elaborate as the rites connected with the +preparations for the answer. The oracles were not always +trustworthy, as we can well believe, and often they were not +definite enough. If we may judge from an expression in one +of the divine messages to Esarhaddon, the king appears to have +entered a complaint against a former oracle, which was not to +his liking. Ishtar accordingly sends the following message:<a name="FNanchor_532_532" id="FNanchor_532_532"></a><a href="#Footnote_532_532" class="fnanchor">[532]</a></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>The former word which I spoke to thee,</p> +<p>On it thou didst not rely.</p> +<p>Now, then, in the later one you may have confidence.</p> +<p>Glorify me!</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Clearly, the Assyrian kings believed that the oracles existed +to announce what they wanted to hear. They probably did not +hesitate to follow their own judgment whenever they considered +it superior to the advice given to them by the gods. There +would, of course, be no difficulty in accounting for failures +brought about through obedience to the oracles. The priests, +hemmed in on every side by minute ceremonial observances, +forfeited their power as mediators by the slightest failure in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[Pg 347]</a></span> +the observance of these rites. An error or a mishap would +entail most serious consequences. A misleading oracle, therefore, +and to a certain extent, unfavorable omens, would be the +fault of the priests. The deity would send 'a lying message'<a name="FNanchor_533_533" id="FNanchor_533_533"></a><a href="#Footnote_533_533" class="fnanchor">[533]</a> +or bring about unfavorable omens as a sign of his or her displeasure. +On the other hand, the priests in turn would not +hesitate—speaking of course in the name of the gods—to +accuse the kings of neglecting Ishtar or Nabu or Shamash, as +the case may be. In an oracle addressed to Esarhaddon,<a name="FNanchor_534_534" id="FNanchor_534_534"></a><a href="#Footnote_534_534" class="fnanchor">[534]</a> +Ishtar of Arbela is represented as complaining that the king has +done nothing for her, although she has done so much for him. +Such a state of affairs cannot go on.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Since they do nothing for me,</p> +<p>I will not give anything to thee.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The king promptly responds by copious offerings, and the +goddess appears to be pacified.</p> + +<p>There is another feature connected with the oracles that must +be touched upon before passing on. The oracles stand obviously +in close relationship to the penitential psalms. It was, +naturally, in times of political distress that the kings would be +particularly zealous in maintaining themselves on good terms +with the powerful gods. Without their aid success could not +be expected to crown any efforts. Guiding their steps by +frequent consultations of the priests, the appeals of the kings +would increase in earnestness and fervor as the campaign progressed +and assumed more serious aspects. When disaster +stared them in the face, they would be forced to conclude that +the gods were angered, and there was only one way left of +averting the divine wrath—a free confession of sins, accompanied, +of course, by offerings and magic rites. The Assyrian +kings do not tell us in their annals of discomfitures that they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[Pg 348]</a></span> +encountered. The penitential psalms supply this omission. +We have such a psalm written in the days of Ashurbanabal,<a name="FNanchor_535_535" id="FNanchor_535_535"></a><a href="#Footnote_535_535" class="fnanchor">[535]</a> in +which that proud monarch humbles himself before the great +god Nabu, and has the satisfaction in return of receiving a +reassuring oracle. He prays:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>I confess to thee, Nabu, in the presence of the great gods,</p> +<p>[Many<a name="FNanchor_536_536" id="FNanchor_536_536"></a><a href="#Footnote_536_536" class="fnanchor">[536]</a> (?)] are my sins beyond endurance?<a name="FNanchor_537_537" id="FNanchor_537_537"></a><a href="#Footnote_537_537" class="fnanchor">[537]</a></p> +<p>[Lord (?)] of Nineveh, I come before thee, the warrior among the gods, his brothers.</p> +<p>[Prolong (?)] the life of Ashurbanabal for a long period.</p> +<p>... At the feet of Nabu I prostrate myself.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The god reassures the king:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>I will grant thee life, O Ashurbanabal, even I,</p> +<p>Nabu, to the end of days</p> +<p>Thy feet shall not grow weary, nor thy hands weak (?),</p> +<p>These lips of thine shall not cease to approach me,</p> +<p>Thy tongue shall not be removed from thy lips,</p> +<p>For I give thee a favorable message.</p> +<p>I will raise thy head, I will increase thy glory in the temple of E-babbara.<a name="FNanchor_538_538" id="FNanchor_538_538"></a><a href="#Footnote_538_538" class="fnanchor">[538]</a></p> +</div></div> + +<p>The reference to the temple of Shamash at Sippar reveals +the situation. Babylonia was the cause of much trouble to +Ashurbanabal, owing chiefly to the intrigues of his treacherous +brother Shamash-shumukin.<a name="FNanchor_539_539" id="FNanchor_539_539"></a><a href="#Footnote_539_539" class="fnanchor">[539]</a> Ashurbanabal at one time was +not merely in danger of losing control over the south, but of +losing his life in the rebellion organized by his 'faithless +brother.' A successful rebellion is a clear sign of a god's +displeasure. Marduk, as we have seen, was not often appealed +to by the Assyrian kings, but Nabu seemed always ready to +help them. Hence the king confesses his sins and makes an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[Pg 349]</a></span> +appeal to the great Babylonian god and not to Ashur. He is +encouraged by the promise that his life will be spared, and that +his supremacy will be recognized in Babylonia. The great +sanctuary of Sippar is here employed figuratively for the temples +of Babylonia in general. To be glorified in that famous +temple was equivalent to a recognition of royal authority.</p> + +<p>That these oracles served a practical purpose is definitely +proved by the manner in which they are introduced by the +kings in their annals. Ashurbanabal tells us that in the course +of one of his campaigns against Elam, he addressed a fervent +prayer to Ishtar of Arbela, and in reply the message comes, as +in the texts we have been considering, "Fear not"; and she +adds, "Thy hands raised towards me, and thy eyes filled with +tears, I look upon with favor."<a name="FNanchor_540_540" id="FNanchor_540_540"></a><a href="#Footnote_540_540" class="fnanchor">[540]</a></p> + + +<h3>Dreams.</h3> + +<p>It is, of course, not necessary to assume that the oracles of +the gods were always delivered in the same formal manner, +accompanied by elaborate ceremonies. The gods at times +reveal themselves in a more direct manner to their favorites. +In visions of the night they appear to encourage the Assyrian +army by an oracle. On one occasion, when the army of Ashurbanabal +approached a rushing stream which they were afraid to +cross, Ishtar makes her appearance at night, and declares, "I +walk in front of Ashurbanabal, the king who is the creation of +my hands."<a name="FNanchor_541_541" id="FNanchor_541_541"></a><a href="#Footnote_541_541" class="fnanchor">[541]</a> The army, thus reassured, crosses the river in +safety. On another occasion, Ashurbanabal, when threatened +by the king of Elam, receives a message from Ishtar revealed +to a seer in a dream at night. The seer—no doubt a priest—reports +to the king:<a name="FNanchor_542_542" id="FNanchor_542_542"></a><a href="#Footnote_542_542" class="fnanchor">[542]</a> 'Ishtar, dwelling in Arbela, came with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[Pg 350]</a></span> +quivers hung on her right and left side, with a bow in her hand, +and girded (?) with a pointed, unsheathed sword. Before thee +[<i>i.e.</i>, the king] she stood, and like the mother that bore thee.<a name="FNanchor_543_543" id="FNanchor_543_543"></a><a href="#Footnote_543_543" class="fnanchor">[543]</a> +Ishtar, supreme among the gods, addressed thee, commanding: +"Be encouraged<a name="FNanchor_544_544" id="FNanchor_544_544"></a><a href="#Footnote_544_544" class="fnanchor">[544]</a> for the fray. Wherever thou art, I am."'</p> + +<p>In connection with the importance that the Babylonians and +Assyrians, in common with all ancient nations, attached to +dreams, divine messages thus revealed had a special significance +fully on a par with the oracles that were formally delivered with +an accompaniment of elaborate rites. A god appearing to one +in a dream was a manifestation, the force of which could not +be disputed. It mattered little to whom the dream was sent. +Ashur, on one occasion, chose to reveal himself to an enemy +of Ashurbanabal with a message. He appears in a dream +before Gyges, the king of Lydia, and tells him,<a name="FNanchor_545_545" id="FNanchor_545_545"></a><a href="#Footnote_545_545" class="fnanchor">[545]</a> "Pay homage +to Ashurbanabal, the king of Assyria, and by the power of his +name conquer thine enemies." Gyges obeys and sends a messenger +to the Assyrian monarch to inform him of the dream. +Occasionally in this way a deity might appear to a king, but in +general it was to the professional 'dreamer' rather than to the +laity to whom oracles were thus sent. The message was not +necessarily delivered in person by the deity. Sin, the moon-god, +on one occasion writes his message on the moon's disc:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Against all who have evil designs</p> +<p>And hostile sentiments towards</p> +<p>Ashurbanabal, the king of Assyria,</p> +<p>Will I send a miserable death.<a name="FNanchor_546_546" id="FNanchor_546_546"></a><a href="#Footnote_546_546" class="fnanchor">[546]</a></p> +</div></div> + +<p>Every dream was of course sent by some god, but the dreams +of others than those who acted as mediators between the gods +and men were of a different character. They were omens. +The gods would reveal themselves indirectly by means of +pictures or symbols, and it would require the services of a priest<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[Pg 351]</a></span> +again to interpret such symbols or omens. The gods were +asked to send such dreams as might receive a favorable interpretation,<a name="FNanchor_547_547" id="FNanchor_547_547"></a><a href="#Footnote_547_547" class="fnanchor">[547]</a> +and when a dream came unsolicited, the gods were +implored to convert the dream into a favorable omen.</p> + +<p>In the case of dreams, it will be apparent, the dividing line +between oracles proper and omens becomes exceedingly faint +and it is very doubtful whether the Babylonians or Assyrians +recognized any essential difference between the two. The +suggestion has already been thrown out that there is a wider +aspect to omens in the Babylonian religion than their employment +in connection with sacrificial offerings. We have reached +a point when it will be proper to take up this wider aspect.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[Pg 352]</a></span></p> + +<h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_491_491" id="Footnote_491_491"></a><a href="#FNanchor_491_491"><span class="label">[491]</span></a> See King, <i>Babylonian Magic</i>, p. xxx.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_492_492" id="Footnote_492_492"></a><a href="#FNanchor_492_492"><span class="label">[492]</span></a> Harper's <i>Assyrian Letters</i>, no. 219.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_493_493" id="Footnote_493_493"></a><a href="#FNanchor_493_493"><span class="label">[493]</span></a> <i>Assyrische Gebete an den Sonnengott für Staat und +Königliches Haus</i> (Leipzig, 1893, 2 vols.).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_494_494" id="Footnote_494_494"></a><a href="#FNanchor_494_494"><span class="label">[494]</span></a> Knudtzon, no. 1.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_495_495" id="Footnote_495_495"></a><a href="#FNanchor_495_495"><span class="label">[495]</span></a> That the priest recites the prayer and not the king is +shown by the frequent introduction of the king's name in the 3d person. +See, <i>e.g.</i>, Knudtzon, nos. 40-47.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_496_496" id="Footnote_496_496"></a><a href="#FNanchor_496_496"><span class="label">[496]</span></a> 2d month.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_497_497" id="Footnote_497_497"></a><a href="#FNanchor_497_497"><span class="label">[497]</span></a> 5th month.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_498_498" id="Footnote_498_498"></a><a href="#FNanchor_498_498"><span class="label">[498]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, the priest is only asked for an oracle +regarding the events of the next one hundred days.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_499_499" id="Footnote_499_499"></a><a href="#FNanchor_499_499"><span class="label">[499]</span></a> Various machines are mentioned. The precise meaning of the +technical terms employed is not known.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_500_500" id="Footnote_500_500"></a><a href="#FNanchor_500_500"><span class="label">[500]</span></a> By invoking the assistance of the gods.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_501_501" id="Footnote_501_501"></a><a href="#FNanchor_501_501"><span class="label">[501]</span></a> Peacefully, by mutual agreement and the promise of favors.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_502_502" id="Footnote_502_502"></a><a href="#FNanchor_502_502"><span class="label">[502]</span></a> One is reminded of the Arabic phrase "Allah alone knows +it," so frequently introduced in Mohammedan writings.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_503_503" id="Footnote_503_503"></a><a href="#FNanchor_503_503"><span class="label">[503]</span></a> +Lit., 'Seen will it be seen, heard will it be heard?' The emphatic construction +is identical with the one frequently employed in Biblical Hebrew.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_504_504" id="Footnote_504_504"></a><a href="#FNanchor_504_504"><span class="label">[504]</span></a> +Knudtzon (p. 25) did not grasp the negative force of <i>ezib</i>. The word is a +request that something might <i>not</i> happen.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_505_505" id="Footnote_505_505"></a><a href="#FNanchor_505_505"><span class="label">[505]</span></a> Where the animal is to be inspected, probably the altar itself.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_506_506" id="Footnote_506_506"></a><a href="#FNanchor_506_506"><span class="label">[506]</span></a> In the Jewish ritual and many others, stress is laid upon +pronouncing the words of a prayer clearly and deliberately, especially +such words as have a particularly sacred value.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_507_507" id="Footnote_507_507"></a><a href="#FNanchor_507_507"><span class="label">[507]</span></a> <i>Assyrische Gebete</i>, p. 50.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_508_508" id="Footnote_508_508"></a><a href="#FNanchor_508_508"><span class="label">[508]</span></a> +Exactly of what nature cannot be ascertained. The text (Knudtzon, no. 29, rev. +15) is defective at this point.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_509_509" id="Footnote_509_509"></a><a href="#FNanchor_509_509"><span class="label">[509]</span></a> The prayer or the lamb.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_510_510" id="Footnote_510_510"></a><a href="#FNanchor_510_510"><span class="label">[510]</span></a> Lit., 'proceed.'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_511_511" id="Footnote_511_511"></a><a href="#FNanchor_511_511"><span class="label">[511]</span></a> Knudtzon, no. 66. Other examples are furnished in George +Smith's <i>History of Ashurbanabal</i>, pp. 184, 185.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_512_512" id="Footnote_512_512"></a><a href="#FNanchor_512_512"><span class="label">[512]</span></a> A district to the northeast of Assyria; Knudtzon, no. 29.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_513_513" id="Footnote_513_513"></a><a href="#FNanchor_513_513"><span class="label">[513]</span></a> <i>Ib.</i> no. 107.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_514_514" id="Footnote_514_514"></a><a href="#FNanchor_514_514"><span class="label">[514]</span></a> <i>Ib.</i> no. 101.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_515_515" id="Footnote_515_515"></a><a href="#FNanchor_515_515"><span class="label">[515]</span></a> Four volumes comprising several hundred letters have +already appeared under the title, <i>Assyrian Letters of the K. +Collection</i> (London, 1896). For a good summary of the character of +the Assyrian epistolary literature, see Johnston's article in the +<i>Journal of the American Oriental Society</i>, xviii. 1, pp. 125-134.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_516_516" id="Footnote_516_516"></a><a href="#FNanchor_516_516"><span class="label">[516]</span></a> Harper, no. 77.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_517_517" id="Footnote_517_517"></a><a href="#FNanchor_517_517"><span class="label">[517]</span></a> <i>E.g.</i>, Knudtzon, no. 124.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_518_518" id="Footnote_518_518"></a><a href="#FNanchor_518_518"><span class="label">[518]</span></a> Zimmern, <i>Busspsalmen</i>, p. 32. The popularity of the +sun-cult in Assyria in connection with omens and oracles is probably due +also in part to the influence of Marduk, who was, as we have seen, a +solar deity.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_519_519" id="Footnote_519_519"></a><a href="#FNanchor_519_519"><span class="label">[519]</span></a> Lehman, <i>Samassumukin</i>, p. 42.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_520_520" id="Footnote_520_520"></a><a href="#FNanchor_520_520"><span class="label">[520]</span></a> See Ploss, <i>Das Weib</i>, pp. 594-606; also above, p. <a href="#Page_267">267</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_521_521" id="Footnote_521_521"></a><a href="#FNanchor_521_521"><span class="label">[521]</span></a> IVR. pl. 61.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_522_522" id="Footnote_522_522"></a><a href="#FNanchor_522_522"><span class="label">[522]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, Ishtar sends the wind with a clear message.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_523_523" id="Footnote_523_523"></a><a href="#FNanchor_523_523"><span class="label">[523]</span></a> 3d month.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_524_524" id="Footnote_524_524"></a><a href="#FNanchor_524_524"><span class="label">[524]</span></a> Perhaps a proverbial phrase, having the force of 'I nurture +thee as thy own mother did.'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_525_525" id="Footnote_525_525"></a><a href="#FNanchor_525_525"><span class="label">[525]</span></a> Constituting the host of Ishtar, which is elsewhere +referred to, <i>e.g.</i>, IVR. 2d Ed. pt. 61, col. i. 27.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_526_526" id="Footnote_526_526"></a><a href="#FNanchor_526_526"><span class="label">[526]</span></a> Lit., 'the future or later things like the former.'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_527_527" id="Footnote_527_527"></a><a href="#FNanchor_527_527"><span class="label">[527]</span></a> Published by S. A. Strong, <i>Beiträge zur +Assyriologie</i>, ii. 627-33.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_528_528" id="Footnote_528_528"></a><a href="#FNanchor_528_528"><span class="label">[528]</span></a> The opening lines, containing a reference to the +Gimirrites, are imperfectly preserved.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_529_529" id="Footnote_529_529"></a><a href="#FNanchor_529_529"><span class="label">[529]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, he is the greatest scion of the reigning +dynasty.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_530_530" id="Footnote_530_530"></a><a href="#FNanchor_530_530"><span class="label">[530]</span></a> 'Lord of the court'—a title of Ashur.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_531_531" id="Footnote_531_531"></a><a href="#FNanchor_531_531"><span class="label">[531]</span></a> As a protection, just as Jahwe appears in a pillar of cloud +to protect his people.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_532_532" id="Footnote_532_532"></a><a href="#FNanchor_532_532"><span class="label">[532]</span></a> IVR. 2d Ed. 61, col. vi. 47-52.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_533_533" id="Footnote_533_533"></a><a href="#FNanchor_533_533"><span class="label">[533]</span></a> See I Kings, xxii. 23.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_534_534" id="Footnote_534_534"></a><a href="#FNanchor_534_534"><span class="label">[534]</span></a> Strong, <i>Beiträge zur Assyriologie</i>, ii. 628, 629.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_535_535" id="Footnote_535_535"></a><a href="#FNanchor_535_535"><span class="label">[535]</span></a> Published and translated by S. A. Strong, <i>Transactions +of the Ninth International Oriental Congress</i> (1893), ii. 199-208.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_536_536" id="Footnote_536_536"></a><a href="#FNanchor_536_536"><span class="label">[536]</span></a> Supplied from the context, through comparison with similar +compositions.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_537_537" id="Footnote_537_537"></a><a href="#FNanchor_537_537"><span class="label">[537]</span></a> Lit., 'my soul cannot overcome.'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_538_538" id="Footnote_538_538"></a><a href="#FNanchor_538_538"><span class="label">[538]</span></a> The composition continues in this strain, Ashurbanabal and +Nabu speaking alternately.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_539_539" id="Footnote_539_539"></a><a href="#FNanchor_539_539"><span class="label">[539]</span></a> See Tiele, <i>Babyl.-Assyr. Geschichte</i>, pp. 371 +<i>seq</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_540_540" id="Footnote_540_540"></a><a href="#FNanchor_540_540"><span class="label">[540]</span></a> George Smith, <i>Annals of Ashurbanabal</i>, p. 121.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_541_541" id="Footnote_541_541"></a><a href="#FNanchor_541_541"><span class="label">[541]</span></a> Rassam Cylinder, VR. col. v. ll. 95-103.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_542_542" id="Footnote_542_542"></a><a href="#FNanchor_542_542"><span class="label">[542]</span></a> George Smith, <i>Annals of Ashurbanabal</i>, pp. 119-121.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_543_543" id="Footnote_543_543"></a><a href="#FNanchor_543_543"><span class="label">[543]</span></a> With maternal kindness.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_544_544" id="Footnote_544_544"></a><a href="#FNanchor_544_544"><span class="label">[544]</span></a> Lit., 'look up.'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_545_545" id="Footnote_545_545"></a><a href="#FNanchor_545_545"><span class="label">[545]</span></a> Rassam Cylinder, col ii. ll. 98 <i>seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_546_546" id="Footnote_546_546"></a><a href="#FNanchor_546_546"><span class="label">[546]</span></a> <i>Ib.</i> col. iii. ll. 122-124.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_547_547" id="Footnote_547_547"></a><a href="#FNanchor_547_547"><span class="label">[547]</span></a> <i>E.g.</i>, IVR. 59, no. 2, 21b.</p></div> + + + + +<h2><a name="chapter-xx" id="chapter-xx"></a>CHAPTER XX.</h2> + +<h3>VARIOUS CLASSES OF OMENS.</h3> + + +<p>There is a close connection between the various branches +of the religious literature of Babylonia and Assyria that we have +hitherto been considering. The magic incantations are, as we +have seen, a form of prayer. On the other hand, prayers, +whether hymns or confessions of sin with an appeal for relief +from suffering or distress, or embodying the petition for a divine +response to some question or questions, are never entirely +dissociated from incantations, and are invariably based upon +the same beliefs that give to the element of magic such a prominent +place in the religion. The omens form part of this same +order of beliefs. The connecting link between incantations and +omens is the sense of mystery impressed upon man by two +orders of phenomena—the phenomena of his own life and the +phenomena of the things about him. In his own life, nothing +was more mysterious to him than the power of speech. It is +doubtful whether he recognized that the animals communicated +with one another by means of the sounds that they emitted; but +even if he did, the great gap separating such means of communication +from the power residing in the combination of sounds, +of which he could avail himself, must have been all the more +impressive. In view of this, it is not difficult to understand +that a magic force was attributed to words as such. Of course, +a somewhat advanced degree of culture must have been reached +before such a belief would be given a definite form of expression; +but even in the simplest form of social organization the +notion of <i>authority</i> necessarily exists, and authority is inseparable<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[Pg 353]</a></span> +from words. The chief commands, and the conclusion is +naturally drawn that the words he utters are imbued with the +power to force obedience. These two factors—the mystery of +speech and the practical demonstration of the power residing in +words—are sufficient to account for the part played by incantations +among all nations at a certain stage of their religious +development; and once introduced, the conservatism attaching +to religious rites would ensure their continuance even after the +popular religious beliefs had passed far beyond the stage in +question. The modifications introduced into the incantations +would be nigh endless. There would develop a tendency to +greater complications in the combination of words. At the same +time their literary form would be improved. Prayers and hymns +reflecting advanced religious sentiments would be produced, +but the magic element connected with the words as such would +not for that reason be lost sight of. The efficacy of such prayers +would still depend upon their being uttered in the right manner +and—what is equally to the point—by the right person. +Corresponding to the chief in secular affairs—who alone can +pronounce words that give evidence of their power by the results +produced—is the priest in religious affairs to whom, as the +mediator between the gods and men, the secret is entrusted of +uttering the right words in the right way, so as to produce the +desired results, to force, as it were, obedience from the gods, as +a chief forces obedience from his subjects. In a more advanced +stage of religious culture, the position of the priest is no less +powerful and important. When incantations yield to prayers +in the proper sense, or are combined with prayers, it is only the +priests who can make the prayers effective by their interceding +in some way with the gods, whether by adding their appeal to +that of the supplicant, or by the performance of the rites +accompanying prayer, or by their aid in leading the worshipper +into the presence of the deity and standing with him before the +throne of grace.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[Pg 354]</a></span></p> + +<p>When man turns from a contemplation of self to the things +around him, there is added to the sense of the mysterious +which is aroused in him, the feeling of his own weakness which +is borne in upon him with overpowering force. He cannot fail +to realize how dependent he is upon the sun, the moon, the +rain, and the storm. At every step he takes dangers beset his +path. The animal world is at times hostile, at times friendly; +but whether the one or the other, it is essential for him to carefully +<i>note</i> all that is going on around him. Every happening +or sight of an unusual character arouses now his sense of fear, +and again his hope. He learns to attach special importance to +deviations from the normal course of things. There must be a +reason for the exception from the rule. It betokens something, +and, concerned as man primarily is for his own welfare, he +naturally comes to connect both the regular phenomena of +nature as well as the deviations, the normal traits and habits +of the animal world as well as peculiar features occasionally +occurring, with his own fate. To forestall the future was his +only safeguard against the dangers in store for him. It was of +the utmost importance to him to know what was coming or, at +all events, to be on the lookout for <i>something</i>, in order to be +in a proper frame to receive either the benefits or to meet the +difficulties of the situation.</p> + +<p>His powers of observation—upon which man in a primitive +state depended almost entirely for his sustenance—were thus +further strengthened by the necessity of protecting himself, so +far as possible, against the uncertainties of the future. Nothing +would escape him. The movement of the stars and planets, +their position at different seasons and periods, the appearance +of the clouds, an eclipse, the conditions of the streams, an +earthquake, the direction of the winds, storms, the flight of +birds, the barking of dogs, the movements of snakes and serpents, +peculiar marks on the bodies of children, of adults and +animals, monstrosities among mankind or the brute creation,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[Pg 355]</a></span> +the meeting with certain persons or animals, the rustling of +leaves, the change of seasons, the lustre of precious stones, all +attracted man's attention. Whatever he saw might portend +something to him, in fact <i>did</i> portend something; hence the one +great aim and ideal of his life was to <i>see</i> everything. Seeing +meant foreseeing, and the man who could see everything—the +<i>seer par excellence</i>, who could also understand what he saw—held +in his hands the key that would unlock the secrets of the +future. He possessed the means of forecasting events.</p> + +<p>Apart, then, from the interpretation of omens in connection +with sacrifices and incantations, the individual had to be on the +outlook at all times for signs and portents. To neglect them +would entail serious consequences.</p> + +<p>This wider aspect of omens accounts for the extensive omen +literature that arose in Babylonia and Assyria. Fully one-fourth +of the portion of Ashurbanabal's library that has been discovered +consists of omens,<a name="FNanchor_548_548" id="FNanchor_548_548"></a><a href="#Footnote_548_548" class="fnanchor">[548]</a> tablets of various size in which explanations +are afforded of all physical peculiarities to be observed in +animals and men, of natural phenomena, of the position and +movements of the planets and stars, of the incidents and +accidents of public and private life,—in short, of all possible +occurrences and situations.</p> + +<p>As yet but a small proportion of this literature has been +published, and a thorough understanding of it is impossible +until systematic publications shall have been issued. Meanwhile +it is safe to assert that, as in the case of incantations and +prayers, the omens were generally combined into series by the +Babylonian and Assyrian scribes.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[Pg 356]</a></span></p> + +<h3>Omens From Planets and Stars.</h3> + +<p>Ihering observes<a name="FNanchor_549_549" id="FNanchor_549_549"></a><a href="#Footnote_549_549" class="fnanchor">[549]</a> that the stars were observed by the Babylonians +in the interest of navigation. While this is true, yet +the chief motive in the development of astronomy in the +Euphrates Valley was the belief that the movements of the +heavenly bodies portended something that was important for +man to know. That the stars served as guides to the mariner +was only an additional reason for attaching great importance to +the heavenly phenomena. Scientific observations were but +means to an end; and the end was invariably the derivation of +omens from the movements and position of the planets and +stars. When, therefore, we find the astronomers sending reports +to their royal masters apparently of a purely scientific character, +we may be certain that although no omens are mentioned, both +parties had omens in mind. The astronomical reports, of which +quite a number have already been published,<a name="FNanchor_550_550" id="FNanchor_550_550"></a><a href="#Footnote_550_550" class="fnanchor">[550]</a> may therefore be +reckoned as part of the omen literature. The vernal equinox +was a period of much significance. The astronomer royal +accordingly reports:<a name="FNanchor_551_551" id="FNanchor_551_551"></a><a href="#Footnote_551_551" class="fnanchor">[551]</a></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>On the sixth day of Nisan,<a name="FNanchor_552_552" id="FNanchor_552_552"></a><a href="#Footnote_552_552" class="fnanchor">[552]</a></p> +<p>Day and night were balanced.</p> +<p>There were six double hours of day,</p> +<p>Six double hours of night.</p> +<p>May Nabu and Marduk</p> +<p>Be gracious to the king, my lord.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>On another occasion the equinox took place on the 15th of +Nisan,<a name="FNanchor_553_553" id="FNanchor_553_553"></a><a href="#Footnote_553_553" class="fnanchor">[553]</a> and accordingly this is reported. Again, the appearance +of the new moon was anxiously looked for each month, and +the king is informed whether or not it was seen on the 29th or +30th day of the month.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[Pg 357]</a></span><a name="FNanchor_554_554" id="FNanchor_554_554"></a><a href="#Footnote_554_554" class="fnanchor">[554]</a></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>A watch we kept</p> +<p>On the twenty-ninth day,</p> +<p>The moon we saw.</p> +<p>May Nabu and Marduk</p> +<p>Be gracious to the king, my lord.</p> +<p>From Nabuâ of the city of Ashur.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>An extraordinary event, such as an eclipse, is made the subject +of a more elaborate report. The Babylonian astronomers +had developed their scientific attainments to the point of calculating +the time when an eclipse of the sun or the moon would +take place. As this period approached, they watched for the +eclipse. We have an interesting specimen of a report in which +the astronomer announces that an expected eclipse for which a +watch was kept for three days did not appear.<a name="FNanchor_555_555" id="FNanchor_555_555"></a><a href="#Footnote_555_555" class="fnanchor">[555]</a> Another +addressed to an official reads:<a name="FNanchor_556_556" id="FNanchor_556_556"></a><a href="#Footnote_556_556" class="fnanchor">[556]</a></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>To the Agriculturist,<a name="FNanchor_557_557" id="FNanchor_557_557"></a><a href="#Footnote_557_557" class="fnanchor">[557]</a> my lord,</p> +<p>Thy servant Nabushumiddin,</p> +<p>An officer of Nineveh,</p> +<p>May Nabu and Marduk be gracious</p> +<p>To the Agriculturist, my lord.</p> +<p>The fourteenth day we kept a watch for the moon.</p> +<p>The moon suffered an eclipse.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The reports pass over into indications of omens with an ease +which shows that the observations of the astronomers were +made with this ulterior motive in view. A report which +forms a supplement to one above translated furnishes the interpretation +given to the vernal equinox:<a name="FNanchor_558_558" id="FNanchor_558_558"></a><a href="#Footnote_558_558" class="fnanchor">[558]</a></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>The moon and sun are balanced,</p> +<p>The subjects will be faithful,<a name="FNanchor_559_559" id="FNanchor_559_559"></a><a href="#Footnote_559_559" class="fnanchor">[559]</a></p> +<p>The king of the land will reign for a long time.</p> +</div></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[Pg 358]</a></span> +The complement, then, to the purely scientific observations +is furnished by these official communications to the kings and +others, setting forth in response, no doubt, to commands or +inquiries, the meaning of any particular phenomenon, or of the +position of the planets, or of any of the stars at any time, or of +their movements. Of such communications we have a large +number. They illustrate the great attention that was paid to +details in the observation of the heavenly bodies. The moon +as the basis of the calendrical system occupies the first place in +these reports. Its movements were more varied than those of +the sun. Through its phases, its appearance and disappearance +at stated intervals, a safe point of departure was obtained for +time calculations. While the sun through its daily course +regulated the divisions of the day, the moon by its phases fixed +the division of weeks and months. The moon never appeared +quite the same on two successive nights nor in the same part +of the heavens. The more variety, the more significance—was +a principle of general application in the interpretation of omens. +Whether the Babylonians also recognized an influence of the +moon on the tides, we have no certain means of determining, +but it is eminently likely that trained as their astronomers were +in careful observation, this was the case. But apart from this, +there were many events in public and private affairs that +appeared to them to stand in close connection with the movements +of the orb of night. Nothing that occurred being +regarded as accidental, the conclusion was forced upon the +Babylonians that the time when something was undertaken was +of significance. The fact that certain undertakings succeeded, +while others failed, was most easily explained upon the theory +that there were periods favorable for the action involved +and periods unfavorable. The gathering of past experience +thus becomes a guiding principle in the interpretation of +the movements of the moon; and what applies to the moon +applies, of course, to the other planets and to the stars.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[Pg 359]</a></span> +No doubt other factors are involved, such as association of +ideas; but it is evident from a careful study of the omen literature +that conclusions drawn from what appears to us as the +accidental relation of past occurrences to the phenomena presented +by the planets and stars constituted fully three-fourths +of the wisdom of the Euphratean augurs. The same report, of +which a portion has already been quoted,<a name="FNanchor_560_560" id="FNanchor_560_560"></a><a href="#Footnote_560_560" class="fnanchor">[560]</a> continues after interpreting +the meaning of the equinox with a diagnosis of other +concurrent conditions:<a name="FNanchor_561_561" id="FNanchor_561_561"></a><a href="#Footnote_561_561" class="fnanchor">[561]</a></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Sun and moon are seen apart,<a name="FNanchor_562_562" id="FNanchor_562_562"></a><a href="#Footnote_562_562" class="fnanchor">[562]</a></p> +<p>The king of the country will manifest wisdom.<a name="FNanchor_563_563" id="FNanchor_563_563"></a><a href="#Footnote_563_563" class="fnanchor">[563]</a></p> +<p>On the fourteenth day sun and moon are seen together,</p> +<p>There will be loyalty in the land,</p> +<p>The gods of Babylonia are favorably inclined,</p> +<p>The soldiery will be in accord with the king's desire,</p> +<p>The cattle of Babylonia will pasture in safety.<a name="FNanchor_564_564" id="FNanchor_564_564"></a><a href="#Footnote_564_564" class="fnanchor">[564]</a></p> +<p>From Ishtar-shumeresh.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The same conditions appearing on another day may portend +precisely the reverse. So another report informs the king:<a name="FNanchor_565_565" id="FNanchor_565_565"></a><a href="#Footnote_565_565" class="fnanchor">[565]</a></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>On the fifteenth day the sun and moon are seen together,</p> +<p>A powerful enemy raises his weapons against the land,</p> +<p>The enemy will smash the great gate of the city,</p> +<p>The star Anu appears bright,</p> +<p>The enemy will devastate.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>It is quite evident that such reports must have been sent in +response to royal orders asking for the meaning of existing conditions +or of conditions that may be observed on certain days. +At times the prognostications assume a remarkable degree of +definiteness which forms a striking contrast to the general<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[Pg 360]</a></span> +vagueness of the oracles. An official, Balasi, reports<a name="FNanchor_566_566" id="FNanchor_566_566"></a><a href="#Footnote_566_566" class="fnanchor">[566]</a> on one +occasion regarding the significance of the moon appearing +unexpectedly:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>The moon is seen out of season,</p> +<p>Crops will be small.</p> +<p>On the twelfth day the moon is seen together with the sun.<a name="FNanchor_567_567" id="FNanchor_567_567"></a><a href="#Footnote_567_567" class="fnanchor">[567]</a></p> +<p>Contrary to the calculated time,</p> +<p>The moon and sun appear together,</p> +<p>A strong enemy will devastate the land.</p> +<p>The king of Babylonia will be forced to submit to his enemy.</p> +<p>On the twelfth day, the moon with the sun is seen,</p> +<p>On the twelfth day is seen.</p> +<p>Evil is in store for Babylonia.</p> +<p>It is a favorable sign for Elam and the west land,</p> +<p>But surely unfavorable for Babylonia.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The reports were not always concerned with political affairs. +Frequently there is a reference to lions and hyenas that might +be expected to make their appearance because of certain natural +phenomena. Often crops are referred to, and according as +the conditions are favorable or not, fertility or famine is +predicted in the official reports. On other occasions the +astrologers venture the very safe prognostication that male +children will be born or that there will be miscarriages, though +it seems likely that in such cases the forecast is intended for +the affairs of the palace alone.</p> + +<p>We have seen<a name="FNanchor_568_568" id="FNanchor_568_568"></a><a href="#Footnote_568_568" class="fnanchor">[568]</a> what great importance was attached by the Babylonians to eclipses. It will be appropriate, therefore, to +give a specimen of an astrologer's report in reference to such a +phenomenon:<a name="FNanchor_569_569" id="FNanchor_569_569"></a><a href="#Footnote_569_569" class="fnanchor">[569]</a></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>The moon disappeared,<a name="FNanchor_570_570" id="FNanchor_570_570"></a><a href="#Footnote_570_570" class="fnanchor">[570]</a> evil will settle in the land.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[Pg 361]</a></span>The moon, contrary to calculation, disappeared.</p> +<p>An eclipse has taken place.</p> +<p>On the twenty-ninth day the moon disappeared</p> +<p>And the sun on the day of the eclipse entered the circle.<a name="FNanchor_571_571" id="FNanchor_571_571"></a><a href="#Footnote_571_571" class="fnanchor">[571]</a></p> +<p>It is an eclipse of Elam.<a name="FNanchor_572_572" id="FNanchor_572_572"></a><a href="#Footnote_572_572" class="fnanchor">[572]</a></p> +<p>If in the month of Kislev,<a name="FNanchor_573_573" id="FNanchor_573_573"></a><a href="#Footnote_573_573" class="fnanchor">[573]</a> an eclipse is observed</p> +<p>That encircles (?) the sun and the moon disappears,</p> +<p>Upon the observation of the eclipse,</p> +<p>Then may the king be exalted.</p> +<p>May the heart of the king, my lord, rejoice.</p> +<p>From Khushi-ilu, the servant of the king, the eponym.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Another report reads:<a name="FNanchor_574_574" id="FNanchor_574_574"></a><a href="#Footnote_574_574" class="fnanchor">[574]</a></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>To the king, my lord,</p> +<p>Thy servant Ishtar-iddinabal,</p> +<p>The chief of the astronomers of Arbela.</p> +<p>May Nabu, Marduk, Ishtar of Arbela</p> +<p>Be gracious to the king, my lord,</p> +<p>On the twenty-ninth day a watch we kept.</p> +<p>At the observatory clouds,</p> +<p>The moon we did not see.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>This report was sent on the second day of the month of +Shebat.<a name="FNanchor_575_575" id="FNanchor_575_575"></a><a href="#Footnote_575_575" class="fnanchor">[575]</a> From these specimens and others, it is evident that +reports regarding the appearance or non-appearance of the +new moon were regularly sent. But in addition to this, the +kings sent to the observatory on numerous other occasions +for information with reference to the significance of certain +phenomena.</p> + +<p>As in the case of the moon, so also for the sun and the stars, +reports were transmitted that served as guides in directing the +kings in their affairs. So on one occasion Nabu-mushesi forecasts +that<a name="FNanchor_576_576" id="FNanchor_576_576"></a><a href="#Footnote_576_576" class="fnanchor">[576]</a></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>If the 'great lion' star is dark,</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[Pg 362]</a></span>It is favorable for the country.</p> +<p>If the 'king' star is dark,</p> +<p>The chamberlain<a name="FNanchor_577_577" id="FNanchor_577_577"></a><a href="#Footnote_577_577" class="fnanchor">[577]</a> (?) of the palace dies.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The official character of these reports is one of their significant +features. Their great variety is an indication of the frequent +occasions on which the kings consulted the astrologers. +No important enterprise was undertaken without first ascertaining +what phenomena might be looked for on the day fixed for +any action, and what these phenomena portended. In the case +of the Assyrian reports, it is natural to find many allusions to +foreign nations, since war occupied so much of the time and +energies of the Assyrian rulers. But we have seen that for +private affairs the astrologers were also consulted, as well as for +the internal affairs of the country. The reports illustrate +the practical application of what became known in the ancient +world as "Chaldaean wisdom." If, however, we would know +the source whence the astrologers derived the knowledge which +they furnished in their reports, we must turn to the long lists +prepared by the priests, in which all possible phenomena connected +with the planets and stars were noted and their meaning +indicated. These compilations constitute the 'Priestly Codes' +of the Babylonians, and, as already intimated, they were +combined just as the incantations and prayers, into series. +Many such series must have existed at one time in Babylonia. +A great temple was incomplete without its observatory, and +we are warranted in concluding that every great religious +center of the Euphrates Valley had its collection of omen +tablets. The natural ambition of the priests was to make such +a series as complete as possible. The larger the number of +observations it contained, the greater the possibility of finding +an answer to the question put to them. To these lists additions +would constantly be made, and, if we may judge from the +manner of literary composition that prevailed among the ancient +Hebrews and later among the Arabs, the work of the compilers<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[Pg 363]</a></span> +of omen series consisted essentially in combining whatever +material they could obtain, and adding such observations as +they themselves had made. While, therefore, the omen code +of one place might differ in details from that of another, not +only would the underlying principles be the same in all, but +each series would represent an aggregation of experiences and +observations drawn from various quarters.</p> + +<p>A large omen series of which as yet only fragments have been +published<a name="FNanchor_578_578" id="FNanchor_578_578"></a><a href="#Footnote_578_578" class="fnanchor">[578]</a> bears the title 'Illumination of Bel.' It is estimated +that this astrological code embraced more than one +hundred tablets. From the fragments published, the general +method employed in the preparation of the series can be gathered. +To the moon and to the sun, to each of the planets, and +to the important stars a separate section was assigned. In +this section the peculiarities, regular and irregular, connected +with each of the bodies were noted, their appearance and disappearance, +the conditions prevailing at rising and at setting, the +relationship of the moon to the sun or to a star, of the stars to +one another and to the ecliptic, were set forth. Since, however, +the time when a phenomenon connected with a planet or star +was as important as the phenomenon itself, observations were +entered for the various months of the year and for various +days in each month. The days were not arbitrarily chosen, +but, as there is every reason to believe, selected on the basis +of past experience. Similarly the interpretations of the +phenomena were founded on the actual occurrence of certain +events at certain times when the conditions indicated actually +existed. A single occurrence might suffice for predicating a +connection between the event and the phenomenon. The +coincidence would constitute an observation, but the omen +would naturally gain additional force if it was based on a +repeated observation of the same phenomenon on the same day<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[Pg 364]</a></span> +of the same month. But such a case would be rare, and the +effort of the astrologers would be directed simply towards gathering +as many observations of phenomena as possible. They +would rest content when they had found a single connection +between the phenomenon and the event. Their success in +giving an answer to a question put to them as to what might +happen on a certain day, fixed for battle or for laying the +foundations of an edifice, or for dedicating a temple, for setting +out on an expedition, or for any undertaking whatsoever, would +depend on the completeness of their lists, and correspondingly +the interpretation of a phenomenon occurring on any day +would entail no difficulties if in their consultation lists the +phenomenon would be recorded.</p> + +<p>The 22d tablet of the series 'Illumination of Bel' deals with +the important subject of eclipses. It contains 88 lines, and +furnishes us with a good specimen of the class of omens under +consideration. It begins<a name="FNanchor_579_579" id="FNanchor_579_579"></a><a href="#Footnote_579_579" class="fnanchor">[579]</a> with eclipses that may take place +during the first month, and runs along through the twelve +months of the year. The 14th, 15th, 16th, 20th, and 21st days +of the month are those set down when eclipses have been +observed. The official character of the omens is indicated by +their repeated references to the nations with which Babylonia—and +later Assyria—came into contact, and to the fate in +store for the rulers of the country. For the third month, the +tablet notes:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>In the month of Sivan, an eclipse happening on the 14th day, proceeding +from east to west, beginning with the middle watch,<a name="FNanchor_580_580" id="FNanchor_580_580"></a><a href="#Footnote_580_580" class="fnanchor">[580]</a> and ending with +the morning watch, the shadow being seen in the east—the side of +obscuration—furnishes an omen<a name="FNanchor_581_581" id="FNanchor_581_581"></a><a href="#Footnote_581_581" class="fnanchor">[581]</a> for the king of Dilmun.<a name="FNanchor_582_582" id="FNanchor_582_582"></a><a href="#Footnote_582_582" class="fnanchor">[582]</a> The king of Dilmun +is slain.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[Pg 365]</a></span></p> + +<p>An eclipse happening on the 15th day, the king of Dilmun is slain, and +some one seizes the throne.</p> + +<p>An eclipse happening on the 16th day, the king is deposed and slain, +and a worthless person seizes the throne.</p> + +<p>An eclipse happening on the 20th day, rains descend from heaven, and +the canals are flooded.</p> + +<p>An eclipse happening on the 21st day, sorrow and despair in the land. +The land is full of corpses.</p></div> + +<p>The eclipses for the fourth month furnish omens for the king +of Guti—another district with which Babylonia and Assyria +had frequent dealings.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>An eclipse happening in the month of Tammuz on the 14th day, proceeding +from the west to the south, beginning with the first watch and +ending with the middle watch, the shadow being seen in the west—the +side of obscuration—furnishes an omen for the king of Guti. Overthrow +of Guti by force, followed by complete submission.</p> + +<p>An eclipse happening on the 15th day<a name="FNanchor_583_583" id="FNanchor_583_583"></a><a href="#Footnote_583_583" class="fnanchor">[583]</a>, rains descend from heaven, +floods come upon the land, famine in the land.</p> + +<p>An eclipse happening on the 16th day, women have miscarriages.</p> + +<p>An eclipse happening on the 20th day, storms set in and famine; afterwards +for a year storms destroy property<a name="FNanchor_584_584" id="FNanchor_584_584"></a><a href="#Footnote_584_584" class="fnanchor">[584]</a>.</p> + +<p>An eclipse happening on the 21st day, the armies of the king revolt and +deliver him into the hands of enemies.</p></div> + +<p>The eclipses of the following month deal with several +countries.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>An eclipse in the month of Ab<a name="FNanchor_585_585" id="FNanchor_585_585"></a><a href="#Footnote_585_585" class="fnanchor">[585]</a> on the 14th day, proceeding from the +south to the east, beginning with the first watch, or with the morning watch, +and ending at sunrise, the shadow being seen in the south—the side of +obscuration—furnishes an omen for the king of Umliash. The soldiery +are engaged in severe conflicts for a year, and are slain by force of arms.</p> + +<p>An eclipse happening on the 15th day<a name="FNanchor_586_586" id="FNanchor_586_586"></a><a href="#Footnote_586_586" class="fnanchor">[586]</a>, the king dies, and rains descend +from heaven, and floods fill the canals.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[Pg 366]</a></span></p> + +<p>An eclipse happening on the 16th day, the king of Babylonia dies. +Pestilence<a name="FNanchor_587_587" id="FNanchor_587_587"></a><a href="#Footnote_587_587" class="fnanchor">[587]</a> feeds upon the country.</p> + +<p>An eclipse happening on the 20th day, the king of the Hittites<a name="FNanchor_588_588" id="FNanchor_588_588"></a><a href="#Footnote_588_588" class="fnanchor">[588]</a> in +person (?) seizes the throne.</p> + +<p>An eclipse happening on the 21st day, a deity strikes (?) the king, and +fire consumes king and land.</p></div> + +<p>From these specimens, the general principle of the section is +apparent. Since eclipses portend public and political disasters +of some kind, the compiler has carefully gathered oracles given +on previous occasions to some ruler, or observations of the +events that occurred at the time of the recorded eclipses. The +apparently restricted application of the omens was no hindrance +to their practical use. In the event of an astrologer being +consulted with regard to the significance of an eclipse on a certain +day, his list would furnish a safe basis for further prognostications, +suitable to the political conditions that prevailed. But +in order to meet all contingencies, other lists furnishing further +omens for eclipses were added. The 22d tablet of the 'Illumination +of Bel' series is followed by one<a name="FNanchor_589_589" id="FNanchor_589_589"></a><a href="#Footnote_589_589" class="fnanchor">[589]</a> which, while dealing +with the same subject, approaches it somewhat differently, and +is based on a different principle. It begins again with the first +month, and in twelve paragraphs takes up in succession the +months of the year. Choosing for comparison the same three +months, the third, fourth, and fifth, which we selected in the +case of the 22d tablet, it will be seen that, while the references +are again to public affairs, the prognostications are of a more +general character and of wider applicability.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>If in the 3d month an eclipse takes place on the 14th day, rains will +descend and flood the canals. Storms will cause inundations. The soldiery +of Babylonia will destroy the country. An eclipse on the 15th day indicates +that king against king will send troops<a name="FNanchor_590_590" id="FNanchor_590_590"></a><a href="#Footnote_590_590" class="fnanchor">[590]</a>. The king of legions dies. An<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[Pg 367]</a></span> +eclipse on the 16th day signifies that the king will be slain, and that some +one will seize the throne.<a name="FNanchor_591_591" id="FNanchor_591_591"></a><a href="#Footnote_591_591" class="fnanchor">[591]</a> An eclipse on the 20th day means that the +king will hand his throne to his son. An eclipse happening on the 21st +day portends rain,<a name="FNanchor_592_592" id="FNanchor_592_592"></a><a href="#Footnote_592_592" class="fnanchor">[592]</a> and an invasion of the enemy's land.</p> + +<p>For the 4th month an eclipse on the 14th day portends that rains will +descend and the canals will be flooded. Rains will cause inundations. +There will be famine. A large country will be reduced to a small one. An +eclipse on the 15th day portends that rains will descend, canals will be +flooded, and there will be famine in the land. An eclipse on the 16th day +portends famine for a year. An eclipse on the 20th day portends destruction +of the king and his army. An eclipse happening on the 21st day indicates +that there will be a strong wind that will destroy the riches of the sea.<a name="FNanchor_593_593" id="FNanchor_593_593"></a><a href="#Footnote_593_593" class="fnanchor">[593]</a></p> + +<p>For the 5th month an eclipse on the 14th day portends rains and flooding +of canals. The crops will be good and king will send peace to king.<a name="FNanchor_594_594" id="FNanchor_594_594"></a><a href="#Footnote_594_594" class="fnanchor">[594]</a> +An eclipse on the 15th day portends destructive war. The land will be +filled with corpses. An eclipse on the 16th day indicates that pregnant +women will be happily delivered of their offspring. An eclipse on the 20th +day portends that lions will cause terror and that reptiles will appear; an +eclipse on the 21st day that destruction (?) will overtake the riches of the +sea.<a href="#Footnote_593_593" class="fnanchor">[593]</a></p></div> + +<p>The vagueness of many of the prognostications is in all probabilities +intentional, just as we found to be the case in most of +the oracles announced to the kings. To predict rains during +the rainy months was comparatively safe. The storms which +visited Babylonia annually brought with them destruction of +cattle. They conditioned the fertility of the country, but +pestilence was often caused by the evaporation of the waters. +Again, military expeditions were usually undertaken in the +spring of the year before the great heat set in, and in a country +like Assyria, it was safe to hazard a vague prediction that hostilities +would ensue, and that some district would be diminished.</p> + +<p>What may be called the 'eclectic' character of the omen +series under consideration thus becomes apparent. The lists<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[Pg 368]</a></span> +consisted, on the one hand, of omens obtained on certain +occasions and with reference to some specific circumstance, +such as a campaign against some country, and, on the other +hand, of prognostications of a more general character, based on +the general climatic conditions of the country, and referring to +events of frequent occurrence. All that the scribes in preparing +the series were concerned with, was to collect as many omens +as they could, and to arrange them in some convenient order. +Just as they prepared lists referring to military events, so they +put together others in which some other theme was treated. +The reports and omen tablets thus complement one another. +The latter are based on the former, and the former were +obtained by the interpretation of phenomena, furnished by the +tablets and applied to the particular case submitted to the +priests. We need not, of course, suppose that <i>all</i> prognostications +found in the series, especially in those parts of it which +are of a more general character, were based upon reports actually +made, any more than that the official reports to the kings +even in later days were always based upon a consultation of +some series of tablets. Individual judgment, both in compiling +a series and in interpreting phenomena, must at all times +have played some part. The reports and the series also embody +to some extent the results of experience not previously put to +writing; but these considerations do not alter the general +proposition set forth in this chapter as to the practical purpose +served by the omen series as well as by the reports, and the +pragmatic origin of both.</p> + +<p>The importance of eclipses gave to omens connected with +such events a special significance. Eclipses, however, were after +all rare events, and while because of their rarity they always +portended something of great moment, still the ordinary phenomena +were the ones that had to be studied by the astrologers +with great care in order to obtain a rational view of the relationship +between the phenomena of nature and the fate of the individual<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[Pg 369]</a></span> +or of the state. Again, eclipses, as a general thing, +pointed to a public disaster of some kind, and this recognized +belief lightened the task of the priest considerably in this +instance. In the case of ordinary phenomena it was much +more difficult to find the connection between cause and effect; +and in the vast majority of instances when kings and individuals +sought the temples for omens, the heavens must have +presented a normal and not an abnormal appearance.</p> + +<p>What answers were the priests to give to the questions put +to them? Was it a favorable period for undertaking a military +campaign? On what day should the king set out? Was the +day fixed on by the council of war favorable for a battle? On +what day should the foundation for the temple or palace be +laid? Will the sick person recover? Should one set out on a +proposed journey? Is the day fixed for a marriage auspicious?</p> + +<p>Recognizing by experience that the same thing undertaken +at different times turned out differently, in the one case being +brought to a successful issue, in the other followed by misfortune, +the conclusion was forced upon the popular mind (as +already set forth above) that the day on which something was +done or was to be done was of great moment.</p> + +<p>But how did one day differ from the other? That was the +question for the priests to determine. During the hours that +the sun was in control, the clouds produced constant changes +in the appearance of the heavens, but because of their irregular +character, these changes impressed the Babylonians less +forcibly than the striking changes that the nights showed. +The planets and stars never appeared alike on two successive +nights. There was always some change in the position of some +of the heavenly bodies. To these changes, then, the priests +directed their attention. In the variations presented by the +heavens at night they saw a potent reason for the varying +results produced by the same act undertaken at different +times.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[Pg 370]</a></span></p> + +<p>If it made a difference at what moment something was done, +that difference could only be determined by observing the variations +that one night presented from the other. The astrologers +observed that many of the stars were, or seemed to be, fixed +in their orbits; others rose and set like the sun and moon, and +appeared in different parts of the heavens at different seasons +of the year. The regularity of these changes made it possible +to study the course of these stars, and as knowledge progressed, +to determine also in advance where a particular body would be +seen at a certain time.</p> + +<p>The planets accordingly were the bodies to which the +astrologers especially directed their attention. It has been +conjectured with some show of probability that one of the +purposes served by the lofty seven staged towers,<a name="FNanchor_595_595" id="FNanchor_595_595"></a><a href="#Footnote_595_595" class="fnanchor">[595]</a> which were +attached to many of the great temples, was for the better observation +of the movements of the planets. The official standing +of the astrologers is indicated by the references in texts to the +'court astrologer.'</p> + +<p>However this may be, there is no doubt that at all the large +temples and at many of the smaller ones, observations of the +planets were recorded.</p> + +<p>The collection of these observations formed the manuals for +the priests in answering many of the questions put to them. +Each of the great planets was identified (by a process of thought +that we will have occasion to describe) with some deity, though +this was not done until the attempt was also made to gather +the astrological knowledge of the day into some kind of consistent +system. Our own names of the planets, as handed +down to us through the Greeks and Romans, are but the classical +equivalents of the Babylonian deities.<a name="FNanchor_596_596" id="FNanchor_596_596"></a><a href="#Footnote_596_596" class="fnanchor">[596]</a></p> + +<p>Jupiter is Marduk, the head of the Babylonian pantheon. +Venus is the Babylonian Ishtar. Mars is Nergal, the god of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[Pg 371]</a></span> +war and pestilence. Mercury is Nabu, the god of wisdom and +the messenger of the gods, and Saturn is Ninib.</p> + +<p>Among the astrological texts preserved, Ishtar-Venus figures +more prominently than the other planets. The appearance of +Ishtar during each month and for various days of the month +was noted, and then interpreted, partly on the basis of past +experience, but also by other factors that for the most part +escape us. A tablet, furnishing omens derived from the position +of the planet Venus and which may belong to the series +'Illumination of Bel,' deals with the periods of the disappearance +of Venus as evening star, and her reappearance as morning +star, and <i>vice versa</i><a name="FNanchor_597_597" id="FNanchor_597_597"></a><a href="#Footnote_597_597" class="fnanchor">[597]</a>.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>In the month of Tammuz (4th month) Venus disappeared on the 25th +day at sunset, for seven days was hidden<a name="FNanchor_598_598" id="FNanchor_598_598"></a><a href="#Footnote_598_598" class="fnanchor">[598]</a>, and on the 2d day of Ab (5th +month) was seen at sunrise. Rains in the land. Destruction of<a name="FNanchor_599_599" id="FNanchor_599_599"></a><a href="#Footnote_599_599" class="fnanchor">[599]</a> ...</p> + +<p>In the month of Adar (12th month) Venus disappeared on the 25th day +at sunrise. For a year (?) weapons are wielded<a name="FNanchor_600_600" id="FNanchor_600_600"></a><a href="#Footnote_600_600" class="fnanchor">[600]</a> (?), gold<a href="#Footnote_599_599" class="fnanchor">[599]</a> ...</p> + +<p>In the month of Marcheshwan (8th month), 10th day, Venus disappeared +at sunrise, for two months and six days was hidden, and reappeared on the +16th day of Tebet (10th month). There will be abundant crops.</p> + +<p>In the month of Elul (6th month), 26th day, Venus disappeared at sunset, +for eleven days was hidden, and in the second<a name="FNanchor_601_601" id="FNanchor_601_601"></a><a href="#Footnote_601_601" class="fnanchor">[601]</a> Elul, on the 7th day, +reappeared at sunset. The heart of the land is good.<a name="FNanchor_602_602" id="FNanchor_602_602"></a><a href="#Footnote_602_602" class="fnanchor">[602]</a></p> + +<p>In the month of Nisan (1st month), on the 9th day, Venus disappeared +at sunsets<a href="#Footnote_602_602" class="fnanchor">[602]</a> (?), and for five months and sixteen days was hidden, and reappeared +in the month of Elul (6th month), on the 25th day, at sunset. +The heart of the land is good.</p> + +<p>In the month of Ab (5th month), 10th day, Venus disappeared at +sunset<a name="FNanchor_603_603" id="FNanchor_603_603"></a><a href="#Footnote_603_603" class="fnanchor">[603]</a> (?), and for two<a name="FNanchor_604_604" id="FNanchor_604_604"></a><a href="#Footnote_604_604" class="fnanchor">[604]</a> months and sixteen days was hidden, and +reappeared on the 26th day of Marcheshwan (8th month). Rains in +the land.</p> + +<p>In the month of Nisan, 2d day, Venus appeared at sunrise. There will +be distress in the land.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[Pg 372]</a></span></p> + +<p>If Venus is stationary to the 6th day of Kislev (9th month) at sunrise, +and then disappears on the 7th day of Kislev, and is hidden for three +months to reappear on the 8th day of Adar (12th month) at sunset, it indicates +that king against king will send hostility.</p> + +<p>In the month of Kislev (9th month), 10th day, Venus appeared at sunrise. +Lack of corn and hay in the land. If she remains in position up to +the 14th day of Ab (5th month) at sunrise, and then on the 15th day +disappears, and for three months is hidden, and on the 15th day of Marcheshwan +(8th month) rises at sunset, the crops of the land will be good.</p></div> + +<p>A colophon informs us that the tablet in question embodies a +series of observations of the movements of Venus recorded by +Babylonian scholars. It was evidently the purpose of the +compilers to commit to writing as many variations in the +appearance and disappearance of the planet as possible. The +omens must either have been furnished at one time or they +embody actual occurrences that were observed in connection +with the observation recorded. In either case the omens served +as guides for the priests in their replies to inquiries. An omen +once furnished or an event once observed as having taken +place under given conditions of a planet served for all times.</p> + +<p>The omen lists for the other planets were arranged on the +same principle as the Venus list. The motions of the planets +were carefully observed. It was noted whether they rose brilliantly +or with a pale color. Their position towards other stars +was determined, and much more the like. Besides the planets, +various stars that were distinguished by their brilliancy, as Sirius, +Antares, Regulus, and also comets, were included in the sphere +of astronomical calculations, and furnished omens to the priests.</p> + +<p>These omens, so far as we may judge from the texts at present +published, all hinge around the same series of events that +are referred to in the illustrations given,—rain, crops, war, distress, +the country's prosperity, the king's welfare or misfortune.</p> + +<p>Another piece of evidence is thus furnished for the hypothesis +that these lists are based upon reports made to royal masters, +and that the reports again are obtained from the lists prepared<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[Pg 373]</a></span> +for public and political needs. We must not, however, conclude +from this fact that the observation of heavenly phenomena was +of no significance at all for the private individual, but only that +the position of the king and the general welfare of the country +were regarded of larger moment.</p> + +<p>Just as the gods were held responsible chiefly for the larger +affairs of this world, the trifles being relegated to the spirits +and demons,<a name="FNanchor_605_605" id="FNanchor_605_605"></a><a href="#Footnote_605_605" class="fnanchor">[605]</a> so the planets and stars, as symbols of the gods, +were regarded as auguries for the chief of the country rather +than for the miscellaneous population, and more for the general +welfare than for individual prosperity. The individual shared +in the omen furnished, in so far as his well-being was dependent +upon such important contingencies as whether there was to be +war or peace, good crops or bad. A population so largely +engaged in agriculture as the Babylonians were, would be satisfied +if they could be reassured as to the outcome of their work +in the fields. Ihering has properly emphasized the strong +hold that the conception of communal interests obtained in +Babylonia.<a name="FNanchor_606_606" id="FNanchor_606_606"></a><a href="#Footnote_606_606" class="fnanchor">[606]</a> This conception is reflected in the prominence +given to public and political affairs in the omen lists and +'omen' reports. Agriculture was the primal factor in producing +this conception in the south; war which united the population, +even though military service was forced upon the people, was +the second factor; and in Assyria, where military expeditions +occupied a much larger share of public attention than in +Babylonia, war became the chief factor in keeping alive the +thought of national solidarity.</p> + + +<h3>Omen Calendars.</h3> + +<p>There was still another reason why the king and with him +public affairs, received such prominence in the omen texts. As<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[Pg 374]</a></span> +the nation's ruler he was not only an important personage by +virtue of his power over his subjects, but also by virtue of his +close relationship to the gods. The theory of the 'divine right +of kings' was rigidly adhered to in Babylonia and Assyria. +When the monarchs speak of themselves as nominated by this +or that god to be the ruler of the country, this was not a mere +phrase. The king was the vicar of the deity on earth, his representative +who enjoyed divine favor and who was admitted into +the confidence of the gods. In earlier days priestly functions +were indissolubly associated with kingship. The oldest kings +of Assyria call themselves 'the priests of Ashur,' and it is only +as with the growth of political power a differentiation of functions +takes place that the priest, as the mediator between the +deity and his subjects, becomes distinct from the secular ruler.</p> + +<p>The further development of this process led to the curious +but perfectly natural anomaly that the king, from being originally +identical with the priest, becomes in large measure dependent +upon the latter in his relations to the gods. In the more +advanced stages of the religious cult, the king requires the service +of a priest to act as mediator between himself and the gods, +precisely as all of his subjects need this mediatorship. The +king cannot obtain an oracle directly. He must send to the +temple and inquire of the priests. The priest must intercede +for the king when he throws himself upon the mercy of an +angered god or goddess. The royal sacrifice is not acceptable +unless the priest stands by the side of the king.</p> + +<p>Still there are traces left of the old direct relationship +existing between the king and his gods. A god sometimes +reveals himself directly to a ruler. Ishtar appears in a dream +and gives him directions. Another and more significant trace +of this older relationship is to be found in the importance +assigned to the religious conduct of the king. If an individual +offends a deity, the individual alone suffers, or at the most his +family is involved in the punishment inflicted; but if the king<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[Pg 375]</a></span> +sins, the whole country suffers, and correspondingly the king's +atonement and reconciliation with the gods is essential for +dispelling some national calamity. Frazer has shown by his +admirable investigations<a name="FNanchor_607_607" id="FNanchor_607_607"></a><a href="#Footnote_607_607" class="fnanchor">[607]</a> that this view of kingship is common +to many nations of antiquity. While it did not lead among +the Babylonians and Assyrians to that extreme which is best +illustrated by Japan, where the Mikado, by virtue of his divine +right, is hedged in with prescribed formalities that make him +almost a prisoner, so closely is he watched by his attendants +lest any mistake be made by him which is certain to entail +serious consequences for the country, still the priests had to +see to it that the rulers performed their duties towards the gods +in the prescribed manner and with all possible accuracy.</p> + +<p>The conduct of the king was of special significance at periods +when for some reason or other, the gods were not favorably +disposed. Partly on the basis of actual observation that eclipses +(which were especially feared) had occurred on certain days of +the month, partly as a consequence of the belief that the change +in the moon's phase augured something good or evil for humanity, +and in part perhaps through the coincidence that on a certain +day of the month, mishaps of some kind had occurred several +times, certain months and certain days of each month were +regarded as favorable, while others were unfavorable. Some +months and some days were suitable for dedicating a building, +others were not. On some days an oracle might be sought, on +others not. Some days were days of rejoicing, on others again +mourning was appropriate. Advantage had to be taken of the +favorable days to keep the deity in good humor, and it was +equally important on the unfavorable ones to exercise great +care not to do aught which might arouse the anger of a god, +ready to be incensed. It is the king who can best accomplish +the one thing and avoid the other. To him, as standing nearer +the deity than any private individual, the country looked for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">[Pg 376]</a></span> +safety and protection. Calendars were prepared for each +month of the year, in which the peculiar character of each day +was noted and instructions added what was to be done on each +day. These instructions all have reference to the king and to +the king alone. A complete calendar for the intercalated month +of Elul has been preserved.<a name="FNanchor_608_608" id="FNanchor_608_608"></a><a href="#Footnote_608_608" class="fnanchor">[608]</a> It may serve as an example of the +branch of the omen literature to which it belongs.</p> + +<p>The thirty days of each month are taken up in succession. +The deity to which each day is sacred is indicated, and various +sacrifices or precautions prescribed.</p> + +<p>A curious feature of this calendar was that, since it was the +hope to make every day 'favorable,' each day was called so, +even when it is evident that it was not.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>For the 1st day of Elul the second,<a name="FNanchor_609_609" id="FNanchor_609_609"></a><a href="#Footnote_609_609" class="fnanchor">[609]</a> sacred to Anu and Bel, a favorable +day. When the moon makes its appearance in this month, the king of +many peoples brings his gift, a gazelle together with fruit, ... his gift to +Shamash, lord of the countries, and to Sin, the great god, he gives. Sacrifices +he offers, and his prayer to his god<a name="FNanchor_610_610" id="FNanchor_610_610"></a><a href="#Footnote_610_610" class="fnanchor">[610]</a> is acceptable.</p> + +<p>On the 2d day sacred to goddesses, a favorable day. The king brings +his gift to Shamash, the lord<a name="FNanchor_611_611" id="FNanchor_611_611"></a><a href="#Footnote_611_611" class="fnanchor">[611]</a> of countries. To Sin, the great god, he +offers sacrifices. His prayer to the god is acceptable.</p> + +<p>On the 3d day, a day of supplication to Marduk and Sarpanitum, a +favorable day. At night, in the presence of Marduk and Ishtar,<a name="FNanchor_612_612" id="FNanchor_612_612"></a><a href="#Footnote_612_612" class="fnanchor">[612]</a> the king +brings his gift. Sacrifices he is to offer so that his prayer may be acceptable.</p> + +<p>On the 6th day, sacred to Ramman and Belit,<a name="FNanchor_613_613" id="FNanchor_613_613"></a><a href="#Footnote_613_613" class="fnanchor">[613]</a> a favorable day. The +king, with prayer and supplication (?), at night in the presence of Ramman, +offers his gift. Sacrifices he is to bring so that his prayer may be acceptable.</p> + +<p>On the 7th day, supplication to Marduk and Sarpanitum, a favorable day<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[Pg 377]</a></span> +(<i>sc.</i> may it be). An evil day. The shepherd of many nations is not to eat +meat roasted by the fire, or any food prepared by the fire. The clothes of +his body he is not to change, fine dress (?) he is not to put on. Sacrifices +he is not to bring, nor is the king to ride in his chariot. He is not to hold +court nor is the priest to seek an oracle for him in the holy of holies.<a name="FNanchor_614_614" id="FNanchor_614_614"></a><a href="#Footnote_614_614" class="fnanchor">[614]</a> The +physician is not to be brought to the sick room.<a name="FNanchor_615_615" id="FNanchor_615_615"></a><a href="#Footnote_615_615" class="fnanchor">[615]</a> The day is not suitable +for invoking curses.<a name="FNanchor_616_616" id="FNanchor_616_616"></a><a href="#Footnote_616_616" class="fnanchor">[616]</a> At night, in the presence of Marduk and Ishtar, the +king is to bring his gift. Then he is to offer sacrifices so that his prayer +may be acceptable.</p></div> + +<p>This 7th day, it will be observed, is expressly called an evil +day. It is evident, therefore, that the phrase 'favorable day' +in the first line expresses a hope and not a fact, or is added to +indicate the manner in which the day can be converted into a +favorable one. Just as the 7th day, so the 14th, 21st, and 28th +are called evil days, and the same ceremonies are prescribed +for the king on these days. These days were evidently chosen +as corresponding to the phases of the moon. But besides +these four days, a fifth, namely, the 19th, is singled out in the +same fashion. The comparison with the Biblical Sabbath naturally +suggests itself. The choice of the 7th day and of the +corresponding ones rests, of course, in both instances upon the +lunar calendar, and there is also this similarity between the Sabbath +of the Hebrews and the 'evil day' of the Babylonians, +that the precautions prescribed in the Pentateuchal codes—against +kindling fires, against leaving one's home, against any +productive labor—point to the Hebrew Sabbath as having +been at its origin an 'inauspicious day,' on which it was dangerous +to show oneself or to call the deity's attention to one's +existence. Despite the attempts made to change this day to +one of 'joy,' as Isaiah would have it,<a name="FNanchor_617_617" id="FNanchor_617_617"></a><a href="#Footnote_617_617" class="fnanchor">[617]</a> the Hebrew Sabbath continued +to retain for a long time as a trace of its origin, a rather +severe and sombre aspect.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">[Pg 378]</a></span> +A striking difference, however, between the Babylonian and the +Hebrew rites is the absence in the latter of the theory that the +atonement of a single individual suffices for the community. The +precautions prescribed for the Sabbath are binding upon every +one. Emphasis is laid in the Pentateuch upon the fact that the +whole people is holy, whereas among the Babylonians the king +alone is holy. He alone is to abstain from his ordinary acts, +to conduct himself on the evil day with becoming humility, to +put on no fineries, not to indulge in dainty food,<a name="FNanchor_618_618" id="FNanchor_618_618"></a><a href="#Footnote_618_618" class="fnanchor">[618]</a> not to appear +in royal state, neither to appeal to the gods (for they will not +hear them), nor even to interfere with their workings by calling +in human aid against the demon of disease, who may have been +sent as the messenger of one of the gods. It is only at the +close of the day that he can bring a sacrifice which will be +acceptable. The king, by observing these precautions, insures +the welfare of his people. The gods cared little for individual +piety, but they kept a jealous eye on their earthly representative. +His appeals were heard if properly presented and if presented +at the right time, but woe to the people whose king has aroused +the divine anger. Just as his acts of penitence have a representative +character, so the gifts and sacrifices and supplications mentioned +in the calendar are offered by the king on behalf of the +whole people.</p> + +<p>For the remaining days of Elul, the ordinances have much +the same character as those instanced. The variation consists +chiefly in the god or gods to whom the days are sacred. Now +it is Nabu and his consort Tashmitum—on the 4th, 8th, and +17th days—to whom gifts and prayers are brought; again Ninib +and his consort Gula, on the 9th,<a name="FNanchor_619_619" id="FNanchor_619_619"></a><a href="#Footnote_619_619" class="fnanchor">[619]</a>—or Gula alone, on the +19th. To Marduk and Sarpanitum the 16th day is assigned, +besides the 3d and 7th days as above set forth; to Ramman and +his consort the 6th, to the old Bel and Belit the 5th, the 12th, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">[Pg 379]</a></span> +25th, and to Nergal and Bau the 27th. At times two male +deities are in association. So Anu and Bel for the 1st and the +30th day, Ea and Nergal for the 28th, Sin and Shamash for the +18th, 20th, 21st, and 22d, or two goddesses, as Tashmitum and +Sarpanitum, or a god alone, as Ea for the 26th, or Sin alone for +the 13th, and once—the 29th day—Sin and Shamash are combined +with the miscellaneous group of Igigi and Anunnaki. All +the great gods are thus represented in the calendar. The basis +on which the days are assigned still escapes us. It is hard to +believe that any strict uniformity existed in this respect in the +cults attached to the various Babylonian temples. Preference +would be shown in each center to the chief god worshipped +there, while to others would be assigned a position corresponding +to some theological system devised by the priests. Uniformity +and consistency are two elements that must not be +looked for in the omen literature of any people. The very fact +that omens have some rational basis, namely, observation and +experience, is the very reason why the omen lists and omen calendars +of one place should differ from those of another, and precisely +to the same degree that observation and experience differ.</p> + +<p>The intercalated months, by virtue of their extraordinary +character, had perhaps a special significance, but every day of +the year had an importance of some kind. This is shown by a +Babylonian calendar, fortunately preserved in great part,<a name="FNanchor_620_620" id="FNanchor_620_620"></a><a href="#Footnote_620_620" class="fnanchor">[620]</a> in +which every day of the year is included, and either its character +noted or some precautions prescribed. The indications in this +calendar are marked by their brevity, and impress one as memoranda, +intended as a guide to the priests.</p> + +<p>The calendar consists of twelve columns. At the head of +each column stands the name of one of the months. One or, +at the most, two lines are devoted to each day of the month, +the days being ranged in succession from one to thirty. For a +series of days in the 2d month the indications are:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">[Pg 380]</a></span></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>21st day, hostility.</p> +<p>22d day, judgment favorable, invoking of curses.</p> +<p>23d day, heart not good.</p> +<p>24th day, gladness of heart.</p> +<p>25th day, wife not to be approached, heart not good.</p> +<p>26th day, secret.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Such indications it is evident are intelligible only to the +initiated. With the help of the more complete calendars, such +as the one above explained, we can in most cases determine +what is meant by these memoranda. A note like 'hostility' is +an omen that the gods are unfavorably inclined on that day. +The 'judgment' referred to on the 22d day is the oracle. The +day in question is suitable for obtaining a response to a question +put to the deity, and a favorable occasion for invoking +curses upon the enemy. It will be recalled that the 7th day of +the second intercalated Elul is put down as one when it is not +advisable to secure the ill will of the god against the enemy. +An expression like 'heart not good' is explained by the contrast +'heart glad.' The 23d day of the month is a day of sorrow, +the 24th one on which one may be cheerful without arousing +the jealousy of the gods or demons. The 25th is again an +unfavorable day in which, as a precaution, sexual intercourse is +prohibited. Lastly, the word rendered 'secret'<a name="FNanchor_621_621" id="FNanchor_621_621"></a><a href="#Footnote_621_621" class="fnanchor">[621]</a> is the same +one that we came across in the precautions prescribed for the +7th day of the second Elul, where we are told that the +priest is not to enter the 'secret' place. This term appears to +describe the 'holy of holies' in the Babylonian temples where +the oracles were obtained. The single word 'secret' was a +sufficient indication for the priest that on the day in question +he might enter the mysterious chamber of the temple without +trepidation.</p> + +<p>Many of the days of the year are simply set down as +'favorable' or 'unfavorable,' while others were noted as days<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">[Pg 381]</a></span> +portending 'distress,' 'trouble,' 'tears,' 'injury,' 'everything favorable,' +'darkness,' 'moon obscured,' and the like. Of special +interest are the prohibitions regarding food on certain days. +On the 9th day of the 2d month "fish is not to be eaten or +sickness will ensue." Swine's meat is forbidden on the 30th +day of the 5th month, and in this case the particular kind of +sickness—disease of the joints—is specified that will ensue +in case of disobedience. On another day, the 25th of the 7th +month, beef as well as pork is forbidden, while on the 10th day +of the 8th month and the 27th day of the 6th month, dates are +forbidden as a precaution against eye disease. One is not to +cross a stream<a name="FNanchor_622_622" id="FNanchor_622_622"></a><a href="#Footnote_622_622" class="fnanchor">[622]</a> on the 20th day of the 5th month; on certain +days one is not to sell grain; other days are again noted as +specially favorable for military movements.</p> + +<p>Some of the precautions prescribed in this calendar may have +been meant for the populace in general, such as the order not +to cross a stream or to strike a bargain. The belief in lucky +and unlucky days has a distinct popular flavor, but it is doubtful +whether the ordinary public consulted the priests, as a general +thing, in order to find out what days were lucky and what +not. It is more plausible to assume that the priests embodied +in their official calendars some of the notions that arose among +the people, and gave to them an official sanction.</p> + +<p>There are a considerable number of references to the king in +the complete calendar under consideration, and we are permitted +to assume, therefore, that the calendar served as a further guide +for the priests in their instructions to the king. The allusion +to oracles, curses, and weapons points in this same direction, +and when, as in a number of instances, a day is described +as one on which Shamash or some other god is 'angry,' +it is in all probabilities against the ruler rather than against +private individuals that the god's displeasure has been manifested. +A similar official and public character is borne by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">[Pg 382]</a></span> +another calendar, where months alone are indicated and their +significance interpreted.<a name="FNanchor_623_623" id="FNanchor_623_623"></a><a href="#Footnote_623_623" class="fnanchor">[623]</a> The twelve months are arranged in +as many columns. Under each column the indications 'favorable' +or 'not' are entered, while at the right end of the tablet +the specifications are added for what undertakings the month is, +or is not, favorable. One of these specifications is "the soldiery +to make an attack upon a hostile city," and upon referring to the +list of months, we learn that the 2d, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 12th +months are favorable for such an undertaking, but the others +are 'not.' Again, the 1st, 3d, 4th, 6th, 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th +are 'favorable' for "the entrance of any army upon foreign +soil," but the remainder 'not.' The other specifications refer +likewise to the movements of the armies. Such a calendar was +evidently drawn up on the basis of omens, for a specific purpose, +and, we may add, for some specific expedition to serve as +a guide to the military commander. In the same way, calendars +were drawn up devoted to indications regarding crops +and for other purposes of public interest. To a more limited +extent, private affairs are also touched upon.</p> + +<p>To enter upon a further discussion of details is unnecessary +at this point, and would carry us too far from the main purpose +of this chapter, which is to point out the diverse ways in which +the belief in omens is illustrated by the religious literature of +the Babylonians.</p> + +<p>It is sufficient to have made clear that the oracles and dreams, +the lists of omens derived from eclipses, the works on the +planets and stars and the calendars, all have the same origin +due to observation of coincidences, to past experience, and to +a variety of combinations, some logical and some fanciful, of +supposed relationships between cause and effect; and not only +the same origin, but the lists and calendars served also the same +main purpose of guides for the priests in replying to the questions +put to them by their royal masters and in forwarding<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">[Pg 383]</a></span> +instructions to the ruler for the regulation of his own conduct +so that he and his people might enjoy the protection and good +will of the gods. But the observation of the phenomena of the +heavens, while playing perhaps the most prominent part in the +derivation of omens, was not the only resource at the command +of the priests for prognosticating the future. Almost daily, +strange signs might be observed among men and animals, +and whatever was strange was of necessity fraught with some +meaning. It was the business of the priest to discover that +meaning.</p> + + +<h3>Omens From Terrestrial Phenomena.</h3> + +<p>Monstrosities, human and animal, and all species of malformations +aroused attention. The rarer their occurrence, the +greater the significance attached to them. In addition to this, +the movements of animals, the flight of birds, the appearance +of snakes at certain places, of locusts, lions, the actions of dogs, +the direction of the winds, the state of rivers, and all possible +accidents and experiences that men may encounter in their +house, in the street, in crossing streams, and in sleep were +observed. Everything in any way unusual was important, and +even common occurrences were of some significance. The extensive +omen literature that was produced in Babylonia is an indication +of the extent to which men's lives were hedged in by the +belief in portents. Several thousand tablets in the portion of +Ashurbanabal's library that has been rescued from oblivion +through modern excavations, deal with omens of this general +class. Several distinct series, some embracing over one hundred +tablets, have already been distinguished. One of these series +deals with all kinds of peculiarities that occur in human infants +and in the young of animals; another with the things that may +happen to a man; a third with the movements of various animals, +and more the like. As yet but a small portion of these<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">[Pg 384]</a></span> +tablets have been published,<a name="FNanchor_624_624" id="FNanchor_624_624"></a><a href="#Footnote_624_624" class="fnanchor">[624]</a> but thanks to the indications +given by Dr. Bezold in his great catalogue of the Kouyunjik +Collection, a fair idea of the general character of the Babylonian +omen literature may be formed. On what principle the omens +were derived, it is again difficult to determine in detail, but +that some logical principles controlled the interpretations cannot +be doubted.</p> + +<p>Jevons has shown<a name="FNanchor_625_625" id="FNanchor_625_625"></a><a href="#Footnote_625_625" class="fnanchor">[625]</a> that in "sympathetic magic,"—of which +the interpretation of omens is an offshoot,—the same logical +methods are followed as in modern science. The famous +'Chaldean wisdom,' which is to be looked for in this widespread +omen literature, would not have created so deep an +impression on the ancient world, if the theologians of the +Euphrates Valley, in incorporating primitive magic in the official +religion, had not been successful in giving to their interpretations +of occurrences in nature and in the animal world, the +appearance, at least, of a consistent science.</p> + +<p>Taking up as our first illustration the series devoted to birth +portents, it is interesting to observe the system followed in presenting +the various phases of the general subject. A broad +distinction is drawn between significant phenomena in the case +of human infants and in the case of the young of animals.</p> + +<p>About a dozen tablets are taken up with an enumeration of +omens connected with new-born children, and one gains the +impression from the vast number of portents included in the +lists that originally every birth portended something. The fact +that births were of daily occurrence did not remove the sense +of mystery aroused by this sudden appearance of a new life. +Every part of the body was embraced in the omens: the ears, +eyes, mouth, nose, lips, arms, hands, feet, fingers, toes, breast, +generatory organs. Attention was directed to the shapes of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_385" id="Page_385">[Pg 385]</a></span> +these various members and organs. The ears of a child might +suggest the ears of a dog or of a lion or of a swine, and similarly +the nose, mouth, lips, hands, or feet might present a peculiar +appearance. A single member or the features in general might +be small or abnormally large. All these peculiarities meant +something; and since few if any children are born without presenting +some peculiarities in some part of the body, it would +seem as though the intention of the compilers of the series was +to provide a complete handbook for the interpretation of signs +connected with the birth of children. Naturally the total +absence of some member of the body in case of the new-born +or any malformation was a sign of especial significance. Hence +we are told what was portended by a child born without hands +or feet or ears or lips, or with only one of these members, or +with only one eye, or with no mouth or no tongue, or with six +fingers on one or on both hands, or six toes on one or on both +feet, or without generatory organs.<a name="FNanchor_626_626" id="FNanchor_626_626"></a><a href="#Footnote_626_626" class="fnanchor">[626]</a></p> + +<p>The rarer the phenomenon, the greater the significance is, +as we have seen, a general principle in the science of augury. +The birth of twins accordingly plays an important rôle in the +series. In fact, the opening tablet is devoted in part to this +phase of the subject. We are told, for example, that<a name="FNanchor_627_627" id="FNanchor_627_627"></a><a href="#Footnote_627_627" class="fnanchor">[627]</a></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>If a woman gives birth to twins, one male and one female, it is an +unfavorable omen. The land is in favor<a name="FNanchor_628_628" id="FNanchor_628_628"></a><a href="#Footnote_628_628" class="fnanchor">[628]</a>, but that house (wherein the child +was born) will be reduced.</p></div> + +<p>And again,</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>If a woman gives birth to twins, and both are brought out alive(?),<a name="FNanchor_629_629" id="FNanchor_629_629"></a><a href="#Footnote_629_629" class="fnanchor">[629]</a> but +the right hand of one is lacking, the ruler (?) will be killed by force, the +land will be diminished....<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_386" id="Page_386">[Pg 386]</a></span></p> + +<p>If a woman gives birth to twins, and both are brought out alive (?), but +neither of them have right hands, the produce of the country will be consumed +by the enemy.</p> + +<p>If a woman gives birth to twins, and both are brought out alive (?), but +the right foot of one is missing, an enemy will for one year disturb the +fixed order of the country.<a name="FNanchor_630_630" id="FNanchor_630_630"></a><a href="#Footnote_630_630" class="fnanchor">[630]</a></p></div> + +<p>It will be observed that these omens bear on public as well as +private affairs. The part played by public matters in them +varies, but that the king and the country are so frequently introduced +is an indication again of the official character given to +these omen tablets. Only priests whose chief concern was +with the court and the general welfare would have been +impelled to mingle in this curious way the fate of the individual +with that of the country at large. The birth of twins in +itself is an omen for the house where the event occurs; but +twins that are monstrosities, with a foot or a hand lacking, +portend something of import to the general welfare.</p> + +<p>The tablet proceeds, after finishing one phase of the subject, +with omens to be derived from infants whose features +resemble those of certain animals. In this case again we will +see that the mind of the compiler is now directed towards the +fate of the individual and again toward the ruler or the country. +In the 2d tablet of the series we read that</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>If a woman gives birth to a child with a lion's head,<a name="FNanchor_631_631" id="FNanchor_631_631"></a><a href="#Footnote_631_631" class="fnanchor">[631]</a> a strong king will +rule in the land.</p> + +<p>If a woman gives birth to a child with a dog's head, the city in his district<a name="FNanchor_632_632" id="FNanchor_632_632"></a><a href="#Footnote_632_632" class="fnanchor">[632]</a> +will be in distress, and evil will be in the country.</p> + + +<p>If a woman gives birth to a child with a swine's head, offspring and +possession (?) will increase in that house.</p> + + +<p>If a woman gives birth to a child with a bird's head, that land will be +destroyed.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_387" id="Page_387">[Pg 387]</a></span></p> + +<p>If a woman gives birth to a child with a serpent's head, for thirty days +(?) Nin-Gishzida<a name="FNanchor_633_633" id="FNanchor_633_633"></a><a href="#Footnote_633_633" class="fnanchor">[633]</a> will bring a famine in the land, and Gilgamesh<a name="FNanchor_634_634" id="FNanchor_634_634"></a><a href="#Footnote_634_634" class="fnanchor">[634]</a> will +rule as king in the land.</p></div> + +<p>In the same tablet<a name="FNanchor_635_635" id="FNanchor_635_635"></a><a href="#Footnote_635_635" class="fnanchor">[635]</a> such monstrosities are taken up as children +born with two heads, with a double pair of eyes, or with +the eyes misplaced, with two mouths or more than two lips. +The two heads, strange enough, generally portend good fortune, +though not invariably. Thus an infant with two heads is an +omen of strength for the country; and again</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>If a woman gives birth to a child with two heads, two mouths, but the +regular number of eyes, hands, and feet<a name="FNanchor_636_636" id="FNanchor_636_636"></a><a href="#Footnote_636_636" class="fnanchor">[636]</a>, it is an omen of vigorous life [for +the country, but the son] will seize the king his father and kill him.</p></div> + +<p>But</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>If a woman gives birth to a child with two heads and two mouths, and +the two hands and two feet are between them<a name="FNanchor_637_637" id="FNanchor_637_637"></a><a href="#Footnote_637_637" class="fnanchor">[637]</a>, disease will settle upon that +city (where the monstrosity was born).</p></div> + +<p>If the deformity consists in the misplacement of certain +organs, the omen is invariably bad.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>If a woman gives birth to a child with two eyes on the left side, it is a +sign that the gods are angry against the land, and the land will be destroyed.</p></div> + +<p>And again,</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>If a woman gives birth to a child with three eyes on the left side and +one on the right, the gods will fill the land with corpses.</p></div> + +<p>The third tablet proceeds with other parts of the body. It +begins with a list of peculiarities observed in regard to the ears. +The resemblance of certain features in children to the corresponding<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_388" id="Page_388">[Pg 388]</a></span> +features of animals is an observation made by many +nations. In modern times Lavater, it will be recalled, based +his study of human physiognomy in part upon the resemblance +of the nose, eyes, mouth, and ears, and general shape of the +head to the features of such animals as the lion, jackass, dog, +and swine. We may well believe, therefore, that when the +Babylonians refer to a child with a lion's or a dog's ear, they +had in mind merely a resemblance, but did not mean that the +child actually had the ear of a lion or dog or the like.</p> + +<p>At times the connection between the omen and its interpretation +is quite obvious. In a portion of this same series we +are told that<a name="FNanchor_638_638" id="FNanchor_638_638"></a><a href="#Footnote_638_638" class="fnanchor">[638]</a></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>If a woman gives birth to a child with a lion-like ear, a mighty king will +arise in the land.</p></div> + +<p>It will be recalled that a 'lion head' portends the same, and +it is evident that in both cases the lion suggests strength. We +are in the presence of the same order of ideas that controls the +belief in 'sympathetic magic.' The corollary to 'like produces +like' is 'like means like.' In other cases, the logic underlying +the interpretation of the omen must be sought for in views +connected with some accompanying feature.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>If a woman gives birth to a child with the right ear missing, the days of +the ruler will be long.</p> + +<p>If a woman gives birth to a child with the left ear missing, distress will +enter the land and weaken it.</p></div> + +<p>While in general the absence of any part of the body is a +sign of distress for the country and individual by a perfectly +natural association of ideas, yet this general principle is modified +by the further consideration that 'right' is a good omen +and 'left' a bad one. But this consideration which makes the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_389" id="Page_389">[Pg 389]</a></span> +absence of the 'right' ear a good omen may again be offset by +the entrance of a third factor. So we are told that</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>If a woman gives birth to a child with a small<a name="FNanchor_639_639" id="FNanchor_639_639"></a><a href="#Footnote_639_639" class="fnanchor">[639]</a> right ear, the house of +the man<a name="FNanchor_640_640" id="FNanchor_640_640"></a><a href="#Footnote_640_640" class="fnanchor">[640]</a> will be destroyed.</p></div> + +<p>The omen of misfortune in this case is the deformity in the +organ, and the fact that the more important right ear is +deformed, so far from mitigating the force of the omen, accentuates +its consequences.</p> + +<p>If a deformed right ear is disastrous, we are prepared to +learn that</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>If a woman gives birth to a child with both ears short, the house of the +man will be utterly rooted out.</p></div> + +<p>No less than eleven varieties of deformed ears are enumerated. +It must not be supposed, however, that the factors +involved in this omen science are always or even generally so +simple. In most cases the connection between the sign and +the conclusion drawn, is not clear to us because of the multiplicity +of factors involved. Further publication and study of +omen texts will no doubt make some points clear which are now +obscure, but we cannot expect ever to find out all the factors +that were taken into account by the populace and the schoolmen, +in proposing and accepting certain interpretations of certain +omens, any more than we can fathom the reasons for the similar +superstition found among other nations<a name="FNanchor_641_641" id="FNanchor_641_641"></a><a href="#Footnote_641_641" class="fnanchor">[641]</a> of antiquity and +modern times. Recognizing certain principles in some of the +omens, we are justified in concluding that whatever else determined +the interpretation of omens, caprice did not enter into +consideration, but rather an association of ideas that escapes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_390" id="Page_390">[Pg 390]</a></span> +us, simply because our logic differs from the logic of primitive +peoples in certain important particulars.</p> + +<p>The list of peculiarities occurring in the case of babes +continues as follows:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>If a woman gives birth to a child whose mouth is shaped like a bird's, +the country will be stirred up.</p> + +<p>If a woman gives birth to a child without any mouth, the mistress of the +house will die.</p> + +<p>If a woman gives birth to a child with the right nostril lacking, misfortune +is portending.</p> + +<p>If a woman gives birth to a child with both nostrils lacking, the land will +witness distress, and disease will destroy the house of the man.</p> + +<p>If a woman gives birth to a child whose jaw is lacking, the days of the +ruler will be long, but the house of the man will be destroyed.</p> + +<p>If a woman gives birth to a child whose lower jaw is lacking, the ground +will not bear fruit during the year.</p></div> + +<p>It will be observed that, while most of the portents are evil, +the ruler of the land is here generally vouchsafed immunity. +The priests had to be somewhat on their guard lest by the very +terror that they aroused, the hold of the rulers over the people +might be loosened. Moreover, the rulers were sufficiently +hedged in by their positions, as we have seen, and were in no +danger of regarding themselves as safe from the anger of the +gods.</p> + +<p>Still quite frequently even the king is involved in the evil +prophecy. The portion of the series dealing with portents +derived from deformed hands and feet contains instances of this +kind.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>If a woman gives birth to a child with the right hand lacking, the land +advances to destruction.</p> + +<p>If a woman gives birth to a child with both hands lacking, the city will +witness no more births, and the land will be utterly destroyed.</p> + +<p>If a woman gives birth to a child with the fingers of the right hand lacking, +the ruler will be captured by his enemy.</p> + +<p>If a woman gives birth to a child with six toes on the right foot, through +distress (?), the house of the man will perish.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_391" id="Page_391">[Pg 391]</a></span></p> + +<p>If a woman gives birth to a child with six very small toes on the left foot, +distress (?) will come to pass.</p> + +<p>If a woman gives birth to a child with six toes on the right foot, some +disaster is portending.</p></div> + +<p>Altogether no less than ninety kinds of human deformities in +the various parts of the body are enumerated and interpreted.</p> + +<p>The significance of the portents is naturally increased if the +woman who gives birth to a monstrosity happens to belong to +the royal house. In such a case, the omen has direct bearings +on national affairs. The good or evil sign affects the country +exclusively. From a tablet of this nature,<a name="FNanchor_642_642" id="FNanchor_642_642"></a><a href="#Footnote_642_642" class="fnanchor">[642]</a> belonging to a different +series than the one we have been considering, we learn +that six toes on the right foot or six on the left foot mean +defeat, whereas six toes on both feet mean victory. Royal twins +were a good omen, and so also a royal child born with teeth or +with hair on its face or with unusually developed features.</p> + +<p>The same desire to find some meaning in deviations from +normal types led to the careful observation of deformities or +peculiarities in the case of the young of domestic animals. In +the fifth tablet of the series that we have chosen as an illustration, +the compiler passes from babes to the offspring of +domestic animals. From the opening line, which is all that +has been published as yet,<a name="FNanchor_643_643" id="FNanchor_643_643"></a><a href="#Footnote_643_643" class="fnanchor">[643]</a> and which reads:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>If in the flock<a name="FNanchor_644_644" id="FNanchor_644_644"></a><a href="#Footnote_644_644" class="fnanchor">[644]</a> a dog is born, weapons will destroy life and the king will +not be triumphant</p></div> + +<p>it would appear that the first subject taken up was the anomalous +unions among animals, which naturally aroused attention +when they occurred.</p> + +<p>A number of tablets—at least seven—follow in which monstrosities +occurring among the young of sheep are noted.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_392" id="Page_392">[Pg 392]</a></span></p> + +<p>The series passes on to signs to be observed among colts. +From this point on, the series is too defective (so far as published) +to warrant any further deductions; but it is safe to +suppose that, as the young of ewes and mares were considered +in special sections, so the young of swine and of cows were +taken up in succession. The whole series would thus aim to +cover that section of the animal kingdom that concerned man +most,—his own offspring, and the young of those animals by +which he was surrounded.</p> + +<p>In these omens derived from the young of domestic animals, +we are again overwhelmed at the mass of contingencies included +by the priests in their compilations. Just as in the case of +omens derived from infants, so here the parts of the body are +taken up one after the other. All possible, and one is inclined +to add various impossible, variations from the normal types are +noted. The omen varies as the female throws off one, two, three, +or whatever number of young ones up to ten. For example:<a name="FNanchor_645_645" id="FNanchor_645_645"></a><a href="#Footnote_645_645" class="fnanchor">[645]</a></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>If among the sheep, five young ones are born, it is a sign of devastation +in the land. The owner of the sheep dies, and his house is destroyed.</p></div> + +<p>This is the omen in the case that the litter consists of five +young ones, all normal. But if anomalies occur, as, <i>e.g.</i>,</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>If five young ones are born, one with a bull's head, one with a lion's +head, one with a dog's head, and one with a sheep's head, there will be a +series of devastations in the land.</p></div> + +<p>Again,</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>If seven young are thrown off, three male and four female, that man<a name="FNanchor_646_646" id="FNanchor_646_646"></a><a href="#Footnote_646_646" class="fnanchor">[646]</a> +will perish.</p></div> + +<p>And so if eight are born, it is a bad sign for the king who, +we are told, "will be driven out of the country through sedition."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_393" id="Page_393">[Pg 393]</a></span> +The variations are nigh endless.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>If in the flock, young ones are thrown off with five legs, it is a sign of +distress in the land. The house of the man will perish and his stalls will +be swept away.</p> + +<p>If the young ones have six legs, the population will decrease and devastation +will settle over the country.</p></div> + +<p>Having finished with litters, the series proceeds to peculiar +marks found on single specimens; lambs that have a head +and tail shaped like a lion or that have a lion's head and a +mane like that of an ass, or a head like a bird's, or like a swine, +and so through a long and rather tiresome list.</p> + +<p>Malformations in the shape or position of members of the +animal, particularly the mouth, ears, tongue, tail, and eyes, or +the absence of any one or of several of these parts were +fraught with an importance corresponding to these symptoms +among new-born babes.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>If a young one has its ears on one side, and its head is twisted (?), and +it has no mouth, the ruler will cut off the supply of water from his enemy.</p></div> + +<p>In this instance the 'twisting' and the absence of the mouth +appear to suggest the act of turning a canal into a different +direction, so as to isolate a besieged city. When the text goes +on to declare that</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>If the young one has its ears at its neck,<a name="FNanchor_647_647" id="FNanchor_647_647"></a><a href="#Footnote_647_647" class="fnanchor">[647]</a> the ruler will be without +judgment,</p></div> + +<p>it is the association of ideas between 'ears' and 'judgment,'<a name="FNanchor_648_648" id="FNanchor_648_648"></a><a href="#Footnote_648_648" class="fnanchor">[648]</a> +that supplies the link. A misplaced ear is equivalent to misdirected +judgment.</p> + +<p>Consistent with this interpretation, the next line informs us +that</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>If the young one has its ears below the neck,<a name="FNanchor_649_649" id="FNanchor_649_649"></a><a href="#Footnote_649_649" class="fnanchor">[649]</a> the union of the country +is weakened.</p></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_394" id="Page_394">[Pg 394]</a></span> +Such glimpses into the peculiar thought controlling these +omens are perhaps all that we will be able to obtain at least for +a long time to come. For the rest, comparative studies with +the omens of the other nations will alone serve to determine +the multitudinous factors involved in the interpretations of the +signs.</p> + +<p>Before leaving the subject, however, a few more illustrations +may be offered. Another portion of the same tablet—the +eleventh—continues the omens derived from peculiarities in +the ears of lambkins:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>If the young one has no right ear, the rule of the king will come to an +end, his palace will be uprooted, and the population of the city will be swept +away, the king will lose judgment, ... the produce of the country will be +small, the enemy will cut off the supply of water.</p> + +<p>If the left ear of the young one is missing, the deity will hear the prayer +of the king, the king will capture his enemy's land, and the palace of the +enemy will be destroyed, the enemy will lack judgment, the produce of the +enemy's land will be taken away and everything will be plundered (?).</p> + +<p>If the right ear of the young one falls off, the stall<a name="FNanchor_650_650" id="FNanchor_650_650"></a><a href="#Footnote_650_650" class="fnanchor">[650]</a> will be destroyed.</p> + +<p>If the left ear of the young one falls off, the stall will be increased, the +stall<a name="FNanchor_651_651" id="FNanchor_651_651"></a><a href="#Footnote_651_651" class="fnanchor">[651]</a> of the enemy will be destroyed.</p> + +<p>If the right ear of the young one is split (?), that stall will be destroyed, +the enemy (?) will advance against the city.</p> + +<p>If the left ear of the young one is split (?), that stall will be increased, +the king<a name="FNanchor_652_652" id="FNanchor_652_652"></a><a href="#Footnote_652_652" class="fnanchor">[652]</a> will advance against the enemy's land.</p></div> + +<p>In all these cases it will be observed that a defect in the +right ear or an accident happening to it is an evil omen, +whereas the same thing occurring in the case of the left is a +favorable indication. The greater importance of the right side +of anything evidently suggests in this case the interpretation +offered, and yet this principle, as we have seen, is far from +being of universal application. It depends upon <i>what</i> happens +to the right ear. Above, we have seen that an unusually large<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_395" id="Page_395">[Pg 395]</a></span> +ear betokens some good fortune, and in the tablet under consideration, +illustrations are afforded of accidents to the right +ear which furnish a good omen, while the same accident in the +case of the left ear is regarded as a bad omen.</p> + +<p>Our text continues:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>If the right ear of the young one is shrunk (?), the house of the +owner will prosper.</p> + +<p>If the left ear is shrunk, the house of the owner will perish.</p> + +<p>If the right ear is torn off, the house of the owner will prosper.</p> + +<p>If the left ear is torn off, the house of the owner will perish.</p></div> + +<p>But immediately following this we have again an evil omen +for the right ear and a favorable one for the left. Three more +tablets are taken up with omens associated with all manner of +peculiarities in the formation of the ears, head, lips, mouth, and +feet of lambkins, and it is not until the fifteenth tablet of the +series is reached that another subject, the young of mares, is +introduced.</p> + +<p>The prognostications in the case of colts have about the +same character as those in the case of lambkins. The same +signs are singled out for mention, and the omens are not only, +just as in the illustrations adduced, evenly divided between the +fate of the country and its ruler, and of the owner of the colt or +mare, but we can also observe a consistent application of the +same principles, so far as these principles may be detected. +A few illustrations will make this clear:<a name="FNanchor_653_653" id="FNanchor_653_653"></a><a href="#Footnote_653_653" class="fnanchor">[653]</a></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>If a colt has no right legs, the house<a name="FNanchor_654_654" id="FNanchor_654_654"></a><a href="#Footnote_654_654" class="fnanchor">[654]</a> will be destroyed.</p> + +<p>If a colt has no left legs, the days of the ruler will be long.</p> + +<p>If a colt has no legs, the country will be destroyed.</p> + +<p>If a colt has the right leg shortened,<a name="FNanchor_655_655" id="FNanchor_655_655"></a><a href="#Footnote_655_655" class="fnanchor">[655]</a> ... his stall<a name="FNanchor_656_656" id="FNanchor_656_656"></a><a href="#Footnote_656_656" class="fnanchor">[656]</a> will be destroyed.</p> + +<p>If a colt has the left leg shortened, the stall<a href="#Footnote_656_656" class="fnanchor">[656]</a> will be destroyed</p> + + +<p>If a colt has no hoof on the right foreleg, the wife will cause trouble to +her husband.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_396" id="Page_396">[Pg 396]</a></span></p> + +<p>If a colt has no hoofs at all, there will be dissensions (?) within the +country, and the enemy will enter the ruler's land.</p></div> + +<p>In this way, twenty-one omens derived from as many varieties +of strange formations in the legs of colts are enumerated. +As in the case of lambkins, so for colts, the appearance of +twins is endowed with a special significance.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>If a mare gives birth to twins, male and female, and each has only one +eye, the enemy triumphs and devastates Babylonia.</p> + +<p>If the male or female colt has a mane like a lion, the country will be +reduced.</p> + +<p>If the male or female colt has a dog's hoof, the country will be reduced.</p> + +<p>If the male or female colt has a lion's claw, the country will be enlarged.</p> + +<p>If the male or female colt has a dog's head, the woman's<a name="FNanchor_657_657" id="FNanchor_657_657"></a><a href="#Footnote_657_657" class="fnanchor">[657]</a> life will be +bad. The country will be reduced.</p> + +<p>If the male or female colt has a lion's head, the ruler will be strong.</p> + +<p>If both colts, the male and female, resemble lions, the ruler over his +enemies prevails (?).</p> + +<p>If both colts, male and female, resemble dogs, the ruler over his enemy's +country prevails (?).</p> + +<p>If either a male or female colt is born resembling a lion, the king will be +strong.</p> + +<p>If either a male or female colt resembles a dog, herds of cattle will die, +and there will be famine.</p> + +<p>If a colt is born without a head, its master will be strong.</p> + +<p>If a colt is born without eyes, the god Bel will bring about a change of +dynasty.</p> + +<p>If a colt is born without feet, the king increases his army and a slaughter +will ensue.</p> + +<p>If a colt is born without ears, for three years the gods will reduce the +land.</p> + +<p>If a colt is born without a tail, the ruler will die.</p></div> + +<p>In conclusion it may be observed that, apart from the +unusual character of these freaks which would suffice to attribute +a special import to them, the notions current among the +Babylonians, as among so many people of a period when +creatures existed, the various parts of which were compounded<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_397" id="Page_397">[Pg 397]</a></span> +of different animals, may be regarded as an additional factor that +served to add force to the class of omens we are considering. +The monsters guarding the approaches to temples and palaces<a name="FNanchor_658_658" id="FNanchor_658_658"></a><a href="#Footnote_658_658" class="fnanchor">[658]</a> +were but one form which this popular belief assumed, and when +a colt was observed to have a lion's or a dog's claw, an ocular +demonstration was afforded which at once strengthened and +served to maintain a belief that at bottom is naught but a crude +and primitive form of a theory of evolution. In a dim way +man always felt the unity of the animal world. Animals resembled +one another, and man had some features in common with +animals. What more natural than to conclude that at some +period, the animals were composite creatures, and that even +mankind and the animal world were once blended together.</p> + +<p>The prevailing religious and semi-mythological ideas, accordingly, +enter as factors in the significance that was attached to +infants or to the young of animals, serving as illustrations of +'hybrid' formations.</p> + + +<h3>Omens from the Actions of Animals.</h3> + +<p>The same order of ideas, only still further extended, may be +detected in the sacredness attached to certain animals by so +many nations of antiquity. It is now generally admitted that +this 'sacredness' has two sides. A sacred animal may be +'taboo,' that is, so sacred that it must not be touched, much less +killed or eaten; and, on the other hand, its original sanctity +may lead people to regard it as "unclean," something again to +be avoided, because of the power to do evil involved in the +primitive conception of 'sacredness.'<a name="FNanchor_659_659" id="FNanchor_659_659"></a><a href="#Footnote_659_659" class="fnanchor">[659]</a></p> + +<p>The swine and the dog are illustrations of this double nature +of sanctity among the Semites. The former was sacred to some +of the inhabitants of "Syria."<a name="FNanchor_660_660" id="FNanchor_660_660"></a><a href="#Footnote_660_660" class="fnanchor">[660]</a> The Babylonians, as we have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_398" id="Page_398">[Pg 398]</a></span> +seen, abstained from eating it on certain days of the year, +while the Hebrews and Arabs regarded it as an absolute 'taboo.'</p> + +<p>The dog to this day is in the Orient an "unclean" animal, +and yet it is forbidden to do dogs any injury. If, then, we find +the Babylonians attaching significance to the movements of this +animal, it is obvious that by them, too, the dog was regarded as, +in some way, sacred. It was an 'animal of omen,' sometimes +good, at other times bad. A tablet informs us<a name="FNanchor_661_661" id="FNanchor_661_661"></a><a href="#Footnote_661_661" class="fnanchor">[661]</a> that:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>If a yellow dog enters a palace, it is a sign of a distressful fate for the +palace.</p> + +<p>If a speckled dog enters a palace, the palace<a name="FNanchor_662_662" id="FNanchor_662_662"></a><a href="#Footnote_662_662" class="fnanchor">[662]</a> will give peace to the +enemy.</p> + +<p>If a dog enters a palace and some one kills him, the peace of the palace +will be disturbed.</p> + +<p>If a dog enters a palace and crouches on the couch, no one will enjoy +that palace in peace.</p> + +<p>If a dog enters a palace and crouches on the throne, that palace will +suffer a distressful fate.</p> + +<p>If a dog enters a palace and lies on a large bowl, the palace will secure +peace from the enemy.</p></div> + +<p>There follow omens in case dogs enter a sacred edifice:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>If a dog enters a temple, the gods will not enlarge the land.</p> + +<p>If a white dog enters a temple, the foundation of that temple will be +firm.</p> + +<p>If a black dog enters a temple, the foundation of that temple will not be +firm.</p> + +<p>If a brown<a name="FNanchor_663_663" id="FNanchor_663_663"></a><a href="#Footnote_663_663" class="fnanchor">[663]</a> dog enters a temple, that temple will witness justice.</p> + +<p>If a yellow dog enters a temple, that temple will<a name="FNanchor_664_664" id="FNanchor_664_664"></a><a href="#Footnote_664_664" class="fnanchor">[664]</a> witness justice.</p> + +<p>If a speckled dog enters a temple, the gods will show favor to that +temple.</p> + +<p>If dogs gather together and enter a temple, the city's peace will be +disturbed.</p></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_399" id="Page_399">[Pg 399]</a></span> +The juxtaposition of palace and temple is an indication that +a large measure of sanctity was attached to the former as the +dwelling-place of one who stood near to the gods. The omens, +accordingly, in the case of both palace and temple are again +concerned with public affairs. But from the same tablet we +learn that an equal degree of significance was attached to the +actions of dogs when they entered private dwellings. Precautions +must have been taken against the presence of dogs in that +part of the house which was reserved for a man's family, for we +are told:<a name="FNanchor_665_665" id="FNanchor_665_665"></a><a href="#Footnote_665_665" class="fnanchor">[665]</a></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>A dog entering a man's house was an omen that the ultimate fate of that +house would be destruction by fire.</p></div> + +<p>Care had to be taken lest dogs defiled a person or any part of +the house. The omens varied again according to the color of +the dog.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>If a white dog defiles<a name="FNanchor_666_666" id="FNanchor_666_666"></a><a href="#Footnote_666_666" class="fnanchor">[666]</a> a man, destruction will seize him.</p> + +<p>If a black dog defiles a man, sickness will seize him.</p> + +<p>If a brown dog defiles a man, that man will perish.</p> + +<p>If a dog defiles a man's couch, a severe sickness will seize that man.</p> + +<p>If a dog defiles a man's chair, the man will not survive the year.</p> + +<p>If a dog defiles a man's bowl,<a name="FNanchor_667_667" id="FNanchor_667_667"></a><a href="#Footnote_667_667" class="fnanchor">[667]</a> a deity will show anger towards the man.</p></div> + +<p>On the other hand, dogs were not to be driven out of the +streets. Their presence in the roads was essential to the welfare +of the place. Hence an omen reads:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>If dogs do not enter the highway,<a name="FNanchor_668_668" id="FNanchor_668_668"></a><a href="#Footnote_668_668" class="fnanchor">[668]</a> destruction from an enemy will visit +the city.</p></div> + +<p>Through Diodorus, Jamblichus, and other ancient writers we +know that the Babylonians and Assyrians attached importance +to the movements of other animals, notably serpents, birds, and +certain insects. The symbols on the boundary stones which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_400" id="Page_400">[Pg 400]</a></span> +have been referred to<a name="FNanchor_669_669" id="FNanchor_669_669"></a><a href="#Footnote_669_669" class="fnanchor">[669]</a> are based on this belief. The serpent +figures prominently among these symbols. In the Babylonian +deluge story, the dove, raven, and swallow are introduced. Of +these, the swallow appears to be the bird whose flight was most +carefully observed. The sign which represents this bird in the +cuneiform syllabary also signifies 'fate.'<a name="FNanchor_670_670" id="FNanchor_670_670"></a><a href="#Footnote_670_670" class="fnanchor">[670]</a> The mischief wrought +by swarms of insects, as grasshoppers and locusts, the danger +lurking in the bites of scorpions sufficiently explain the importance +attached to the actions of these animals. The mysterious +appearance and disappearance of serpents and their strange +twistings added an element in their case that increased the awe +they inspired, while if Ihering be correct,<a name="FNanchor_671_671" id="FNanchor_671_671"></a><a href="#Footnote_671_671" class="fnanchor">[671]</a> the omens derived +from the flight of birds are a survival of the migratory period +in the history of a nation, when birds served as a natural guide +in choosing the easiest course to pass from one place to +another. A large number of tablets in Ashurbanabal's library +treat of the significance attached to the action of these various +animals, and it is likely that these tablets form part of a large +series, of which the illustrations above adduced regarding the +movements of dogs form a part. In this series, the application +of the omens to individuals is more strongly emphasized than +in the series of birth portents. Naturally so, for it was the individual +as a general thing who encountered the signs. In the +case of the appearance of a serpent or snake, for example, the +omen consisted in the fact that a certain person beheld it, and +that person was involved in the consequences. Fine distinctions +are again introduced that illustrate the intricacies of the +system of interpretation perfected in Babylonia. If a snake +passes from the right to the left side of a man, it means one +thing; if from the left to the right, another; if the man who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_401" id="Page_401">[Pg 401]</a></span> +sees a snake does not tread upon it, the omen is different than +in the case when he attempts to crush it. Again the omen +varies according to the occupation of the man who encountered +a snake. If he be a gardener, the appearance of the snake +means something different than in the case of his being a +sailor.</p> + +<p>The place where the animal appears is also of import, +whether in the street, the house, or the temple, and again, the +time of its appearance, in what month or on what day. In the +same way, an endless variety of omens are derived from +the appearance of certain birds, the direction of their flight, their +fluttering around the head of a man or entering a man's house. +So, <i>e.g.</i>,</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>If a raven<a name="FNanchor_672_672" id="FNanchor_672_672"></a><a href="#Footnote_672_672" class="fnanchor">[672]</a> enters a man's house, that man will secure whatever he +desires.</p></div> + +<p>And again:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>If a bird throws a bit of meat or anything into a man's house, that man +will secure a large fortune.</p></div> + +<p>The omens from the appearance of flocks of birds in a town +bore, as appears natural, upon public affairs rather than upon +the fate of individuals, and similarly the appearance of birds in +a temple was an omen for the whole country.</p> + +<p>The public or private character of the omens was thus dependent +in large measure upon the question whether the phenomena +appeared to an individual directly or to the population of a place +in general. Meeting a snake or scorpion in the course of a +walk through the fields was an individual omen, and similarly +the actions of sheep in a man's stall, whereas, a mad bull rushing +through the city was a general omen. So we are told that</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>If sheep in the stalls do not bleat (?), that stall will be destroyed.</p></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_402" id="Page_402">[Pg 402]</a></span> +Whereas<a name="FNanchor_673_673" id="FNanchor_673_673"></a><a href="#Footnote_673_673" class="fnanchor">[673]</a></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>A bull crouching at the gate of a city is an omen that the enemy will +capture that gate.</p> + +<p>A bull goring an ox in the city is an unfavorable omen for the city, but +if the bull enters the precincts of an individual, it is favorable for the individual.</p></div> + +<p>A series of omens derived from the appearance of locusts +again illustrates this principle. When the insects enter private +precincts, the individual and his immediate surroundings are +affected.<a name="FNanchor_674_674" id="FNanchor_674_674"></a><a href="#Footnote_674_674" class="fnanchor">[674]</a></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>If black and speckled locusts appear in a man's house, the master of the +house will die.</p> + +<p>If black and yellow locusts appear in a man's house, the supports of that +house will fall.</p> + +<p>If large white locusts appear in a man's house, that house will be +destroyed and the owner will be in distress.</p> + +<p>If white and brown locusts appear in a man's house, that house will be +destroyed.</p> + +<p>If small white and brown locusts appear in a man's house, the house will +be destroyed and the owner will be in distress.</p> + +<p>If yellow locusts appear in a man's house, the supports of that house will +fall and the owner of the house will be unlucky.</p> + +<p>If yellow-winged locusts appear in a man's house, the master of the +house will die and that house will be overthrown.</p></div> + + +<h3>Omens From Dreams.</h3> + +<p>It made little difference whether one encountered something +while awake or saw it in one's dream. In fact, what one saw +while asleep had as a general thing more importance. A +special god of dreams, Makhir, is often referred to in the +religious texts, and this is but another way of expressing the +belief that the dreams were sent to a man as omens. An +unusually wide scope was afforded to the compilers of omen<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_403" id="Page_403">[Pg 403]</a></span> +series in their interpretations of dreams, for what might not a +man see in visions of the night? If a lion<a name="FNanchor_675_675" id="FNanchor_675_675"></a><a href="#Footnote_675_675" class="fnanchor">[675]</a> appears to a man, +it means that the man will carry out his purpose; if a jackal, it +signifies that he will secure favor in the eyes of the gods; a dog +portends sorrow; a mountain goat, that the man's son will die +of some disease; a stag, that his daughter will die; and so +through a long list.</p> + +<p>Again we are told<a name="FNanchor_676_676" id="FNanchor_676_676"></a><a href="#Footnote_676_676" class="fnanchor">[676]</a> that</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>If (in a dream) a date appears on a man's head,<a name="FNanchor_677_677" id="FNanchor_677_677"></a><a href="#Footnote_677_677" class="fnanchor">[677]</a> it means that that man +will be in distress.</p> + +<p>If a fish appears on a man's head, that man will be powerful.</p> + +<p>If a mountain appears on a man's head, that man will be without a rival.</p> + +<p>If salt appears on a man's head, his house will be well protected (?).</p></div> + +<p>Similarly, interpretations are offered for the apparition of the +dead or of demons, in dreams. The book of Daniel affords +an illustration of the importance attached to dreams in +Babylonia, and of the science developed out of the interpretations. +The sarcastic touch introduced by the compiler of the +book,<a name="FNanchor_678_678" id="FNanchor_678_678"></a><a href="#Footnote_678_678" class="fnanchor">[678]</a> who represents Nebuchadnezzar as demanding of his +priests not merely to interpret his dream, but to tell him what +he dreamed, is intended to illustrate the limitations of the far-famed +'Chaldean wisdom.' It is also interesting to note in +connection with the illustrations adduced, that the dreams of +Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar<a name="FNanchor_679_679" id="FNanchor_679_679"></a><a href="#Footnote_679_679" class="fnanchor">[679]</a> in the book of Daniel are so +largely concerned with apparitions of animals.</p> + +<p>The omens taken from dreams, together with the accidents +that occurred to an individual, or the phenomena occurring in a +man's house, afford us an insight into the purely popular phases +of the science of augury. While eclipses and the movements of +planets bear chiefly and almost exclusively on public affairs, and +even birth portents frequently portend something to the ruler<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_404" id="Page_404">[Pg 404]</a></span> +or to the country, it was through such omens as partook of a +purely personal character that the intentions of the gods towards +the individual were made manifest. By means of omens, the +bond between the individual and the gods was not, indeed, +established, but in large measure maintained. Here was a +phase of the religion that touched each individual closely. +What a person saw, what he dreamed, what happened to him, +what appeared in his house or among the members of his +household was of significance to him. To know what every +phenomenon portended was essential to his welfare; and we may +feel certain that the relations of the individual to the priests, so +far as these existed, consisted largely in obtaining from the +latter the interpretation of the omens that he encountered. +On the other hand, the power of the priests over the populace +was due to the popular belief in portents, and the attention +given by the theologians to the collection of exhaustive omen +series is a proof that the priests knew how to use their power.</p> + +<p>These "Dream Books" must have been very numerous. The +success of the priests here depended even more than in other +branches of the omen literature upon exhausting, so far as possible, +all contingencies. No doubt they were guided here also +by two factors: association of ideas, and past experience through +making of a single coincidence between a dream and some +occurrence, a principle of general application. Some of the +omens from dreams, however, appear to have themselves +formed part of a larger series dealing in general with</p> + + +<h3>Omens From Individual Experiences.</h3> + +<p>If one may judge from the specimens furnished by Dr. Bezold +in his catalogue, this series was unusually extensive, embracing +a large number of subjects connected with human activity,—a +man's work in the field, his actions in commercial affairs, incidents +of travel on sea or land, his relations to his kindred—the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_405" id="Page_405">[Pg 405]</a></span> +dead as well as the living—disease and death, down to such +apparent trifles as the conditions of the walls of his house. +Cracks in the wall were an omen; meeting a snake in the highway +was an omen. A fall was an omen; dropping an instrument +was an omen; in short, it is difficult to say what was not an +omen. The character of the omens in this series does not differ +in any essential particulars from those of other series. The +important feature of the series is that it affords another and +perhaps the most striking illustration of that phase of the omen +literature which concerns the individual directly, and, it seems +safe to add, exclusively.</p> + +<p>Take, for example, omens connected with symptoms occurring +in certain diseases. We are told that</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>If the right breast is brown, it is a fatal (?) sign.</p> + +<p>If both breasts are brown, there will be no recovery.</p> + +<p>If the left breast is green, the sickness will be severe.</p></div> + +<p>The symptoms affect the individual alone. Through this +series we are thus enabled to determine more definitely the +boundary line between omens involving the affairs of the +country and king, and those involving the individual. A phenomenon +affecting an individual, or appearing to him alone, +or brought about through some action of his of a purely +private character, carries in its train an omen of significance +for himself or his immediate surroundings; but the moment +that these rather narrow limits are transcended, the fate of +the individual becomes more or less closely bound up with the +fortunes of the population and of the ruler of the country in +general. The series also illustrates, perhaps better than any +other, the control exercised by popular beliefs over the acts +of the individual. For we may conclude, that if work on certain +days or traveling at certain periods or the appearance of +certain animals indicated something unfavorable to a man, he +would studiously avoid bringing misfortune upon himself and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_406" id="Page_406">[Pg 406]</a></span> +observe the precautions involved in the interpretation of the +vast mass of the accidents and incidents of existence. The task +was a difficult one, indeed, impossible of being carried out to +perfection, but this would not hinder him from making the +attempt. He was satisfied if he warded off at least a fair number +of unfavorable omens. Correspondingly, he would endeavor +to so regulate his course as to encounter as large a number as +possible of omens that were favorable to him. In this way his +life would be spent with a constant thought of the gods and +spirits, who controlled all things in this world. The popular +belief in omens made it incumbent upon the individual not to +lose sight at any time of his dependence upon powers over +which he had but a limited control.</p> + +<p>A certain phase of his religion thus entered largely into his +life. That phase would occupy him by day and by night. It +was a part of his religion which literally engaged him "upon +lying down at night, and upon rising up, while sitting in the +house, and while walking on the way." If, despite all his +efforts, misfortune came,—and misfortunes, of course, came +constantly,—there was no other recourse but to throw himself +upon the mercy of some god or gods. The gods, especially +Marduk, Ishtar, Shamash, and Ramman, by putting 'grace' +into the omens, could at any time change them into favorable +indications.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_407" id="Page_407">[Pg 407]</a></span></p> + +<h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_548_548" id="Footnote_548_548"></a><a href="#FNanchor_548_548"><span class="label">[548]</span></a> Illustrated by the four volumes of Bezold's <i>Catalogue of +the Koujunjik</i>, Collection of the British Museum (London, 1889-96).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_549_549" id="Footnote_549_549"></a><a href="#FNanchor_549_549"><span class="label">[549]</span></a> <i>Vorgeschichte der Indo-Europaer</i>, pp. 221 <i>seq</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_550_550" id="Footnote_550_550"></a><a href="#FNanchor_550_550"><span class="label">[550]</span></a> <i>E.g.</i>, IIIR. 51.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_551_551" id="Footnote_551_551"></a><a href="#FNanchor_551_551"><span class="label">[551]</span></a> <i>Ib.</i> no. 1.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_552_552" id="Footnote_552_552"></a><a href="#FNanchor_552_552"><span class="label">[552]</span></a> The 1st month of the year.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_553_553" id="Footnote_553_553"></a><a href="#FNanchor_553_553"><span class="label">[553]</span></a> IIIR. 51. no. 2.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_554_554" id="Footnote_554_554"></a><a href="#FNanchor_554_554"><span class="label">[554]</span></a> <i>Ib.</i> no. 3.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_555_555" id="Footnote_555_555"></a><a href="#FNanchor_555_555"><span class="label">[555]</span></a> IIIR. 51, no. 9.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_556_556" id="Footnote_556_556"></a><a href="#FNanchor_556_556"><span class="label">[556]</span></a> <i>Ib.</i> no. 7.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_557_557" id="Footnote_557_557"></a><a href="#FNanchor_557_557"><span class="label">[557]</span></a> What the station of this official was we are not told.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_558_558" id="Footnote_558_558"></a><a href="#FNanchor_558_558"><span class="label">[558]</span></a> IIIR. 58, no. 7.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_559_559" id="Footnote_559_559"></a><a href="#FNanchor_559_559"><span class="label">[559]</span></a> +Lit., 'true speech in the mouth of the people,' <i>i.e.</i>, there will be no sedition.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_560_560" id="Footnote_560_560"></a><a href="#FNanchor_560_560"><span class="label">[560]</span></a> IIIR. 58, no. 7.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_561_561" id="Footnote_561_561"></a><a href="#FNanchor_561_561"><span class="label">[561]</span></a> <i>Ib.</i> no. 6.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_562_562" id="Footnote_562_562"></a><a href="#FNanchor_562_562"><span class="label">[562]</span></a> Are not seen at the same time.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_563_563" id="Footnote_563_563"></a><a href="#FNanchor_563_563"><span class="label">[563]</span></a> His decision will be wise.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_564_564" id="Footnote_564_564"></a><a href="#FNanchor_564_564"><span class="label">[564]</span></a> Safe from attacks.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_565_565" id="Footnote_565_565"></a><a href="#FNanchor_565_565"><span class="label">[565]</span></a> IIIR. 58, no. 13.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_566_566" id="Footnote_566_566"></a><a href="#FNanchor_566_566"><span class="label">[566]</span></a> <i>Ib.</i> no. 12.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_567_567" id="Footnote_567_567"></a><a href="#FNanchor_567_567"><span class="label">[567]</span></a> This appears to be the unusual occurrence involved.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_568_568" id="Footnote_568_568"></a><a href="#FNanchor_568_568"><span class="label">[568]</span></a> See above, pp. <a href="#Page_281">281</a>, <a href="#Page_332">332</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_569_569" id="Footnote_569_569"></a><a href="#FNanchor_569_569"><span class="label">[569]</span></a> IIIR. 58, no. 14.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_570_570" id="Footnote_570_570"></a><a href="#FNanchor_570_570"><span class="label">[570]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, contrary to calculation.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_571_571" id="Footnote_571_571"></a><a href="#FNanchor_571_571"><span class="label">[571]</span></a> The shadow.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_572_572" id="Footnote_572_572"></a><a href="#FNanchor_572_572"><span class="label">[572]</span></a> Favorable to Elam (so Oppert translates).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_573_573" id="Footnote_573_573"></a><a href="#FNanchor_573_573"><span class="label">[573]</span></a> 9th month.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_574_574" id="Footnote_574_574"></a><a href="#FNanchor_574_574"><span class="label">[574]</span></a> IIIR. 51, no. 5.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_575_575" id="Footnote_575_575"></a><a href="#FNanchor_575_575"><span class="label">[575]</span></a> 11th month.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_576_576" id="Footnote_576_576"></a><a href="#FNanchor_576_576"><span class="label">[576]</span></a> IIIR. 59, no. 13.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_577_577" id="Footnote_577_577"></a><a href="#FNanchor_577_577"><span class="label">[577]</span></a> Some palace official is mentioned.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_578_578" id="Footnote_578_578"></a><a href="#FNanchor_578_578"><span class="label">[578]</span></a> <i>E.g.</i>, IIIR. 52, no. 2; 60 and 61. Professor Craig of +the University of Michigan is now preparing for publication all the +fragments of this series. (See his <i>Assyrian and Babylonian Religious +Texts</i>, ii. 7.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_579_579" id="Footnote_579_579"></a><a href="#FNanchor_579_579"><span class="label">[579]</span></a> IIIR. 60. The first eleven lines are broken off.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_580_580" id="Footnote_580_580"></a><a href="#FNanchor_580_580"><span class="label">[580]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, of the night. The night, it will be recalled, +was divided into three watches of four hours each.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_581_581" id="Footnote_581_581"></a><a href="#FNanchor_581_581"><span class="label">[581]</span></a> Lit., a 'divine decision (or oracle) is given.'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_582_582" id="Footnote_582_582"></a><a href="#FNanchor_582_582"><span class="label">[582]</span></a> An island near the head of the Persian Gulf, often referred +to in the historical texts. See Tiele, <i>Babyl.-Assyr. Gesch.</i> p. +88, etc.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_583_583" id="Footnote_583_583"></a><a href="#FNanchor_583_583"><span class="label">[583]</span></a> Under the same circumstances.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_584_584" id="Footnote_584_584"></a><a href="#FNanchor_584_584"><span class="label">[584]</span></a> Lit., 'cattle'; but cattle appears to be used for +'property' in general, just as our English word 'chattel.'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_585_585" id="Footnote_585_585"></a><a href="#FNanchor_585_585"><span class="label">[585]</span></a> 5th month.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_586_586" id="Footnote_586_586"></a><a href="#FNanchor_586_586"><span class="label">[586]</span></a> Under the same circumstances.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_587_587" id="Footnote_587_587"></a><a href="#FNanchor_587_587"><span class="label">[587]</span></a> Lit., Nergal—the personification of pestilence and death.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_588_588" id="Footnote_588_588"></a><a href="#FNanchor_588_588"><span class="label">[588]</span></a> Repeated in the text by an error of the scribe.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_589_589" id="Footnote_589_589"></a><a href="#FNanchor_589_589"><span class="label">[589]</span></a> III R. 60, col. ii. 90 to col. iii. 24.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_590_590" id="Footnote_590_590"></a><a href="#FNanchor_590_590"><span class="label">[590]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, there will be war. One is reminded of the +modern superstition which associates war with the 'northern light' in +the heavens.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_591_591" id="Footnote_591_591"></a><a href="#FNanchor_591_591"><span class="label">[591]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, there will be sedition.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_592_592" id="Footnote_592_592"></a><a href="#FNanchor_592_592"><span class="label">[592]</span></a> So a variant text.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_593_593" id="Footnote_593_593"></a><a href="#FNanchor_593_593"><span class="label">[593]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, will play havoc with the Inhabitants of the deep.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_594_594" id="Footnote_594_594"></a><a href="#FNanchor_594_594"><span class="label">[594]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, there will be peace.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_595_595" id="Footnote_595_595"></a><a href="#FNanchor_595_595"><span class="label">[595]</span></a> See the chapter on "The Temples of Babylonia and Assyria."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_596_596" id="Footnote_596_596"></a><a href="#FNanchor_596_596"><span class="label">[596]</span></a> See Jensen, <i>Kosmologie der Babylonier</i>, pp. 134-139.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_597_597" id="Footnote_597_597"></a><a href="#FNanchor_597_597"><span class="label">[597]</span></a> IIIR. 63.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_598_598" id="Footnote_598_598"></a><a href="#FNanchor_598_598"><span class="label">[598]</span></a> Lit., "delayed in the heavens."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_599_599" id="Footnote_599_599"></a><a href="#FNanchor_599_599"><span class="label">[599]</span></a> Tablet defective.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_600_600" id="Footnote_600_600"></a><a href="#FNanchor_600_600"><span class="label">[600]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, there is war.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_601_601" id="Footnote_601_601"></a><a href="#FNanchor_601_601"><span class="label">[601]</span></a> Intercalated month.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_602_602" id="Footnote_602_602"></a><a href="#FNanchor_602_602"><span class="label">[602]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, it is a good sign.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_603_603" id="Footnote_603_603"></a><a href="#FNanchor_603_603"><span class="label">[603]</span></a> Tablet defective.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_604_604" id="Footnote_604_604"></a><a href="#FNanchor_604_604"><span class="label">[604]</span></a> Text erroneously 'one month.'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_605_605" id="Footnote_605_605"></a><a href="#FNanchor_605_605"><span class="label">[605]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_183">183</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_606_606" id="Footnote_606_606"></a><a href="#FNanchor_606_606"><span class="label">[606]</span></a> See Ihering, <i>Vorgeschichte der Indo-Europaer</i>, pp. +182 <i>seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_607_607" id="Footnote_607_607"></a><a href="#FNanchor_607_607"><span class="label">[607]</span></a> See <i>The Golden Bough</i>, passim.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_608_608" id="Footnote_608_608"></a><a href="#FNanchor_608_608"><span class="label">[608]</span></a> IV Rawlinson, pls. 32, 33.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_609_609" id="Footnote_609_609"></a><a href="#FNanchor_609_609"><span class="label">[609]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, the Intercalated Elul. After the 6th month +(Elul) and after the 12th (Adar), a month was intercalated at certain +intervals in order to bring the solar and lunar years into conjunction.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_610_610" id="Footnote_610_610"></a><a href="#FNanchor_610_610"><span class="label">[610]</span></a> Lit., 'raising of his hand to a god'—the attitude in prayer.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_611_611" id="Footnote_611_611"></a><a href="#FNanchor_611_611"><span class="label">[611]</span></a> Text erroneously 'mistress.'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_612_612" id="Footnote_612_612"></a><a href="#FNanchor_612_612"><span class="label">[612]</span></a> Here and elsewhere Ishtar is used in a generic sense for +'chief goddess'; in the present case Sarpanitum. See above, pp. 82, 151, +206.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_613_613" id="Footnote_613_613"></a><a href="#FNanchor_613_613"><span class="label">[613]</span></a> 'Belit,' as 'mistress' in general.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_614_614" id="Footnote_614_614"></a><a href="#FNanchor_614_614"><span class="label">[614]</span></a> Lit., 'place of secrecy,' the reference being to that +portion of the temple where the god sat enthroned.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_615_615" id="Footnote_615_615"></a><a href="#FNanchor_615_615"><span class="label">[615]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, of the palace.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_616_616" id="Footnote_616_616"></a><a href="#FNanchor_616_616"><span class="label">[616]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, upon one's enemies.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_617_617" id="Footnote_617_617"></a><a href="#FNanchor_617_617"><span class="label">[617]</span></a> Isaiah, lviii. 13.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_618_618" id="Footnote_618_618"></a><a href="#FNanchor_618_618"><span class="label">[618]</span></a> Meat, just as wine, was considered at all times a symbol of +joy in the Orient.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_619_619" id="Footnote_619_619"></a><a href="#FNanchor_619_619"><span class="label">[619]</span></a> Perhaps also the 24th.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_620_620" id="Footnote_620_620"></a><a href="#FNanchor_620_620"><span class="label">[620]</span></a> V Rawlinson, pls. 48, 49.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_621_621" id="Footnote_621_621"></a><a href="#FNanchor_621_621"><span class="label">[621]</span></a> The plural is used, but in a collective sense.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_622_622" id="Footnote_622_622"></a><a href="#FNanchor_622_622"><span class="label">[622]</span></a> The Euphrates or Tigris is no doubt meant.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_623_623" id="Footnote_623_623"></a><a href="#FNanchor_623_623"><span class="label">[623]</span></a> IIIR. 52, no. 3, reverse.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_624_624" id="Footnote_624_624"></a><a href="#FNanchor_624_624"><span class="label">[624]</span></a> The most extensive publication of omens is Boissier's +<i>Documents Assyriens Relatifs aux Présages</i>, of which two volumes +have appeared. Boissier's method of publication is not altogether +satisfactory.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_625_625" id="Footnote_625_625"></a><a href="#FNanchor_625_625"><span class="label">[625]</span></a> <i>Introduction to the History of Religions</i>, pp. 28-35.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_626_626" id="Footnote_626_626"></a><a href="#FNanchor_626_626"><span class="label">[626]</span></a> A particularly bad omen. See IIIR. 65, 22, obverse.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_627_627" id="Footnote_627_627"></a><a href="#FNanchor_627_627"><span class="label">[627]</span></a> Boissler, <i>Documents Assyriens Relatifs aux Présages</i>, +pp. 110 <i>seq.</i> Boissier has published portions of some twenty +tablets of the series, <i>ib.</i> pp. 110-181.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_628_628" id="Footnote_628_628"></a><a href="#FNanchor_628_628"><span class="label">[628]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, will not suffer.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_629_629" id="Footnote_629_629"></a><a href="#FNanchor_629_629"><span class="label">[629]</span></a> The phrase used is obscure. My translation is offered as a +conjecture.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_630_630" id="Footnote_630_630"></a><a href="#FNanchor_630_630"><span class="label">[630]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, an enemy will keep the land in turmoil.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_631_631" id="Footnote_631_631"></a><a href="#FNanchor_631_631"><span class="label">[631]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, like a lion. Elsewhere the preposition 'like' +is used.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_632_632" id="Footnote_632_632"></a><a href="#FNanchor_632_632"><span class="label">[632]</span></a> Where the child is born.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_633_633" id="Footnote_633_633"></a><a href="#FNanchor_633_633"><span class="label">[633]</span></a> A solar deity; see above, p. 99. Reference to minor deities +are frequent in these omen texts.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_634_634" id="Footnote_634_634"></a><a href="#FNanchor_634_634"><span class="label">[634]</span></a> The reference appears to be to some misfortune that will be +brought about through the solar deity Gilgamesh.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_635_635" id="Footnote_635_635"></a><a href="#FNanchor_635_635"><span class="label">[635]</span></a> Boissier, <i>Documents, etc.</i>, pp. 118-120.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_636_636" id="Footnote_636_636"></a><a href="#FNanchor_636_636"><span class="label">[636]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, only two.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_637_637" id="Footnote_637_637"></a><a href="#FNanchor_637_637"><span class="label">[637]</span></a> Between the two heads, <i>I.e.</i>, the hands and feet are +misplaced.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_638_638" id="Footnote_638_638"></a><a href="#FNanchor_638_638"><span class="label">[638]</span></a> IIIR. 65, no. 1.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_639_639" id="Footnote_639_639"></a><a href="#FNanchor_639_639"><span class="label">[639]</span></a> Abnormally small.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_640_640" id="Footnote_640_640"></a><a href="#FNanchor_640_640"><span class="label">[640]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, the father or master.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_641_641" id="Footnote_641_641"></a><a href="#FNanchor_641_641"><span class="label">[641]</span></a> The Egyptians carried the observation and interpretation of +omens to quite as high a degree as the Babylonians and Assyrians. See, +<i>e.g.</i>, Chabas, <i>Mélanges Égyptologiques</i>, 3<sup>e</sup> série, tome +ii.; Wiedemann's <i>Religion of Ancient Egypt</i>, p. 263.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_642_642" id="Footnote_642_642"></a><a href="#FNanchor_642_642"><span class="label">[642]</span></a> Lenormant, <i>Choix des Textes Cuneiformes</i>, no. 87.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_643_643" id="Footnote_643_643"></a><a href="#FNanchor_643_643"><span class="label">[643]</span></a> Occurring at the end of the fourth tablet, as an aid for +the correct arrangement of the series. IIIR 65, no. 1, reverse, l. 28.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_644_644" id="Footnote_644_644"></a><a href="#FNanchor_644_644"><span class="label">[644]</span></a> Lit., 'stall,' which includes sheep, oxen, and swine.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_645_645" id="Footnote_645_645"></a><a href="#FNanchor_645_645"><span class="label">[645]</span></a> Boissier, <i>Documents, etc.</i>, pp. 132, 133.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_646_646" id="Footnote_646_646"></a><a href="#FNanchor_646_646"><span class="label">[646]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, the owner of the stall. A variant reads 'king' +instead of 'man.'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_647_647" id="Footnote_647_647"></a><a href="#FNanchor_647_647"><span class="label">[647]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, misplaced.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_648_648" id="Footnote_648_648"></a><a href="#FNanchor_648_648"><span class="label">[648]</span></a> In Babylonian, 'ear' is a synonym of 'understanding.'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_649_649" id="Footnote_649_649"></a><a href="#FNanchor_649_649"><span class="label">[649]</span></a> Still further misplaced.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_650_650" id="Footnote_650_650"></a><a href="#FNanchor_650_650"><span class="label">[650]</span></a> Where the young one was born.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_651_651" id="Footnote_651_651"></a><a href="#FNanchor_651_651"><span class="label">[651]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, the flocks.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_652_652" id="Footnote_652_652"></a><a href="#FNanchor_652_652"><span class="label">[652]</span></a> Boissler's text has 'man,'—probably in error for 'king.'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_653_653" id="Footnote_653_653"></a><a href="#FNanchor_653_653"><span class="label">[653]</span></a> IIIR. 65, no. 2, obverse.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_654_654" id="Footnote_654_654"></a><a href="#FNanchor_654_654"><span class="label">[654]</span></a> Of the master.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_655_655" id="Footnote_655_655"></a><a href="#FNanchor_655_655"><span class="label">[655]</span></a> Lit., 'cut off.'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_656_656" id="Footnote_656_656"></a><a href="#FNanchor_656_656"><span class="label">[656]</span></a> Of the owner.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_657_657" id="Footnote_657_657"></a><a href="#FNanchor_657_657"><span class="label">[657]</span></a> The wife of the owner of the mare appears to be meant.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_658_658" id="Footnote_658_658"></a><a href="#FNanchor_658_658"><span class="label">[658]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_138">138</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_659_659" id="Footnote_659_659"></a><a href="#FNanchor_659_659"><span class="label">[659]</span></a> See Jevons, <i>Introduction to the History of Religion</i>, +chapters vi.-ix.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_660_660" id="Footnote_660_660"></a><a href="#FNanchor_660_660"><span class="label">[660]</span></a> Robertson Smith; <i>Religion of the Semites</i>, pp. 143, +273.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_661_661" id="Footnote_661_661"></a><a href="#FNanchor_661_661"><span class="label">[661]</span></a> Lenormant, <i>Choix des Textes Cuneiformes,</i> no. 89; +Boissier, <i>Documents, etc.</i>, p. 104.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_662_662" id="Footnote_662_662"></a><a href="#FNanchor_662_662"><span class="label">[662]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, the ruler of the palace.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_663_663" id="Footnote_663_663"></a><a href="#FNanchor_663_663"><span class="label">[663]</span></a> Lit., 'dark colored.'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_664_664" id="Footnote_664_664"></a><a href="#FNanchor_664_664"><span class="label">[664]</span></a> 'Not,' perhaps omitted.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_665_665" id="Footnote_665_665"></a><a href="#FNanchor_665_665"><span class="label">[665]</span></a> Boissier, p. 103.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_666_666" id="Footnote_666_666"></a><a href="#FNanchor_666_666"><span class="label">[666]</span></a> By vomiting on him.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_667_667" id="Footnote_667_667"></a><a href="#FNanchor_667_667"><span class="label">[667]</span></a> Out of which one eats.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_668_668" id="Footnote_668_668"></a><a href="#FNanchor_668_668"><span class="label">[668]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, keep away from it.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_669_669" id="Footnote_669_669"></a><a href="#FNanchor_669_669"><span class="label">[669]</span></a> See p. 182.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_670_670" id="Footnote_670_670"></a><a href="#FNanchor_670_670"><span class="label">[670]</span></a> According to Hilprecht (<i>Old Babylonian Inscriptions</i>, +I. part 2, p. 35), 'a goose or similar water-bird' was originally +pictured by the sign, though he admits that the picture was 'later' used +for swallow.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_671_671" id="Footnote_671_671"></a><a href="#FNanchor_671_671"><span class="label">[671]</span></a> <i>Vorgeschichte der Indo-Europaer,</i> pp. 451-55.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_672_672" id="Footnote_672_672"></a><a href="#FNanchor_672_672"><span class="label">[672]</span></a> The term used is <i>Unagga</i>, Bezold's <i>Catalogue of +the Koujunjik Collection</i>, p. 1841. See Jensen, <i>Kosmologie</i>, p. +153.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_673_673" id="Footnote_673_673"></a><a href="#FNanchor_673_673"><span class="label">[673]</span></a> Bezold, <i>Catalogue</i>, p. 1710.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_674_674" id="Footnote_674_674"></a><a href="#FNanchor_674_674"><span class="label">[674]</span></a> Boissier, <i>Documents, etc</i>., pp. 3, 4.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_675_675" id="Footnote_675_675"></a><a href="#FNanchor_675_675"><span class="label">[675]</span></a> Bezold, <i>Catalogue</i>, pp. 1437, 1438.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_676_676" id="Footnote_676_676"></a><a href="#FNanchor_676_676"><span class="label">[676]</span></a> Bezold, <i>ib.</i> p. 918.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_677_677" id="Footnote_677_677"></a><a href="#FNanchor_677_677"><span class="label">[677]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, over him.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_678_678" id="Footnote_678_678"></a><a href="#FNanchor_678_678"><span class="label">[678]</span></a> Chapter ii. 4-6.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_679_679" id="Footnote_679_679"></a><a href="#FNanchor_679_679"><span class="label">[679]</span></a> Chapter ii. 31-35, and vii. 2-12.</p></div> + + + + +<h2><a name="chapter-xxi" id="chapter-xxi"></a>CHAPTER XXI.</h2> + +<h3>THE COSMOLOGY OF THE BABYLONIANS.</h3> + + +<p>Various traditions were current in Babylonia regarding the +manner in which the universe came into existence. The labors +of the theologians to systematize these traditions did not succeed +in bringing about their unification. Somewhat like in the +Book of Genesis, where two versions of the creation story have +been combined by some editor,<a name="FNanchor_680_680" id="FNanchor_680_680"></a><a href="#Footnote_680_680" class="fnanchor">[680]</a> so portions of what were +clearly two independent versions have been found among +the remains of Babylonian literature. But whereas in the Old +Testament the two versions are presented in combination so +as to form a harmonic whole, the two Babylonian versions +continued to exist side by side. There is no reason to suppose +that the versions were limited to two. In fact, a variant +to an important episode in the creation story has been discovered +which points to a third version.<a name="FNanchor_681_681" id="FNanchor_681_681"></a><a href="#Footnote_681_681" class="fnanchor">[681]</a></p> + +<p>The suggestion has been thrown out that these various +versions arose in the various religious centers of the Euphrates +Valley. So far as the editing of the versions is concerned, +the suggestion is worthy of consideration, for it is hardly reasonable +to suppose that the theological schools of one and the +same place should have developed more than one cosmological +system. The traditions themselves, however, apart from the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_408" id="Page_408">[Pg 408]</a></span> +literary form which they eventually assumed, need not have +been limited to certain districts nor have been peculiar to the +place where the systematization took place. Nothing is more +common than the interchange of myths and popular traditions. +They travel from one place to the other, and contradictory +accounts of one and the same event may be circulated, and +find credence in one and the same place.</p> + +<p>The two distinct Babylonian versions of the creation of the +world that have up to the present time been found, have come +to us in a fragmentary form. Of the one, indeed, only some +forty lines exist, and these are introduced incidentally in an +incantation text;<a name="FNanchor_682_682" id="FNanchor_682_682"></a><a href="#Footnote_682_682" class="fnanchor">[682]</a> of the other version, portions of six tablets<a name="FNanchor_683_683" id="FNanchor_683_683"></a><a href="#Footnote_683_683" class="fnanchor">[683]</a> +have been recovered; while of two fragments it is doubtful<a name="FNanchor_684_684" id="FNanchor_684_684"></a><a href="#Footnote_684_684" class="fnanchor">[684]</a> +whether they belong to this same version or represent a third +version, as does certainly a fragment containing a variant +account of the episode described in the fourth tablet of the +larger group. The fragments of the longer version—in all +23—enable us to form a tolerably complete picture of the +Babylonian cosmology, and with the help of numerous allusions +in historical, religious and astronomical texts and in classical +writers, we can furthermore fill out some of the gaps.</p> + +<p>Taking up the longer version, which must for the present +serve as our chief source for the cosmology of the Babylonians, +it is important to note at the outset that the series constitutes, +in reality, a grand hymn in honor of Marduk. The account of +the beginning of things and of the order of creation is but +incidental to an episode which is intended to illustrate the +greatness of Marduk, the head of the Babylonian pantheon. +This episode is the conquest of a great monster known as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_409" id="Page_409">[Pg 409]</a></span> +Tiâmat,—a personification, as we shall see, of primaeval chaos. +What follows upon this episode, likewise turns upon the overshadowing +personality of Marduk. This prominence given to +Marduk points of course to Babylon as the place where the +early traditions received their literary form. Instead of designating +the series as a 'Creation Epic' it would be quite as +appropriate to call it 'The Epic of Marduk.'</p> + +<p>The god of Babylon is the hero of the story. To him the +creation of the heavenly bodies is ascribed. It is he who +brings order and light into the world. He supplants the rôles +originally belonging to other gods. Bel and Ea give way to +him. Anu and the other great gods cheerfully acknowledge +Marduk's power. The early traditions have all been colored +by the endeavor to glorify Marduk; and since Marduk is one +of the latest of the gods to come into prominence, we must +descend some centuries below Hammurabi before reaching a +period when Marduk's position was so generally recognized as +to lead to a transformation of popular traditions at the hands +of the theologians.</p> + +<p>The evident purpose of the 'epic' to glorify Marduk also +accounts for the imperfect manner in which the creation of the +universe is recounted. Only the general points are touched +upon. Many details are omitted which in a cosmological +epic, composed for the specific purpose of setting forth the +order of creation, would hardly have been wanting. In this +respect, the Babylonian version again resembles the Biblical +account of creation, which is similarly marked by its brevity, +and is as significant for its omissions as for what it +contains.</p> + +<p>It but remains before passing on to an analysis of the 'epic' +to note the great care bestowed upon its literary form. This is +evidenced not only by the poetic diction, but by its metrical +form,—a point to which Budge was the first to direct attention<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_410" id="Page_410">[Pg 410]</a></span><a name="FNanchor_685_685" id="FNanchor_685_685"></a><a href="#Footnote_685_685" class="fnanchor">[685]</a> +and which Zimmern<a name="FNanchor_686_686" id="FNanchor_686_686"></a><a href="#Footnote_686_686" class="fnanchor">[686]</a> clearly established. Each line consists +of two divisions, and as a general thing four or eight lines +constitute a stanza. The principle of parallelism, so characteristic +of Biblical poetry, is also introduced, though not consistently +carried out.</p> + +<p>The epic was known from its opening words as the series +'when above.' Through this name we are certain of possessing +a portion of the first tablet—but alas! only a portion. A +fragment of fifteen lines and these imperfectly preserved is all +that has as yet been found. So far as decipherable, it reads:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>There was a time when above the heaven was not named.<a name="FNanchor_687_687" id="FNanchor_687_687"></a><a href="#Footnote_687_687" class="fnanchor">[687]</a></p> +<p>Below, the earth bore no name.</p> +<p>Apsu was there, the original, their begettor,<a name="FNanchor_688_688" id="FNanchor_688_688"></a><a href="#Footnote_688_688" class="fnanchor">[688]</a></p> +<p>Mummu [and] Tiâmat, the mother of them all.<a href="#Footnote_688_688" class="fnanchor">[688]</a></p> +<p>But their waters<a name="FNanchor_689_689" id="FNanchor_689_689"></a><a href="#Footnote_689_689" class="fnanchor">[689]</a> were gathered together in a mass.</p> +<p>No field was marked off, no marsh<a name="FNanchor_690_690" id="FNanchor_690_690"></a><a href="#Footnote_690_690" class="fnanchor">[690]</a> was seen.</p> +<p>When none of the gods was as yet produced,</p> +<p>No name mentioned, no fate determined,</p> +<p>Then were created the gods in their totality.</p> +<p>Lakhmu and Lakhamu, were created.</p> +<p>Days went by<a name="FNanchor_691_691" id="FNanchor_691_691"></a><a href="#Footnote_691_691" class="fnanchor">[691]</a> ...</p> +<p>Anshar and Kishar were created.</p> +<p>Many days elapsed<a href="#Footnote_691_691" class="fnanchor">[691]</a> ...</p> +<p>Anu [Bel and Ea were created].<a name="FNanchor_692_692" id="FNanchor_692_692"></a><a href="#Footnote_692_692" class="fnanchor">[692]</a></p> +<p>Anshar, Anu (?) ...</p> +</div></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_411" id="Page_411">[Pg 411]</a></span> +At this point the fragment breaks off.</p> + +<p>Brief as it is, it affords a clear view of the manner in which +the Babylonians regarded the beginning of things. Water +was the primaeval element. 'Apsu' is the personified great +'ocean'—the 'Deep' that covers everything. With Apsu +there is associated Tiâmat. Tiâmat is the equivalent of the +Hebrew T'hôm,<a name="FNanchor_693_693" id="FNanchor_693_693"></a><a href="#Footnote_693_693" class="fnanchor">[693]</a> which occurs in the second verse of the opening +chapter of Genesis, and which is, like Apsu, the personification +of the 'watery deep.' Apsu and Tiâmat are, accordingly, +synonymous. The combination of the two may be regarded as +due to the introduction of the theological doctrine which we +have seen plays so prominent a part in the systematized pantheon, +namely, the association of the male and female principle +in everything connected with activity or with the life of the +universe. Apsu represents the male and Tiâmat the female +principle of the primaeval universe. It does not follow from +this that the two conceptions are wholly dissociated from popular +traditions. Theological systems, it will be found, are +always attached at some point to popular and often to primitive +beliefs.</p> + +<p>Tiâmat was popularly pictured as a huge monster of a forbidding +aspect. Traces of a similar conception connected +with T'hôm are to be met with in the poetry of the Old and +New Testament.<a name="FNanchor_694_694" id="FNanchor_694_694"></a><a href="#Footnote_694_694" class="fnanchor">[694]</a> The 'Rahab' and 'Leviathan' and the +'Dragon' of the apocalypse belong to the same order of ideas +that produced Tiâmat. All these monsters represent a popular +attempt to picture the chaotic condition that prevailed before +the great gods obtained control and established the order of +heavenly and terrestrial phenomena. The belief that water<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_412" id="Page_412">[Pg 412]</a></span> +was the original element existing in the universe and the +'source' of everything, may also have had its rise in the popular +mind. It was suggested in the Euphrates Valley, in part, by the +long-continued rainy season, as a result of which the entire +region was annually flooded. The dry land and vegetation +appeared, only after the waters had receded. The yearly phenomenon +brought home to the minds of the Babylonians, a +picture of primaeval chaos.</p> + +<p>In the schools of theology that arose with the advance of +culture, these two notions—water as the first element and a +general conception of chaos—were worked out with the result +that Apsu and Tiâmat became mythical beings whose dominion +preceded that of the gods. Further than this the questionings +of the schoolmen did not go. They conceived of a time +when neither the upper firmament nor the dry land existed and +when the gods were not yet placed in control, but they could +not conceive of a time when there was 'nothing' at all. This +cosmological theory which we may deduce from the fragment +of the first tablet of the creation series is confirmed by the +accounts that have come down to us—chiefly through Damascius—of +the treatment of the subject by Berosus.<a name="FNanchor_695_695" id="FNanchor_695_695"></a><a href="#Footnote_695_695" class="fnanchor">[695]</a> Damascius +explicitly places the Babylonians among those nations who +fail to carry back the universe to an ultimate single source. +There is nothing earlier than the two beings—Apsu and +Tiâmat.<a name="FNanchor_696_696" id="FNanchor_696_696"></a><a href="#Footnote_696_696" class="fnanchor">[696]</a></p> + +<p>The massing together of the primaeval waters completes the +picture of chaos in the cuneiform account. From the popular +side, the commingling corresponds to the <i>Tôhû wa Bôhû</i> of the +Book of Genesis, but for the Babylonian theologians, this +embrace of Apsu and Tiâmat becomes a symbol of 'sexual'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_413" id="Page_413">[Pg 413]</a></span> +union.<a name="FNanchor_697_697" id="FNanchor_697_697"></a><a href="#Footnote_697_697" class="fnanchor">[697]</a> As the outcome of this union, the gods are produced. +This dependence of the gods upon Apsu and Tiâmat is but +vaguely indicated. Another theory appears to have existed +according to which the gods were contemporaneous with +primaeval chaos. The vagueness may therefore be the result +of a compromise between conflicting schools of thought. +However this may be, the moment that the gods appear, a +conflict ensues between them and Apsu-Tiâmat. This conflict +represents the evolution from chaos to order. But before +taking up this phase of the epic, a few words must be said +as to the names of the gods mentioned, and as to the order in +which they occur.</p> + +<p>There are three classes of deities enumerated. The first +two classes consist, each, of a pair of deities while the third is +the well-known triad of the old Babylonian theology. Between +the creation of each class a long period elapses—a +circumstance that may be regarded as an evidence of the +originally independent character of each class. Now it has +recently been shown<a name="FNanchor_698_698" id="FNanchor_698_698"></a><a href="#Footnote_698_698" class="fnanchor">[698]</a> that Lakhamu is the feminine of Lakhmu. +The first class of deities is, therefore, an illustration again of +the conventional male and female principles introduced into +the current theology. While there are references to Lakhmu +and Lakhamu in the religious texts,<a name="FNanchor_699_699" id="FNanchor_699_699"></a><a href="#Footnote_699_699" class="fnanchor">[699]</a> particularly in incantations, +these two deities play no part whatsoever in the active +pantheon, as revealed by the historical texts. In popular +tradition,<a name="FNanchor_700_700" id="FNanchor_700_700"></a><a href="#Footnote_700_700" class="fnanchor">[700]</a> Lakhmu survived as a name of a mythical +monster.</p> + +<p>Alexander Polyhistor<a name="FNanchor_701_701" id="FNanchor_701_701"></a><a href="#Footnote_701_701" class="fnanchor">[701]</a> quotes Berosus as saying in his book +on Babylonia that the first result of the mixture of water and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_414" id="Page_414">[Pg 414]</a></span> +chaos—<i>i.e.</i>, of Apsu and Tiâmat—was the production of +monsters partly human, partly bestial. The winged bulls and +lions that guarded the approaches to temples and palaces are +illustrations of this old notion, and it is to this class of +mythical beings that Lakhmu belongs. The schools of theology, +seizing hold of this popular tradition, add again to +Lakhmu a female mate and convert the tradition into a symbol +of the first step in the evolution of order out of the original +chaos. Lakhmu and Lakhamu are made to stand for an entire +class of beings that are the offspring of Apsu and Tiâmat. +This class does not differ essentially from Apsu and Tiâmat, +nor from the 'Leviathan,' the 'Dragon,' the winged serpents, +and the winged bulls that are all emanations of the same order +of ideas. Accordingly, we find Lakhmu and Lakhamu associated +with Tiâmat when the conflict with the gods begins. +They are products of chaos and yet at the same time contemporary +with chaos,—monsters not so fierce as Tiâmat, but +withal monsters who had to be subdued before the planets and +the stars, vegetation and man could appear.</p> + +<p>The introduction of Anshar and Kishar as intermediate +between the monsters and the triad of gods appears to be due +entirely to the attempt at theological systematization that +clearly stamps the creation epic as the conscious work of +schoolmen, though shaped, as must always be borne in mind, +out of the material furnished by popular tradition. In connection +with the etymology and original form of the chief of +the Assyrian pantheon,<a name="FNanchor_702_702" id="FNanchor_702_702"></a><a href="#Footnote_702_702" class="fnanchor">[702]</a> the suggestion was made that the +introduction of Anshar into the creation epic is a concession +made to the prominence that Ashur acquired in the north. +We are now able to put this suggestion in a more definite +form. The pantheon of the north, as we have seen, was +derived from the south. Not that all the gods of the south +are worshipped in the north, but those that are worshipped<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_415" id="Page_415">[Pg 415]</a></span> +in the north are also found in the south, and originate there. +The distinctive features of Ashur are due to the political conditions +that were developed in Assyria, but the unfolding of +the conceptions connected with this god which make him the +characteristic deity of Assyria, indeed, the only distinctive +Assyrian figure in the Assyrian pantheon, does not preclude +the possibility, of the southern origin of Ashur.</p> + +<p>If, as has been made plausible by Hommel, Nineveh, the +later capital of the Assyrian empire, represents a settlement +made by inhabitants of a Nineveh situated in the south, +there is no reason why a southern deity bearing the name +Anshar should not have been transferred from the south to +the north. The attempt has been made<a name="FNanchor_703_703" id="FNanchor_703_703"></a><a href="#Footnote_703_703" class="fnanchor">[703]</a> to explain the change +from Anshar to Ashur. The later name Ashur, because of its +ominous character, effectually effaced the earlier one in popular +thought. The introduction of the older form Anshar, not +merely in the first tablet of the creation series, but, as we shall +presently see, elsewhere, confirms the view of a southern +origin for Ashur, and also points to the great antiquity of the +Anshar-Ashur cult. It is not uncommon to find colonies more +conservative in matters of religious thought and custom than +the motherland, and there is nothing improbable in the interesting +conclusion thus reached that Ashur, the head of an +empire, so much later in point of time than Babylonia, should +turn out to be an older deity than the chief personage in the +Babylonian pantheon after the days of Hammurabi.</p> + +<p>But while Anshar-Ashur under this view is a figure surviving +from an ancient period, he is transformed by association with a +complementary deity Kishar into a symbol, just as we have +found to be the case with Lakhmu. By a play upon his name, +resting upon an arbitrary division of Anshar into <i>An</i> and <i>Shar</i>, +the deity becomes the 'one that embraces all that is above.' +The element <i>An</i> is the same that we have in <i>Anu</i>, and is the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_416" id="Page_416">[Pg 416]</a></span> +'ideographic'<a name="FNanchor_704_704" id="FNanchor_704_704"></a><a href="#Footnote_704_704" class="fnanchor">[704]</a> form for 'high' and 'heaven.' <i>Shar</i> signifies +'totality' and has some connection with a well-known Babylonian +word for 'king.' The natural consort to an all-embracing +upper power is a power that 'embraces all that is below'; +and since <i>Ki</i> is the ideographic form for 'earth,' it is evident +that Ki-Shar is a creation of the theologians, introduced in +order to supply Anshar with an appropriate associate. The +two in combination represent a pair like Lakhmu and Lakhamu. +As the latter pair embrace the world of monsters, so +Anshar and Kishar stand in the theological system for the +older order of gods, a class of deities antecedent to the series +of which Anu, Bel, and Ea are the representatives. Besides +the antiquity of Anshar and the factor involved in the play upon +the name, the prominence of the Ashur cult in the north also +entered into play (as already suggested) in securing for Anshar-Ashur, +a place in the systematized cosmology. The Babylonian +priests, while always emphasizing the predominance of Marduk, +could not entirely resist the influences that came to them from +the north. Ashur was not accorded a place in the Babylonian +cult, but he could not be ignored altogether. Moreover, Assyria +had her priests and schools, and we are permitted to see in +the introduction of Anshar in the creation epic, a concession +that reflects the influence, no doubt indirect, and in part perhaps +unconscious, but for all that, the decided influence of the +north over the south. The part played by Anshar in the most +important episode of the creation epic will be found to further +strengthen this view.<a name="FNanchor_705_705" id="FNanchor_705_705"></a><a href="#Footnote_705_705" class="fnanchor">[705]</a></p> + +<p>Kishar, at all events, forms no part of either the Babylonian +or of the active Assyrian pantheon. She does not occur in historical +or religious texts. Her existence is purely theoretical—a +creation of the schools without any warrant in popular tradition,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_417" id="Page_417">[Pg 417]</a></span> +so far as we can see. A tablet is fortunately preserved<a name="FNanchor_706_706" id="FNanchor_706_706"></a><a href="#Footnote_706_706" class="fnanchor">[706]</a> +(though only in part) which enables us to come a step nearer +towards determining the character of the series of powers regarded +as antecedent to the well-known deities. In this tablet, +no less than ten pairs of deities are enumerated that are expressly +noted as 'Father-mother of Anu,' that is, as antecedent +to Anu.<a name="FNanchor_707_707" id="FNanchor_707_707"></a><a href="#Footnote_707_707" class="fnanchor">[707]</a> Among these we find Anshar and Kishar, and by +their side, such pairs as Anshar-gal, <i>i.e.</i>, 'great totality of what +is on high,' and Kishar-gal, <i>i.e.</i>, 'great totality of what is below,' +Enshar and Ninshar, <i>i.e.</i>, 'lord' and 'mistress,' respectively, +of 'all there is,' Du'ar and Da'ur, forms of a stem which +may signify 'perpetuity,' Alala, <i>i.e.</i>, 'strength,' and a consort +Belili. Lakhmu and Lakhamu are also found in the list. While +some of the names are quite obscure, and the composition of +the list is due to the scholastic spirit emanating from the +schools of theology, the fact that some of the deities, as +Alala, Belili, Lakhmu and Lakhamu, occur in incantations +shows that the theologians were guided in part by dimmed traditions +of some deities that were worshipped prior to the ones +whose cult became prominent in historic times. Anshar, Alala, +Belili, Lakhmu, and Du'ar were such deities. To each of these +an associate was given, in accord with the established doctrine +of 'duality' that characterizes the more advanced of the ancient +Semitic cults in general. Others, like Anshar-gal and Enshar, +seem to be pure abstractions—perhaps only 'variants' of +Anshar, and the number ten may have some mystical significance +that escapes us. So much, at all events, seems certain +that even the old Babylonian pantheon, as revealed by the +oldest historical texts, represents a comparatively advanced +stage of the religion when some still older gods had already +yielded to others and a system was already in part produced +which left out of consideration these older deities. This is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_418" id="Page_418">[Pg 418]</a></span> +indicated by the occurrence of the triad Anu, Bel, and Ea as +early as the days of Gudea,<a name="FNanchor_708_708" id="FNanchor_708_708"></a><a href="#Footnote_708_708" class="fnanchor">[708]</a> and it is this triad which in +the creation epic follows upon the older series symbolized by +Anshar and Kishar. The later 'theology' found a solution of +the problem by assuming four series of deities represented +by Apsu and Tiâmat, by Lakhmu and Lakhamu, by Anshar +and Kishar, and by the triad Anu, Bel, and Ea.</p> + +<p>In a vague way, as we have seen, Apsu and Tiâmat are the +progenitors of Lakhmu and Lakhamu. The priority, again, of +Lakhmu and Lakhamu, as well as of Anshar and Kishar, is +expressed by making them 'ancestors' of Anu, Bel and Ea. +While in the list above referred to, Lakhmu and Lakhamu are +put in a class with Anshar and Kishar, in the creation epic they +form a separate class, and Delitzsch has justly recognized,<a name="FNanchor_709_709" id="FNanchor_709_709"></a><a href="#Footnote_709_709" class="fnanchor">[709]</a> in +this separation, the intention of the compilers to emphasize an +advance in the evolution of chaos to order, which is the keynote +of the Babylonian cosmology. Lakhmu and Lakhamu +represent the 'monster' world where creatures are produced +in strange confusion, whereas Anshar and Kishar indicate a +division of the universe into two <i>distinct</i> and sharply defined +parts. The splitting of 'chaos' is the first step towards its +final disappearance.</p> + +<p>The creation of Anshar and Kishar marks indeed the +beginning of a severe conquest which ends in the overthrow of +Tiâmat, and while in the present form of the epic, the contest +is not decided before Anu, Bel, and Ea and the chief deities of +the historic pantheon are created, one can see traces of an +earlier form of the tradition in which Anshar—perhaps with +some associates—is the chief figure in the strife.</p> + +<p>Of the first tablet, we have two further fragments supplementing +one another, in which the beginnings of this terrible conflict +are described. With Apsu and Tiâmat there are associated a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_419" id="Page_419">[Pg 419]</a></span> +variety of monsters who prepare themselves for the fray. The +existence of these associates shows that the 'epic' does not +aim to account for the real origin of things, but only for the +origin of the <i>order</i> of the universe. At the beginning there +was chaos, but 'chaos,' so far from representing emptiness (as +came to be the case under a monotheistic conception of the +universe) was on the contrary marked by a superabundant +fullness.</p> + +<p>Through Alexander Polyhistor,<a name="FNanchor_710_710" id="FNanchor_710_710"></a><a href="#Footnote_710_710" class="fnanchor">[710]</a> as already mentioned, we +obtain a satisfactory description of this period of chaos as +furnished by Berosus. At the time when all was darkness and +water, there flourished strange monsters, human beings with +wings, beings with two heads, male and female, hybrid formations, +half-man, half-animal, with horns of rams and horses' +hoofs, bulls with human faces, dogs with fourfold bodies ending +in fish tails, horses with heads of dogs, and various other +monstrosities.</p> + +<p>This account of Berosus is now confirmed by the cuneiform +records. The associates of Tiâmat are described in a manner +that leaves no doubt as to their being the monsters referred to. +We are told that</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Ummu-Khubur,<a name="FNanchor_711_711" id="FNanchor_711_711"></a><a href="#Footnote_711_711" class="fnanchor">[711]</a> the creator of everything, added</p> +<p>Strong warriors, creating great serpents,</p> +<p>Sharp of tooth, merciless in attack.</p> +<p>With poison in place of blood, she filled their bodies.</p> +<p>Furious vipers she clothed with terror,</p> +<p>Fitted them out with awful splendor, made them high of stature(?)</p> +<p>That their countenance might inspire terror and arouse horror,</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_420" id="Page_420">[Pg 420]</a></span>Their bodies inflated, their attack irresistible.</p> +<p>She set up basilisks (?) great serpents and monsters<a name="FNanchor_712_712" id="FNanchor_712_712"></a><a href="#Footnote_712_712" class="fnanchor">[712]</a></p> +<p>A great monster, a mad dog, a scorpion-man</p> +<p>A raging monster, a fish-man, a great bull,</p> +<p>Carrying merciless weapons, not dreading battle.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>In all, eleven monstrous beings are created by Tiâmat for +the great conquest. At their head she places a being Kingu, +whom she raises to the dignity of a consort.</p> + +<p>The formal installation of Kingu is described as follows:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>She raised Kingu among them to be their chief.</p> +<p>To march at the head of the forces, to lead the assembly.</p> +<p>To command the weapons to strike, to give the orders for the fray.</p> +<p>To be the first in war, supreme in triumph.</p> +<p>She ordained him and clothed him with authority (?).</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Tiâmat then addresses Kingu directly:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Through my word to thee, I have made thee the greatest among the gods.</p> +<p>The rule over all the gods I have placed in thy hand.</p> +<p>The greatest shalt thou be, thou, my consort, my only one.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Tiâmat thereupon</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Gives him the tablets of fate, hangs them on his breast, and dismisses him.</p> +<p>'Thy command be invincible, thy order authoritative.'<a name="FNanchor_713_713" id="FNanchor_713_713"></a><a href="#Footnote_713_713" class="fnanchor">[713]</a></p> +</div></div> + +<p>The plan of procedure, it would appear, is the result of a +council of war held by Apsu and Tiâmat, who feel themselves +powerless to carry on the contest by themselves. The portion +of the tablet<a name="FNanchor_714_714" id="FNanchor_714_714"></a><a href="#Footnote_714_714" class="fnanchor">[714]</a> in which this council is recounted is in so bad a +condition that but little can be made out of it. Associated +with Apsu and Tiâmat in council, is a being Mummu, and +since Damascius expressly notes on the direct authority of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_421" id="Page_421">[Pg 421]</a></span> +Berosus that Apsu and Tiâmat produced a son Moumis,<a name="FNanchor_715_715" id="FNanchor_715_715"></a><a href="#Footnote_715_715" class="fnanchor">[715]</a> there +is every reason to believe that Mummu represents this offspring. +In the subsequent narrative, however, neither Apsu +nor Mummu play any part. Tiâmat has transferred to Kingu +and the eleven monsters all authority, and it is only after +they are defeated that Tiâmat—but Tiâmat alone—enters +the fray.</p> + +<p>The rage of Tiâmat is directed against Anshar, Kishar, and +their offspring. Anu, Bel, and Ea, while standing at the head of +the latter, are not the only gods introduced. When the contest +begins, all the great gods and also the minor ones are in +existence.</p> + +<p>The cause of Tiâmat's rage is indicated, though vaguely, in +the portions preserved. In the opening lines of the epic +there is a reference to the time 'when fates were not yet +decided.' The decision of fates is in the Babylonian theology +one of the chief functions of the gods. It constitutes the +mainspring of their power. To decide fates is practically to +control the arrangement of the universe—to establish order. +It is this function which arouses the natural opposition of +Tiâmat and her brood, for Tiâmat feels that once the gods are in +control, her sway must come to an end. On the part of the +gods there is great terror. They are anxious to conciliate +Tiâmat and are not actuated by any motives of rivalry. Order +is not aggressive. It is chaos which manifests opposition to +'order.' In the second tablet of the series, Anshar sends his +son Anu with a message to Tiâmat:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Go and step before Tiâmat.</p> +<p>May her liver be pacified, her heart softened.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Anu obeys, but at the sight of Tiâmat's awful visage takes +flight. It is unfortunate that the second tablet is so badly preserved. +We are dependent largely upon conjecture for what<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_422" id="Page_422">[Pg 422]</a></span> +follows the failure of Anu's mission. From references in +subsequent tablets, it seems certain that Anshar sends out Ea +as a second messenger and that Ea also fails. Tiâmat is +determined upon destroying the gods, or at least upon keeping +from them the 'decision of fates.' Anshar, it will be seen, +stands at the head of the pantheon, and it seems natural that +he, and not one of his offspring, should be the final victor. +This indeed appears to have been the original form of the +myth or at least one form of it. In a second form it was Bel +to whom the victory was ascribed, and this Bel of the triad, we +have seen, was En-lil, the chief god of Nippur; but both +Anshar and Bel must give way to the patron deity of the +city of Babylon—Marduk. Anshar-Ashur, the head of the +Assyrian pantheon, could not be tolerated by the Babylonian +priests as a power superior to Marduk. On the other hand, +Anshar could not be set aside, for he survived in popular tradition. +The result is a compromise. Marduk gains the victory +over Tiâmat, but is commissioned to do so by the assembly of +the gods, including Anshar. As for the older Bel, he voluntarily +transfers to Marduk his name. In this way, the god Bel +of the triad becomes one with Marduk.</p> + +<p>Perhaps in one religious center and at a time when Ea +was the chief god, still another version existed which assigned +the triumph to Ea, for as will be pointed out, traditions waver +between assigning to Ea or to Bel-Marduk so fundamental a +function as the creation of mankind. In short, the present +form of the creation epic is 'eclectic' and embodies what +the Germans call a <i>tendenz</i>. To each of the great gods, Anshar, +Anu, Bel, and Ea, some part in the contest is assigned, but the +greatest rôle belongs to Marduk.</p> + +<p>The second tablet closes with Anshar's decision to send his +son Marduk against Tiâmat:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Marduk heard the word of his father.</p> +<p>His heart rejoiced and to his father he spoke.</p> +</div></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_423" id="Page_423">[Pg 423]</a></span> +With joyous heart he is ready to proceed to the contest, but +he at once makes good his claim to supreme control in case he +is victorious. He addresses the assembled gods:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>When I shall have become your avenger,</p> +<p>Binding Tiâmat and saving your life,</p> +<p>Then come in a body,</p> +<p>In Ubshu-kenna,<a name="FNanchor_716_716" id="FNanchor_716_716"></a><a href="#Footnote_716_716" class="fnanchor">[716]</a> let yourselves down joyfully,</p> +<p>My authority instead of yours will assume control,</p> +<p>Unchangeable shall be whatever I do,</p> +<p>Irrevocable and irresistible, be the command of my lips.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The declaration foreshadows the result.</p> + +<p>The third tablet is taken up with the preliminaries for the +great contest, and is interesting chiefly because of the insight +it affords us into Babylonian methods of literary composition. +Anshar sends Gaga<a name="FNanchor_717_717" id="FNanchor_717_717"></a><a href="#Footnote_717_717" class="fnanchor">[717]</a> to the hostile camp with the formal +announcement of Marduk's readiness to take up the cause of +the gods. Gaga does not face Tiâmat directly, but leaves the +message with Lakhmu and Lakhamu:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Go Gaga, messenger (?) joy of my liver,</p> +<p>To Lakhmu and Lakhamu I will send thee.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The message proper begins as follows:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Anshar your son has sent me,</p> +<p>The desire of his heart he has entrusted to me.</p> +<p>Tiâmat, our mother is full of hate towards us,</p> +<p>With all her might she is bitterly enraged.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The eleven associates that Tiâmat has ranged on her side are +again enumerated, together with the appointment of Kingu as +chief of the terror-inspiring army. Gaga comes to Lakhmu<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_424" id="Page_424">[Pg 424]</a></span> +and Lakhamu and delivers the message verbatim, so that altogether +this portion of the narrative is repeated no less than four +times.<a name="FNanchor_718_718" id="FNanchor_718_718"></a><a href="#Footnote_718_718" class="fnanchor">[718]</a> The same tendency towards repetition is met with in +the Gilgamesh epic and in the best of the literary productions +of Babylonia. It may be ascribed to the influence exerted by +the religious hymns and incantations where repetition, as we +have seen, is also common, though serving a good purpose.</p> + +<p>The message concludes:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>I sent Anu, he could not endure her<a name="FNanchor_719_719" id="FNanchor_719_719"></a><a href="#Footnote_719_719" class="fnanchor">[719]</a> presence.</p> +<p>Ea<a name="FNanchor_720_720" id="FNanchor_720_720"></a><a href="#Footnote_720_720" class="fnanchor">[720]</a> was afraid and took to flight.</p> +<p>Marduk has stepped forward, the chief of the gods, your son,</p> +<p>To proceed against Tiâmat, he has set his mind.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Marduk's declaration is then repeated.</p> + +<p>Upon hearing the message Lakhmu and Lakhamu and "all +the Igigi"<a name="FNanchor_721_721" id="FNanchor_721_721"></a><a href="#Footnote_721_721" class="fnanchor">[721]</a> are distressed, but are powerless to avert the coming +disaster. The formal declaration of war having been sent, the +followers of Anshar assemble at a meal which is realistically +described:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>They ate bread, they drank wine.</p> +<p>The sweet wine took away their senses.</p> +<p>They became drunk, and their bodies swelled up.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>With this description the third tablet closes.</p> + +<p>The meal symbolizes the solemn gathering of the gods. At +its conclusion, so it would seem, Marduk is formally installed +as the leader to proceed against Tiâmat. The gods vie with one +another in showering honors upon Marduk. They encourage +him for the fight by praising his unique powers:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_425" id="Page_425">[Pg 425]</a></span></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Thou art honored among the great gods,</p> +<p>Thy destiny is unique, thy command is Anu.<a name="FNanchor_722_722" id="FNanchor_722_722"></a><a href="#Footnote_722_722" class="fnanchor">[722]</a></p> +<p>Marduk, thou art honored among the great gods,</p> +<p>Thy destiny is unique, thy command is Anu,</p> +<p>Henceforth thy order is absolute.</p> +<p>To elevate and to lower is in thy hands,</p> +<p>What issues from thee is fixed, thy order cannot be opposed,</p> +<p>None among the gods may trespass upon thy dominion.</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p>Thy weapons will never be vanquished; they will shatter thy enemies.</p> +<p>O lord! grant life to him who trusts in thee,</p> +<p>But destroy the life of the god who plots evil.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>As a proof of the power thus entrusted to Marduk, the gods +give the latter a 'sign.' Marduk performs a miracle. A garment +is placed in the midst of the gods.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Command that the dress disappear!</p> +<p>Then command that the dress return!</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Marduk proceeds to the test.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>As he gave the command, the dress disappeared.</p> +<p>He spoke again and the dress was there.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>This 'sign,' which reminds one of Yahwe's signs to Moses +as a proof of the latter's power,<a name="FNanchor_723_723" id="FNanchor_723_723"></a><a href="#Footnote_723_723" class="fnanchor">[723]</a> is to be regarded as an indication +that "destruction and creation" are in Marduk's hands. +The gods rejoice at the exhibition of Marduk's power. In +chorus they exclaim, "Marduk is king." The insignia of royalty, +throne, sceptre, and authority are conferred upon him.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Now go against Tiâmat, cut off her life,</p> +<p>Let the winds carry her blood to hidden regions.<a name="FNanchor_724_724" id="FNanchor_724_724"></a><a href="#Footnote_724_724" class="fnanchor">[724]</a></p> +</div></div> + +<p>Marduk thereupon fashions his weapons for the fray. Myth +and realism are strangely intertwined in the description of these<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_426" id="Page_426">[Pg 426]</a></span> +weapons. Bow and quiver, the lance and club are mentioned, +together with the storm and the lightning flash. In addition to +this he</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Constructs a net wherewith to enclose the life of Tiâmat.</p> +<p>The four winds he grasped so that she could not escape.<a name="FNanchor_725_725" id="FNanchor_725_725"></a><a href="#Footnote_725_725" class="fnanchor">[725]</a></p> +<p>The south and north winds, the east and west winds</p> +<p>He brought to the net, which was the gift of his father Anu.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>His outfit is not yet complete.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>He creates a destructive wind, a storm, a hurricane,</p> +<p>Making of the four winds, seven<a name="FNanchor_726_726" id="FNanchor_726_726"></a><a href="#Footnote_726_726" class="fnanchor">[726]</a> destructive and fatal ones;</p> +<p>Then he let loose the winds he created, the seven,</p> +<p>To destroy the life<a name="FNanchor_727_727" id="FNanchor_727_727"></a><a href="#Footnote_727_727" class="fnanchor">[727]</a> of Tiâmat, they followed after him.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Marduk, taking his most powerful weapon in his hand,<a name="FNanchor_728_728" id="FNanchor_728_728"></a><a href="#Footnote_728_728" class="fnanchor">[728]</a> +mounts his chariot, which is driven by fiery steeds. The +picture thus furnished of the god, standing upright in his +chariot, with his weapons hung about him and the seven winds +following in his wake, is most impressive.</p> + +<p>He makes straight for the hostile camp. The sight of the +god inspires terror on all sides.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>The lord comes nearer with his eye fixed upon Tiâmat,</p> +<p>Piercing with his glance (?) Kingu her consort.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Kingu starts back in alarm. He cannot endure the 'majestic +halo' which surrounds Marduk. Kingu's associates—the +monsters—are terrified at their leader's discomfiture. Tiâmat +alone does not lose her courage.</p> + +<p>Marduk, brandishing his great weapon, addresses Tiâmat:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Why hast thou set thy mind upon stirring up destructive contest?</p> +</div></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_427" id="Page_427">[Pg 427]</a></span> +He reproaches her for the hatred she has shown towards the +gods, and boldly calls her out to the contest:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Stand up! I and thou, come let us fight.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Tiâmat's rage at this challenge is superbly pictured:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>When Tiâmat heard these words</p> +<p>She acted as possessed, her senses left her;</p> +<p>Tiâmat shrieked wild and loud,</p> +<p>Trembling and shaking down to her foundations.</p> +<p>She pronounced an incantation, uttered her sacred formula.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Marduk is undismayed:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Then Tiâmat and Marduk, chief of the gods, advanced towards one another.</p> +<p>They advanced to the contest, drew nigh for fight.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The fight and discomfiture of Tiâmat are next described:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>The lord spread out his net in order to enclose her.</p> +<p>The destructive wind, which was behind him, he sent forth into her face.</p> +<p>As Tiâmat opened her mouth full wide,</p> +<p>He<a name="FNanchor_729_729" id="FNanchor_729_729"></a><a href="#Footnote_729_729" class="fnanchor">[729]</a> drove in the destructive wind, so that she could not close her lips.</p> +<p>The strong winds inflated her stomach.</p> +<p>Her heart was beset,<a name="FNanchor_730_730" id="FNanchor_730_730"></a><a href="#Footnote_730_730" class="fnanchor">[730]</a> she opened still wider her mouth,<a name="FNanchor_731_731" id="FNanchor_731_731"></a><a href="#Footnote_731_731" class="fnanchor">[731]</a></p> +<p>He seized the spear and plunged it into her stomach,</p> +<p>He pierced her entrails, he tore through her heart,</p> +<p>He seized hold of her and put an end to her life,</p> +<p>He threw down her carcass and stepped upon her.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The method employed by Marduk is so graphically described +that no comment is necessary. After having vanquished Tiâmat, +the valiant Marduk attacks her associates. They try to flee, +but he captures them all—including Kingu—without much +difficulty and puts them into his great net. Most important of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_428" id="Page_428">[Pg 428]</a></span> +all, he tears the tablets of fate from Kingu and places them on +his breast. This act marks the final victory. Henceforth, the +gods with Marduk—and no longer Tiâmat and her brood—decree +the fate of the universe. There is great rejoicing among +the gods, who heap presents and offerings upon Marduk. As +the vanquisher of chaos, Marduk is naturally singled out to +be the establisher of the fixed form and order of the universe. +The close of the fourth tablet describes this work of the god, +and the subject is continued in the following ones. Unfortunately, +these tablets are badly preserved, so that we are far from +having a complete view of the various acts of Marduk. He +begins by taking the carcass of Tiâmat and cutting it in half.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>He cuts her like one does a flattened fish into two halves.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Previous to this he had trampled upon her and smashed her +skull, as we are expressly told, so that the comparison of the +monster, thus pressed out, to a flattened fish is appropriate.</p> + +<p>He splits her lengthwise.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>The one half he fashioned as a covering for the heavens,</p> +<p>Attaching a bolt and placing there a guardian,</p> +<p>With orders not to permit the waters to come out.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>It is evident that the canopy of heaven is meant. Such is +the enormous size of Tiâmat that one-half of her body flattened +out so as to serve as a curtain, is stretched across the heavens +to keep the 'upper waters'—'the waters above the firmament' +as the Book of Genesis puts it—from coming down. To +ensure the execution of this design, a bolt is drawn in front of +the canopy and a guardian placed there, like at a city wall, to +prevent any one or anything from coming out.</p> + +<p>This act corresponds closely to the creation of a "firmament" +in the first chapter of Genesis. The interpretation is borne out +by the statement of Alexander Polyhistor who, quoting from +Berosus, states that out of one-half of Tiâmat the heavens were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_429" id="Page_429">[Pg 429]</a></span> +made.<a name="FNanchor_732_732" id="FNanchor_732_732"></a><a href="#Footnote_732_732" class="fnanchor">[732]</a> The further statement that out of the other half the +earth was fashioned is not definitely stated in our version of +the creation. The narrative proceeds as follows:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>He passed through the heavens, he inspected the expanse.<a name="FNanchor_733_733" id="FNanchor_733_733"></a><a href="#Footnote_733_733" class="fnanchor">[733]</a></p> +</div></div> + +<p>To understand this phrase, we must consider the general +character of the "epic," which is, as we have already seen, a +composite production, formed of popular elements and of more +advanced speculations. The popular element is the interpretation +of the storms and rains that regularly visit the Euphrates +Valley before the summer season sets in, as a conflict between +a monster and the solar deity Marduk. After a struggle, winds +at last drive the waters back; Tiâmat is vanquished by the +entrance of the 'bad wind' into her body. The sun appears in +the heavens and runs across the expanse, passing in his course +over the entire vault. The conflict, which in the scholastic system +of the theologians is placed at the beginning of things, is in +reality a phenomenon of annual occurrence. The endeavor to +make Marduk more than what he originally was—a solar deity—leads +to the introduction of a variety of episodes that properly +belong to a different class of deities. For all that, the original +rôle of Marduk is not obscured. Marduk's passage across the +heavens is a trace of the popular phases of the nature myth, +and while in one sense, it is appropriately introduced after the +fashioning of the expanse, it more properly follows immediately +upon the conflict with Tiâmat. In short, we have reached a +point in the narrative where the nature myth symbolizing the +annual succession of the seasons blends with a cosmological +system which is the product of comparatively advanced schools +of thought, in such a manner as to render it difficult to draw +the line where myth ends and cosmological system begins. For<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_430" id="Page_430">[Pg 430]</a></span> +the moment, the nature myth controls the course of the narrative. +The sun, upon running its course across the heavens, +appears to drop into the great ocean, which the Babylonians, in +common with many ancient nations, imagined to surround and +to pass underneath the earth.</p> + +<p>Hence the next act undertaken by Marduk is the regulation +of the course of this subterranean sea. The name given to this +sea was Apsu. Marduk however does not create the Apsu. +It is in existence at the beginning of things, but he places it +under the control of Ea.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>In front of Apsu, he prepared the dwelling of Nu-dimmud.<a name="FNanchor_734_734" id="FNanchor_734_734"></a><a href="#Footnote_734_734" class="fnanchor">[734]</a></p> +</div></div> + +<p>This Apsu, as we learn from other sources,<a name="FNanchor_735_735" id="FNanchor_735_735"></a><a href="#Footnote_735_735" class="fnanchor">[735]</a> flows on all sides +of the earth, and since it also fills the hollow under the earth, +the latter in reality rests upon the Apsu. Ea is frequently called +"the lord of Apsu," but the creation epic, in assigning to Marduk +the privilege of preparing the dwelling of Ea, reverses the +true order of things, which may still be seen in the common +belief that made Marduk the son of Ea. Marduk, the sun +rising up out of the ocean, becomes the offspring of Ea, and +even the political supremacy of Marduk could not set aside the +prerogatives of Ea in the popular mind. In the cosmological +system, however, as developed in the schools, such an attempt +was made. While recognizing the 'deep' as the domain of Ea, +the theologians saved Marduk's honor by having him take a +part in fixing Ea's dwelling and in determining its limitations.</p> + +<p>With the carcass of Tiâmat stretched across the upper firmament +and safely guarded, and with the Apsu under control, the +way is clear for the formation of the earth. This act in the +drama of creation is referred to in the following lines, though +in a manner, that is not free from obscurity. The earth is +pictured as a great structure placed over the Apsu and corresponding +in dimension with it—at least in one direction.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_431" id="Page_431">[Pg 431]</a></span></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>The lord measured out the structure of Apsu.</p> +<p>Corresponding to it, he fashioned a great structure<a name="FNanchor_736_736" id="FNanchor_736_736"></a><a href="#Footnote_736_736" class="fnanchor">[736]</a> Esharra.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Esharra is a poetical designation of the earth and signifies, +as Jensen has satisfactorily shown, "house of fullness"<a name="FNanchor_737_737" id="FNanchor_737_737"></a><a href="#Footnote_737_737" class="fnanchor">[737]</a> or +"house of fertility." The earth is regarded as a great structure, +and placed as it is over the Apsu, its size is dependent +upon the latter. Its measurement from one end to the other +cannot exceed the width of the Apsu, nor can it be any narrower. +The ends of the earth span the great Apsu. The following +line specifies the shape given to Esharra:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>The great structure Esharra, which he made as a heavenly vault.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The earth is not a sphere according to Babylonian ideas, but +a hollow hemisphere having an appearance exactly like the +vault of heaven, but placed in position beneath the heavenly +canopy. As a hemisphere it suggests the picture of a mountain, +rising at one end, mounting to a culminating point, and descending +at the other end. Hence by the side of Esharra, +another name by which the earth was known was Ekur, that +is, 'the mountain house.'</p> + +<p>Diodorus Seculus, in speaking of the Babylonian cosmology, +employs a happy illustration. He says that according to Babylonian +notions the world is a "boat turned upside down." The +kind of boat meant is, as Lenormant recognized,<a name="FNanchor_738_738" id="FNanchor_738_738"></a><a href="#Footnote_738_738" class="fnanchor">[738]</a> the deep-bottomed +round skiff with curved edges that is still used for +carrying loads across and along the Euphrates and Tigris, the +same kind of boat that the compilers of Genesis had in view +when describing Noah's Ark. The appearance in outline thus +presented by the three divisions of the universe—the heavens, +the earth, and the waters—would be that of two heavy rainbows,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_432" id="Page_432">[Pg 432]</a></span> +one beneath the other at some distance apart, resting +upon a large body of water that flows around the horizons of +both rainbows, and also fills the hollow of the second one.<a name="FNanchor_739_739" id="FNanchor_739_739"></a><a href="#Footnote_739_739" class="fnanchor">[739]</a> +The upper 'rainbow' is formed by one-half of the carcass of +Tiâmat stretched across in semi-circular shape; the lower one +is the great structure Esharra made by Marduk, while the Apsu +underneath is the dwelling of Ea. The creation epic, it may be +noted once more, takes much for granted. Its chief aim being +to glorify Marduk, but little emphasis is laid upon details of +interest to us. The parcelling out of these three divisions +among Anu, Bel, and Ea is therefore merely alluded to in the +closing line of the fourth tablet:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>He established the districts<a name="FNanchor_740_740" id="FNanchor_740_740"></a><a href="#Footnote_740_740" class="fnanchor">[740]</a> of Anu, Bel, and Ea.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The narrative assumes what we know from other sources, +that the heavens constitute the domain of Anu, Esharra belongs +to Bel, while Apsu belongs to Ea.</p> + +<p>The mention of the triad takes us away from popular myth +to the scholastic system as devised by the theologians. The +establishment of the triad in full control marks the introduction +of fixed order into the universe. All traces of Tiâmat have disappeared. +Anu, Bel, and Ea symbolize the eternal laws of the +universe.</p> + +<p>There are, as we have seen, two factors involved in the rôle +assigned to Marduk in the version of the creation epic under +consideration,—one the original character of the god as a solar +deity, the other the later position of the god as the head of the +Babylonian pantheon. In the 'epic,' the fight of Marduk with +Tiâmat belongs to Marduk as a solar deity. The myth is +based, as was above suggested,<a name="FNanchor_741_741" id="FNanchor_741_741"></a><a href="#Footnote_741_741" class="fnanchor">[741]</a> upon the annual phenomenon +witnessed in Babylonia when the whole valley is flooded and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_433" id="Page_433">[Pg 433]</a></span> +storms sweep across the plains. The sun is obscured. A +conflict is going on between the waters and storms, on the one +hand, and the sun, on the other hand. The latter finally is +victorious. Marduk subdues Tiâmat, fixes limitations to the +'upper and lower waters,' and triumphantly marches across +the heavens from one end to the other, as general overseer.</p> + +<p>This nature myth was admirably adapted to serve as the +point of departure for the enlargement of the rôle of Marduk, +rendered necessary by the advancement of the god to the head +of the pantheon. Everything had to be ascribed to Marduk. +Not merely humanity, but the gods also had to acknowledge, +and acknowledge freely, the supremacy of Marduk.</p> + +<p>The solar deity thus becomes a power at whose command the +laws of the universe are established, the earth created and all +that is on it. In thus making Marduk the single creator, the +theologians were as much under the influence of Marduk's +political supremacy, as they helped to confirm that supremacy +by their system. With this object in view, the annual phenomenon +was transformed into an account of what happened 'once +upon a time.'</p> + +<p>What impressed the thinkers most in the universe was the +regular working of the laws of nature. Ascribing these laws to +Marduk, they naturally pictured the beginnings of things as +a lawless period. Into the old and popular Marduk-Tiâmat +nature myth, certain touches were thus introduced that changed +its entire character. This once done, it was a comparatively +simple matter to follow up the conflict of Marduk and Tiâmat +by a series of acts on Marduk's part, completing the work of +general creation. The old nature myth ended with the conquest +of the rains and storm and the establishment of the sun's +regular course, precisely as the deluge story in Genesis, which +contains echoes of the Marduk-Tiâmat myth, ends with the +promulgation of the fixed laws of the universe.<a name="FNanchor_742_742" id="FNanchor_742_742"></a><a href="#Footnote_742_742" class="fnanchor">[742]</a></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_434" id="Page_434">[Pg 434]</a></span> +What follows upon this episode in the Babylonian epic is the +elaboration of the central theme, worked out in the schools of +Babylonian thought and intended, on the one hand, to illustrate +Marduk's position as creator and, on the other, to formulate +the details of the cosmological system.</p> + +<p>With the fifth tablet, therefore, we leave the domain of popular +myth completely and pass into the domain of cosmological +speculation. Fragmentary as the fifth tablet is, enough is preserved +to show that it assumes the perfection of the zodiacal +system of the Babylonian schools and the complete regulation<a name="FNanchor_743_743" id="FNanchor_743_743"></a><a href="#Footnote_743_743" class="fnanchor">[743]</a> +of the calendar. In this zodiacal system, as has been intimated +and as will be more fully set forth in a special chapter, the +planets and stars are identified with the gods. The gods have +their 'stations' and their 'pictures' in the starry sky. The +stars are the 'drawings' or 'designs of heaven.' It is Marduk +again who is represented as arranging these stations:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>He established the stations for the great gods.<a name="FNanchor_744_744" id="FNanchor_744_744"></a><a href="#Footnote_744_744" class="fnanchor">[744]</a></p> +<p>The stars, their likeness,<a name="FNanchor_745_745" id="FNanchor_745_745"></a><a href="#Footnote_745_745" class="fnanchor">[745]</a> he set up as constellations.<a name="FNanchor_746_746" id="FNanchor_746_746"></a><a href="#Footnote_746_746" class="fnanchor">[746]</a></p> +<p>He fixed the year and marked the divisions.<a name="FNanchor_747_747" id="FNanchor_747_747"></a><a href="#Footnote_747_747" class="fnanchor">[747]</a></p> +<p>The twelve months he divided among three stars.</p> +<p>From the beginning of the year till the close (?)</p> +<p>He established the station of Nibir<a name="FNanchor_748_748" id="FNanchor_748_748"></a><a href="#Footnote_748_748" class="fnanchor">[748]</a> to indicate their boundary.</p> +<p>So that there might be no deviation nor wandering away from the course</p> +<p>He established with him,<a name="FNanchor_749_749" id="FNanchor_749_749"></a><a href="#Footnote_749_749" class="fnanchor">[749]</a> the stations of Bel and Ea.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>An epitome of the astronomical science of the Babylonians is +comprised in these lines. The gods being identified with stars<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_435" id="Page_435">[Pg 435]</a></span> +and each of the latter having its place in the heavens 'to establish +the stations for the great gods' is equivalent to putting the +stars in position. The regulation of the year forms part of the +astronomical science. The three stars that constitute 'divisions' +to aid in marking off the months are Nibir, Bel, and Ea. That +the Babylonians had such a system as is here outlined is confirmed +by Diodorus Seculus.<a name="FNanchor_750_750" id="FNanchor_750_750"></a><a href="#Footnote_750_750" class="fnanchor">[750]</a> The position of Nibir, or Jupiter, +whose course keeps closer to the ecliptic than that of any other +planet, served as an important guide in calendrical calculations. +The stars are represented as clinging to their course through +maintaining their relationship to Nibir, while at the side of +Nibir and as additional guides, Bel is identified with the north +pole of the equator and Ea with a star in the extreme southern +heavens, to be sought for, perhaps, in the constellation Argo. +The description concludes:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>He attached large gates to both sides,</p> +<p>Made the bolt secure to the left and right.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The heavens are thus made firm by two gates, fastened with +bolts and placed at either end. Through one of these gates +the sun passes out in the morning, and at evening enters into +the other. But the most important body in the heavens is the +moon. Its functions are described in an interesting way:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>In the midst<a name="FNanchor_751_751" id="FNanchor_751_751"></a><a href="#Footnote_751_751" class="fnanchor">[751]</a> he made the zenith<a name="FNanchor_752_752" id="FNanchor_752_752"></a><a href="#Footnote_752_752" class="fnanchor">[752]</a> (?)</p> +<p>Nannar<a name="FNanchor_753_753" id="FNanchor_753_753"></a><a href="#Footnote_753_753" class="fnanchor">[753]</a> he caused to go forth and handed over to him<a href="#Footnote_753_753" class="fnanchor">[753]</a> the night.</p> +<p>He fixed him<a name="FNanchor_754_754" id="FNanchor_754_754"></a><a href="#Footnote_754_754" class="fnanchor">[754]</a> as the luminary of night to mark off the days.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The passage is made clear by a reference to the Book of +Genesis, i. 16, where we are told that the moon was created 'for +the rule of night.' A distinction between the Biblical and the +cuneiform cosmology at this point is no less significant. While<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_436" id="Page_436">[Pg 436]</a></span> +according to Babylonian ideas, the moon alone, or at most the +moon with the stars, regulates the days, the Hebrew version +makes the moon and sun together the basis for the regulation +of the 'days and years.' The sun according to Babylonian +notions does not properly belong to the heavens, since it passes +daily beyond the limits of the latter. The sun, therefore, plays +an insignificant part in the calendrical system in comparison +with the moon.</p> + +<p>Marduk addresses the moon, specifying its duties, what +position it is to occupy towards the sun at certain periods +during the monthly course, and the like. The tablet at this +point becomes defective, and before the address comes to an +end, we are left entirely in the lurch. To speculate as to the +further contents of the fifth tablet and of the sixth (of which +nothing has as yet been found) seems idle. Zimmern supposes +that after the heavenly phenomena had been disposed of, the +formation of the dry land and of the seas was taken up, and +Delitzsch is of the opinion that in the sixth tablet the creation +of plants and trees and animals was also recounted. I venture +to question whether the creation of the 'dry land and seas' was +specifically mentioned. Esharra, the earth, is in existence +and the Apsu appears to include all waters, but that the epic +treated of the creation of plant and animal life and then of the +creation of man is eminently likely. We have indeed a fragment +of a tablet<a name="FNanchor_755_755" id="FNanchor_755_755"></a><a href="#Footnote_755_755" class="fnanchor">[755]</a> in which the creation of the 'cattle of the +field, beasts of the field, and creeping things of the field' is +referred to; but since it is the 'gods who in unison' are there +represented as having created the animal kingdom, it is hardly +likely that the fragment forms part of our 'epic' in which all +deeds are ascribed to Marduk. It belongs in all probability to +a different cosmological version, but so much can be concluded +from it, that the Babylonians ascribed the creation of animals +to some divine power or powers; and that therefore our 'epic'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_437" id="Page_437">[Pg 437]</a></span> +must have contained a section in which this act was assigned +to Marduk.</p> + +<p>A similar variation exists with reference to the tradition of +the creation of mankind. There are distinct traces that the +belief was current in parts of Babylonia which made Ea the +creation of mankind.<a name="FNanchor_756_756" id="FNanchor_756_756"></a><a href="#Footnote_756_756" class="fnanchor">[756]</a> Ea, it will be recalled, is the 'god of +humanity' <i>par excellence</i>, and yet in the seventh (and probably +closing) tablet of the series, Marduk is spoken of as the one +"who created mankind."<a name="FNanchor_757_757" id="FNanchor_757_757"></a><a href="#Footnote_757_757" class="fnanchor">[757]</a></p> + +<p>Variant traditions of this kind point to the existence of +various centers of culture and thought in rivalry with one +another. The great paean to Marduk would have been sadly +incomplete had it not contained an account of the creation of +mankind—the crowning work of the universe—by the head of +the Babylonian pantheon. It is possible, therefore, that a tablet +containing the address of a deity to mankind belongs to our +series<a name="FNanchor_758_758" id="FNanchor_758_758"></a><a href="#Footnote_758_758" class="fnanchor">[758]</a> and embodies orders and warnings given by Marduk +after the creation of man, just as he addresses the moon after +establishing it in the heavens. Purity of heart is enjoined as +pleasing to the deity. Prayer and supplication and prostration +are also commanded. It is said that</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Fear of god begets mercy,</p> +<p>Sacrifice prolongs life,</p> +<p>And prayer dissolves sin.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The tablet continues in this strain. It is perhaps not the kind +of address that we would expect Marduk to make after the act +of creation, but for the present we must content ourselves with +this conjecture, as also with the supposition that the creation of +mankind constituted the final act in the great drama in which +Marduk is the hero.</p> + +<p>When Marduk's work is finished, the Igigi gather around +him in adoration. This scene is described in a tablet which for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_438" id="Page_438">[Pg 438]</a></span> +the present we may regard<a name="FNanchor_759_759" id="FNanchor_759_759"></a><a href="#Footnote_759_759" class="fnanchor">[759]</a> as the close of the series. No less +than fifty names are bestowed upon him by the gods, the +number fifty corresponding according to some traditions to the +number of the Igigi. Marduk accordingly absorbs the qualities +of all the gods. Such is the purpose of this tablet. The +diction is at times exceedingly impressive.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>God of pure life, they called [him] in the third place, the bearer of purification.</p> +<p>God of favorable wind,<a name="FNanchor_760_760" id="FNanchor_760_760"></a><a href="#Footnote_760_760" class="fnanchor">[760]</a> lord of response<a name="FNanchor_761_761" id="FNanchor_761_761"></a><a href="#Footnote_761_761" class="fnanchor">[761]</a> and of mercy,</p> +<p>Creator of abundance and fullness, granter of blessings,</p> +<p>Who increases the things that were small,</p> +<p>Whose favorable wind we experienced in sore distress.</p> +<p>Thus let them<a name="FNanchor_762_762" id="FNanchor_762_762"></a><a href="#Footnote_762_762" class="fnanchor">[762]</a> speak and glorify and be obedient to him.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The gods recall with gratitude Marduk's service in vanquishing +Tiâmat. Marduk is also praised for the mercy he showed +towards the associates of Tiâmat, whom he merely captured +without putting them to death.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>As the god of the shining crown in the fourth place, let them [<i>i.e.</i>, mankind] exalt him.</p> +<p>The lord of cleansing incantation, the restorer of the dead to life,</p> +<p>Who showed mercy towards the captured gods,</p> +<p>Removed the yoke from the gods who were hostile to him.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>A later fancy identified the 'captured gods' with eleven of the +heavenly constellations.<a name="FNanchor_763_763" id="FNanchor_763_763"></a><a href="#Footnote_763_763" class="fnanchor">[763]</a></p> + +<p>Mankind is enjoined not to forget Marduk</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Who created mankind out of kindness towards them,</p> +<p>The merciful one, with whom is the power of giving life.</p> +<p>May his deeds remain and never be forgotten</p> +<p>By humanity, created by his hands.</p> +</div></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_439" id="Page_439">[Pg 439]</a></span> +Among other names assigned to him are 'the one who knows +the heart of the gods,' 'who gathers the gods together,' 'who +rules in truth and justice.' In allusion again to his contest +with Tiâmat, he is called 'the destroyer of the enemy and of all +wicked ones,' 'who frustrates their plans.'</p> + +<p>With the help of a pun upon his having 'pierced' Tiâmat; he +is called Nibir, <i>i.e.</i>, the planet Jupiter.<a name="FNanchor_764_764" id="FNanchor_764_764"></a><a href="#Footnote_764_764" class="fnanchor">[764]</a></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Nibir be his name, who took hold of the life of Tiâmat.</p> +<p>The course of the stars of heaven may he direct.</p> +<p>May he pasture all of the gods like sheep.<a name="FNanchor_765_765" id="FNanchor_765_765"></a><a href="#Footnote_765_765" class="fnanchor">[765]</a></p> +</div></div> + +<p>But the climax is reached when, upon hearing what the Igigi +have done, the great gods, father Bel and father Ea cheerfully +bestow their own names upon Marduk.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Because he created the heavens and formed the earth</p> +<p>'Lord of Lands'<a name="FNanchor_766_766" id="FNanchor_766_766"></a><a href="#Footnote_766_766" class="fnanchor">[766]</a> father Bel called his name.</p> +<p>When he heard of all the names that the Igigi bestowed</p> +<p>Ea's liver rejoiced</p> +<p>That they had bestowed exalted names upon his son.</p> +<p>"He as I—Ea be his name.</p> +<p>The control of my commands be entrusted to him.</p> +<p>To him my orders shall be transmitted."</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The historical background to this transference of the name +of Bel has been dwelt upon in a previous chapter.<a name="FNanchor_767_767" id="FNanchor_767_767"></a><a href="#Footnote_767_767" class="fnanchor">[767]</a> This +"Marduk hymn" is to justify the transference of the rôle of the +older Bel of Nippur to the younger god Marduk. Throughout, +the tablet describing the contest of Marduk with Tiâmat, Marduk +is called Bel,<a name="FNanchor_768_768" id="FNanchor_768_768"></a><a href="#Footnote_768_768" class="fnanchor">[768]</a> and while this name is used in the generic +sense of "lord," the transference of the name of Bel to Marduk +is evidently introduced to account for his assuming the prerogatives<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_440" id="Page_440">[Pg 440]</a></span> +belonging to another god. The original 'lord' was En-lil +of Nippur. The sacred significance of ancient Nippur made +its patron deity the most important rival of Marduk. Bel +could not be disposed of as Ea, who by virtue of his mythological +relationships to Marduk—a solar deity—could be retained as +the father of Marduk. There was nothing left but for Marduk +to take the place of Bel. The constant introduction of the +epithet 'Bel' into the Tiâmat story points to an older version +in which Bel was the hero. In popular traditions, Bel continued +to be pictured as armed with mighty weapons,<a name="FNanchor_769_769" id="FNanchor_769_769"></a><a href="#Footnote_769_769" class="fnanchor">[769]</a> and, though ready +to inflict severe punishment for disobedience to his commands, +he engages in contests for the benefit of mankind. The earth +being his special sphere of action, what more natural than that +he should have had a prominent share in adapting it as a habitation +for mankind. He would be directly interested in fighting +the powers of darkness.</p> + +<p>In the weapons that Marduk employs, particularly the lightning +and the winds which belong to an atmospheric god rather +than a solar deity, we may discern traces of the older narrative +which has been combined with the Marduk-Tiâmat nature myth.<a name="FNanchor_770_770" id="FNanchor_770_770"></a><a href="#Footnote_770_770" class="fnanchor">[770]</a> +It may be that Kingu represents Bel's particular rival. In the narrative, +it will be recalled, the contest with Tiâmat is sharply separated +from that with Kingu and his associates. The division +that thus suggests itself between Marduk and Tiâmat, on the one +hand, Bel and the monsters with Kingu at their head, on the +other, may certainly be termed a natural one. The solar deity +Marduk disposed of the storms and rains of the winter, whereas, +a god of "that which is below,"<a name="FNanchor_771_771" id="FNanchor_771_771"></a><a href="#Footnote_771_771" class="fnanchor">[771]</a> <i>i.e.</i>, the earth and the +atmosphere immediately above the earth, would appropriately +be represented as ridding the earth of the monsters in order to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_441" id="Page_441">[Pg 441]</a></span> +prepare it as a habitation for mankind. Ea was not such a +serious rival to Marduk as the older Bel. Political rivalry +between Nippur and Babylonia probably contributed towards +the disposition to have Marduk completely absorb the rôle of +Bel, whereas, this rivalry being absent in the case of Eridu +(the original seat of Ea worship) and Babylon, the mythological +relations between Ea and Marduk led, as already pointed out, +in a perfectly natural way to making Marduk the son of Ea. +Still, while cheerfully acknowledged by Ea as his equal, it is +evident that in older traditions Ea was far superior to Marduk, +and the latter replaces Ea as he does Bel. The real creator +of mankind, according to certain traditions, is Ea, just as +in all probabilities a third tradition existed which arose +in Nippur giving to Bel that distinction. It is necessary, +therefore, for Ea to declare that Marduk's name (<i>i.e.</i>, his +power) is the same as Ea. The alteration of the traditions +is thus justified by a harmonistic theology. Marduk has +triumphed over Bel and Ea. The god of Babylon reigns +supreme, his sway acknowledged by those whom he supplants. +Marduk's declaration that in the event of his vanquishing +Tiâmat he will assume authority over all the gods is thus +formally confirmed. The epic closes grandiloquently:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>With fifty names, the great gods</p> +<p>According to their fifty names, proclaimed the supremacy of his course.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The compiler has added to the epic what Delitzsch appropriately +designates an 'epilogue,'—a declaration of affection for +Marduk. The epilogue consists of three stanzas. All mankind—royalty +and subjects—are called upon to bear in mind +Marduk's glorious deeds, achieved for the benefit of the world.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Let the wise and intelligent together ponder over it.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_442" id="Page_442">[Pg 442]</a></span>Let the father relate it and teach it to his son.<a name="FNanchor_772_772" id="FNanchor_772_772"></a><a href="#Footnote_772_772" class="fnanchor">[772]</a></p> +<p>To leader and shepherd<a name="FNanchor_773_773" id="FNanchor_773_773"></a><a href="#Footnote_773_773" class="fnanchor">[773]</a> be it told.</p> +<p>Let all rejoice in the lord of gods, Marduk</p> +<p>That he may cause his land to prosper and grant it peace.</p> +<p>His word is firm, his order irrevocable.</p> +<p>What issues from his mouth, no god can alter.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Marduk's anger, the poet says in closing, terrifies even the +gods, but he is a god upon whose mercy one may rely, though +he punishes the evil-doer.</p> + +<p>Bearing in mind the general nature of the creation epic +we have discussed, we must of course in our conclusions +distinguish between those elements in it which reflect the +intent of the compiler or compilers to glorify Marduk at +the expense of other gods and such parts as bear the stamp +of being generally accepted beliefs. Setting aside, therefore, +the special rôle assigned to Marduk, we find that the +Babylonians never developed a theory of real beginnings. +The <i>creatio ex nihilo</i> was a thought beyond the grasp even of +the schools. There was always <i>something</i>, and indeed there was +always a <i>great deal</i>—as much perhaps at the beginning of +things as at any other time. But there was no cosmic order. +Instead of a doctrine of creation, we have a doctrine of evolution +from chaos to the imposition of eternal laws. The +manifestation of these laws was seen first of all in the movements +of the heavenly bodies. There was a great expanse, +presenting the appearance of a stretched-out curtain or a +covering to which the stars and moon were attached. Along +this expanse the wandering stars moved with a certain regularity. +The moon, too, had its course mapped out and the sun +appeared in this expanse daily, as an overseer, passing along +the whole of it. This wonderful system was the first to be +perfected, and to the solar deity,<a name="FNanchor_774_774" id="FNanchor_774_774"></a><a href="#Footnote_774_774" class="fnanchor">[774]</a> which seemed to control +everything, was ascribed the distinction of having introduced +the heavenly order. This notion we may well believe was of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_443" id="Page_443">[Pg 443]</a></span> +popular origin, though elaborated in the schools to conform +to a developed astrological science.</p> + +<p>The stars and moon never passed beyond certain limits, and, +accordingly, the view was developed which gave to the canopy +of heaven fixed boundaries. At each end of the canopy was a +great gate, properly guarded. Through one of these the sun +passed in rising out of the ocean, through the other it passed +out when it had run its course. Learned speculation could not +improve upon this popular fancy. As the heavens had their +limitations, so also the great bodies of water were kept in check +by laws, which, though eternal, were yet not quite as inexorable +as those controlling the heavenly bodies. The yearly +overflow of the Euphrates and Tigris was too serious a matter to +be overlooked, and we shall see in a following chapter<a name="FNanchor_775_775" id="FNanchor_775_775"></a><a href="#Footnote_775_775" class="fnanchor">[775]</a> how +this phenomenon was interpreted as a rivalry between Bel and +Ea, deliberately caused by the former in anger toward mankind. +Still, as a general thing, the 'deep,' presided over by Ea, kept +within the limits assigned to it. The waters above the canopy +were under rigid control, and the lower waters flowed around +the earth and underneath it, and bordered the canopy of +heaven at its two ends.</p> + +<p>The earth itself was a vast hollow structure, erected as a +"place of fertility" under the canopy of heaven and resting +on the great 'deep.' Its vegetation was the gift of the gods. +'Fertility' summed up the law fixed for the earth. Much as in +the Book of Genesis, "to multiply and increase" was the order +proclaimed for the life with which the earth was filled.</p> + +<p>The creation of mankind was the last act in the great drama. +Assigned in some traditions to Ea, in others as it would seem +to Bel, the transfer of the traditions to Marduk is the deliberate +work of the schools of theological thought. The essential +point for us is that mankind, according to all traditions, is the +product of the gods. In some form or other, this belief was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_444" id="Page_444">[Pg 444]</a></span> +popularly held everywhere. Its original form, however, is obscured +beyond recognition by the theory which it is made to +serve.</p> + +<p>A second version of the course of creation<a name="FNanchor_776_776" id="FNanchor_776_776"></a><a href="#Footnote_776_776" class="fnanchor">[776]</a> agrees in the +main with the first one, but adds some points of interest. In +this version, likewise, Marduk is assigned the most important +rôle—an evidence that it was produced under similar influences +as the larger epic. So far as preserved, the second +version differs from the first in its brevity and in the prominence +given to such themes as the development of animal life +and the growth of civilization. It fills out to a certain degree +the gaps in the first version, due to the fragmentary +condition of the fifth tablet and the loss of the sixth. The +brevity of the second version is due in part to the fact that +it is introduced into an incantation text, and, what is more, +incidentally introduced.</p> + +<p>It begins as does the larger epic with the statement regarding +the period when the present phenomena of the universe were +not yet in existence, but it specifies the period in a manner +which gives a somewhat more definite character to the conception +of this ancient time.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>The bright house of the gods was not yet built on the bright place,</p> +<p>No reed grew and no tree was formed,</p> +<p>No brick was laid nor any brick edifice<a name="FNanchor_777_777" id="FNanchor_777_777"></a><a href="#Footnote_777_777" class="fnanchor">[777]</a> reared,</p> +<p>No house erected, no city built,</p> +<p>No city reared, no conglomeration<a name="FNanchor_778_778" id="FNanchor_778_778"></a><a href="#Footnote_778_778" class="fnanchor">[778]</a> formed.</p> +<p>Nippur was not reared, E-Kur<a name="FNanchor_779_779" id="FNanchor_779_779"></a><a href="#Footnote_779_779" class="fnanchor">[779]</a> not erected.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_445" id="Page_445">[Pg 445]</a></span>Erech was not reared, E-Anna<a name="FNanchor_780_780" id="FNanchor_780_780"></a><a href="#Footnote_780_780" class="fnanchor">[780]</a> not erected.</p> +<p>The deep<a name="FNanchor_781_781" id="FNanchor_781_781"></a><a href="#Footnote_781_781" class="fnanchor">[781]</a> not formed, Eridu<a name="FNanchor_782_782" id="FNanchor_782_782"></a><a href="#Footnote_782_782" class="fnanchor">[782]</a> not reared.</p> +<p>The bright house, the house of the gods not yet constructed as a dwelling.</p> +<p>The world<a name="FNanchor_783_783" id="FNanchor_783_783"></a><a href="#Footnote_783_783" class="fnanchor">[783]</a> was all a sea.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Again it will be observed that neither popular nor scholastic +speculation can picture the beginning of things in any other +way than as an absence of things characteristic of the <i>order</i> of +the universe.</p> + +<p>The bright<a name="FNanchor_784_784" id="FNanchor_784_784"></a><a href="#Footnote_784_784" class="fnanchor">[784]</a> house of the gods corresponds to Eshara and the +canopy of heaven in the first version. The gods are again identified +with the stars, and it is in the heavens—the bright place—that +the gods dwell.<a name="FNanchor_785_785" id="FNanchor_785_785"></a><a href="#Footnote_785_785" class="fnanchor">[785]</a> The reference to the absence of vegetation +agrees closely with the corresponding passage in the larger +creation epic. The limitations of the cosmological speculations +of the Babylonians find a striking illustration in the manner in +which the beginnings of human culture are placed on a level +with the beginnings of heavenly and terrestrial phenomena. +Nippur, Erech, and Eridu, which are thus shown to be the +oldest religious centers of the Euphrates Valley, were indissolubly +associated in the minds of the people with the beginning +of order in the universe. Such was the antiquity of those cities +as seats of the great gods, Bel, Ishtar, and Ea, that the time +when they did not exist was not differentiated from the creation +of the heavens and of plant life. This conception is more +clearly emphasized by the parallelism implied between Eridu +and the 'deep.' The 'formation' of Apsu corresponds to the +'structure' made by Marduk according to the first version, as +the seat of Ea. The waters were not created by Marduk, but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_446" id="Page_446">[Pg 446]</a></span> +they were confined by him within a certain space. In a vague +way, the 'deep' itself rested in a vast tub. The waters flowed +freely and yet not without limitation.</p> + +<p>The contest with Tiâmat is not referred to in this second +version, and this may be taken as an indication that the 'nature' +myth was not an ingredient part of cosmological speculations, +but only introduced into the first version because of its associations +with Marduk.</p> + +<p>The appearance of dry land is described somewhat vaguely +as follows:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>There was a channel<a name="FNanchor_786_786" id="FNanchor_786_786"></a><a href="#Footnote_786_786" class="fnanchor">[786]</a> within the sea.</p> +<p>At that time Eridu was erected, E-Sagila<a name="FNanchor_787_787" id="FNanchor_787_787"></a><a href="#Footnote_787_787" class="fnanchor">[787]</a> was built,</p> +<p>E-Sagila in the midst of the 'deep,' where the god of the glorious abode<a name="FNanchor_788_788" id="FNanchor_788_788"></a><a href="#Footnote_788_788" class="fnanchor">[788]</a> dwells.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The mention of the channel appears to imply that the waters +were permitted to flow off in a certain direction.</p> + +<p>The conception would then be similar to the view expressed +in Genesis, where the dry land appears in consequence of the +waters being 'gathered' into one place.<a name="FNanchor_789_789" id="FNanchor_789_789"></a><a href="#Footnote_789_789" class="fnanchor">[789]</a> The temple at Eridu +is regarded as synonymous with the city, as the temples E-Kur +and E-Anna are synonymous with Nippur and Erech respectively. +Eridu at the head of the Persian Gulf, which for the +Babylonians was the beginning of the great 'Okeanos' surrounding +the world,<a name="FNanchor_790_790" id="FNanchor_790_790"></a><a href="#Footnote_790_790" class="fnanchor">[790]</a> is the first dry land to appear and hence the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_447" id="Page_447">[Pg 447]</a></span> +oldest place in the world. At this point in the narrative a line +is interpolated which clearly betrays the lateness of the version. +The mention of E-Sagila suggests to a Babylonian, naturally, +the great temple of Marduk in the city of Babylon—'the lofty +house.' Local pride and the desire to connect Babylon with +the beginning of things leads to the insertion:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Babylon was reared, E-Sagila built.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>With this mention of Babylon, the connecting link is established +which leads easily to the glorification of Babylon and +Marduk. The thought once introduced is not abandoned. The +rest of the narrative, so far as preserved, is concerned with +Marduk. Eridu alone is beyond his jurisdiction. Everything +else, vegetation, mankind, rivers, animals, and all cities, including +even Nippur and Erech, are Marduk's work.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>The Anunnaki<a name="FNanchor_791_791" id="FNanchor_791_791"></a><a href="#Footnote_791_791" class="fnanchor">[791]</a> he<a name="FNanchor_792_792" id="FNanchor_792_792"></a><a href="#Footnote_792_792" class="fnanchor">[792]</a> created together</p> +<p>And bestowed glorious epithets upon the glorious city, the seat dear to their heart.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The 'glorious city' is Eridu, though the compiler would have +us apply it to Babylon.</p> + +<p>With the founding of Eridu, a limit was fixed for the 'deep.' +The rest of the dry land is formed according to the theory of +the writer by the extension of this place.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Marduk constructed an enclosure around the waters,</p> +<p>He made dust and heaped it up within the enclosure.<a name="FNanchor_793_793" id="FNanchor_793_793"></a><a href="#Footnote_793_793" class="fnanchor">[793]</a></p> +</div></div> + +<p>The <i>naïveté</i> of the conception justifies us in regarding it as +of popular origin, incorporated by the theologians into their +system.</p> + +<p>But this land is created primarily for the benefit of the gods.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>That the gods might dwell in the place dear to their heart.</p> +</div></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_448" id="Page_448">[Pg 448]</a></span> +Naturally not all of the gods are meant,—perhaps only the +Anunnaki,—for the great gods dwell in heaven. The creation +of mankind is next described, and is boldly ascribed to +Marduk.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Mankind he created.<a name="FNanchor_794_794" id="FNanchor_794_794"></a><a href="#Footnote_794_794" class="fnanchor">[794]</a></p> +</div></div> + +<p>In the following line, however, we come across a trace again +of an older tradition, which has been embodied in the narrative +in a rather awkward manner. Associated with Marduk in the +creation of mankind is a goddess Aruru.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>The goddess Aruru created the seed of men together with him.<a name="FNanchor_795_795" id="FNanchor_795_795"></a><a href="#Footnote_795_795" class="fnanchor">[795]</a></p> +</div></div> + +<p>We encounter this goddess Aruru in the Gilgamesh epic,<a name="FNanchor_796_796" id="FNanchor_796_796"></a><a href="#Footnote_796_796" class="fnanchor">[796]</a> +where she is represented as creating a human being,—Eabani; +and, curiously enough, she creates him in agreement with the +Biblical tradition, out of a lump of clay. It has already been +pointed out that according to one tradition Ea is the creator +of mankind,<a name="FNanchor_797_797" id="FNanchor_797_797"></a><a href="#Footnote_797_797" class="fnanchor">[797]</a> and the conjecture has also been advanced +that at Nippur, Bel was so regarded. In Aruru we have +evidently a figure to whom another tradition, that arose in some +district, ascribed the honor of having created mankind. The +Gilgamesh story is connected with the city of Erech, and it is +probable that the tale—at least in part—originated there. It +becomes plausible, therefore, to trace the tradition ascribing the +creation of man to Aruru to the same place. A passage in the +Deluge story, which forms an episode of the Gilgamesh epic, adds +some force to this conjecture. After the dreadful deluge has +come, Ishtar breaks out in wild lament that mankind, her offspring, +has perished: "What I created, where is it?"<a name="FNanchor_798_798" id="FNanchor_798_798"></a><a href="#Footnote_798_798" class="fnanchor">[798]</a> She +is called 'the mistress of the gods,'<a name="FNanchor_799_799" id="FNanchor_799_799"></a><a href="#Footnote_799_799" class="fnanchor">[799]</a> and if Jensen is correct in +an ingenious restoration of a defective text,<a name="FNanchor_800_800" id="FNanchor_800_800"></a><a href="#Footnote_800_800" class="fnanchor">[800]</a> Aruru is given<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_449" id="Page_449">[Pg 449]</a></span> +the same epithet in a lexicographical tablet. The Ishtar occurring +in the Gilgamesh story is the old Ishtar of Erech. I venture +to suggest, therefore, that Aruru and Ishtar of Erech are +one and the same personage. Ishtar is, of course, as has been +pointed out, merely a generic name<a name="FNanchor_801_801" id="FNanchor_801_801"></a><a href="#Footnote_801_801" class="fnanchor">[801]</a> for the 'great goddess' +worshipped under many forms. The more specific name by +which Ishtar of Erech was known was Nanâ, but Nanâ +again is nothing but an epithet, meaning, as the Babylonians +themselves interpreted it, the 'lady' <i>par excellence</i>. Have we +perhaps in Aruru the real name of the old goddess of Erech? +At all events, the occurrence of Aruru in this second 'creation' +story points to her as belonging to the district of which Erech +was the center. In this way, each one of the three most ancient +sacred towns of Babylonia would have its 'creator,'—Bel in +Nippur, Ea in Eridu, and Aruru in Erech. The chief deity of +Erech, it will be recalled, was always a goddess,—a circumstance +that supports the association of Aruru with that place. +Aruru being a goddess, it was not so easy to have Marduk +take up her rôle, as he supplanted Bel. Again, Erech and +Babylon were not political rivals to the degree that Nippur and +Babylon were. Accordingly a compromise was effected, as in the +case of Marduk and Ea. Aruru is associated with Marduk. +She creates mankind with Marduk, and it would seem to be a +consequence of this association that the name of Marduk's real +consort, Sarpanitum, is playfully but with intent interpreted by +the Babylonian pedants as 'seed-producing.'<a name="FNanchor_802_802" id="FNanchor_802_802"></a><a href="#Footnote_802_802" class="fnanchor">[802]</a></p> + +<p>Our second version thus turns out to be, like the first, an +adaptation of old traditions to new conditions. Babylon and +Marduk are designedly introduced. In the original form Nippur, +Eridu, and Erech alone figured, and presumably, therefore, +only the deities of these three places. Among them the work +of creation was in some way parceled out. This distribution<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_450" id="Page_450">[Pg 450]</a></span> +may itself have been the result of a combination of independent +traditions. In any early combination, however, we may feel +certain that Marduk was not introduced.</p> + +<p>After this incidental mention of Aruru, the narrative passes +back undisturbed to Marduk.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>The animals of the field, the living creatures of the field he created,</p> +<p>The Tigris and Euphrates he formed in their places, gave them good names,</p> +<p>Soil (?), grass, the marsh, reed, and forest he created,</p> +<p>The verdure of the field he produced,</p> +<p>The lands, the marsh, and thicket,</p> +<p>The wild cow with her young, the young wild ox,</p> +<p>The ewe with her young, the sheep of the fold,</p> +<p>Parks and forests,</p> +<p>The goat and wild goat he brought forth.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The text at this point becomes defective, but we can still +make out that the clay as building material is created by Marduk, +and that he constructs houses and rears cities. Corresponding +to the opening lines, we may supply several lines as +follows:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Houses he erected, cities he built,</p> +<p>Cities he built, dwellings he prepared,</p> +<p>Nippur he built, E-Kur he erected,</p> +<p>Erech he built, E-Anna he erected.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Here the break in the tablet begins.</p> + +<p>The new points derived from this second version are, (<i>a</i>) the +details in the creation of the animal and plant world, (<i>b</i>) the +mention of Aruru as the mother of mankind, and (<i>c</i>) the inclusion +of human culture in the story of the 'beginnings.'</p> + +<p>Before leaving the subject, a brief comparison of these two +versions with the opening chapters of Genesis is called for. +That the Hebrew and Babylonian traditions spring from a common +source is so evident as to require no further proof. The +agreements are too close to be accidental. At the same time,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_451" id="Page_451">[Pg 451]</a></span> +the variations in detail point to independent elaboration of the +traditions on the part of the Hebrews and Babylonians.</p> + +<p>A direct borrowing from the Babylonians has not taken place, +and while the Babylonian records are in all probabilities much +older than the Hebrew, the latter again contain elements, as +Gunkel has shown, of a more primitive character than the Babylonian +production. This relationship can only be satisfactorily +explained on the assumption that the Hebrews possessed the +traditions upon which the Genesis narrative rests long before +the period of the Babylonian exile, when the story appears, +indeed, to have received its final and present shape. The +essential features of the Babylonian cosmology formed part of +a stock of traditions that Hebrews and Babylonians (and probably +others) received from some common source or, to put it +more vaguely, held in common from a period, the limits of which +can no longer be determined. While the two Babylonian versions +agree in the main, embodying the same general traditions +regarding the creation of the heavenly bodies and containing +the same general conception of an evolution in the world from +confusion and caprice to order, and the establishment of law, +the variations in regard to the terrestrial phenomena must not +be overlooked. According to the first version, mankind appears +as the last episode of creation; in the second, mankind precedes +vegetation and animal life.</p> + +<p>If we now take up the two versions of creation found in +Genesis, we will see that the same differences may be observed. +According to the first, the so-called Elohistic version,<a name="FNanchor_803_803" id="FNanchor_803_803"></a><a href="#Footnote_803_803" class="fnanchor">[803]</a> mankind +is not created until the last day of creation; according to the +second,<a name="FNanchor_804_804" id="FNanchor_804_804"></a><a href="#Footnote_804_804" class="fnanchor">[804]</a> the so-called Yahwistic version, mankind is first +created, then a garden is made and trees are planted. After +that, the beasts of the field and the birds of heaven are called +into existence.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_452" id="Page_452">[Pg 452]</a></span> +The resemblance of the second Babylonian version to the +Yahwistic version extends even to certain phrases which they +have in common. The opening words of the Yahwist—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>And no plant of the field was yet in the earth, and no herb of the field +had yet sprung up—</p></div> + +<p>might serve almost as a translation of the second line of the +Babylonian counterpart. The reference to the Tigris and +Euphrates in the second Babylonian version reminds one of +the four streams mentioned in the Yahwistic version, two of +which are likewise the Tigris and Euphrates. Again, Tiâmat +is mentioned only in the first Babylonian version, and T'hôm +similarly only in the Elohistic version; while, on the other hand, +the building of cities is included in the Yahwistic version,<a name="FNanchor_805_805" id="FNanchor_805_805"></a><a href="#Footnote_805_805" class="fnanchor">[805]</a> as +it forms part of the second Babylonian version. The points +mentioned suffice to show that the Elohistic version is closely +related to the larger creation epic of the Babylonians, while the +Yahwistic version—more concise, too, than the Elohistic—agrees +to an astonishing degree with the second and more +concise Babylonian record.</p> + +<p>The conclusion, therefore, is justified that the variations +between the Babylonian versions rest upon varying traditions +that must have arisen in different places. The attempt was +made to combine these traditions by the Babylonians, and +among the Hebrews we may see the result of a similar attempt +in the first two or, more strictly speaking, in the first three +chapters of Genesis. At the same time, the manner in which +both traditions have been worked over by the Hebrew compilers +of Genesis precludes, as has been pointed out, the theory of a +direct borrowing from cuneiform documents. The climatic +conditions involved in the Hebrew versions are those peculiar +to Babylonia. It is in Babylonia that the thought would +naturally arise of making the world begin with the close of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_453" id="Page_453">[Pg 453]</a></span> +storms and rains in the spring. The Terahites must therefore +have brought these cosmological traditions with them upon +migrating from the Euphrates Valley to the Jordan district.</p> + +<p>The traditions retained their hold through all the vicissitudes +that the people underwent. The intercourse, political and commercial, +between Palestine and Mesopotamia was uninterrupted, +as we now know, from at least the fifteenth century before our +era down to the taking of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, and this +constant intercourse was no doubt an important factor in maintaining +the life of the old traditions that bound the two peoples +together. The so-called Babylonian exile brought Hebrews and +Babylonians once more side by side. Under the stimulus of +this direct contact, the final shape was given by Hebrew writers +to their cosmological speculations. Yahwe is assigned the rôle +of Bel-Marduk, the division of the work of creation into six +days is definitely made,<a name="FNanchor_806_806" id="FNanchor_806_806"></a><a href="#Footnote_806_806" class="fnanchor">[806]</a> and some further modifications introduced. +While, as emphasized, this final shape is due to the +independent elaboration of the common traditions, and, what +is even more to the point, shows an independent <i>interpretation</i> +of the traditions, it is by no means impossible, but on the contrary +quite probable, that the final compilers of the Hebrew +versions had before them the cuneiform tablets, embodying the +literary form given to the traditions by Babylonian writers.<a name="FNanchor_807_807" id="FNanchor_807_807"></a><a href="#Footnote_807_807" class="fnanchor">[807]</a> +Such a circumstance, while not implying direct borrowing, +would account for the close parallels existing between the two +Hebrew and the two Babylonian versions, and would also +furnish a motive to the Hebrew writers for embodying <i>two</i> +versions in their narrative.</p> + +<h3><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_454" id="Page_454">[Pg 454]</a></span>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_680_680" id="Footnote_680_680"></a><a href="#FNanchor_680_680"><span class="label">[680]</span></a> The so-called Elohistic version, Gen. i. 1-ii. 4; the +Yahwistic version, Gen. ii. 5-24. Traces have been found in various +portions of the Old Testament of other popular versions regarding +creation. See Gunkel, <i>Schöpfung und Chaos</i>, pp. 29-114, 119-121.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_681_681" id="Footnote_681_681"></a><a href="#FNanchor_681_681"><span class="label">[681]</span></a> Gunkel, <i>ib.</i> pp. 28, 29. What Sayce (<i>e.g.</i>, +<i>Rec. of the Past</i>, N. S., I. 147, 148) calls the 'Cuthaean legend +of the creation' contains, similarly, a variant description of Tiâmat +and her brood.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_682_682" id="Footnote_682_682"></a><a href="#FNanchor_682_682"><span class="label">[682]</span></a> Published by Pinches, <i>Journal Royal Asiat. Soc.</i>, +1891, pp. 393-408.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_683_683" id="Footnote_683_683"></a><a href="#FNanchor_683_683"><span class="label">[683]</span></a> Complete publication by Delitzsch, <i>Das Babylonische +Weltschöpfungsepos</i> (Leipzig, 1896) with elaborate commentary.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_684_684" id="Footnote_684_684"></a><a href="#FNanchor_684_684"><span class="label">[684]</span></a> See Zimmern in Gunkel's <i>Schöpfung und Chaos</i>, pp. +415, 416, and on the other side, Delitzsch, <i>Babylonische +Weltschöpfungsepos</i>, p. 20. Zimmern's doubts are justified.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_685_685" id="Footnote_685_685"></a><a href="#FNanchor_685_685"><span class="label">[685]</span></a> <i>Proc. Soc. Bibl. Arch.</i> vi. 7.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_686_686" id="Footnote_686_686"></a><a href="#FNanchor_686_686"><span class="label">[686]</span></a> <i>Zeits. f. Assyr.</i> viii. 121-124. Delitzsch, in his +<i>Babylonische Weltschöpfungsepos</i>, pp. 61-68, has elaborately set +forth the principles of the poetic composition. See also D. H. Mueller, +<i>Die Propheten in ihrer ursprünglichen Form</i>, pp. 5-14.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_687_687" id="Footnote_687_687"></a><a href="#FNanchor_687_687"><span class="label">[687]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, did not exist. To be 'called' or to 'bear a +name' meant to be called into existence.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_688_688" id="Footnote_688_688"></a><a href="#FNanchor_688_688"><span class="label">[688]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, of the waters.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_689_689" id="Footnote_689_689"></a><a href="#FNanchor_689_689"><span class="label">[689]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, of heaven and earth.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_690_690" id="Footnote_690_690"></a><a href="#FNanchor_690_690"><span class="label">[690]</span></a> The word used is obscure. Jensen and Zimmern render "reed." +Delitzsch, I think, comes nearer the real meaning with "marsh." See +Haupt's translation, <i>Proc. Amer. Oriental Soc.</i>, 1896, p. 161.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_691_691" id="Footnote_691_691"></a><a href="#FNanchor_691_691"><span class="label">[691]</span></a> Delitzsch supplies a parallel phrase like "periods +elapsed."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_692_692" id="Footnote_692_692"></a><a href="#FNanchor_692_692"><span class="label">[692]</span></a> Supplied from Damascius' extract of the work of Berosus on +Babylonia. See Cory, <i>Ancient Fragments</i>, p. 92; Delitzsch, +<i>Babylonische Weltschöpfungsepos</i>, p. 94.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_693_693" id="Footnote_693_693"></a><a href="#FNanchor_693_693"><span class="label">[693]</span></a> The <i>ô</i> is represented in Babylonian by <i>â</i>, and +the ending <i>at</i> in Tiâmat is an affix which stamps the Babylonian +name as feminine. T'hôm in Hebrew is likewise a feminine noun, but it +should be noted that at a certain stage in the development of the +Semitic languages, the feminine is hardly distinguishable from the +plural and collective.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_694_694" id="Footnote_694_694"></a><a href="#FNanchor_694_694"><span class="label">[694]</span></a> Gunkel, <i>Schöpfung und Chaos</i>, pp. 29-82, 379-398.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_695_695" id="Footnote_695_695"></a><a href="#FNanchor_695_695"><span class="label">[695]</span></a> For our purposes it is sufficient to refer for the +relations existing between Damascius and the cuneiform records to +Smith's <i>Chaldaeische Genesis</i>, pp. 63-66, to Lenormant's <i>Essai +de Commentaire sur les fragments Cosmogoniques de Berose</i>, pp. 67 +<i>seq.</i>, and to Jensen's <i>Kosmologie der Babylonier</i>, pp. +270-272.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_696_696" id="Footnote_696_696"></a><a href="#FNanchor_696_696"><span class="label">[696]</span></a> The names are given by Damascius as <i>Apasôn</i> and +<i>Tauthe</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_697_697" id="Footnote_697_697"></a><a href="#FNanchor_697_697"><span class="label">[697]</span></a> Suggested by Professor Haupt (Schrader, <i>Cuneiform +Inscriptions and the Old Testament</i>, p. 7).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_698_698" id="Footnote_698_698"></a><a href="#FNanchor_698_698"><span class="label">[698]</span></a> Hommel, <i>Proc. Soc. Bibl. Arch.</i>, xviii. 19.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_699_699" id="Footnote_699_699"></a><a href="#FNanchor_699_699"><span class="label">[699]</span></a> See Jensen, <i>Kosmologie</i>, pp. 224, 225.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_700_700" id="Footnote_700_700"></a><a href="#FNanchor_700_700"><span class="label">[700]</span></a> Agumkakrimi Inscription (VR. 33, iv. 50); Nabonnedos +(Cylinder, VR. 64, ll. 16, 17).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_701_701" id="Footnote_701_701"></a><a href="#FNanchor_701_701"><span class="label">[701]</span></a> Cory's <i>Ancient Fragments</i>, p. 58.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_702_702" id="Footnote_702_702"></a><a href="#FNanchor_702_702"><span class="label">[702]</span></a> See above, pp. <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_703_703" id="Footnote_703_703"></a><a href="#FNanchor_703_703"><span class="label">[703]</span></a> See above, pp. <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_704_704" id="Footnote_704_704"></a><a href="#FNanchor_704_704"><span class="label">[704]</span></a> I avoid the term "Sumerian" here, because I feel convinced +that the play on Anshar is of an entirely artificial character and has +no philological basis.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_705_705" id="Footnote_705_705"></a><a href="#FNanchor_705_705"><span class="label">[705]</span></a> See below, pp. <a href="#Page_421">421</a>-423.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_706_706" id="Footnote_706_706"></a><a href="#FNanchor_706_706"><span class="label">[706]</span></a> IIR. 54, no. 3.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_707_707" id="Footnote_707_707"></a><a href="#FNanchor_707_707"><span class="label">[707]</span></a> For a different interpretation of the phrase, see Jensen, +<i>Kosmologie</i>, pp. 273, 274.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_708_708" id="Footnote_708_708"></a><a href="#FNanchor_708_708"><span class="label">[708]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_107">107</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_709_709" id="Footnote_709_709"></a><a href="#FNanchor_709_709"><span class="label">[709]</span></a> <i>Babylonische Weltschöpfungsepos</i>, p. 94.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_710_710" id="Footnote_710_710"></a><a href="#FNanchor_710_710"><span class="label">[710]</span></a> Cory's <i>Ancient Fragments</i>, p. 58.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_711_711" id="Footnote_711_711"></a><a href="#FNanchor_711_711"><span class="label">[711]</span></a> An epithet descriptive of Tiâmat. "Ummu" is "mother" and +"khubur" signifies "hollow"; "mother of the hollow" would be a poetic +expression for "source of the deep," and an appropriate term to apply to +Tiâmat. It has nothing to do with Omoroka. The latter, as Wright has +shown, is a corruption of "O Marduk" (<i>Zeits. f. Assyr</i>. x. +71-74).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_712_712" id="Footnote_712_712"></a><a href="#FNanchor_712_712"><span class="label">[712]</span></a> The word used is Lakhami, the plural of Lakhamu.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_713_713" id="Footnote_713_713"></a><a href="#FNanchor_713_713"><span class="label">[713]</span></a> This scene, the description of the monsters and the +installation of Kingu, occurs four times in the 'Epic.' See p. 424.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_714_714" id="Footnote_714_714"></a><a href="#FNanchor_714_714"><span class="label">[714]</span></a> Delitzsch, <i>Babylonische Weltschöpfungsepos</i>, p. 25.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_715_715" id="Footnote_715_715"></a><a href="#FNanchor_715_715"><span class="label">[715]</span></a> Cory, <i>ib.</i> p. 92.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_716_716" id="Footnote_716_716"></a><a href="#FNanchor_716_716"><span class="label">[716]</span></a> "The chamber of fates" where Marduk sits on New Year's Day +and decides the fate of mankind for the ensuing year. Jensen and Zimmern +read <i>upshugina</i>, but see Delitzsch, <i>Babylonische +Weltschöpfungsepos,</i> p. 135.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_717_717" id="Footnote_717_717"></a><a href="#FNanchor_717_717"><span class="label">[717]</span></a> The deity is mentioned by Sennacherib (Meissner-Host, +<i>Bauinschriften</i>, p. 108). See above, p. 238.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_718_718" id="Footnote_718_718"></a><a href="#FNanchor_718_718"><span class="label">[718]</span></a> In the first tablet, in the second in connection with the +mission of Anu, and twice in the third in connection with Marduk's +visit.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_719_719" id="Footnote_719_719"></a><a href="#FNanchor_719_719"><span class="label">[719]</span></a> Tiâmat's presence.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_720_720" id="Footnote_720_720"></a><a href="#FNanchor_720_720"><span class="label">[720]</span></a> Called Nudimmud. Delitzsch, <i>Babylonische +Weltschöpfungsepos</i>, p. 99, questions the identity with Ea, but his +skepticism is unwarranted, though the title is also used of Bel.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_721_721" id="Footnote_721_721"></a><a href="#FNanchor_721_721"><span class="label">[721]</span></a> Here used to comprise the army of Tiâmat.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_722_722" id="Footnote_722_722"></a><a href="#FNanchor_722_722"><span class="label">[722]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, thy power is equal to that of Anu.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_723_723" id="Footnote_723_723"></a><a href="#FNanchor_723_723"><span class="label">[723]</span></a> Exod. iv. 2-8; other parallels might be adduced.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_724_724" id="Footnote_724_724"></a><a href="#FNanchor_724_724"><span class="label">[724]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, far off.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_725_725" id="Footnote_725_725"></a><a href="#FNanchor_725_725"><span class="label">[725]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, that a wind might not carry her off.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_726_726" id="Footnote_726_726"></a><a href="#FNanchor_726_726"><span class="label">[726]</span></a> Adding three to the ordinary winds from the four directions.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_727_727" id="Footnote_727_727"></a><a href="#FNanchor_727_727"><span class="label">[727]</span></a> For the explanation of the term used in the +original—<i>kirbish</i>—see Delitzsch's excellent remarks, +<i>Babylonische Weltschöpfungsepos.</i> pp. 132-134.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_728_728" id="Footnote_728_728"></a><a href="#FNanchor_728_728"><span class="label">[728]</span></a> Lit., 'storm,'—perhaps the thunderbolt, as Delitzsch suggests.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_729_729" id="Footnote_729_729"></a><a href="#FNanchor_729_729"><span class="label">[729]</span></a> Marduk.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_730_730" id="Footnote_730_730"></a><a href="#FNanchor_730_730"><span class="label">[730]</span></a> She lost her reason.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_731_731" id="Footnote_731_731"></a><a href="#FNanchor_731_731"><span class="label">[731]</span></a> Gasping, as it were, for breath.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_732_732" id="Footnote_732_732"></a><a href="#FNanchor_732_732"><span class="label">[732]</span></a> Cory's <i>Ancient Fragments</i>, p. 49.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_733_733" id="Footnote_733_733"></a><a href="#FNanchor_733_733"><span class="label">[733]</span></a> Lit., 'places,' here used as a synonym for 'heavens,' as an +Assyrian commentator expressly states. See Delitzsch's remarks +(<i>Babylonische Weltschöpfungsepos</i>, p. 147) against Jensen's and +Zimmern's interpretation.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_734_734" id="Footnote_734_734"></a><a href="#FNanchor_734_734"><span class="label">[734]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, Ea. See above, p. <a href="#Page_424">424</a>, <a href="#Footnote_720_720" class="fnanchor">note 3</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_735_735" id="Footnote_735_735"></a><a href="#FNanchor_735_735"><span class="label">[735]</span></a> The complete proof is brought by Jensen, <i>Kosmologie</i>, +pp. 246-253.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_736_736" id="Footnote_736_736"></a><a href="#FNanchor_736_736"><span class="label">[736]</span></a> To render the word used as "Palace" (so Delitzsch), while +not incorrect, is somewhat misleading.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_737_737" id="Footnote_737_737"></a><a href="#FNanchor_737_737"><span class="label">[737]</span></a> <i>Kosmologie</i>, p. 199.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_738_738" id="Footnote_738_738"></a><a href="#FNanchor_738_738"><span class="label">[738]</span></a> <i>Magie und Wahrsagekunst der Chaldaer</i>, p. 163.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_739_739" id="Footnote_739_739"></a><a href="#FNanchor_739_739"><span class="label">[739]</span></a> See the illustration in Jensen's <i>Kosmologie</i>, pl. 3.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_740_740" id="Footnote_740_740"></a><a href="#FNanchor_740_740"><span class="label">[740]</span></a> The word used also means "cities." A Babylonian district is +naught but an extended city.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_741_741" id="Footnote_741_741"></a><a href="#FNanchor_741_741"><span class="label">[741]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_429">429</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_742_742" id="Footnote_742_742"></a><a href="#FNanchor_742_742"><span class="label">[742]</span></a> Gen. viii. 22.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_743_743" id="Footnote_743_743"></a><a href="#FNanchor_743_743"><span class="label">[743]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_370">370</a>, and <a href="#chapter-xxii">chapter xxii</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_744_744" id="Footnote_744_744"></a><a href="#FNanchor_744_744"><span class="label">[744]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, for each of the great gods.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_745_745" id="Footnote_745_745"></a><a href="#FNanchor_745_745"><span class="label">[745]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, of the gods.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_746_746" id="Footnote_746_746"></a><a href="#FNanchor_746_746"><span class="label">[746]</span></a> A particular group of stars—the <i>mashi</i> stars—is +mentioned, but the term seems to be used in a rather general sense. I +cannot share Delitzsch's extreme skepticism with regard to the +interpretation of the fifth tablet. Jensen seems to have solved the +chief difficulties.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_747_747" id="Footnote_747_747"></a><a href="#FNanchor_747_747"><span class="label">[747]</span></a> Jensen and Zimmern interpret "he drew the pictures," +referring the phrase to the contours of the stars; but the parallelism +speaks in favor of connecting the words with the "year." The divisions +of the year or seasons seem to be meant.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_748_748" id="Footnote_748_748"></a><a href="#FNanchor_748_748"><span class="label">[748]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, the planet Marduk, or Jupiter.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_749_749" id="Footnote_749_749"></a><a href="#FNanchor_749_749"><span class="label">[749]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, with Nibir.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_750_750" id="Footnote_750_750"></a><a href="#FNanchor_750_750"><span class="label">[750]</span></a> See Jensen, <i>Kosmologie</i>, p. 354. George Smith already +interpreted the passage in this way.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_751_751" id="Footnote_751_751"></a><a href="#FNanchor_751_751"><span class="label">[751]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, of the heavens. Delitzsch renders "Schwerpunkt."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_752_752" id="Footnote_752_752"></a><a href="#FNanchor_752_752"><span class="label">[752]</span></a> Text <i>elàti</i>. Jensen, Zimmern, and Halévy translate +"zenith," but Delitzsch questions this.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_753_753" id="Footnote_753_753"></a><a href="#FNanchor_753_753"><span class="label">[753]</span></a> The moon-god.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_754_754" id="Footnote_754_754"></a><a href="#FNanchor_754_754"><span class="label">[754]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, the moon.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_755_755" id="Footnote_755_755"></a><a href="#FNanchor_755_755"><span class="label">[755]</span></a> Published by Delitzsch, <i>Assyrische Lesestücke</i> (3d +edition), p. 94.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_756_756" id="Footnote_756_756"></a><a href="#FNanchor_756_756"><span class="label">[756]</span></a> See the proof as put together by Jensen, <i>Kosmologie</i>, +pp. 293, 294.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_757_757" id="Footnote_757_757"></a><a href="#FNanchor_757_757"><span class="label">[757]</span></a> Line 15.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_758_758" id="Footnote_758_758"></a><a href="#FNanchor_758_758"><span class="label">[758]</span></a> So Delitzsch, <i>Babylonische Weltschöpfungsepos</i>, pp. +19, 20.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_759_759" id="Footnote_759_759"></a><a href="#FNanchor_759_759"><span class="label">[759]</span></a> Following Delitzsch, <i>Babylonische +Weltschöpfungsepos</i>, pp. 20, 21. I pass over two fragments which +Delitzsch adds to our 'epic.' They are not sufficiently clear to be +utilized for our purposes. Delitzsch may be right with regard to no. 20, +but if so, it forms part or another version of the Marduk-Tiâmat +episode. No. 19, treating of the bow of Marduk (?), does not seem to +belong to our series.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_760_760" id="Footnote_760_760"></a><a href="#FNanchor_760_760"><span class="label">[760]</span></a> A standing phrase for "favor" in general.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_761_761" id="Footnote_761_761"></a><a href="#FNanchor_761_761"><span class="label">[761]</span></a> To prayer.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_762_762" id="Footnote_762_762"></a><a href="#FNanchor_762_762"><span class="label">[762]</span></a> The gods or the Igigi.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_763_763" id="Footnote_763_763"></a><a href="#FNanchor_763_763"><span class="label">[763]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_486">486</a> and Gunkel's note, <i>Schöpfung und Chaos</i>, +p. 26.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_764_764" id="Footnote_764_764"></a><a href="#FNanchor_764_764"><span class="label">[764]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_434">434</a>. The play is between Nibir (as though +from the stem <i>ebêru</i>) and <i>itebbiru</i> ("he pierced"), a form +of <i>ebêru</i>, and meaning 'to pass through.'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_765_765" id="Footnote_765_765"></a><a href="#FNanchor_765_765"><span class="label">[765]</span></a> This metaphor is carried over into astronomical science. +The planets are known as "wandering sheep." See p. <a href="#Page_459">459</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_766_766" id="Footnote_766_766"></a><a href="#FNanchor_766_766"><span class="label">[766]</span></a> <i>Bêl matâte</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_767_767" id="Footnote_767_767"></a><a href="#FNanchor_767_767"><span class="label">[767]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_118">118</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_768_768" id="Footnote_768_768"></a><a href="#FNanchor_768_768"><span class="label">[768]</span></a> Similarly in another version of the contest published by +Delitzsch, <i>Assyr. Wörterbuch</i>, p. 390.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_769_769" id="Footnote_769_769"></a><a href="#FNanchor_769_769"><span class="label">[769]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_770_770" id="Footnote_770_770"></a><a href="#FNanchor_770_770"><span class="label">[770]</span></a> Tiele (<i>Gesch. der Religion im Alterthum</i>, I. 176) +assigns to Marduk a double character, making him both a god of light and +a god of storms, but I venture to think that the latter attribute +represents the transference of En-lil's power to Marduk.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_771_771" id="Footnote_771_771"></a><a href="#FNanchor_771_771"><span class="label">[771]</span></a> So Bel is called in contrast to Anu. See p. 53.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_772_772" id="Footnote_772_772"></a><a href="#FNanchor_772_772"><span class="label">[772]</span></a> One is reminded of the Biblical injunction with regard to +the Laws of Yahwe, Deut. vi. 7: "Thou shall teach them to thy sons and +speak constantly of them."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_773_773" id="Footnote_773_773"></a><a href="#FNanchor_773_773"><span class="label">[773]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, to the kings who are frequently called +'shepherds' in the historical texts.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_774_774" id="Footnote_774_774"></a><a href="#FNanchor_774_774"><span class="label">[774]</span></a> Or, according to the earlier view, to an atmospheric god.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_775_775" id="Footnote_775_775"></a><a href="#FNanchor_775_775"><span class="label">[775]</span></a> "The Gilgamesh Epic."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_776_776" id="Footnote_776_776"></a><a href="#FNanchor_776_776"><span class="label">[776]</span></a> First published by Pinches, <i>Journal of the Royal Asiatic +Society</i>, 1891, pp. 393-408.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_777_777" id="Footnote_777_777"></a><a href="#FNanchor_777_777"><span class="label">[777]</span></a> Clay, it will be recalled, was the building material in +Babylonia.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_778_778" id="Footnote_778_778"></a><a href="#FNanchor_778_778"><span class="label">[778]</span></a> The word in the text is generally applied to "a mass" of +animals, but also to human productions. See Delitzsch, <i>Assyr. +Handwörterbuch</i>, p. 467.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_779_779" id="Footnote_779_779"></a><a href="#FNanchor_779_779"><span class="label">[779]</span></a> Bel's temple at Nippur.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_780_780" id="Footnote_780_780"></a><a href="#FNanchor_780_780"><span class="label">[780]</span></a> Temple of Ishtar at Erech or Uruk.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_781_781" id="Footnote_781_781"></a><a href="#FNanchor_781_781"><span class="label">[781]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, Apsu.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_782_782" id="Footnote_782_782"></a><a href="#FNanchor_782_782"><span class="label">[782]</span></a> City sacred to Ea at the mouth of the Persian Gulf.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_783_783" id="Footnote_783_783"></a><a href="#FNanchor_783_783"><span class="label">[783]</span></a> Lit., 'totality of lands.'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_784_784" id="Footnote_784_784"></a><a href="#FNanchor_784_784"><span class="label">[784]</span></a> Zimmern's rendering (Gunkel, <i>Schöpfung und Chaos</i>, p. +419) "sacred" (instead of 'bright') misses the point.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_785_785" id="Footnote_785_785"></a><a href="#FNanchor_785_785"><span class="label">[785]</span></a> <i>Cf.</i> S. A. Smith, Miscellaneous, K. 2866, l. 8, "the +great gods dwelling in the heaven of Anu." The reference, therefore, +cannot be to "the gathering place of the gods," where the fates of +mankind are decided.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_786_786" id="Footnote_786_786"></a><a href="#FNanchor_786_786"><span class="label">[786]</span></a> The original has <i>ratum</i>. Delitzsch, <i>Assyr. +Handwörterbuch</i>, p. 663, compares Hebrew <i>rahat</i>, "trough." +Zimmern (Gunkel, <i>Schöpfung und Chaos</i>, p. 419) translates +"Bewegung," but on what grounds I do not know. The passage is obscure; +the text possibly defective.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_787_787" id="Footnote_787_787"></a><a href="#FNanchor_787_787"><span class="label">[787]</span></a> If the reading E-Sagila is original. It is here used as the +name of Ea's temple in Eridu, but it is of course possible that E-Sagila +has been deliberately introduced to enhance the glory of Marduk's temple +in Babylon.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_788_788" id="Footnote_788_788"></a><a href="#FNanchor_788_788"><span class="label">[788]</span></a> Ea.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_789_789" id="Footnote_789_789"></a><a href="#FNanchor_789_789"><span class="label">[789]</span></a> Gen. i. 9.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_790_790" id="Footnote_790_790"></a><a href="#FNanchor_790_790"><span class="label">[790]</span></a> See Haupt, <i>Wo lag das Paradies</i>, p. 7 (<i>Ueber Land +und Meer</i>, 1894-95, no. 15, Sonderabdruck), who furnishes numerous +illustrations of the indefinite geographical notions of the ancients.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_791_791" id="Footnote_791_791"></a><a href="#FNanchor_791_791"><span class="label">[791]</span></a> The group of celestial beings.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_792_792" id="Footnote_792_792"></a><a href="#FNanchor_792_792"><span class="label">[792]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, Marduk.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_793_793" id="Footnote_793_793"></a><a href="#FNanchor_793_793"><span class="label">[793]</span></a> Read <i>a-ma-mi</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_794_794" id="Footnote_794_794"></a><a href="#FNanchor_794_794"><span class="label">[794]</span></a> Zimmern purposes to connect this line with the preceding, +but the sense in that case is not at all clear.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_795_795" id="Footnote_795_795"></a><a href="#FNanchor_795_795"><span class="label">[795]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, with Marduk.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_796_796" id="Footnote_796_796"></a><a href="#FNanchor_796_796"><span class="label">[796]</span></a> Haupt's edition, p. 8, l. 34.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_797_797" id="Footnote_797_797"></a><a href="#FNanchor_797_797"><span class="label">[797]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_437">437</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_798_798" id="Footnote_798_798"></a><a href="#FNanchor_798_798"><span class="label">[798]</span></a> Haupt, <i>ib.</i> p. 139, l. 116.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_799_799" id="Footnote_799_799"></a><a href="#FNanchor_799_799"><span class="label">[799]</span></a> <i>Ib.</i> l. 111.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_800_800" id="Footnote_800_800"></a><a href="#FNanchor_800_800"><span class="label">[800]</span></a> <i>Kosmologie</i>, p. 294, note 1.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_801_801" id="Footnote_801_801"></a><a href="#FNanchor_801_801"><span class="label">[801]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_82">82</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_802_802" id="Footnote_802_802"></a><a href="#FNanchor_802_802"><span class="label">[802]</span></a> <i>Zerbanitum</i>, as though compounded of <i>zer</i> +(seed), and <i>bani</i> (create). See p. <a href="#Page_121">121</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_803_803" id="Footnote_803_803"></a><a href="#FNanchor_803_803"><span class="label">[803]</span></a> Gen. i. 1-ii. 4, embodied in the "Priestly Code."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_804_804" id="Footnote_804_804"></a><a href="#FNanchor_804_804"><span class="label">[804]</span></a> Gen. ii. 4 and extending in reality as far as iv. 25.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_805_805" id="Footnote_805_805"></a><a href="#FNanchor_805_805"><span class="label">[805]</span></a> Gen. iii. 17.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_806_806" id="Footnote_806_806"></a><a href="#FNanchor_806_806"><span class="label">[806]</span></a> See Gunkel, <i>Schöpfung und Chaos</i>, p. 13.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_807_807" id="Footnote_807_807"></a><a href="#FNanchor_807_807"><span class="label">[807]</span></a> On the acquaintance of Hebrew writers of the Babylonian +exile with cuneiform literature and on the influence exercised by the +latter, see D. H. Mueller, <i>Ezechielstudien</i>.</p></div> + + + + +<h2><a name="chapter-xxii" id="chapter-xxii"></a>CHAPTER XXII.</h2> + +<h3>THE ZODIACAL SYSTEM OF THE BABYLONIANS.</h3> + +<h3>Planets, Stars, and Calendar.</h3> + + +<p>It will be appropriate at this point, to give a brief account of +the astronomical system as developed by the Babylonian scholars. +The system forms a part of the Babylonian cosmology. +The 'creation' narratives we have been considering are based +upon the system, and the omen literature is full of allusions to +it. Moreover, the understanding of some of the purely religious +doctrines of the Babylonians is dependent upon a proper conception +of the curious astrological speculations which from +Babylonia made their way to the Greeks, and have left their +traces in the astronomy of the present time.</p> + +<p>The stars were regarded by the Babylonians as pictorial +designs on the heavens. A conception of this kind is the outcome +of popular fancy, and has its parallel among other nations +of antiquity. We pass beyond the popular stage, however, when +we find the stars described as the 'writing of heaven.'<a name="FNanchor_808_808" id="FNanchor_808_808"></a><a href="#Footnote_808_808" class="fnanchor">[808]</a> Such +a term is the product of the schools, and finds a ready explanation +if we remember that the cuneiform script, like other scripts, +was in its first stages pictorial. The Babylonian scholars not +only knew this, but so well did they know it that writing continued +to be regarded by them as picture drawing. The characters +used by them were 'likenesses'<a name="FNanchor_809_809" id="FNanchor_809_809"></a><a href="#Footnote_809_809" class="fnanchor">[809]</a> long after they had +passed beyond the stage when they bore any resemblance to +the pictures they originally represented. The expression 'writing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_455" id="Page_455">[Pg 455]</a></span> +of heaven' was, therefore, equivalent to 'picture of heaven.' +The heavens themselves being regarded as a fixed vault, it +followed that the movements observed there were caused by the +stars changing their position; and the regular characters of +these movements within certain periods led to speaking of the +movements of the heavenly bodies as their 'courses.' It was +furthermore apparent, even to a superficial observer, that some +of the stars seemed fixed to their places, while others moved +about. A distinction was thus drawn between wandering stars +or planets and fixed stars. Groups of stars, the single members +of which appeared in a constant relationship to one another, +were distinguished partly by natural observation and partly +as a convenient means of obtaining a general view of the starry +canopy. It was such a group that more particularly justified +the view which regarded the stars as pictorial designs. A line +drawn so as to connect the stars of the group turned out to be +a design of some sort. On omen tablets, geometrical figures +are often found<a name="FNanchor_810_810" id="FNanchor_810_810"></a><a href="#Footnote_810_810" class="fnanchor">[810]</a> and interpreted as omens, and it is plausible to +suppose that the outlines presented by the stars of a group first +suggested the idea of attaching significance to combinations of +lines and curves. To connect these outlines with the pictures +that formed the starting-point for the development of the script +was again a perfectly natural procedure, although a scholastic +one. The investigations of Delitzsch have shown that the +more than four hundred cuneiform characters in use can be +reduced to a comparatively small number of 'outlines' of pictures—to +about forty-five. The subjects of these 'outlines' +are all familiar ones,—sun, moon, stars, mountain, man, the +parts of the human body, animals, plants, and utensils.<a name="FNanchor_811_811" id="FNanchor_811_811"></a><a href="#Footnote_811_811" class="fnanchor">[811]</a> Association +of ideas led to giving to the outlines presented by the +groups of stars, a similar interpretation. The factor of imagination,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_456" id="Page_456">[Pg 456]</a></span> +of course, entered into play, but it is also likely that the +comparison of these heavenly figures with the pictures of the +script was the controlling factor that led to identifying a certain +group of stars with a bull, another with a scorpion, a third with +a ram, a fourth with a fish, still another with a pig, and more +the like. That animals were chosen was due to the influence +of animistic theories, and the rather fantastic shape of the +animals distinguished led to further speculations. So, eleven +constellations, that is to say, the entire zodiac with the exception +of the bull—the sign of Marduk—were identified with +the eleven monsters forming the host of Tiâmat. The passage +in the Marduk-Tiâmat myth<a name="FNanchor_812_812" id="FNanchor_812_812"></a><a href="#Footnote_812_812" class="fnanchor">[812]</a> which speaks of the capture +of these monsters through Marduk appears to have suggested +this identification, which, fanciful though it is, has a scholastic +rather than a popular aspect. Jensen (to whom, together +with Epping and Strassmaier,<a name="FNanchor_813_813" id="FNanchor_813_813"></a><a href="#Footnote_813_813" class="fnanchor">[813]</a> most of our knowledge of this +subject is due) has shown<a name="FNanchor_814_814" id="FNanchor_814_814"></a><a href="#Footnote_814_814" class="fnanchor">[814]</a> that of the twelve constellations in +our modern zodiac, the greater number are identical with those +distinguished by the Babylonians; and while it is probable +that two or three of our constellations are of occidental origin, +the zodiacal system as a whole is the product of the Babylonian +schools of astronomy. From Babylonia the system made +its way to the west and through western, more particularly +through Greek, influence back again to India and the distant +east. The number of constellations distinguished by the +Babylonian astronomers has not yet been definitely ascertained. +They certainly recognized more than twelve. Further investigations +may show that they knew of most of the forty-eight +constellations enumerated by Ptolemy.</p> + +<p>The general regularity of the courses taken by the sun, moon, +and planets made it a comparatively simple matter to map out<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_457" id="Page_457">[Pg 457]</a></span> +the limits within which these bodies moved. These limits impressed +the Babylonians, as we have seen, with the thought +of the eternal and unchangeable laws under which the planets +stood. The laws regulating terrestrial phenomena, did not +appear to be so rigid. There were symptoms of caprice, so that +the order of the earth has the appearance of being an afterthought, +suggested by the absolute order prevailing in the +heavens. Comets, meteors, and eclipses alone seemed to +interrupt this absolute order. As science advanced, it was +found that even eclipses fell within the province of law. The +course of astronomical science was thus clearly marked out—the +determination of these laws.</p> + +<p>The path taken by the sun served as a guide and as a means +of comparison. Anu being both the chief god of heaven and +the personification of heaven,<a name="FNanchor_815_815" id="FNanchor_815_815"></a><a href="#Footnote_815_815" class="fnanchor">[815]</a> the sun's ecliptic became known +as the 'way of Anu.' The division of this ecliptic into certain +sections, determined by the constellations within the belt of the +ecliptic, was the next step. The course of the moon and planets +was determined with reference to the sun's ecliptic, and gradually +a zodiacal system was evolved, the perfection of which is +best exemplified by the fact that so much of the astronomical +language of the present time is the same as that used by the +ancient astronomers of the Euphrates Valley.</p> + +<p>The sun and moon being regarded as deities, under the influence +of primitive animistic ideas,<a name="FNanchor_816_816" id="FNanchor_816_816"></a><a href="#Footnote_816_816" class="fnanchor">[816]</a> the stars would also come +to be looked upon as divine. The ideograph designating a +'star' and which is prefixed as a determinative to the names of +stars, consists of the sign for god repeated three times;<a name="FNanchor_817_817" id="FNanchor_817_817"></a><a href="#Footnote_817_817" class="fnanchor">[817]</a> and +in the case of those stars which are identified with particular +deities, the simple determinative for god is employed. To +regard the stars in general as gods is a consequence of animistic<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_458" id="Page_458">[Pg 458]</a></span> +notions; but the further steps in the process which led +to connecting the planets and certain other stars with particular +deities who originally had nothing to do with the stars, fall +within the province of scholastic theory.</p> + +<p>As the jurisdiction of gods originally worshipped in a limited +district increased, a difficulty naturally arose among the more +advanced minds as to the exact place where the deity dwelt. +This difficulty would be accentuated in the case of a god like +Marduk becoming the chief god of the whole Babylonian +Empire. His ardent worshippers would certainly not content +themselves with the notion that a single edifice, even though it +be his great temple at Babylon, could contain him. Again, the +development of a pantheon, systematized, and in which the +various gods worshipped in Babylonia came to occupy fixed +relationships to one another, would lead to the view of putting +all the gods in one place. The sun and moon being in the +heavens, the most natural place to assign to the gods as a +dwelling-place was in the region where Shamash and Sin (as +every one could see for himself) had their seats. The doctrine +thus arose that the great gods dwell in the 'heaven of Anu.' A +doctrine of this kind would be intelligible to the general populace, +but it is doubtful whether a belief which involved the +establishment of a direct connection between the most prominent +stars—the planets with the chief gods—ever enjoyed +popular favor in Babylonia. The association is marked by an +artificiality and a certain arbitrariness that stamps it not only +as the product of theological schools, but as a thought that +would remain confined to a limited circle of the population. +Jensen suggests<a name="FNanchor_818_818" id="FNanchor_818_818"></a><a href="#Footnote_818_818" class="fnanchor">[818]</a> that the planets may at one time have been +merely regarded as standing under the influence of the great +gods, and that a planet from being regarded as the star <i>controlled</i> +by Marduk, became identified with Marduk. It seems +more plausible that the association should have been direct.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_459" id="Page_459">[Pg 459]</a></span> +Even though the Babylonians may not have had any knowledge +of the relative mass of the planets, in some way Jupiter must +have appeared to them as the largest of the planets, and for +this reason was identified with the head of the Babylonian +pantheon, Marduk. In the creation epic, as we have seen, +Jupiter-Marduk, under the name of Nibir, is represented as +exercising a control over all the stars. Mythological associations +appear to have played a part in identifying the planet +Venus with the goddess Ishtar. A widely spread nature myth,<a name="FNanchor_819_819" id="FNanchor_819_819"></a><a href="#Footnote_819_819" class="fnanchor">[819]</a> +symbolizing the change of seasons, represents Ishtar, the personification +of fertility, the great mother of all that manifests +life, as proceeding to the region of darkness and remaining +there for some time. The disappearance of the planet Venus +at certain seasons, as morning star to reappear as evening star, +suggested the identification of this planet with Ishtar. From +these two examples we may conclude that the process which +resulted in the identification of Saturn with Ninib, Mars with +Nergal, Mercury with Nabu rested similarly on an association +of ideas, derived from certain conceptions held of the gods +involved. In regard to Ninib and Nergal it is of some importance +to bear in mind that, like Marduk, they are at their origin +solar deities, Ninib representing in the perfected theological +system the morning sun, Marduk the sun of the early spring, +and Nergal the mid-day sun and summer solstice.<a name="FNanchor_820_820" id="FNanchor_820_820"></a><a href="#Footnote_820_820" class="fnanchor">[820]</a> The position +of the planets Saturn and Mars, accordingly, with reference +to the sun at certain periods of the year, may well have been a +factor in the association of ideas involved.</p> + +<p>The position of the sun, as the general overseer of the +planets, led to the application of an interesting metaphor to +express the relationship between the sun and the planets. Just +as the human chiefs or kings were called 'shepherds,'—a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_460" id="Page_460">[Pg 460]</a></span> +metaphor suggested, no doubt, by agricultural life,—so the +planets were commonly known as 'sheep' or, as Jensen suggests,<a name="FNanchor_821_821" id="FNanchor_821_821"></a><a href="#Footnote_821_821" class="fnanchor">[821]</a> +'wandering sheep,' and it is rather curious that Mars-Nergal +should have been designated as the 'sheep'<a name="FNanchor_822_822" id="FNanchor_822_822"></a><a href="#Footnote_822_822" class="fnanchor">[822]</a> <i>par +excellence</i>. The 'service' in which the planets stood to the sun +is exemplified by another term applied to them, which designates +them as the mediators carrying out the orders of their superior.</p> + +<p>Lastly, it may be noted that each planet receives a variety of +names and epithets in the astronomical texts,—a circumstance +that points to the composite character of the developed planetary +system of the Babylonians. Some of these names are +of so distinctive a character as to justify the conclusion that +they arose in the different centers where astronomical schools +existed.</p> + +<p>The process involved in the development of the system is +thus complicated by factors introducing views originally confined +to certain districts, and it becomes doubtful whether we will +ever be able to trace all the steps involved in the process.</p> + +<p>Corresponding to the unique position occupied by the superior +triad Anu, Bel, and Ea in the theological system, a special +place was assigned to them in the astronomical system. Anu +is the pole star of the ecliptic, Bel the pole star of the equator, +while Ea in the southern heavens was identified, according to +Jensen,<a name="FNanchor_823_823" id="FNanchor_823_823"></a><a href="#Footnote_823_823" class="fnanchor">[823]</a> with a star in the constellation Argo. Anu, Bel, and +Ea represented the three most prominent fixed stars, but by +the side of these a large number of other stars were distinguished +and many of them identified with some deity. For some of these +stars the modern equivalents have been ascertained through +recent researches;<a name="FNanchor_824_824" id="FNanchor_824_824"></a><a href="#Footnote_824_824" class="fnanchor">[824]</a> others still remain to be determined.</p> + +<p>The astronomical science of the Babylonians thus resolves +itself into these natural divisions:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_461" id="Page_461">[Pg 461]</a></span></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>(1) the constellations, especially those of the zodiac,</p> +<p>(2) the five great planets,</p> +<p>(3) the fixed stars, Anu, Bel, and Ea,</p> +<p>(4) miscellaneous stars, and</p> +<p>(5) the sun and moon.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The rivalry between the two great luminaries ends in a +superior rank being accorded to the sun. Natural and indeed +inevitable as this conclusion was, the scientific theory in the +Euphrates Valley was presumably influenced to some extent +by the circumstance that the head of the pantheon was a solar +deity. We have seen that the tradition of this original character +of Marduk survived in the popular mind.</p> + +<p>Of the sun but little need be said here. As represented in +the creation story, he was freer in his movements than any of +the planets. He passed across the heavens daily as an overseer +to see that everything was maintained in good order. As +in Greek mythology, the sun was represented as riding in a +chariot drawn by horses.<a name="FNanchor_825_825" id="FNanchor_825_825"></a><a href="#Footnote_825_825" class="fnanchor">[825]</a> Scientific speculation advanced but +little upon these popular fancies. The course that the sun +took on the ecliptic was determined, and the ecliptic itself +served as the guide for determining the position and movements +of the stars. Under the growing influence of the Marduk +cult and of such deities as Ninib, Nergal, and Nabu, +associated with Marduk mythologically or politically, the old +moon worship lost much of its prestige; but in astronomical +science, the former independent rank of the moon is still in +large measure preserved. In the enumeration of the planets +the moon is mentioned first.<a name="FNanchor_826_826" id="FNanchor_826_826"></a><a href="#Footnote_826_826" class="fnanchor">[826]</a> The moon is not a 'sheep' +belonging to the flock of Shamash. The importance of the +moon in the regulation of the calendar saved her from this +fate. The beginning of the calendrical system, indeed, may<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_462" id="Page_462">[Pg 462]</a></span> +well have been of popular origin. Ihering<a name="FNanchor_827_827" id="FNanchor_827_827"></a><a href="#Footnote_827_827" class="fnanchor">[827]</a> is of the opinion +that agricultural occupations made the marking off of time a +popular necessity, and this view is borne out by the early +epithets of the months among the Babylonians,<a name="FNanchor_828_828" id="FNanchor_828_828"></a><a href="#Footnote_828_828" class="fnanchor">[828]</a> which, as among +the Hebrews, are connected with agriculture and the life of +the agriculturist. The later names also bear traces of the +same train of thoughts. Leaving aside details into which it is +needless to enter here, the part of the calendar which touches +upon the religion of the Babylonians is the sacred character +given to the months by making each one devoted to some god +or gods. In this association there may be observed the same +curious mixture of several factors that controlled the identification +of the planets with the gods. The theory underlying the +pantheon and certain mythological conceptions are two of the +factors that can be clearly seen at work. The triad Anu, Bel, +and Ea are accorded the first rank.<a name="FNanchor_829_829" id="FNanchor_829_829"></a><a href="#Footnote_829_829" class="fnanchor">[829]</a></p> + +<p>The first month, Nisan, is sacred to Anu and Bel.</p> + +<p>The second, Iyar, is sacred to Ea as the "lord of humanity."</p> + +<p>Then follows Sin to whom, as the first-born of Bel,<a name="FNanchor_830_830" id="FNanchor_830_830"></a><a href="#Footnote_830_830" class="fnanchor">[830]</a> the third +month, Siwan, is devoted.</p> + +<p>The four succeeding months are parceled out among deities +closely connected with one another,—Ninib, Nin-gishzida, Ishtar, +and Shamash. Of these, Ninib and Nin-gishzida are solar +deities. Ninib, as the morning sun, symbolizes the approach +of the summer season, while Nin-gishzida, another solar deity,<a name="FNanchor_831_831" id="FNanchor_831_831"></a><a href="#Footnote_831_831" class="fnanchor">[831]</a> +represents an advance in this season. To them, therefore, the +fourth and fifth months, Tammuz (or Du'zu) and Ab respectively, +are sacred. Ishtar is the goddess of fertility, and the sixth month, +which represents the culmination of the summer season, is +accordingly devoted to her. As the last of the group comes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_463" id="Page_463">[Pg 463]</a></span> +Shamash himself, to whom the seventh month, Tishri (or Tashritum), +is sacred. Marduk and Nergal come next, the eighth +month, Marcheshwan,<a name="FNanchor_832_832" id="FNanchor_832_832"></a><a href="#Footnote_832_832" class="fnanchor">[832]</a> being sacred to the former, the ninth +Kislev to the great warrior Nergal. The factors here involved +are not clear, nor do we know why the tenth month is sacred to +Papsukal—perhaps here used as an epithet of Nabu—to Anu, +and to Ishtar. The eleventh month, the height of the rainy +season and known as the "month of the course of rainstorms," +is appropriately made sacred to Ramman, 'the god of storms.' +The last month, Adar, falling within the rainy season is presided +over by the seven evil spirits. Lastly, an interesting trace of +Assyrian influence is to be seen in devoting to Ashur, "the +father of the gods," the intercalated month, the second Adar. +This introduction of Ashur points to the late addition of this +intercalated month, and makes it probable also that the intercalation +is the work of astronomers standing under Assyrian +authority. A second intercalated month is Elul the second. +This month is sacred to Anu and Bel, just like Nisan, the first +month. The list, therefore, begins anew with the intercalated +month. Such a procedure is natural, and one is inclined to +conclude that the intercalated Elul is of Babylonian origin and +older than the intercalated Adar.</p> + +<p>It does not appear that the female consorts of the gods shared +in the honors thus bestowed upon the male deities. Variations +from the list as given also occur. So Ashurbanabal calls the +seventh month, Elul, the month of 'the king of gods Ashur,'<a name="FNanchor_833_833" id="FNanchor_833_833"></a><a href="#Footnote_833_833" class="fnanchor">[833]</a> +while Sargon<a name="FNanchor_834_834" id="FNanchor_834_834"></a><a href="#Footnote_834_834" class="fnanchor">[834]</a> assigns the fourth month to the 'servant of Gibil,' +the fire-god, by which Nin-gishzida is meant, and the third +month he calls the month of "the god of brick structures."<a name="FNanchor_835_835" id="FNanchor_835_835"></a><a href="#Footnote_835_835" class="fnanchor">[835]</a></p> + +<p>In fact, the assigning of the months to the gods appears to +partake more or less of an arbitrary character. Absolute uniformity +probably did not prevail throughout Babylonia until a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_464" id="Page_464">[Pg 464]</a></span> +comparatively late period. Nor does it appear that any popular +significance was attached to the sacred character thus given to +the months. It was the work of the schools, as are most of +the features involved in the elaboration of the calendar.</p> + +<p>In somewhat closer touch with popular notions and popular +observances were the names of the months. Confining ourselves +to the later names,—the forms in which they were transmitted +during the period of the Babylonian exile to the Jews,<a name="FNanchor_836_836" id="FNanchor_836_836"></a><a href="#Footnote_836_836" class="fnanchor">[836]</a>—we find +that the first month which, as we shall see, was marked by +sacred observances in the temples of Marduk and Nabu at +Babylon and Borsippa was designated ideographically as 'the +month of the sanctuary,' the third as the period of 'brick-making,' +the fifth as the 'fiery' month, the sixth as the month of the +'mission of Ishtar'—a reference to the goddess' descent into +the region of darkness. Designations like 'taking (<i>i.e.</i>, scattering) +seed' for the fourth month, 'copious fertility' for the +ninth month, 'grain-cutting' period for the twelfth, and 'opening +of dams'<a name="FNanchor_837_837" id="FNanchor_837_837"></a><a href="#Footnote_837_837" class="fnanchor">[837]</a> for the eighth contain distinct references to agriculture. +The name 'destructive rain' for the eleventh month is +suggested by climatic conditions. Still obscure is the designation +of the seventh month as the month of the 'resplendent +mound,'<a name="FNanchor_838_838" id="FNanchor_838_838"></a><a href="#Footnote_838_838" class="fnanchor">[838]</a> and so also is the designation of the second month.<a name="FNanchor_839_839" id="FNanchor_839_839"></a><a href="#Footnote_839_839" class="fnanchor">[839]</a></p> + +<p>The calendar is thus shown to be the product of the same +general order of religious ideas that we have detected in the +zodiacal and planetary systems. Its growth must have been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_465" id="Page_465">[Pg 465]</a></span> +gradual, for its composite character is one of its most striking +features. The task was no easy one to bring the lunar year +into proper conjunction with the solar year, and there are +grounds for believing that prior to the division of the year into +twelve parts, there was a year of ten months corresponding to +a simpler, perhaps a decimal, system, which appears to have +preceded the elaborate sexagesimal system.<a name="FNanchor_840_840" id="FNanchor_840_840"></a><a href="#Footnote_840_840" class="fnanchor">[840]</a></p> + +<p>However this may be, the point of importance for our purposes +is to detect the extension of religious ideas into the +domain of science, and, on the other hand, to note the reaction +of scientific theories on the development of religious thought. +The cosmology of the Babylonians results from the continued +play of these two factors. Hence the strange mixture of popular +notions and fancies with comparatively advanced theological +speculations and still more advanced scientific theories that is +found in the cosmological system. Even mysticism is given a +scientific aspect in Babylonia. The identification of the gods +with the stars arises, as we have seen, from a scientific impulse, +and it is a scientific spirit again that leads to the introduction +of the gods into the mathematics of the day.<a name="FNanchor_841_841" id="FNanchor_841_841"></a><a href="#Footnote_841_841" class="fnanchor">[841]</a> A number is +assigned to each of the chief gods. And, though such a procedure +has its natural outcome in Cabbalistic tendencies, we +can still discern in the ideas that lead to this association of +numbers with gods, influences at work that emanated from the +astronomical schools. Thus the moon-god Sin is identified +with the number thirty, suggested by the days of the ordinary +month. Ishtar, the daughter of Sin, is number fifteen, the half +of thirty. The unit in the sexagesimal—the number sixty—is +assigned to Anu, the chief of the triad, while the other two +members, Bel and Ea, follow as fifty and forty respectively. +The dependence of this species of identification upon the calendrical<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_466" id="Page_466">[Pg 466]</a></span> +system is made manifest by the inferior rank given +to the sun, which receives the number twenty, the decimal +next to that assigned to Sin, while Ramman, the third +member of the second triad,<a name="FNanchor_842_842" id="FNanchor_842_842"></a><a href="#Footnote_842_842" class="fnanchor">[842]</a> is identified with ten.<a name="FNanchor_843_843" id="FNanchor_843_843"></a><a href="#Footnote_843_843" class="fnanchor">[843]</a> +Absolute consistency in this process is, of course, as little +to be expected as in other semi-mystical aspects of the +science of the Babylonians; nor is it necessary for our purposes +to enter upon the further consequences resulting from this combination +of gods with numbers. The association of ideas +involved in the combination furnishes another and rather +striking illustration of the close contact between science and +religion in the remarkable culture of the Euphrates Valley.</p> + +<p>There was no conflict between science and religion in ancient +Babylonia. Each reacted on the other, but the two factors +were at all times closely united in perfect harmony,—a +harmony so perfect, indeed, as to be impressive despite its +<i>naïveté</i>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_467" id="Page_467">[Pg 467]</a></span></p> + +<h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_808_808" id="Footnote_808_808"></a><a href="#FNanchor_808_808"><span class="label">[808]</span></a> <i>E.g.</i>, IR. 52, no. 3, col. ii. l. 2; IIR. 38, 27b.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_809_809" id="Footnote_809_809"></a><a href="#FNanchor_809_809"><span class="label">[809]</span></a> The Greek name for the letters of the +alphabet—<i>symbolon</i>, <i>i.e.</i>, a "likeness"—illustrates the +same view of the pictorial origin of writing.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_810_810" id="Footnote_810_810"></a><a href="#FNanchor_810_810"><span class="label">[810]</span></a> For illustrations, see Lenomant, <i>Magie und Wahrsagekunst +der Chaldaer</i>, pp. 520-523.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_811_811" id="Footnote_811_811"></a><a href="#FNanchor_811_811"><span class="label">[811]</span></a> See the summary on pp. 198, 199, of Delitzsch, <i>Ursprung +der Keilschriftzeichen.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_812_812" id="Footnote_812_812"></a><a href="#FNanchor_812_812"><span class="label">[812]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_436">436</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_813_813" id="Footnote_813_813"></a><a href="#FNanchor_813_813"><span class="label">[813]</span></a> Epping and Strassmaier, <i>Astronomisches aus Babylon</i> +(Freiburg, 1889).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_814_814" id="Footnote_814_814"></a><a href="#FNanchor_814_814"><span class="label">[814]</span></a> <i>Kosmologie</i>, pp. 57-95. See especially the summary, +pp. 82-84.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_815_815" id="Footnote_815_815"></a><a href="#FNanchor_815_815"><span class="label">[815]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_89">89</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_816_816" id="Footnote_816_816"></a><a href="#FNanchor_816_816"><span class="label">[816]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_48">48</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_817_817" id="Footnote_817_817"></a><a href="#FNanchor_817_817"><span class="label">[817]</span></a> On this ideograph, see Jensen, <i>Kosmologie</i> pp. 43, +44.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_818_818" id="Footnote_818_818"></a><a href="#FNanchor_818_818"><span class="label">[818]</span></a> <i>Kosmologie</i>, p. 134.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_819_819" id="Footnote_819_819"></a><a href="#FNanchor_819_819"><span class="label">[819]</span></a> See the following chapter on <a href="#chapter-xxiii">"The Gilgamesh Epic,"</a> and +<a href="#chapter-xxv">chapter xxv, "The Views of the Babylonians and Assyrians of the Life +after Death</a>."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_820_820" id="Footnote_820_820"></a><a href="#FNanchor_820_820"><span class="label">[820]</span></a> Jensen, <i>ib.</i> p. 140. See above, p. <a href="#Page_67">67</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_821_821" id="Footnote_821_821"></a><a href="#FNanchor_821_821"><span class="label">[821]</span></a> <i>bibbu.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_822_822" id="Footnote_822_822"></a><a href="#FNanchor_822_822"><span class="label">[822]</span></a> <i>Ib.</i> p. 99.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_823_823" id="Footnote_823_823"></a><a href="#FNanchor_823_823"><span class="label">[823]</span></a> <i>Ib.</i> p. 27.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_824_824" id="Footnote_824_824"></a><a href="#FNanchor_824_824"><span class="label">[824]</span></a> See especially Jensen's <i>Kosmologie</i>, pp. 46-57 and +144-160.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_825_825" id="Footnote_825_825"></a><a href="#FNanchor_825_825"><span class="label">[825]</span></a> Jensen, <i>ib.</i> pp. 108, 109.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_826_826" id="Footnote_826_826"></a><a href="#FNanchor_826_826"><span class="label">[826]</span></a> The constant order is moon, sun, Marduk, Ishtar, Ninib, +Nergal, Nabu. <i>E.g.</i>, IIR. 48, 48-34a-b.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_827_827" id="Footnote_827_827"></a><a href="#FNanchor_827_827"><span class="label">[827]</span></a> <i>Vorgeschichte der Indo-Europaer</i>, pp. 151 +<i>seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_828_828" id="Footnote_828_828"></a><a href="#FNanchor_828_828"><span class="label">[828]</span></a> On the older and later names of the Babylonians, see +Meissner, <i>Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes</i>, v. 180, +181, and on the general subject of the Babylonian months, Muss-Arnolt's +valuable articles in the <i>Journal of Biblical Literature</i>, xi. +72-94 and 160-176.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_829_829" id="Footnote_829_829"></a><a href="#FNanchor_829_829"><span class="label">[829]</span></a> IVR. pl. 33.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_830_830" id="Footnote_830_830"></a><a href="#FNanchor_830_830"><span class="label">[830]</span></a> En-lil.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_831_831" id="Footnote_831_831"></a><a href="#FNanchor_831_831"><span class="label">[831]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_99">99</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_832_832" id="Footnote_832_832"></a><a href="#FNanchor_832_832"><span class="label">[832]</span></a> Lit., 'Arakh-shamnu,' <i>i.e.</i>, month eight.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_833_833" id="Footnote_833_833"></a><a href="#FNanchor_833_833"><span class="label">[833]</span></a> Rassam, Cylinder, col. lii. l. 32.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_834_834" id="Footnote_834_834"></a><a href="#FNanchor_834_834"><span class="label">[834]</span></a> Cylinder, Inscription l. 61.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_835_835" id="Footnote_835_835"></a><a href="#FNanchor_835_835"><span class="label">[835]</span></a> <i>Ib.</i> l. 58,—a rather curious title of Sin.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_836_836" id="Footnote_836_836"></a><a href="#FNanchor_836_836"><span class="label">[836]</span></a> The Talmud preserves the tradition of the Babylonian origin +of the Hebrew calendar (<i>Ierusalem Talmud Rosh-Hashshanâ</i>, l. 1).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_837_837" id="Footnote_837_837"></a><a href="#FNanchor_837_837"><span class="label">[837]</span></a> For the irrigation of the fields.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_838_838" id="Footnote_838_838"></a><a href="#FNanchor_838_838"><span class="label">[838]</span></a> In some way indicative of its sacred character. It is to be +noted that this month—Tishri—is the festival month among the Hebrews +and originally also among the Arabs. The 'mound' is a reference to the +temples which were erected on natural or artificial eminences.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_839_839" id="Footnote_839_839"></a><a href="#FNanchor_839_839"><span class="label">[839]</span></a> The latter is described by a series of ideographs, "herd" +and "to prosper." Is there perhaps a reference to cows giving birth to +calves in this month, the early spring? For another, but improbable, +explanation, see <i>Babylonian and Oriental Record</i>, iv. 37.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_840_840" id="Footnote_840_840"></a><a href="#FNanchor_840_840"><span class="label">[840]</span></a> Lehmann (<i>Actes du 8<sup>eme</sup> Congrès Internationel des +Orientalists</i>, Leiden, 1891, i. 169, note) admits the probability of +an earlier and more natural system.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_841_841" id="Footnote_841_841"></a><a href="#FNanchor_841_841"><span class="label">[841]</span></a> Lotz, <i>Quaestiones de Historia Sabbati</i>, pp. 27-29.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_842_842" id="Footnote_842_842"></a><a href="#FNanchor_842_842"><span class="label">[842]</span></a> Sin, Shamash, and Ramman. See pp. <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_843_843" id="Footnote_843_843"></a><a href="#FNanchor_843_843"><span class="label">[843]</span></a> See for other combinations Lotz <i>ib.</i>, and compare, +<i>e.g.</i>, VR. 36, where the number ten is associated with a large +number of gods,—Anu, Anatum, Bel, Ishtar, etc.</p></div> + + + + +<h2><a name="chapter-xxiii" id="chapter-xxiii"></a>CHAPTER XXIII.</h2> + +<h3>THE GILGAMESH EPIC.</h3> + + +<p>We have seen<a name="FNanchor_844_844" id="FNanchor_844_844"></a><a href="#Footnote_844_844" class="fnanchor">[844]</a> that the religion of Babylonia permeates all +branches of literature, so that it is not always possible to draw +a sharp dividing line between sacred and secular productions.</p> + +<p>To account for this, it is but necessary to bear in mind what +the previous chapters have aimed to make clear, that religion +furnished the stimulus for the unfolding of intellectual life, and +that the literary and scientific productions represent the work +of men primarily interested in religion. The significance attached +as omens to heavenly phenomena led by degrees to +the elaborate astronomical system outlined in the previous +chapter. But the astronomers of Babylonia were priests, and +indeed the same priests who compiled the hymns and incantations. +What is true of astronomy applies to medicine, so far +as medicine had an existence independent of incantations, and +also to law. The physician was a priest, as was the judge and +likewise the scribe.</p> + +<p>It is natural, therefore, to find that what may be called the +great national epic of the Babylonians was of a religious character. +The interpretation given to the traditions of the past +was religious. The distant past blended with the phenomena of +nature in such a way as to form a strange combination of poetry +and realism. But thanks to this combination, which is essentially +a process of the popular mind, the production that we are +about to consider brings us much closer to the popular phases +of the Babylonian religion than does the cosmology or the +zodiacal system.</p> + +<p>After all, a nation is much more interested in its heroes and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_468" id="Page_468">[Pg 468]</a></span> +in its own beginnings, than in the beginnings of things in general. +Some speculation regarding the origin of the universe is +perhaps inevitable the moment that the spirit of inquiry arises, +but these speculations are soon entrusted into the hands of a +minority,—the thinkers, the priests, the astronomers,—who +elaborate a system that gradually separates itself from popular +thought and exercises little influence upon the development of +religious ideas among the masses.</p> + +<p>The Book of Genesis passes rapidly over the creation of stars, +plants, and animals, as though anxious to reach the history of +man, and when it comes to the traditions regarding the ancestors +of the Hebrews, the details are dwelt upon at length and pictured +with a loving hand. Similarly among the Babylonians, +there is a freshness about the story of the adventures of a great +hero of the past that presents a contrast to the rather abstruse +speculations embodied in the creation epic. In this story, in +which a variety of ancient traditions have been combined, there +is comparatively little trace of the scholastic spirit, and although, +as we shall see, the story has been given its final shape under +the same influences that determined the other branches of religious +literature, the form has not obscured the popular character +of the material out of which the story has been constructed.</p> + +<p>The name of the hero of the story was for a long time a +puzzle to scholars. Written invariably in ideographic fashion, +the provisional reading Izdubar<a name="FNanchor_845_845" id="FNanchor_845_845"></a><a href="#Footnote_845_845" class="fnanchor">[845]</a> was the only safe recourse until +a few years ago, when Pinches discovered in a lexicographical +tablet the equation</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Izdubar = Gilgamesh.<a name="FNanchor_846_846" id="FNanchor_846_846"></a><a href="#Footnote_846_846" class="fnanchor">[846]</a></p></div> + + +<p>The equation proved that the Babylonians and Assyrians +identified the hero with a legendary king, Gilgamos, who is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_469" id="Page_469">[Pg 469]</a></span> +mentioned by Aelian.<a name="FNanchor_847_847" id="FNanchor_847_847"></a><a href="#Footnote_847_847" class="fnanchor">[847]</a> To be sure, what Aelian tells of this +hero is not found in the Izdubar epic, and appears to have +originally been recounted of another legendary personage, +Etana.<a name="FNanchor_848_848" id="FNanchor_848_848"></a><a href="#Footnote_848_848" class="fnanchor">[848]</a> There is therefore a reasonable doubt whether the +identification made by Babylonian scholars represents an old +tradition or is merely a late conjecture arising at a time when +the traditions of Izdubar were confused with those of Etana. +Still, since Etana appears to be a phonetic reading and can be +explained etymologically in a satisfactory manner, the presumption +is in favor of connecting Gilgamesh with the hero +of the great epic. For the present, therefore, we may accept +the identification and assume that in Aelian, as well as in the +sources whence he drew his information, Izdubar-Gilgamesh +has been confused with Etana.<a name="FNanchor_849_849" id="FNanchor_849_849"></a><a href="#Footnote_849_849" class="fnanchor">[849]</a></p> + +<p>The ideographic form of the name is preceded invariably +by the determinative for deity, but the three elements composing +the name, <i>iz</i>, <i>du</i>, and <i>bar</i>, are exceedingly obscure. The +first element is a very common determinative, preceding objects +made of wood or any hard substance. The word for weapon +is always written with this determinative; and since Izdubar is +essentially a warrior, one should expect <i>dubar</i> to represent some +kind of a weapon that he carries. On seal cylinders Gilgamesh +appears armed with a large lance.<a name="FNanchor_850_850" id="FNanchor_850_850"></a><a href="#Footnote_850_850" class="fnanchor">[850]</a> However this may be, +Jeremias' proposition to render the name as "divine judge of +earthly affairs"<a name="FNanchor_851_851" id="FNanchor_851_851"></a><a href="#Footnote_851_851" class="fnanchor">[851]</a> is untenable, and the same may be said of +other conjectures.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_470" id="Page_470">[Pg 470]</a></span> +The fact that the name is written with the determinative for +deity must not lead us to a purely mythical interpretation of the +epic. There was a strong tendency in Babylonia to regard the +early kings as gods. Dungi and Gudea, who are far from being +the earliest rulers in the Euphrates Valley, appear in tablets +with the determinative for deity attached to their names,<a name="FNanchor_852_852" id="FNanchor_852_852"></a><a href="#Footnote_852_852" class="fnanchor">[852]</a> and +it would be natural, therefore, that a hero belonging to a remote +period should likewise be deified. There can be no doubt that +there is a historical background to the Gilgamesh epic, and +there is equally no reason to question the existence of an +ancient king or hero who bore the name Gilgamesh. The +deification of the hero superinduced the introduction of mythical +elements. It was an easy process also, that led to tales +which arose as popular symbols of occurrences in nature, being +likewise brought into connection with a hero, who was at the +same time a god.</p> + +<p>The Gilgamesh epic thus takes shape as a compound of faint +historical tradition and of nature myths. The deified hero +becomes more particularly a solar deity. The popularity of +the hero-god is attested by the introduction of his name in +incantations,<a name="FNanchor_853_853" id="FNanchor_853_853"></a><a href="#Footnote_853_853" class="fnanchor">[853]</a> and by special hymns being composed in his +honor. One of these hymns,<a name="FNanchor_854_854" id="FNanchor_854_854"></a><a href="#Footnote_854_854" class="fnanchor">[854]</a> of a penitential character, is +interesting as illustrating the survival of the recollection of +his human origin. Gilgamesh is addressed by a penitent, who +seeks healing from disease:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>O Gilgamesh, great king, judge of the Anunnaki,</p> +<p>Prince, great oracle<a name="FNanchor_855_855" id="FNanchor_855_855"></a><a href="#Footnote_855_855" class="fnanchor">[855]</a> of mankind,</p> +<p>Overseer of all regions, ruler of the world, lord of what is on earth,</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_471" id="Page_471">[Pg 471]</a></span>Thou dost judge and, like a god, thou givest decisions,<a name="FNanchor_856_856" id="FNanchor_856_856"></a><a href="#Footnote_856_856" class="fnanchor">[856]</a></p> +<p>Thou art established on the earth, thou fulfillest judgment,</p> +<p>Thy judgment is unchangeable, thy [command is not revoked],</p> +<p>Thou dost inquire, thou commandest, thou judgest, thou seest, and thou directest.</p> +<p>Shamash has entrusted into thy hand sceptre and decision.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>It will be observed that Gilgamesh is appealed to as a 'king' +and 'prince.' His dominion is the earth, and the emphasis +placed upon this circumstance is significant. In accord with +this peculiar province of the god, the hymn continues:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Kings, chiefs, and princes bow before thee,</p> +<p>Thou seest their laws, thou presidest over their decisions.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>At the same time, his dependence upon Shamash is emphasized. +As a minor solar deity, he receives his powers from the +great judge Shamash. This double character of Gilgamesh +furnishes the key to the interpretation of the epic in which he +is the central figure.</p> + +<p>The poem in its final shape comprised twelve tablets of +about three thousand lines. Unfortunately only about half of +the epic has been found up to the present time. The numerous +fragments represent at least four distinct copies, all belonging +to the library of Ashurbanabal. To Professor Paul Haupt +we are indebted for a practically complete publication of the fragments +of the epic;<a name="FNanchor_857_857" id="FNanchor_857_857"></a><a href="#Footnote_857_857" class="fnanchor">[857]</a> and it is likewise owing, chiefly, to Professor +Haupt that the sequence in the incidents of the epic as well as +the general interpretation of the composition has been established.<a name="FNanchor_858_858" id="FNanchor_858_858"></a><a href="#Footnote_858_858" class="fnanchor">[858]</a></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_472" id="Page_472">[Pg 472]</a></span> +The center of action in the first tablets of the series and in +the oldest portions of the epic is the ancient city Uruk, or Erech, +in southern Babylonia, invariably spoken of as <i>Uruk supûri</i>, +that is, the 'walled' or fortified Uruk. A special significance +attaches to this epithet. It was the characteristic of every +ancient town, for reasons which Ihering has brilliantly set forth,<a name="FNanchor_859_859" id="FNanchor_859_859"></a><a href="#Footnote_859_859" class="fnanchor">[859]</a> +to be walled.<a name="FNanchor_860_860" id="FNanchor_860_860"></a><a href="#Footnote_860_860" class="fnanchor">[860]</a> The designation of Uruk as 'walled,' therefore, +stamps it as a city, but that the term was added, also points +to the great antiquity of the place,—to a period when towns +as distinguished from mere agricultural villages were sufficiently +rare to warrant some special nomenclature. From other +sources the great age of Uruk is confirmed, and Hilprecht<a name="FNanchor_861_861" id="FNanchor_861_861"></a><a href="#Footnote_861_861" class="fnanchor">[861]</a> +is of the opinion that it was the capitol of a kingdom contemporaneous +with the earliest period of Babylonian history. A +lexicographical tablet<a name="FNanchor_862_862" id="FNanchor_862_862"></a><a href="#Footnote_862_862" class="fnanchor">[862]</a> informs us that Uruk was specially well +fortified. It was known as the place of seven walls and, in +view of the cosmic significance of the number seven among the +Babylonians, Jensen supposes<a name="FNanchor_863_863" id="FNanchor_863_863"></a><a href="#Footnote_863_863" class="fnanchor">[863]</a> that the city's walls are an imitation +of the seven concentric zones into which the world was +divided. However this may be, a city so ancient and so well +fortified must have played a most important part in old Babylonian +history, second only in importance, if not equal, to Nippur. +The continued influence of the Ishtar or Nanâ cult of +Erech also illustrates the significance of the place. It is +natural, therefore, to find traditions surviving of the history of +the place.</p> + +<p>The first tablet of the Gilgamesh epic contains such a +reminiscence. The city is hard pressed by an enemy. The +misfortune appears to be sent as a punishment for some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_473" id="Page_473">[Pg 473]</a></span> +offence.<a name="FNanchor_864_864" id="FNanchor_864_864"></a><a href="#Footnote_864_864" class="fnanchor">[864]</a> Everything is in a state of confusion. Asses and +cows destroy their young. Men weep and women sigh. The +gods and spirits of "walled Uruk" have become hostile forces. +For three years the enemy lays siege to the place. The gates +of the city remain closed. Who the enemy is we are not told, +and such is the fragmentary condition of the tablet that we are +left to conjecture the outcome of the city's distress.</p> + +<p>In the second tablet, Gilgamesh is introduced as a hero of +superior strength and in control of Uruk. Is he the savior of +the city or its conqueror? One is inclined to assume the latter, +for the inhabitants of Uruk are represented as complaining that +Gilgamesh has taken away the sons and daughters of the place. +From a passage in a subsequent tablet it appears that Uruk is +not the native place of the hero, but Marada.<a name="FNanchor_865_865" id="FNanchor_865_865"></a><a href="#Footnote_865_865" class="fnanchor">[865]</a> Moreover, the +name Gilgamesh is not Babylonian, so that the present evidence +speaks in favor of regarding the first episode in the epic as a +reminiscence of the extension of Gilgamesh's dominion by the +conquest of Uruk. When this event took place we have no +means of determining with even a remote degree of probability. +The representation of Gilgamesh on very ancient seal cylinders<a name="FNanchor_866_866" id="FNanchor_866_866"></a><a href="#Footnote_866_866" class="fnanchor">[866]</a> +warrants us in passing beyond the third millennium, but more +than this can hardly be said.</p> + +<p>Gilgamesh is a hero of irresistible power. The inhabitants +of Uruk appeal for help to Aruru, who has created Gilgamesh:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>He has no rival....</p> +<p>Thy inhabitants [appeal for aid?].</p> +<p>Gilgamesh does not leave a son to his father.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_474" id="Page_474">[Pg 474]</a></span>Day and night,...</p> +<p>He, the ruler of walled Uruk,...</p> +<p>He, their ruler,...</p> +<p>The strong, the preëminent, the cunning,...</p> +<p>Gilgamesh does not leave the virgin to [her mother],</p> +<p>The daughter to her warrior, the wife to her husband.</p> +<p>The gods [of heaven] hear their cry.</p> +<p>They cry aloud to Aruru, "Thou hast created him,</p> +<p>Now create a rival (?) to him, equal to taking up the fight against him (?)."</p> +</div></div> + +<p>So much at least is clear from the badly mutilated lines that +Gilgamesh has played sad havoc with the inhabitants of Uruk. +In personal combat, as it would appear, he has triumphed over +the warriors of the place. The son is taken away from his +father, the virgins are taken captive, warriors and husbands are +snatched from those dear to them. Aruru is here appealed to +as the creator of mankind.<a name="FNanchor_867_867" id="FNanchor_867_867"></a><a href="#Footnote_867_867" class="fnanchor">[867]</a> She who has created the hero is +asked to produce some one who can successfully resist Gilgamesh. +Aruru proceeds to do so.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Aruru, upon hearing this, forms a man of Anu.<a name="FNanchor_868_868" id="FNanchor_868_868"></a><a href="#Footnote_868_868" class="fnanchor">[868]</a></p> +<p>Aruru washes her hands, takes a bit of clay, and throws it on the ground.</p> +<p>She creates Eabani, a hero, a lofty offspring, the possession of Ninib.<a name="FNanchor_869_869" id="FNanchor_869_869"></a><a href="#Footnote_869_869" class="fnanchor">[869]</a></p> +</div></div> + +<p>This creature Eabani is described as having a body covered +with hair. He has long flowing locks and lives with the animals +about him.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Eating herbs with gazelles,</p> +<p>Drinking from a trough with cattle,</p> +<p>Sporting with the creatures of the waters.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The description evidently recalls man living in a savage state, +and, to judge from illustrations of Eabani on seal cylinders,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_475" id="Page_475">[Pg 475]</a></span> +the mythological fancy of the period when strange monsters +existed of hybrid formation, half-man, half-beast, has influenced +the conception of this strange creature who is to combat the +invincible Gilgamesh. But Gilgamesh frustrates the plan. He +sends a messenger known as <i>Sâdu</i>, that is, 'the hunter,' and +described as a "wicked man," to ensnare Eabani.<a name="FNanchor_870_870" id="FNanchor_870_870"></a><a href="#Footnote_870_870" class="fnanchor">[870]</a> For three +days in succession, the hunter sees Eabani drinking at the +trough with the cattle, but is unable to catch him. The sight +of this 'wild man of the woods' frightens the hunter. He +returns to Gilgamesh for further instructions.</p> + +<p>Gilgamesh spoke to the hunter:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Go, hunter mine, and take with thee Ukhat</p> +<p>When the cattle comes to the trough,</p> +<p>Let her tear off her dress and disclose her nakedness.</p> +<p>He<a name="FNanchor_871_871" id="FNanchor_871_871"></a><a href="#Footnote_871_871" class="fnanchor">[871]</a> will see her and approach her.</p> +<p>His cattle, which grew up on his field, will forsake him.</p> +</div></div> + +<p><i>Ukhatu</i> is a name for a harlot devoted to the worship of Ishtar. +Other names for such devotees are <i>Kharimtu</i><a name="FNanchor_872_872" id="FNanchor_872_872"></a><a href="#Footnote_872_872" class="fnanchor">[872]</a> and <i>Kizritu</i>.<a name="FNanchor_873_873" id="FNanchor_873_873"></a><a href="#Footnote_873_873" class="fnanchor">[873]</a> +Elsewhere the city Uruk is called "the dwelling of Anu and +Ishtar, the city of the <i>Kizréti</i>, <i>Ukháti</i>, and <i>Kharimâti</i>"<a name="FNanchor_874_874" id="FNanchor_874_874"></a><a href="#Footnote_874_874" class="fnanchor">[874]</a> and in +a subsequent tablet of the Gilgamesh epic<a name="FNanchor_875_875" id="FNanchor_875_875"></a><a href="#Footnote_875_875" class="fnanchor">[875]</a> these three classes +of harlots are introduced as the attendants of Ishtar, obedient +to her call. The conclusion is therefore justified that Uruk was +one of the centers—perhaps the center—of the obscene rites +to which Herodotus<a name="FNanchor_876_876" id="FNanchor_876_876"></a><a href="#Footnote_876_876" class="fnanchor">[876]</a> has several references. Several other +incidental allusions in cuneiform literature to the sacred prostitution<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_476" id="Page_476">[Pg 476]</a></span> +carried on at Babylonian temples confirm Herodotus' +statement in general,<a name="FNanchor_877_877" id="FNanchor_877_877"></a><a href="#Footnote_877_877" class="fnanchor">[877]</a> although the rite never assumed the large +proportions that he reports.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, Herodotus does not appear to have understood +the religious significance of the custom that he designates +as 'shameful.' The name given to the harlot among Babylonians +and Hebrews,<a name="FNanchor_878_878" id="FNanchor_878_878"></a><a href="#Footnote_878_878" class="fnanchor">[878]</a> <i>Kadishtu</i> or <i>K'deshâ</i>, that is, 'the sacred +one,' is sufficient evidence that, at its origin, the rite was not +the product of obscene tendencies, but due to naïve conceptions +connected with the worship of Ishtar as the goddess +of fertility.</p> + +<p>The introduction of Ukhat, however, as an aid to carry out +the designs of Gilgamesh is devoid of religious significance, and +one is inclined to regard the Eabani episode, or at least certain +portions of it, as having had at one time an existence quite +independent of Gilgamesh's adventures. The description of +Eabani is, as we have seen, based upon mythological ideas. +The creation of Eabani recalls the Biblical tradition of the formation +of the first man, and Ukhat appears to be the Babylonian +equivalent to the Biblical Eve, who through her charms +entices Eabani away from the gazelles and cattle,<a name="FNanchor_879_879" id="FNanchor_879_879"></a><a href="#Footnote_879_879" class="fnanchor">[879]</a> and brings +him to Uruk, the symbol of civilized existence.</p> + +<p>It is significant that in the Biblical narrative, the sexual +instinct and the beginnings of culture as symbolized by the tree<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_477" id="Page_477">[Pg 477]</a></span> +of knowledge are closely associated. According to rabbinical +traditions, the serpent is the symbol of the sexual passion.<a name="FNanchor_880_880" id="FNanchor_880_880"></a><a href="#Footnote_880_880" class="fnanchor">[880]</a></p> + +<p>Eve obtains control of Adam with the aid of this passion. +In the episode of Eabani, Ukhat, and the hunter—who, be it +noted, plays the part of the tempter—we seem to have an +ancient legend forming part of some tradition regarding the +beginnings of man's history, and which has been brought into +connection with the Gilgamesh epic,—when and how, it is +impossible, of course, to say.</p> + +<p>The hunter follows the instructions of Gilgamesh. Eabani +falls a victim to Ukhat's attractions.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Ukhat exposed her breast, revealed her nakedness, took off her clothing.</p> +<p>Unabashed she enticed him.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The details of the meeting are described with a frank simplicity +that points again to the antiquity of the legend.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>For six days and seven nights Eabani enjoyed the love of Ukhat.</p> +<p>After he had satiated himself with her charms,</p> +<p>He turned his countenance to his cattle.</p> +<p>The reposing gazelles saw Eabani,</p> +<p>The cattle of the field turned away from him.</p> +<p>Eabani was startled and grew faint,</p> +<p>His limbs grew stiff as his cattle ran off.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>But Ukhat has gained control of him. He gives up the +thought of gazelles and cattle, and returns to enjoy the love of +Ukhat. His senses return,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>And he again turns in love, enthralled at the feet of the harlot,</p> +<p>Looks up into her face and listens as the woman speaks to him.</p> +<p>The woman<a name="FNanchor_881_881" id="FNanchor_881_881"></a><a href="#Footnote_881_881" class="fnanchor">[881]</a> speaks to Eabani:</p> +<p>"Lofty art thou, Eabani, like to a god.</p> +<p>Why dost thou lie with the beasts?</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_478" id="Page_478">[Pg 478]</a></span>Come, I will bring thee to walled Uruk,</p> +<p>To the glorious house,<a name="FNanchor_882_882" id="FNanchor_882_882"></a><a href="#Footnote_882_882" class="fnanchor">[882]</a> the dwelling of Anu and Ishtar,</p> +<p>To the seat of Gilgamesh, perfect in power,</p> +<p>Surpassing men in strength, like a mountain bull."</p> +</div></div> + +<p>It would appear from these lines that previous to the coming +of Ukhat, Eabani had satisfied his desire on the beasts. In +Ukhat, however, he found a worthier mate, and he accordingly +abandons his former associates to cling to her.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>He yields and obeys her command.</p> +<p>In the wisdom of his heart he recognized a companion.<a name="FNanchor_883_883" id="FNanchor_883_883"></a><a href="#Footnote_883_883" class="fnanchor">[883]</a></p> +</div></div> + +<p>In the continuation of the story Eabani becomes the companion +of Gilgamesh, but I venture to think that the title was transferred +in the development of the epic from Ukhat, to whom it +originally belonged. It is she who awakens in Eabani a sense +of dignity which made him superior to the animals. The word +translated 'companion'<a name="FNanchor_884_884" id="FNanchor_884_884"></a><a href="#Footnote_884_884" class="fnanchor">[884]</a> may be appropriately applied to Ukhat. +Eabani clings to her, as Adam does to Eve after she 'is brought'<a name="FNanchor_885_885" id="FNanchor_885_885"></a><a href="#Footnote_885_885" class="fnanchor">[885]</a> +to him. Ukhat becomes Eabani's 'companion,' just as Eve +becomes the 'helpmate' of Adam.</p> + +<p>These considerations strengthen the supposition that the +Eabani-Ukhat episode is quite distinct from the career of Gilgamesh. +Had the epic originated in Babylon or Nippur, Eabani +and Ukhat would have been brought to Babylon or Nippur. +As it is, Eabani asks Ukhat to conduct him<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_479" id="Page_479">[Pg 479]</a></span></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>To the glorious dwelling, the sacred seat of Anu and Ishtar,</p> +<p>To the seat of Gilgamesh, perfect in power,</p> +<p>Surpassing men in strength like a mountain bull.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Unfortunately, the tablet at this point is defective,<a name="FNanchor_886_886" id="FNanchor_886_886"></a><a href="#Footnote_886_886" class="fnanchor">[886]</a> and the +following three tablets are represented by small fragments only, +from which it is exceedingly difficult to determine more than +the general course of the narrative.</p> + +<p>Ukhat and Eabani proceed to Uruk. There is an interesting +reference to 'a festival' and to festive garments,<a name="FNanchor_887_887" id="FNanchor_887_887"></a><a href="#Footnote_887_887" class="fnanchor">[887]</a> but whether, +as would appear, Ukhat and Eabani are the ones who clothe +themselves<a name="FNanchor_888_888" id="FNanchor_888_888"></a><a href="#Footnote_888_888" class="fnanchor">[888]</a> upon reaching Uruk or whether, as Jeremias +believes, a festival was being celebrated at the place it is +impossible to say. Eabani is warned in a dream not to undertake +a test of strength with Gilgamesh,<a name="FNanchor_889_889" id="FNanchor_889_889"></a><a href="#Footnote_889_889" class="fnanchor">[889]</a></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Whose power is stronger than thine,</p> +<p>Who rests not, ... neither by day or night.</p> +<p>O Eabani, change thy ...</p> +<p>Shamash loves Gilgamesh,</p> +<p>Anu, Bel, and Ea have given him wisdom.</p> +<p>Before thou comest from the mountain</p> +<p>Gilgamesh in Uruk will see thy dream.<a name="FNanchor_890_890" id="FNanchor_890_890"></a><a href="#Footnote_890_890" class="fnanchor">[890]</a></p> +</div></div> + +<p>Dreams play an important part in the epic. They constitute +the regular means of communication between man and the gods, +so regular that at times the compilers of the epic do not find it +necessary to specify the fact, but take it for granted. To Gilgamesh, +Eabani's coming is revealed and he asks his mother +Aruru to interpret the dream.</p> + +<p>The third and fourth tablets take us back to the history of +Uruk. Gilgamesh, aided by his patron Shamash, succeeds in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_480" id="Page_480">[Pg 480]</a></span> +gaining Eabani as a 'companion' in a contest that is to be +waged against Khumbaba, who threatens Uruk. The name of +this enemy is Elamitic, and it has been customary to refer the +campaign against him to the tradition recorded by Berosus of +a native uprising against Elamitic rule, which took place about +2400 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span><a name="FNanchor_891_891" id="FNanchor_891_891"></a><a href="#Footnote_891_891" class="fnanchor">[891]</a> It must be said, however, that there is no satisfactory +evidence for this supposition. Elam, lying to the east of the +Euphrates, was at all times a serious menace to Babylonia. +Hostilities with Elam are frequent before and after the days of +Hammurabi. If Gilgamesh, as seems certain, is a Cassite,<a name="FNanchor_892_892" id="FNanchor_892_892"></a><a href="#Footnote_892_892" class="fnanchor">[892]</a> the +conflict between him and Khumbaba would represent a rivalry +among Cassitic or Elamitic hordes for the possession of Uruk +and of the surrounding district. While the Cassites do not come +to the front till the eighteenth century, at which time the center +of their kingdom is Nippur, there is every reason to believe +that they were settled in the Euphrates Valley long before that +period. The course of conquest—as of civilization in Babylonia—being +from the south to the north, we would be justified +in looking for the Cassites in Uruk before they extended their +dominion to Nippur. At all events, the conflict between Gilgamesh +and Khumbaba must be referred to a much more ancient +period than the rise of the city of Babylon as a political center.</p> + +<p>Shamash and Gilgamesh promise Eabani royal honors if he +will join friendship with them.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Come, and on a great couch,</p> +<p>On a fine couch he<a name="FNanchor_893_893" id="FNanchor_893_893"></a><a href="#Footnote_893_893" class="fnanchor">[893]</a> will place thee.</p> +<p>He will give thee a seat to the left.</p> +<p>The rulers of the earth will kiss thy feet.</p> +<p>All the people of Uruk will crouch before thee.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Eabani consents, and in company with Gilgamesh proceeds +to the fortress of Khumbaba. It is a long and hard road that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_481" id="Page_481">[Pg 481]</a></span> +they have to travel. The terror inspired by Khumbaba is compared +to that aroused by a violent storm, but Gilgamesh receives +assurances, in no less than three dreams, that he will come +forth unharmed out of the ordeal.</p> + +<p>The fortress of Khumbaba is situated in a grove of wonderful +grandeur, in the midst of which there is a large cedar, +affording shade and diffusing a sweet odor. The description +reminds one forcibly of the garden of Eden, and the question +suggests itself whether in this episode of the Gilgamesh epic, +we have not again a composite production due to the combination +of Gilgamesh's adventures with the traditions regarding +Eabani. Unfortunately the description of the contest with +Khumbaba is missing. There is a reference to the tyrant's +death,<a name="FNanchor_894_894" id="FNanchor_894_894"></a><a href="#Footnote_894_894" class="fnanchor">[894]</a> but that is all. In the sixth tablet, Gilgamesh is celebrated +as the victor and not Eabani. We may conclude, +therefore, that the episode belongs originally to Gilgamesh's +career, and that Eabani has been introduced into it. On the +other hand, for Eabani to be placed in a beautiful garden +would be a natural consequence of his deserting the gazelles +and cattle,—the reward, as it were, of his clinging to Ukhat. +Separating the composite elements of the epic in this way, we +have as distinct episodes in Gilgamesh's career, the conquest +of Uruk and of other places,<a name="FNanchor_895_895" id="FNanchor_895_895"></a><a href="#Footnote_895_895" class="fnanchor">[895]</a> and his successful campaign +against Khumbaba. With this story there has been combined +a popular tradition of man's early savage state, his departure +from this condition through the sexual passion aroused by Ukhat, +who becomes his 'companion,' and with whom or through +whom he is led to a beautiful garden as a habitation.</p> + +<p>The sixth tablet introduces a third element into the epic,—a +mythological one. The goddess Ishtar pleads for the love of +Gilgamesh. She is attracted to him by his achievements and +his personality. The tablet begins with a description of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_482" id="Page_482">[Pg 482]</a></span> +celebration of Gilgamesh's victory. The hero exchanges his +blood-stained clothes for white garments, polishes his weapons, +and places a crown on his head.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>To secure the grace of Gilgamesh, the exalted Ishtar raises her eyes.</p> +<p>Come, Gilgamesh, be my husband,</p> +<p>Thy love<a name="FNanchor_896_896" id="FNanchor_896_896"></a><a href="#Footnote_896_896" class="fnanchor">[896]</a> grant me as a gift,</p> +<p>Be thou my husband and I will be thy wife</p> +<p>I will place thee on a chariot of lapis lazuli and gold,</p> +<p>With wheels of gold and horns of sapphire (?)</p> +<p>Drawn by great ... steeds (?).</p> +<p>With sweet odor of cedars enter our house.</p> +<p>Upon entering our house,</p> +<p>... will kiss thy feet.</p> +<p>Kings, lords, and princes will be submissive to thee,</p> +<p>Products of mountain and land, they will bring as tribute to thee.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Ishtar appears here as the goddess of love and fertility. As +such she promises Gilgamesh also abundance of herds. But +Gilgamesh rejects the offer, giving as his reason the sad fate +encountered by these who were victims of Ishtar's love:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Tammuz, the consort of thy youth (?),</p> +<p>Thou causest to weep every year.</p> +<p>The bright-colored <i>allallu</i> bird thou didst love.</p> +<p>Thou didst crush him and break his pinions.</p> +<p>In the woods he stands and laments, "O my pinions!"</p> +<p>Thou didst love a lion of perfect strength,</p> +<p>Seven and seven times<a name="FNanchor_897_897" id="FNanchor_897_897"></a><a href="#Footnote_897_897" class="fnanchor">[897]</a> thou didst bury him in the corners (?),</p> +<p>Thou didst love a horse superior in the fray,</p> +<p>With whip and spur<a name="FNanchor_898_898" id="FNanchor_898_898"></a><a href="#Footnote_898_898" class="fnanchor">[898]</a> thou didst urge him on,</p> +<p>Thou didst force him on for seven double hours,<a name="FNanchor_899_899" id="FNanchor_899_899"></a><a href="#Footnote_899_899" class="fnanchor">[899]</a></p> +<p>Thou didst force him on when wearied and thirsty;</p> +<p>His mother Silili thou madest weep.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>In this way Gilgamesh proceeds to upbraid the goddess, +instancing, in addition, her cruel treatment of a shepherd, and +apparently also of a giant, whom she changed to a dwarf. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_483" id="Page_483">[Pg 483]</a></span> +allusions, while obscure, are all of a mythological character. +The weeping of Tammuz symbolizes the decay of vegetation after +the summer season. The misfortunes that afflict the bird, lion, +and horse similarly indicate the loss of beauty and strength, +which is the universal fate of those who once enjoyed those +attributes. Ishtar, as the great mother, produces life and +strength, but she is unable to make life and strength permanent. +Popular belief makes her responsible for decay and +death, since life and fertility appear to be in her hand. Gilgamesh, +as a popular hero, is brought into association by popular +traditions with Ishtar, as he is brought into relationships with +Eabani and Ukhat. A factor in this association was the necessity +of accounting for Gilgamesh's death. As a hero, the favorite +of the gods and invincible in battle, he ought to enjoy the +privilege of the gods—immortality. The question had to be +answered how he came to forego this distinction. The insult he +offers to Ishtar is the answer to this question. Knowing that +Ishtar, although the giver of life, does not grant a continuance +of it, he who is produced by Aruru will have nothing to do with +the great goddess. But his refusal leads to a dire punishment, +more disastrous even than the alliance with Ishtar, which would +have culminated in his being eventually shorn of his strength.</p> + +<p>Ishtar, determined that Gilgamesh should not escape her, +flies in rage to her father Anu, the god of heaven, and tells of +the manner in which she has been treated. Anu comforts her. +Yielding to Ishtar's request he creates a divine bull, known as +Alû, <i>i.e.</i>, the strong or supreme one,<a name="FNanchor_900_900" id="FNanchor_900_900"></a><a href="#Footnote_900_900" class="fnanchor">[900]</a> who is to destroy Gilgamesh. +At this point in the narrative Eabani is again introduced. +Gilgamesh and Eabani together proceed to the contest +with the bull, as they formerly proceeded against Khumbaba. +On seal cylinders this fight is frequently pictured.<a name="FNanchor_901_901" id="FNanchor_901_901"></a><a href="#Footnote_901_901" class="fnanchor">[901]</a> In agreement +with the description in the narrative, Eabani takes hold<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_484" id="Page_484">[Pg 484]</a></span> +of the tail of the animal, while Gilgamesh despatches him by +driving a spear into the bull's heart. Ishtar's plan is thus +frustrated.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Ishtar mounts the wall of walled Uruk.</p> +<p>In violent rage she pronounces a curse:</p> +<p>"Cursed be Gilgamesh, who has enraged me,</p> +<p>Who has killed the divine bull."</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Eabani adds insult to injury by challenging the goddess.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Eabani, upon hearing these words of Ishtar,</p> +<p>Takes the carcass (?) of the divine bull and throws it into her face.</p> +<p>Woe to thee! I will subdue thee,</p> +<p>I will do to thee as I have done to him.<a name="FNanchor_902_902" id="FNanchor_902_902"></a><a href="#Footnote_902_902" class="fnanchor">[902]</a></p> +</div></div> + +<p>The mythological motives that prompted the introduction of +Ishtar into this tablet now become apparent. The division of +the epic into twelve parts is due to scholastic influences. It is +certainly not accidental that the calendar also consists of twelve +months. While it is by no means the case that each tablet +corresponds to some month, still in the case of the sixth and, +as we shall see, in the case of the seventh and eleventh tablets, +this correspondence is certain. The sixth month is designated +as the month of the "Mission of Ishtar." What this mission is +we shall see in a subsequent chapter.<a name="FNanchor_903_903" id="FNanchor_903_903"></a><a href="#Footnote_903_903" class="fnanchor">[903]</a> In this month was celebrated +a festival to Tammuz, the young bridegroom of Ishtar, +who is slain by the goddess. The prophet Ezekiel gives us a +picture of the weeping for Tammuz,<a name="FNanchor_904_904" id="FNanchor_904_904"></a><a href="#Footnote_904_904" class="fnanchor">[904]</a> which formed the chief +ceremony of the day.</p> + +<p>It is this character of the month that accounts not only for +the introduction of the Ishtar episode in the sixth tablet, but +which finds further illustrations in the mourning which Ishtar +and her attendants indulge in after the death of the divine bull.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Ishtar assembled the Kizréti,</p> +<p>Ukhâlti and Kharimâti.</p> +<p>Over the carcass of Alû they raised a lamentation.</p> +</div></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_485" id="Page_485">[Pg 485]</a></span> +These three classes of sacred prostitutes have already been +dwelt upon.<a name="FNanchor_905_905" id="FNanchor_905_905"></a><a href="#Footnote_905_905" class="fnanchor">[905]</a> With more material at our disposal regarding the +cult of Ishtar or Nanâ of Erech, we would be in a position to +specify the character of the rites performed at this temple. The +statements of Herodotus and of other writers suffice, however, +to show that the three terms represent classes of priestesses +attached to the temple. In this respect the Ishtar cult of Erech +was not unique, for we have references to priestesses elsewhere. +However, the function of the priestess in religious history differs +materially from that of the priest. She is not a mediator between +the god and his subjects, nor is she a representative of the +deity. It is as a 'witch,' that by virtue of the association of +ideas above set forth,<a name="FNanchor_906_906" id="FNanchor_906_906"></a><a href="#Footnote_906_906" class="fnanchor">[906]</a> she is able to determine the intentions +of the gods. Her power to do harm is supplemented by her +ability to furnish oracles. In this capacity we have already come +across her,<a name="FNanchor_907_907" id="FNanchor_907_907"></a><a href="#Footnote_907_907" class="fnanchor">[907]</a> and we may assume that giving oracles constituted +a chief function of the priestess in Babylonia. It was furthermore +natural to conclude that as a 'witch' and 'oracle-giver,' +the priestess belonged to the deity from whom she derived her +power. When we come to the cult of a goddess like Ishtar, who +is the symbol of fertility, observances that illustrated this central +notion would naturally form an ingredient part of that 'sympathetic +magic,'—the imitation of an action in order to produce +the reality—which dominates so large a proportion of early religious +ceremonialism. Among many nations the mysterious aspects +of woman's fertility lead to rites that by a perversion of +their original import appear to be obscene.<a name="FNanchor_908_908" id="FNanchor_908_908"></a><a href="#Footnote_908_908" class="fnanchor">[908]</a> In the reference to +the three classes of sacred prostitutes, we have an evidence that +the Babylonian worship formed no exception to the rule. But +with this proposition that the prostitutes were priestesses attached +to the Ishtar cult and who look part in ceremonies intended to +symbolize fertility, we must for the present rest content.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_486" id="Page_486">[Pg 486]</a></span> +Gilgamesh, secure in his victory, proceeds to offer the horns +of the divine bull to his patron Lugal-Marada, the 'king' of +Marad, and who appears to be identical with Shamash himself. +The offering is accompanied by gifts to the sanctuary of +precious stones and oil. There is general rejoicing.</p> + +<p>The episode of Gilgamesh's contest with the bull also belongs +to the mythological phases of the epic. The bull is in Babylonian +mythology<a name="FNanchor_909_909" id="FNanchor_909_909"></a><a href="#Footnote_909_909" class="fnanchor">[909]</a> as among other nations a symbol of the storm. +It is in his rôle as a solar deity that Gilgamesh triumphs over +the storm sent by Anu, that is, from on high. In the following +chapter, we will come across another form of this same myth +suggested evidently, as was the fight of Marduk with Tiâmat, +by the annual storms raging in Babylonia. Gilgamesh triumphs +as does Marduk, but when once the summer solstice, which +represents the sun's triumph, is past, the decline of the sun's +strength begins to set in. This is indicated by the subsequent +course of the narrative.</p> + +<p>The scene of rejoicing at Gilgamesh's triumph is changed to +one of sadness. Eabani is snatched away from Gilgamesh. +The few fragments of the seventh and eighth tablets do not +suffice for determining exactly in what way this happened, but +Ishtar is evidently the cause of the misfortune. A fatal illness, +it would seem, seizes hold of Eabani,—whether as the +result of a further contest or directly sent, it is impossible to +say. For twelve days he lingers and then is taken away. As +usual, the catastrophe is foreseen in dreams. For a third time<a name="FNanchor_910_910" id="FNanchor_910_910"></a><a href="#Footnote_910_910" class="fnanchor">[910]</a> +he sees a vision of fire and lightning, which forebodes the end.</p> + +<p>The fragmentary condition of the epic at this point is particularly +unfortunate. There is a reference to Nippur,<a name="FNanchor_911_911" id="FNanchor_911_911"></a><a href="#Footnote_911_911" class="fnanchor">[911]</a> of which +it would be important to know the purpose.</p> + +<p>The relationship between Gilgamesh and Eabani would be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_487" id="Page_487">[Pg 487]</a></span> +much clearer if the seventh and eighth tablets were preserved in +good condition. The disappearance of Eabani before the end +of the epic confirms, however, the view here maintained, that +the career of Eabani was originally quite independent of Gilgamesh's +adventures. His death is as superfluous as is his association +with Eabani. In all critical moments Gilgamesh appears +to stand alone. He conquers Uruk, and it is he who celebrates +the victory of the divine bull. The subsequent course of the +narrative after Eabani's death, except for the frequent mention +of Gilgamesh's lament for his companion, proceeds undisturbed. +Moreover, Eabani's punishment appears to be identical with +that meted out to Gilgamesh. The latter is also stricken with +disease, but in his case, the disease has a meaning that fits in +with the mythological phases of the epic. The seventh month—the +one following the summer solstice—marks the beginning +of a turning-point in the year. As the year advances, vegetation +diminishes, and the conclusion was naturally drawn that the sun +upon whom vegetation depended had lost some of his force. +This loss of strength is pictured as a disease with which the sun +is afflicted. In this way, the seventh tablet—and possibly also +the eighth—continues the nature myth embodied in the sixth.</p> + +<p>Haupt has ingeniously conjectured that the sickness which +affects Gilgamesh is of a venereal character. The hero wanders +about in search of healing. His suffering is increased by +his deep sorrow over the loss of his 'companion.' The death +of Eabani presages his own destruction, and he dreads the +dreary fate in store for him. The ninth tablet introduces us +to this situation.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Gilgamesh weeps for his companion Eabani.</p> +<p>In distress he is stretched out on the ground.<a name="FNanchor_912_912" id="FNanchor_912_912"></a><a href="#Footnote_912_912" class="fnanchor">[912]</a></p> +<p>'I will not die like Eabani.</p> +<p>Sorrow has entered my body.</p> +<p>Through fear of death, I lie stretched out on the ground.'</p> +</div></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_488" id="Page_488">[Pg 488]</a></span> +He determines to seek out a mysterious personage, whom he +calls Parnapishtim,<a name="FNanchor_913_913" id="FNanchor_913_913"></a><a href="#Footnote_913_913" class="fnanchor">[913]</a> the son of Kidin-Marduk.<a name="FNanchor_914_914" id="FNanchor_914_914"></a><a href="#Footnote_914_914" class="fnanchor">[914]</a> This personage +has in some way escaped the fate of mankind and enjoys +immortal life. He is called the "distant one." His dwelling +is far off, "at the confluence of the streams." The road to the +place is full of dangers, but Gilgamesh, undaunted, undertakes +the journey. The hero himself furnishes the description.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>I came to a glen at night,</p> +<p>Lions I saw and was afraid.</p> +<p>I raised my head and prayed to Sin.</p> +<p>To the leader (?) of the gods my prayer came.</p> +<p>[He heard my prayer (?)], and was gracious to me.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>On many seal cylinders and on monuments, Gilgamesh is +pictured in the act of fighting with or strangling a lion. In the +preserved portions of the epic no reference to this contest has +been found.<a name="FNanchor_915_915" id="FNanchor_915_915"></a><a href="#Footnote_915_915" class="fnanchor">[915]</a> We should look for it at this point of the narrative. +The following lines contain a reference to weapons,—ax +and sword,—and in so far justify the supposition that some +contest takes place. But the text is too mutilated to warrant +further conjectures. After escaping from the danger occasioned +by the lions, Gilgamesh comes to the mountain Mashu, which +is described as a place of terrors, the entrance to which is +guarded by 'scorpion-men.'</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>He reached the mountain Mashu,</p> +<p>Whose exit is daily guarded, ...</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_489" id="Page_489">[Pg 489]</a></span>Whose back extends to the dam of heaven,</p> +<p>And whose breast<a name="FNanchor_916_916" id="FNanchor_916_916"></a><a href="#Footnote_916_916" class="fnanchor">[916]</a> reaches to Aralû;<a name="FNanchor_917_917" id="FNanchor_917_917"></a><a href="#Footnote_917_917" class="fnanchor">[917]</a></p> +<p>Scorpion-men guard its gate,</p> +<p>Of terror-inspiring aspect, whose appearance is deadly,</p> +<p>Of awful splendor, shattering mountains.</p> +<p>At sunrise and sunset they keep guard over the sun.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>It will be recalled that the earth is pictured by the Babylonians +as a mountain. The description of Mashu is dependent +upon this conception. The mountain seems to be coextensive +with the earth. The dam of heaven is the point near which +the sun rises, and if the scorpion-men guard the sun at sunrise +and sunset, the mountain must extend across to the gate through +which the sun passes at night to dip into the great <i>Apsu</i>.<a name="FNanchor_918_918" id="FNanchor_918_918"></a><a href="#Footnote_918_918" class="fnanchor">[918]</a></p> + +<p>Aralû is situated under the earth, and Mashu, reaching down +to Aralû, must be again coextensive with the earth in this +direction. The description of Mashu accordingly is a reflex of +the cosmological conceptions developed in Babylonia. The +scorpion-men pictured on seal cylinders<a name="FNanchor_919_919" id="FNanchor_919_919"></a><a href="#Footnote_919_919" class="fnanchor">[919]</a> belong to the mythical +monsters, half-man, half-beast, with which the world was peopled +at the beginning of things. However, there is also an +historical background to the description. The name Mashu +appears in texts as the Arabian desert to the west and southwest +of the Euphrates Valley.<a name="FNanchor_920_920" id="FNanchor_920_920"></a><a href="#Footnote_920_920" class="fnanchor">[920]</a> It is called a land of dryness, +where neither birds nor gazelles nor wild asses are found. Even +the bold Assyrian armies hesitated before passing through this +region. In the light of the early relationships between Babylonia +and Arabia,<a name="FNanchor_921_921" id="FNanchor_921_921"></a><a href="#Footnote_921_921" class="fnanchor">[921]</a> this reference to Mashu may embody a tradition +of some expedition to Southern Arabia.<a name="FNanchor_922_922" id="FNanchor_922_922"></a><a href="#Footnote_922_922" class="fnanchor">[922]</a> Beyond Mashu<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_490" id="Page_490">[Pg 490]</a></span> +lay a great sea,—perhaps the Arabian Sea,—which Gilgamesh +is obliged to cross ere he reaches his goal.</p> + +<p>Gilgamesh is terrified at the sight of these scorpion-men +but the latter have received notice of his coming and permit +him to pass through the gate.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>A scorpion-man addresses his wife:</p> +<p>"He who comes to us is of divine appearance."</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The wife of the scorpion-man agrees that Gilgamesh is in +part divine, but she adds that in part he is human. In further +conversation, the scorpion-man announces that it is by express +command of the gods that Gilgamesh has come to the mountain. +Gilgamesh approaches and tells the scorpion-man of his purpose. +The hero, recovering his courage, is not held back by the description +that the scorpion-man gives him of the dangers that +beset the one who ventures to enter the dreadful district. The +gate is opened and the journey begins.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>He gropes his way for one double hour,</p> +<p>With dense darkness enclosing him on all sides.</p> +<p>He gropes his way for two double hours,</p> +<p>With dense darkness enclosing him on all sides.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>After traversing a distance of twenty-four hours' march, Gilgamesh +beholds a tree of splendid appearance, decorated with +precious stones and bearing beautiful fruit. Finally he reaches +the sea, where the maiden Sabitum has her palace and throne. +Upon seeing the hero, the maiden locks the gates of her palace +and will not permit Gilgamesh to pass across the sea. Gilgamesh +pleads with Sabitum, tells of the loss of his friend Eabani, +'who has become dust,'<a name="FNanchor_923_923" id="FNanchor_923_923"></a><a href="#Footnote_923_923" class="fnanchor">[923]</a> and whose fate he does not wish to +share.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Gilgamesh speaks to Sabitum:</p> +<p>"[Now] Sabitum, which is the way to Parnapishtim?</p> +<p>If it is possible, let me cross the ocean.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_491" id="Page_491">[Pg 491]</a></span>If it is not possible, let me stretch myself on the ground."<a name="FNanchor_924_924" id="FNanchor_924_924"></a><a href="#Footnote_924_924" class="fnanchor">[924]</a></p> +<p>Sabitum speaks to Gilgamesh:</p> +<p>"O Gilgamesh! there has never been a ferry,</p> +<p>And no one has ever crossed the ocean.</p> +<p>Shamash, the hero, has crossed it, but except Shamash, who can cross it?</p> +<p>Difficult is the passage, very difficult the path.</p> +<p>Impassible (?) the waters of death that are guarded by a bolt.</p> +<p>How canst thou, O Gilgamesh, traverse the ocean?</p> +<p>And after thou hast crossed the waters of death, what wilt thou do?"</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Sabitum then tells Gilgamesh that there is one possibility of +his accomplishing his task. If Ardi-Ea,<a name="FNanchor_925_925" id="FNanchor_925_925"></a><a href="#Footnote_925_925" class="fnanchor">[925]</a> the ferryman<a name="FNanchor_926_926" id="FNanchor_926_926"></a><a href="#Footnote_926_926" class="fnanchor">[926]</a> of +Parnapishtim, will take Gilgamesh across, well and good; if +not, he must abandon all hope.</p> + +<p>The ocean, though not expressly called <i>Apsu</i>, is evidently +identical with the great body of waters supposed to both surround +the earth and to flow beneath it.<a name="FNanchor_927_927" id="FNanchor_927_927"></a><a href="#Footnote_927_927" class="fnanchor">[927]</a> The reference to 'the +waters of death' thus becomes clear. The gathering-place of +the dead being under the earth, near to the <i>Apsu</i>, the great +'Okeanos' forms a means of approach to the nether world. It +is into this ocean, forming part of the <i>Apsu</i>, that the sun dips +at evening and through which it passes during the night. The +scene between Gilgamesh and Sabitum accordingly is suggested, +in part, by the same cosmological conceptions that condition +the description of the mountain Mashu.</p> + +<p>Sabitum herself is a figure that still awaits satisfactory explanation. +She is called the goddess Siduri.<a name="FNanchor_928_928" id="FNanchor_928_928"></a><a href="#Footnote_928_928" class="fnanchor">[928]</a> The name of +this goddess is found as an element in proper names, but of +her traits we know nothing. Sabitum appears originally to +have been a term descriptive of her, and Hommel<a name="FNanchor_929_929" id="FNanchor_929_929"></a><a href="#Footnote_929_929" class="fnanchor">[929]</a> may be +right in explaining the name as 'the one from Sabu,'<a name="FNanchor_930_930" id="FNanchor_930_930"></a><a href="#Footnote_930_930" class="fnanchor">[930]</a> and in +taking the latter as the name of a district in Arabia. It is +tempting to think of the famous Saba in Southern Arabia.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_492" id="Page_492">[Pg 492]</a></span> +Obedient to the advice of Sabitum, Gilgamesh tells Ardi-Ea +his story and also his desire.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Now Ardi-Ea, which is the way to [Parnapishtim?].</p> +<p>If it is possible, let me cross the ocean,</p> +<p>And if not possible, let me lie outstretched on the ground.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Ardi-Ea consents, and tells Gilgamesh to take his ax, to go +into the woods, and to cut down a large pole that may serve as +a rudder.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Gilgamesh, upon hearing this,</p> +<p>Takes an ax in his hand, ...</p> +<p>Goes to the wood and makes a rudder five gar<a name="FNanchor_931_931" id="FNanchor_931_931"></a><a href="#Footnote_931_931" class="fnanchor">[931]</a> long.</p> +<p>Gilgamesh and Ardi-Ea mount the ship.</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p>The ship tosses from side to side.</p> +<p>After a course of one month and fifteen days, on the third day<a name="FNanchor_932_932" id="FNanchor_932_932"></a><a href="#Footnote_932_932" class="fnanchor">[932]</a></p> +<p>Ardi-Ea reaches the waters of death.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>This appears to be the most dangerous part of the voyage. +Ardi-Ea urges Gilgamesh to cling to the rudder, and counts the +strokes he is to take.<a name="FNanchor_933_933" id="FNanchor_933_933"></a><a href="#Footnote_933_933" class="fnanchor">[933]</a> The waters are not extensive, for only +twelve strokes are enumerated; but the current is so strong that +it is with the utmost difficulty that Gilgamesh succeeds in passing +through them. At last, Gilgamesh is face to face with +Parnapishtim. The latter is astonished to see a living person +come across the waters. Gilgamesh addresses Parnapishtim +from the ship, recounts his deeds, among which we distinguish<a name="FNanchor_934_934" id="FNanchor_934_934"></a><a href="#Footnote_934_934" class="fnanchor">[934]</a> +the killing of a panther, of Alû, of the divine bull, and of Khumbaba. +The death of Eabani is also dwelt upon, and then +Gilgamesh pleads with Parnapishtim, tells him of the long, +difficult way that he has traveled, and of all that he has encountered +on the road.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Difficult lands I passed through,</p> +<p>All seas I crossed.</p> +</div></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_493" id="Page_493">[Pg 493]</a></span> +Parnapishtim expresses his sympathy:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Gilgamesh has filled his heart with woe,</p> +<p>But neither gods nor men [can help him (?)].</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Parnapishtim thereupon addresses Gilgamesh, showing him +how impossible it is for any mortal to escape death. The +inexorable law will prevail as long as 'houses continue to be +built,' as long as 'friendships' and 'hostilities' prevail, as long +'as the waters fill (?) the sea.' The Anunnaki, the great gods, +and the goddess Mammitum, the creators of everything</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Determine death and life.</p> +<p>No one knows the days of death.<a name="FNanchor_935_935" id="FNanchor_935_935"></a><a href="#Footnote_935_935" class="fnanchor">[935]</a></p> +</div></div> + +<p>At this point Gilgamesh propounds a most natural question: +How comes it, if what Parnapishtim says is true, that the latter +is alive, while possessing all the traits of a human being? The +eleventh tablet of the epic begins:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Gilgamesh speaks to him, to Parnapishtim, the far-removed:</p> +<p>"I gaze at thee in amazement, Parnapishtim.</p> +<p>Thy appearance is normal. As I am, so art thou.</p> +<p>Thy entire nature<a name="FNanchor_936_936" id="FNanchor_936_936"></a><a href="#Footnote_936_936" class="fnanchor">[936]</a> is normal. As I am, so art thou.</p> +<p>Thou art completely equipped for the fray.<a name="FNanchor_937_937" id="FNanchor_937_937"></a><a href="#Footnote_937_937" class="fnanchor">[937]</a></p> +<p>Armor<a name="FNanchor_938_938" id="FNanchor_938_938"></a><a href="#Footnote_938_938" class="fnanchor">[938]</a> (?) thou hast placed upon thee.</p> +<p>Tell me how thou didst come to obtain eternal life among the gods."</p> +</div></div> + +<p>In reply, Parnapishtim tells the story of his escape from the +common fate of mankind. The story is a long one and has no +connection with the career of Gilgamesh. It embodies a recollection +of a rain-storm that once visited a city, causing a general +destruction, but from which Parnapishtim and his family miraculously +escaped. The main purport of the tale is not to emphasize +this miracle, but the far greater one that, after having +been saved from the catastrophe, Parnapishtim should also have +been granted immortal life. The moral, however, is that the exception<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_494" id="Page_494">[Pg 494]</a></span> +proves the rule. With this tradition of the destruction +of a certain place, there has been combined a nature myth symbolizing +the annual overflow of the Euphrates, and the temporary +disappearance of all land that this inundation brought about, +prior to the elaborate canal system that was developed in the +valley. It is the same myth that we have come across in the +creation epic and which, as we have seen, was instrumental in +moulding the advanced cosmological conceptions of the Babylonians.</p> + +<p>In Parnapishtim's tale, the myth is given a more popular +form. There is no attempt made to impart a scholastic interpretation +to it. In keeping with what we have seen to be the +general character of the Gilgamesh epic, the episode introduced +at this point embodies popular traditions and, on the whole, +popular conceptions. The spirit of the whole epic is the same +that we find in the Thousand and One Nights or in the Arabian +romance of Antar.</p> + +<p>The oriental love of story-telling has produced the Gilgamesh +epic and, like a true story, it grows in length, the oftener it is told. +Gilgamesh is merely a peg upon which various current traditions +and myths are hung. Hence the combination of Gilgamesh's +adventures with those of Eabani, and hence also the +association of Gilgamesh with Parnapishtim. A trace, perhaps, +of scholastic influence may be seen in the purport of Parnapishtim's +narrative to prove the hopelessness of man's securing +immortality; and yet, while the theology of the schools may +thus have had some share in giving to the tale of Parnapishtim +its present shape, the problem presented by Gilgamesh's +adventures is a popular rather than a scholastic one. Even to +the primitive mind, for whom life rather than death constitutes +the great mystery to be solved, the question would suggest itself +whether death is an absolutely necessary phase through which +man must pass. The sun, moon, and stars do not die, the +streams have perpetual life; and since all manifestations of life<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_495" id="Page_495">[Pg 495]</a></span> +were looked at from one point of view, why should not man also +remain alive? Beyond some touches in the narrative, we may, +therefore, regard Parnapishtim's story, together with the 'lesson' +it teaches, as an interesting trace of the early theology as +it took shape in the popular mind. What adds interest to the +story that Parnapishtim tells, is its close resemblance to the +Biblical story of the Deluge. It also recalls the destruction +of Sodom, and we shall have occasion<a name="FNanchor_939_939" id="FNanchor_939_939"></a><a href="#Footnote_939_939" class="fnanchor">[939]</a> to show the significance +of these points of contact. Bearing in mind the independent +character of the Parnapishtim episode, and the motives that +led to its being incorporated in the adventures of Gilgamesh, +we may proceed with our analysis of this interesting eleventh +tablet. Thanks to the labors of Haupt, the numerous fragments +of it representing several copies, have been pieced together so +as to form an almost complete text.<a name="FNanchor_940_940" id="FNanchor_940_940"></a><a href="#Footnote_940_940" class="fnanchor">[940]</a> In reply to Gilgamesh's +queries,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Parnapishtim spoke to Gilgamesh:</p> +<p>"I will tell thee, Gilgamesh, the secret story,</p> +<p>And the secret of the gods I will tell thee.</p> +<p>The city Shurippak, a city which, as thou knowest,</p> +<p>Lies on the Euphrates,</p> +<p>That city was old,<a name="FNanchor_941_941" id="FNanchor_941_941"></a><a href="#Footnote_941_941" class="fnanchor">[941]</a> for the gods thereof,</p> +<p>Decided to bring a rainstorm upon it.</p> +<p>All of the great gods, Anu, their father,</p> +<p>Their counsellor, the warrior Bel,</p> +<p>The herald Ninib,</p> +<p>Their leader En-nugi,</p> +<p>The lord of unsearchable wisdom, Ea, was with them,</p> +<p>To proclaim their resolve to the reed-huts.</p> +<p>Reed-hut, reed-hut, wall, wall!</p> +<p>Reed-hut, hear! Wall, give ear!"</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The ordinary houses of Babylonia were constructed of reeds,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_496" id="Page_496">[Pg 496]</a></span> +while the temples and palaces were built of hard-baked clay. +"Reed-hut" and "clay structure," thus embracing the architecture +of the country, are poetically used to designate the +inhabitants of Shurippak. The address to the huts and structures +has been appropriately compared by Professor Haupt to +the opening words of Isaiah's prophecies.<a name="FNanchor_942_942" id="FNanchor_942_942"></a><a href="#Footnote_942_942" class="fnanchor">[942]</a></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Hear, Heavens! and give ear, Earth!</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Ea's words are intended as a warning to the people of Shurippak. +The warning comes appropriately from Ea as the god +of humanity, who according to some traditions is also the creator +of mankind, and who is the teacher and protector of mankind. +Opposed to Ea is Bel, the old Bel of Nippur, who is represented +as favoring the destruction of humanity. The story +in this way reflects a rivalry between the Ea and Bel cults.</p> + +<p>Of Shurippak, against which the anger of the gods is enkindled, +we unfortunately know nothing,<a name="FNanchor_943_943" id="FNanchor_943_943"></a><a href="#Footnote_943_943" class="fnanchor">[943]</a> but it is fair to assume +that there was an ancient city of that name, and which was destroyed +by an overflow of the Euphrates during the rainy season. +The city need not necessarily have been one of much importance. +Its sad fate would naturally have impressed itself upon the +memory of the people, and given rise to legends precisely as the +disappearance of Sodom<a name="FNanchor_944_944" id="FNanchor_944_944"></a><a href="#Footnote_944_944" class="fnanchor">[944]</a> or of the destruction of the tribes of +Ad and Thamud gave rise to fantastic stories among Hebrews +and Arabs respectively.<a name="FNanchor_945_945" id="FNanchor_945_945"></a><a href="#Footnote_945_945" class="fnanchor">[945]</a></p> + +<p>Ea, not content with the general warning, sends a special +message to Parnapishtim, one of the inhabitants of Shurippak.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>O man of Shurippak, son of Kidin-Marduk!<a name="FNanchor_946_946" id="FNanchor_946_946"></a><a href="#Footnote_946_946" class="fnanchor">[946]</a></p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_497" id="Page_497">[Pg 497]</a></span>Erect a structure,<a name="FNanchor_947_947" id="FNanchor_947_947"></a><a href="#Footnote_947_947" class="fnanchor">[947]</a> build a ship,</p> +<p>Abandon your goods, look after the souls,<a name="FNanchor_948_948" id="FNanchor_948_948"></a><a href="#Footnote_948_948" class="fnanchor">[948]</a></p> +<p>Throw aside your possessions, and save your life,</p> +<p>Load the ship with all kinds of living things.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The god then tells Parnapishtim in what manner to build +the ship. Its dimensions should be carefully measured. Its +breadth and depth should be equal, and when it is finished, +Parnapishtim is to float it. The warning from Ea comes to +him in a dream, as we learn from a subsequent part of the +story. Parnapishtim does not deem it necessary to dwell upon +this, for it is only through dreams that the gods communicate +with kings and heroes.</p> + +<p>Parnapishtim declares his readiness to obey the orders of +Ea, but like Moses upon receiving the command of Yahwe, he +asks what he should say when people question him.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>What shall I answer the city, the people, and the elders?</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Ea replies:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Thus answer and speak to them:</p> +<p>Bel has cast me out in his hatred,</p> +<p>So that I can no longer dwell in your city.</p> +<p>On Bel's territory I dare no longer show my face;</p> +<p>Therefore, I go to the 'deep' to dwell with Ea my lord.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Bel's domain is the earth, while Ea controls the watery elements. +Bel's hostility to mankind is limited to the inhabitants +of the dry land. The moment that Parnapishtim enters Ea's +domain he is safe. The answer thus not only furnishes the +real motive for the building of the ship, but further illustrates +the purport of the narrative in its present form. It is a glorification +of Ea at the expense of Bel, and it is not difficult to +detect the thought underlying the story that the evils afflicting +mankind on earth are due to the hostility of the 'chief demon,'<a name="FNanchor_949_949" id="FNanchor_949_949"></a><a href="#Footnote_949_949" class="fnanchor">[949]</a> +who becomes the controller of the earth and of the atmosphere<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_498" id="Page_498">[Pg 498]</a></span> +immediately above the earth. Ea's answer is not intended to +be equivocal, for he further orders Parnapishtim to announce +to his fellow-citizens the coming destruction.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Over you a rainstorm will come,</p> +<p>Men, birds, and beasts will perish.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The following line<a name="FNanchor_950_950" id="FNanchor_950_950"></a><a href="#Footnote_950_950" class="fnanchor">[950]</a> is defective, but it appears to except +from the general destruction the fish as the inhabitants of the +domain controlled by Ea. The time when the catastrophe is +to take place is vaguely indicated.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>When Shamash will bring on the time, then the lord of the whirlstorm</p> +<p>Will cause destruction to rain upon you in the evening.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The 'lord of the whirlstorm' is Ramman, and the reference +to this deity specifies the manner in which the catastrophe will +be brought about. As in the Biblical story, 'the windows of +heaven are to be opened,' the rains will come down, driven by +the winds that are to be let loose. It has been supposed that +because the ship of Parnapishtim drifts to the north that the +storm came from the south.<a name="FNanchor_951_951" id="FNanchor_951_951"></a><a href="#Footnote_951_951" class="fnanchor">[951]</a> No stress, however, is laid upon +the question of direction in the Babylonian narrative. The +phenomenon of a whirlstorm with rain is of ordinary occurrence; +its violence alone makes it an exceptional event, but—be it +noted—not a miraculous one. Nor are we justified in attributing +the deluge to the rush of waters from the Persian Gulf, +for this sheet of water is particularly sacred to Ea as the beginning +of the "great deep." It would be an insult to Ea's dignity +to suppose that he is unable to govern his own territory. The +catastrophe comes from above, from Ramman and his associates +who act at the instigation of the belligerent Bel.</p> + +<p>Parnapishtim begins at once to build the ship. He gathers +his material, and on the fifth day is ready to construct the hull. +The ship resembles the ordinary craft still used on the Euphrates.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_499" id="Page_499">[Pg 499]</a></span> +It is a flat-bottomed skiff with upturned edges. On +this shell the real 'house'<a name="FNanchor_952_952" id="FNanchor_952_952"></a><a href="#Footnote_952_952" class="fnanchor">[952]</a> of Parnapishtim is placed. The +structure is accurately described. Its height is one hundred +and twenty cubits, and its breadth is the same, in accordance +with the express orders given by Ea. No less than six floors +are erected, one above the other.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Then I built six stories,<a name="FNanchor_953_953" id="FNanchor_953_953"></a><a href="#Footnote_953_953" class="fnanchor">[953]</a></p> +<p>So that the whole consisted of seven apartments.</p> +<p>The interior<a name="FNanchor_954_954" id="FNanchor_954_954"></a><a href="#Footnote_954_954" class="fnanchor">[954]</a> I divided into nine parts.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The structure may properly be called a 'house boat,' and its +elaborate character appears from the fact that it contains no less +than sixty-three compartments. Parnapishtim carefully provides +plugs to fill out all crevices, and furthermore smears a +large quantity of bitumen without and within.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>I provided a pole,<a name="FNanchor_955_955" id="FNanchor_955_955"></a><a href="#Footnote_955_955" class="fnanchor">[955]</a> and all that was necessary,</p> +<p>Six <i>sar</i><a name="FNanchor_956_956" id="FNanchor_956_956"></a><a href="#Footnote_956_956" class="fnanchor">[956]</a> of bitumen<a name="FNanchor_957_957" id="FNanchor_957_957"></a><a href="#Footnote_957_957" class="fnanchor">[957]</a> I smeared on the outside,<a name="FNanchor_958_958" id="FNanchor_958_958"></a><a href="#Footnote_958_958" class="fnanchor">[958]</a></p> +<p>Three <i>sar</i> of pitch [I smeared] on the inside.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>He also has a large quantity of oil placed on the boat, oxen, +jars filled with mead<a name="FNanchor_959_959" id="FNanchor_959_959"></a><a href="#Footnote_959_959" class="fnanchor">[959]</a> oil, and wine for a festival, which he institutes +at the completion of the structure. The preparations are +on a large scale, as for the great New Year's Day celebrated in +Babylonia. The ship is launched, and, if Professor Haupt is +correct in his interpretation, the ship took water to the extent +of two-thirds of its height.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>The side of the ship dipped two-thirds into water.</p> +</div></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_500" id="Page_500">[Pg 500]</a></span> +Parnapishtim now proceeds to take his family and chattels +on board.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>All that I had, I loaded on the ship.</p> +<p>With all the silver that I had, I loaded it,</p> +<p>With all the gold that I had, I loaded it,</p> +<p>With living creatures of all kinds I loaded it.</p> +<p>I brought on board my whole family and household,</p> +<p>Cattle of the field, beasts of the field, workmen,—all this I took on board.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Parnapishtim is ready to enter the ship, but he waits until +the time fixed for the storm arrives.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>When the time came</p> +<p>For the lord of the whirlstorm to rain down destruction,</p> +<p>I gazed at the earth,</p> +<p>I was terrified at its sight,</p> +<p>I entered the ship, and closed the door.</p> +<p>To the captain of the ship, to Puzur-Shadurabu,<a name="FNanchor_960_960" id="FNanchor_960_960"></a><a href="#Footnote_960_960" class="fnanchor">[960]</a> the sailor,</p> +<p>I entrusted the structure<a name="FNanchor_961_961" id="FNanchor_961_961"></a><a href="#Footnote_961_961" class="fnanchor">[961]</a> with all its contents.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The description of the storm follows, in diction at once +impressive and forcible.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Upon the first appearance of dawn,</p> +<p>There arose from the horizon dark clouds,</p> +<p>Within which Ramman caused his thunder to resound.</p> +<p>Nabu and Sharru<a name="FNanchor_962_962" id="FNanchor_962_962"></a><a href="#Footnote_962_962" class="fnanchor">[962]</a> marched at the front,</p> +<p>The destroyers passed across mountains and land,</p> +<p>Dibbarra<a name="FNanchor_963_963" id="FNanchor_963_963"></a><a href="#Footnote_963_963" class="fnanchor">[963]</a> lets loose the....<a name="FNanchor_964_964" id="FNanchor_964_964"></a><a href="#Footnote_964_964" class="fnanchor">[964]</a></p> +<p>Ninib advances in furious hostility.</p> +<p>The Anunnaki raise torches,</p> +<p>Whose sheen illumines the universe,</p> +<p>As Ramman's whirlwind sweeps the heavens,</p> +<p>And all light is changed to darkness.</p> +</div></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_501" id="Page_501">[Pg 501]</a></span> +The destructive elements, thunder, lightning, storm, rain, +are thus let loose. The dreadful storm lasts for seven days. +The terror of men and gods is splendidly portrayed.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Brother does not look after brother,</p> +<p>Men care not for another. In the heavens,</p> +<p>Even the gods are terrified at the storm.</p> +<p>They take refuge in the heaven of Anu.<a name="FNanchor_965_965" id="FNanchor_965_965"></a><a href="#Footnote_965_965" class="fnanchor">[965]</a></p> +<p>The gods cowered like dogs at the edge of the heavens.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>With this description the climax in the narrative is reached. +The reaction begins. Ishtar is the first to bewail the destruction +that has been brought about, and her example is followed +by others of the gods.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Ishtar groans like a woman in throes,</p> +<p>The lofty goddess cries with loud voice,</p> +<p>The world of old has become a mass of clay.<a name="FNanchor_966_966" id="FNanchor_966_966"></a><a href="#Footnote_966_966" class="fnanchor">[966]</a></p> +</div></div> + +<p>Ishtar appears here in the rôle of the mother of mankind. +She feels that she has none but herself to blame for the catastrophe, +for, as one of the great gods, she must have been present +at the council when the storm was decided on, and must +have countenanced it. She therefore reproaches herself:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>That I should have assented<a name="FNanchor_967_967" id="FNanchor_967_967"></a><a href="#Footnote_967_967" class="fnanchor">[967]</a> to this evil among the gods!</p> +<p>That when I assented to this evil,</p> +<p>I was for the destruction of my own creatures!<a name="FNanchor_968_968" id="FNanchor_968_968"></a><a href="#Footnote_968_968" class="fnanchor">[968]</a></p> +<p>What I created, where is it?</p> +<p>Like so many fish, it<a name="FNanchor_969_969" id="FNanchor_969_969"></a><a href="#Footnote_969_969" class="fnanchor">[969]</a> fills the sea.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>From the words of Ishtar it would appear that the storm had +assumed larger dimensions than the gods, or at least than +some of them, had anticipated. At the beginning of the episode, +Shurippak alone is mentioned, and Ishtar apparently wishes to +say that when she agreed to the bringing on of the storm, she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_502" id="Page_502">[Pg 502]</a></span> +was not aware that she was decreeing the destruction of all +mankind. It is evident that two distinct traditions have been +welded together in the present form of the Babylonian document, +one recalling the destruction of a single city, the other +embodying in mythological form the destructive rains of Babylonia +that were wont to annually flood the entire country before +the canal system was perfected.</p> + +<p>Some particularly destructive season may have formed an +additional factor in the combination of the traditions. At all +events, the storm appears to have got beyond the control of the +gods, and none but Bel approves of the widespread havoc that +has been wrought. It is no unusual phenomenon in ancient +religions to find the gods powerless to control occurrences that +they themselves produced. The Anunnaki—even more directly +implicated than Ishtar in bringing on the catastrophe—join the +goddess in her lament at the complete destruction wrought.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>The gods, together with the Anunnaki, wept with her.</p> +<p>The gods, in their depression, sat down to weep,</p> +<p>Pressed their lips together, were overwhelmed with grief (?).</p> +<p>The storm could no longer be quieted.</p> +<p>For six days and nights</p> +<p>Wind, rain-storm, hurricane swept along;</p> +<p>When the seventh day arrived, the storm began to moderate,</p> +<p>Which had waged a contest like a great host.</p> +<p>The sea quieted down, wind and rain-storm ceased.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Parnapishtim then gazes at the destruction.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Bitterly weeping I looked at the sea,</p> +<p>For all mankind had been turned to clay.<a name="FNanchor_970_970" id="FNanchor_970_970"></a><a href="#Footnote_970_970" class="fnanchor">[970]</a></p> +<p>In place of dams, everything had become a marsh.</p> +<p>I opened a hole so as to let the light fall upon my face,</p> +<p>And dumbfounded, I sat down and wept.</p> +<p>Tears flowed down my face.</p> +<p>I looked in all directions,—naught but sea.</p> +</div></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_503" id="Page_503">[Pg 503]</a></span> +But soon the waters began to diminish.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>After twelve double hours<a name="FNanchor_971_971" id="FNanchor_971_971"></a><a href="#Footnote_971_971" class="fnanchor">[971]</a> an island appeared,</p> +<p>The ship approached the mountain Nisir.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The name given to the first promontory to appear is significant. +<i>Nisir</i> signifies 'protection' or 'salvation.' The houseboat +clings to this spot.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>At this mountain, the mountain Nisir, the boat stuck fast.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>For six days the boat remains in the same position. At the +beginning of the seventh day, Parnapishtim endeavors to ascertain +whether the waters have abated sufficiently to permit him +to leave the boat.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>When the seventh day approached</p> +<p>I sent forth a dove.</p> +<p>The dove flew about</p> +<p>But, finding no resting place, returned;</p> +<p>Then I sent forth a swallow.</p> +<p>The swallow flew about</p> +<p>But, finding no resting place, returned;</p> +<p>Then I sent forth a raven.</p> +<p>The raven flew off, and, seeing that the waters had decreased,</p> +<p>Cautiously<a name="FNanchor_972_972" id="FNanchor_972_972"></a><a href="#Footnote_972_972" class="fnanchor">[972]</a> (?) waded in the mud, but did not return.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Parnapishtim is satisfied, leaves the ship, and brings a sacrifice +to the gods on the top of the mountain. In seven large +bowls he places calamus, cedarwood, and incense.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>The gods inhaled the odor,</p> +<p>The gods inhaled the sweet odor,</p> +<p>The gods gathered like flies around the sacrificer.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>A solemn scene ensues. Ishtar, the 'mistress of the gods,' +swears by the necklace given to her by her father, Anu, that +she will never forget these days.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_504" id="Page_504">[Pg 504]</a></span></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Let the gods come to the sacrifice,<a name="FNanchor_973_973" id="FNanchor_973_973"></a><a href="#Footnote_973_973" class="fnanchor">[973]</a></p> +<p>But Bel must not come to the sacrifice;</p> +<p>Since, without consultation,<a name="FNanchor_974_974" id="FNanchor_974_974"></a><a href="#Footnote_974_974" class="fnanchor">[974]</a> he caused the rain-storm,</p> +<p>And handed over my creation<a name="FNanchor_975_975" id="FNanchor_975_975"></a><a href="#Footnote_975_975" class="fnanchor">[975]</a> to destruction.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Bel thus appears to be the one who alone knew of the extent +which the destruction was destined to reach. The annihilation +of all mankind was his work, undertaken without consulting his +associates. The latter were aware only of the intended destruction +of a single place,—Shurippak.</p> + +<p>At this moment Bel approaches. He does not deny his deed, +but is enraged that the planned destruction should not have been +complete, since Parnapishtim and his household have escaped.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>As Bel approached</p> +<p>And saw the ship, he was enraged,</p> +<p>Filled with anger against the gods—the Igigi.</p> +<p>'What person has escaped (?)?</p> +<p>No one was to survive the destruction.'</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Ninib reveals the fact of Ea's interference:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Ninib opened his mouth and spoke, spoke to the belligerent Bel:</p> +<p>"Who but Ea could have done this?</p> +<p>For is it not Ea who knows all arts?"</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Ea appeals to Bel:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Ea opened his mouth and spoke, spoke to the belligerent Bel:</p> +<p>"Thou art the belligerent leader of the gods,</p> +<p>But why didst thou, without consultation, bring on the rainstorm?</p> +<p>Punish the sinner for his sins,</p> +<p>Punish the evil-doer for his evil deeds,</p> +<p>But be merciful so as not to root out completely,</p> +<p>Be considerate not to destroy everything."</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The terrors inspired by the deluge are well portrayed in the +continuation of Ea's speech. He tells Bel that he should have +brought on anything but a deluge.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_505" id="Page_505">[Pg 505]</a></span></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Instead of bringing on a deluge,</p> +<p>Let lions come and diminish mankind.<a name="FNanchor_976_976" id="FNanchor_976_976"></a><a href="#Footnote_976_976" class="fnanchor">[976]</a></p> +<p>Instead of bringing on a deluge,</p> +<p>Let tigers come and diminish mankind.</p> +<p>Instead of bringing on a deluge,</p> +<p>Let famine come and smite the land.</p> +<p>Instead of bringing on a deluge,</p> +<p>Let pestilence<a name="FNanchor_977_977" id="FNanchor_977_977"></a><a href="#Footnote_977_977" class="fnanchor">[977]</a> come and waste the land.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Ea then confesses that through his instigation Parnapishtim +was saved.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>While I did not reveal the decision of the great gods,</p> +<p>I sent Adra-Khasis<a name="FNanchor_978_978" id="FNanchor_978_978"></a><a href="#Footnote_978_978" class="fnanchor">[978]</a> a dream which told him of the decision of the gods.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>It is a misconception to regard this answer of the god as +equivocal. Ea means to say that he did not interfere with the +divine decree. He simply told Parnapishtim to build a ship, +leaving to the latter to divine the reason. Ea, it is true, tells +Parnapishtim of Bel's hatred, but he does not reveal the secret +of the gods. After Ea's effective speech Bel is reconciled, and +the scene closes dramatically, as follows:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Bel came to his senses,</p> +<p>Stepped on board of the ship,</p> +<p>Took me by the hand and lifted me up,</p> +<p>Brought up my wife, and caused her to kneel at my side,</p> +<p>Turned towards us, stepped between us, and blessed us.</p> +<p>'Hitherto Parnapishtim was human,<a name="FNanchor_979_979" id="FNanchor_979_979"></a><a href="#Footnote_979_979" class="fnanchor">[979]</a></p> +<p>But now Parnapishtim and his wife shall be gods like us.<a name="FNanchor_980_980" id="FNanchor_980_980"></a><a href="#Footnote_980_980" class="fnanchor">[980]</a></p> +<p>Parnapishtim shall dwell in the distance, at the confluence of the streams.'</p> +<p>Then they took me and placed me in the distance, at the confluence of the streams.</p> +</div></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_506" id="Page_506">[Pg 506]</a></span> +The streams are, according to Haupt,<a name="FNanchor_981_981" id="FNanchor_981_981"></a><a href="#Footnote_981_981" class="fnanchor">[981]</a> the four rivers—Euphrates, +Tigris, Karun, and Kercha, which at one time +emptied their waters independently into the Persian Gulf. +Parnapishtim's dwelling-place is identical with the traditional +Paradise of the Babylonians and Hebrews.</p> + +<p>It will be proper before leaving the subject, to dwell briefly +upon the points of contact between this Babylonian tale and +the Biblical narrative of the Deluge. The source of the tradition +must be sought in the Euphrates Valley. The ark of +Noah can only be understood in the light of methods of navigation +prevailing in Babylonia; and it is in Babylonia, and not +Palestine, that the phenomenon was annually seen of large portions +of land disappearing from view.</p> + +<p>The Babylonian tale is to be differentiated, as already suggested, +into two parts,—the destruction of Shurippak and the +annual phenomenon of the overflow of the Euphrates. The +combination of these two elements results in the impression +conveyed by Parnapishtim's narrative that the rain-storm took +on larger dimensions than was originally anticipated by the +gods. The Biblical narrative is based upon this combination, +but discarding those portions of the tale which are of purely +local interest makes the story of a deluge, a medium for illustrating +the favor shown by Yahwe towards the righteous man, +as represented by Noah. The Biblical narrative ends, as does +the Babylonian counterpart, with the assurance that a deluge +will not sweep over the earth again; but viewed from a monotheistic +aspect, this promise is interpreted as signifying the +establishment of eternal laws,—a thought that is wholly foreign +to the purpose of the Babylonian narrative.</p> + +<p>The slight variations between the Biblical and Babylonian +narratives, and upon which it is needless to dwell, justify the +conclusion that the Hebrew story is not directly borrowed from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_507" id="Page_507">[Pg 507]</a></span> +the Babylonian version.<a name="FNanchor_982_982" id="FNanchor_982_982"></a><a href="#Footnote_982_982" class="fnanchor">[982]</a> The divergences are just of the character +that will arise through the independent development and +the independent interpretation of a common tradition. The +destruction of Shurippak has a Biblical parallel in the destruction +of Sodom<a name="FNanchor_983_983" id="FNanchor_983_983"></a><a href="#Footnote_983_983" class="fnanchor">[983]</a> and of the surrounding district. Sodom, like +Shurippak, is a city full of wickedness. Lot and his household +are saved through direct intervention, just as Parnapishtim and +his family escape through the intervention of Ea. Moreover, +there are traces in the Sodom narrative of a tradition which +once gave a larger character to it, involving the destruction of +all mankind,<a name="FNanchor_984_984" id="FNanchor_984_984"></a><a href="#Footnote_984_984" class="fnanchor">[984]</a> much as the destruction of Shurippak is enlarged +by Babylonian traditions into a general annihilation of mankind. +It is to be noted, too, that no emphasis is laid upon Lot's piety, +and in this respect, as in others, Parnapishtim bears more resemblance +to Lot than to Noah.</p> + +<p>The hostility between Bel and Ea, which we have seen plays +a part in the Babylonian narrative, belongs to the larger mythological +element in the episode, not to the specific Shurippak +incident. Bel, as the god whose dominion includes the atmosphere +above the earth, controls the 'upper waters.' At his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_508" id="Page_508">[Pg 508]</a></span> +instigation these waters descend and bring destruction with +them. But Ea's dominion—the 'deep' and the streams—are +beneficent powers. The descent of the upper waters is in +the nature of an attack upon Ea's kingdom. It is through Ea +that the mischief produced by Bel is again made good. Such +a conception falls within the domain of popular mythology. +An ancient rivalry between Nippur, the seat of Bel and Eridu +(or some other seat of Ea worship), may also have entered +as a factor, if not in giving rise to the story, at least in maintaining +it. If this be so, the story would belong to a period +earlier than Hammurabi,<a name="FNanchor_985_985" id="FNanchor_985_985"></a><a href="#Footnote_985_985" class="fnanchor">[985]</a> since with the ascendancy of Babylon +and of Marduk, the general tendency of religious thought is +towards imbuing the gods with a kindly spirit towards one +another, joining issues, as in the creation epic, for the glorification +of Marduk. The absence of Marduk from the deluge story +is another indication of the antiquity of the tradition.</p> + +<p>Coming back now to the epic, Parnapishtim, whose sympathy +has been aroused by the sight of Gilgamesh, makes an +attempt to heal the hero of his illness.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>The life that thou seekest, thou wilt obtain. Now sleep!</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Gilgamesh falls into a heavy stupor, and continues in this +state for six days and seven nights. An interesting dialogue +ensues between Parnapishtim and his wife.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Parnapishtim says to his wife:</p> +<p>"Look at the man whose desire is life.</p> +<p>Sleep has fallen upon him like a storm."</p> +<p>Says the wife to Parnapishtim:</p> +<p>"Transform him, let the man eat of the charm-root,<a name="FNanchor_986_986" id="FNanchor_986_986"></a><a href="#Footnote_986_986" class="fnanchor">[986]</a></p> +<p>Let him return, restored in health, on the road that he came.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_509" id="Page_509">[Pg 509]</a></span>Through the gage let him pass out, back to his country."</p> +<p>Parnapishtim says to his wife:</p> +<p>"The torture of the man pains thee.</p> +<p>Cook the food<a name="FNanchor_987_987" id="FNanchor_987_987"></a><a href="#Footnote_987_987" class="fnanchor">[987]</a> for him and place it at his head."</p> +</div></div> + +<p>It is interesting to note that the woman appears as the +exorciser of the disease. The wife of Parnapishtim—whose +name is not mentioned as little as is the wife of Noah or Lot—proceeds +to prepare the magic food. A plant of some kind is +taken and elaborately treated.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>While he<a name="FNanchor_988_988" id="FNanchor_988_988"></a><a href="#Footnote_988_988" class="fnanchor">[988]</a> slept on board of his ship,</p> +<p>She cooked the food and placed it at his head.</p> +<p>While he<a href="#Footnote_988_988" class="fnanchor">[988]</a> slept on board of his vessel,</p> +<p>Firstly, his food ... ;</p> +<p>Secondly, it was peeled;</p> +<p>Thirdly, moistened;</p> +<p>Fourthly, his bowl (?) was cleansed;</p> +<p>Fifthly, <i>Shiba</i><a name="FNanchor_989_989" id="FNanchor_989_989"></a><a href="#Footnote_989_989" class="fnanchor">[989]</a> was added;</p> +<p>Sixthly, it was cooked;</p> +<p>Seventhly, of a sudden the man was transformed and ate the magic food.<a name="FNanchor_990_990" id="FNanchor_990_990"></a><a href="#Footnote_990_990" class="fnanchor">[990]</a></p> +</div></div> + +<p>Gilgamesh awakes and asks what has been done to him. +Parnapishtim tells him. But Gilgamesh is not completely +healed. His body is still covered with sores. The magic +potion must be followed by immersion into the fountain of life. +Parnapishtim instructs Ardi-Ea to convey Gilgamesh to this +fountain. He speaks to the ferryman.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>The man whom thou hast brought is covered with sores.</p> +<p>The eruption on his skin has destroyed the beauty of his body.</p> +<p>Take him, O Ardi-Ea, to the place of purification,</p> +<p>To wash his sores in the water, that he may become white as snow.</p> +<p>Let the ocean carry off the eruption on his skin,</p> +<p>That his body may become pure.<a name="FNanchor_991_991" id="FNanchor_991_991"></a><a href="#Footnote_991_991" class="fnanchor">[991]</a></p> +<p>Let his turban be renewed and the garment that covers his nakedness.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Ardi-Ea carries out these instructions and Gilgamesh at last +is healed. The hero is now ready to return to his land. But<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_510" id="Page_510">[Pg 510]</a></span> +though returning in restored health, he is not proof against +death. Parnapishtim, at the suggestion of his wife, reveals the +'secret of life' to Gilgamesh just before the latter's departure. +The ship is brought nearer to the shore, and Parnapishtim tells +Gilgamesh of a plant that wounds as a thistle, but which possesses +wonderful power. Gilgamesh departs on the ship, and +with the help of Ardi-Ea finds this plant, which is called 'the +restoration of old age to youth.' It is a long journey to the +place. The plant grows at the side or at the bottom of a fountain. +Gilgamesh secures it, but scarcely have his hands grasped +the plant when it slips out of his hand and is snatched away +by a demon that takes on the form of a serpent. All is lost! +Gilgamesh sits down and weeps bitter tears. He pours out his +woe to Ardi-Ea, but there is nothing left except to return to +Uruk. He reaches the city in safely. His mission—the +search for immortality—has failed. Though healed from his +disease, the fate of mankind—old age and death—is in store +for him. With the return to Uruk the eleventh tablet ends. It +but remains, before passing on, to note that the narrative of the +deluge in this tablet is connected with the character of the +eleventh month, which is called the 'month of rain.' We may +conclude from this that the mythological element in the story—the +annual overflow—predominates the local incident of the +destruction of Shurippak. Gilgamesh, we must bear in mind, +has nothing to do with either the local tale or the myth, except +to give to both an interpretation that was originally foreign to +the composite narrative.</p> + +<p>In the twelfth tablet—which is in large part obscure—we +find Gilgamesh wandering from one temple to the other, from +the temple of Bel to that of Ea, lamenting for Eabani, and asking, +again and again, what has become of his companion. What +has been his fate since he was taken away from the land of the +living? The hero, now convinced, as it seems, that death will +come to him, and reconciled in a measure to his fate, seeks to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_511" id="Page_511">[Pg 511]</a></span> +learn another secret,—the secret of existence after death. He +appeals to the gods of the nether world to grant him at least a +sight of Eabani. Nergal, the chief of this pantheon, consents.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>... he opened the earth,</p> +<p>And the spirit<a name="FNanchor_992_992" id="FNanchor_992_992"></a><a href="#Footnote_992_992" class="fnanchor">[992]</a> of Eabani</p> +<p>He caused to rise up like a wind.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Gilgamesh puts his question to Eabani:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Tell me, my companion, tell me, my companion,</p> +<p>The nature of the land which thou hast experienced, oh! tell me.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Eabani replies:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>I cannot tell thee, my friend, I cannot tell thee!</p> +</div></div> + +<p>He seems to feel that Gilgamesh could not endure the +description. The life after death, as will be shown in a +subsequent chapter, is not pictured by the Babylonians as +joyous. Eabani reveals glimpses of the sad conditions that +prevail there. It is the domain of the terrible Allatu, and Etana<a name="FNanchor_993_993" id="FNanchor_993_993"></a><a href="#Footnote_993_993" class="fnanchor">[993]</a> +is named among those who dwell in this region. Eabani +bewails his fate.<a name="FNanchor_994_994" id="FNanchor_994_994"></a><a href="#Footnote_994_994" class="fnanchor">[994]</a> He curses Ukhat, whom, together with +Sadu, he holds responsible for having brought death upon him. +In Genesis, it will be recalled, death likewise is viewed as the +consequence of Adam's yielding to the allurements of Eve. +Special significance, too, attaches to the further parallel to be +drawn between Adam's punishment and Eabani's fate.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Dust thou art, and unto dust shall thou return</p> +</div></div> + +<p>applies to Eabani as well as to Adam. He was formed of clay, as +we have seen,<a name="FNanchor_995_995" id="FNanchor_995_995"></a><a href="#Footnote_995_995" class="fnanchor">[995]</a> and when he dies he is 'turned to clay.'<a name="FNanchor_996_996" id="FNanchor_996_996"></a><a href="#Footnote_996_996" class="fnanchor">[996]</a> Still +the fortunes awaiting those who die are not alike. Those who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_512" id="Page_512">[Pg 512]</a></span> +die in battle seem to enjoy special privileges, provided, however, +they are properly buried and there is some one to make them +comfortable in their last hour and to look after them when dead. +Such persons are happy in comparison with the fate in store for +those who are neglected by the living. The one who is properly +cared for, who</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>On a soft couch rests,</p> +<p>Drinking pure water,</p> +<p>Who dies in battle, as you and I have seen,<a name="FNanchor_997_997" id="FNanchor_997_997"></a><a href="#Footnote_997_997" class="fnanchor">[997]</a></p> +<p>His father and mother supporting his head,</p> +<p>His wife<a name="FNanchor_998_998" id="FNanchor_998_998"></a><a href="#Footnote_998_998" class="fnanchor">[998]</a> ... at his side,—</p> +</div></div> + +<p>the spirit of such a one is at rest. The circumstances attending +death presage in a measure the individual's life after death.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>But he whose corpse remains in the field,</p> +<p>As you and I have seen,</p> +<p>His spirit<a name="FNanchor_999_999" id="FNanchor_999_999"></a><a href="#Footnote_999_999" class="fnanchor">[999]</a> has no rest in the earth.</p> +<p>The one whose spirit is not cared for by any one,</p> +<p>As you and I have seen,</p> +<p>He is consumed by gnawing hunger, by a longing for food.</p> +<p>What is left on the street he is obliged to eat.<a name="FNanchor_1000_1000" id="FNanchor_1000_1000"></a><a href="#Footnote_1000_1000" class="fnanchor">[1000]</a></p> +</div></div> + +<p>To be left unburied was the greatest misfortune that could +happen to a dead person.</p> + +<p>With this sentiment the epic closes. Gilgamesh must rest +content with the unsatisfactory consolation that Eabani offers +him. Man must die, and Gilgamesh cannot escape the universal +fate. Let him hope for and, if possible, provide for proper +burial when death does overtake him. He will then, at least, +not suffer the pangs of hunger in the world of spirits to which +he must go.</p> + +<p>The twelfth tablet exhibits somewhat more traces of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_513" id="Page_513">[Pg 513]</a></span> +theology of the schools than the others. Eabani's speech, while +conveying sentiments that thoroughly represent the popular +beliefs of Babylonia, is couched in terms that give to the address +the character of a formal declaration of doctrines. The +conjuring up of the spirit of Eabani is also a feature that appears +to be due to theological influences, and the whole episode of +Gilgamesh's wandering from place to place seeking for information +appears to be a 'doublet' suggested by the hero's wanderings, +as narrated in the ninth and tenth tablets.</p> + +<p>The problem propounded in the earlier tablets—the search +for immortality—is, as has been shown, a perfectly natural one +and of popular origin, but the problem with which Gilgamesh +wrestles in the twelfth tablet,—the secret of the life after death,—while +suggested by the other, belongs rather to the domain +of theological and mystic speculation. This aspect of the +twelfth tablet is borne out also by the fact that the problem +is not solved. The epic ends as unsatisfactorily as the Book +of Job or Ecclesiastes. There is a tone of despair in the +final speech of Eabani, which savors of the schools of advanced +thought in Babylonia. For the problem of immortality, a definite +solution at least is offered. Man can reach old age; he +may be snatched for a time from the grasp of death, as Gilgamesh +was through the efforts of Parnapishtim, but he only +deludes himself by indulging in hopes of immortal life. 'Man +must die' is the refrain that rings in our ears. The plant of +'eternal youth' slips out of one's hand at the very moment +that one believes to have secured it.</p> + +<p>The Gilgamesh epic, as we have it, thus turns out to be a composite +production. Gilgamesh, a popular hero of antiquity, +becomes a medium for the perpetuation of various popular +traditions and myths. The adventures of his career are combined +with the early history of man. Of actual deeds performed +by Gilgamesh, and which belong to Gilgamesh's career as a hero, +warrior, and ruler, we have only four,—the conquest of Erech,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_514" id="Page_514">[Pg 514]</a></span> +his victory over Khumbaba, the killing of the divine bull, and +the strangling of the lion.<a name="FNanchor_1001_1001" id="FNanchor_1001_1001"></a><a href="#Footnote_1001_1001" class="fnanchor">[1001]</a> The story of Eabani, Ukhat, and +Sadu is independent of Gilgamesh's career, and so also is the +story of his wanderings to Mashu and his encounter with Parnapishtim. +Gilgamesh is brought into association with Eabani +by what may be called, a natural process of assimilation. The +life of the hero is placed back at the beginning of things, and +in this way Gilgamesh is brought into direct contact with +legends of man's early fortunes, with ancient historical reminiscences, +as well as with nature-myths that symbolize the change +of seasons and the annual inundations.</p> + +<p>Popular philosophy also enters into the life of the hero. +Regarded as a god and yet of human origin, Gilgamesh becomes +an appropriate illustration for determining the line that marks +off man's career from the indefinite extension of activity that +is a trait of the gods. Gilgamesh revolts against the universal +law of decay and is punished. He is relieved from +suffering, but cannot escape the doom of death. The sixth +tablet marks an important division in the epic. The Ishtar and +Sabitum episodes and the narrative of Parnapishtim—itself a +compound of two independent tales, one semi-historical, the +other a nature-myth—represent accretions that may refer to a +time when Gilgamesh had become little more than a name,—a +type of mankind in general. Finally, scholastic speculation +takes hold of Gilgamesh, and makes him the medium for illustrating +another and more advanced problem that is of intense +interest to mankind,—the secret of death. Death is inevitable, +but what does death mean? The problem is not solved. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_515" id="Page_515">[Pg 515]</a></span> +close of the eleventh tablet suggests that Gilgamesh will die. +The twelfth tablet adds nothing to the situation—except a +moral. Proper burial is essential to the comparative well-being +of the dead.</p> + +<p>The fact that Gilgamesh is viewed as a type in the latter half +of this remarkable specimen of Babylonian literature justifies us +in speaking of it, under proper qualification, as a 'national epic.' +But it must be remembered that Gilgamesh himself belongs to +a section of Babylonia only, and not to the whole of it; and it +is rather curious that one, of whom it can be said with certainty +that he is not even a native of Babylonia, should become the +personage to whom popular fancy was pleased to attach traditions +and myths that are distinctively Babylonian in character +and origin.</p> + +<p>The story of Gilgamesh was carried beyond the confines of +Babylonia.<a name="FNanchor_1002_1002" id="FNanchor_1002_1002"></a><a href="#Footnote_1002_1002" class="fnanchor">[1002]</a> Gilgamesh, to be sure, is not identical with the +Biblical Nimrod,<a name="FNanchor_1003_1003" id="FNanchor_1003_1003"></a><a href="#Footnote_1003_1003" class="fnanchor">[1003]</a> but the Gilgamesh story has evidently influenced +the description given in the tenth chapter of Genesis of +Nimrod, who is viewed as the type of Babylonian power and +of the extension of Babylonian culture to the north.</p> + +<p>The Gilgamesh epic is not a solar myth, as was once supposed,<a name="FNanchor_1004_1004" id="FNanchor_1004_1004"></a><a href="#Footnote_1004_1004" class="fnanchor">[1004]</a> +nor is the Biblical story of Samson a pure myth, but +Gilgamesh becomes a solar deity, and it is hardly accidental that +Samson, or to give the Hebrew form of the name, Shimshon, is +a variant form of <i>Shamash</i><a name="FNanchor_1005_1005" id="FNanchor_1005_1005"></a><a href="#Footnote_1005_1005" class="fnanchor">[1005]</a>—the name of the sun in Babylonian +and Hebrew. The Biblical Samson appears to be modelled +upon the character of Gilgamesh. Both are heroes, both conquerors,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_516" id="Page_516">[Pg 516]</a></span> +both strangle a lion, and both are wooed by a woman, +the one by Delila, the other by Ishtar, and both through a +woman are shorn of their strength. The historical traits are +of course different. As for the relationships of the Gilgamesh +epic to the Hercules story, the authority of Wilamowitz-Möllendorf<a name="FNanchor_1006_1006" id="FNanchor_1006_1006"></a><a href="#Footnote_1006_1006" class="fnanchor">[1006]</a> +is against an oriental origin of the Greek tale, and +yet such parallels as Hercules' fight with a lion, his conquest +of death, his journey and search for immortality (which in contrast +to Gilgamesh he secures), certainly point to an influence +exercised by the oriental tale upon the Greek story. It is not +surprising that the elements contributed through this influence +have been so modified in the process of adaptation to the +purely Greek elements of the Hercules story, and, above all, to +the Greek spirit, as to obscure their eastern origin.<a name="FNanchor_1007_1007" id="FNanchor_1007_1007"></a><a href="#Footnote_1007_1007" class="fnanchor">[1007]</a> Most +curious as illustrating the continued popularity of the Gilgamesh +story in the Orient is the incorporation of portions of the epic +in the career of Alexander the Great.<a name="FNanchor_1008_1008" id="FNanchor_1008_1008"></a><a href="#Footnote_1008_1008" class="fnanchor">[1008]</a> In Greek, Syriac, and +Rabbinical writings, Alexander is depicted as wandering through +a region<a name="FNanchor_1009_1009" id="FNanchor_1009_1009"></a><a href="#Footnote_1009_1009" class="fnanchor">[1009]</a> of darkness and terror in search of the 'water of life.' +He encounters strange beings, reaches the sea, but, like Gilgamesh, +fails to secure immortality. Such were the profound +changes wrought by Alexander's conquests that popular fancy, +guided by a correct instinct of appreciation of his career, converted +the historical Alexander into a legendary hero of vast +dimensions.<a name="FNanchor_1010_1010" id="FNanchor_1010_1010"></a><a href="#Footnote_1010_1010" class="fnanchor">[1010]</a> The process that produced the Gilgamesh epic is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_517" id="Page_517">[Pg 517]</a></span> +repeated, only on a larger scale, in the case of Alexander. Not +one country, but the entire ancient culture world,—Babylonia, +Persia, Egypt, Arabia, Judea, and Syria,—combine to form the +legendary Alexander. Each country contributes its share of +popular legends, myths, and traditions. Babylonia offers as her +tribute the exploits of Gilgamesh, which it transfers in part to +Alexander. The national hero becomes the type of the 'great +man,' and as with new conditions, a new favorite, representative +of the new era, arises to take the place of an older one, the old +is made to survive in the new. Gilgamesh lives again in Alexander, +just as traits of the legendary Alexander pass down to +subsequent heroes.</p> + +<h3><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_518" id="Page_518">[Pg 518]</a></span>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_844_844" id="Footnote_844_844"></a><a href="#FNanchor_844_844"><span class="label">[844]</span></a> See above, pp. <a href="#Page_245">245</a>-247.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_845_845" id="Footnote_845_845"></a><a href="#FNanchor_845_845"><span class="label">[845]</span></a> Or Gishdubar or Gishtubar.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_846_846" id="Footnote_846_846"></a><a href="#FNanchor_846_846"><span class="label">[846]</span></a> <i>Babylonian and Oriental Record</i>, iv. 264. For +previous readings of the name, see Jeremias' article on 'Izdubar' in +Roscher's <i>Ausführliches Lexicon der Griechischen und Römischen +Mythologie</i>, ii. col. 773, 774.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_847_847" id="Footnote_847_847"></a><a href="#FNanchor_847_847"><span class="label">[847]</span></a> <i>Historia Animalum</i>, xii. 21.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_848_848" id="Footnote_848_848"></a><a href="#FNanchor_848_848"><span class="label">[848]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_524">524</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_849_849" id="Footnote_849_849"></a><a href="#FNanchor_849_849"><span class="label">[849]</span></a> In the Oriental legends of Alexander the Great, this +confusion is further illustrated. To Alexander are attached stories +belonging to both Izdubar and Etana. See Meissner's <i>Alexander and +Gilgamos</i>, pp. 13-17 (Leipzig, 1894).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_850_850" id="Footnote_850_850"></a><a href="#FNanchor_850_850"><span class="label">[850]</span></a> See, <i>e.g.</i>, Perrot and Chiplez, <i>History of Art in +Babylonia and Assyria</i>, i. 84.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_851_851" id="Footnote_851_851"></a><a href="#FNanchor_851_851"><span class="label">[851]</span></a> Article 'Izdubar,' col. 776; see Delitzsch, +<i>Handwörterbuch</i>, p. 678. Hommel (<i>e.g.</i>, <i>Altisraelitische +Ueberlieferung</i>, p. 39) regards Gilgamesh as a contraction from Gibil +(the fire-god) and Gam (or Gab), together with <i>ish</i>, an 'Elamitic' +ending. If the name is Elamitic, one should hardly expect a Babylonian +deity entering as one of the elements.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_852_852" id="Footnote_852_852"></a><a href="#FNanchor_852_852"><span class="label">[852]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_167">167</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_853_853" id="Footnote_853_853"></a><a href="#FNanchor_853_853"><span class="label">[853]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_284">284</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_854_854" id="Footnote_854_854"></a><a href="#FNanchor_854_854"><span class="label">[854]</span></a> Haupt's <i>Das Babylonische Nimrodepos</i>, p. 93.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_855_855" id="Footnote_855_855"></a><a href="#FNanchor_855_855"><span class="label">[855]</span></a> Lit., 'he who is applied to for giving a decision.'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_856_856" id="Footnote_856_856"></a><a href="#FNanchor_856_856"><span class="label">[856]</span></a> <i>Ta-par-ra-as</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_857_857" id="Footnote_857_857"></a><a href="#FNanchor_857_857"><span class="label">[857]</span></a> <i>Das Babylonische Nimrodepos</i> (Leipzig, 1884-91). This +edition includes all but the twelfth tablet, which was published by +Haupt in the <i>Beiträge zur Assyriologie</i>, i. 48-79. For other +publications of Haupt on the Gilgamesh epic, see the Bibliography, § 6. +The identification with the Biblical Nimrod is now definitely abandoned +by scholars, though the picture drawn of Nimrod is influenced by the +traditions regarding Gilgamesh. See p. <a href="#Page_515">515</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_858_858" id="Footnote_858_858"></a><a href="#FNanchor_858_858"><span class="label">[858]</span></a> The best general work on the epic (based on Haupt's +edition) is A. Jeremias' <i>Izdubar-Nimrod</i> (Leipzig, 1891), a +reprint with additions, of his article on 'Izdubar' in Roscher's +<i>Ausführliches Lexicon der Griechischen und Römischen Mythologie</i> +ii.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_859_859" id="Footnote_859_859"></a><a href="#FNanchor_859_859"><span class="label">[859]</span></a> <i>Vorgeschichte der Indo-Europaer</i>, p. 112.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_860_860" id="Footnote_860_860"></a><a href="#FNanchor_860_860"><span class="label">[860]</span></a> The words for 'city' in the Semitic languages embody this +idea.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_861_861" id="Footnote_861_861"></a><a href="#FNanchor_861_861"><span class="label">[861]</span></a> <i>Old Babylonian Inscription</i>, i. 2, p. 48.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_862_862" id="Footnote_862_862"></a><a href="#FNanchor_862_862"><span class="label">[862]</span></a> IIR. 50, 55-57; VR. 41, 17, 18. An interesting reference to +the wall of Frech occurs Hilprecht, <i>ib.</i> i. 1, no. 26.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_863_863" id="Footnote_863_863"></a><a href="#FNanchor_863_863"><span class="label">[863]</span></a> <i>Kosmologie</i>, p. 172.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_864_864" id="Footnote_864_864"></a><a href="#FNanchor_864_864"><span class="label">[864]</span></a> Jeremias' <i>Izdubar-Nimrod</i>, p. 15, conjectures that +the death of the king has evoked distress, but that is highly +improbable. That the fragment under consideration belongs to the +beginning of the epic is tolerably certain, though not absolutely so.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_865_865" id="Footnote_865_865"></a><a href="#FNanchor_865_865"><span class="label">[865]</span></a> Sixth tablet, l. 192. He brings offerings to Lugal-Marada, +<i>i.e.</i>, the king of Marada—a solar deity. See p. <a href="#Page_486">486</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_866_866" id="Footnote_866_866"></a><a href="#FNanchor_866_866"><span class="label">[866]</span></a> Heuzey, <i>Sceaux inédits des Rois d'Agade</i> (<i>Revue +d'Assyriologie</i>, iv. 3, p. 9).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_867_867" id="Footnote_867_867"></a><a href="#FNanchor_867_867"><span class="label">[867]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_448">448</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_868_868" id="Footnote_868_868"></a><a href="#FNanchor_868_868"><span class="label">[868]</span></a> <i>Anu</i> here used in the generic sense of 'lofty,' +'divine.' The phrase is equivalent to the Biblical 'image of God.'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_869_869" id="Footnote_869_869"></a><a href="#FNanchor_869_869"><span class="label">[869]</span></a> A phrase in some way again indicative of Eabani's likeness +to a deity.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_870_870" id="Footnote_870_870"></a><a href="#FNanchor_870_870"><span class="label">[870]</span></a> That Gilgamesh undertakes this, and not the gods acting in +the interest of Uruk (as Jeremias and others assume), follows from a +passage in Haupt's edition, pp. 10, 40.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_871_871" id="Footnote_871_871"></a><a href="#FNanchor_871_871"><span class="label">[871]</span></a> Eabani.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_872_872" id="Footnote_872_872"></a><a href="#FNanchor_872_872"><span class="label">[872]</span></a> Identical with our own word "harem."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_873_873" id="Footnote_873_873"></a><a href="#FNanchor_873_873"><span class="label">[873]</span></a> Perhaps "ensnarer."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_874_874" id="Footnote_874_874"></a><a href="#FNanchor_874_874"><span class="label">[874]</span></a> So in the "Dibbarra" legend. See p. <a href="#Page_531">531</a> and Delitzsch, +<i>Handwörterbuch</i>, p. 41.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_875_875" id="Footnote_875_875"></a><a href="#FNanchor_875_875"><span class="label">[875]</span></a> Sixth tablet, ll. 184, 185.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_876_876" id="Footnote_876_876"></a><a href="#FNanchor_876_876"><span class="label">[876]</span></a> Book 1. §§ 181, 182, 199.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_877_877" id="Footnote_877_877"></a><a href="#FNanchor_877_877"><span class="label">[877]</span></a> See Jeremias' <i>Izdubar-Nimrod</i>, pp. 59, 60; Nikel, +<i>Herodot und die Keilschriftforschung</i>, pp. 84-86.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_878_878" id="Footnote_878_878"></a><a href="#FNanchor_878_878"><span class="label">[878]</span></a> The protest of the Pentateuch (Deut. xxiii. 18) against the +<i>K'deshâ</i>, as also against the 'male devotee' (<i>Kadesh</i>), +shows the continued popularity of the rites.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_879_879" id="Footnote_879_879"></a><a href="#FNanchor_879_879"><span class="label">[879]</span></a> It is to be noted that in the Yahwistic narrative, Adam is +in close communication with the animals about him (Gen. ii. 20). It is +tempting also to connect the Hebrew form of Eve, <i>Khauwâ</i> (or +<i>Khauwat</i>) in some way with Ukhat, not etymologically of course, +but as suggestive of a dependence of one upon the other,—the Hebrew +upon the Babylonian term. Professor Stade (<i>Zeits. f. +Alttest. Wiss.</i>, 1897, p. 210) +commenting upon Gen. ii. 20, points out that Yahwe's motive for asking +Adam to name the animals was the hope that he would find a 'helpmate' +among them. In the light of the Babylonian story of Eabani living with +animals, Stade's suggestion receives a striking illustration.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_880_880" id="Footnote_880_880"></a><a href="#FNanchor_880_880"><span class="label">[880]</span></a> See Trumbull, <i>The Threshold Covenant</i>, p. 239.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_881_881" id="Footnote_881_881"></a><a href="#FNanchor_881_881"><span class="label">[881]</span></a> <i>Kharimtu</i>. In Arabic the word is likewise used for +'woman' in general.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_882_882" id="Footnote_882_882"></a><a href="#FNanchor_882_882"><span class="label">[882]</span></a> The temple at Uruk is meant.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_883_883" id="Footnote_883_883"></a><a href="#FNanchor_883_883"><span class="label">[883]</span></a> Jeremias translates 'seeks a friend,' and refers the words +to Gilgamesh, but there is nothing in the narrative to justify us in +assuming that Eabani was thinking of the hero.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_884_884" id="Footnote_884_884"></a><a href="#FNanchor_884_884"><span class="label">[884]</span></a> It is used as a synonym of <i>tappu</i> 'associate,' +Delitzsch, <i>Handwörterbuch</i>, p. 10. Ideographically, it is composed +of two elements, 'strength' and 'acquire.' 'Companion in arms' is the +fellowship originally meant.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_885_885" id="Footnote_885_885"></a><a href="#FNanchor_885_885"><span class="label">[885]</span></a> The Hebrew verb (Gen. ii. 22) expresses sexual union and +precisely the same verb is used in the cuneiform narrative when Eabani +comes to Ukhat (Haupt's edition, p. 11, l. 21).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_886_886" id="Footnote_886_886"></a><a href="#FNanchor_886_886"><span class="label">[886]</span></a> We can still distinguish (Haupt, 12, 47) 'I will fetch +him.' Jeremias' rendering, "I will fight with him," is erroneous.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_887_887" id="Footnote_887_887"></a><a href="#FNanchor_887_887"><span class="label">[887]</span></a> Haupt, 13, 7-8.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_888_888" id="Footnote_888_888"></a><a href="#FNanchor_888_888"><span class="label">[888]</span></a> Cf. Gen. iii. 5 and 21.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_889_889" id="Footnote_889_889"></a><a href="#FNanchor_889_889"><span class="label">[889]</span></a> The text of the following lines restored by combining +Haupt, p. 13, with a supplementary fragment published by Jeremias' +<i>Izdubar-Nimrod</i>, pl. 3.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_890_890" id="Footnote_890_890"></a><a href="#FNanchor_890_890"><span class="label">[890]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, he will be told about thy dream through the +wisdom given to him.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_891_891" id="Footnote_891_891"></a><a href="#FNanchor_891_891"><span class="label">[891]</span></a> See, <i>e.g.</i>, Jeremias' <i>Izdubar-Nimrod</i>, p. 21.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_892_892" id="Footnote_892_892"></a><a href="#FNanchor_892_892"><span class="label">[892]</span></a> So, <i>e.g.</i>, Hommel (<i>Altisraelitische +Ueberlieferung</i>, p. 35). He is certainly not a native of Babylonia.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_893_893" id="Footnote_893_893"></a><a href="#FNanchor_893_893"><span class="label">[893]</span></a> Gilgamesh.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_894_894" id="Footnote_894_894"></a><a href="#FNanchor_894_894"><span class="label">[894]</span></a> Haupt, p. 26.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_895_895" id="Footnote_895_895"></a><a href="#FNanchor_895_895"><span class="label">[895]</span></a> A city Ganganna is mentioned in the first tablet (Haupt, pp. 51, 6).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_896_896" id="Footnote_896_896"></a><a href="#FNanchor_896_896"><span class="label">[896]</span></a> So Haupt, <i>Beiträge zur Assyriologie</i>, i. 112.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_897_897" id="Footnote_897_897"></a><a href="#FNanchor_897_897"><span class="label">[897]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, again and again.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_898_898" id="Footnote_898_898"></a><a href="#FNanchor_898_898"><span class="label">[898]</span></a> This is the general sense of the three terms used.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_899_899" id="Footnote_899_899"></a><a href="#FNanchor_899_899"><span class="label">[899]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, an army's march of fourteen hours. See pp. +<a href="#Page_490">490</a>, <a href="#Page_503">503</a>, <a href="#Page_521">521</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_900_900" id="Footnote_900_900"></a><a href="#FNanchor_900_900"><span class="label">[900]</span></a> The same word appears in incantation texts as a term for a +class of demons.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_901_901" id="Footnote_901_901"></a><a href="#FNanchor_901_901"><span class="label">[901]</span></a> See, <i>e.g.</i>, Jeremias' <i>Izdubar-Nimrod</i>, p. 26.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_902_902" id="Footnote_902_902"></a><a href="#FNanchor_902_902"><span class="label">[902]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, to the bull.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_903_903" id="Footnote_903_903"></a><a href="#FNanchor_903_903"><span class="label">[903]</span></a> <a href="#chapter-xxv">Chapter XXV</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_904_904" id="Footnote_904_904"></a><a href="#FNanchor_904_904"><span class="label">[904]</span></a> Ez. viii. 14.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_905_905" id="Footnote_905_905"></a><a href="#FNanchor_905_905"><span class="label">[905]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_475">475</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_906_906" id="Footnote_906_906"></a><a href="#FNanchor_906_906"><span class="label">[906]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_267">267</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_907_907" id="Footnote_907_907"></a><a href="#FNanchor_907_907"><span class="label">[907]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_234">234</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_908_908" id="Footnote_908_908"></a><a href="#FNanchor_908_908"><span class="label">[908]</span></a> Trumbull, <i>The Threshold Covenant</i>, chapter vii.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_909_909" id="Footnote_909_909"></a><a href="#FNanchor_909_909"><span class="label">[909]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_536">536</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_910_910" id="Footnote_910_910"></a><a href="#FNanchor_910_910"><span class="label">[910]</span></a> Or as a third dream. It will be recalled that in a previous +portion of the epic (p. <a href="#Page_481">481</a>), Gilgamesh has three dreams in succession.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_911_911" id="Footnote_911_911"></a><a href="#FNanchor_911_911"><span class="label">[911]</span></a> Haupt, pp. 45, 53.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_912_912" id="Footnote_912_912"></a><a href="#FNanchor_912_912"><span class="label">[912]</span></a> Attitude of despair.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_913_913" id="Footnote_913_913"></a><a href="#FNanchor_913_913"><span class="label">[913]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, 'offspring of life.' I adopt Delitzsch's +reading of the name. Zimmern and Jensen prefer <i>Sitnapishtim</i>, but +see Haupt's remarks on the objections to this reading in Schrader, +<i>Keilinschriften und das Alte Testament</i> (3d edition) <i>a. l.</i> +At the recent Eleventh International Congress of Orientalists, Scheil +presented a tablet dealing with the deluge narrative. If his reading is +correct, the evidence would be final for the form Pirnapishtim, formerly +proposed by Zimmern (<i>Babylonische Busspsalmen</i>, p. 26). See p. +<a href="#Page_507">507</a>, <a href="#Footnote_982_982">note 1</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_914_914" id="Footnote_914_914"></a><a href="#FNanchor_914_914"><span class="label">[914]</span></a> "Client of Marduk." The name Marduk appears here under the +ideographic designation <i>Tutu</i>. The identification with Marduk may +be due to later traditions.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_915_915" id="Footnote_915_915"></a><a href="#FNanchor_915_915"><span class="label">[915]</span></a> Jeremias' suggestion (<i>Indubar-Nimrod</i>, p. 18) that +the fight with the lion belongs to the first tablet, where mention is +made of a wild animal of some kind, is not acceptable.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_916_916" id="Footnote_916_916"></a><a href="#FNanchor_916_916"><span class="label">[916]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, inner side.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_917_917" id="Footnote_917_917"></a><a href="#FNanchor_917_917"><span class="label">[917]</span></a> The name of the cave underneath the earth where the dead +dwell.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_918_918" id="Footnote_918_918"></a><a href="#FNanchor_918_918"><span class="label">[918]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_443">443</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_919_919" id="Footnote_919_919"></a><a href="#FNanchor_919_919"><span class="label">[919]</span></a> See, <i>e.g.</i>, Jeremias' <i>Izdubar-Nimrod</i>, p. 28.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_920_920" id="Footnote_920_920"></a><a href="#FNanchor_920_920"><span class="label">[920]</span></a> See the passages in Delitzsch, <i>Wo Lag das Paradies</i>, +pp. 242, 243.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_921_921" id="Footnote_921_921"></a><a href="#FNanchor_921_921"><span class="label">[921]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, and Hommel's full discussion, +<i>Altisraelitische Ueberlieferung</i>, chapter iii.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_922_922" id="Footnote_922_922"></a><a href="#FNanchor_922_922"><span class="label">[922]</span></a> Hommel (<i>Altisraelitische Ueberlieferung</i>, pp. 35, 37) +suggests a migration of Cassites from Elam to Eastern Africa.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_923_923" id="Footnote_923_923"></a><a href="#FNanchor_923_923"><span class="label">[923]</span></a> Haupt, pp. 12, 67.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_924_924" id="Footnote_924_924"></a><a href="#FNanchor_924_924"><span class="label">[924]</span></a> Attitude of despair.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_925_925" id="Footnote_925_925"></a><a href="#FNanchor_925_925"><span class="label">[925]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i> 'servant of Ea.' The reading Ardi-Ea is +preferable to Arad-Ea.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_926_926" id="Footnote_926_926"></a><a href="#FNanchor_926_926"><span class="label">[926]</span></a> Lit., 'sailor.'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_927_927" id="Footnote_927_927"></a><a href="#FNanchor_927_927"><span class="label">[927]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_443">443</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_928_928" id="Footnote_928_928"></a><a href="#FNanchor_928_928"><span class="label">[928]</span></a> Haupt, pp. 64, 36; 65, 1.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_929_929" id="Footnote_929_929"></a><a href="#FNanchor_929_929"><span class="label">[929]</span></a> <i>Altisraelitische Ueberlieferung</i>, p. 35.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_930_930" id="Footnote_930_930"></a><a href="#FNanchor_930_930"><span class="label">[930]</span></a> <i>Tum</i> is the feminine ending.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_931_931" id="Footnote_931_931"></a><a href="#FNanchor_931_931"><span class="label">[931]</span></a> A large measure.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_932_932" id="Footnote_932_932"></a><a href="#FNanchor_932_932"><span class="label">[932]</span></a> Of the week? Hommel and others interpret that Gilgamesh +accomplishes the 'forty-five days' journey' in three days.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_933_933" id="Footnote_933_933"></a><a href="#FNanchor_933_933"><span class="label">[933]</span></a> This I take to be the meaning of the numbers introduced at +this point.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_934_934" id="Footnote_934_934"></a><a href="#FNanchor_934_934"><span class="label">[934]</span></a> The text is badly mutilated.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_935_935" id="Footnote_935_935"></a><a href="#FNanchor_935_935"><span class="label">[935]</span></a> There is no limit to the rule of death. Death alone is +'immortal.'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_936_936" id="Footnote_936_936"></a><a href="#FNanchor_936_936"><span class="label">[936]</span></a> As Haupt correctly interprets.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_937_937" id="Footnote_937_937"></a><a href="#FNanchor_937_937"><span class="label">[937]</span></a> This appears to be the sense of this rather obscure line.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_938_938" id="Footnote_938_938"></a><a href="#FNanchor_938_938"><span class="label">[938]</span></a> Read [sir-la]-am?</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_939_939" id="Footnote_939_939"></a><a href="#FNanchor_939_939"><span class="label">[939]</span></a> See below, p. <a href="#Page_507">507</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_940_940" id="Footnote_940_940"></a><a href="#FNanchor_940_940"><span class="label">[940]</span></a> The restored text in Haupt's edition of the +<i>Nimrodepos</i>, pp. 134-149.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_941_941" id="Footnote_941_941"></a><a href="#FNanchor_941_941"><span class="label">[941]</span></a> Zimmern ingeniously suggests <i>la bir</i>, "not pure," +instead of the rendering 'old.'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_942_942" id="Footnote_942_942"></a><a href="#FNanchor_942_942"><span class="label">[942]</span></a> Isaiah i. 1.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_943_943" id="Footnote_943_943"></a><a href="#FNanchor_943_943"><span class="label">[943]</span></a> See Jensen's remarks, <i>Kosmologie</i>, p. 387. There is +no reference to Shurippak in IIR. 46, 1, as Haupt has shown (see his +note in the 3rd edition of Schrader's <i>Keilinscriften und das Alte +Testament</i>).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_944_944" id="Footnote_944_944"></a><a href="#FNanchor_944_944"><span class="label">[944]</span></a> Gen. xix.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_945_945" id="Footnote_945_945"></a><a href="#FNanchor_945_945"><span class="label">[945]</span></a> Hughes, <i>Dictionary of Islam</i>, <i>sub</i> "Ad" and "Salih".</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_946_946" id="Footnote_946_946"></a><a href="#FNanchor_946_946"><span class="label">[946]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_488">488</a>, <a href="#Footnote_914_914">note 2</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_947_947" id="Footnote_947_947"></a><a href="#FNanchor_947_947"><span class="label">[947]</span></a> Lit., 'construct a house'; house is used for any kind of +structure in general.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_948_948" id="Footnote_948_948"></a><a href="#FNanchor_948_948"><span class="label">[948]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, let your property go and save your family.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_949_949" id="Footnote_949_949"></a><a href="#FNanchor_949_949"><span class="label">[949]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_53">53</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_950_950" id="Footnote_950_950"></a><a href="#FNanchor_950_950"><span class="label">[950]</span></a> L. 45.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_951_951" id="Footnote_951_951"></a><a href="#FNanchor_951_951"><span class="label">[951]</span></a> Jensen, <i>Kosmologie</i>, p. 368; Jeremias, +<i>Izdubar-Nimrod</i>, p. 37.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_952_952" id="Footnote_952_952"></a><a href="#FNanchor_952_952"><span class="label">[952]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_496">496</a>, <a href="#Footnote_947_947">note 6</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_953_953" id="Footnote_953_953"></a><a href="#FNanchor_953_953"><span class="label">[953]</span></a> Or decks (so Haupt).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_954_954" id="Footnote_954_954"></a><a href="#FNanchor_954_954"><span class="label">[954]</span></a> Of each story or deck.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_955_955" id="Footnote_955_955"></a><a href="#FNanchor_955_955"><span class="label">[955]</span></a> Poles are used to this day to propel the crafts on the +Euphrates.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_956_956" id="Footnote_956_956"></a><a href="#FNanchor_956_956"><span class="label">[956]</span></a> The largest measure.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_957_957" id="Footnote_957_957"></a><a href="#FNanchor_957_957"><span class="label">[957]</span></a> The same word (<i>kupru</i>) is used as in Gen. vi. 14.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_958_958" id="Footnote_958_958"></a><a href="#FNanchor_958_958"><span class="label">[958]</span></a> Some part of the outside of the structure is designated.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_959_959" id="Footnote_959_959"></a><a href="#FNanchor_959_959"><span class="label">[959]</span></a> Haupt translates "Sesammeth."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_960_960" id="Footnote_960_960"></a><a href="#FNanchor_960_960"><span class="label">[960]</span></a> "Puzur" signifies 'hidden,' 'protected.' "Shadu rabu," +<i>i.e.</i>, 'great mountain,' is a title of Bel and of other gods (see +above, pp. <a href="#Page_56">56</a> and <a href="#Page_278">278</a>). Here, probably, Shamash is meant.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_961_961" id="Footnote_961_961"></a><a href="#FNanchor_961_961"><span class="label">[961]</span></a> Lit. 'great house' or 'palace.'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_962_962" id="Footnote_962_962"></a><a href="#FNanchor_962_962"><span class="label">[962]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, 'king,' frequently found as a title of Marduk +in astronomical texts (Jensen, <i>Kosmologie</i>, p. 145).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_963_963" id="Footnote_963_963"></a><a href="#FNanchor_963_963"><span class="label">[963]</span></a> The god of war and pestilence.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_964_964" id="Footnote_964_964"></a><a href="#FNanchor_964_964"><span class="label">[964]</span></a> "Tar-gul-le," some mischievous forces.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_965_965" id="Footnote_965_965"></a><a href="#FNanchor_965_965"><span class="label">[965]</span></a> The highest part of heaven.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_966_966" id="Footnote_966_966"></a><a href="#FNanchor_966_966"><span class="label">[966]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, has been destroyed.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_967_967" id="Footnote_967_967"></a><a href="#FNanchor_967_967"><span class="label">[967]</span></a> Lit., 'spoken' or 'ordered.'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_968_968" id="Footnote_968_968"></a><a href="#FNanchor_968_968"><span class="label">[968]</span></a> Lit., 'my mankind.'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_969_969" id="Footnote_969_969"></a><a href="#FNanchor_969_969"><span class="label">[969]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, Mankind.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_970_970" id="Footnote_970_970"></a><a href="#FNanchor_970_970"><span class="label">[970]</span></a> From which they were made. See pp. <a href="#Page_448">448</a> and <a href="#Page_511">511</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_971_971" id="Footnote_971_971"></a><a href="#FNanchor_971_971"><span class="label">[971]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_482">482</a>, <a href="#Footnote_899_899">note 4</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_972_972" id="Footnote_972_972"></a><a href="#FNanchor_972_972"><span class="label">[972]</span></a> Haupt and Delitzsch render <i>ikkal</i>, 'ate,' as though +from <i>akâlu</i>, but this is hardly in place. I take the stem of the +word to be <i>nakâlu</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_973_973" id="Footnote_973_973"></a><a href="#FNanchor_973_973"><span class="label">[973]</span></a> To have a share in it.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_974_974" id="Footnote_974_974"></a><a href="#FNanchor_974_974"><span class="label">[974]</span></a> Jensen and Haupt translate "inconsiderately," but this +rendering misses the point.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_975_975" id="Footnote_975_975"></a><a href="#FNanchor_975_975"><span class="label">[975]</span></a> Lit., 'my humanity.'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_976_976" id="Footnote_976_976"></a><a href="#FNanchor_976_976"><span class="label">[976]</span></a> Not destroy it altogether.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_977_977" id="Footnote_977_977"></a><a href="#FNanchor_977_977"><span class="label">[977]</span></a> Lit. 'the god Dibbarra.'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_978_978" id="Footnote_978_978"></a><a href="#FNanchor_978_978"><span class="label">[978]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, the 'very clever' or 'very pious,' an epithet +given to Parnapishtim. The inverted form, <i>Khasis-adra</i>, was +distorted into <i>Xisusthros</i>, which appears in the writers dependent +upon Berosus as the name of the hero of the Babylonian deluge. See, +<i>e.g.</i>, Cory's <i>Ancient Fragments</i>, pp. 52, 54, 60, etc. The +epithet appears also in the Legend of Etana (pp. 523, 524), where it is +applied to a 'wise' young eagle.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_979_979" id="Footnote_979_979"></a><a href="#FNanchor_979_979"><span class="label">[979]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, mortal.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_980_980" id="Footnote_980_980"></a><a href="#FNanchor_980_980"><span class="label">[980]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, immortal. <i>Cf.</i> Gen. iii. 22.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_981_981" id="Footnote_981_981"></a><a href="#FNanchor_981_981"><span class="label">[981]</span></a> <i>Wo Lag das Paradies</i> (<i>Ueber Land und Meer</i>, +1894-95, no. 15).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_982_982" id="Footnote_982_982"></a><a href="#FNanchor_982_982"><span class="label">[982]</span></a> +The Hebrew account, it must be remembered, consists of two narratives dovetailed +into one another. According to the one version—the Yahwistic—the rainstorm +continued for forty days and forty nights; according to the other—the priestly +narrative—one hundred and fifty days pass before the waters began to diminish and +a year elapses before Noah leaves the ark. The Yahwistic narrative lays stress upon +the ritualistic distinction of clean and unclean animals, but on the whole, the Yahwistic +version approaches closer to the Babylonian tale. Evidence has now been furnished +that among the Babylonians, too, more than one version of the tradition existed. +At the Eleventh International Congress of Orientalists (September, 1897), Scheil +presented a tablet, dating from the days of Hammurabi, in which the story of a +deluge is narrated in a manner quite different from the Gilgamesh epic. The tablet +also furnishes the phonetic reading <i>pï-ïr</i>, and Scheil is of the opinion that these +two syllables form the first element in the name of the hero. Unfortunately, the +tablet is badly mutilated at this point, so that the question of the reading is not +absolutely certain. See p. <a href="#Page_488">488</a>, <a href="#Footnote_914_914">note 2</a>. [The reading Ut-napishtim is now generally +adopted.]</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_983_983" id="Footnote_983_983"></a><a href="#FNanchor_983_983"><span class="label">[983]</span></a> Gen. xix.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_984_984" id="Footnote_984_984"></a><a href="#FNanchor_984_984"><span class="label">[984]</span></a> Note the phrase in Gen. xix. 31, "there is no one on +earth," and see Pietschman, <i>Geschichte der Phonizier</i>, p. 115.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_985_985" id="Footnote_985_985"></a><a href="#FNanchor_985_985"><span class="label">[985]</span></a> That the story was current as early as Hammurabi is now +established by Scheil's fragment (see <a href="#Footnote_944_944">note 2</a> on preceding page).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_986_986" id="Footnote_986_986"></a><a href="#FNanchor_986_986"><span class="label">[986]</span></a> The word used is <i>tû</i> which means a charm or +incantation in general.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_987_987" id="Footnote_987_987"></a><a href="#FNanchor_987_987"><span class="label">[987]</span></a> Made of the charm root.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_988_988" id="Footnote_988_988"></a><a href="#FNanchor_988_988"><span class="label">[988]</span></a> Gilgamesh.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_989_989" id="Footnote_989_989"></a><a href="#FNanchor_989_989"><span class="label">[989]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, 'old age,' the name given to some plant of magic power.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_990_990" id="Footnote_990_990"></a><a href="#FNanchor_990_990"><span class="label">[990]</span></a> <i>Tû.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_991_991" id="Footnote_991_991"></a><a href="#FNanchor_991_991"><span class="label">[991]</span></a> Lit., 'good.'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_992_992" id="Footnote_992_992"></a><a href="#FNanchor_992_992"><span class="label">[992]</span></a> <i>Utukku</i>—the name, it will be recalled, given to a +class of demons. See p. <a href="#Page_260">260</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_993_993" id="Footnote_993_993"></a><a href="#FNanchor_993_993"><span class="label">[993]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_518">518</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_994_994" id="Footnote_994_994"></a><a href="#FNanchor_994_994"><span class="label">[994]</span></a> Haupt, <i>Beiträge zur Assyriologie</i>, i. 318, 319, has +made it plausible that pp. 16-19 of his edition belong to the twelfth +tablet of the epic, though perhaps to a different edition of the epic, +as Jeremias suggests (<i>Izdubar-Nimrod</i>, p. 43).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_995_995" id="Footnote_995_995"></a><a href="#FNanchor_995_995"><span class="label">[995]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_474">474</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_996_996" id="Footnote_996_996"></a><a href="#FNanchor_996_996"><span class="label">[996]</span></a> Haupt's edition, pp. 67, 12.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_997_997" id="Footnote_997_997"></a><a href="#FNanchor_997_997"><span class="label">[997]</span></a> Lit., 'thou hast seen it, I have seen it.'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_998_998" id="Footnote_998_998"></a><a href="#FNanchor_998_998"><span class="label">[998]</span></a> Text defective. Jeremias conjectures "kneeling."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_999_999" id="Footnote_999_999"></a><a href="#FNanchor_999_999"><span class="label">[999]</span></a> <i>Ekimmu</i>, another name for a class of demons. See p. +<a href="#Page_260">260</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1000_1000" id="Footnote_1000_1000"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1000_1000"><span class="label">[1000]</span></a> The correct translation of these lines we owe to Haupt +(<i>Beiträge zur Assyriologie</i>, i. 69, 70).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1001_1001" id="Footnote_1001_1001"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1001_1001"><span class="label">[1001]</span></a> +The reference to the killing of a panther in the tenth tablet (Haupt, p. 71, 6) is +too obscure to be taken into consideration. Gilgamesh's fight with a 'buffalo' (so +Ward, "Babylonian Gods in Babylonian Art," <i>Proc. Amer. Or. Soc.</i>, May, 1890, +p. xv) is pictured on seal cylinders. No doubt, various deeds of Gilgamesh were +recounted in the missing portions of the epic, and it is also quite likely that besides +the stories in the epic, others were current of Gilgamesh to which a literary form was +never given.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1002_1002" id="Footnote_1002_1002"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1002_1002"><span class="label">[1002]</span></a> The Parnapishtim episode passed on to the Arabs, where the +hero of the deluge appears under the name of Khadir—a corruption of +Adra-Khasis. See Lidzbarski, "Wer ist Chadir?" <i>Zeits. f. Assyr.</i> +vii. 109-112, who also suggests that Ahasverus, 'the Wandering Jew,' is +a corruption of Adrakhasis.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1003_1003" id="Footnote_1003_1003"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1003_1003"><span class="label">[1003]</span></a> It will be recalled that Nimrod is termed a 'mighty hunter' +(<i>säid</i>). This suggests a comparison with Sadu, 'the hunter,' in +the Gilgamesh epic. See above, p. <a href="#Page_475">475</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1004_1004" id="Footnote_1004_1004"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1004_1004"><span class="label">[1004]</span></a> Originally suggested by H. C. Rawlinson.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1005_1005" id="Footnote_1005_1005"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1005_1005"><span class="label">[1005]</span></a> The ending <i>ôn</i> is an emphatic affix—frequent in proper names.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1006_1006" id="Footnote_1006_1006"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1006_1006"><span class="label">[1006]</span></a> <i>Euripides' Herakles</i>, Einleitung.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1007_1007" id="Footnote_1007_1007"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1007_1007"><span class="label">[1007]</span></a> On this subject see the Introduction to Berard's <i>De +l'origine des cultes Arcadiens</i>, and for a further discussion of the +relationships between Izdubar and Hercules, see Jeremias' +<i>Izdubar-Nimrod</i>, pp. 70-73, or his article in Roscher's +<i>Ausführliches Lexicon der Griechischen und Römischen Mythologie</i>, +ii. 821-823.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1008_1008" id="Footnote_1008_1008"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1008_1008"><span class="label">[1008]</span></a> Meissner, <i>Alexander und Gilgamos</i> (Leipzig, 1894), +pp. 13-17.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1009_1009" id="Footnote_1009_1009"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1009_1009"><span class="label">[1009]</span></a> In the Greek and other versions, the mountain Musas or +Masis is mentioned,—that is, <i>Mashu</i>, as in the Gilgamesh epic. +See p. <a href="#Page_488">488</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1010_1010" id="Footnote_1010_1010"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1010_1010"><span class="label">[1010]</span></a> See especially Budge, <i>The Life and Exploits of Alexander +the Great</i> (London, Introduction, 1896); Nöldeke, <i>Beiträge zur +Geschichte des Alexander-Romans</i> (Vienna, 1890) and Gaster, <i>An Old +Hebrew Romance of Alexander</i> (<i>Journal Royal Asiat. Soc.</i>, 1897, +pp. 485-498).</p></div> + + + + +<h2><a name="chapter-xxiv" id="chapter-xxiv"></a>CHAPTER XXIV.</h2> + +<h3>MYTHS AND LEGENDS.</h3> + + +<p>Not many years ago the impression appeared to be well +founded that the Semites were poor in the production of myths +and legends as compared, for example, to the Hindus or +Greeks. The religious literature of the Babylonians, originating +undoubtedly with the Semitic inhabitants of the Euphrates +Valley, reverses the impression. The 'creation' and 'Gilgamesh' +epics suffice, not merely for what they contain, but for +what they imply, to accord to Babylonian mythology a high +rank; but in addition to these epics we have a large number of +tales of gods, demigods, demons, and spirits that illustrate the +capacity of the Babylonians for the production of myths. +Indeed, there is no longer any reason for doubting that the +Babylonian mythology exercised considerable influence upon +that of the Greeks. Further discoveries and researches may +show that distant India also felt at an early period the intellectual +stimulus emanating from the Euphrates Valley. At all +events, many of the features found in Babylonian myths and +legends bear so striking a resemblance to those occurring in +lands lying to the east and west of Babylonia, that a study of +Aryan mythology is sadly deficient which does not take into +account the material furnished by cuneiform literature. How +extensive the Babylonian mythology was must remain for the +present a matter of conjecture, but it is easier to err on the +side of underestimation than on the side of exaggeration. If +it be remembered that by far the smaller portion only of Ashurbanabal's +library has been recovered, and that of the various +literary collections that were gathered in the religious centers<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_519" id="Page_519">[Pg 519]</a></span> +of the south, scarcely anything has as yet been found, it is certainly +remarkable that we should be in possession of an elaborate +tale of a demi-god, Etana, of an extensive legend recounting +the deeds of the war and plague-god Dibbarra, and of two genuine +storm myths, while the indications in Dr. Bezold's catalogue of +the Kouyunjik collection justify us in adding to the list several +other myths and legends, among the still unpublished tablets +of the British Museum.<a name="FNanchor_1011_1011" id="FNanchor_1011_1011"></a><a href="#Footnote_1011_1011" class="fnanchor">[1011]</a> These myths and legends have a twofold +value for us, a direct value because of the popular religious +ideas contained in them, and an indirect value by virtue of the +interpretation given to these ideas by the compilers. In the +literary form that the popular productions received, the influence +of those who guided the religious thought into its proper +channels is to be clearly seen.</p> + + +<h3>The Etana Legend.</h3> + +<p>It will be recalled that we came across a hero Etana in the +Gilgamesh epic.<a name="FNanchor_1012_1012" id="FNanchor_1012_1012"></a><a href="#Footnote_1012_1012" class="fnanchor">[1012]</a> The name of the hero is Semitic, and signifies +'strong.'<a name="FNanchor_1013_1013" id="FNanchor_1013_1013"></a><a href="#Footnote_1013_1013" class="fnanchor">[1013]</a> An identical name appears in the Old Testament,<a name="FNanchor_1014_1014" id="FNanchor_1014_1014"></a><a href="#Footnote_1014_1014" class="fnanchor">[1014]</a> +and it is possible that the Babylonian Etana represents, +like Gilgamesh, some ancient historical person of whom a dim +tradition has survived among other nations besides the Babylonians. +The deeds recounted of him, however, place the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_520" id="Page_520">[Pg 520]</a></span> +hero entirely in the domain of myth. His patron is Shamash, +the sun-god, and in popular tradition he becomes a member of +the pantheon of the nether world.</p> + +<p>In the portions of the Etana legend preserved,<a name="FNanchor_1015_1015" id="FNanchor_1015_1015"></a><a href="#Footnote_1015_1015" class="fnanchor">[1015]</a> two episodes +are detailed in the hero's career, one regarding the birth of a +son, the other a miraculous journey. The former episode justifies +the assumption of a historical starting-point for the legend +of Etana.<a name="FNanchor_1016_1016" id="FNanchor_1016_1016"></a><a href="#Footnote_1016_1016" class="fnanchor">[1016]</a> Among many nations the birth of a hero or of a +hero's son is pictured as taking place under great difficulties. +Etana's wife is in distress because she is unable to bring to the +world a child which she has conceived. Etana appeals to +Shamash. Through the mediation of the priests he has offered +sacrifices, and he now prays to Shamash to show him the +"plant of birth."</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>The oracles<a name="FNanchor_1017_1017" id="FNanchor_1017_1017"></a><a href="#Footnote_1017_1017" class="fnanchor">[1017]</a> have completed my sacrifices,</p> +<p>They have completed my free-will offerings to the gods.</p> +<p>O Lord, let thy mouth command,</p> +<p>And give me the plant of birth,</p> +<p>Reveal to me the plant of birth,</p> +<p>Bring forth the fruit, grant me an offspring.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Of Shamash's reply only one line is preserved intact, in which +he tells Etana:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Take the road, ascend the mountain.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>It is presumably upon the mountain that the plant grows +whose magical power will insure the happy delivery of the +expected offspring. Harper calls attention to a remarkable +parallel to this incident which is found in the Armenian and +Mandaean legends of the birth of Rustem, the son of Sal. The +latter's wife is unable to deliver her child because of its size. +Sal, who was reared by an eagle, has in his possession a pinion<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_521" id="Page_521">[Pg 521]</a></span> +of the eagle, by means of which he can, when in distress, +invoke the presence of the bird. The father throws the pinion +into the fire, and the eagle appears. The latter gives the +mother a medicinal potion, and the child is cut out of the +womb. Etana, like Rustem, is accompanied by an eagle, and it +would appear that the eagle aids Etana in obtaining the plant.<a name="FNanchor_1018_1018" id="FNanchor_1018_1018"></a><a href="#Footnote_1018_1018" class="fnanchor">[1018]</a> +The eagle, in many mythologies, is a symbol of the sun, and it +is plausible to conclude that the bird is sent to Etana at the +instigation of Shamash. Who the son is that Etana expects +we are not told, and naturally from a single episode like this—and +one so fragmentarily preserved—no safe conclusions +may be drawn. But the epic (if we may apply this term) must +have recounted some achievements of Etana, and as the +'strong' one, his deeds must have borne some resemblance to +those of Gilgamesh. The birth of the son, it is furthermore +fair to presume, took place towards the end of Etana's career, +when his own life was drawing to a close. If a fragment<a name="FNanchor_1019_1019" id="FNanchor_1019_1019"></a><a href="#Footnote_1019_1019" class="fnanchor">[1019]</a> of +the tale were only better preserved, we would have an episode +of Etana's earlier career. But such is the condition of this +fragment that, at the most, it can be said that Etana is engaged +in some conflict against a city, in which Ishtar, Bel, the Anunnaki, +the Igigi, and some minor gods, as En-ninna, Sibittum, +are involved. The Etana series, as we learn from the colophon +to this fragment, was known by a designation in which a city<a name="FNanchor_1020_1020" id="FNanchor_1020_1020"></a><a href="#Footnote_1020_1020" class="fnanchor">[1020]</a> +occurs, and it may be that this is the city against which Etana, +aided by the gods, proceeds. Leaving this aside, it is fortunate +that we have at least another episode in Etana's career +which enables us to establish the connecting link between the +hero as an historical personage and as a god or demi-god. As +Gilgamesh offers an insult to Ishtar, so Etana encounters the +ill-will of the great goddess, though through no direct offense.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_522" id="Page_522">[Pg 522]</a></span> +The eagle tempts Etana to mount with him into the upper +regions. Etana is represented as giving, in part, an account of +this adventure, in the first person. The gates of the upper +regions are opened, and Etana is terrified at the majestic sight +which greets him. He sees a throne, and throws himself on +his countenance in terror. The gates are significantly designated +as the gate of Anu, Bel, and Ea, and the gate of Sin, +Shamash, Ramman, and Ishtar. The introduction of the two +classes of the theological triads<a name="FNanchor_1021_1021" id="FNanchor_1021_1021"></a><a href="#Footnote_1021_1021" class="fnanchor">[1021]</a> reveals the influence of a scholastic +elaboration of some popular myth. The eagle reassures +Etana, and addresses him as follows:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>My friend lift up (?) [thy countenance],</p> +<p>Come and let me carry thee to the heaven [of Anu].</p> +<p>On my breast place thy breast,</p> +<p>On my pinion place thy palms,</p> +<p>On my side place thy side.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Etana obeys, and thus, securely attached to the eagle, begins +the daring journey. They fly for the space of a double hour,<a name="FNanchor_1022_1022" id="FNanchor_1022_1022"></a><a href="#Footnote_1022_1022" class="fnanchor">[1022]</a> +when</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>The eagle addresses Etana:</p> +<p>Look, my friend, how the earth appears;</p> +<p>Look at the sea and at its side, the house of wisdom;<a name="FNanchor_1023_1023" id="FNanchor_1023_1023"></a><a href="#Footnote_1023_1023" class="fnanchor">[1023]</a></p> +<p>The earth appears as a mountain, the sea has become a pool (?).</p> +<p>A second double hour he (<i>i.e.</i>, the eagle) carried him on high.</p> +<p>The eagle spoke to Etana:</p> +<p>Look, my friend, how the earth appears;</p> +<p>The sea is a mere belt (?) around the earth.</p> +<p>A third double hour he carried him on high.</p> +<p>The eagle spoke to Etana:</p> +<p>Look, my friend, how the earth appears;</p> +<p>The sea is a mere gardener's ditch.<a name="FNanchor_1024_1024" id="FNanchor_1024_1024"></a><a href="#Footnote_1024_1024" class="fnanchor">[1024]</a></p> +</div></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_523" id="Page_523">[Pg 523]</a></span> +In this way they reach the gate of Anu, Bel, and Ea in +safety, where they take a rest. The eagle is not yet satisfied, +and urges Etana to follow him to the domain of Ishtar.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Come, my friend [let me carry thee to Ishtar],</p> +<p>With Ishtar, the mistress [of the gods, thou shall dwell],</p> +<p>In the glory of Ishtar, the mistress of the gods, [thou shall sit?].</p> +<p>On my side place thy side,</p> +<p>On my pinion place thy palms.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The gods, it will be seen, dwell on high in accordance with +the view developed by astronomical speculations.<a name="FNanchor_1025_1025" id="FNanchor_1025_1025"></a><a href="#Footnote_1025_1025" class="fnanchor">[1025]</a> Anu, Bel, +and Ea are here evidently identified with the fixed stars bearing +their names,<a name="FNanchor_1026_1026" id="FNanchor_1026_1026"></a><a href="#Footnote_1026_1026" class="fnanchor">[1026]</a> while under Ishtar the planet Ishtar-Venus is +meant. Etana yields to the eagle's suggestion. They mount +still higher. Earth and ocean grow still smaller, the former +appearing only as large as 'a garden bed,' the latter like 'a +courtyard.' For three double hours they fly. Etana appears +to warn the eagle to desist from his rash intention, but the +warning comes too late. Etana and the eagle are thrown +down from the lofty regions. With lightning speed the descent +takes place, until the two reach the ground. The further course +of the narrative is obscure. Was Etana punished by being +sent to the nether world, where we find him in the Gilgamesh +epic?<a name="FNanchor_1027_1027" id="FNanchor_1027_1027"></a><a href="#Footnote_1027_1027" class="fnanchor">[1027]</a> There is a reference, unfortunately quite obscure, to the +death of Etana, and perhaps to his shade,<a name="FNanchor_1028_1028" id="FNanchor_1028_1028"></a><a href="#Footnote_1028_1028" class="fnanchor">[1028]</a> in a portion of the +tablet. One certainly expects both Etana and the eagle to be +punished for their rash act, but until we can determine with +certainty what became of both, and with what purport the tale +is introduced into the career of Etana, the question must be +left open, as also the possibility of a connection between this +flight of Etana and the similar Greek myth of Ganymede. +The introduction of the eagle points clearly to the mythological +character of the tale, but flights of eagles occur so frequently<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_524" id="Page_524">[Pg 524]</a></span> +in the myths and legends of various nations that no great stress +is to be laid upon further parallels that might be adduced.<a name="FNanchor_1029_1029" id="FNanchor_1029_1029"></a><a href="#Footnote_1029_1029" class="fnanchor">[1029]</a> +The story found in Aelian and which has already been referred +to<a name="FNanchor_1030_1030" id="FNanchor_1030_1030"></a><a href="#Footnote_1030_1030" class="fnanchor">[1030]</a> alone calls for mention here. According to this story, Gilgamesh, +whose birth is feared by his cruel grandfather Sokkaros, +king of Babylonia, is thrown from the tower where his mother +was imprisoned and in which he was born, but in falling is +caught by an eagle and taken to a gardener who rears the +child. The eagle being the associate of Etana, the suspicion +is justified that the child thus miraculously saved is in reality +Etana and not Gilgamesh. At all events, there must be some +connection between the story of Aelian and the Babylonian +legend under consideration. The fate of the eagle is recounted +in another tablet of the Etana series,<a name="FNanchor_1031_1031" id="FNanchor_1031_1031"></a><a href="#Footnote_1031_1031" class="fnanchor">[1031]</a> which again furnishes an +episode paralleled in the mythologies of other nations.</p> + +<p>The eagle has lost favor with Shamash. Enmity has arisen +between the eagle and the serpent, and, curiously enough, the +latter stands under the protection of the sun-god. What the +cause of the enmity between eagle and serpent was, may have +been recounted in a missing portion of the tablet. The eagle +forms a plan of destroying the serpent's brood. He is warned +against this act by a young eagle, who is designated as a 'very +clever young one.'</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Do not eat, O my father, the net of Shamash is laid (?);</p> +<p>The trap, the ban of Shamash, will fall upon thee and catch thee.</p> +<p>Who transgresses the law of Shamash, from him Shamash will exact revenge.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>But the eagle, we are told, paid no heed to the warning.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>He descended and ate of the young of the serpent.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The serpent appeals to Shamash. He tells the sun-god of +the cruel deed of the eagle:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_525" id="Page_525">[Pg 525]</a></span></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>See, O Shamash, the evil that he has done to me.</p> +<p>Help (?), O Shamash, thy net is the broad earth.</p> +<p>Thy trap is the distant heavens.</p> +<p>Who can escape thy net?<a name="FNanchor_1032_1032" id="FNanchor_1032_1032"></a><a href="#Footnote_1032_1032" class="fnanchor">[1032]</a></p> +<p>Zu,<a name="FNanchor_1033_1033" id="FNanchor_1033_1033"></a><a href="#Footnote_1033_1033" class="fnanchor">[1033]</a> the worker of evil, the source of evil [did not escape?<a name="FNanchor_1034_1034" id="FNanchor_1034_1034"></a><a href="#Footnote_1034_1034" class="fnanchor">[1034]</a>].</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Shamash responds to the appeal:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Upon his hearing the lament of the serpent,</p> +<p>Shamash opened his mouth and spoke to the serpent:</p> +<p>Go and ascend the mountain;</p> +<p>The carcass of a wild ox make thy hiding-place.</p> +<p>Open him, tear open his belly.</p> +<p>Make a dwelling place [of his belly].</p> +<p>All the birds of heaven will come down;</p> +<p>The eagle with them will come down.</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p>Upon penetrating to the meat he will hastily proceed,</p> +<p>Making for the hidden parts.<a name="FNanchor_1035_1035" id="FNanchor_1035_1035"></a><a href="#Footnote_1035_1035" class="fnanchor">[1035]</a></p> +<p>As soon as he has reached the inside,<a name="FNanchor_1036_1036" id="FNanchor_1036_1036"></a><a href="#Footnote_1036_1036" class="fnanchor">[1036]</a> seize him by his wing,</p> +<p>Tear out his wing, his feather (?), his pinion,</p> +<p>Tear him to pieces, and throw him into a corner,</p> +<p>To die a death of hunger and thirst.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>This devilish plan is successfully carried out. With considerable +skill the narrative describes how the eagle, suspecting +some mischief, did not join the other birds, but when he saw +that they escaped without harm felt reassured. He tells his +brood:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Come, let us go and let us also pounce down upon the carcass of the wild +ox and eat, we too.</p></div> + +<p>The eagle is again warned by his "very clever" offspring. +The rest of his brood join in the appeal, but</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>He did not hearken to them, and obeyed not the advice of his brood,</p> +<p>He swooped down and stood upon the wild ox.</p> +</div></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_526" id="Page_526">[Pg 526]</a></span> +Still, he is not entirely free from suspicion, and the narrative +continues:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>The eagle inspected the carcass, looking carefully to the front and behind him.</p> +<p>He again inspected the carcass, looking carefully to the front and behind him.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Detecting nothing to justify his suspicions, he digs his beak +into the carcass, but scarcely has he done so when the serpent +seizes hold of him. The eagle cries for mercy, and promises +the serpent a present of whatever he desires. The serpent is +relentless. To release the eagle would be to play false to +Shamash.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>If I release thee ...</p> +<p>Thy punishment will be transferred to me.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Thus the serpent justifies what he is about to do. In accordance +with the instructions of the sun-god, the eagle is stripped +of his wings and feathers, and left to die a miserable death. +In its present form this tale of the eagle and serpent forms +part of the Etana story.<a name="FNanchor_1037_1037" id="FNanchor_1037_1037"></a><a href="#Footnote_1037_1037" class="fnanchor">[1037]</a> Jeremias is right in questioning +whether it originally had anything to do with Etana.<a name="FNanchor_1038_1038" id="FNanchor_1038_1038"></a><a href="#Footnote_1038_1038" class="fnanchor">[1038]</a> Two +distinct stories have been combined, much as in the Gilgamesh +epic several tales have been thrown together. The association +of Etana with the eagle suggests the introduction of the episode +of the eagle's discomfiture. If one may judge of the two episodes +related of Etana, he is not a personage regarded with +favor by the compilers. In both episodes we find him in distress. +His flight with the eagle is regarded as a defiance of +the gods, though more blame attaches to the eagle than to him. +Shamash can hardly have regarded with favor the ambition of +a human being to mount to the dwelling of the gods. Gilgamesh +makes no such attempt, and Parnapishtim is not carried<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_527" id="Page_527">[Pg 527]</a></span> +on high, but to "the confluence of the streams." Gilgamesh, +it will also be recalled, is unable to pass to the nether world +where Eabani is placed, and in the following chapter we will +come across a tale intended to illustrate the impossibility of +any one ever returning from the hollow under the earth where +the dead dwell. The story of Etana appears, therefore, to +emphasize the equal impossibility for any mortal to ascend +to the dwelling of the gods. Etana is deified, but he belongs +permanently to the region where all mortals go after their +career on earth is ended,—the nether world. One gains the +impression, therefore, that Etana is a hero of antiquity who +is not approved of by the Babylonian priests. Similarly, the +conflict between the eagle and the serpent suggests an opposition +to the view which makes the eagle the symbol and messenger +of Shamash. The eagle recalls the winged disc, the +symbol of Ashur,<a name="FNanchor_1039_1039" id="FNanchor_1039_1039"></a><a href="#Footnote_1039_1039" class="fnanchor">[1039]</a> and the eagle occurs also as a standard +among the Hittites,<a name="FNanchor_1040_1040" id="FNanchor_1040_1040"></a><a href="#Footnote_1040_1040" class="fnanchor">[1040]</a> with whom, as we know, the Babylonians +came into contact. The story of Shamash, himself, laying the +trap for the eagle looks like a myth produced with some specific +intent, an illustration of legitimate sun-worship against rival +cults. As a matter of course, in the case of such a myth, it is +difficult to say where its popular character ends and the speculative +or scholastic theory begins. But whatever may have +been the original purport of the tale, for our purposes its significance +consists in the view unfolded of Shamash as the one +who wreaks vengeance on the evil-doer. Shamash appears +in the episode in the rôle of the just judge that characterizes +him in the hymns and incantations. Etana's reliance upon +the eagle leads to disgrace and defeat. In a representation of +the hero's flight on a seal cylinder,<a name="FNanchor_1041_1041" id="FNanchor_1041_1041"></a><a href="#Footnote_1041_1041" class="fnanchor">[1041]</a> the disapproval of the act<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_528" id="Page_528">[Pg 528]</a></span> +is indicated by the addition of two dogs in a crouching position, +their gaze directed towards the bird. The dogs are a symbol +of the solar-god Marduk.<a name="FNanchor_1042_1042" id="FNanchor_1042_1042"></a><a href="#Footnote_1042_1042" class="fnanchor">[1042]</a></p> + + +<h3>The Legend of Dibbarra.</h3> + + +<p>Of more direct religious import is a story recounted in a +series comprising five tablets of the deeds of the war and +plague-god whose name is provisionally read Dibbarra.<a name="FNanchor_1043_1043" id="FNanchor_1043_1043"></a><a href="#Footnote_1043_1043" class="fnanchor">[1043]</a> He is +a solar deity identified in the theological system of the Babylonians +with Nergal, but originally distinct and in all probability +one of the numerous local solar deities of Babylonia like +Nin-girsu and Nin-gishzida, Ishum and others, whose rôles are +absorbed by one or the other of the four great solar +deities,—Shamash, Marduk, Ninib, and Nergal. Nergal representing +the sun of midday and of the summer solstice, which brings in +its wake destruction of various kinds, it was appropriate that +a god who came to be specifically viewed as the god who +causes disease should be regarded as an aspect of the +terrible Nergal. In the legend that we are about to consider, +Dibbarra appears as the god of war. He is designated as the +'warrior.' The name of the god is written ideographically with +a sign that has the meaning of 'servant' and 'man.' To this +sign the phonetic complement <i>ra</i> is added. In view of a passage +in a lexicographical tablet, according to which the name +of the god is designated as the equivalent of the god Gir-ra, +Jensen concluded that the name was to be read Gira, and +Delitzsch<a name="FNanchor_1044_1044" id="FNanchor_1044_1044"></a><a href="#Footnote_1044_1044" class="fnanchor">[1044]</a> is inclined to follow him. A difficulty, however, +arises through the circumstance that the element <i>Gir</i> in the +name Gir-ra is itself an ideograph. In any case, the designation +of the god as a 'servant' shows that he is described here by an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_529" id="Page_529">[Pg 529]</a></span> +epithet,<a name="FNanchor_1045_1045" id="FNanchor_1045_1045"></a><a href="#Footnote_1045_1045" class="fnanchor">[1045]</a> and not by his real name, which is to be sought rather +in the sense of 'strong,' that is one of the meanings of the ideograph +<i>gir</i>. The epithet 'servant' belongs to the period when the +god took his place in the theological system as one of the attendants +of the great Nergal, just as the plague-god is himself accompanied +by a god Ishum, who acts as a kind of messenger or +attendant to him. It should be added that what little evidence +there was for the conventional reading Dibbarra<a name="FNanchor_1046_1046" id="FNanchor_1046_1046"></a><a href="#Footnote_1046_1046" class="fnanchor">[1046]</a> has now been +dispelled, so that but for the desire to avoid useless additions +to the nomenclature of the Babylonian deities, the form Gir-ra +would have been introduced here, as for the present preferable.</p> + +<p>Where the cult of Dibbarra centered we do not know, but +that he presided over a district that must have played a prominent +part at some period of Babylonian history is shown by +the elaborate legend of his deeds for which, as in the case of +Gilgamesh and Etana, we are justified in assuming an historical +background. In fact, the legend of Dibbarra is naught but a +poetic and semi-mythical disguise for severe conflicts waged +against certain Babylonian cities by some rival power that +had its seat likewise in the Euphrates Valley.</p> + +<p>Of the five tablets, but four fragments have as yet been +found in such a condition as to be utilized. The longest of +these contains an address to Dibbarra by his faithful attendant +Ishum, in which the power of the war-god is praised and some +of his deeds recounted.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>[The sons of] Babylon were (as) birds</p> +<p>And thou their falconer.</p> +<p>In a net thou didst catch them, enclose them, and destroy them,</p> +<p>O! Warrior Dibbara,</p> +<p>Leaving the city,<a name="FNanchor_1047_1047" id="FNanchor_1047_1047"></a><a href="#Footnote_1047_1047" class="fnanchor">[1047]</a> thou didst pass to the outside,</p> +<p>Taking on the form of a lion, thou didst enter the palace.</p> +<p>The people saw thee and drew (?) their weapons.</p> +</div></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_530" id="Page_530">[Pg 530]</a></span> +The reference in these lines is to an attack upon the city of +Babylon. The war-god is pictured as striking out in all directions, +imprisoning the inhabitants of Babylon within the city +walls, working havoc outside of the city, and not stopping short +at entering the palace. The metaphor of the war-god taking +on the form of a lion confirms the identification of Dibbarra +with Nergal, who is generally pictured as a lion.</p> + +<p>In the following lines the enemy who makes this attack on +Babylon is introduced. He is designated as a 'governor,' +and Dibbarra is represented as giving him certain instructions +to carry out. The title 'governor' given to this enemy may +be taken as an indication that the epic deals with the rivalry +existing among the states of Babylonia, each represented by its +capital. Ishum continues his address to Dibbarra:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>The heart of the governor, intent upon taking vengeance on Babylon, was enraged,</p> +<p>For capturing the possessions of the enemy, he sends out his army,</p> +<p>Filled with enmity towards the people.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Dibbarra is represented as addressing this governor:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>In the city whither I send thee,</p> +<p>Thou shall fear no one, nor have compassion.</p> +<p>Kill the young and old alike,</p> +<p>The tender suckling likewise—spare no one.</p> +<p>The treasures of Babylon carry off as booty.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Ishum continues his narrative:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>The royal host was gathered together and entered the city.</p> +<p>The bow was strung, the sword unsheathed.</p> +<p>Thou didst blunt<a name="FNanchor_1048_1048" id="FNanchor_1048_1048"></a><a href="#Footnote_1048_1048" class="fnanchor">[1048]</a> (?) the weapons of the soldiers,</p> +<p>The servitors of Anu and Dagan.</p> +<p>Their blood thou caused to flow like torrents of water through the city's highways.</p> +<p>Thou didst tear open their intestines, and cause the stream to carry them off.</p> +</div></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_531" id="Page_531">[Pg 531]</a></span> +Dagan is here used for Bel,<a name="FNanchor_1049_1049" id="FNanchor_1049_1049"></a><a href="#Footnote_1049_1049" class="fnanchor">[1049]</a> and the phrase 'servitors of Anu +and Dagan' embraces the inhabitants of Babylon. Marduk, +the lord of Babylon, is enraged at the sight, but apparently is +powerless.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>The great lord Marduk saw it and cried "Alas!"</p> +<p><span style="margin-left: 1em;">His senses left him.</span></p> +<p>A violent curse issued from his mouth.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>At this point the tablet is defective, and when it again becomes +intelligible we find Ishum describing an attack of Dibbarra +upon another of the great centers of the Euphrates Valley—the +city of Uruk. Uruk is called the 'dwelling of Anu and +Ishtar,' the city of the <i>Kizrêti</i>, <i>Ukhâti</i>, and <i>Kharimâti</i><a name="FNanchor_1050_1050" id="FNanchor_1050_1050"></a><a href="#Footnote_1050_1050" class="fnanchor">[1050]</a>—the +sacred harlots. Uruk suffers the same fate as Babylon:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>A cruel and wicked governor thou didst place over them,</p> +<p>Who brought misery upon them, broke down (?) their laws.</p> +<p>Ishtar was enraged and filled with anger because of Uruk.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Her opposition, however, is as powerless to stem Dibbarra's +attack as was Marduk's grief at the onslaught on Babylon.</p> + +<p>Dibbarra's greed is insatiable. Ishum continues his address +to him:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>O warrior Dibbarra, thou dost dispatch the just,</p> +<p>Thou dost dispatch the unjust,</p> +<p>Who sins against thee, thou dost dispatch,</p> +<p>And the one who does not sin against thee thou dost dispatch.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The following lines reveal the purpose of Ishum's long +speech. A war more terrible even than the conflicts recounted +is planned by Ishum, one that is to involve all creation and +extend to the higher regions. Ishum asks Dibbarra's consent +to the fearful destruction held in view:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>The brightness of Shul-pauddu<a name="FNanchor_1051_1051" id="FNanchor_1051_1051"></a><a href="#Footnote_1051_1051" class="fnanchor">[1051]</a> I will destroy.</p> +<p>The root of the tree I will tear out</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_532" id="Page_532">[Pg 532]</a></span>That it no longer blossom;</p> +<p>Against the dwelling of the king of gods, I will proceed....</p> +<p>The warrior Dibbarra heard him.<a name="FNanchor_1052_1052" id="FNanchor_1052_1052"></a><a href="#Footnote_1052_1052" class="fnanchor">[1052]</a></p> +<p>The speech of Ishum was pleasant to him as fine oil,</p> +<p>And thus the warrior Dibbarra spoke:</p> +<p>Sea-coast [against] sea-coast, Subartu against Subartu, Assyrian against Assyrian,</p> +<p>Elamite against Elamite,</p> +<p>Cassite against Cassite,</p> +<p>Sutaean against Sutaean,</p> +<p>Kuthaean against Kuthaean,</p> +<p>Lullubite against Lullubite,</p> +<p>Country against country, house against house, man against man.</p> +<p>Brother is to show no mercy towards brother; they shall kill one another.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The lines remind one of the description in the Gilgamesh +epic of the terror aroused by the deluge,<a name="FNanchor_1053_1053" id="FNanchor_1053_1053"></a><a href="#Footnote_1053_1053" class="fnanchor">[1053]</a> and one might be +tempted to combine Dibbarra's speech with the preceding +words of Ishum, and interpret this part of the Dibbarra legend +as another phase of the same nature myth, which enters as a +factor in the narrative of the Deluge. However, the continuation +of Dibbarra's speech shows that a great military conflict is +foretold. The countries named are those adjacent to Babylonia, +and the intention of the writer is evidently to imply that the +whole world is to be stirred up. This fearful state of hostility +is to continue until</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>After a time the Akkadian will come,</p> +<p>Overthrow all and conquer all of them.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Akkad, it will be recalled, is a name for Babylonia. The triumph +of Babylon is foretold in these lines. The Akkadian is, +therefore, none other than Hammurabi, who succeeds in obtaining +the supremacy over the entire Euphrates Valley, and whose +successors for many centuries claimed control of the four quarters +of the world.</p> + +<p>It is evident from this 'prophecy' that the Dibbarra legend +received its final shape under influences emanating from Babylon, +precisely as we found to be the case in the 'creation' story<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_533" id="Page_533">[Pg 533]</a></span> +and in the Gilgamesh epic. The hostility that precedes the +coming of Hammurabi points to the violence of the conflicts in +which that warrior was engaged, while the exaggeration of this +hostility shows how strong and permanent the impression of +Hammurabi's achievements must have been. The designation +of the conqueror as the Akkadian gives him to a certain extent +the character of a Messiah, who is to inaugurate an era of +peace, and whose coming will appease the grim Dibbarra. It +is by no means impossible that Hebrew and Christian conceptions +of a general warfare which is to precede the golden +age of peace are influenced by the Babylonian legend under +consideration.</p> + +<p>Dibbarra gives his consent to Ishum's plan:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Go, Ishum, carry out the word thou hast spoken in accordance with thy desire.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Ishum proceeds to do so. The mountain Khi-khi is the first +to be attacked.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Ishum directed his countenance to the mountain Khi-khi.</p> +<p>The god Sibi,<a name="FNanchor_1054_1054" id="FNanchor_1054_1054"></a><a href="#Footnote_1054_1054" class="fnanchor">[1054]</a> a warrior without rival,</p> +<p>Stormed behind him.</p> +<p>The warrior<a name="FNanchor_1055_1055" id="FNanchor_1055_1055"></a><a href="#Footnote_1055_1055" class="fnanchor">[1055]</a> arrived at the mountain Khi-khi.</p> +<p>He raised his hand, destroyed the mountain.</p> +<p>He levelled the mountain Khi-khi to the ground.</p> +<p>The vineyards in the forest of Khashur he destroyed.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>In a geographical list<a name="FNanchor_1056_1056" id="FNanchor_1056_1056"></a><a href="#Footnote_1056_1056" class="fnanchor">[1056]</a> a mountain Khi-khi, belonging to the +Amoritic country, is mentioned, and a mountain Khashur described +as a cedar district. There can be, therefore, no doubt +that some military expedition to western lands is recounted in +our tablet. The continuation of the narrative is lost, all but a +small fragment,<a name="FNanchor_1057_1057" id="FNanchor_1057_1057"></a><a href="#Footnote_1057_1057" class="fnanchor">[1057]</a> which tells of the destruction of a city—otherwise +unknown—called Inmarmaru. At the instigation<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_534" id="Page_534">[Pg 534]</a></span> +of Dibbarra, Ishum enters this city and destroys it. The outrages +committed are described at some length. Ea, the god of +humanity, hears of the havoc wrought. He is 'filled with +wrath.' Unfortunately, the fragment is too mutilated to permit +us to ascertain what steps Ea takes against Dibbarra. +Marduk is also mentioned in this connection. Under the circumstances, +one can only conjecture that in the missing portions +of this tablet, and perhaps also in two others, the wars +preceding the advent of the Akkadian<a name="FNanchor_1058_1058" id="FNanchor_1058_1058"></a><a href="#Footnote_1058_1058" class="fnanchor">[1058]</a> are recounted in poetic +and semi-mythical form. If this conjecture is justified, the +main purport at least of the Dibbarra legend becomes clear. +It is a collection of war-songs recalling the Hebrew anthology, +"Battles of Yahwe,"<a name="FNanchor_1059_1059" id="FNanchor_1059_1059"></a><a href="#Footnote_1059_1059" class="fnanchor">[1059]</a> in which the military exploits of the +Hebrews were poetically set forth.</p> + +<p>The closing tablet of the Dibbarra legend is preserved,<a name="FNanchor_1060_1060" id="FNanchor_1060_1060"></a><a href="#Footnote_1060_1060" class="fnanchor">[1060]</a> +though only in part. It describes the appeasement of the +dreadful war-god. All the gods, together with the Igigi and +Anunnaki, are gathered around Dibbarra, who addresses them:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Listen all of you to my words.</p> +<p>Because of sin did I formerly plan evil,</p> +<p>My heart was enraged and I swept peoples away.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>He tells how he destroyed the flocks and devastated the fruits +in the fields, how he swept over the lands, punishing the just +and the wicked alike, and sparing no one. Ishum takes up the +strain and urges Dibbarra to desist from his wrath:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Do thou appease the gods of the land, who were angry,</p> +<p>May fruits (?) and corn<a name="FNanchor_1061_1061" id="FNanchor_1061_1061"></a><a href="#Footnote_1061_1061" class="fnanchor">[1061]</a> flourish,</p> +<p>May mountains and seas bring their produce.</p> +</div></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_535" id="Page_535">[Pg 535]</a></span> +The era of peace and prosperity is thus inaugurated, and the +legend closes with solemn assurances from Dibbarra that he +will bless and protect those who properly honor him.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>He who glorifies my name will rule the world.</p> +<p>Who proclaims the glory of my power</p> +<p>Will be without a rival.</p> +<p>The singer who sings [of my deeds] will not die through pestilence.</p> +<p>To kings and nobles his words will be pleasing.</p> +<p>The writer who preserves them will escape from the grasp of the enemy.</p> +<p>In the temple where the people proclaim my name</p> +<p>I will open his ear;<a name="FNanchor_1062_1062" id="FNanchor_1062_1062"></a><a href="#Footnote_1062_1062" class="fnanchor">[1062]</a></p> +<p>In the house where this tablet is set up, though war<a name="FNanchor_1063_1063" id="FNanchor_1063_1063"></a><a href="#Footnote_1063_1063" class="fnanchor">[1063]</a> may rage,</p> +<p>And god Sibi work havoc,</p> +<p>Sword and pestilence will not touch him—he will dwell in safety.</p> +<p>Let this song resound forever and endure for eternity.</p> +<p>Let all lands hear it and proclaim my power.</p> +<p>Let the inhabitants of all places learn to glorify my name.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>This closing address represents a late addition to the poem +that somewhat modifies its original import. Wars did not +cease with the establishment of Babylon's control. Many conflicts +arose, but on the whole, Babylonia was an empire of +peace. The people were inclined towards a life of ease, and +the development of commerce served as a wholesome check +against too frequent military disturbances. The war-songs, as +a glorification of the nation's past, retained their popularity, +but the lesson drawn from the songs was the great blessing +that peace and freedom from turmoil brought with them. For +the warlike Assyrians, Dibbarra enraged may have been a more +popular figure, but to the peace-loving Babylonian, the appeased +Dibbarra appealed with greater force. The story of Dibbarra's +deeds became in this way in the course of time an object +lesson, a kind of religious allegory handed down from one generation +to the other as an illustration of the horrors of war and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_536" id="Page_536">[Pg 536]</a></span> +of violence in general. With the tendency—so characteristic +of the Babylonian religion<a name="FNanchor_1064_1064" id="FNanchor_1064_1064"></a><a href="#Footnote_1064_1064" class="fnanchor">[1064]</a>—for great gods to absorb the rôles +of minor ones, Nergal became the god of war <i>par excellence</i>, +while Dibbarra, Ishum, and Sibi were chiefly viewed as powers +responsible for such forms of violence as pestilence and distress. +To ensure the favor of a god of pestilence was of +importance for every individual, and one of the safest means +of obtaining this favor was to sing his praises, to recall his +power,—to glorify him and thus to keep him, as it were, in good +humor. What better means of accomplishing this than to have +the record of his deeds constantly before one's eyes? The +British Museum contains two specimens of tablets on which a +portion of the Dibbarra legend is inscribed, and which are +pierced with holes in a manner as to leave no doubt<a name="FNanchor_1065_1065" id="FNanchor_1065_1065"></a><a href="#Footnote_1065_1065" class="fnanchor">[1065]</a> that the +tablets were intended to be hung up in houses with a view of +securing protection from Dibbarra and his associates. The +reference in the closing lines of the story:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>The house where this tablet is set up,</p> +</div></div> + +<p>thus becomes clear. As the Hebrews were commanded, in +order to secure the protection of Yahwe, to write his law</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>On the doorposts of the house,<a name="FNanchor_1066_1066" id="FNanchor_1066_1066"></a><a href="#Footnote_1066_1066" class="fnanchor">[1066]</a></p> +</div></div> + +<p>so the Babylonians were instructed by their priests to hang +tablets in their homes—probably at the entrance—on which +Dibbarra was glorified. Naturally, it was impossible to inscribe +the whole story on a little tablet, just as it was impossible to +place the entire law of Yahwe on the doorposts. In both cases +a significant extract served as a part, representative of the +whole. In the case of the Dibbarra legend, the closing portion +was selected, which emphasized the necessity of keeping the +deeds of Dibbarra and the greatness of his power in mind. +Like the Gilgamesh epic, so the Dibbarra legend was to be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_537" id="Page_537">[Pg 537]</a></span> +taught by the father to his son. The scribes were enjoined to +teach the story to the people. The poets were to make it the +subject of their songs, and kings and nobles were not exempt +from the obligation to listen to the tale.</p> + + +<h3>The Myth of the Storm-God Zu.</h3> + + +<p>Birds and bulls were to the Babylonians the symbols of +storms and clouds. In the Gilgamesh epic, it will be recalled, +Anu sends a divine bull to engage in a contest with Gilgamesh.<a name="FNanchor_1067_1067" id="FNanchor_1067_1067"></a><a href="#Footnote_1067_1067" class="fnanchor">[1067]</a> +The text of the epic being unfortunately defective, we have no +definite indication of the character of the attack to be made +upon the hero by the messenger from the god of heaven; but +since storms and disease are the two chief weapons in the +hands of the gods, and inasmuch as Gilgamesh in a later section +of the epic is struck down by disease, it is more than +likely that the bull represents a storm that is to sweep the hero +and his companion off the earth. The winged bulls placed at +the entrance of palaces embody the same idea, and in addition +to the explanation for these fantastic figures above<a name="FNanchor_1068_1068" id="FNanchor_1068_1068"></a><a href="#Footnote_1068_1068" class="fnanchor">[1068]</a> suggested, +it is noteworthy that the two types of animals chosen for this +symbolical decoration of edifices, the bull and the lion, again +illustrate the same two means at the disposal of the gods for +the punishment of man, the bull representing the storms, and +the lion being the symbol of Nergal, who is the god of pestilence, +as well as of war and of violent destruction in general.</p> + +<p>A storm-god symbolized under the form of a bird is Zu. The +underlying stem of the word conveys the notion of strength +and violence. How bulls came to be chosen as symbols of +storms is not altogether clear. Possibly the element of "strength" +formed the connecting link in the chain of the association of +ideas. In the case of birds, on the other hand, the association +is to be sought in the appearance of the clouds during a storm<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_538" id="Page_538">[Pg 538]</a></span> +moving across the heavens like a flock of birds. In the Etana +legend, a reference occurs to Zu, who, as it would appear, is unable +to escape from the control of the supreme judge Shamash.<a name="FNanchor_1069_1069" id="FNanchor_1069_1069"></a><a href="#Footnote_1069_1069" class="fnanchor">[1069]</a> +Zu is there called the chief worker of evil—a kind of arch satan. +A story has been found which illustrates an attempt made by +the bird Zu to break loose from the control of the sun. A +storm was viewed as a conflict between the clouds and the sun, +much as an eclipse symbolized a revolt in the heavens. The +myth represents the conflict as taking place between Zu and +En-lil, the Bel of Nippur. The latter holds in his possession +the tablets of fate, by means of which he enjoys supreme +authority over men and gods. Zu's jealousy is aroused, and he +plans to tear these tablets from En-lil. The tablets of fate, it +will be recalled, play an important part in the Marduk-Tiâmat +episode.<a name="FNanchor_1070_1070" id="FNanchor_1070_1070"></a><a href="#Footnote_1070_1070" class="fnanchor">[1070]</a> Kingu—the symbol of chaos, like Tiâmat—wears +them on his breast, but he is obliged to yield them to the conqueror +of Tiâmat and of her brood, who replaces 'chaos' by +'order.' This conqueror was originally Bel of Nippur, and +the Zu myth in representing En-lil as holding the tablets of fate +confirms the view above set forth,<a name="FNanchor_1071_1071" id="FNanchor_1071_1071"></a><a href="#Footnote_1071_1071" class="fnanchor">[1071]</a> according to which the +original Tiâmat tale has been modified by the substitution of +Marduk for the old Bel. But the story, while thus admitting +the legitimacy of En-lil's claim to supreme power, is yet so constructed +as to contribute to the glory of Marduk. The attack +of the Zu-bird was suggested—as the Tiâmat myth—by the +annual storms that work such havoc in Babylonia. The forces +of 'chaos' are let loose, and an attempt is made to overthrow +the 'order' of the world, symbolized by the tablets of fate +which En-lil holds in his possession. Whoever has these +tablets is invincible. But En-lil is unable to resist the attack +of Zu. The tablets are taken away from him, and it is left for +Marduk to recapture them. The tablets once in Marduk's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_539" id="Page_539">[Pg 539]</a></span> +possession, En-lil's supremacy comes to an end, and the triumph +of Marduk is complete. To substantiate this interpretation +of the myth, an analysis of the text is necessary. The +beginning of the story is unfortunately missing. It appears +to have been devoted to a glorification of the god who controls +the fate of the universe. The second column opens as follows:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>And the oracles of all the gods he determined.</p></div> + +<p>From the context it is clear that Bel of Nippur is meant. Up +to this point, the myth reflects the old view according to which +it was En-lil who succeeded in overcoming Tiâmat or at any +rate, in snatching the tablets of fate from the breast of Kingu. +Nippur's god lays claim to being the one who established 'order' +in the universe. His authority could only be threatened if he +were robbed of the tablets which symbolize absolute control +over the course of affairs. Zu boldly attempts this:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>His eyes saw the mark of rulership,</p> +<p>The crown of his<a name="FNanchor_1072_1072" id="FNanchor_1072_1072"></a><a href="#Footnote_1072_1072" class="fnanchor">[1072]</a> sovereignty, the garment of his<a href="#Footnote_1072_1072" class="fnanchor">[1072]</a> divinity.</p> +<p>Zu saw the divine tablets of fate.</p> +<p>He looked at the father of the gods, the god of Dur-an-ki,<a name="FNanchor_1073_1073" id="FNanchor_1073_1073"></a><a href="#Footnote_1073_1073" class="fnanchor">[1073]</a></p> +<p>Desire for rulership seizes hold of his heart.<a name="FNanchor_1074_1074" id="FNanchor_1074_1074"></a><a href="#Footnote_1074_1074" class="fnanchor">[1074]</a></p> +<p>'I will take the tablets of the gods</p> +<p>And decree the decisions [of all the gods.]</p> +<p>I will establish my throne, I will proclaim laws.</p> +<p>I will give all orders to all the Igigi.'</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Zu proceeds to the dwelling-place of En-lil and waits for a +favorable moment to make an attack.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>His heart was bent on the contest.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_540" id="Page_540">[Pg 540]</a></span>With his gaze directed toward the entrance of the dwelling,<a name="FNanchor_1075_1075" id="FNanchor_1075_1075"></a><a href="#Footnote_1075_1075" class="fnanchor">[1075]</a> he awaits for the beginning of day.</p> +<p>As En-lil poured forth the brilliant waters,</p> +<p>Took his seat on his throne and put on his crown,</p> +<p>He<a name="FNanchor_1076_1076" id="FNanchor_1076_1076"></a><a href="#Footnote_1076_1076" class="fnanchor">[1076]</a> snatched the tablets of fate out of his hands,</p> +<p>Seized the authority—the promulgation of laws.</p> +<p>Thereupon Zu flew off and hid himself in his mountain.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>On seal cylinders a god is frequently pictured pouring forth +streams of water from jars placed on his shoulders. This is +generally the sun-god, but the symbol also seems to belong to +other deities<a name="FNanchor_1077_1077" id="FNanchor_1077_1077"></a><a href="#Footnote_1077_1077" class="fnanchor">[1077]</a> and is appropriate to Bel of Nippur, who as the +god of the atmosphere above the earth, controls the upper waters. +As long as these are poured out by him, they are beneficent; +but once beyond his control, the blessing of rain is turned +into the curse of a deluge and storm, flooding the fields and +sweeping away the habitations of men. This misfortune happens +when Zu robs En-lil of the tablets by means of which law +and order are established. En-lil is powerless. The bold act +of Zu causes consternation among the gods. Anu calls upon +some one to pursue Zu and capture him. The bird dwells in +an inaccessible recess in the mountains, and the gods are afraid +to approach his nest. The scene that ensues reminds us of the +episode of the creation epic, where Anshar calls upon Anu, Bel, +and Ea in turn to subdue Tiâmat.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Anu opens his mouth and speaks,</p> +<p>Addressing the gods his children:</p> +<p>'Who will force Zu to submit</p> +<p>And thus make his name great among the inhabitants of the whole world?'</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Ramman the storm-god <i>par excellence</i> is first called upon by +the assembled gods:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>'Ramman the chief,' they cried, 'the son of Anu.'</p> +<p>Anu communicated to him<a name="FNanchor_1078_1078" id="FNanchor_1078_1078"></a><a href="#Footnote_1078_1078" class="fnanchor">[1078]</a> the order.<a name="FNanchor_1079_1079" id="FNanchor_1079_1079"></a><a href="#Footnote_1079_1079" class="fnanchor">[1079]</a></p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_541" id="Page_541">[Pg 541]</a></span>'Go, my son Ramman, conqueror who yields to no one,</p> +<p>Subdue Zu with thy weapon,<a name="FNanchor_1080_1080" id="FNanchor_1080_1080"></a><a href="#Footnote_1080_1080" class="fnanchor">[1080]</a></p> +<p>That thy name be glorified in the assembly of the great gods.</p> +<p>Thou shall be without a rival among the gods thy brothers.'</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Anu furthermore promises Ramman that if he triumphs, lofty +shrines will be erected in his honor in many cities.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>'Temples will be built in thy honor,</p> +<p>In all quarters of the world thy cities<a name="FNanchor_1081_1081" id="FNanchor_1081_1081"></a><a href="#Footnote_1081_1081" class="fnanchor">[1081]</a> will be situated,</p> +<p>Thy cities<a name="FNanchor_1082_1082" id="FNanchor_1082_1082"></a><a href="#Footnote_1082_1082" class="fnanchor">[1082]</a> will reach up to Ekur.<a name="FNanchor_1083_1083" id="FNanchor_1083_1083"></a><a href="#Footnote_1083_1083" class="fnanchor">[1083]</a></p> +<p>Show thyself strong among the gods, so that thy name be powerful.'</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Ramman, however, is afraid of the contest.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Ramman answered the speech,</p> +<p>Addressing his father Anu:</p> +<p>'My father, who can proceed to the inaccessible mountain?</p> +<p>Who is there like Zu among the gods, thy children?'</p> +</div></div> + +<p>He furthermore pleads that Zu, who has the tablets of fate in +his hands, is invincible. He has the power to decree the fates +of the gods, and all must bow to his will. At this point, unfortunately, +the text becomes defective. Anu calls upon two +other gods to take up the contest with Zu. The name of one +of these is altogether lost; the second is called Bar,<a name="FNanchor_1084_1084" id="FNanchor_1084_1084"></a><a href="#Footnote_1084_1084" class="fnanchor">[1084]</a> and is +designated as an offspring of Ishtar. Both these deities decline, +answering Anu in precisely the same manner as Ramman. +What finally happens we are left to conjecture. Harper<a name="FNanchor_1085_1085" id="FNanchor_1085_1085"></a><a href="#Footnote_1085_1085" class="fnanchor">[1085]</a> supposes +that Shamash is finally called upon by Anu and accepts +the challenge. He bases this opinion upon the passage in the +Dibbarra legend<a name="FNanchor_1086_1086" id="FNanchor_1086_1086"></a><a href="#Footnote_1086_1086" class="fnanchor">[1086]</a> where the serpent, appealing to Shamash, +extols the sun-god's power by declaring that even Zu could +not escape the net of Shamash. There are, however, grave +objections to this view. In the first place, the passage in question<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_542" id="Page_542">[Pg 542]</a></span> +occurs in a defective part of the text, and Harper himself<a name="FNanchor_1087_1087" id="FNanchor_1087_1087"></a><a href="#Footnote_1087_1087" class="fnanchor">[1087]</a> +is not certain of the restoration that he proposes.<a name="FNanchor_1088_1088" id="FNanchor_1088_1088"></a><a href="#Footnote_1088_1088" class="fnanchor">[1088]</a> Secondly, +if Shamash conquers Zu, we should expect the sun-god to have +the tablets of fate in his possession. Such, however, is not the +case, and the only god besides En-lil who is represented in the +religious literature of the Babylonians as holding the tablets is +Marduk. Moreover, in a hymn to Marduk, which Harper himself +quotes,<a name="FNanchor_1089_1089" id="FNanchor_1089_1089"></a><a href="#Footnote_1089_1089" class="fnanchor">[1089]</a> the bird Zu is referred to as among the evil forces +captured by Marduk. In view of this, there seems no reason +to question that, in the present form of the Zu myth, Marduk +was introduced as the hero, precisely as, in the present form of +the Tiâmat episode, Marduk successfully carries out a deed +from which the other gods shrink in fear. The theological +purport of the myth thus becomes clear. It is to account for +the fact that Marduk holds the tablets which were originally +in the hands of En-lil. Marduk supplants the old Bel. In +the Tiâmat episode his name is substituted for that of En-lil, +and the latter is represented as giving his consent to the transfer +of his name to the god of Babylon. In the Zu myth, En-lil's +claim to the supreme control of the laws and fate of the universe +is freely acknowledged, but, En-lil being unable to resist +the attack of Zu, it was left for Marduk to capture the bird and +thus acquire by his own efforts what the old Bel had lost +through lack of strength. Babylon replaces Nippur as the +center of power in the Euphrates Valley, and the god of Babylon, +naturally, was imbued by his worshippers with prerogatives +that originally belonged to the rival god of Nippur.<a name="FNanchor_1090_1090" id="FNanchor_1090_1090"></a><a href="#Footnote_1090_1090" class="fnanchor">[1090]</a></p> + +<p>If this view is correct, Harper's interpretation must be abandoned.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_543" id="Page_543">[Pg 543]</a></span> +The Zu myth does not represent, as he supposes, an +attack upon Marduk as the symbol of the early morning sun, +but upon En-lil, the Bel of Nippur, as the one who, by virtue of +having the tablets of fate in his possession, controls the laws of +the universe and fixes the fate of the gods and of mankind. +The annual rain-storm passing apparently beyond the control +of the gods is viewed as a revolt against En-lil's authority. It +is left for Marduk to reëstablish order, and in return, he retains +control of the precious tablets. That the conception of Marduk +as a solar deity constitutes a factor in the myth is not, of course, +to be denied, precisely as in the Tiâmat myth, the solar character +of Marduk plays an important part. The sun triumphs +over the storms. Rain and wind are obliged at last to yield +their authority to the former. But for the theologians of Babylon, +the position of Marduk as the head of the pantheon was a +much more important factor. The myth served to show how +Marduk came to supplant the rôle of the old Bel of Nippur.</p> + +<p>Viewed in this light, the Zu myth appears in more senses +than one as a pendant to the Marduk-Tiâmat episode. Not +only do both symbolize the same natural phenomenon, but in +both, Bel of Nippur was originally the central figure of the pantheon, +and in both Marduk replaces Bel. The Zu myth is +made to account in a somewhat more respectful, conciliatory +manner for the position of Marduk as the head of the pantheon. +Instead of setting aside En-lil altogether, as was done by the +compilers of the Tiâmat myth, Marduk conquers for himself +the supremacy that his followers claimed for him. The contradictions +between the two myths need not disturb us. As +variant versions of a tale intended to account for one and the +same fact,—the supremacy of Marduk,—they may well have +arisen even in the same place. Such inconsistencies as the +assumption, in the Zu version of the nature myth, that En-lil is +the original establisher of order in the world, as against the +Tiâmat version where Marduk snatches the tablets of fate<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_544" id="Page_544">[Pg 544]</a></span> +directly from Kingu, are inevitable when stories that arose +among the people are taken in hand by theologians and modified +and adapted to serve doctrines developed under scholastic +influences.</p> + + +<h3>The Adapa Legend.</h3> + +<p>The myths and legends that we have so far considered—including +the creation and Gilgamesh epics—will have illustrated +two important points: firstly, the manner in which +historical occurrences were clothed in mythical form and interwoven +with purely legendary tales, and, secondly, the way in +which nature myths were treated to teach certain doctrines. +The story of Gilgamesh is an illustration of the hopelessness of +a mortal's attempt to secure the kind of immortal life which is +the prerogative of the gods. Popular tales, illustrative of the +climatic conditions of Babylonia, serve as a means of unfolding +a doctrine of evolution and of impressing upon the people a +theological system of beliefs regarding the relationship of the +gods to one another. A collection of war-songs is given a semi-mythical +form, and the original purport of the collection is +modified to serve as a talisman against misfortunes. In the +case of these legends it is necessary and, as we have seen, also +possible to distinguish between their original and present form +and to separate the story, as in the case of the Gilgamesh epic, +into its component parts.</p> + +<p>The legend that we are about to consider proves that this +process of the adaptation of popular myths begins at a very +early period. The text was found on the cuneiform tablets discovered +at El-Amarna in Egypt.<a name="FNanchor_1091_1091" id="FNanchor_1091_1091"></a><a href="#Footnote_1091_1091" class="fnanchor">[1091]</a> Since the El-Amarna tablets +date from the fifteenth century <span class="smcap">B.C</span>., we have a proof of the +compilation of the legend in question at this date. The legend +is again suggested by the storms which visited Babylonia, but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_545" id="Page_545">[Pg 545]</a></span> +instead of a pure nature-myth, we have a tale which concerns +the relationship between the gods and mankind. In its present +form, it is an object lesson dealing with the same problem that +we came across in the Gilgamesh epic and that we will meet +again in another form,—the problem of immortality.</p> + +<p>The beginning of the story, as in the case of the Zu myth, is +missing, but we are in a position to restore at least the general +context. A fisherman, Adapa, is engaged in plying his trade +when a storm arises. Adapa is designated as the son of Ea. +The place where he is fishing is spoken of as 'the sea.' The +Persian Gulf is meant, and this body of water (as the beginning +of the great Okeanos) being sacred to Ea,<a name="FNanchor_1092_1092" id="FNanchor_1092_1092"></a><a href="#Footnote_1092_1092" class="fnanchor">[1092]</a> the description +of Adapa as the son of Ea is a way of conveying the idea that, +like Parnapishtim, he stands under the protection of Ea. The +story, like most legends, assumes a period of close intercourse +between gods and men, a time when the relationship involved +in being 'a son of a god' had a literal force which was lost to a +more advanced generation. Adapa, accordingly, is portrayed +as fishing for the 'house of his lord,' <i>i.e.</i>, for Ea. When the +storm breaks loose the fisherman, though a mortal, subdues the +fierce element. The storm comes from the south, the direction +from which the most destructive winds came to Babylonia. The +south wind is pictured, as in the Zu myth, under the form of a +bird. The wind sweeps Adapa into the waters, but, since this +element is controlled by Adapa's father,—the god Ea,—Adapa +succeeds in mastering the south wind, and, as we learn from +the course of the narrative, in breaking the wings of the storm-bird. +When the tablet becomes intelligible we find Adapa +engaged in this contest with the south wind.<a name="FNanchor_1093_1093" id="FNanchor_1093_1093"></a><a href="#Footnote_1093_1093" class="fnanchor">[1093]</a></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>The south wind blew and drove him<a name="FNanchor_1094_1094" id="FNanchor_1094_1094"></a><a href="#Footnote_1094_1094" class="fnanchor">[1094]</a> under the water. Into the dwelling-place<a name="FNanchor_1095_1095" id="FNanchor_1095_1095"></a><a href="#Footnote_1095_1095" class="fnanchor">[1095]</a> +[of the fish] it engulfs him. 'O south wind, thou hast overwhelmed +me with thy cruelty (?). Thy wings I will break.'</p></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_546" id="Page_546">[Pg 546]</a></span> +Adapa's threat is carried out.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Even as he spoke the wings of the south wind were broken. For seven +days the south wind did not blow across the land.</p></div> + +<p>Seven is to be interpreted as a round number, as in the +Deluge story, and indicates a rather long, though indefinite, +period. Anu, the god of heaven, is astonished at this long-continued +disappearance of the south wind, and asks a messenger +of his, who is called the god Ilabrat, for the cause. Anu +inquires:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Why has the south wind not blown for seven days across the land?" +His messenger Ilabrat answered him: "My lord! Adapa, the son of Ea, +has broken the wings of the south wind."</p></div> + +<p>Of this god Ilabrat nothing is known. The interpretation of +his name is doubtful.<a name="FNanchor_1096_1096" id="FNanchor_1096_1096"></a><a href="#Footnote_1096_1096" class="fnanchor">[1096]</a> He probably is one of the numerous +local gods who was absorbed by some more powerful one and +who thus came to have a position of inferior rank in the +pantheon.</p> + +<p>Anu, upon hearing the news, is enraged, and cries for 'help' +against an interference in his domain. He denounces Adapa +in solemn assembly, and demands his presence of Ea, in whose +domain Adapa has taken refuge. The text at this point is +defective, but one can gather that Ea, who constitutes himself +Adapa's protector, warns the latter, as he warned Parnapishtim. +He advises him to present himself at the throne of Anu for +trial, and to secure the intervention of two gods, Tammuz and +Gishzida, who are stationed at the gate of heaven, Anu's +dwelling-place. To accomplish this, Adapa is to clothe himself +in garments of mourning, and when the doorkeepers ask him +the reason for his mourning, he is to answer:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>... Two gods have disappeared from our earth, therefore do I appear +thus.</p></div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_547" id="Page_547">[Pg 547]</a></span></p> + +<p>And when he is asked:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Who are the two gods who have disappeared from the earth?"</p> + +<p>Tammuz and Gishzida will look at one another; they will sigh and +speak a favorable word before Anu, and the glorious countenance of Anu +they will show thee.</p></div> + +<p>Tammuz and Gishzida will know that they are meant. The +mourning of Adapa will be regarded as a sign of reverence for +the two gods, whose sympathy and good-will will thus be +secured.</p> + +<p>The introduction of Tammuz and Gishzida introduces a +widely spread nature-myth into the story. Gishzida is identical +with Nin-gishzida, a solar deity whom we came across in the +old Babylonian pantheon.<a name="FNanchor_1097_1097" id="FNanchor_1097_1097"></a><a href="#Footnote_1097_1097" class="fnanchor">[1097]</a> Tammuz similarly is a solar deity. +Both represent local solar cults. At a later period, Nin-gishzida +is entirely absorbed by Ninib, but the Adapa legend affords us +a glimpse of the god still occupying an independent, though already +inferior, position. The Babylonian calendar<a name="FNanchor_1098_1098" id="FNanchor_1098_1098"></a><a href="#Footnote_1098_1098" class="fnanchor">[1098]</a> designates +the fifth month as sacred to Gishzida, while the fourth month is +named for Tammuz. The two deities, therefore, take their +place in the systematized pantheon as symbolical of the phases +of the sun peculiar to its approach to the summer solstice. +The disappearance of the two gods signifies the decline of the +year after the summer solstice. Of Tammuz, the popular myth +related that it was Ishtar,<a name="FNanchor_1099_1099" id="FNanchor_1099_1099"></a><a href="#Footnote_1099_1099" class="fnanchor">[1099]</a> represented as his consort, who carried +him off. Since the disappearance of Gishzida embodies +precisely the same idea as that of Tammuz, it was natural that +the story should in time have been told only of the one. The +annual mourning for Tammuz was maintained in Babylonia to +a very late period. The Adapa legend shows us that at one +time the festival was celebrated in honor of the two related +deities. The Tammuz festival was celebrated just before the +summer solstice set in, so that the mourning was followed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_548" id="Page_548">[Pg 548]</a></span> +immediately by rejoicing at the reappearance of the god whose +coming heralded the culmination of vegetation.</p> + +<p>The destructive storms take place during the winter, when +Tammuz and Gishzida have disappeared. Adapa's mourning +is thus an indication of the season of the year when his encounter +with the south wind took place. Since Adapa succeeds in +overcoming the destructive wind, the wintry season has passed +by. Summer is approaching. The time for celebrating both +the fast and the festival of the two solar deities has arrived. +Tammuz and Gishzida, the gods of spring, accordingly stand +at Adapa's side, ready to plead his cause before Anu. So +much being clear, we may advance a step further in the interpretation +of the legend. By the side of Tammuz and Gishzida, +there is still a third solar deity who belongs to the spring of +the year,—Marduk, who, by virtue of his later position as the +head of the pantheon, sets aside his two fellows and becomes +the solar god of spring <i>par excellence</i>. Marduk, it will be +recalled, is commonly designated as the son of Ea,<a name="FNanchor_1100_1100" id="FNanchor_1100_1100"></a><a href="#Footnote_1100_1100" class="fnanchor">[1100]</a> and we +have seen that, apart from political considerations, the sun +rising out of the ocean—the domain of Ea—was a factor in +this association. Adapa dwells at the sea, and is forced into +the ocean by the south wind, in the same way that the sun dips +into the great 'Okeanos' every evening. The identification of +Adapa with Marduk<a name="FNanchor_1101_1101" id="FNanchor_1101_1101"></a><a href="#Footnote_1101_1101" class="fnanchor">[1101]</a> thus becomes apparent, and as a matter +of fact the Babylonian scribes of later times<a name="FNanchor_1102_1102" id="FNanchor_1102_1102"></a><a href="#Footnote_1102_1102" class="fnanchor">[1102]</a> accepted this +identification.</p> + +<p>The basis of the Adapa legend is, therefore, the nature-myth +of the annual fight of the sun with the violent elements of +nature. At the same time, other ideas have been introduced +into it, and Adapa himself, while playing the rôle of Marduk, is +yet not entirely confounded with this god. His name is never<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_549" id="Page_549">[Pg 549]</a></span> +written with the determinative for deity. Moreover, the nature-myth +is soon lost sight of, in order to make room for an entirely +different order of ideas. The real purport of the legend in its +present form is foreshadowed by the further advice that Ea +offers to Adapa:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>When thou comest before Anu they will offer thee food of death. Do +not eat. They will offer thee waters of death. Do not drink. They will +offer thee a garment. Put it on. They will offer thee oil. Anoint thyself. +The order that I give thee do not neglect. The word that I speak to +thee take to heart. The messenger of Anu approached.<a name="FNanchor_1103_1103" id="FNanchor_1103_1103"></a><a href="#Footnote_1103_1103" class="fnanchor">[1103]</a> 'Adapa has +broken the wings of the south wind. Deliver him into my hands....'</p></div> + +<p>Ea obeys the order, delivers up Adapa, and everything happens +as was foretold.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Upon mounting to heaven and on his approach to the gate of Anu, +Tammuz and Gishzida were stationed at the gate of Anu. They saw Adapa +and cried 'Help,<a name="FNanchor_1104_1104" id="FNanchor_1104_1104"></a><a href="#Footnote_1104_1104" class="fnanchor">[1104]</a> Lord! Why art thou thus attired? For whom hast thou +put on mourning?'<a name="FNanchor_1105_1105" id="FNanchor_1105_1105"></a><a href="#Footnote_1105_1105" class="fnanchor">[1105]</a></p></div> + +<p>Adapa replies:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'Two gods have disappeared from the earth, therefore do I wear a +mourning garment.'</p> + +<p>'Who are the two gods who have disappeared from the earth?'</p> + +<p>Tammuz and Gishzida looked at one another, broke out in lament. +'O Adapa! Step before King Anu.' As he approached, Anu saw him and +cried out to him:</p> + +<p>'Come, Adapa, why hast thou broken the wings of the south wind?'</p> + +<p>Adapa answered Anu: 'My lord! For the house of my lord<a name="FNanchor_1106_1106" id="FNanchor_1106_1106"></a><a href="#Footnote_1106_1106" class="fnanchor">[1106]</a> I was +fishing in the midst of the sea. The waters lay still around me, when the +south wind began to blow and forced me underneath. Into the dwelling of +the fish it drove me. In the anger of my heart [I broke the wings of the +south wind].'</p></div> + +<p>Tammuz and Gishzida thereupon intercede with Anu on +behalf of Adapa, and succeed in appeasing the god's wrath. If<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_550" id="Page_550">[Pg 550]</a></span> +the story ended here, we would have a pure nature-myth—the +same myth in a different form that we encountered in the Creation +epic, in the Deluge story, and in the Zu legend. Adapa +would be merely a designation of Marduk and nothing more. +The sun triumphs over the storms, and the only objectionable +feature in the tale—to a Babylonian—would be the degradation +involved in obliging Marduk to secure the intercession +of other gods. But this feature of itself suggests that the nature-myth +has been embodied in the legend, but does not constitute +the whole of it. A second element and one entirely independent +in its character has been added to the myth.</p> + +<p>Anu is appeased, but he is astonished at Ea's patronage of +Adapa, as a result of which a mortal has actually appeared in +a place set aside for the gods.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Why did Ea permit an impure mortal to see the interior of heaven and +earth? He made him great and gave him fame.<a name="FNanchor_1107_1107" id="FNanchor_1107_1107"></a><a href="#Footnote_1107_1107" class="fnanchor">[1107]</a></p></div> + +<p>The privilege accorded to Adapa appears to alarm the gods. +As among the Greeks and other nations, so also the Babylonian +deities were not free from jealousy at the power and achievements +of humanity. Adapa, having viewed the secrets of +heaven and earth, there was nothing left for the gods but to +admit him into their circle. The narrative accordingly continues:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'Now what shall we grant him? Offer him food of life, that he may eat +of it.' They brought it to him, but he did not eat. Waters of life they +brought him, but he did not drink. A garment they brought him. He put +it on. Oil they brought him. He anointed himself.</p></div> + +<p>Adapa follows the instructions of Ea, but the latter, it will +be recalled, tells Adapa that food and water of <i>death</i> will be +offered him. It is Ea, therefore, who, although the god of +humanity, and who, moreover, according to the tradition involved +in the Adapa legend, is the creator of mankind, who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_551" id="Page_551">[Pg 551]</a></span> +prevents his creatures from gaining immortality. The situation +is very much the same that we find in the third chapter of +Genesis, when God, who creates man, takes precautions lest +mortals eat of the tree of life and 'live forever.' The problem +presented by the Hebrew and Babylonian stories is the same: +why should not man, who is descended from the gods, who is +created in the likeness of a god, who by virtue of his intellect +can peer into the secrets of heaven and earth, who stands +superior to the rest of creation, who, to use the psalmist's +figure, is only 'a scale lower than god,' why should he not be +like the gods and live forever? The Hebrew legend solves +the problem in a franker way than does the Babylonian. God, +while as anxious as Ea to keep man from eating of the tree of +life, cautions Adam against the act, whereas Ea practises a +deception in order to prevent man from eating. That in both +tales eternal life is contained in food points again (as we have +found to be the case with the Biblical narratives of Creation +and of the Deluge) to a common source for the two traditions. +Similarly the phrase 'waters of life' is a figure of speech of frequent +occurrence in Biblical literature in both the Old and the +New Testaments. It is no argument against a common source +for the Hebrew and Babylonian stories explaining how man +came to forego immortality, that the waters of life should be +found in the one and not in the other. If we assume with +Gunkel<a name="FNanchor_1108_1108" id="FNanchor_1108_1108"></a><a href="#Footnote_1108_1108" class="fnanchor">[1108]</a> that the stories embodied in the first chapters of +Genesis were long current among the Hebrews before they +were given a permanent form, the adaptation of old traditions +to an entirely new order of beliefs involves a casting aside +of features that could not be used and a discarding of such as +seemed superfluous. The striking departures in the case of +the Hebrew legends from their Babylonian counterparts are as +full of significance as the striking agreements between the two. +The departures and agreements must both be accounted for.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_552" id="Page_552">[Pg 552]</a></span> +For both there are reasons. So, to emphasize only one point, +in a monotheistic solution of the problem under consideration, +there was no place for any conflict among the gods. In Genesis +God simply wills that man should not eat of the tree of life. +In the Adapa legend the gods, including Anu, are willing to +grant a mortal the food and water of life, simply because they +believe that Ea, the creator of man, wishes him to have it. +Accordingly, Anu and his associates are represented at the +close of the legend as being grieved that Adapa should have +foregone the privilege.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Anu looked at him<a name="FNanchor_1109_1109" id="FNanchor_1109_1109"></a><a href="#Footnote_1109_1109" class="fnanchor">[1109]</a> and lamented over him. 'Come, Adapa, why didst +thou not eat and not drink? Now thou canst not live.'</p></div> + +<p>Adapa replies, unconscious of the deception practised on him:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'Ea, my lord, commanded me not to eat and not to drink.'</p></div> + +<p>Adapa returns to the earth. What his subsequent fate is we +do not know, for the tablet here comes to an end. It is possible +that he learns what Ea has done, and that the god gives +him the reason for the deception practised. A scene of this +kind could not find a place in the Hebrew version that emphasizes +the supreme authority of a power besides whom none +other was recognized. God acts alone.</p> + +<p>Adam, it will be recalled, after eating of the fruit of the tree +of knowledge, makes a garment for himself. There can be no +doubt that there is a close connection between this tradition +and the feature in the Adapa legend, where Adapa, who has +been shown the 'secrets of heaven and earth,'—that is, has +acquired knowledge,—is commanded by Ea to put on the garment +that is offered him. The anointing oneself with oil, +though an essential part of the toilet in the ancient and modern +Orient, was discarded in the Hebrew tale as a superfluous +feature. The idea conveyed by the use of oil was the same as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_553" id="Page_553">[Pg 553]</a></span> +the one indicated in clothing one's nakedness. Both are symbols +of civilization which man is permitted to attain, but his +development stops there. He cannot secure eternal life.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, in comparing the Hebrew and Babylonian +versions of the problem of knowledge and immortality, one cannot +help being struck by the pessimistic tone of the former as +against the more consolatory spirit of the latter. God does not +want man to attain even knowledge.<a name="FNanchor_1110_1110" id="FNanchor_1110_1110"></a><a href="#Footnote_1110_1110" class="fnanchor">[1110]</a> He secures it in disobedience +to the divine will, whereas Ea willingly grants him +the knowledge of all there is in heaven and earth. In this +way the Hebrew and Babylonian mind, each developed the +common tradition in its own way.</p> + +<p>Leaving the comparison aside and coming back for a moment +to the Adapa story, it is interesting to observe that as we have +two tales, both intended to explain the position of Marduk at +the head of the pantheon, the one by making him the conqueror +of Tiâmat and forcing from Kingu the tablets of fate, the other +by representing him as recovering from Zu the tablets which +En-lil, who originally held them, could not protect against the +storm-bird, so we have two solutions offered for the problem of +immortality. The one in the Gilgamesh epic, where the hero +is told of the plant of life, succeeds in finding it, but as he is +about to eat the 'food' loses his grasp upon it. The exertions +of man are in vain. True, there is Parnapishtim, a mortal who +with his wife has obtained immortal life. He is the exception +that proves the rule. Moreover, it is Bel, and not Ea, who +places Parnapishtim 'at the confluence of streams,' there to live +forever, and Bel does this as a proof of his pacification, a kind +of indemnity offered to Ea for having destroyed the offspring +of the god of humanity. The Adapa legend attacks the problem +more seriously. Ea, the same god who has created man, +endowed him with wisdom, bestowed all manner of benefits<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_554" id="Page_554">[Pg 554]</a></span> +upon him, Ea, who protects humanity against Anu, against Bel, +and other gods, Ea himself deceives man. Evidently the lesson +that the Babylonian theologians intended to teach through the +Adapa legend was, that it was not good for man to 'live forever.' +Ea himself prevents it. That is the point of the story. Anu +and the other gods are satisfied, but Ea does not desire it, and +Ea's decision cannot be to the disadvantage of mankind, so +dearly beloved by him. With this conclusion humanity must +be content—and be resigned to the inevitable.</p> + +<p>Of the various legends that we have been considering, the +story of Adapa is perhaps the most significant, and none the +less so for the manner in which a philosophical problem has +been grafted on to a nature-myth. Adapa is made to play the +rôle of Marduk, and it is nothing short of remarkable that at +so early a period as the one to which the existence of the story +can be traced back, a nature-myth should have been diverted +from its original purpose and adapted to the end that the +Adapa story serves in its present form. The process involved +in this adaptation is a complicated one. The story serves as +an evidence of the intellectual activity displayed in the schools +of theological thought that must have flourished for many centuries +before a story like that of Adapa could have been produced +out of a nature-myth. Hardly less remarkable is it that +the theologians and scribes of later times no longer understood +the story, for otherwise they would not have identified Adapa +with Marduk through the superficial circumstance that he is +introduced into the story instead of Marduk, or some other solar +deity allied to Marduk.</p> + +<p>The Adapa legend takes us back to the beginning of man's +career—to the time when, as in the early chapters of Genesis, +man stood closer to the gods than at a later time, the time +when there was a constant intercourse between man and the +gods, and more especially between man and his protector, Ea. +The story forms part of a stock of traditions of which we have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_555" id="Page_555">[Pg 555]</a></span> +another specimen in the Eabani-Ukhat episode, incorporated in +the Gilgamesh epic.<a name="FNanchor_1111_1111" id="FNanchor_1111_1111"></a><a href="#Footnote_1111_1111" class="fnanchor">[1111]</a> No doubt when the treasures still existing +in the British Museum shall have been thoroughly examined +and as additional remains of the religious literature of the Babylonians +will be brought to light, we will find further traces of +these early traditions as well as of other myths. Those that we +have discussed in this and in the preceding chapters illustrate +the system adopted by the priests in elaborating these traditions +and myths and in adapting them to serve as illustrations +of certain doctrines and beliefs. We may also feel tolerably +confident that the religious ideas conveyed through these various +epics and legends and myths fairly represent both the popular +and the advanced thought, as it unfolded itself in the course of +time. By the aid of these specimens of the religious literature, +we have been enabled to analyze the views of the Babylonians +regarding the creation of the world, its structure, and government. +We have obtained an insight into the problems of life +and death which engaged the Babylonian thinkers, and we have +noted some of the solutions offered for these problems. In a +consideration of the views held by the Babylonians and Assyrians +of the life after death, to which we now turn, it will again +be a specimen of the religious literature that will serve as our +main guide.</p> + +<h3><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_556" id="Page_556">[Pg 556]</a></span>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1011_1011" id="Footnote_1011_1011"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1011_1011"><span class="label">[1011]</span></a> Some of these were already indicated (but only indicated) +by George Smith in his <i>Chaldaeische Genesis</i> (German translation), +pp. 136-142. It is the merit of Dr. E. J. Harper to have prepared an +excellent publication of the material contained in Smith's work, pp. +103-120, under the title "Die Babylonischen Legenden von Etana, Zu, +Adapa und Dibbarra" (Delitzsch and Haupt's <i>Beiträge zur +Assyriologie</i>, ii. 390-521). Additional material is furnished by two +publications of mine: (<i>a</i>) a monograph, "A Fragment of the +Dibbarra Epic" (Boston, 1891), and (<i>b</i>) "A New Fragment of the +Babylonian Etana Legend" (Delitzsch and Haupt's <i>Beiträge zur +Assyriologie</i>, iii. 363-381). See also Friedrich Jeremias in +Chantepie de la Saussaye's <i>Lehrbuch der Religionsgeschichte</i> (2nd +edition), i. 218-221.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1012_1012" id="Footnote_1012_1012"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1012_1012"><span class="label">[1012]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_511">511</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1013_1013" id="Footnote_1013_1013"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1013_1013"><span class="label">[1013]</span></a> See my remarks in Delitzsch and Haupt's <i>Beiträge zur +Assyriologie</i>, iii. 376.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1014_1014" id="Footnote_1014_1014"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1014_1014"><span class="label">[1014]</span></a> I Kings, v. 11.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1015_1015" id="Footnote_1015_1015"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1015_1015"><span class="label">[1015]</span></a> Harper in Delitzsch and Haupt's <i>Beiträge zur +Assyriologie</i>, ii. 391-408.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1016_1016" id="Footnote_1016_1016"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1016_1016"><span class="label">[1016]</span></a> <i>Ib.</i> pp. 405 <i>seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1017_1017" id="Footnote_1017_1017"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1017_1017"><span class="label">[1017]</span></a> Lit., 'the Inquirers,' a designation of the priests in +their capacity of oracle-seekers.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1018_1018" id="Footnote_1018_1018"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1018_1018"><span class="label">[1018]</span></a> The matter is not certain because of the sad condition of +the fragments.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1019_1019" id="Footnote_1019_1019"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1019_1019"><span class="label">[1019]</span></a> K. 2606, Harper, <i>ib.</i> pp. 399, 400.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1020_1020" id="Footnote_1020_1020"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1020_1020"><span class="label">[1020]</span></a> Only a part of the name, <i>I-si</i>, is preserved.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1021_1021" id="Footnote_1021_1021"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1021_1021"><span class="label">[1021]</span></a> See pp. <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1022_1022" id="Footnote_1022_1022"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1022_1022"><span class="label">[1022]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, an army's march of two hours.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1023_1023" id="Footnote_1023_1023"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1023_1023"><span class="label">[1023]</span></a> The dwelling of Ea. See Meissner, <i>Alexander and +Gilgamos</i>, p. 17.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1024_1024" id="Footnote_1024_1024"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1024_1024"><span class="label">[1024]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, still smaller.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1025_1025" id="Footnote_1025_1025"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1025_1025"><span class="label">[1025]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_458">458</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1026_1026" id="Footnote_1026_1026"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1026_1026"><span class="label">[1026]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_460">460</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1027_1027" id="Footnote_1027_1027"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1027_1027"><span class="label">[1027]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_511">511</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1028_1028" id="Footnote_1028_1028"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1028_1028"><span class="label">[1028]</span></a> Harper, <i>ib.</i>. p. 404, note.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1029_1029" id="Footnote_1029_1029"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1029_1029"><span class="label">[1029]</span></a> See Harper, <i>ib.</i>. pp. 406, 407.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1030_1030" id="Footnote_1030_1030"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1030_1030"><span class="label">[1030]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_469">469</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1031_1031" id="Footnote_1031_1031"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1031_1031"><span class="label">[1031]</span></a> Harper, pp. 392-394.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1032_1032" id="Footnote_1032_1032"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1032_1032"><span class="label">[1032]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, one cannot escape from Shamash, since he +traverses all space.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1033_1033" id="Footnote_1033_1033"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1033_1033"><span class="label">[1033]</span></a> A personification of the storm. See below, pp. <a href="#Page_537">537</a> +<i>seq.</i> The line is very obscure owing to the break in the tablet.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1034_1034" id="Footnote_1034_1034"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1034_1034"><span class="label">[1034]</span></a> So Harper, but see pp. <a href="#Page_541">541</a>, <a href="#Page_542">542</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1035_1035" id="Footnote_1035_1035"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1035_1035"><span class="label">[1035]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, he will dig his beak into the juicy part of +the meat.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1036_1036" id="Footnote_1036_1036"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1036_1036"><span class="label">[1036]</span></a> Of the carcass.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1037_1037" id="Footnote_1037_1037"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1037_1037"><span class="label">[1037]</span></a> As shown by the colophon of K. 2606, and also by the fact +that K. 1547, which contains on the obverse the tale, contains on the +reverse Etana's prayer to Shamash.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1038_1038" id="Footnote_1038_1038"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1038_1038"><span class="label">[1038]</span></a> De la Saussaye's <i>Lehrbuch der Religionsgeschichte</i> +(2nd edition), i. 218.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1039_1039" id="Footnote_1039_1039"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1039_1039"><span class="label">[1039]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_195">195</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1040_1040" id="Footnote_1040_1040"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1040_1040"><span class="label">[1040]</span></a> Perrot and Chiplez, <i>History of Art in Sardinia, +Phoenicia, Judea, Syria, and Asia Minor</i>, ii. 176.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1041_1041" id="Footnote_1041_1041"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1041_1041"><span class="label">[1041]</span></a> Pinches, <i>Babylonian and Assyrian Cylinders, etc., of Sir +Henry Peak</i>, no. 18. <i>Cf.</i> Harper, <i>ib.</i> p. 408.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1042_1042" id="Footnote_1042_1042"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1042_1042"><span class="label">[1042]</span></a> A lexicographical tablet, IIR. 56, col. iii. 22-35, +mentions four dogs of Marduk.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1043_1043" id="Footnote_1043_1043"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1043_1043"><span class="label">[1043]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_232">232</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1044_1044" id="Footnote_1044_1044"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1044_1044"><span class="label">[1044]</span></a> See Harper, <i>ib.</i> p. 426.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1045_1045" id="Footnote_1045_1045"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1045_1045"><span class="label">[1045]</span></a> The <i>ra</i> is either a phonetic complement to the +ideograph or is perhaps added to suggest to the reader the +identification with Gir-ra.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1046_1046" id="Footnote_1046_1046"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1046_1046"><span class="label">[1046]</span></a> Namely, the connection with Hebrew <i>deber</i>, +'pestilence.' <i>Cf.</i> Harper, <i>ib.</i> p. 426.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1047_1047" id="Footnote_1047_1047"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1047_1047"><span class="label">[1047]</span></a> Babylon.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1048_1048" id="Footnote_1048_1048"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1048_1048"><span class="label">[1048]</span></a> Text obscure. "Sharpen badly" seems to be the idiomatic phrase used.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1049_1049" id="Footnote_1049_1049"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1049_1049"><span class="label">[1049]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_154">154</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1050_1050" id="Footnote_1050_1050"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1050_1050"><span class="label">[1050]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_475">475</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1051_1051" id="Footnote_1051_1051"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1051_1051"><span class="label">[1051]</span></a> A solar deity. See p. <a href="#Page_99">99</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1052_1052" id="Footnote_1052_1052"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1052_1052"><span class="label">[1052]</span></a> Ishum.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1053_1053" id="Footnote_1053_1053"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1053_1053"><span class="label">[1053]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_501">501</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1054_1054" id="Footnote_1054_1054"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1054_1054"><span class="label">[1054]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, seven. A collective personification of the +seven evil spirits.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1055_1055" id="Footnote_1055_1055"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1055_1055"><span class="label">[1055]</span></a> Ishum.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1056_1056" id="Footnote_1056_1056"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1056_1056"><span class="label">[1056]</span></a> IIR. 51, 19c and 4a. Khashur is also used as a name for the +cedar. See Delitzsch, <i>Assyr. Handwörterbuch</i>, p. 295a.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1057_1057" id="Footnote_1057_1057"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1057_1057"><span class="label">[1057]</span></a> The one published by the writer.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1058_1058" id="Footnote_1058_1058"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1058_1058"><span class="label">[1058]</span></a> Hammurabi is the conqueror of Palestine mentioned in Gen. +xlv. under the name Amraphel. See, <i>e.g.</i>, Hommel, +<i>Altisraelitische Ueberlieferung</i>, p. 106.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1059_1059" id="Footnote_1059_1059"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1059_1059"><span class="label">[1059]</span></a> Num. xxi. 14. The 'song of Deborah' (Judges, v.) belongs to +this collection. For further specimens of Babylonian war-songs, see +Hommel, <i>ib.</i> pp. 180-190,—all dealing with the memorable +Hammurabi period.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1060_1060" id="Footnote_1060_1060"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1060_1060"><span class="label">[1060]</span></a> K. 1282, Harper, <i>ib.</i>, pp. 432 <i>seq.</i>, and King's +fragment, <i>Zeitschrift für Assyriologie</i>, xl. 60, 61.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1061_1061" id="Footnote_1061_1061"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1061_1061"><span class="label">[1061]</span></a> The gods of vegetation are mentioned.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1062_1062" id="Footnote_1062_1062"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1062_1062"><span class="label">[1062]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, give wisdom to the one who honors me.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1063_1063" id="Footnote_1063_1063"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1063_1063"><span class="label">[1063]</span></a> Text 'Dibbarra.'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1064_1064" id="Footnote_1064_1064"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1064_1064"><span class="label">[1064]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_114">114</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1065_1065" id="Footnote_1065_1065"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1065_1065"><span class="label">[1065]</span></a> As Mr. King has shown (<i>Zeitschrift für Assyriologie</i>, +xi. 53). See above, p. <a href="#Page_269">269</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1066_1066" id="Footnote_1066_1066"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1066_1066"><span class="label">[1066]</span></a> Deut. vi. 9.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1067_1067" id="Footnote_1067_1067"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1067_1067"><span class="label">[1067]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_483">483</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1068_1068" id="Footnote_1068_1068"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1068_1068"><span class="label">[1068]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_263">263</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1069_1069" id="Footnote_1069_1069"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1069_1069"><span class="label">[1069]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_525">525</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1070_1070" id="Footnote_1070_1070"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1070_1070"><span class="label">[1070]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_420">420</a>, <a href="#Page_428">428</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1071_1071" id="Footnote_1071_1071"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1071_1071"><span class="label">[1071]</span></a> See pp. <a href="#Page_439">439</a> <i>seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1072_1072" id="Footnote_1072_1072"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1072_1072"><span class="label">[1072]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, En-lil's.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1073_1073" id="Footnote_1073_1073"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1073_1073"><span class="label">[1073]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, 'the bond of heaven and earth,' the name +probably of a temple-tower in Nippur, sacred to En-lil.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1074_1074" id="Footnote_1074_1074"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1074_1074"><span class="label">[1074]</span></a> Zu's heart. These two lines are repeated.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1075_1075" id="Footnote_1075_1075"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1075_1075"><span class="label">[1075]</span></a> The word <i>Kissu</i> applies more especially to the +dwelling places of the gods. Delitzsch, <i>Assyr. Handwörterbuch</i>, p. +349b.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1076_1076" id="Footnote_1076_1076"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1076_1076"><span class="label">[1076]</span></a> Zu.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1077_1077" id="Footnote_1077_1077"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1077_1077"><span class="label">[1077]</span></a> See <i>e.g.</i>, Ward, <i>Seal Cylinders of the +Metropolitan Museum of Art</i>, p. 12.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1078_1078" id="Footnote_1078_1078"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1078_1078"><span class="label">[1078]</span></a> Ramman.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1079_1079" id="Footnote_1079_1079"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1079_1079"><span class="label">[1079]</span></a> These two lines are repeated.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1080_1080" id="Footnote_1080_1080"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1080_1080"><span class="label">[1080]</span></a> The thunderbolt.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1081_1081" id="Footnote_1081_1081"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1081_1081"><span class="label">[1081]</span></a> Cities sacred to thee.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1082_1082" id="Footnote_1082_1082"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1082_1082"><span class="label">[1082]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, the sacred edifices in these cities.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1083_1083" id="Footnote_1083_1083"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1083_1083"><span class="label">[1083]</span></a> The lofty dwelling of the gods is here meant. See <a href="#chapter-xxvii">chapter xxvii</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1084_1084" id="Footnote_1084_1084"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1084_1084"><span class="label">[1084]</span></a> Ideographic reading—the ideograph signifies 'shrine.' The +verbal stem <i>barâru</i> means 'to shine.'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1085_1085" id="Footnote_1085_1085"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1085_1085"><span class="label">[1085]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_414">414</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1086_1086" id="Footnote_1086_1086"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1086_1086"><span class="label">[1086]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_525">525</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1087_1087" id="Footnote_1087_1087"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1087_1087"><span class="label">[1087]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_400">400</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1088_1088" id="Footnote_1088_1088"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1088_1088"><span class="label">[1088]</span></a> It is quite possible that the line in question declares +that Zu is in collusion with the eagle, against whom the serpent seeks +the assistance of Shamash.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1089_1089" id="Footnote_1089_1089"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1089_1089"><span class="label">[1089]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_417">417</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1090_1090" id="Footnote_1090_1090"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1090_1090"><span class="label">[1090]</span></a> It is hardly possible that the illustration on seal +cylinders mentioned by Ward, <i>ib.</i> pp. 13, 14, represents the Zu +bird brought before a deity for punishment; and certainly not before +Shamash, who only enters into the story in so far as Marduk is a solar +deity.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1091_1091" id="Footnote_1091_1091"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1091_1091"><span class="label">[1091]</span></a> Published by Winckler and Abel, <i>Der Thontafelfund von +El-Amarna</i>, iii. 166a, b; translated also by Harper, <i>ib.</i> pp. +420, 421.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1092_1092" id="Footnote_1092_1092"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1092_1092"><span class="label">[1092]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_63">63</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1093_1093" id="Footnote_1093_1093"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1093_1093"><span class="label">[1093]</span></a> My rendering is given in continuous lines. The legend is in +narrative, not in poetic form.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1094_1094" id="Footnote_1094_1094"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1094_1094"><span class="label">[1094]</span></a> Adapa.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1095_1095" id="Footnote_1095_1095"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1095_1095"><span class="label">[1095]</span></a> Lit., 'house.'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1096_1096" id="Footnote_1096_1096"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1096_1096"><span class="label">[1096]</span></a> Neither Delitzsch's suggestion 'god of dwellings' nor +Harper's 'god thou art strong' is acceptable.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1097_1097" id="Footnote_1097_1097"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1097_1097"><span class="label">[1097]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_99">99</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1098_1098" id="Footnote_1098_1098"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1098_1098"><span class="label">[1098]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_462">462</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1099_1099" id="Footnote_1099_1099"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1099_1099"><span class="label">[1099]</span></a> See the following chapter.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1100_1100" id="Footnote_1100_1100"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1100_1100"><span class="label">[1100]</span></a> See pp. <a href="#Page_139">139</a> <i>seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1101_1101" id="Footnote_1101_1101"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1101_1101"><span class="label">[1101]</span></a> First suggested by Zimmern.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1102_1102" id="Footnote_1102_1102"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1102_1102"><span class="label">[1102]</span></a> Of the eighth century. See Harper, <i>ib.</i> p. 424.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1103_1103" id="Footnote_1103_1103"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1103_1103"><span class="label">[1103]</span></a> To Ea.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1104_1104" id="Footnote_1104_1104"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1104_1104"><span class="label">[1104]</span></a> Anu, it will be recalled, utters the same cry. See p. <a href="#Page_546">546</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1105_1105" id="Footnote_1105_1105"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1105_1105"><span class="label">[1105]</span></a> Referring to his garments of mourning.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1106_1106" id="Footnote_1106_1106"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1106_1106"><span class="label">[1106]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, Ea.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1107_1107" id="Footnote_1107_1107"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1107_1107"><span class="label">[1107]</span></a> I follow Zimmern's rendition of the line.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1108_1108" id="Footnote_1108_1108"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1108_1108"><span class="label">[1108]</span></a> <i>Schöpfung und Chaos</i>, pp. 168 <i>seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1109_1109" id="Footnote_1109_1109"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1109_1109"><span class="label">[1109]</span></a> Adapa.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1110_1110" id="Footnote_1110_1110"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1110_1110"><span class="label">[1110]</span></a> The phrase 'knowledge of good and evil' (Gen. ii. 17) is +simply an expression equivalent to our 'everything,' or to the +Babylonian 'secrets of heaven and earth.'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1111_1111" id="Footnote_1111_1111"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1111_1111"><span class="label">[1111]</span></a> See pp. <a href="#Page_476">476</a> <i>seq.</i> Sayce has even gone so far as to suggest an identification of +Adapa (by reading Adawa) with the Biblical Adam, but this conjecture is untenable.</p></div> + + + + +<h2><a name="chapter-xxv" id="chapter-xxv"></a>CHAPTER XXV.</h2> + +<h3>THE VIEWS OF LIFE AFTER DEATH.</h3> + + +<p>The problem of immortality, we have seen, engaged the +serious attention of the Babylonian theologians. While the +solutions they had to offer could hardly have been satisfactory +either to themselves or to the masses, it must not be supposed +that the denial of immortality to man involved the total extinction +of conscious vitality. Neither the people nor the leaders +of religious thought ever faced the possibility of the total annihilation +of what once was called into existence. Death was +a passage to another kind of life, and the denial of immortality +merely emphasized the impossibility of escaping the +change in existence brought about by death. The gods alone +do not pass from one phase of existence to the other. Death +was mysterious, but not more mysterious than life. The +Babylonian religion does not transcend the stage of belief, +characteristic of primitive culture everywhere, which cannot +conceive of the possibility of life coming to an absolute end. +Life of some kind and in some form was always presupposed. +So far as man was concerned, created by some god,—Bel, Ea, +Aruru, or Ishtar, according to the various traditions that were +current,<a name="FNanchor_1112_1112" id="FNanchor_1112_1112"></a><a href="#Footnote_1112_1112" class="fnanchor">[1112]</a>—no divine fiat could wipe out what was endowed +with life and the power of reproduction.</p> + +<p>No doubt, the impossibility for the individual to conceive of +himself as forever deprived of consciousness, was at the bottom +of the primitive theory of the perpetuity of existence in some +form. Among ancient religions, Buddhism alone frees itself +from this theory and unfolds a bold doctrine of the possibility<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_557" id="Page_557">[Pg 557]</a></span> +of a complete annihilation. The question, however, whether +the continuity of existence was a blessing or a curse was raised +by many ancient nations. The Babylonians are among these +who are inclined to take a gloomy view of the passage from +this world to the existence in store for humanity after death, +and the religious leaders were either powerless or disinclined +to controvert this view.</p> + + +<h3>Location and Names of the Gathering Place of the +Dead.</h3> + +<p>We have already had occasion<a name="FNanchor_1113_1113" id="FNanchor_1113_1113"></a><a href="#Footnote_1113_1113" class="fnanchor">[1113]</a> to refer to the great cave +underneath the earth in which the dead were supposed to +dwell, and since the earth itself was regarded as a mountain, +the cave is pictured as a hollow within, or rather underneath, a +mountain. A conception of this kind must have arisen among +a people that was once familiar with a mountainous district. +The settlers of the Euphrates Valley brought the belief with +them from an earlier mountain home. The cave, moreover, +points to cave-dwelling and to cave-burial as conditions that +prevailed at one time among the populace, precisely as the +imitation of the mountain with its caves in the case of the +Egyptian pyramids, is due to similar influences. To this cave +various names are assigned in the literature of the Babylonians,—some +of popular origin, others reflecting scholastic +views. The most common name is Aralû.<a name="FNanchor_1114_1114" id="FNanchor_1114_1114"></a><a href="#Footnote_1114_1114" class="fnanchor">[1114]</a> We also find the +term 'house of Aralû.'<a name="FNanchor_1115_1115" id="FNanchor_1115_1115"></a><a href="#Footnote_1115_1115" class="fnanchor">[1115]</a> The etymology of the term is obscure. +Aralû was pictured as a vast place, dark and gloomy. It is +sometimes called a land, sometimes a great house. The approach +to it was difficult. It lay in the lowest part of the mountain<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_558" id="Page_558">[Pg 558]</a></span> +that represented the earth, not far from the hollow underneath +the mountain into which the 'Apsu' flowed. Surrounded by +seven walls and strongly guarded, it was a place to which no +living person could go and from which no mortal could ever +depart after once entering it. To Aralû all went whose existence +in this world had come to an end. Another name which +specifies the relationship of Aralû to the world is Ekur or +'mountain house' of the dead. Ekur is one of the names for +the earth,<a name="FNanchor_1116_1116" id="FNanchor_1116_1116"></a><a href="#Footnote_1116_1116" class="fnanchor">[1116]</a> but is applied more particularly to that part of the +mountain, also known as Kharsag<a name="FNanchor_1117_1117" id="FNanchor_1117_1117"></a><a href="#Footnote_1117_1117" class="fnanchor">[1117]</a>-kurkura, <i>i.e.</i>, 'the mountain +of all lands' where the gods were born. Before the later speculative +view was developed, according to which the gods, or +most of them, have their seats in heaven,<a name="FNanchor_1118_1118" id="FNanchor_1118_1118"></a><a href="#Footnote_1118_1118" class="fnanchor">[1118]</a> it was on this mountain +also that the gods were supposed to dwell. Hence Ekur +became also one of the names for temple,<a name="FNanchor_1119_1119" id="FNanchor_1119_1119"></a><a href="#Footnote_1119_1119" class="fnanchor">[1119]</a> as the seat of a god. +The dwelling of the dead was regarded as a part of the 'great +mountain.' It belonged to Ekur, and the fact that it was designated +simply as Ekur,<a name="FNanchor_1120_1120" id="FNanchor_1120_1120"></a><a href="#Footnote_1120_1120" class="fnanchor">[1120]</a> is a valuable indication that the dead +were brought into close association with the gods. This association +is also indicated by the later use of Aralû as the designation +of the mountain within which the district of the dead, Aralû +proper, lay<a name="FNanchor_1121_1121" id="FNanchor_1121_1121"></a><a href="#Footnote_1121_1121" class="fnanchor">[1121]</a>—synonymous, therefore, with Ekur. We shall +see in the course of this chapter that the dead are placed even +more than the living under the direct supervision of the gods.</p> + +<p>A third name for the nether world which conveys an important +addition to the views held regarding the dead, was Shuâlu. +Jensen, it is true, following Bertin, questions the existence of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_559" id="Page_559">[Pg 559]</a></span> +this term in Babylonian,<a name="FNanchor_1122_1122" id="FNanchor_1122_1122"></a><a href="#Footnote_1122_1122" class="fnanchor">[1122]</a> but one does not see how the evidence +of the passages in the lexicographical tablets can be set +aside in the way that he proposes. Zimmern<a name="FNanchor_1123_1123" id="FNanchor_1123_1123"></a><a href="#Footnote_1123_1123" class="fnanchor">[1123]</a> does not appear +to be convinced by Jensen's arguments and regards the question +as an open one. Jensen's method of disposing of Shuâlu, +besides being open to serious objections, fails to account for +the fact that Shuâlu is brought into association with various +Babylonian terms and ideographs for the grave.<a name="FNanchor_1124_1124" id="FNanchor_1124_1124"></a><a href="#Footnote_1124_1124" class="fnanchor">[1124]</a> This cannot +be accidental. That the term has hitherto been found only in +lexicographical tablets need not surprise us. Aralû, too, is of +rare occurrence in the religious texts. The priests appear +to avoid the names for the nether world, which were of ill +omen, and preferred to describe the place by some epithet, as +'land without return,' or 'dark dwelling,' or 'great city,' and +the like. Of such descriptive terms we have a large number.<a name="FNanchor_1125_1125" id="FNanchor_1125_1125"></a><a href="#Footnote_1125_1125" class="fnanchor">[1125]</a> +The stem underlying Shuâlu signifies 'to ask.' Shuâlu is a +place of inquiry,<a name="FNanchor_1126_1126" id="FNanchor_1126_1126"></a><a href="#Footnote_1126_1126" class="fnanchor">[1126]</a> and the inquiry meant is of the nature of a +religious oracle. The name, accordingly, is an indication of +the power accorded to the dead, to aid the living by furnishing +them with answers to questions, just as the gods furnish +oracles through the mediation of the priests.<a name="FNanchor_1127_1127" id="FNanchor_1127_1127"></a><a href="#Footnote_1127_1127" class="fnanchor">[1127]</a> The Old Testament +supplies us with an admirable illustration of the method +of obtaining oracles through the dead. Saul, when he desires +to know what the outcome of a battle is to be, seeks out a +sorceress, and through her calls up the dead Samuel<a name="FNanchor_1128_1128" id="FNanchor_1128_1128"></a><a href="#Footnote_1128_1128" class="fnanchor">[1128]</a> and puts<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_560" id="Page_560">[Pg 560]</a></span> +the question to him. Similarly, in the Gilgamesh epic, the hero, +with the aid of Nergal, obtains a sight of Eabani<a name="FNanchor_1129_1129" id="FNanchor_1129_1129"></a><a href="#Footnote_1129_1129" class="fnanchor">[1129]</a> and plies +him with questions. The belief, therefore, in this power of the +dead was common to Babylonians and Hebrews, and, no doubt, +was shared by other branches of the Semites. It is natural, +therefore, to find the Babylonian term Shuâlu paralleled by the +Hebrew Sheôl, which is the common designation in the Old +Testament for the dwelling-place of the dead.<a name="FNanchor_1130_1130" id="FNanchor_1130_1130"></a><a href="#Footnote_1130_1130" class="fnanchor">[1130]</a> How widespread +the custom was among Babylonians of inquiring 'through +the living of the dead'<a name="FNanchor_1131_1131" id="FNanchor_1131_1131"></a><a href="#Footnote_1131_1131" class="fnanchor">[1131]</a> it is difficult, in default of satisfactory +evidence, to say. The growing power of the priests as mediators +between men and gods must have acted as a check to +such practices. The priests, as the inquirers,<a name="FNanchor_1132_1132" id="FNanchor_1132_1132"></a><a href="#Footnote_1132_1132" class="fnanchor">[1132]</a> naturally proceeded +direct to the particular god whose representative they +claimed to be, and the development of an elaborate ceremonial +in the temples in connection with the oracles<a name="FNanchor_1133_1133" id="FNanchor_1133_1133"></a><a href="#Footnote_1133_1133" class="fnanchor">[1133]</a> was a further +factor that must have influenced the gradual abandonment of +the custom, at least as an element of the <i>official</i> cult. Moreover, +the belief itself belongs in the domain of ancestor worship, +and in historical times we find but little trace of such +worship among the Babylonians. We may, therefore, associate +the custom with the earliest period of the Babylonian religion. +This view carries with it the antiquity of the term Shuâlu. +Like Aralû and the designation Ekur, it embodies the close +association of the dead with the gods. The dead not only +dwell near the gods, but, like the gods, they can direct the +affairs of mankind. Their answers to questions put to them +have divine justification. From this view of the dead to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_561" id="Page_561">[Pg 561]</a></span> +deification of the latter is but a short step. It does not, of +course, follow, from the fact that Shuâlu or Sheôl is the place +of 'oracles,' that all the dead have the power to furnish oracles +or can be invoked for this purpose. Correspondingly, if we +find that the Babylonians did deify their dead, it does not mean +that at one time all the dead were regarded as gods. Popular +legends are concerned only with the heroes, with the popular +favorites—not with the great masses. Eabani, who appears +to Gilgamesh, is a hero, and so is Samuel. As a matter of fact, +we have so far only found evidence that the ancient rulers +whose memory lingered in the minds of the people were regarded +by later generations as gods. So the names of Dungi +and Gudea<a name="FNanchor_1134_1134" id="FNanchor_1134_1134"></a><a href="#Footnote_1134_1134" class="fnanchor">[1134]</a> are written on tablets that belong to the centuries +immediately following their reign, with the determinative that +is placed before the names of gods. Festivals were celebrated +in honor of these kings, sacrifices were offered to them, and their +images were placed in temples.<a name="FNanchor_1135_1135" id="FNanchor_1135_1135"></a><a href="#Footnote_1135_1135" class="fnanchor">[1135]</a> Again, Gimil-Sin (c. 2500 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>), +of the second dynasty of Ur, appears to have been deified +during his lifetime, and there was a temple in Lagash which +was named after him.<a name="FNanchor_1136_1136" id="FNanchor_1136_1136"></a><a href="#Footnote_1136_1136" class="fnanchor">[1136]</a> No doubt other kings will be found +who were similarly honored. We may expect to come across a +god Hammurabi some day. Gilgamesh is, as we have seen, a +historical personage whose career has been so thoroughly amalgamated +with nature-myths that he ends by becoming a solar +deity who is invoked in incantations.</p> + +<p>The tendency to connect legendary and mythical incidents +with ancient rulers is part and parcel of this process of deification. +Of an ancient king, Sargon,<a name="FNanchor_1137_1137" id="FNanchor_1137_1137"></a><a href="#Footnote_1137_1137" class="fnanchor">[1137]</a> a story was related how he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_562" id="Page_562">[Pg 562]</a></span> +was exposed in a boat, and, 'knowing neither father nor mother,' +was found by a ferryman. The exploits of this king and of his +successor, Naram-Sin, were incorporated in an omen text<a name="FNanchor_1138_1138" id="FNanchor_1138_1138"></a><a href="#Footnote_1138_1138" class="fnanchor">[1138]</a>—a +circumstance that again illustrates how the popular fancy +connected the heroes of the past with its religious interests. +Still, there is no more reason to question the historical reality +of Sargon<a name="FNanchor_1139_1139" id="FNanchor_1139_1139"></a><a href="#Footnote_1139_1139" class="fnanchor">[1139]</a> than to question the existence of Moses, because a +story of his early youth is narrated in Exodus<a name="FNanchor_1140_1140" id="FNanchor_1140_1140"></a><a href="#Footnote_1140_1140" class="fnanchor">[1140]</a> which forms a +curious parallel to the Sargon legend, or to question the existence +of a personage by the name of Abraham, because an +Abrahamitic cult arose that continues to the present day.<a name="FNanchor_1141_1141" id="FNanchor_1141_1141"></a><a href="#Footnote_1141_1141" class="fnanchor">[1141]</a></p> + +<p>This close association of the dead with the gods, upon which +the deification of the dead rests, may be regarded as a legacy +of the earliest period of the Babylonian religion, of the time when +the intercourse between the gods and the living was also direct. +The belief and rites connected with the dead constitute the +most conservative elements in the religion of a people. The +organized cult affects the living chiefly. So far as the latter +are concerned, the rise of a priesthood to whom the religious +needs of the people are entrusted, removes the living from that +immediate contact with the gods which we note in the traditions +of every people regarding the beginnings of mankind. +The priests have no power over the dead. The dead require +no 'mediator.' Hence, those who dwell in Aralû return to the +early state of mankind when gods and mankind 'walked together.'</p> + +<p>Another name that is of frequent occurrence in religious +texts is Kigallu, which describes the nether world as a district<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_563" id="Page_563">[Pg 563]</a></span> +of great extent, situated within the earth.<a name="FNanchor_1142_1142" id="FNanchor_1142_1142"></a><a href="#Footnote_1142_1142" class="fnanchor">[1142]</a> The chief goddess +of the nether world is commonly known as the 'queen of +Kigallu.' Furthermore, Irkalla, which was interpreted by the +Babylonian theologians as 'great city' (or 'district'), is used +both as a designation for the dwelling-place of the dead and +for the consort of the queen of Aralû.<a name="FNanchor_1143_1143" id="FNanchor_1143_1143"></a><a href="#Footnote_1143_1143" class="fnanchor">[1143]</a></p> + +<p>Beside the names for the nether world above discussed, a +large number of epithets and metaphors are found in the religious +texts. The place to which the dead go is called the +'dark dwelling,' 'the land from which there is no return,' 'house +of death,' 'the great city,' 'the deep land,' and, since Nergal, +the ruler of the lower world, was the patron of the city Cuthah<a name="FNanchor_1144_1144" id="FNanchor_1144_1144"></a><a href="#Footnote_1144_1144" class="fnanchor">[1144]</a> +(or Kutu), the name Cuthah was also used as a designation for +Aralû. Lastly, it is interesting to note that in poetical usage +the words for 'grave'<a name="FNanchor_1145_1145" id="FNanchor_1145_1145"></a><a href="#Footnote_1145_1145" class="fnanchor">[1145]</a> were also employed to describe the +nether world. The question raised by this metaphor as to the +relationship between the grave and the lower world can best +be discussed when we come to consider the funeral rites.<a name="FNanchor_1146_1146" id="FNanchor_1146_1146"></a><a href="#Footnote_1146_1146" class="fnanchor">[1146]</a></p> + + +<h3>The Condition of the Dead and the Impossibility of +an Escape from Aralû.</h3> + +<p>Among the remains of Babylonian literature there is a remarkable +production, which furnishes us with an admirable view +of the fate in store for those who have left this world.<a name="FNanchor_1147_1147" id="FNanchor_1147_1147"></a><a href="#Footnote_1147_1147" class="fnanchor">[1147]</a> The composition +is based upon a nature-myth, symbolizing the change +of seasons. Ishtar, the great mother goddess, the goddess of +fertility who produces vegetation, is, as we saw in the Gilgamesh<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_564" id="Page_564">[Pg 564]</a></span> +epic,<a name="FNanchor_1148_1148" id="FNanchor_1148_1148"></a><a href="#Footnote_1148_1148" class="fnanchor">[1148]</a> also the one who brings about the decline of +vegetation. The change in nature that takes place after the +summer solstice is passed and the crops have ripened was +variously interpreted. According to one, and, as it would +seem, the favorite, tradition, the goddess is represented as +herself destroying the solar deity, Tammuz, whom she had +chosen as a consort. Repentant and weeping, Ishtar passes +to the lower world in search of her youthful husband,—the +symbol of the sun on its approach to the summer solstice. +While Ishtar is in the lower world, all fertility ceases, in the +fields, as well as in the animal kingdom. At last Ishtar reappears, +and nature is joyous once more. In the Semitic +Orient there are only two seasons:<a name="FNanchor_1149_1149" id="FNanchor_1149_1149"></a><a href="#Footnote_1149_1149" class="fnanchor">[1149]</a> winter, or the rainy +season, and summer, or the dry season. The myth was, therefore, +a symbol of the great contrast that the two seasons presented +to one another. Under various forms and numerous +disguises, we find the myth among several branches of the +Semites, as well as in Egypt and among Aryans who came into +contact with Semitic ideas.<a name="FNanchor_1150_1150" id="FNanchor_1150_1150"></a><a href="#Footnote_1150_1150" class="fnanchor">[1150]</a> A festival celebrated in honor +of Tammuz by the Babylonians is one expression of many that +the myth received. The designation of the sixth month as +"the mission of Ishtar"<a name="FNanchor_1151_1151" id="FNanchor_1151_1151"></a><a href="#Footnote_1151_1151" class="fnanchor">[1151]</a> is another. This myth was adapted +by the theologians to illustrate the doctrines that were developed +regarding the kind of existence led by the dead. The literary +method adopted is the same that characterizes the elaboration +of the Adapa myth and of the myths incorporated into the Gilgamesh +epic. The story forms the point of departure, but its +original purport is set aside to a greater or less degree, necessary +modifications are introduced, and the moral or lesson is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_565" id="Page_565">[Pg 565]</a></span> +distinctly indicated. In the case of the production that we are +about to consider, the story of Ishtar's visit to the nether world +is told—perhaps by a priest—to a person who seeks consolation. +A dear relative has departed this life, and a survivor,—a +brother, apparently,—is anxious to know whether the dead will +ever come back again. The situation reminds one of Gilgamesh +seeking out Eabani,<a name="FNanchor_1152_1152" id="FNanchor_1152_1152"></a><a href="#Footnote_1152_1152" class="fnanchor">[1152]</a> with this difference: that, whereas Gilgamesh, +aided by Nergal, is accorded a sight of his friend, the ordinary +mourner must content himself with the answer given to +him. But what Gilgamesh is not permitted to hear,<a name="FNanchor_1153_1153" id="FNanchor_1153_1153"></a><a href="#Footnote_1153_1153" class="fnanchor">[1153]</a> the mourner +is told. A description is given him of how the dead fare in Aralû.</p> + +<p>The problem, however, is somewhat different in the story of +the descent of Ishtar, from the one propounded in the twelfth +tablet of the Gilgamesh epic. The question uppermost in the +mind of the mourner is "Will the dead return?" The condition +of the dead, which is most prominent in Gilgamesh's mind, +is secondary. Both questions, however, are answered, and +both answers are hopelessly sad. The nether world is joyless. +Even the goddess Ishtar is badly treated upon entering it. +The place is synonymous with inactivity and decay; and, though +the goddess returns, the conclusion drawn is that the exception +proves the inexorable rule. A goddess may escape, but mortals +are doomed to everlasting sojourn, or rather imprisonment, in the +realm presided over by Allatu and her consort Nergal. The tale +begins with a description of the land to which Ishtar proceeds:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>To the land whence there is no return, the land of darkness (?)<a name="FNanchor_1154_1154" id="FNanchor_1154_1154"></a><a href="#Footnote_1154_1154" class="fnanchor">[1154]</a></p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_566" id="Page_566">[Pg 566]</a></span>Ishtar, the daughter of Sin, turned her mind,</p> +<p>The daughter of Sin turned her mind;</p> +<p>To the house of darkness, the dwelling of Irkalla,</p> +<p>To the house whence no one issues who has once entered it.</p> +<p>To the road from which there is no return, when once it has been trodden.</p> +<p>To the house whose inhabitants<a name="FNanchor_1155_1155" id="FNanchor_1155_1155"></a><a href="#Footnote_1155_1155" class="fnanchor">[1155]</a> are deprived of light.</p> +<p>The place where dust is their<a name="FNanchor_1156_1156" id="FNanchor_1156_1156"></a><a href="#Footnote_1156_1156" class="fnanchor">[1156]</a> nourishment, their food clay.</p> +<p>They<a name="FNanchor_1157_1157" id="FNanchor_1157_1157"></a><a href="#Footnote_1157_1157" class="fnanchor">[1157]</a> have no light, dwelling in dense darkness.</p> +<p>And they are clothed like birds, in a garment of feathers;</p> +<p>Where over gate and bolt, dust is scattered.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Ishtar, it will be observed, is here called the daughter of the +moon-god, whereas in the Gilgamesh epic she appears as the +daughter of Anu, the god of heaven. Both designations reflect +the views developed in the schools, and prove that the story +has been produced under scholastic influences. The goddess +has her place in the heavens, in the planet bearing her name, +and the designation of this planet as the daughter of Sin +can only be understood in connection with the astronomical +system, in which the moon plays so prominent a rôle<a name="FNanchor_1158_1158" id="FNanchor_1158_1158"></a><a href="#Footnote_1158_1158" class="fnanchor">[1158]</a> and +becomes the father of all the great gods (except Shamash) who +constitute the lesser luminaries of the night.</p> + +<p>Irkalla is one of the names<a name="FNanchor_1159_1159" id="FNanchor_1159_1159"></a><a href="#Footnote_1159_1159" class="fnanchor">[1159]</a> for a god of the nether world, +who is regarded as the associate of Allatu. The dwelling is +elsewhere spoken of as a 'great palace' in which Allatu and +her consort Nergal have their thrones. A gloomier place +than the one described in these opening lines of the story +cannot well be imagined. The picture reflects the popular +views, and up to this point, the doctrines of the school are +in agreement with the early beliefs. The description of the +lower world is evidently suggested by the grave or the cave +in which the dead were laid. The reference to dust and clay +as the food of the dead shows that the doctrine taught in the +Gilgamesh epic,<a name="FNanchor_1160_1160" id="FNanchor_1160_1160"></a><a href="#Footnote_1160_1160" class="fnanchor">[1160]</a> of man's being formed of clay and returning<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_567" id="Page_567">[Pg 567]</a></span> +to clay, was the common one. This view helps us to understand +how the words for grave came to be used as synonyms +for the nether world. The dead being placed below the earth, +they were actually conveyed within the realm of which Aralû +was a part, and since it became customary for the Babylonians +to bury their dead together, the cities of the dead that thus +arose could easily be imagined to constitute the kingdom presided +over by Allatu and Nergal. At this point, however, the +speculations of the schools begin to diverge from the popular +notions. We may well question whether the Babylonian populace +ever attempted to make clear to itself in what form the +dead continued their existence. It may be that the argument +from dreams, as the basis for the primitive belief in the +continuation of life, in some form, after death has been too hard +pressed,<a name="FNanchor_1161_1161" id="FNanchor_1161_1161"></a><a href="#Footnote_1161_1161" class="fnanchor">[1161]</a> but certainly the appearance of the dead in the dreams +of the living must have produced a profound impression, and +since the dead appeared in the same form that they had while +alive, the conclusion was natural that, even though the body +decayed, a vague outline remained that bore the same relation +to the <i>corpus</i> as the shadow to the figure casting it. Two remarkable +chapters in the Old Testament<a name="FNanchor_1162_1162" id="FNanchor_1162_1162"></a><a href="#Footnote_1162_1162" class="fnanchor">[1162]</a> illustrate this popular +view prevailing in Babylonia, as to the condition of the dead +in the nether world. The prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel both +portray the dead as having the same form that they possessed +while alive. The kings have their crowns on their heads; the +warriors lie with their swords girded about them. The dead +Eabani, it will be recalled, appears to Gilgamesh and is at once +recognized by the latter. What distinguishes the dead from the +living is their inactivity. They lie in Aralû without doing anything. +Everything there is in a state of neglect and decay. The +dead can speak, but the Babylonians probably believed, like the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_568" id="Page_568">[Pg 568]</a></span> +Hebrews, that the dead talk in whispers, or chirp like birds.<a name="FNanchor_1163_1163" id="FNanchor_1163_1163"></a><a href="#Footnote_1163_1163" class="fnanchor">[1163]</a> +The dead are weak,<a name="FNanchor_1164_1164" id="FNanchor_1164_1164"></a><a href="#Footnote_1164_1164" class="fnanchor">[1164]</a> and, therefore, unless others attend to their +needs, they suffer pangs of hunger, or must content themselves +with 'dust and clay' as their food. Tender care during the +last moments of life was essential to comparative well-being in +Aralû.<a name="FNanchor_1165_1165" id="FNanchor_1165_1165"></a><a href="#Footnote_1165_1165" class="fnanchor">[1165]</a> The person who goes to Aralû in sorrow and neglect +will continue sorrowful and neglected.</p> + +<p>The theologians, while accepting these views in general, +passed beyond them in an important particular. They could +not reconcile the evident dissolution of the body with a continuation +of even a shadowy outline. When a man died, the +'spirit,' which, according to the animistic theory, lodged somewhere +within the body and produced the manifestations of life, +sought for refuge in some other substance. The ease with +which birds moved from one place to another suggested these +beings as the ones in which the dislodged spirit found a home. +The Babylonian thinkers were not alone in developing the +view that the dead assumed the form of birds. Parallels to +the pictures of the dead in the story of Ishtar's descent may +be found in Egypt and elsewhere.<a name="FNanchor_1166_1166" id="FNanchor_1166_1166"></a><a href="#Footnote_1166_1166" class="fnanchor">[1166]</a> But what is important for +our purposes is the consideration that, in Babylonia at least, +the view in question is not the popular one, but the result of +speculations about a problem that appeals only to those who +make the attempt, at least, to clarify their ideas regarding the +mystery of death. The next section of the story affords us a +picture of the entrance to Aralû:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>When Ishtar arrived at the gate of the land without return,</p> +<p>She spoke to the watchman of the gate:</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_569" id="Page_569">[Pg 569]</a></span>Ho! watchman—open thy gate.</p> +<p>Open thy gate that I may enter.</p> +<p>If thou dost not open the gate, if thou refusest me admission,</p> +<p>I will smash the door, break the bolt.</p> +<p>I will smash the threshold, force open the portals.</p> +<p>I will raise up the dead to eat the living</p> +<p>Until the dead outnumber the living.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The entrance to the nether world is strongly guarded. From +other sources we learn that there was a 'spy'—perhaps identical +with the watchman—stationed at the portal of the lower +world, who reports all happenings to the queen Allatu through +Namtar, the god (or spirit) of pestilence. The watchman is to +prevent the living from entering, and also the dead from +escaping.</p> + +<p>The violence of Ishtar is an interesting touch in the narrative. +As a goddess, she resents any opposition to her desires. +Her anxiety to enter Aralû indicates that the original form of +the myth, which must have represented the descent as forced +and not voluntary, has been modified by the introduction of a +new factor,—the search for her dead consort, Tammuz. The +character of Ishtar as the goddess of war<a name="FNanchor_1167_1167" id="FNanchor_1167_1167"></a><a href="#Footnote_1167_1167" class="fnanchor">[1167]</a> may also have influenced +this portrayal of her rage. In her violence, she threatens +a conflict between the dead and the living. The former will +destroy<a name="FNanchor_1168_1168" id="FNanchor_1168_1168"></a><a href="#Footnote_1168_1168" class="fnanchor">[1168]</a> the latter, as a victorious army butchers the hostile host. +The watchman endeavors to pacify the enraged Ishtar:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>The watchman opened his mouth and spoke.</p> +<p>Spoke to the great Ishtar:</p> +<p>Hold, O mistress, do not destroy them.<a name="FNanchor_1169_1169" id="FNanchor_1169_1169"></a><a href="#Footnote_1169_1169" class="fnanchor">[1169]</a></p> +<p>I will go and mention thy name to the queen Allatu.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Allatu is grieved upon hearing the news of Ishtar's arrival, for +Ishtar's disappearance from the world means death.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_570" id="Page_570">[Pg 570]</a></span></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>I must weep for the masters who forsake their consorts.</p> +<p>I must weep for the wives who are torn from their husbands' side.</p> +<p>For the children I must weep who are snatched away (?) before their time.</p> +<p>Go, watchman, open thy gate.</p> +<p>Deal with her according to the ancient laws.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The scene that follows embodies, again, views of the nether +world as developed in the schools. Corresponding to the seven +zones surrounding the earth,<a name="FNanchor_1170_1170" id="FNanchor_1170_1170"></a><a href="#Footnote_1170_1170" class="fnanchor">[1170]</a> the nether world is pictured as +enclosed by seven gates. Through these Ishtar must pass, +before she is ushered into the presence of Allatu.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>The watchman went and opened his gate.</p> +<p>Enter, O mistress, welcome in Cuthah.<a name="FNanchor_1171_1171" id="FNanchor_1171_1171"></a><a href="#Footnote_1171_1171" class="fnanchor">[1171]</a></p> +<p>The great house<a name="FNanchor_1172_1172" id="FNanchor_1172_1172"></a><a href="#Footnote_1172_1172" class="fnanchor">[1172]</a> of the land without return greets thee.<a name="FNanchor_1173_1173" id="FNanchor_1173_1173"></a><a href="#Footnote_1173_1173" class="fnanchor">[1173]</a></p> +<p>Through the first gate he led her, and boldly removed the great crown from her head.</p> +<p>Why, O watchman, dost thou remove the great crown from my head?</p> +<p>Enter, O mistress, such are the laws of Allatu.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>At the second gate, he removes the earrings of the goddess; +at the third, her necklace is taken away, and, similarly, at each +succeeding gate, a portion of her dress, the ornaments on her +breast, her belt of precious stones, her bracelets, until, when +the seventh gate is reached, the covering over her loins is removed, +and she stands naked before Allatu. At each gate +Ishtar asks the same question, why the watchman strips her, +and the same answer is given.</p> + +<p>The removal of one ornament after the other symbolizes, +evidently, the gradual decay of vegetation, not, as has been +supposed, that the dead enter Aralû naked.</p> + +<p>Allatu calls upon her messenger, Namtar, to strike the +goddess with disease in all parts of her body. The disease<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_571" id="Page_571">[Pg 571]</a></span> +expresses the same idea as the removal of the ornaments,—decay +of strength. There follows a description of the desolation +on earth during Ishtar's sojourn with Allatu. Productivity +comes to a standstill.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>The ox does not mount the cow, the ass does not bend over the she-ass.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Among mankind, likewise, fertility ceases. The gods lament +the absence of Ishtar and the fate that overtook her. The +astronomical conception of Ishtar as the planet Venus, at this +point, is apparent. The gods complain.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Ishtar has descended to the earth, and has not come up.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>As a planet, Ishtar's seat is in the heavens. The disappearance +of the planet has been combined with the nature-myth of the +decay of vegetation. As the evening star, Venus dips down +into the west, to reappear after a long interval in the east. The +astral character of Ishtar dominates the latter half of the story +in its present form. It is not the goddess of love and fertility +nor the goddess of war who is rescued from her prison by Ea, +but the planet Ishtar. Shamash is informed of the disaster +by his servant, Pap-sukal.<a name="FNanchor_1174_1174" id="FNanchor_1174_1174"></a><a href="#Footnote_1174_1174" class="fnanchor">[1174]</a> The sun-god proceeds for aid to +Sin and Ea. The latter furnishes relief. The sun enters Ea's +domain every evening, and, since it is in the west that the +planet sinks like the sun, the association of ideas becomes +apparent which suggests Ea as the savior and the sun as the +mediator.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Ea created in his wisdom a male being.</p> +<p>He formed Uddushu-namir, a divine servant.</p> +<p>Go, Uddushu-namir, to the gate of the land without return, turn thy face.</p> +<p>The seven gates of the land without return will be opened before thee.</p> +<p>Allatu will see thee and welcome thee</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_572" id="Page_572">[Pg 572]</a></span>After her heart is pacified, her spirit<a name="FNanchor_1175_1175" id="FNanchor_1175_1175"></a><a href="#Footnote_1175_1175" class="fnanchor">[1175]</a> brightened.</p> +<p>Invoke against her the name of the great gods.</p> +<p>Raise thy countenance, to Sukhal-ziku direct thy attention.</p> +<p>Come, mistress, grant me Sukhal-ziku, that I may drink<a name="FNanchor_1176_1176" id="FNanchor_1176_1176"></a><a href="#Footnote_1176_1176" class="fnanchor">[1176]</a> therefrom.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Ea appears here again in the rôle of Creator.<a name="FNanchor_1177_1177" id="FNanchor_1177_1177"></a><a href="#Footnote_1177_1177" class="fnanchor">[1177]</a> The name of +the mysterious being created by Ea signifies 'renewal of light.' +The incident, it will be seen, is wholly symbolical. A touch of +mysticism has also been introduced. Sukhal-ziku is a compound +of a word meaning 'to sprinkle' and another which may +mean 'grotto.'<a name="FNanchor_1178_1178" id="FNanchor_1178_1178"></a><a href="#Footnote_1178_1178" class="fnanchor">[1178]</a> Sukhal-ziku appears, therefore, to be the name +for a mysterious fountain, the waters of which restore the dead +to life.</p> + +<p>Uddushu-namir having pronounced the name of the gods +before Allatu, and having thus secured their aid, his request is +in the nature of an order. But the request must not be interpreted +literally, as though the waters were intended for him. +It is for the sake of Ishtar that he desires to have the use of +Sukhal-ziku. Allatu understands Uddushu-namir's speech in +this sense, and is enraged at the order to yield up Ishtar.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Allalu, upon hearing this,</p> +<p>Smote her sides and bit her finger.<a name="FNanchor_1179_1179" id="FNanchor_1179_1179"></a><a href="#Footnote_1179_1179" class="fnanchor">[1179]</a></p> +<p>Thou hast demanded of me a request that should not be requested.</p> +<p>Come, Uddushu-namir, I will curse thee with a terrible curse.</p> +<p>Food from the gutters of the city be thy nourishment.</p> +<p>The sewers (?) of the city be thy drink.</p> +<p>The shadow of the wall be thy seat.</p> +<p>The threshold be thy dwelling.</p> +<p>Exile and banishment break thy strength.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The force of the curse lies in the closing words. Uddushu-namir +is to be an outcast. He will not be permitted to enter<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_573" id="Page_573">[Pg 573]</a></span> +either city or house, but must remain at the wall or stop at +the threshold. Properly prepared food and drink are to be +denied him. He shall starve or perish miserably.</p> + +<p>But the mission of Uddushu-namir has been accomplished. +Allatu may curse as she pleases; the order of Ea must be +obeyed.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>The goddess Allalu opened her mouth and spoke.</p> +<p>To Namtar, her messenger, she addressed an order:</p> +<p>Go, Namtar, smash the true palace.<a name="FNanchor_1180_1180" id="FNanchor_1180_1180"></a><a href="#Footnote_1180_1180" class="fnanchor">[1180]</a></p> +<p>Break down the threshold, destroy the door-posts (?).</p> +<p>Bring out the Anunnaki and place them on golden thrones.</p> +<p>Besprinkle Ishtar with the waters of life and take her from me.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Namtar obeys the order. Ishtar is led through the seven +gates. At each one, the articles taken from her on her entrance +are returned: at the first, the loin cloth; at the second, +the bracelets and ankle rings, and so on, until she emerges in +her full beauty.</p> + +<p>The close of the story thus brings to our gaze once more +Ishtar as goddess of fertility, who gradually brings vegetation, +strength, and productivity back again. This curious mixture in +the story of the astral Ishtar,—the creation of the astronomers,—and +the popular Ishtar, is a trait which shows how the old +nature-myth has been elaborated in passing through the hands +of the <i>literati</i>. The various steps in the process can still be +seen. In the original form, the goddess must have been forced +into an exile to the nether world, the exile symbolizing the +wintry season when fertility and productivity<a name="FNanchor_1181_1181" id="FNanchor_1181_1181"></a><a href="#Footnote_1181_1181" class="fnanchor">[1181]</a> come to an end. +Ishtar is stripped of her glory. She comes to Allatu, who +grieves at her approach, but imprisons her in the 'great house,'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_574" id="Page_574">[Pg 574]</a></span> +and refuses to yield her up, until forced to do so by order of the +gods. A similar story must have been told of Tammuz, the +sun-god, who is also the god of vegetation. The two stories +were combined. Ishtar marries Tammuz, and then destroys +him. The goddess produces fertility, but cannot maintain it. +Tammuz goes to the nether world. Ishtar repents, bewails her +loss, and goes to seek for her consort and to rescue him. In +rage she advances to Allatu, threatens to smash the door and +break the lock unless admitted. The story in this form must +have ended in the restoration of Tammuz. The identification +of Ishtar with the planet Venus introduced a new factor. The +disappearance of the planet fitted in well with the original +nature-myth. The combination of the Ishtar-Tammuz story +with this factor resulted in the tale as we have it now. The +enraged Ishtar is the one who seeks for her consort. The Ishtar +who is forced to give up her ornaments is the old goddess +who falls into the hands of Allatu. During her absence, production +comes to a standstill; decay sets in. The Ishtar who +is rescued by Ea through the mediation of the 'Renewal of +Light' is the astral Ishtar, as developed by the astronomers, +and, finally, the Ishtar who receives her ornaments back again +and comes to the upper world, is once more the goddess of +vegetation, rescued from her exile to new glory. Up to this +point, Tammuz has not been mentioned in the story. In the +advice, however, that is given at the conclusion of the tale to +mourners, the consort of Ishtar is introduced.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>If she<a name="FNanchor_1182_1182" id="FNanchor_1182_1182"></a><a href="#Footnote_1182_1182" class="fnanchor">[1182]</a> will not grant her redemption,<a name="FNanchor_1183_1183" id="FNanchor_1183_1183"></a><a href="#Footnote_1183_1183" class="fnanchor">[1183]</a> turn to her<a name="FNanchor_1184_1184" id="FNanchor_1184_1184"></a><a href="#Footnote_1184_1184" class="fnanchor">[1184]</a> [thy countenance?]</p> +<p>To Tammuz, her youthful consort,</p> +<p>Pour out pure waters, costly oil [offer him?].</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The mourners are furthermore instructed to institute a formal +lamentation. The Ukhâti,<a name="FNanchor_1185_1185" id="FNanchor_1185_1185"></a><a href="#Footnote_1185_1185" class="fnanchor">[1185]</a> the priestesses of Ishtar, are to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_575" id="Page_575">[Pg 575]</a></span> +sing dirges; flutes are to accompany the song. The thought +intended, apparently, to be conveyed is that if Allatu will not +give up the dead, the surviving relatives should endeavor to +secure the good grace of Ishtar and Tammuz, who succeeded +in subduing Allatu.</p> + +<p>The closing lines are rendered obscure by a reference to the +goddess Belili, who appears to be the sister of Tammuz. The +reference assumes the knowledge of a tale in which the goddess +was represented as breaking a costly vessel adorned with +precious stones, in sign of her grief for the lost Tammuz. +Suitable mourning for Tammuz, therefore, will secure the sympathy +of Belili also. The story thus ends with a warning to +all who mourn for their dead to remember Tammuz, to observe +the rites set aside for the festival celebrated in his honor.</p> + +<p>Bearing in mind the tentative character of any interpretation +for the closing lines, we may mention Jeremias'<a name="FNanchor_1186_1186" id="FNanchor_1186_1186"></a><a href="#Footnote_1186_1186" class="fnanchor">[1186]</a> supposition +that it is a deceased sister who addresses her sorrowing brother +at the end of the story.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>My only brother, let me not perish.</p> +<p>On the day of Tammuz, play for me on the flute of lapis lazuli, together with the lyre<a name="FNanchor_1187_1187" id="FNanchor_1187_1187"></a><a href="#Footnote_1187_1187" class="fnanchor">[1187]</a> of pearl play for me.</p> +<p>Together let the professional dirge singers, male and female, play for me,</p> +<p>That the dead may arise and inhale the incense of offerings.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The lines impress one as snatches from a dirge, sung or +recited in memory of the dead, and introduced here as an +appropriate illustration of the conclusion to be drawn from the +tale. At all events, the consolation that the mourner receives +lies in this thought,—the dead can hear the lamentation. +The survivors are called upon not to forget the dead. When +the festival of Tammuz comes, let them combine with the +weeping for the god, a dirge in memory of the dead. Let +them pray to Ishtar and Tammuz. If remembered by the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_576" id="Page_576">[Pg 576]</a></span> +living, the dead will at least enjoy the offerings made to them, +regain, as it were, a temporary sense of life; but more cannot +with certainty be hoped for.</p> + +<p>The outlook for the dead, it will be seen, is not hopeful. +Their condition is at best a tolerable one. What we may glean +from other sources but confirms the general impression, conveyed +by the opening and closing lines of the Ishtar story, or +makes the picture a still gloomier one. The day of death is a +day of sorrow, 'the day without mercy.' The word for corpse +conveys the idea that things have 'come to an end.' Whenever +death is referred to in the literature, it is described as an +unmitigated evil. A dirge introduced into an impressive hymn +to Nergal<a name="FNanchor_1188_1188" id="FNanchor_1188_1188"></a><a href="#Footnote_1188_1188" class="fnanchor">[1188]</a> laments the fate of him who</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>... has descended to the breast of the earth,</p> +<p>Satiated,<a name="FNanchor_1189_1189" id="FNanchor_1189_1189"></a><a href="#Footnote_1189_1189" class="fnanchor">[1189]</a> [he has gone] to the land of the dead.</p> +<p>Full of lament on the day that he encountered sorrow,</p> +<p>In the month which does not bring to completion the year,<a name="FNanchor_1190_1190" id="FNanchor_1190_1190"></a><a href="#Footnote_1190_1190" class="fnanchor">[1190]</a></p> +<p>On the road of destruction for mankind,</p> +<p>To the wailing-place (?),</p> +<p>The hero [has gone], to the distant invisible land.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>We must not be misled by an epithet bestowed upon several +gods, Marduk, Ninib, and Gula, of 'the restorer of the dead +to life,' into the belief that the dead could be brought back +from Aralû. These epithets appear chiefly in incantations and +hymns addressed to the gods for some specific purpose, such +as deliverance of a sufferer from disease. The gods are +appealed to against the demons, whose grasp means death. +Ninib and Gula are viewed as gods of healing.<a name="FNanchor_1191_1191" id="FNanchor_1191_1191"></a><a href="#Footnote_1191_1191" class="fnanchor">[1191]</a> To be cured +through their aid was to be snatched from the jaws of death. +Moreover, Ninib and Marduk, as solar deities, symbolize the +sun of spring, which brings about the revivification of nature.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_577" id="Page_577">[Pg 577]</a></span> +The return of vegetation suggests the thought that Ninib and +Marduk have filled with new life what appeared to be dead. +The trees that seemed entirely dead blossom forth; the bare +earth is covered with verdure. Similarly, the suffering individual +stricken with disease could be awakened to new life. It is this +'restoration' which lies in the power of the gods, but once a +man has been carried off to Aralû, no god can bring him back +to this earth.</p> + +<p>An apparent exception to the rule, according to which all +mankind eventually comes to Aralû, is formed by Parnapishtim +and his wife, who dwell in a place vaguely described as +'distant,' situated at the 'confluence of the streams.' The +place, as was pointed out in a previous chapter,<a name="FNanchor_1192_1192" id="FNanchor_1192_1192"></a><a href="#Footnote_1192_1192" class="fnanchor">[1192]</a> lies in the +vicinity of the Persian Gulf, and, since it can only be reached +by water, the natural conclusion is that it is an island. The +temptation is strong to compare the dwelling of Parnapishtim +with the belief found among the Greeks and other nations, of +'an island of the blessed.' This has been done by Jeremias<a name="FNanchor_1193_1193" id="FNanchor_1193_1193"></a><a href="#Footnote_1193_1193" class="fnanchor">[1193]</a> +and others. However, we must bear in mind that the point +in Parnapishtim's narrative is that he and his wife do <i>not die</i>. +They are removed to the distant place by the gods and continue +to live there. Again, we do not learn of any other person +who inhabits this island. If to these considerations we +add, that the name Parnapishtim signifies 'offspring of life,' +that his wife's name is not mentioned, that we are not told +what becomes of his family and servants, who are also saved +from the deluge, it is evident that the incident of Parnapishtim's +escape is an allegory, introduced into the story as a dramatic +means of teaching the doctrine which we have seen dominates +the tale,—that man, ordinarily, cannot secure immortal life.</p> + +<p>If there is any connection between the island where Parnapishtim +dwells and the Greek conception of 'an island of the +blessed,' it is a trace of foreign influence in Babylonian mythology.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_578" id="Page_578">[Pg 578]</a></span> +There is nothing to show that among the Babylonians, +either among the populace or in the schools, a belief arose in +a 'paradise' whither privileged persons were transported after +death, nor is any distinction made by them between the good +and the bad, so far as the future habitation is concerned. All +mankind, kings and subjects, virtuous and wicked, go to Aralû. +Those who have obtained the good will of the gods receive +their reward in this world, by a life of happiness and of good +health. The gods can ward off disease, or, rather, since disease +(as all ills and misfortunes) is a punishment sent by some god +or demon, forgiveness can be secured, the proof of which will +consist in the restoration of the sick to health, but the moment +that death ensues the control of the gods ends. To the Babylonians, +the words of the Psalmist,<a name="FNanchor_1194_1194" id="FNanchor_1194_1194"></a><a href="#Footnote_1194_1194" class="fnanchor">[1194]</a> "who praises thee, O God, +in Sheol?" came home with terrible force. They expressed, +admirably, the Babylonian view of the limitations of divine +power. The dead do not praise the gods, simply because it +would be useless. The concern of the gods is with the living.</p> + +<p>We are fortunate in possessing a pictorial representation of +the nether world that confirms the view to be derived from a +study of the religious literature. A number of years ago, Clermont-Ganneau +directed attention to a remarkable bronze tablet +which was purchased at Hamath in northern Syria.<a name="FNanchor_1195_1195" id="FNanchor_1195_1195"></a><a href="#Footnote_1195_1195" class="fnanchor">[1195]</a> The art +was clearly Babylonian, and there was no reason to question +the genuineness of the production. Quite recently a duplicate +has been found at Zurghul, in Babylonia,<a name="FNanchor_1196_1196" id="FNanchor_1196_1196"></a><a href="#Footnote_1196_1196" class="fnanchor">[1196]</a> so that all suspicions +are removed. The bronze tablet contains on the one side, the +figure of a monster with a lion-like face and body, but provided +with huge wings. Standing erect, his head rises above the +tablet, his fore legs rest on the edge, and the demon is thus<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_579" id="Page_579">[Pg 579]</a></span> +represented in the attitude of looking over to the other side of +the tablet. At the side of the monster, are two heads of +hideous appearance.</p> + +<p>The illustrations on the reverse are devoted to a portrayal +of a funeral ceremony, and of the general aspects of the nether +world. There are five distinct divisions,<a name="FNanchor_1197_1197" id="FNanchor_1197_1197"></a><a href="#Footnote_1197_1197" class="fnanchor">[1197]</a> marked off from one +another by four heavy lines drawn across the tablet. In the +first division appear the symbols of the chief gods of the +Assyrian pantheon, Marduk, Nabu, Sin, Ishtar, Shamash, Ramman, +etc.<a name="FNanchor_1198_1198" id="FNanchor_1198_1198"></a><a href="#Footnote_1198_1198" class="fnanchor">[1198]</a> These gods, as inhabiting the heaven, are placed +at the head of the tablet. Next come seven evil spirits figured +as various animals,<a name="FNanchor_1199_1199" id="FNanchor_1199_1199"></a><a href="#Footnote_1199_1199" class="fnanchor">[1199]</a> who, as inferior to the gods, and perhaps +also as messengers of the latter, are assigned a place midway +between heaven and earth. In the third section, there is pictured +the funeral ceremony proper. A dead body lies on a +couch. Two rather strange figures, but apparently priests, +have taken up a position, one at each end of the funeral bier, +performing some rite of purification. One of the priests has a +robe of fish scales and is bearded; the other is smooth-faced +and clothed in a long garment. Censers are placed near the +priests. The latter appear at the same time to be protecting +the body against two demons whose threatening gestures suggest +that they are endeavoring to secure possession of the dead.<a name="FNanchor_1200_1200" id="FNanchor_1200_1200"></a><a href="#Footnote_1200_1200" class="fnanchor">[1200]</a> +These demons may be the special messengers of the gods of +the nether world, who have brought about the death of their +victim. Below this scene, we come to a view of the nether +world. The division is much larger than any of the others. +Two hideous figures dominate the scene, both of fantastic<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_580" id="Page_580">[Pg 580]</a></span> +shape, and evidently so portrayed as to suggest the horror of +the nether world. One of these figures<a name="FNanchor_1201_1201" id="FNanchor_1201_1201"></a><a href="#Footnote_1201_1201" class="fnanchor">[1201]</a> stands erect in a +menacing attitude; the other is resting in a kneeling position +on a horse.<a name="FNanchor_1202_1202" id="FNanchor_1202_1202"></a><a href="#Footnote_1202_1202" class="fnanchor">[1202]</a> The second figure is a representation of the chief +goddess of the nether world—Allatu. The demon at her side +would then be the special messenger of this goddess, Namtar. +The goddess has her two arms extended, in the act of strangling +a serpent. The act symbolizes her strength. Her face is +that of a lioness, and she is suckling two young lions at her +breasts. If it be recalled that Nergal, the chief god of the +lower world, is also pictured as a lion,<a name="FNanchor_1203_1203" id="FNanchor_1203_1203"></a><a href="#Footnote_1203_1203" class="fnanchor">[1203]</a> it seems but natural +to conclude that the monster covering the one side of the +tablet is none other than the consort of Allatu, the heads on +either side of him representing his attendants. At the left side +of Allatu are a series of objects,—a jar, bowl, an arrowhead (?), +a trident, which, as being buried with the dead, are symbols of +the grave. The goddess and the demon at her side direct +their gaze towards these objects.</p> + +<p>The nether world reaches down to the Apsu,—the 'deep' that +flows underneath the earth. This is indicated in the design +by placing the horse, on which the goddess rests, in a bark. +The bark, again, is of fantastic shape, the one end terminating +in the head of a serpent, the other in that of some other animal,—perhaps +a bull. The bark reaches into the fifth division,<a name="FNanchor_1204_1204" id="FNanchor_1204_1204"></a><a href="#Footnote_1204_1204" class="fnanchor">[1204]</a> +which is a picture of flowing water with fish swimming from the +left to the right, as an indication of the direction in which the +water flows. At the verge of the water stand two trees.<a name="FNanchor_1205_1205" id="FNanchor_1205_1205"></a><a href="#Footnote_1205_1205" class="fnanchor">[1205]</a> What +these trees symbolize is not known, and there are other details +in the third and fourth sections that still escape us. For our +purposes, it is sufficient to note: (<i>a</i>) that the sections represent +in a general way the divisions of the universe, the heavens, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_581" id="Page_581">[Pg 581]</a></span> +atmosphere, the earth, the nether world, and the deep;<a name="FNanchor_1206_1206" id="FNanchor_1206_1206"></a><a href="#Footnote_1206_1206" class="fnanchor">[1206]</a> (<i>b</i>) +that the nether world is in the interior of the earth, reaching +down to Apsu; and (<i>c</i>) that this interior is pictured as a place +full of horrors, and is presided over by gods and demons of +great strength and fierceness.</p> + +<p>Such being the view of the nether world, it is natural that +the living should regard with dread, not only the place but also +its inhabitants. The gloom that surrounded the latter reacted +on their disposition. In general, the dead were not favorably +disposed towards the living, and they were inclined to use what +power they had to work evil rather than for good. In this +respect they resembled the demons, and it is noticeable that an +important class of demons was known by the name <i>ekimmu</i>, which +is one of the common terms for the shades of the dead. This +fear of the dead, which is the natural corollary to the reverence +felt for them, enters as an important factor in the honors paid +by the living to the memory of the deceased. To provide the +dead with food and drink, to recall their virtues in dirges, to +bring sacrifices in their honor,—such rites were practised, +as much from a desire to secure the favor of the dead and to +ward off their evil designs as from motives of piety, which, of +course, were not absent. The dead who was not properly +cared for by his surviving relatives would take his revenge upon +the living by plaguing them as only a demon could. The +demons that infested graveyards were in some way identified +with the 'spirits,' or perhaps messengers, of the dead, who, in +their anger towards the living, lay in wait for an attack upon +those against whom they had a grudge.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_582" id="Page_582">[Pg 582]</a></span></p> + +<h3>The Pantheon of Aralû.</h3> + +<p>We have seen how the mystery coupled with death led to +the view which brought the dead into more direct relationship +with the gods. Closely allied with this view is the power +ascribed to the dead to work evil or good and, like the gods, +to furnish oracles. This power once acknowledged, it was but +a short step to the deification of the dead, or, rather, of such +personalities who in life exercised authority, by virtue of their +position or innate qualities. On the other hand, the gloominess +of the nether world, the sad condition of its inhabitants, the +impossibility of an escape or a return to this world, necessarily +suggested to the Babylonians that the gods worshipped by the +living had no control over the fate of the dead. The gods, to +be sure, were at times wrathful, but, on the whole, they were +well disposed towards mankind. When angry, they could be +pacified, and it was impossible to believe that they should +deliberately consign their creatures to such a sad lot as +awaited those who went down to Aralû. The gods who ruled +the dead must be different from those who directed the fate of +the living. A special pantheon for the nether world was thus +developed. Such deities as Marduk, Ea, Nabu, Shamash, or +Ashur, who acted, each in his way, as protectors of mankind, +could find no place in this pantheon; but a god like Nergal, +who symbolized the midday sun, and the sun of the summer +solstice that brought misery and fever to the inhabitants of the +Euphrates Valley; Nergal, who became the god of violent +destruction in general, and, more particularly, the god of war, +the god whose emblem was the lion, who was cruel and of forbidding +aspect,—such a god was admirably adapted to rule +those who could only look forward to a miserable imprisonment +in a region filled with horror. Nergal, therefore, became the +chief god of the pantheon of the lower world.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_583" id="Page_583">[Pg 583]</a></span></p> + +<p>In the religious texts, the cruel aspects of this god are almost +exclusively emphasized. He is the one god towards whom no +love is felt, for he is a god without mercy. The fierce aspects +of the solar Nergal are accentuated in Nergal, the chief of the +pantheon of Aralû. He becomes even more ferocious than he +already was, as a god of war. His battle is with all mankind. +He is greedy for victims to be forever enclosed in his great +and gloomy domain. Destruction is his one and single object; +nothing can withstand his attack. Armed with a sword, his +favorite time for stalking about is at night, when he strikes his +unerring blows. Horrible demons of pestilence and of all +manner of disease constitute his train, who are sent out by +him on missions of death. The favorite titles by which he is +known appear in a hymn<a name="FNanchor_1207_1207" id="FNanchor_1207_1207"></a><a href="#Footnote_1207_1207" class="fnanchor">[1207]</a> addressed to him, as god of the +lower world. He is invoked as the</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Warrior, strong whirlwind, sweeping the hostile land,<a name="FNanchor_1208_1208" id="FNanchor_1208_1208"></a><a href="#Footnote_1208_1208" class="fnanchor">[1208]</a></p> +<p>Warrior, ruler of Aralû.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Another hymn<a name="FNanchor_1209_1209" id="FNanchor_1209_1209"></a><a href="#Footnote_1209_1209" class="fnanchor">[1209]</a> describes him as a</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Great warrior who is firm as the earth.</p> +<p>Superior as heaven and earth art thou,</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p>What is there in the deep that thou dost not secure?</p> +<p>What is there in the deep that thou dost not clutch?</p> +</div></div> + +<p>While references to the local character of the god as patron +of Cuthah survive, the name Cuthah itself becomes synonymous +with the nether world. The old solar deity is completely overshadowed +by the terrible ruler of the lower world. It is due to +this that the real consort of the local Nergal, the goddess Laz, +is rarely mentioned in the religious literature. The priests, when +they spoke of Nergal, had in mind always the companionship with +Allatu. But the association of ideas which thus led to assigning<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_584" id="Page_584">[Pg 584]</a></span> +a god who was originally a solar deity, a place in the lower +world bears the impress of the schools. The popular development +of Nergal ceased, when he became the local god of Cuthah. +It is only as an outgrowth of the systematized pantheon that +we can understand the transformation involved in making of a +local deity, the head of a pantheon that is itself an outcome of +the later phases assumed by the religion.</p> + +<p>The problem suggested by this transformation was recognized +by the theologians. A curious tale was found among the El-Amarna +tablets which endeavors to account for Nergal's presence +in the world of the dead. Unfortunately, the tablet on +which the story is inscribed is so badly mutilated that we can +hardly gather more than the general outlines.<a name="FNanchor_1210_1210" id="FNanchor_1210_1210"></a><a href="#Footnote_1210_1210" class="fnanchor">[1210]</a> A conflict has +arisen between the gods on high and a goddess who has her +seat in the lower world. This goddess is none other than +Allatu. She is described as Eresh-Kigal,<a name="FNanchor_1211_1211" id="FNanchor_1211_1211"></a><a href="#Footnote_1211_1211" class="fnanchor">[1211]</a> <i>i.e.</i>, queen of Kigal +or of the nether world. The scene reminds us of the contest +between the gods and Tiâmat, as embodied in the creation epic. +The gods choose Nergal as their leader. Assisted by fourteen +companions, whose names—'fever,' 'fiery heart,' 'lightning +sender'—remind us again of the eleven monsters that constitute +Tiâmat's assistants,<a name="FNanchor_1212_1212" id="FNanchor_1212_1212"></a><a href="#Footnote_1212_1212" class="fnanchor">[1212]</a> Nergal proceeds to the lower world, and +knocks at the gate for admission. Namtar, the plague-demon, +acts as the messenger. He announces the arrival of Nergal to +Allatu. The latter is obliged to admit Nergal, just as in the story +of Ishtar's descent, she is forced to receive Ishtar. Fourteen +gates of the lower world are mentioned. At each one, Nergal +stations one of his companions and passes on to the house of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_585" id="Page_585">[Pg 585]</a></span> +Allatu. He seizes the goddess, drags her from her throne, and +is about to kill her when she appeals for mercy. She breaks +out in tears, offers herself in marriage if Nergal will spare her.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>You shall be my husband and I will be your wife.</p> +<p>The tablets of wisdom I will lay in your hands.</p> +<p>You shall be master and I mistress.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Nergal accepts the condition, kisses Allatu, and wipes away +her tears.</p> + +<p>One cannot resist the conclusion that the tale is, as already +suggested, an imitation of the Marduk-Tiâmat episode. Allatu is +a female like Tiâmat. Nergal acts for the gods just as Marduk +does. The attendants of Nergal are suggested by the monsters +accompanying Tiâmat; the tables of wisdom which Nergal receives, +correspond to the tablets of fate which Marduk snatches +from Kingu.<a name="FNanchor_1213_1213" id="FNanchor_1213_1213"></a><a href="#Footnote_1213_1213" class="fnanchor">[1213]</a> But while the conflict between Marduk and +Tiâmat is an intelligible nature-myth, symbolizing the annual +rainstorms that sweep over Babylonia, there is no such interpretation +possible in the contest between Nergal and Allatu. The +story is not even a glorification of a local deity, for Nergal +appears solely in the rôle of a solar deity. The attendants +given to him—heat, lightning, and disease—are the popular +traits in the story; but with the chief characters in the old +nature-myth changed,—Marduk or the original Bel replaced +by Nergal, and Tiâmat by Allatu,—the story loses its popular +aspect, and becomes a medium for illustrating a doctrine of the +schools. If this view of the tale be correct, we would incidentally +have a proof (for which there is other evidence) that as +early as the fifteenth century, the Marduk-Tiâmat story had +already received a definite shape. But the most valuable conclusion +to be drawn from the Nergal-Allatu tale is that, according +to the popular conceptions, the real and older head of the +pantheon of the lower world was a goddess, and not a god.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_586" id="Page_586">[Pg 586]</a></span> +Allatu takes precedence of Nergal. In the story of Ishtar's +descent to the lower world, a trace of the earlier view survives. +Allatu is introduced as the ruler of the lower world. Nergal +plays no part. Viewed in this light, the design of the tale we +have just discussed becomes still more evident. It was inconsistent +with the prominence assigned to male deities in the +systematized pantheon, that the chief deity of the lower world +should be a female. Allatu could not be set aside, for the +belief in her power was too strongly imbedded in the popular +mind; but a male consort could be given her who might rule +with her. Another factor that may have entered into play in +the adaptation of the Marduk-Tiâmat story to Nergal and +Allatu, and that gave to the adaptation more plausibility, was +the disappearance of the summer sun after he had done his +work. Nergal did not exert his power during the whole year, +and even as the sun of midday, he was not in control all day. +When he disappeared, there was only one place to which he +could go.</p> + +<p>As of Tarmmuz and of other solar deities,<a name="FNanchor_1214_1214" id="FNanchor_1214_1214"></a><a href="#Footnote_1214_1214" class="fnanchor">[1214]</a> it was probably +related of Nergal, also, that he was carried to the lower world. +This popular basis for the presence of Nergal in the lower +world may have served as a point of departure for the scholastic +development of Nergal. However, the tale of Nergal and +Allatu goes far beyond the length of popular belief in making +Nergal conquer Allatu, and force himself, in a measure, into +her place. Before Nergal appears on the scene, a god, Ninazu, +was regarded as the consort of Allatu.<a name="FNanchor_1215_1215" id="FNanchor_1215_1215"></a><a href="#Footnote_1215_1215" class="fnanchor">[1215]</a></p> + +<p>The conception which gives the Babylonian Hades a queen +as ruler is of popular origin, in contrast to the scholastic aspect +of Nergal as the later king of the lower region. Jensen is of +the opinion that the feminine gender of the word for earth in +Babylonian superinduced the belief that the ruler of the kingdom<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_587" id="Page_587">[Pg 587]</a></span> +situated within the earth was a woman. Allatu would, according +to this view, be a personification of the 'earth.' But a factor +that also enters into play is the notion of productivity and fertility +which gave rise to the conception of the great mother-goddess, +Ishtar.<a name="FNanchor_1216_1216" id="FNanchor_1216_1216"></a><a href="#Footnote_1216_1216" class="fnanchor">[1216]</a> Allatu is correlated to Ishtar. From the +earth comes vegetation. The origin of mankind, too, is traced +to the earth, and to the earth mankind ultimately returns.<a name="FNanchor_1217_1217" id="FNanchor_1217_1217"></a><a href="#Footnote_1217_1217" class="fnanchor">[1217]</a> +Hence, the receiver of life is a goddess equally with the giver of +life, and indeed, Ishtar and Allatu are but the two aspects of one +and the same phenomenon.<a name="FNanchor_1218_1218" id="FNanchor_1218_1218"></a><a href="#Footnote_1218_1218" class="fnanchor">[1218]</a> Allatu signifies 'strength.' The +name is related to the Arabic <i>Allah</i> and the Hebrew <i>Eloah</i> and +<i>Elohim</i>. The same meaning—strength, power, rule—attaches +to many of the names of the gods of the Semites: Adôn, Etana, +Baal, El, and the like.<a name="FNanchor_1219_1219" id="FNanchor_1219_1219"></a><a href="#Footnote_1219_1219" class="fnanchor">[1219]</a> It is interesting to note that the chief +goddess of Arabia is <i>Allat</i><a name="FNanchor_1220_1220" id="FNanchor_1220_1220"></a><a href="#Footnote_1220_1220" class="fnanchor">[1220]</a>—a name identical with our Allatu.</p> + +<p>The bronze relief above described furnished us with a picture +of this queen of the lower world. The gloom enveloping +the region controls this picture. Allatu is of as forbidding an +aspect as Tiâmat. She is warlike and ferocious. When enraged, +her anger knows no bounds. Her chief attendants are +the terrible Namtar and a scribe—also a female—known as +Belit-seri. Of these two personages, Namtar, the personification +of disease, is a popular conception, whereas the addition +of a scribe points again to the influence of the schools. Marduk, +the chief god of the living, has a scribe who writes down, +at the god's dictation, the fate decreed for individuals. Corresponding +to this, the ruler of the lower world has a scribe who +writes down on the tablets of wisdom the decrees of the goddess,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_588" id="Page_588">[Pg 588]</a></span> +and, at a later stage, the decrees of Nergal as well. Belit-seri, +whose name signifies 'mistress of the field,' was originally +a goddess of vegetation, some local deity who has been reduced +to the rank of an attendant upon a greater one; and it is significant +that almost all the members of the nether-world pantheon +are in some way connected with vegetation.</p> + +<p>Tammuz, of whose position in this pantheon we have +already had occasion to speak, is the god of spring vegetation. +Another solar deity, Nin-gishzida,<a name="FNanchor_1221_1221" id="FNanchor_1221_1221"></a><a href="#Footnote_1221_1221" class="fnanchor">[1221]</a> who is associated in the +Adapa legend with Tammuz, is the deity who presides over +the growth of trees. En-meshara, who also belongs to the +court of Nergal and Allatu, appears to represent vegetation +in general. To these may be added Girra (or Gira), who originally, +as it would appear, a god of vegetation, is eventually +identified with Dibbarra,<a name="FNanchor_1222_1222" id="FNanchor_1222_1222"></a><a href="#Footnote_1222_1222" class="fnanchor">[1222]</a> Gil, whom Jensen<a name="FNanchor_1223_1223" id="FNanchor_1223_1223"></a><a href="#Footnote_1223_1223" class="fnanchor">[1223]</a> regards as 'the god +of foliage,' and Belili, the sister of Tammuz.<a name="FNanchor_1224_1224" id="FNanchor_1224_1224"></a><a href="#Footnote_1224_1224" class="fnanchor">[1224]</a> Of this group of +deities, Tammuz and Nin-gishzida are the most important. In +the Adapa legend, it will be recalled, they are stationed as +guardians in heaven. As solar deities, they properly belong +there. Like Nergal, they have been transferred to the nether +world; and in the case of all three, the process that led to the +change appears to have been the same. The trees blossom, +bear fruit, and then decay; the fields are clothed in glory, and +then shorn of their strength. The decay of vegetation was +popularly figured as due to the weakness<a name="FNanchor_1225_1225" id="FNanchor_1225_1225"></a><a href="#Footnote_1225_1225" class="fnanchor">[1225]</a> of the god who +produced the fertility. Tammuz has been deceived by Ishtar; +Nin-gishzida has been carried off to the lower world. In the +month of Tebet,—the tenth month,—there was celebrated a +festival of mourning for the lost En-meshara. It is the time of +the winter solstice. A similar fate must have overtaken Belit-seri,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_589" id="Page_589">[Pg 589]</a></span> +Girra, and Gil. For a time, at least, they are hidden in the +realm of Allatu. Of all these deities, stories were no doubt +current that formed so many variations of one and the same +theme, symbolizing their disappearance and the hoped-for return, +the same story that we encounter in the myth of Venus and +Adonis, in the myth of Osiris, and, in some guise or other, among +many other nations of the ancient world. Of Girra, it may be +well to remember that he is viewed merely as a form of Nergal +in the later texts. Belili, it will be recalled, is associated with +Tammuz in the story of Ishtar's journey.<a name="FNanchor_1226_1226" id="FNanchor_1226_1226"></a><a href="#Footnote_1226_1226" class="fnanchor">[1226]</a> She is not, however, +the consort of the god, but his sister. The antiquity of +her cult follows from the occurrence of her name in the list of +gods antecedent to Anu,<a name="FNanchor_1227_1227" id="FNanchor_1227_1227"></a><a href="#Footnote_1227_1227" class="fnanchor">[1227]</a> and where Alala is entered as her +consort. Whatever else the relationship of 'sister' to Tammuz +means, it certainly indicates that Belili belongs to the +deities of vegetation, and it may be that she will turn out to be +identical with Belit-seri, which is merely the designation of +some goddess, and not a real name.<a name="FNanchor_1228_1228" id="FNanchor_1228_1228"></a><a href="#Footnote_1228_1228" class="fnanchor">[1228]</a> One is inclined also to +suspect some, albeit remote, connection between Alala, the +consort of Belili, and the Alallu bird who is spoken of in the +Gilgamesh epic as having been deprived of her pinions by Ishtar.<a name="FNanchor_1229_1229" id="FNanchor_1229_1229"></a><a href="#Footnote_1229_1229" class="fnanchor">[1229]</a> +In the tale, Tammuz, the Alallu bird, a lion, and a horse +are successively introduced as those once loved and then deceived +by Ishtar. The lion is, as has been several times indicated, +the symbol of Nergal; the horse appears in the Hades +relief above described as the animal upon which Allatu is seated, +and it seems legitimate, therefore, to seek for Alallu also in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_590" id="Page_590">[Pg 590]</a></span> +nether world. While it may be that a long process intervened, +before such a species of symbolization was brought about as +the representation of an ancient deity in the guise of a bird, +still, if it will be recalled that Zu is a deity, pictured as a bird,<a name="FNanchor_1230_1230" id="FNanchor_1230_1230"></a><a href="#Footnote_1230_1230" class="fnanchor">[1230]</a> +there is every reason to interpret the bird Alallu merely as the +symbol of some deity, just as the lion is certainly such a symbol.</p> + +<p>Jensen would add Etana to the list of gods of vegetation +who form part of Allatu's court. While the etymology he proposes +for the name is not acceptable, there is no doubt that to +Etana, like Gilgamesh, the character of a solar deity has been +imparted. His presence in the nether world is due to the story +of his flight with the eagle and the fall.<a name="FNanchor_1231_1231" id="FNanchor_1231_1231"></a><a href="#Footnote_1231_1231" class="fnanchor">[1231]</a> If he falls from +heaven, he naturally enters the realm of Allatu, and it is possible +that the story in its original form was suggested by a myth +illustrating the change of seasons. The question, however, +must for the present remain an open one.</p> + +<p>A god associated with the nether world who again appears +to be a solar deity is Nin-azu. His name points to his being +'the god of healing.' A text states<a name="FNanchor_1232_1232" id="FNanchor_1232_1232"></a><a href="#Footnote_1232_1232" class="fnanchor">[1232]</a> that Allatu is his consort. +Such a relationship to the chief goddess of the nether +world may be regarded as a survival of the period when Nergal +had not yet been assigned to this place. The introduction of +a distinctly beneficent god into the pantheon of the lower world, +and as second in rank, shows also that the gloomy conception +of the lower world was one that developed gradually. +Tammuz, Nin-gishzida, and the like are held enthralled by +Allatu, and remain in the nether world against their will; but +if Allatu chooses as her consort a 'god of healing,' she must +have been viewed as a goddess who could at times, at least, be +actuated by kindly motives. The phase of the sun symbolized +by Nin-azu is, as in the case of Tammuz and others, the sun +of the springtime and of the morning. If it be recalled that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_591" id="Page_591">[Pg 591]</a></span> +Gula, the great goddess of healing, is the consort of Ninib,<a name="FNanchor_1233_1233" id="FNanchor_1233_1233"></a><a href="#Footnote_1233_1233" class="fnanchor">[1233]</a> it +will be clear that Nin-azu must be closely related to Ninib—and +is, indeed, identified with the latter.<a name="FNanchor_1234_1234" id="FNanchor_1234_1234"></a><a href="#Footnote_1234_1234" class="fnanchor">[1234]</a> With Nergal in control, +Nin-azu had to yield his privilege to be the husband of +Allatu. The substitute of the fierce sun of the summer solstice +for the sun of spring is a most interesting symptom of the +direction taken by the Babylonian beliefs, regarding the fate +of the dead. It may be that in the earlier period, when more +optimistic views of Aralû were current, Gula, who is called the +one 'who restores the dead to life,' may have had a place in +the pantheon of the lower world; not that the Babylonians at +any time believed in the return of the dead, but because the +living could be saved from the clutches of death. Ninib and +Gula, as gods of spring, furnished the spectacle of such a +miracle in the return of vegetation. In this sense, we have +seen that Marduk, the god of spring, was also addressed as +'the restorer to life.' But while the revivification of nature controls +the conception of gods of healing, like Nin-azu, Ninib, +and Gula, the extension of the idea would lead, naturally, to +the association of these gods with the ruler of the nether world, +at a time when it was still believed that this ruler could be +moved by appeals to loosen her hold upon those whom she was +about to drag to her kingdom. But it is important always to +bear in mind that beyond this apparent restoration of the dead +to life, the Babylonians at no time went.</p> + +<p>In the Ishtar story<a name="FNanchor_1235_1235" id="FNanchor_1235_1235"></a><a href="#Footnote_1235_1235" class="fnanchor">[1235]</a> a god Irkalla is introduced. Jeremias<a name="FNanchor_1236_1236" id="FNanchor_1236_1236"></a><a href="#Footnote_1236_1236" class="fnanchor">[1236]</a> +takes this as one of the names of Allatu, but this is unlikely.<a name="FNanchor_1237_1237" id="FNanchor_1237_1237"></a><a href="#Footnote_1237_1237" class="fnanchor">[1237]</a> +From other sources<a name="FNanchor_1238_1238" id="FNanchor_1238_1238"></a><a href="#Footnote_1238_1238" class="fnanchor">[1238]</a> we know that Irkalla is one of the names<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_592" id="Page_592">[Pg 592]</a></span> +of the nether world. It is in some way connected with Urugal,<a name="FNanchor_1239_1239" id="FNanchor_1239_1239"></a><a href="#Footnote_1239_1239" class="fnanchor">[1239]</a> +<i>i.e.</i>, 'great city,' which is also a common designation for +the dwelling-place of the dead. Hence, Irkalla is an epithet +describing a deity as 'the god of the great city.' The Babylonian +scholars, who were fond of plays upon words, brought +the name Nergal, as though compounded of Ne-uru-gal (<i>i.e.</i>, +'ruler of the great city'), into connection with Uru-gal, and +thus identified Irkalla with Nergal. But, originally, some other +god must have been meant, since Allatu appears as the sole +ruler of the lower world in the Ishtar story, unless, indeed, we +are to assume that the name has been introduced at a late period +as a concession to Nergal. It is more plausible that a god like +Nin-azu was understood under 'the god of the great city.' +Besides these gods, there is another series of beings who belong +to Allatu's court,—the demons who are directly responsible for +death in the world. Of this series, Namtar is the chief and the +representative. As the one who gathers in the living to the dark +abode, it is natural that he should be pictured as guardian at +the gates of the great palace of Allatu. But by the side of +Namtar stand a large number of demons, whose task is similar +to that of their chief. A text<a name="FNanchor_1240_1240" id="FNanchor_1240_1240"></a><a href="#Footnote_1240_1240" class="fnanchor">[1240]</a> calls the entire group of +demons,—the demon of wasting disease, the demon of fever, +the demon of erysipelas,<a name="FNanchor_1241_1241" id="FNanchor_1241_1241"></a><a href="#Footnote_1241_1241" class="fnanchor">[1241]</a> and the like,—'the offspring of +Aralû,' 'the sons and messengers of Namtar, the bearers of +destruction for Allatu.' These demons are sent out from Aralû +to plague the living, but once they have brought their victims +to Aralû, their task is done. They do not trouble the dead. +The latter stand, as we have seen, under the direct control of +the gods.<a name="FNanchor_1242_1242" id="FNanchor_1242_1242"></a><a href="#Footnote_1242_1242" class="fnanchor">[1242]</a></p> + +<p>The story of Ishtar's descent to the lower world<a name="FNanchor_1243_1243" id="FNanchor_1243_1243"></a><a href="#Footnote_1243_1243" class="fnanchor">[1243]</a> shows us +that the group of spirits known as the Anunnaki, also, belong to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_593" id="Page_593">[Pg 593]</a></span> +the court of Nergal and Allatu. Ramman-nirari I. already designates +the Anunnaki as belonging to the earth,<a name="FNanchor_1244_1244" id="FNanchor_1244_1244"></a><a href="#Footnote_1244_1244" class="fnanchor">[1244]</a> though it is an +indication of the vagueness of the notions connected with the +group that in hymns, both the Anunnaki and the Igigi are designated +as offspring of Anu,—the god of heaven.<a name="FNanchor_1245_1245" id="FNanchor_1245_1245"></a><a href="#Footnote_1245_1245" class="fnanchor">[1245]</a> They are +not exclusively at the service of Nergal and Allatu. Bel, +Ninib, Marduk, and Ishtar also send them out on missions. +Evidently, the fact that their chief function was to injure mankind +suggested the doctrine which gave them a place in the +lower world with the demons. The distinction between Anunnaki +and the Igigi is not sharply maintained in the religious +literature. Though Ramman-nirari places the Igigi in heaven, +it is not impossible that a later view transferred them, like the +Anunnaki, to the lower world. There were, of course, some +misfortunes that were sent against mankind from on high—Ramman +was a god who required such messengers as the +Igigi, and besides the Igigi, there were other spirits sent out from +above. But, as in the course of time the general doctrine was +developed which made the gods, on the whole, favorably inclined +towards man, while the evil was ascribed to the demons<a name="FNanchor_1246_1246" id="FNanchor_1246_1246"></a><a href="#Footnote_1246_1246" class="fnanchor">[1246]</a>—as +occupying the lower rank of divine beings—we note the +tendency also to ascribe the ills that humanity is heir to, to the +forces that dwell under the earth,—to Nergal and Allatu and +to those who did their bidding. Probably, Lakhmu and Lakhamu +were also regarded, at least by the theologians, as part of +Allatu's court, just as Alala and Belili<a name="FNanchor_1247_1247" id="FNanchor_1247_1247"></a><a href="#Footnote_1247_1247" class="fnanchor">[1247]</a> were so regarded.</p> + +<p>The confusion resulting from the double position of Nergal +in the religious literature, as the deity of the summer solstice +and as the chief of the nether-world pantheon, raises a +doubt whether some gods who are closely associated with +Nergal are to be placed on high with the gods or have their +seats below with Nergal. Among these, three require mention +here: Dibbarra, Gibil, and Ishum. Of these, the first two<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_594" id="Page_594">[Pg 594]</a></span> +are directly identified with Nergal in the systematized pantheon<a name="FNanchor_1248_1248" id="FNanchor_1248_1248"></a><a href="#Footnote_1248_1248" class="fnanchor">[1248]</a>, +while Ishum is closely associated with Nergal, or +appears as the attendant of Dibbarra<a name="FNanchor_1249_1249" id="FNanchor_1249_1249"></a><a href="#Footnote_1249_1249" class="fnanchor">[1249]</a>. These gods, symbolizing +violent destruction through war and fire, are evidently related +to the Nergal of the upper world,—to Nergal, the solar deity; +but in the later stages of the religion, the Nergal of the lower +world almost completely sets aside the earlier conception. It +is, therefore, likely that deities who stand so close to the terrible +god as those under consideration, were also regarded as having +a position near his throne in the lower world.</p> + +<p>The pantheon of Aralû thus assumes considerable dimensions. +At the same time, we observe the same tendency +towards concentration of power in this pantheon as we have +seen was the case in the pantheon of the upper world<a name="FNanchor_1250_1250" id="FNanchor_1250_1250"></a><a href="#Footnote_1250_1250" class="fnanchor">[1250]</a>. As in +Babylonia there are practically only a few gods,—Marduk, +Nabu, Ishtar, Shamash, and Sin,—who exercised considerable +control; and, as in Assyria we find this tendency still more +accentuated in the supreme rank accorded to Ashur, so in the +lower world Nergal and Allatu are the real rulers. The other +gods, and, naturally, also the demons, occupy inferior positions. +As messengers, guardians, spies, or attendants, they +group themselves around the throne of the two rulers. A +noticeable feature, however, in the pantheon of the lower +world consists in the high position held by the consort of the +head of the pantheon. Allatu does not sink to the insignificant +rank of being merely a pale reflection of Nergal, as do the +consorts of Marduk, Shamash, Ashur, and the like<a name="FNanchor_1251_1251" id="FNanchor_1251_1251"></a><a href="#Footnote_1251_1251" class="fnanchor">[1251]</a>. As a +trace of the earlier supreme control exercised by her, she continues<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_595" id="Page_595">[Pg 595]</a></span> +to reign with her husband. In the popular mind, indeed, +despite the influence of theological doctrines, Allatu continues +to be more prominent than Nergal. Nergal is obliged to abide +by the compact he made with Allatu. He rules <i>with</i> her, but +not over her. The theology of the schools did not venture to +set Allatu aside altogether; and this limitation in the development +of the doctrine that elsewhere gave the male principle +the supremacy over the female, may be taken as a valuable +indication of the counter-influence, exercised by deeply rooted +popular beliefs, over the theoretical elaboration of the religion +at the hands of the religious guides.</p> + + +<h3>The Tombs and the Burial Customs.</h3> + +<p>Our knowledge of the customs observed by the Babylonians +and Assyrians in disposing of their dead leaves much +to be desired. Most of the graves discovered in the ruins of +Babylonian cities belong to the Persian or to the Greek +period. In some cases,<a name="FNanchor_1252_1252" id="FNanchor_1252_1252"></a><a href="#Footnote_1252_1252" class="fnanchor">[1252]</a> where we have reason to believe that +older graves have been found, it is almost impossible to estimate +their age. Recently, the expedition of the University of +Pennsylvania to Nippur has unearthed remains that appear to +belong to an older period, though nothing can be dated with +any degree of certainty earlier than 2500 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span><a name="FNanchor_1253_1253" id="FNanchor_1253_1253"></a><a href="#Footnote_1253_1253" class="fnanchor">[1253]</a> Still, with +proper caution, even the material belonging to a later period may +be used for the older periods. Burial customs, as has already +been emphasized, constitute the most conservative elements in +a religion. Such rites are much less liable to change than the +cult of the gods. Foreign invasion would not affect the funeral +rites, even where other religious customs are altered. Even so +violent a change as that produced by the introduction of Mohammedanism +into Mesopotamia has not removed traces of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_596" id="Page_596">[Pg 596]</a></span> +old Babylonian religion. Dr. Peters has shown that the district +in the Euphrates Valley selected by the modern Arabs and Persians +for the interment of their dead<a name="FNanchor_1254_1254" id="FNanchor_1254_1254"></a><a href="#Footnote_1254_1254" class="fnanchor">[1254]</a> derives its sanctity from +the days of the old Babylonian kingdom, and many of the customs +observed by the modern Moslems tally with the funeral rites +of ancient Babylonia.<a name="FNanchor_1255_1255" id="FNanchor_1255_1255"></a><a href="#Footnote_1255_1255" class="fnanchor">[1255]</a> That the dead were always buried, and +that cremation was practically unknown, may now be regarded +as certain. The conception of Aralû, which, we have seen, +belongs to the most ancient period of religion, is only intelligible +upon the assumption that burial was the prevailing +custom. On one of the oldest monuments of Babylonian +art,—the stele of vultures,—earth-burial is represented.<a name="FNanchor_1256_1256" id="FNanchor_1256_1256"></a><a href="#Footnote_1256_1256" class="fnanchor">[1256]</a> A +few years ago, some German scholars<a name="FNanchor_1257_1257" id="FNanchor_1257_1257"></a><a href="#Footnote_1257_1257" class="fnanchor">[1257]</a> claimed to have +furnished the proof that the Babylonians cremated their +dead. But, in the first place, the age of the tombs found by +them was not clearly established; and, secondly, it was not +certain whether the charred remains of human bodies were +due to intentional burning or accidental destruction by fire, at +the time that the city explored by the German scholars +was destroyed. The fact that, as the explorers themselves +observed, the bodies were not completely burned argues in +favor of the latter supposition. The explanation offered by +Koldewey<a name="FNanchor_1258_1258" id="FNanchor_1258_1258"></a><a href="#Footnote_1258_1258" class="fnanchor">[1258]</a> for this peculiar condition of the remains—that +the burning was symbolical, and, therefore, not complete—is +unsatisfactory in every particular. There can be no doubt that +some, at least, of the tombs discovered at Warka by Loftus<a name="FNanchor_1259_1259" id="FNanchor_1259_1259"></a><a href="#Footnote_1259_1259" class="fnanchor">[1259]</a> +belong to the period before the conquest of the country by +Cyrus, and this is certainly the case with many of the tombs +discovered at Nippur. Nowhere do we find traces of burning<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_597" id="Page_597">[Pg 597]</a></span> +of bodies.<a name="FNanchor_1260_1260" id="FNanchor_1260_1260"></a><a href="#Footnote_1260_1260" class="fnanchor">[1260]</a> If it should turn out that cremation prevailed for a +certain period, the fashion, we may feel certain, was due to +foreign influences, but it is more than questionable whether it +was ever introduced at all. Certainly, earth-burial is the characteristically +Babylonian (and general Semitic) method of disposing +of the dead.</p> + +<p>The characteristic feature of the Babylonian tombs is their +simplicity. The dead body, which was often covered with +palm woods, was placed generally on the side—though +occasionally on the back—on a board of wood, or wrapped +in a mat of reeds or palm fibers, and covered with a tub-shaped +clay dish. On the dish there was frequently an ornamental +design, but beyond this, there was no attempt at decoration. +The body was frequently pressed together in order to be brought +within the compass of the dish. Sometimes, the knees were +pulled up or the body placed in a semi-sitting posture, and +there are indications that the bodies were often divided into +two or three parts prior to burial. On the stele of vultures,<a name="FNanchor_1261_1261" id="FNanchor_1261_1261"></a><a href="#Footnote_1261_1261" class="fnanchor">[1261]</a> +representing the triumph of Eannatum over his enemies, +attendants are seen building a mound over the symmetrically +arranged bodies of the king's soldiers slain in battle. The +monument belongs to the most ancient period of Babylonian +history, and we are justified, therefore, in regarding this method +of earth-burial as the oldest in vogue. The dead, it would +seem, are placed on the ground, or near the surface, and +covered with a mound. This custom would account for the +use of a dish to cover the body after it became customary to +place the dead in small houses or vaults built for the purpose. +The shape of the dish, or tub, recalls the earth-mound over the +dead, and the tenacity of conventional methods is apparent in +the modern custom, even among Western nations, of raising a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_598" id="Page_598">[Pg 598]</a></span> +mound over the grave, even though the body is placed at a +depth of six feet and more below the surface. A modification +of the form of coffin was the jar into which the body was forced. +To do this, still greater violence had to be employed. Instead of +one jar, two were also used, the body placed partly in one, partly +in the other, and the two were then joined with bitumen. In +the Persian period, a slipper-shaped coffin was used, into which +the body was inserted through an aperture at one end; but there +is no evidence that the Babylonians employed this method. +With the bodies, various objects were interred, many of which +had a special significance. Except, perhaps, at a very early +period<a name="FNanchor_1262_1262" id="FNanchor_1262_1262"></a><a href="#Footnote_1262_1262" class="fnanchor">[1262]</a> the dead were not buried naked, but covered with a +garment. The seal cylinder, which, as Herodotus tells us,<a name="FNanchor_1263_1263" id="FNanchor_1263_1263"></a><a href="#Footnote_1263_1263" class="fnanchor">[1263]</a> +every person of position carried about his person, and +which, when impressed on a clay tablet, served as his signature, +was buried with the dead as an ornament that had a personal +value. The staff which the man was in the habit of +carrying is found in the grave, and also such weapons as arrowheads +and spears. Various ornaments of copper, iron, gold, +and stone, rings, necklaces or bands of gold were probably +placed with the dead as a sign of affection, not because of any +belief that the deceased needed these objects. Toys, too, are +found in the graves, and we may assume that these were placed +in the tombs of children. The frequent presence of shells in +the tombs is still unexplained. On the other hand, remains +of food, dates, grain, poultry, and fish, that have been found +in graves belonging to various periods, may be regarded as +a proof for the existence of the belief that the dead could +suffer pangs of hunger. The closing lines of the Gilgamesh +epic,<a name="FNanchor_1264_1264" id="FNanchor_1264_1264"></a><a href="#Footnote_1264_1264" class="fnanchor">[1264]</a> where the fate of the neglected dead is portrayed, confirms +this view. But such remains are more frequent in the +early graves than in those of a later time. Animal sacrifices at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_599" id="Page_599">[Pg 599]</a></span> +the grave appear to be very old.<a name="FNanchor_1265_1265" id="FNanchor_1265_1265"></a><a href="#Footnote_1265_1265" class="fnanchor">[1265]</a> Offerings of food and water +were made to the dead, not only at the time of the burial, +but afterwards by surviving relatives. The son performs the +office of pouring out water to the memory of his father.<a name="FNanchor_1266_1266" id="FNanchor_1266_1266"></a><a href="#Footnote_1266_1266" class="fnanchor">[1266]</a> The +close of the legend of Ishtar's journey suggests that the festival +of Tammuz was selected as an 'All-Souls' day. The +weeping for the lost Tammuz served as an appropriate link +for combining with the mourning for the god the lament for +the dead. The water jar is never absent in the old Babylonian +tombs, and by the side of the jar the bowl of clay or +bronze is found, and which probably served the same purpose +as a drinking utensil for the dead. How early it became customary +to bury the dead together we do not know. It may be +that at one time they were buried beneath the dwellings that +they occupied when alive, under the threshold or in the walls;<a name="FNanchor_1267_1267" id="FNanchor_1267_1267"></a><a href="#Footnote_1267_1267" class="fnanchor">[1267]</a> +but the conception of Aralû as a great gathering-place of the +dead would hardly have arisen, unless the 'city of the dead' by +the side of the 'city of the living' had become an established +custom. We are, therefore, justified in assuming that as the +villages grew into towns, the huddling together of the living +suggested placing the dead together in a portion of the town +set aside for the purpose. In comparison with the elaborate +constructions in the Egyptian cities of the dead, the Babylonian +necropolis was a shabby affair. Vaults, rarely more than five +feet high, served as the place where the dead were deposited. +These vaults were constructed of bricks, and an extended series +of them gave to the necropolis the appearance of little houses, +suggestive of primitive mud huts. This simplicity, due in the +first instance to the lack of stone as building material in Babylonia, +corresponded to the very simple character which the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_600" id="Page_600">[Pg 600]</a></span> +dwelling-house retained. The one-story type of dwelling, with +simple partitions, prevailed to the latest period. It was only +in the temples and palaces that architectural skill was developed. +In Assyria, although soft stone was accessible, the example of +Babylonia was slavishly followed. It is due to this that so few +traces of private houses have been found in the Mesopotamian +explorations,<a name="FNanchor_1268_1268" id="FNanchor_1268_1268"></a><a href="#Footnote_1268_1268" class="fnanchor">[1268]</a> and the almost primitive character of the graves—more +primitive, by virtue of the strength of the conservative +instinct in everything connected with the dead, than the dwellings +of the living—readily accounts for their nearly complete +destruction. Simple as the houses of the dead were, they were +yet carefully guarded against the invasion of air and dust; and +even after centuries of neglect the contents are found to be +perfectly dry.</p> + +<p>The explorations at Nippur show that the tub and bowl forms +of the coffin continued to be used during the period extending +from Hammurabi to Nabonnedos. In later times, it would +appear, the custom of placing food and drink with the dead +fell into disuse.<a name="FNanchor_1269_1269" id="FNanchor_1269_1269"></a><a href="#Footnote_1269_1269" class="fnanchor">[1269]</a> We may perhaps find that, as was the case in +Egypt, symbolical representations of food—a clay plate with +the food modeled in clay—took the place of the old custom. +Fewer utensils, too, are found in the graves of the later period; +but, on the other hand, ornaments increase, until, when we +reach the Persian and Greek periods, mirrors are quite common, +and golden veils are placed over the dead, while handsome +earrings, breastpins, and necklaces indicate the growth of this +luxurious display. The clay coffins, too, are beautifully glazed +and ornamented with elaborate designs. A trace of foreign—perhaps +Graeco-Egyptian—influence may be seen in the human +head modeled on the coffin. Naturally, at all times the different +ranks occupied by the dead involved more or less modifications +of the prevailing customs. The rich were placed in more<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_601" id="Page_601">[Pg 601]</a></span> +carefully built vaults than the poor. The coverings and ornaments +varied with the station of the deceased; but in general it +may be said that, during the earlier periods of Babylonian-Assyrian +history, simplicity was the rule, and the objects placed +in the tombs were more carefully chosen with reference to the +needs of the dead and the career that he led while living, while +the tendency in later times was away from the religious beliefs +that gave rise to the funeral customs, and in the direction of +luxury and display. This development, however, is independent +of <i>proper</i> burial, upon which, as we have already had occasion +to see, great stress was at all times laid. The greatest +misfortune that could happen to a dead person was for his body +to remain overground, or to be removed from the tomb and +exposed to the light of day. In the early monument of Babylonian +art,—the 'stele of vultures,'<a name="FNanchor_1270_1270" id="FNanchor_1270_1270"></a><a href="#Footnote_1270_1270" class="fnanchor">[1270]</a>—already referred to, the +dead foes are punished by being stripped of their clothing and +exposed to the attack of vultures, who are seen carrying off +human heads, legs, and arms. To emphasize the contrast, the +king's soldiers are portrayed as being buried in symmetrical +rows, the head of each body being covered by the feet of the +body in the row above. When the Babylonian and Assyrian +kings wish to curse the one who might venture to destroy the +monuments set up by them, they know of nothing stronger +than to express the hope</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>That his body may be cast aside,</p> +<p>No grave be his lot.<a name="FNanchor_1271_1271" id="FNanchor_1271_1271"></a><a href="#Footnote_1271_1271" class="fnanchor">[1271]</a></p> +</div></div> + +<p>The kings punished their enemies by leaving their bodies to +rot in the sun, or they exposed them on poles as a warning to +rebels. Ashurbanabal on one occasion speaks of having +scattered the corpses of the enemy's host 'like thorns and +thistles' over the battlefield.<a name="FNanchor_1272_1272" id="FNanchor_1272_1272"></a><a href="#Footnote_1272_1272" class="fnanchor">[1272]</a> The corpses of the Babylonians<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_602" id="Page_602">[Pg 602]</a></span> +who had aided in the rebellion against the king were +given 'to dogs, swine, to the birds of heaven, to the fish of +the sea' as food.<a name="FNanchor_1273_1273" id="FNanchor_1273_1273"></a><a href="#Footnote_1273_1273" class="fnanchor">[1273]</a> The same king takes pleasure in relating +that he destroyed the graves of Elamitic kings and dragged +the bodies from their resting-place<a name="FNanchor_1274_1274" id="FNanchor_1274_1274"></a><a href="#Footnote_1274_1274" class="fnanchor">[1274]</a> to Assyria. Their shades, +he adds, were thus unprotected. No food could be tendered +them and no sacrifices offered in their honor. Sennacherib, +after he has crushed a rebellion that broke out in Babylonia, +takes a terrible revenge upon the instigator of the +opposition, Mardukbaliddin, by removing the bodies of the +latter's ancestors from the vaults wherein they were deposited. +The bones of an enemy are enumerated by Ashurbanabal +among the spoil secured by him.<a name="FNanchor_1275_1275" id="FNanchor_1275_1275"></a><a href="#Footnote_1275_1275" class="fnanchor">[1275]</a> The mutilation of the dead +body was also a terrible punishment to the dead,<a name="FNanchor_1276_1276" id="FNanchor_1276_1276"></a><a href="#Footnote_1276_1276" class="fnanchor">[1276]</a> and we are +told that the person who disturbed a grave is not to be permitted +to enter the temple. The desecration of the grave +affected not only the individual whose rest was thus disturbed, +and who, in consequence, suffered pangs of hunger and other +miseries, but reached the survivors as well. The unburied or +disentombed shade assumed the form of a demon,<a name="FNanchor_1277_1277" id="FNanchor_1277_1277"></a><a href="#Footnote_1277_1277" class="fnanchor">[1277]</a> and afflicted +the living.</p> + +<p>Of the ceremonies incidental to burial, the bronze tablet +above described affords us at least a glimpse. The dead were +placed on a bier and wrapped in some kind of a cover. Priests +were called in to perform rites of purification. One of the +priests, it will be recalled,<a name="FNanchor_1278_1278" id="FNanchor_1278_1278"></a><a href="#Footnote_1278_1278" class="fnanchor">[1278]</a> is clad in a fish costume. The +fish is the symbol of Ea, the god of the deep, who becomes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_603" id="Page_603">[Pg 603]</a></span> +the chief deity appealed to in incantations involving the use +of water. The priest assumes the rôle of Ea, as it were, by +the symbolical dress that he puts on. The rites appear to +consist of the burning of incense and the sprinkling of water. +It does not of course follow that everywhere the same custom +was observed, but we may at least be certain that the priest +played an important part in the last honors paid to the dead. +The purification was intended to protect the dead from the evil +spirits that infest the grave. The demons of disease, it is true, +could no longer trouble him. They had done their work as +messengers of Allatu. But there were other demons who were +greedy for the blood and flesh of the dead. Though the dead +had passed out of the control of the gods, the latter had at +least the power to restrain the demons from disturbing the +peace of the grave.</p> + +<p>In the earlier days, when the bodies were placed on the +ground or only a short distance below it, the building of the +grave-mound was a ceremony to which importance was attached. +In the stele of vultures, attendants are portrayed—perhaps +priests—with baskets on their heads, containing the +earth to be placed over the fallen soldiers.<a name="FNanchor_1279_1279" id="FNanchor_1279_1279"></a><a href="#Footnote_1279_1279" class="fnanchor">[1279]</a> These attendants +are bare to the waist. The removal of the garments is probably +a sign of mourning, just as among the Hebrews and other +Semites it was customary to put on the primitive loin-cloth<a name="FNanchor_1280_1280" id="FNanchor_1280_1280"></a><a href="#Footnote_1280_1280" class="fnanchor">[1280]</a> as +a sign of grief. In somewhat later times, we find sorrowing +relatives tearing their clothing<a name="FNanchor_1281_1281" id="FNanchor_1281_1281"></a><a href="#Footnote_1281_1281" class="fnanchor">[1281]</a>—originally tearing off their +clothing—and cutting their hair as signs of mourning.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_604" id="Page_604">[Pg 604]</a></span> +The formal lament for the dead was another ceremony upon +which stress was laid. It lasted from three to seven days.<a name="FNanchor_1282_1282" id="FNanchor_1282_1282"></a><a href="#Footnote_1282_1282" class="fnanchor">[1282]</a> +The professional wailers, male and female, can be traced back +to the earliest days of Babylonian history. Gudea speaks of +them.<a name="FNanchor_1283_1283" id="FNanchor_1283_1283"></a><a href="#Footnote_1283_1283" class="fnanchor">[1283]</a> It would appear that at this early period persons were +engaged, as is the case to this day in the Orient, to sing dirges +in memory of the dead.<a name="FNanchor_1284_1284" id="FNanchor_1284_1284"></a><a href="#Footnote_1284_1284" class="fnanchor">[1284]</a> The function is one that belongs +naturally to priests and priestesses; and, while in the course +of time, the connection with the temple of those who acted as +wailers became less formal, it is doubtful whether that connection +was ever entirely cut off. The 'dirge singers, male and +female,' referred to in the story of Ishtar's journey<a name="FNanchor_1285_1285" id="FNanchor_1285_1285"></a><a href="#Footnote_1285_1285" class="fnanchor">[1285]</a> were in +the service of some temple. The hymns to Nergal<a name="FNanchor_1286_1286" id="FNanchor_1286_1286"></a><a href="#Footnote_1286_1286" class="fnanchor">[1286]</a> may be +taken as samples of the Babylonian dirges.</p> + +<p>The praise of Nergal and Allatu was combined with the +lament for the sad fate of the dead. Gilgamesh weeping for +his friend Eabani<a name="FNanchor_1287_1287" id="FNanchor_1287_1287"></a><a href="#Footnote_1287_1287" class="fnanchor">[1287]</a> furnishes an illustration. Gilgamesh is +described as stretched out on the ground. The same custom is +referred to in the inscriptions of Cyrus,<a name="FNanchor_1288_1288" id="FNanchor_1288_1288"></a><a href="#Footnote_1288_1288" class="fnanchor">[1288]</a> and it is interesting to +note that a similar mode of manifesting grief still prevails in +the modern Orient. In the Babylonian dirges, it would +seem, the references to the virtues of the deceased (which are +prominently introduced into the dirges of the present day) +were few. The refrain forms a regular feature of these dirges,—an +indication that, as is still the case in the Orient, there +was a leader who sang the dirge, while the chorus chimed in +at the proper moment. The principle of the stanza of two +lines, one long and one short, that, as Budde has shown,<a name="FNanchor_1289_1289" id="FNanchor_1289_1289"></a><a href="#Footnote_1289_1289" class="fnanchor">[1289]</a> +controls the wailing songs in the Old Testament (including the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_605" id="Page_605">[Pg 605]</a></span> +Book of Lamentations, which is based upon this very custom +of lamenting the dead), may be detected in the Babylonian +compositions. The accompaniment of musical instruments to +the dirges also appears to be a very old custom in Babylonia. +In the story of Ishtar's journey the wailers are called upon to +strike their instruments. What kind of instruments were used +in ancient times we do not know. In the Assyrian period, the +harp and flute appear to be the most common.<a name="FNanchor_1290_1290" id="FNanchor_1290_1290"></a><a href="#Footnote_1290_1290" class="fnanchor">[1290]</a></p> + +<p>At the time that food and drink were placed with the +dead in the grave, some arrangements must have been made +for renewing the nourishment. Entrances to tombs have +been found,<a name="FNanchor_1291_1291" id="FNanchor_1291_1291"></a><a href="#Footnote_1291_1291" class="fnanchor">[1291]</a> and Koldewey<a name="FNanchor_1292_1292" id="FNanchor_1292_1292"></a><a href="#Footnote_1292_1292" class="fnanchor">[1292]</a> is of the opinion that the clay +drains found in quantities in the tombs, served as well to +secure a supply of fresh water for the dead. The wailing +for the dead took place not only immediately after death, +but subsequently. Ashurbanabal speaks of visiting the +graves of his ancestors. He appears at the tomb with rent +garments, pours out a libation to the memory of the dead, and +offers up a prayer addressed to them. We have every reason +to believe that the graves were frequently visited by the survivors. +The festival of Tammuz became an occasion<a name="FNanchor_1293_1293" id="FNanchor_1293_1293"></a><a href="#Footnote_1293_1293" class="fnanchor">[1293]</a> when +the memory of those who had entered Aralû was recalled.</p> + +<p>While there are many details connected with the ceremonies +for the dead still to be determined, what has been ascertained +illustrates how closely and consistently these ceremonies followed +the views held by the Babylonians and Assyrians regarding the +life after death. Everything connected with death is gloomy. +The grave is as dark as Aralû; the funeral rites consist of +dirges that lament not so much the loss sustained by the living +as the sad fate in store for the dead. Not a ray of sunshine<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_606" id="Page_606">[Pg 606]</a></span> +illumines the darkness that surrounds these rites. All that is +hoped for is to protect the dead against the attack of demons +greedy for human flesh, to secure rest for the body, and to +guard the dead against hunger and thirst.</p> + +<p>It is almost startling to note, to what a degree the views +embodied in Old Testament writings regarding the fate of the +dead, coincide with Babylonian conceptions. The descriptions +of Sheol found in Job, in the Psalms, in Isaiah, Ezekiel, and +elsewhere are hardly to be distinguished from those that we +have encountered in Babylonian literature. For Job,<a name="FNanchor_1294_1294" id="FNanchor_1294_1294"></a><a href="#Footnote_1294_1294" class="fnanchor">[1294]</a> Sheol is</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>The land of darkness and deep shadows.</p> +<p>The land of densest gloom and not of light.</p> +<p>Even where there is a gleam, there it is as dark night.<a name="FNanchor_1295_1295" id="FNanchor_1295_1295"></a><a href="#Footnote_1295_1295" class="fnanchor">[1295]</a></p> +</div></div> + +<p>The description might serve as a paraphrase of the opening +lines in the story of Ishtar's journey. The Hebrew Sheol is +situated, like the Babylonian Aralû, deep down in the earth.<a name="FNanchor_1296_1296" id="FNanchor_1296_1296"></a><a href="#Footnote_1296_1296" class="fnanchor">[1296]</a> +It is pictured as a cavern. The entrance to it is through gates +that are provided with bolts. Sheol is described as a land filled +with dust. Silence reigns supreme. It is the gathering-place +of all the living, without exception. He who sinks into Sheol +does not rise up again.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>He does not return to his house.</p> +<p>His place knows him no more.<a name="FNanchor_1297_1297" id="FNanchor_1297_1297"></a><a href="#Footnote_1297_1297" class="fnanchor">[1297]</a></p> +</div></div> + +<p>It is, clearly, 'a land without return,' as the Babylonians conceived +it. The condition of the dead in Sheol is sad, precisely +as the Babylonians pictured the life in Aralû. The dead are +designated by a name<a name="FNanchor_1298_1298" id="FNanchor_1298_1298"></a><a href="#Footnote_1298_1298" class="fnanchor">[1298]</a> that indicates their weak condition. +They can only talk in whispers or they chirp like birds. Their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_607" id="Page_607">[Pg 607]</a></span> +gait is unsteady. In general, they are pictured as lying quiet, +doomed to inactivity. Death is lamented as an evil. The dead +have passed out of the control of Yahwe, whose concern is with +the living. Yahwe's blessings are meted out in this world, but +not in Sheol. These blessings consist chiefly of long life and +plenty of offspring. The dead need not praise Yahwe. Ecclesiastes—although +a late composition—expresses the old popular +view in the summary of the fate of the dead,<a name="FNanchor_1299_1299" id="FNanchor_1299_1299"></a><a href="#Footnote_1299_1299" class="fnanchor">[1299]</a> when it is +said that the dead know nothing of what is going on. Their +memory is gone; they neither love nor hate, and they are +devoid of any ambition. There is no planning, no wisdom, no +judgment in Sheol.</p> + +<p>Like the Babylonians, the Hebrews also believed that the +condition of the individual at the time of death was an index +of the condition in store for him in Sheol. He who goes to +Sheol in sorrow is pursued by sorrow after death. Jacob does +not want to go down to Sheol in sorrow,<a name="FNanchor_1300_1300" id="FNanchor_1300_1300"></a><a href="#Footnote_1300_1300" class="fnanchor">[1300]</a> because he knows +that in that case sorrow will be his fate after death. To die +neglected by one's family was fatal to one's well-being in Sheol. +Life in Sheol was a continuation, in a measure, of the earthly +existence. Hence, the warrior is buried with his weapons; +the prophet is recognized by his cloak; the kings wear their +crowns; the people of various lands are known by their dress.<a name="FNanchor_1301_1301" id="FNanchor_1301_1301"></a><a href="#Footnote_1301_1301" class="fnanchor">[1301]</a> +Even deformities, as lameness, follow the individual into the +grave. On the other hand, while the dead were weak and +generally inactive, although capable of suffering, they were +also regarded by the Hebrews as possessing powers superior +to those of the living. As among the Babylonians, the dead +stand so close to the higher powers as to be themselves +possessed of divine qualities. Schwally aptly characterizes +this apparent contradiction by saying 'that the dead are +<i>Refâ'îm</i> (weak), but, at the same time, <i>Elohîm</i>, <i>i.e.</i> divine<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_608" id="Page_608">[Pg 608]</a></span> +beings.'<a name="FNanchor_1302_1302" id="FNanchor_1302_1302"></a><a href="#Footnote_1302_1302" class="fnanchor">[1302]</a> Yahwe has no power over the dead, but they receive +some of his qualities. They are invoked by the living. The +dead can furnish oracles, precisely as Yahwe can. They not +only appear to the living in dreams, but their shades can be +raised up from Sheol. A certain amount of worship was certainly +paid to the dead by the ancient Hebrews.</p> + +<p>Naturally, these popular views were subjected to considerable +modification with the development of the religion of the Hebrews. +While many features remained, as is shown by the occurrence +of the primitive conception of Sheol in comparatively late productions, +in one important particular, more especially, did the +spread of an advanced ethical monotheism lead to a complete +departure from the Babylonian conceptions. While, in the +popular mind, the belief that there was no escape from Sheol +continued for a long time, this belief was inconsistent with the +conception of a Divine Being, who, as creator and sole ruler of +the universe, had control of the dead as well as the living. +As long as Yahwe was merely one god among many, no exception +was made of the rule that the concern of the gods was +with the living; but Yahwe as the one and only god, could not +be pictured as limited in his scope. He was a god for the dead, +as well as for the living. The so-called song of Hannah<a name="FNanchor_1303_1303" id="FNanchor_1303_1303"></a><a href="#Footnote_1303_1303" class="fnanchor">[1303]</a> expresses +the new view when it praises Yahwe as the one 'who +kills and restores to life, who leads to Sheol, and who can lead +out of it.' Such a description of Yahwe is totally different +from the Babylonians' praise of Ninib, Gula, or Marduk as the +'restorer of the dead to life,' which simply meant that these +gods could restrain Allatu. The power to snatch the individual +from the grasp of Sheol was also ascribed to the national god, +Yahwe. Elijah's restoration of the widow's child<a name="FNanchor_1304_1304" id="FNanchor_1304_1304"></a><a href="#Footnote_1304_1304" class="fnanchor">[1304]</a> to life is an +instance of this power, and Jonah,<a name="FNanchor_1305_1305" id="FNanchor_1305_1305"></a><a href="#Footnote_1305_1305" class="fnanchor">[1305]</a> who praises Yahwe for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_609" id="Page_609">[Pg 609]</a></span> +having delivered him when the gates of Sheol already seemed +bolted, may not have had anything more in mind than what the +Babylonians meant; but when the Psalmist, to indicate the +universal rule of Yahwe, exclaims</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>If I mount to heaven, thou art there,</p> +<p>If I make Sheol my couch, thou art there,<a name="FNanchor_1306_1306" id="FNanchor_1306_1306"></a><a href="#Footnote_1306_1306" class="fnanchor">[1306]</a></p> +</div></div> + +<p>the departure from the old Hebrew and Babylonian views of +the limitation of divine power is clearly marked. The inconsistency +between the view held of Yahwe and the limitation of +his power was not, however, always recognized. Hence, even +in late portions of the Old Testament, we find views of the life +after death that are closely allied to the popular notions prevailing +in the earlier productions. It is not, indeed, till we +reach a period bordering close on our era that the conflict +between the old and the new is brought to a decided issue in +the disputes of the sects that arose in Palestine.<a name="FNanchor_1307_1307" id="FNanchor_1307_1307"></a><a href="#Footnote_1307_1307" class="fnanchor">[1307]</a> The doctrines +of retribution and of the resurrection of the dead are the inevitable +consequences of the later ethical faith and finally triumph; +but the old views, which bring the ancient Hebrews into such +close connection with the Babylonians, left their impress in +the vagueness that for a long time characterized these doctrines, +even after their promulgation. The persistency of the +old beliefs is a proof of the strong hold that they acquired, as +also of the close bond uniting, at one time and for a long period, +Hebrews and Babylonians. What applies to the beliefs regarding +the dead holds good also for the rites. Many a modern +Jewish custom<a name="FNanchor_1308_1308" id="FNanchor_1308_1308"></a><a href="#Footnote_1308_1308" class="fnanchor">[1308]</a> still bears witness to the original identity of the +Hebrew and Babylonian methods of disposing of and caring +for the dead.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_610" id="Page_610">[Pg 610]</a></span> +There is but one explanation for this close agreement,—the +same explanation that was given for the identity of traditions +regarding the creation of the world, and for the various other +points of contact between the two peoples that we have +met with. When the Hebrew clans left their homes in the +Euphrates Valley, they carried with them the traditions, beliefs, +and customs that were current in that district, and which they +shared with the Babylonians. Under new surroundings, some +new features were added to the traditions and beliefs, but the +additions did not obscure the distinctive character impressed +upon them by Babylonian contact. We now know that relations +with Babylonia were never entirely broken off by the +Hebrews. The old traditions survived all vicissitudes. They +were adapted to totally changed phases of belief, but the kernel +still remained Babylonian. Beliefs were modified, new +doctrines arose; but, with a happy inconsistency, the old was +embodied in the new. Hence it happens, that in order to +understand the Hebrews, their religion, their customs, and +even their manner of thought, we must turn to Babylonia.</p> + +<p>Further discoveries beneath the mounds of Mesopotamia +and further researches in Babylonian literature will add more +evidence to the indebtedness of the Hebrews to Babylonia. It +will be found that in the sacrificial ordinances of the Pentateuch, +in the legal regulations, in methods of justice and +punishment, Babylonian models were largely followed, or, what +is an equal testimony to Babylonian influence, an opposition to +Babylonian methods was dominant. It is not strange that when +by a curious fate, the Hebrews were once more carried back to +the 'great river of Babylon,'<a name="FNanchor_1309_1309" id="FNanchor_1309_1309"></a><a href="#Footnote_1309_1309" class="fnanchor">[1309]</a> the people felt so thoroughly at +home there. It was only the poets and some ardent patriots<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_611" id="Page_611">[Pg 611]</a></span> +who hung their harps on the willows and sighed for a return to +Zion. The Jewish population steadily increased in Babylonia, +and soon also the intellectual activity of Babylonian Jews +outstripped that of Palestine.<a name="FNanchor_1310_1310" id="FNanchor_1310_1310"></a><a href="#Footnote_1310_1310" class="fnanchor">[1310]</a> The finishing touches to the +structure of Judaism were given in Babylonia—on the soil +where the foundations were laid.</p> + +<h3><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_612" id="Page_612">[Pg 612]</a></span>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1112_1112" id="Footnote_1112_1112"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1112_1112"><span class="label">[1112]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_448">448</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1113_1113" id="Footnote_1113_1113"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1113_1113"><span class="label">[1113]</span></a> See pp. <a href="#Page_487">487</a>, <a href="#Page_489">489</a>, <a href="#Page_511">511</a>, <a href="#Page_512">512</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1114_1114" id="Footnote_1114_1114"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1114_1114"><span class="label">[1114]</span></a> Or Arallu.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1115_1115" id="Footnote_1115_1115"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1115_1115"><span class="label">[1115]</span></a> IIR. 61, 18. Jensen, <i>Kosmologie</i>, p. 220, takes this +as the name of a temple; but, since Aralû was pictured as a 'great +house,' there is no reason why the designation should not refer to the +nether world.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1116_1116" id="Footnote_1116_1116"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1116_1116"><span class="label">[1116]</span></a> See the admirable argument in Jensen, <i>Kosmologie</i>, +pp. 185-195.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1117_1117" id="Footnote_1117_1117"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1117_1117"><span class="label">[1117]</span></a> Or, more fully, Kharsag-gal-kurkura, 'great mountain of all +lands.'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1118_1118" id="Footnote_1118_1118"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1118_1118"><span class="label">[1118]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_458">458</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1119_1119" id="Footnote_1119_1119"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1119_1119"><span class="label">[1119]</span></a> See the <a href="#chapter-xxvi">following chapter</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1120_1120" id="Footnote_1120_1120"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1120_1120"><span class="label">[1120]</span></a> See the passages in Jeremias' <i>Die +Babylonisch-Assyrischen Vorstellungen vom Leben nach dem Tode</i>, p. +62.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1121_1121" id="Footnote_1121_1121"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1121_1121"><span class="label">[1121]</span></a> Sargon Annals, I. 156. Jensen's interpretation of the +passage (<i>Kosmologie</i>, p. 231) is forced, as is also his +explanation of IIR. 51, 11a, where a mountain Aralû is clearly +designated.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1122_1122" id="Footnote_1122_1122"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1122_1122"><span class="label">[1122]</span></a> <i>Kosmologie</i>, pp. 222-224.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1123_1123" id="Footnote_1123_1123"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1123_1123"><span class="label">[1123]</span></a> Gunkel's <i>Schöpfung und Chaos</i>, p. 154, note 5.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1124_1124" id="Footnote_1124_1124"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1124_1124"><span class="label">[1124]</span></a> In an article on 'Shuâlu' published in the <i>American +Journal of Semitic Languages</i> (xiv.), I have set forth my reasons for +accepting this word as a Babylonian term for the nether world.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1125_1125" id="Footnote_1125_1125"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1125_1125"><span class="label">[1125]</span></a> In the later portions of the Old Testament, the use of +Sheol is also avoided. See the passages in Schwally, <i>Das Leben nach +dem Tode nach den Vorstellungen des Alten Israels</i>, pp. 59, 60.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1126_1126" id="Footnote_1126_1126"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1126_1126"><span class="label">[1126]</span></a> Not 'Ort der Entscheidung,' as Jeremias, <i>ib.</i> p. 109, +proposes.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1127_1127" id="Footnote_1127_1127"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1127_1127"><span class="label">[1127]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_329">329</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1128_1128" id="Footnote_1128_1128"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1128_1128"><span class="label">[1128]</span></a> I Sam. xxviii. 11.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1129_1129" id="Footnote_1129_1129"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1129_1129"><span class="label">[1129]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_511">511</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1130_1130" id="Footnote_1130_1130"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1130_1130"><span class="label">[1130]</span></a> See Schwally, <i>ib.</i> pp. 59-63.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1131_1131" id="Footnote_1131_1131"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1131_1131"><span class="label">[1131]</span></a> Isaiah, viii. 19.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1132_1132" id="Footnote_1132_1132"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1132_1132"><span class="label">[1132]</span></a> One of the names for the priest in Babylonia is Shâ'ilu, +<i>i.e.</i>, 'inquirer,' and the corresponding Hebrew word Shô'êl is +similarly used in a few passages of the Old Testament; <i>e.g.</i>, +Deut. xviii. 11; Micah, vii. 3. See an article by the writer on "The +Stem Shâ'al and the Name of Samuel," in a forthcoming number of the +<i>Journal of the Society of Biblical Literature</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1133_1133" id="Footnote_1133_1133"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1133_1133"><span class="label">[1133]</span></a> See above, pp. <a href="#Page_333">333</a> <i>seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1134_1134" id="Footnote_1134_1134"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1134_1134"><span class="label">[1134]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_167">167</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1135_1135" id="Footnote_1135_1135"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1135_1135"><span class="label">[1135]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_167">167</a>, and Scheit, <i>Le Culte de Gudea</i>, +etc. (<i>Recueil des Travaux</i>, xviii. 64 <i>seq.</i>)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1136_1136" id="Footnote_1136_1136"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1136_1136"><span class="label">[1136]</span></a> Thureau-Dangin, <i>Le Culte des Rois dans la periode +Prebabylonienne</i> (<i>Recueil des Travaux</i>, etc., xix. 486).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1137_1137" id="Footnote_1137_1137"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1137_1137"><span class="label">[1137]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_36">36</a>. The text is published IIIR. pl. 4, no. 7. +Recently, Mr. Pinches has published a variant version of this story +(<i>Proc. Soc. Bibl. Arch.</i> xviii. 257, 258).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1138_1138" id="Footnote_1138_1138"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1138_1138"><span class="label">[1138]</span></a> IVR. 34.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1139_1139" id="Footnote_1139_1139"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1139_1139"><span class="label">[1139]</span></a> In view of recent discussions of the subject, it is +important to note that Tiele already fifteen years ago recognized that +Sargon was a historical personage. See his remarks, <i>Babyl. Assyr. +Gesch.</i>, p. 112.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1140_1140" id="Footnote_1140_1140"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1140_1140"><span class="label">[1140]</span></a> Chapter ii.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1141_1141" id="Footnote_1141_1141"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1141_1141"><span class="label">[1141]</span></a> See Winterbotham, "The Cult of Father Abraham," in the +<i>Expositor</i>, 1897, pp. 177-186.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1142_1142" id="Footnote_1142_1142"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1142_1142"><span class="label">[1142]</span></a> See Jensen's <i>Kosmologie</i>, p. 215, and Meissner, +<i>Altbabylonisches Privatrecht</i>, p. 21. The word is used for the +foundation of a building, and is an indication, therefore, of the great +depth at which the nether world was placed.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1143_1143" id="Footnote_1143_1143"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1143_1143"><span class="label">[1143]</span></a> See below, p. <a href="#Page_567">567</a>, and Jensen's <i>Kosmologie</i>, p. 259.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1144_1144" id="Footnote_1144_1144"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1144_1144"><span class="label">[1144]</span></a> See pp. <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1145_1145" id="Footnote_1145_1145"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1145_1145"><span class="label">[1145]</span></a> <i>Kabru</i> and <i>Gegunu</i> ('dark place').</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1146_1146" id="Footnote_1146_1146"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1146_1146"><span class="label">[1146]</span></a> See also below, pp. <a href="#Page_566">566</a>, <a href="#Page_567">567</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1147_1147" id="Footnote_1147_1147"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1147_1147"><span class="label">[1147]</span></a> Published IV Rawlinson (2nd edition), pl. 31.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1148_1148" id="Footnote_1148_1148"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1148_1148"><span class="label">[1148]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_483">483</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1149_1149" id="Footnote_1149_1149"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1149_1149"><span class="label">[1149]</span></a> The Old Testament recognizes only two seasons, summer and +winter. See, <i>e.g.</i>, Gen. viii. 22.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1150_1150" id="Footnote_1150_1150"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1150_1150"><span class="label">[1150]</span></a> See the discussion in Robertson Smith's <i>Religions of the +Semites</i>, pp. 391-394; and also Farnall, <i>The Cults of the Greek +States</i>, ii. 644-649.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1151_1151" id="Footnote_1151_1151"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1151_1151"><span class="label">[1151]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_484">484</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1152_1152" id="Footnote_1152_1152"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1152_1152"><span class="label">[1152]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_510">510</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1153_1153" id="Footnote_1153_1153"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1153_1153"><span class="label">[1153]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, according to one version (p. <a href="#Page_511">511</a>). Another +version of this part of the Gilgamesh epic, which, however, is +influenced by the tale of Ishtar's visit, is published in Haupt's +<i>Nimrodepos</i>, pp. 16-19. In this version Eabani gives Gilgamesh a +description of Aralû, which tallies with the one found in the Ishtar +tale.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1154_1154" id="Footnote_1154_1154"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1154_1154"><span class="label">[1154]</span></a> Text defective. Jeremias' suggestion, "the land that thou +knowest," misses the point. The person addressed does not know the land. +'Decay' is Schrader's conjecture (<i>Die Höllenfahrt der Istar</i>, p. +24). See Haupt's <i>Nimrodepos</i>, pp. 17, 40, and Delitzsch's +<i>Assyr. Wörterbuch</i>, p. 321, note.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1155_1155" id="Footnote_1155_1155"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1155_1155"><span class="label">[1155]</span></a> Lit., 'the one who has entered it.'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1156_1156" id="Footnote_1156_1156"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1156_1156"><span class="label">[1156]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, of the inhabitants.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1157_1157" id="Footnote_1157_1157"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1157_1157"><span class="label">[1157]</span></a> The inhabitants.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1158_1158" id="Footnote_1158_1158"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1158_1158"><span class="label">[1158]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_461">461</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1159_1159" id="Footnote_1159_1159"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1159_1159"><span class="label">[1159]</span></a> See below, p. <a href="#Page_591">591</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1160_1160" id="Footnote_1160_1160"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1160_1160"><span class="label">[1160]</span></a> See pp. <a href="#Page_502">502</a>, <a href="#Page_511">511</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1161_1161" id="Footnote_1161_1161"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1161_1161"><span class="label">[1161]</span></a> Particularly by Herbert Spencer and his followers.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1162_1162" id="Footnote_1162_1162"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1162_1162"><span class="label">[1162]</span></a> Isaiah, xiv 9-20, and Ezekiel, xxxii. 18-31. In Isaiah, the +Babylonian Aralû is specifically described, while Ezekiel writes under +the influence of Babylonian ideas.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1163_1163" id="Footnote_1163_1163"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1163_1163"><span class="label">[1163]</span></a> Isaiah, viii. 19.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1164_1164" id="Footnote_1164_1164"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1164_1164"><span class="label">[1164]</span></a> The Hebrew word for 'the dead,' <i>refâim</i>, conveys this +idea.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1165_1165" id="Footnote_1165_1165"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1165_1165"><span class="label">[1165]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_512">512</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1166_1166" id="Footnote_1166_1166"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1166_1166"><span class="label">[1166]</span></a> See Sara Y. Stevenson, "On Certain Symbols used in the +Decoration of Some Potsherds from Daphne and Naukratis" (Philadelphia, +1892), p. 8.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1167_1167" id="Footnote_1167_1167"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1167_1167"><span class="label">[1167]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_83">83</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1168_1168" id="Footnote_1168_1168"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1168_1168"><span class="label">[1168]</span></a> 'Eating' appears to be a metaphor for destruction in +general.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1169_1169" id="Footnote_1169_1169"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1169_1169"><span class="label">[1169]</span></a> The portals (?).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1170_1170" id="Footnote_1170_1170"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1170_1170"><span class="label">[1170]</span></a> Jensen, <i>Kosmologie</i>, pp. 173 <i>seq</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1171_1171" id="Footnote_1171_1171"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1171_1171"><span class="label">[1171]</span></a> Here used as an epithet of the nether world. See above, p. +<a href="#Page_563">563</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1172_1172" id="Footnote_1172_1172"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1172_1172"><span class="label">[1172]</span></a> Or 'palace.' The lower world, it will be recalled, is +pictured as a house or a country. Here the two terms are combined. See +Delitzsch, <i>Assyr. Wörterbuch</i>, p. 341.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1173_1173" id="Footnote_1173_1173"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1173_1173"><span class="label">[1173]</span></a> The phrases used are the ordinary terms of greeting. See, +<i>e.g.</i>, VR. 65, 17b.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1174_1174" id="Footnote_1174_1174"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1174_1174"><span class="label">[1174]</span></a> Gibil-Nusku may be meant. See the hymn, p. <a href="#Page_278">278</a>. Pap-sukal +is a title of Nabu (p. <a href="#Page_130">130</a>), but also of other gods.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1175_1175" id="Footnote_1175_1175"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1175_1175"><span class="label">[1175]</span></a> Lit., 'liver.'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1176_1176" id="Footnote_1176_1176"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1176_1176"><span class="label">[1176]</span></a> For the translation of these lines see Jensen, +<i>Kosmologie</i>, p. 233.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1177_1177" id="Footnote_1177_1177"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1177_1177"><span class="label">[1177]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_441">441</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1178_1178" id="Footnote_1178_1178"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1178_1178"><span class="label">[1178]</span></a> So Jeremias' <i>Vorstellungen</i>, etc.; see p. <a href="#Page_39">39</a>. +<i>Zikutu</i> from the same stem means a 'drinking bowl.'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1179_1179" id="Footnote_1179_1179"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1179_1179"><span class="label">[1179]</span></a> A biting of the lips is elsewhere introduced as a figure. +See the author's monograph, "A Fragment of the Babylonian Dibbarra +Epic," p. 14.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1180_1180" id="Footnote_1180_1180"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1180_1180"><span class="label">[1180]</span></a> See Delitzsch, <i>Assyr. Wörterbuch</i>, p. 341.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1181_1181" id="Footnote_1181_1181"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1181_1181"><span class="label">[1181]</span></a> So far as the domestic animals are concerned, it is true +that they throw off their young in the spring. The reference to a +similar interruption in the case of mankind (see above, p. <a href="#Page_571">571</a>) may +embody the recollection of a period when a regular pairing season and +breeding time existed among mankind. See Westermarck, <i>The History of +Human Marriage</i>, pp. 27 <i>seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1182_1182" id="Footnote_1182_1182"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1182_1182"><span class="label">[1182]</span></a> Allatu.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1183_1183" id="Footnote_1183_1183"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1183_1183"><span class="label">[1183]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, of the dead person.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1184_1184" id="Footnote_1184_1184"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1184_1184"><span class="label">[1184]</span></a> Ishtar.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1185_1185" id="Footnote_1185_1185"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1185_1185"><span class="label">[1185]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_475">475</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1186_1186" id="Footnote_1186_1186"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1186_1186"><span class="label">[1186]</span></a> <i>Vorstellungen</i>, pp. 6-8.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1187_1187" id="Footnote_1187_1187"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1187_1187"><span class="label">[1187]</span></a> Some instrument is mentioned.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1188_1188" id="Footnote_1188_1188"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1188_1188"><span class="label">[1188]</span></a> IVR. 30, no. 3, obverse 23-35.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1189_1189" id="Footnote_1189_1189"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1189_1189"><span class="label">[1189]</span></a> The word is explained by a gloss, 'Shamash has made him great.'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1190_1190" id="Footnote_1190_1190"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1190_1190"><span class="label">[1190]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, the month in which one dies.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1191_1191" id="Footnote_1191_1191"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1191_1191"><span class="label">[1191]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_175">175</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1192_1192" id="Footnote_1192_1192"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1192_1192"><span class="label">[1192]</span></a> See pp. <a href="#Page_505">505</a>, <a href="#Page_506">506</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1193_1193" id="Footnote_1193_1193"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1193_1193"><span class="label">[1193]</span></a> <i>Vorstellungen</i>, p. 81.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1194_1194" id="Footnote_1194_1194"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1194_1194"><span class="label">[1194]</span></a> Psalms, vi. 6.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1195_1195" id="Footnote_1195_1195"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1195_1195"><span class="label">[1195]</span></a> <i>L'Enfer Assyrien</i> (<i>Revue Archaeologique</i>, 1879, +pp. 337-349). See also Perrot and Chiplez, <i>History of Art in Chaldaea +and Assyria</i>, I. 349 <i>seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1196_1196" id="Footnote_1196_1196"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1196_1196"><span class="label">[1196]</span></a> Described by Schell in the <i>Recucil de Travaux</i>, etc., +xx. nos. 1 and 2. Schell regards the Zurghul duplicate as older than the +other.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1197_1197" id="Footnote_1197_1197"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1197_1197"><span class="label">[1197]</span></a> Only four on the Zurghul duplicate.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1198_1198" id="Footnote_1198_1198"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1198_1198"><span class="label">[1198]</span></a> For the interpretation of these symbols, see Luschan, +<i>Ausgrabungen in Sendschirli</i>, pp. 17-27, and Scheil's article. On +the Zurghul tablet there are eight symbols, while the other contains +nine.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1199_1199" id="Footnote_1199_1199"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1199_1199"><span class="label">[1199]</span></a> See pp. <a href="#Page_263">263</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>. A text IVR. 5, col. i. compares each of +the seven spirits to some animal. On the duplicate six demons are placed +in the second division and the seventh in the third.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1200_1200" id="Footnote_1200_1200"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1200_1200"><span class="label">[1200]</span></a> On the duplicate those two demons do not occur.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1201_1201" id="Footnote_1201_1201"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1201_1201"><span class="label">[1201]</span></a> Schell thinks that the face is that of a dog.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1202_1202" id="Footnote_1202_1202"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1202_1202"><span class="label">[1202]</span></a> On the Zurghul duplicate the horse is not pictured.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1203_1203" id="Footnote_1203_1203"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1203_1203"><span class="label">[1203]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_529">529</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1204_1204" id="Footnote_1204_1204"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1204_1204"><span class="label">[1204]</span></a> This division is not marked in the duplicate from Zurghul.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1205_1205" id="Footnote_1205_1205"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1205_1205"><span class="label">[1205]</span></a> Not occurring on the duplicate.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1206_1206" id="Footnote_1206_1206"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1206_1206"><span class="label">[1206]</span></a> Scheil questions whether the divisions have this purpose. +While perhaps not much stress is laid by the artist upon this symbolism, +its existence can hardly be questioned. Note the five divisions of the +universe in Smith's <i>Miscellaneous Texts</i>, p. 16. The water +certainly represents the Apsu. Allatu rests upon the bark. We do not +find among the Babylonians (as Scheil supposes) the view that the dead +are conveyed across a sheet of water to the nether world. The dead are +buried, and by virtue of this fact enter Aralû, which is in the earth. +Egyptian influence is possible, but unlikely.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1207_1207" id="Footnote_1207_1207"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1207_1207"><span class="label">[1207]</span></a> IVR. 26, no. 1.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1208_1208" id="Footnote_1208_1208"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1208_1208"><span class="label">[1208]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, the nether world.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1209_1209" id="Footnote_1209_1209"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1209_1209"><span class="label">[1209]</span></a> IVR. 30, no. 1; obverse 5, 14.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1210_1210" id="Footnote_1210_1210"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1210_1210"><span class="label">[1210]</span></a> See Jensen's valuable articles, "The Queen in the +Babylonian Hades and her Consort," in the <i>Sunday School Times</i>, +March 13 and 20, 1897. The text is published, Winckler and Abel, <i>Der +Thontafelfund von El-Amarna,</i> iii. 164, 165.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1211_1211" id="Footnote_1211_1211"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1211_1211"><span class="label">[1211]</span></a> Written phonetically <i>e-ri-ish</i>. The word is entered +as a synonym of <i>sharratum</i>, 'queen,' VR. 28, no. 2; obverse 31. +This phonetic writing furnishes the reading for <i>Nin</i> in +Nin-Klgal.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1212_1212" id="Footnote_1212_1212"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1212_1212"><span class="label">[1212]</span></a> See pp. <a href="#Page_418">418</a>, <a href="#Page_419">419</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1213_1213" id="Footnote_1213_1213"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1213_1213"><span class="label">[1213]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_428">428</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1214_1214" id="Footnote_1214_1214"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1214_1214"><span class="label">[1214]</span></a> See below, p. <a href="#Page_588">588</a> <i>seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1215_1215" id="Footnote_1215_1215"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1215_1215"><span class="label">[1215]</span></a> See below, p. <a href="#Page_590">590</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1216_1216" id="Footnote_1216_1216"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1216_1216"><span class="label">[1216]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_79">79</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1217_1217" id="Footnote_1217_1217"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1217_1217"><span class="label">[1217]</span></a> See pp. <a href="#Page_448">448</a>, <a href="#Page_511">511</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1218_1218" id="Footnote_1218_1218"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1218_1218"><span class="label">[1218]</span></a> See Farnell, <i>The Cults of the Greek States</i>, ii. +627.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1219_1219" id="Footnote_1219_1219"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1219_1219"><span class="label">[1219]</span></a> See the reference in <a href="#Footnote_1013_1013">note 3</a> to p. <a href="#Page_519">519</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1220_1220" id="Footnote_1220_1220"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1220_1220"><span class="label">[1220]</span></a> Wellhausen, <i>Reste Arabischen Heidenthums</i>, pp. 28, +29. That the Syro-Arabian <i>Allat</i> resembles Ishtar rather than +Allatu, points again to the original identity of the two goddesses.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1221_1221" id="Footnote_1221_1221"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1221_1221"><span class="label">[1221]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_546">546</a> <i>seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1222_1222" id="Footnote_1222_1222"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1222_1222"><span class="label">[1222]</span></a> See below, p. <a href="#Page_594">594</a>, <a href="#Footnote_1248_1248">note 1</a>, and Jensen's <i>Kosmologie</i>, +pp. 145, 480, 483, 487.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1223_1223" id="Footnote_1223_1223"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1223_1223"><span class="label">[1223]</span></a> <i>Sunday School Times</i>, 1897, p. 139.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1224_1224" id="Footnote_1224_1224"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1224_1224"><span class="label">[1224]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_574">574</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1225_1225" id="Footnote_1225_1225"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1225_1225"><span class="label">[1225]</span></a> See Frazer, <i>The Golden Bough</i>, i. 240 <i>seq.</i> and +274, 275.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1226_1226" id="Footnote_1226_1226"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1226_1226"><span class="label">[1226]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_574">574</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1227_1227" id="Footnote_1227_1227"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1227_1227"><span class="label">[1227]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_417">417</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1228_1228" id="Footnote_1228_1228"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1228_1228"><span class="label">[1228]</span></a> Cheyne (<i>Expository Times</i>, 1897, pp. 423, 424) +ingeniously regards <i>Belili</i> as the source of the Hebrew word +<i>Beliyaal</i> or <i>Belial</i>, which, by a species of popular +etymology, is written by the ancient Hebrew scholars as though +compounded of two Hebrew words signifying 'without return.' The popular +etymology is valuable as confirming the proposition to place Belili in +the pantheon of the lower world. From its original meaning, the word +became a poetical term in Hebrew for 'worthless,' 'useless,' and the +like, <i>e.g.</i>, in the well-known phrase "Sons of Belial."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1229_1229" id="Footnote_1229_1229"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1229_1229"><span class="label">[1229]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_482">482</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1230_1230" id="Footnote_1230_1230"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1230_1230"><span class="label">[1230]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_537">537</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1231_1231" id="Footnote_1231_1231"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1231_1231"><span class="label">[1231]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_523">523</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1232_1232" id="Footnote_1232_1232"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1232_1232"><span class="label">[1232]</span></a> IIR. 59; reverse 33-35.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1233_1233" id="Footnote_1233_1233"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1233_1233"><span class="label">[1233]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_175">175</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1234_1234" id="Footnote_1234_1234"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1234_1234"><span class="label">[1234]</span></a> IIR. 57, 51a, a star, Nin-azu, is entered as one of the +names of the planet Ninib.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1235_1235" id="Footnote_1235_1235"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1235_1235"><span class="label">[1235]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_565">565</a>. The name occurs also in Haupt's +<i>Nimrodepos</i>, pp. 19, 29.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1236_1236" id="Footnote_1236_1236"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1236_1236"><span class="label">[1236]</span></a> <i>Vorstellungen</i>, p. 68.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1237_1237" id="Footnote_1237_1237"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1237_1237"><span class="label">[1237]</span></a> The name of the goddess is written throughout the story +Nin-Kigal; <i>i.e.</i>, 'queen of the nether world.' Nin-Eresh. See p. +584, note 2.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1238_1238" id="Footnote_1238_1238"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1238_1238"><span class="label">[1238]</span></a> Smith, <i>Miscellaneous Texts</i>, p. 16.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1239_1239" id="Footnote_1239_1239"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1239_1239"><span class="label">[1239]</span></a> Jensen, <i>Kosmologie</i>, p. 259, note.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1240_1240" id="Footnote_1240_1240"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1240_1240"><span class="label">[1240]</span></a> IVR. 1, col. i. 12; col iii. 8-10.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1241_1241" id="Footnote_1241_1241"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1241_1241"><span class="label">[1241]</span></a> <i>Te'û</i>. See IVR. 22, 512, and Bartels, <i>Zeitschrift +für Assyriologie</i>, viii. 179-184.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1242_1242" id="Footnote_1242_1242"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1242_1242"><span class="label">[1242]</span></a> See above, pp. <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_560">560</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1243_1243" id="Footnote_1243_1243"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1243_1243"><span class="label">[1243]</span></a> Obverse ll. 33, 37.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1244_1244" id="Footnote_1244_1244"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1244_1244"><span class="label">[1244]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_185">185</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1245_1245" id="Footnote_1245_1245"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1245_1245"><span class="label">[1245]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_186">186</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1246_1246" id="Footnote_1246_1246"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1246_1246"><span class="label">[1246]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_183">183</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1247_1247" id="Footnote_1247_1247"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1247_1247"><span class="label">[1247]</span></a> See pp. <a href="#Page_417">417</a>, <a href="#Page_598">598</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1248_1248" id="Footnote_1248_1248"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1248_1248"><span class="label">[1248]</span></a> Jensen's <i>Kosmologie</i>, pp. 483, 484. In the new +fragment of the Deluge story discovered by Scheil (referred to above, p. +<a href="#Page_507">507</a>, and now published in the <i>Recueil de Travaux</i>, xix. no. 3) the +word <i>di-ib-ba-ra</i> occurs, and the context shows that it means +'destruction.' In view of this, the question is again opened as to the +reading of the name of the god of war and pestilence. The identification +of this god with Girra (pp. <a href="#Page_528">528</a>, <a href="#Page_588">588</a>) may belong to a late period.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1249_1249" id="Footnote_1249_1249"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1249_1249"><span class="label">[1249]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_529">529</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1250_1250" id="Footnote_1250_1250"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1250_1250"><span class="label">[1250]</span></a> See pp. <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1251_1251" id="Footnote_1251_1251"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1251_1251"><span class="label">[1251]</span></a> See <a href="#chapter-v">chapter v</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1252_1252" id="Footnote_1252_1252"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1252_1252"><span class="label">[1252]</span></a> So at Zurghul (or Zerghul) and el-Hibba. See Koldewey in +<i>Zeitschrift für Assyriologie</i>, ii. 403-430.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1253_1253" id="Footnote_1253_1253"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1253_1253"><span class="label">[1253]</span></a> See the valuable chapter in Peters' work on <i>Nippur</i>, +ii. 214-234.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1254_1254" id="Footnote_1254_1254"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1254_1254"><span class="label">[1254]</span></a> <i>Proceedings of the American Oriental Society</i>, 1896, +p. 166. The dead are often conveyed hundreds of miles to be interred in +Nejef and Kerbela.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1255_1255" id="Footnote_1255_1255"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1255_1255"><span class="label">[1255]</span></a> Peters' <i>Nippur</i>, ii. 325, 326.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1256_1256" id="Footnote_1256_1256"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1256_1256"><span class="label">[1256]</span></a> See below, p. <a href="#Page_597">597</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1257_1257" id="Footnote_1257_1257"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1257_1257"><span class="label">[1257]</span></a> Koldewey, <i>Zeitschrift für Assyriologie</i>, ii. 406 +<i>seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1258_1258" id="Footnote_1258_1258"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1258_1258"><span class="label">[1258]</span></a> <i>Ib.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1259_1259" id="Footnote_1259_1259"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1259_1259"><span class="label">[1259]</span></a> <i>Travels and Researches in Chaldaea and Susiana</i>, +chapter xviii.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1260_1260" id="Footnote_1260_1260"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1260_1260"><span class="label">[1260]</span></a> Peters' <i>Nippur</i>, ii. 234. Other mounds examined by +Peters between Warka and Nippur bear out the conclusion.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1261_1261" id="Footnote_1261_1261"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1261_1261"><span class="label">[1261]</span></a> De Sarzec, <i>Découvertes en Chaldée</i>, pl. 3.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1262_1262" id="Footnote_1262_1262"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1262_1262"><span class="label">[1262]</span></a> On the stele of vultures, the dead are naked.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1263_1263" id="Footnote_1263_1263"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1263_1263"><span class="label">[1263]</span></a> Book I, § 195.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1264_1264" id="Footnote_1264_1264"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1264_1264"><span class="label">[1264]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_512">512</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1265_1265" id="Footnote_1265_1265"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1265_1265"><span class="label">[1265]</span></a> Such sacrifices are pictured on the stele of vultures.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1266_1266" id="Footnote_1266_1266"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1266_1266"><span class="label">[1266]</span></a> IIIR. 43, col. iv. l. 20; Belser, <i>Beiträge zur +Assyriologie</i>, ll. 175, 18; Pinches, <i>Babylonian Texts</i>, p. 18.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1267_1267" id="Footnote_1267_1267"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1267_1267"><span class="label">[1267]</span></a> For this custom see Trumbull, <i>The Threshold +Covenant</i>, p. 25; Peters' <i>Nippur</i>, ii. 202, 203.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1268_1268" id="Footnote_1268_1268"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1268_1268"><span class="label">[1268]</span></a> Recently, Scheil has discovered some private dwellings at +Abu-Habba, which will be described in his forthcoming volume on his +explorations at that place. See also Peters' <i>Nippur</i>, ii. 200, +201.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1269_1269" id="Footnote_1269_1269"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1269_1269"><span class="label">[1269]</span></a> Peters' <i>Nippur</i>, ii. 220.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1270_1270" id="Footnote_1270_1270"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1270_1270"><span class="label">[1270]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_597">597</a>. The date of the monument is prior to Sargon; +<i>i.e.</i>, earlier than 3800 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1271_1271" id="Footnote_1271_1271"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1271_1271"><span class="label">[1271]</span></a> VR. 61, col. vi. ll. 54, 55.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1272_1272" id="Footnote_1272_1272"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1272_1272"><span class="label">[1272]</span></a> Rassam Cylinder, col. iii. l. 40.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1273_1273" id="Footnote_1273_1273"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1273_1273"><span class="label">[1273]</span></a> Rassam Cylinder, col. iv. ll. 74-76.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1274_1274" id="Footnote_1274_1274"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1274_1274"><span class="label">[1274]</span></a> <i>Ib.</i> col. vi. ll. 70-76.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1275_1275" id="Footnote_1275_1275"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1275_1275"><span class="label">[1275]</span></a> Rassam Cylinder, col. iii. l. 64. The favorite mutilation +was the cutting off of the head. On one of the sculptured slabs from the +palace of Ashurbanabal, a pyramid of heads is portrayed. The cutting off +of the hands, the lips, the nose, and the male organ, as well as the +flaying of the skin, were also practised. (See Sennacherib's account IR. +42, col. vi. ll. 1-6; Rassam Cylinder (Ashurbanabal), ii. 4 and iv. +136.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1276_1276" id="Footnote_1276_1276"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1276_1276"><span class="label">[1276]</span></a> Rassam Cylinder, col. vii. ll. 46-48.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1277_1277" id="Footnote_1277_1277"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1277_1277"><span class="label">[1277]</span></a> <i>ekimmu</i>. See p. <a href="#Page_580">580</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1278_1278" id="Footnote_1278_1278"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1278_1278"><span class="label">[1278]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_578">578</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1279_1279" id="Footnote_1279_1279"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1279_1279"><span class="label">[1279]</span></a> Heuzey offers another explanation of the scene which is +less plausible. (See De Sarzec, <i>Découvertes en Chaldée</i>, p. 98.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1280_1280" id="Footnote_1280_1280"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1280_1280"><span class="label">[1280]</span></a> Hebrew word <i>Sak</i>. The other rite of mourning among +the Hebrews, the putting of earth on the head (<i>e.g.</i>, I Sam. iv. +12; II Sam. i. 2 and xv. 32; Neh. ix. 1), is a survival of the method of +burial as portrayed in the 'stele of vultures.' The earth was originally +placed in a basket on the head and used to cover the dead body.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1281_1281" id="Footnote_1281_1281"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1281_1281"><span class="label">[1281]</span></a> The mourning garb mentioned in the Adapa legend (p. <a href="#Page_546">546</a>) is probably a 'torn' +garment.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1282_1282" id="Footnote_1282_1282"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1282_1282"><span class="label">[1282]</span></a> Hagen, <i>Cyrus-Texte</i> (<i>Beiträge zur +Assyriologie</i>, ii. 219, 223).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1283_1283" id="Footnote_1283_1283"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1283_1283"><span class="label">[1283]</span></a> Inscription B, col. v. ll. 3-5.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1284_1284" id="Footnote_1284_1284"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1284_1284"><span class="label">[1284]</span></a> Lane, <i>Modern Egyptians</i>, ll. 286.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1285_1285" id="Footnote_1285_1285"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1285_1285"><span class="label">[1285]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_575">575</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1286_1286" id="Footnote_1286_1286"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1286_1286"><span class="label">[1286]</span></a> <i>Ib.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1287_1287" id="Footnote_1287_1287"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1287_1287"><span class="label">[1287]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_487">487</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1288_1288" id="Footnote_1288_1288"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1288_1288"><span class="label">[1288]</span></a> Hagen, <i>Cyrus-Texte</i>, <i>ib.</i> and p. 248.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1289_1289" id="Footnote_1289_1289"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1289_1289"><span class="label">[1289]</span></a> "The Folk-Song of Israel," <i>The New World</i>, ii. 35; +also his article "Das Hebräische Klagelied," <i>Zeitschrift für +Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft</i>, ii. 1-52.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1290_1290" id="Footnote_1290_1290"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1290_1290"><span class="label">[1290]</span></a> In Egypt at present the tambourine is used to accompany the +dirges (Lane, <i>ib.</i> p. 278).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1291_1291" id="Footnote_1291_1291"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1291_1291"><span class="label">[1291]</span></a> Peter's <i>Nippur</i>, ii. 173, and elsewhere.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1292_1292" id="Footnote_1292_1292"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1292_1292"><span class="label">[1292]</span></a> <i>Zeitschrift für Assyriologie</i>, ii. 414.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1293_1293" id="Footnote_1293_1293"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1293_1293"><span class="label">[1293]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_575">575</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1294_1294" id="Footnote_1294_1294"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1294_1294"><span class="label">[1294]</span></a> Job, x. 21, 22.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1295_1295" id="Footnote_1295_1295"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1295_1295"><span class="label">[1295]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, the darkness is so dense that no light can remove it.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1296_1296" id="Footnote_1296_1296"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1296_1296"><span class="label">[1296]</span></a> See the references in Schwally, <i>Das Leben nach dem Tode +nach den Vorstellungen des Alten Israels</i>, pp. 59-68, and Jeremias' +<i>Vorstellungen</i>, pp. 106-116.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1297_1297" id="Footnote_1297_1297"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1297_1297"><span class="label">[1297]</span></a> Job, vii. 10.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1298_1298" id="Footnote_1298_1298"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1298_1298"><span class="label">[1298]</span></a> <i>Refâ'îm</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1299_1299" id="Footnote_1299_1299"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1299_1299"><span class="label">[1299]</span></a> Chapter ix. 5-10.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1300_1300" id="Footnote_1300_1300"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1300_1300"><span class="label">[1300]</span></a> Gen. xlii. 38.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1301_1301" id="Footnote_1301_1301"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1301_1301"><span class="label">[1301]</span></a> Incidentally, a proof that the dead were not buried naked.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1302_1302" id="Footnote_1302_1302"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1302_1302"><span class="label">[1302]</span></a> <i>Das Leben nach dem Tode</i>, etc, p. 67.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1303_1303" id="Footnote_1303_1303"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1303_1303"><span class="label">[1303]</span></a> I Sam. ii. Recognized by the critics as an insertion. See +Budde, <i>Die Bücher Richter und Samuel</i>, p. 197.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1304_1304" id="Footnote_1304_1304"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1304_1304"><span class="label">[1304]</span></a> I Kings, xvii. 21, 22.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1305_1305" id="Footnote_1305_1305"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1305_1305"><span class="label">[1305]</span></a> Chapter ii. 7.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1306_1306" id="Footnote_1306_1306"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1306_1306"><span class="label">[1306]</span></a> Psalms, cxxxix. 8; a very late production.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1307_1307" id="Footnote_1307_1307"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1307_1307"><span class="label">[1307]</span></a> Schürer, <i>A History of the Jewish People in the Time of +Jesus Christ</i>, vol. II. Division li. pp. 38, 39, 179-181.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1308_1308" id="Footnote_1308_1308"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1308_1308"><span class="label">[1308]</span></a> <i>E.g.</i>, the custom still in vogue among Orthodox Jews +of placing the body wrapped in a shroud upon a board, instead of in a +coffin.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1309_1309" id="Footnote_1309_1309"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1309_1309"><span class="label">[1309]</span></a> Professor Haupt has recently shown (in a paper read before +the American Oriental Society, April, 1897, and before the Eleventh +International Congress of Orientalists, September, 1897) that such is +the meaning of the phrase, Psalms, cxxxvii. 1, which is ordinarily +translated 'rivers of Babylon.'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1310_1310" id="Footnote_1310_1310"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1310_1310"><span class="label">[1310]</span></a> The Talmud of Babylonia, and not the Talmud of Palestine, became the +authoritative work in the Jewish Church.</p></div> + + + + +<h2><a name="chapter-xxvi" id="chapter-xxvi"></a>CHAPTER XXVI.</h2> + +<h3>THE TEMPLES AND THE CULT.</h3> + + +<p>The religious architecture of Babylonia and Assyria is of +interest chiefly as an expression of the religious earnestness of +rulers and people, and only in a minor degree as a manifestation +of artistic instincts. The lack of a picturesque building +material in the Euphrates Valley was sufficient to check the +development of such instincts. Important as the adaptation of +the clay soil of Babylonia for simple construction was for the +growth of Babylonian culture, the limitations to the employment +of bricks as a building material are no less significant. Ihering +has endeavored to show<a name="FNanchor_1311_1311" id="FNanchor_1311_1311"></a><a href="#Footnote_1311_1311" class="fnanchor">[1311]</a> by an argument that is certainly brilliant +and almost convincing, that the settlement of Semites in a +district, the soil of which could be so readily used to replace +the primitive habitations of man by solid structures, made the +Semites the teachers of the Aryans in almost everything that +pertains to civilization. House-building produced the art of +measuring, led to more elaborate furnishings of the habitation, +created various trades, introduced social distinctions, necessitated +divisions of time, and gave the stimulus to commercial +intercourse. But, on the other hand, the artistic possibilities +of brick structures were soon exhausted. The house could be +indefinitely extended in length and even height, but such an +extension only added to the monotonous effect. With clay as +a building material, so readily moulded into any desired shape, +and that could be baked, if need be, by the action of the sun +without the use of fire, it was almost as easy to build a large +house as a small one. But the addition of rooms and wings +and stories which differentiated the house from the palace<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_613" id="Page_613">[Pg 613]</a></span> +and the palace from the temple, served to make hugeness the +index of grandeur. The best specimens of the religious architecture +of Babylonia and Assyria are characterized by such +hugeness. A proportionate increase of external beauty could +only be secured by a modification of architectural style; but +the conservative instincts of the people discouraged any deviation +from the conventional shapes of the temples, which appear +indeed to have been firmly established long before the days of +Hammurabi. The influence of conventionality finds a striking +illustration in the manner in which the temples of Assyria +follow Babylonian models. Soft and hard stone suitable for +permanent structures was easily procured in the mountainous +district adjacent to Assyria. The Assyrians used this material +for statues, altars, and for the slabs with which they decorated +the exterior and interior walls of their great edifices. Had +they also employed it as a building material, we should have +had the development of new architectural styles; but the +Assyrians, so dependent in everything pertaining to culture +upon the south, could not cut themselves loose from ancient +traditions, and continued to erect huge piles of brick, as the +homage most pleasing in the eyes of their gods. The Book +of Genesis characterized the central idea of the Babylonian and +Assyrian temples when it represented the people gathered in +the valley of Shinar—that is, Babylonia—as saying: 'Come, let +us build a city and a tower that shall reach up to heaven.'<a name="FNanchor_1312_1312" id="FNanchor_1312_1312"></a><a href="#Footnote_1312_1312" class="fnanchor">[1312]</a> +The Babylonian and Assyrian kings pride themselves upon the +height of their temples. Employing, indeed, almost the very +same phrase that we find in the Old Testament, they boast of +having made the tops of their sacred edifices as high as +'heaven.'<a name="FNanchor_1313_1313" id="FNanchor_1313_1313"></a><a href="#Footnote_1313_1313" class="fnanchor">[1313]</a> The temple was to be in the literal sense of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_614" id="Page_614">[Pg 614]</a></span> +word a 'high place.' But, apart from the factor of natural +growth, there was a special reason why the Babylonians aimed +to make their sacred edifices high. The oldest temple of Babylonia +at the present time known to us, the temple of Bel at Nippur, +bears the characteristic name of E-Kur, 'mountain house.' +The name is more than a metaphor. The sacred edifices of +Babylonia were intended as a matter of fact to be imitations of +mountains. It is Jensen's merit to have suggested the explanation +for this rather surprising ideal of the Babylonian temple.<a name="FNanchor_1314_1314" id="FNanchor_1314_1314"></a><a href="#Footnote_1314_1314" class="fnanchor">[1314]</a> +According to Babylonian notions, it will be recalled, the earth +is pictured as a huge mountain. Among other names, the +earth is called E-Kur, 'mountain house.' The popular and +early theology conceived the gods as sprung from the earth. +They are born in Kharsag-kurkura,<a name="FNanchor_1315_1315" id="FNanchor_1315_1315"></a><a href="#Footnote_1315_1315" class="fnanchor">[1315]</a> 'the mountain of all +lands,' which is again naught but a designation for the earth, +though at a later period some particular part of the earth, some +mountain peak, may have been pictured as the birthplace of the +gods, much as among the Indians, Persians, and Greeks we +find a particular mountain singled out as the one on which the +gods dwell. The transfer of the gods or of some of them to +places in the heavens was, as we saw,<a name="FNanchor_1316_1316" id="FNanchor_1316_1316"></a><a href="#Footnote_1316_1316" class="fnanchor">[1316]</a> a scholastic theory, and +not a popular belief. It was a natural association of ideas, +accordingly, that led the Babylonians to give to their temples +the form of the dwelling which they ascribed to their gods. The +temple, in so far as it was erected to serve as a habitation for +the god and an homage to him, was to be the reproduction of +the cosmic E-Kur,—'a mountain house' on a small scale, a +miniature Kharsag-kurkura. In confirmation of this view, it +is sufficient to point out that E-Kur is not merely the name of +the temple to Bel at Nippur, but is frequently used as a designation +for temple in general; and, moreover, a plural is formed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_615" id="Page_615">[Pg 615]</a></span> +of the word which is used for divinities.<a name="FNanchor_1317_1317" id="FNanchor_1317_1317"></a><a href="#Footnote_1317_1317" class="fnanchor">[1317]</a> In Assyria we find +one of the oldest temples bearing the name E-kharsag-kurkura,<a name="FNanchor_1318_1318" id="FNanchor_1318_1318"></a><a href="#Footnote_1318_1318" class="fnanchor">[1318]</a> +that stamps the edifice as the reproduction of the 'mountain +of all lands'; and there are other temples that likewise bear +names<a name="FNanchor_1319_1319" id="FNanchor_1319_1319"></a><a href="#Footnote_1319_1319" class="fnanchor">[1319]</a> in which the idea of a mountain is introduced.</p> + +<p>To produce the mountain effect, a mound of earth was piled +up and on this mound a terrace was formed that served as the +foundation plane for the temple proper, but it was perfectly +natural also that instead of making the edifice consist of one +story, a second was superimposed on the first so as to heighten +the resemblance to a mountain. The outcome of this ideal +was the so-called staged tower, known as the <i>zikkurat</i>. The +name signifies simply a 'high' edifice, and embodies the same +idea that led the Canaanites and Hebrews to call their temples +'high places.'<a name="FNanchor_1320_1320" id="FNanchor_1320_1320"></a><a href="#Footnote_1320_1320" class="fnanchor">[1320]</a></p> + +<p>The oldest zikkurat as yet found is the one excavated by +Drs. Peters and Haynes at Nippur,<a name="FNanchor_1321_1321" id="FNanchor_1321_1321"></a><a href="#Footnote_1321_1321" class="fnanchor">[1321]</a> the age of which can be +traced back to the second dynasty of Ur—about 2700 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span> This +appears to have consisted of three stages, one superimposed on +the other. There is a reference to a zikkurat in the inscriptions +of Gudea that may be several centuries older; but since beneath +the zikkurat at Nippur remains of an earlier building were +found, it is a question whether the staged tower represents the +oldest type of a Babylonian temple. At no time does any special +stress appear to have been laid upon the number of stories +of which the zikkurat was to consist. It is not until a comparatively +late period that rivalry among the rulers and natural +ambition led to the increase of the superimposed stages until +the number seven was reached. The older zikkurats were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_616" id="Page_616">[Pg 616]</a></span> +imposing chiefly because of the elevation of the terrace on +which they were erected, and inasmuch as the ideal of the +temple is realized to all practical purposes by the erection of a +high edifice on an elevated mound, the chief stress was laid upon +the height of the terrace. The terrace, in a certain sense, is the +original zikkurat—the real 'high place'—and the temple of one +story naturally precedes the staged tower, and may have remained +the type for some time before the more elaborate structure was +evolved. However this may be, we are justified in associating +the mountain <i>motif</i> with the beginnings of religious architecture +in the Euphrates Valley, precisely as the underlying cosmic +notions belong to the earliest period of which we have +any knowledge. That the staged tower when once evolved was +regarded as the most satisfactory expression of the religious +ideas follows from the fact that all the large centers of Babylonia +had a zikkurat of some kind dedicated to the patron +deity, and probably many of the smaller places likewise. A list +of zikkurats<a name="FNanchor_1322_1322" id="FNanchor_1322_1322"></a><a href="#Footnote_1322_1322" class="fnanchor">[1322]</a> furnishes the names of no less than twenty; and +while all of the important places are included, there are others +which do not appear to have played an important part in either +the religious or political history of the country, and which +nevertheless had their zikkurat. To judge from the fact that +in this list several names of zikkurat are connected with one +and the same place, more than one zikkurat, indeed, could be +found in a large religious center.<a name="FNanchor_1323_1323" id="FNanchor_1323_1323"></a><a href="#Footnote_1323_1323" class="fnanchor">[1323]</a></p> + + +<h3>The Construction and Character of the Zikkurats.</h3> + +<p>The zikkurat was quadrangular in shape. The orientation +of the four corners towards the four cardinal points was only +approximate.<a name="FNanchor_1324_1324" id="FNanchor_1324_1324"></a><a href="#Footnote_1324_1324" class="fnanchor">[1324]</a> Inasmuch as the rulers of Babylonia from a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_617" id="Page_617">[Pg 617]</a></span> +very early period call themselves 'king of the four regions,'<a name="FNanchor_1325_1325" id="FNanchor_1325_1325"></a><a href="#Footnote_1325_1325" class="fnanchor">[1325]</a> it +has been supposed that the quadrangular shape was chosen +designedly; but there is no proof that any stress was laid upon +symbolism of this kind, or upon the orientation of the corners +of the sacred edifices. More attention was bestowed upon +making the brick structure huge and massive.</p> + +<p>The height of the zikkurats varied. Those at Nippur and +Ur<a name="FNanchor_1326_1326" id="FNanchor_1326_1326"></a><a href="#Footnote_1326_1326" class="fnanchor">[1326]</a> appear to have been about 90 feet high, while the tower +at Borsippa which Sir Henry Rawlinson carefully examined<a name="FNanchor_1327_1327" id="FNanchor_1327_1327"></a><a href="#Footnote_1327_1327" class="fnanchor">[1327]</a> +attained a height of 140 feet. The base of this zikkurat, +which may be regarded as a specimen of the tower in its most +elaborate form, was a quadrangular mass 272 feet square and +26 feet high. The second and third stories were of equal +height, but the square mass diminished with each story by 42 +feet. The height of the four upper stories was 15 feet each. +At the same time, the mass diminished steadily at the rate of +42 feet, so that the seventh story consisted of a mass of only 20 +feet square. Sargon's zikkurat at Khorsabad (the suburb of +Nineveh) was about the same height.</p> + +<p>The average number of stages of the zikkurat appears to +have been three, as at Nippur and Ur, or four, as at Larsa.<a name="FNanchor_1328_1328" id="FNanchor_1328_1328"></a><a href="#Footnote_1328_1328" class="fnanchor">[1328]</a> +In the pictorial representations of the towers,<a name="FNanchor_1329_1329" id="FNanchor_1329_1329"></a><a href="#Footnote_1329_1329" class="fnanchor">[1329]</a> we similarly find +either three or four. In these smaller zikkurats, the height of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_618" id="Page_618">[Pg 618]</a></span> +each tower, as in the first three stories of the tower at Borsippa, +appears to have been alike; but the mass diminished in proportion +in order to secure a space for a staircase leading from +one story to the other. This method of ascent was older than +the winding balustrade, which was better adapted to the more +elaborate structures of later times. No doubt, as the towers +increased in height, other variations were introduced—as, <i>e.g.</i>, +in the proportions of the stories—without interfering with the +essential principle of the zikkurat.</p> + +<p>The ungainly appearance presented by the huge towers was +somewhat relieved by decorations of the friezes and by the +judicious use of color. Enameled bricks of bright hues, such +as yellow and blue,<a name="FNanchor_1330_1330" id="FNanchor_1330_1330"></a><a href="#Footnote_1330_1330" class="fnanchor">[1330]</a> became common, and in the case of some +of the towers it would appear that a different color was chosen +for each story. Whether all the bricks in each story were colored +or only those at the edge, or, perhaps, some rows, it is +impossible to say. From Herodotus' description of the seven +concentric walls of Ecbatana,<a name="FNanchor_1331_1331" id="FNanchor_1331_1331"></a><a href="#Footnote_1331_1331" class="fnanchor">[1331]</a> in which each wall was distinguished +by a certain color, the conclusion has been drawn that +the same colors—white, black, scarlet, blue, orange, silver, +and gold—were employed by the Babylonians for the stages +of their towers; but there is no satisfactory evidence that this +was the case. That these colors were brought into connection +with the planets, as some scholars have supposed, is highly +improbable.</p> + +<p>As already pointed out, no special stress seems to have been +laid upon the number of stories of which the zikkurat consisted, +but the natural result of ambition and rivalry among builders +tended towards an increase of the height, and this end could be +most readily attained by adding to the number of stories. Still, +there may have been some symbolism which led to the choice +of three, four, or seven stories, inasmuch as these numbers<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_619" id="Page_619">[Pg 619]</a></span> +have a sacred import among so many nations.<a name="FNanchor_1332_1332" id="FNanchor_1332_1332"></a><a href="#Footnote_1332_1332" class="fnanchor">[1332]</a> For the number +seven, the influence of cosmological associations is quite +clear. The two most famous of the zikkurats of seven stages +were those in Babylon and in Borsippa, opposite Babylon. The +latter bears the significant name E-ur-imin-an-ki,<a name="FNanchor_1333_1333" id="FNanchor_1333_1333"></a><a href="#Footnote_1333_1333" class="fnanchor">[1333]</a> <i>i.e.</i>, 'the house +of the seven directions of heaven and earth.' The 'seven +directions' were interpreted by the Babylonian theologians as +a reference to the seven great celestial bodies,—the sun and +moon and the five planets Ishtar, Marduk, Ninib, Nergal, and +Nabu.<a name="FNanchor_1334_1334" id="FNanchor_1334_1334"></a><a href="#Footnote_1334_1334" class="fnanchor">[1334]</a> To each of these gods one story was supposed to be +dedicated, and the tower thus became a cosmological symbol, +elaborating in theological fashion the fundamental idea of the +zikkurat as a reproduction of the dwelling-place of the gods. +The identification of the five gods with the planets is a proof +of the scholastic character of the interpretation, and hence of +its comparatively late origin. This interpretation of the number +seven, however, was not the only one proposed in the +Babylonian schools. Two much older towers than those of +Babylon and Borsippa bear names in which 'seven' is introduced. +One of these is the zikkurat to Nin-girsu at Lagash, +which Gudea<a name="FNanchor_1335_1335" id="FNanchor_1335_1335"></a><a href="#Footnote_1335_1335" class="fnanchor">[1335]</a> describes as 'the house of seven divisions of the +world'; the other, the tower at Uruk,<a name="FNanchor_1336_1336" id="FNanchor_1336_1336"></a><a href="#Footnote_1336_1336" class="fnanchor">[1336]</a> which bore the name +'house of seven zones.' The reference in both cases is, as +Jensen has shown,<a name="FNanchor_1337_1337" id="FNanchor_1337_1337"></a><a href="#Footnote_1337_1337" class="fnanchor">[1337]</a> to the seven concentric zones into which +the earth was divided by the Babylonians. It is a conception +that we encounter in India and Persia, and that survives in the +seven 'climates' into which the world was divided by Greek +and Arabic geographers. It seems clear that this interpretation<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_620" id="Page_620">[Pg 620]</a></span> +of the number seven is older than the one which identified +each story with one of the planets.<a name="FNanchor_1338_1338" id="FNanchor_1338_1338"></a><a href="#Footnote_1338_1338" class="fnanchor">[1338]</a> Both interpretations have +a scholastic aspect, however, and the very fact that there +are two interpretations, justifies the suspicion that neither furnishes +the <i>real</i> explanation why the number seven was chosen.</p> + +<p>It by no means follows from the names borne by the zikkurats +at Lagash and Uruk that they actually consisted of seven +stories. The 'seven divisions' and the 'seven zones' are +merely terms equivalent to 'universe.' The names given to +the towers would have been equally appropriate if they +consisted—as they probably did—of fewer stories than seven. +But, on the other hand, the introduction of the number seven +into the names may be regarded as a factor which influenced +ambitious builders to make the number of stories seven. Over +and above this, however, seven was chosen, primarily, because +it was a large number, and, secondly, because it was a sacred +number,—sacred in part because large, since 'largeness' and +'sacredness' are correlated ideas in the popular phases of early +religious thought. In the same way, it is because seven was +popularly sacred that the world was divided into seven zones +and that the planets were fixed at seven, not <i>vice versa</i>.</p> + +<p>The opinion of some scholars<a name="FNanchor_1339_1339" id="FNanchor_1339_1339"></a><a href="#Footnote_1339_1339" class="fnanchor">[1339]</a> that the zikkurats were used +for astronomical observations remains a pure conjecture, of +which it cannot even be said that it has probability in its favor. +It is certain that the astronomical observations, since they were +conducted by the priests, were made in the temple precincts; +but a small room at the top of a pyramid difficult of access +seems hardly a spot adapted for the purpose. Moreover, the +sacred character of the zikkurat speaks against the supposition<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_621" id="Page_621">[Pg 621]</a></span> +that it should have been put to such constant use, and for purposes +not directly connected with the cult. In the numerous +astronomical reports that we have, there is not a single reference +from which one could conclude that the observations +reported were made from the top of a zikkurat.</p> + +<p>But, on the other hand, it would appear that as the zikkurat +developed from a one-story edifice into a tower, and as the +number of the stages increased, the zikkurat assumed more of +an ornamental character. While the ascent of the tower continued +to be regarded to the latest days as a sacred duty, +pleasing in the eyes of the deity, for the ordinary and more +practical purposes of the cult, other buildings were erected +near the tower. Within the temple area and bordering on it +there were smaller shrines, while in front of the zikkurat there +was a large open place, where the pilgrims who flocked to the +sacred city, congregated. The sacrifices which formed the +essential feature of worship were brought, not at the top of +the zikkurat, but on altars that were erected at the base.</p> + +<p>The ideographic designation of the zikkurat as a 'conspicuous +house,'<a name="FNanchor_1340_1340" id="FNanchor_1340_1340"></a><a href="#Footnote_1340_1340" class="fnanchor">[1340]</a> which accords admirably with the motive ascribed +in the eleventh chapter of Genesis to the builders of a zikkurat +to erect an edifice that "could be seen," supports the view here +taken of the more decorative position which the staged tower +came to occupy,—an homage to the gods rather than a place +where they were to be worshipped, something that suggested +the dwelling-place of a god, to be visited only occasionally by +the worshipper—in short, a monument forming part of a +religious sanctuary, but not coextensive with the sanctuary. +The differentiation that thus arose between the dwelling-place +of the god and the place where he was to be worshipped is a +perfectly natural one. To emphasize the fact that the zikkurat +was the temple for the god, a small room was built at the top<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_622" id="Page_622">[Pg 622]</a></span> +of the zikkurat,<a name="FNanchor_1341_1341" id="FNanchor_1341_1341"></a><a href="#Footnote_1341_1341" class="fnanchor">[1341]</a> and it was a direct consequence of this same +distinction between a temple for the gods and a temple for +actual worship that led to assigning to zikkurats special names, +and such as differed from the designation of the sacred quarter +of which the zikkurat formed the most conspicuous feature.</p> + +<p>Thus the name E-Kur, 'mountain house,' though evidently an +appropriate designation for the zikkurat, becomes the term for +the sacred area which included in time a large series of buildings +used for the cult, whereas the zikkurat itself receives the +special name of 'house of oracle';<a name="FNanchor_1342_1342" id="FNanchor_1342_1342"></a><a href="#Footnote_1342_1342" class="fnanchor">[1342]</a> and similarly in the case of +the various other religious centers of Babylonia, the name of +the zikkurat is distinct from that of the sacred quarter—the +temple in the broader sense.</p> + +<p>The special position which the zikkurat thus came to occupy +is, of course, merely an outcome of the growth of the religious +centers of the country, and involves no departure from the +religious ideals of earlier days. The distinction is much of the +same order as we find in the case of the Hebrew temple at +Jerusalem, where the court in which the worshippers gathered +was distinct from the 'holy of holies,' which was originally +regarded as the dwelling of Yahwe, and in later times was +viewed as the spot where he manifested himself. The name +'house of oracle' given to the zikkurat at Nippur is a valuable +indication of the special sanctity that continued to be +attached to the staged tower.</p> + + +<h3>The Temple and the Sacred Quarter.</h3> + +<p>But the zikkurat, while the most characteristic expression of +the religious spirit of Babylonia, was by no means the only +kind of sacred edifice that prevailed.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_623" id="Page_623">[Pg 623]</a></span></p> + +<p>The excavations at Nippur have afforded us for the first time +a general view of a sacred quarter in an ancient Babylonian +city. The extent of the quarter was considerable. Dr. Peters' +estimate is eight areas for the zikkurat and surrounding structures, +and to this we may add several acres more, since beyond +the limits of the great terrace there were buildings to the southeast +and southwest, used for religious purposes. It is likely +that the extent of E-Sagila at Babylon was even greater. Outside +of the temple area at Nippur, Peters<a name="FNanchor_1343_1343" id="FNanchor_1343_1343"></a><a href="#Footnote_1343_1343" class="fnanchor">[1343]</a> and Haynes unearthed +a court of considerable size, lined with brick columns. The +court was open to the sky, but the columns supported a roof +which was apparently of wood. Similar courts have been found +elsewhere, so that we are justified in regarding the Nippur +structure as characteristic of the architecture of Babylonia. +The court was attached to an edifice of considerable size, +which contained among other things rooms in which the temple +records were kept. The entrance to the court was by a large +gateway, supported on each side by a brick column, double the +diameter of those that surrounded the court. While the nature +of the building is not perfectly clear, still the presence of the +temple archives and the gateway make it probable that the +structure was used in connection with the cult of some deity +worshipped at Nippur. Lending weight to this supposition are +the points of resemblance between this structure and the sacred +edifices of the ancient Hebrews and Arabs. A court of sixty +columns—made of wood, quadrangular in shape, with the +supports and tops of metal—was the characteristic feature of +the tabernacle.<a name="FNanchor_1344_1344" id="FNanchor_1344_1344"></a><a href="#Footnote_1344_1344" class="fnanchor">[1344]</a> Within this court, open to the sky, the people +gathered for worship. The altar and the basin for ablutions +stood in the court, while the holy tent containing the ark was +set up near the eastern end of the place. Similarly at Mecca,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_624" id="Page_624">[Pg 624]</a></span><a name="FNanchor_1345_1345" id="FNanchor_1345_1345"></a><a href="#Footnote_1345_1345" class="fnanchor">[1345]</a> +the Kaaba, the pulpit, and the sacred fountain are grouped +within a space enclosed on all sides by colonnades. Again, +surrounding the Solomonic temple on three sides was a spacious +court. This court was enclosed with colonnades.<a name="FNanchor_1346_1346" id="FNanchor_1346_1346"></a><a href="#Footnote_1346_1346" class="fnanchor">[1346]</a> It +may well be, therefore, that the edifice around or near the +fine court of columns at Nippur was a sacred structure, +erected in honor of some deity. The two large brick columns +at the entrance to the Nippur court are paralleled in +the case of the Solomonic temple by the two large columns, +known as Yakhin and Boaz, that stood at the gateway. +These names are as yet unexplained. Their symbolic character, +apart from other evidence, may be concluded from +the circumstance that, as Schick has shown,<a name="FNanchor_1347_1347" id="FNanchor_1347_1347"></a><a href="#Footnote_1347_1347" class="fnanchor">[1347]</a> the columns +stood free, and did not serve as a support for any part +of the gateway.<a name="FNanchor_1348_1348" id="FNanchor_1348_1348"></a><a href="#Footnote_1348_1348" class="fnanchor">[1348]</a> There is no need, therefore, for any hesitation +in comparing these two columns, whose presence in the +Solomonic structure is certainly due to foreign influence, to +those found at Nippur.<a name="FNanchor_1349_1349" id="FNanchor_1349_1349"></a><a href="#Footnote_1349_1349" class="fnanchor">[1349]</a></p> + +<p>That the columns at Nippur were erected in accordance with +recognized custom follows from De Sarzec's discovery of two +enormous round columns within the sacred quarter of Lagash.<a name="FNanchor_1350_1350" id="FNanchor_1350_1350"></a><a href="#Footnote_1350_1350" class="fnanchor">[1350]</a> +In the light of Peters' excavations, the significance of the +columns at Lagash becomes clear. Unfortunately, De Sarzec's +excavations at Lagash at the point of the mound in +question were interrupted, but he gives reasons for believing +that other columns existed near the two large ones found by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_625" id="Page_625">[Pg 625]</a></span> +him.<a name="FNanchor_1351_1351" id="FNanchor_1351_1351"></a><a href="#Footnote_1351_1351" class="fnanchor">[1351]</a> There is, therefore, every reason to conclude that at +Lagash, as at Nippur and no doubt elsewhere, the two columns +belonged to a great gateway leading into a large court of columns. +That these columns served a symbolic purpose in the +Babylonian temple as they did at Jerusalem, cannot be maintained +with certainty, but is eminently likely.</p> + +<p>The court of columns was surrounded by a series of rooms. +If the view taken of the building is correct, these rooms were +used for the temple administration. However this may be, +there can be no doubt that the structures of various size found +around the zikkurat at Nippur served as dwellings for the +priests and the temple attendants, as stalls for the temple +cattle, as shops for the manufacture and sale of votive objects, +and the like. Within the temple area proper were the schools +where young priests were trained to be scribes, and received +instructions in the doctrines and rites. The astronomical +observatories, too, were situated near the temple. The schools +served, as they still do in the orient, as the gathering-place +of the mature scholars. The systematized pantheon, and the +cosmological and astronomical systems represent the outcome +of the intellectual activity that manifested itself within the sacred +quarters of the cities of Babylonia. The execution of justice +being in the hands of the priests, the sacred area also contained +the rooms where the judges sat. It is interesting to note that +Gudea mentions a hall of judgment in the temple to Nin-girsu +at Lagash. The number of such buildings attached to the +temple precinct varied, of course, according to the needs and +growth of each place. In Nippur, the numbers appear to have +been very large. We may assume, likewise, that at Sippar, Uruk, +Ur, and Larsa the zikkurat was the center of a considerable +group of buildings, while at Babylon in the days of her greatest +power, the temple area of E-Sagila must have presented the +appearance of a little city by itself, shut off from the rest of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_626" id="Page_626">[Pg 626]</a></span> +town by a wall which invariably enclosed the sacred quarter. +Within this large wall there were smaller ones, marking the +several divisions of the temple buildings. The construction of +the smaller edifices does not appear to have varied from the +ordinary form chosen for the one-story dwelling-houses in the +city proper. The material used for all structures—the large +and the small ones—was brick. In earlier times the bricks were +merely dried in the sun. The buildings, as a consequence, suffered +much from the influence of the heat and rain, and required +frequent repairs. Often the tower would crumble away, and an +entirely new edifice would have to be erected. The later custom +of kiln-dried bricks was an improvement, and still more +solidity was insured when the exterior series of brick was +glazed. In the older buildings, the bricks were merely piled +together, without cement. Afterwards straw was mixed with +the clay, but as early as Gudea's days the bitumen, abounding +in the valley, became the common cement employed in all edifices +of importance. Wood was used in the case of smaller +sanctuaries (as also in palaces) for the roof, and the kings often +refer with pride to the efforts they made to obtain the precious +cedars of the Lebanon forests for their building enterprises. +The decoration was confined largely to the façades, the doors, +and the floors. A pleasing effect also was produced by the +judicious distribution of glazed and enameled bricks in +the walls. Colors were used with still greater lavishness in the +decorations of the interior. The brilliancy was heightened +by the use of precious stones and gold and silver for the walls +and floors and ceilings. The aim of the builders was, as they +constantly tell us, to make the buildings as brilliant as the +sunlight. The decorations of the brick walls and floors suggest +textile patterns, and to account for this, some scholars have +supposed that prior to the use of colored bricks, it was customary +to cover the walls and floors of temples and palaces +with draperies and rugs. The suggestion lacks proof, but has<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_627" id="Page_627">[Pg 627]</a></span> +much in its favor. In exterior architecture no profound changes +were ever introduced, but within the prescribed limits, the +builders did their utmost to make their edifices testimonials of +their zeal and power. They imported gold, copper, and diorite +from the Sinai peninsula and Arabia, precious stones from Armenia +and the Upper Euphrates, wood from Bahrein and from +various parts of the Amanus range, and so all quarters of the +ancient world of culture were ransacked for contributions to +add to the splendor of the Babylonian and Assyrian cities. +Much care was bestowed in the course of time upon the portals. +The wooden gates were covered with bronze, in which art of +decoration great skill was developed.<a name="FNanchor_1352_1352" id="FNanchor_1352_1352"></a><a href="#Footnote_1352_1352" class="fnanchor">[1352]</a> The columns of stone +appear only in Assyrian edifices as decorations in the front of +palaces, supporting a portal or portico that projects from the +temple proper.<a name="FNanchor_1353_1353" id="FNanchor_1353_1353"></a><a href="#Footnote_1353_1353" class="fnanchor">[1353]</a> The introduction appears to be due to foreign +influence, perhaps Hittite.<a name="FNanchor_1354_1354" id="FNanchor_1354_1354"></a><a href="#Footnote_1354_1354" class="fnanchor">[1354]</a></p> + +<p>To determine the interior arrangement of a sacred structure, +we have two small Assyrian temples, excavated by Layard at +Nimrod, to serve as our guide.<a name="FNanchor_1355_1355" id="FNanchor_1355_1355"></a><a href="#Footnote_1355_1355" class="fnanchor">[1355]</a> A long hall constituted the +chief feature. At the extreme end of this hall was a small +room, in which stood a statue of the god to whom the temple +was dedicated. This room, known as the <i>papakhu</i> or +<i>parakku</i>, was the most sacred part of the temple, and it is +doubtful whether any but the king or the highest officials +had access to it. Certainly, no one could approach the +presence of the deity without the mediation of a priest. +Both terms for this room convey the idea of its being<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_628" id="Page_628">[Pg 628]</a></span> +"shut off"<a name="FNanchor_1356_1356" id="FNanchor_1356_1356"></a><a href="#Footnote_1356_1356" class="fnanchor">[1356]</a> from the rest of the building, precisely as the +holy of holies in the temple of Jerusalem containing the ark, +was separated from the central hall. Gudea<a name="FNanchor_1357_1357" id="FNanchor_1357_1357"></a><a href="#Footnote_1357_1357" class="fnanchor">[1357]</a> describes the +papakhu as the "dark" (or inner) chamber.</p> + +<p>We are fortunate in having a pictorial representation of +such a papakhu. A stone tablet found at Sippar<a name="FNanchor_1358_1358" id="FNanchor_1358_1358"></a><a href="#Footnote_1358_1358" class="fnanchor">[1358]</a> represents +Shamash seated in the "holy of holies" of the temple E-Babbara. +The god sits on a low throne. In front of him is an +altar table on which rests a wheel with radiant spokes,—a +symbol of the sun-god. Into this sanctuary the worshipper, +who is none other than the king Nabubaliddin, is led by a +priest. The king is at pains to tell us in the inscription +attached to the design, that he was careful to restore the image +of Shamash after an ancient model, and his motive in adding +an illustration to this tablet is that future builders may have +no excuse for not being equally careful. We may, therefore, +take the illustration as a sample of the general character of +the sacred chambers in the Babylonian and Assyrian temples +in the great centers. The papakhu was decorated with great +lavishness. The floors and walls and also the ceiling were +studded with precious stones. We may believe Herodotus<a name="FNanchor_1359_1359" id="FNanchor_1359_1359"></a><a href="#Footnote_1359_1359" class="fnanchor">[1359]</a> +when he tells us that the statue of Marduk in his temple at +Babylon and the table in front of it was of gold. It was to the +papakhu that the priests retired when they desired to obtain an +oracle direct from the god; and as in the course of time the +sanctity of the spot increased, we may well suppose that the +occasions when the deity was directly approached in his +papakhu became rarer. Through the influence of the schools +attached to the Marduk cult at Babylon, the New Year's Festival—the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_629" id="Page_629">[Pg 629]</a></span> +character of which we will have occasion to explain later +on—came to be regarded as the season most appropriate for +approaching the oracular chamber. During this festival, Marduk +was supposed to decide the fate of mankind for the whole +year, and the intercession of the priests on the occasion was +fraught with great importance.</p> + +<p>A special significance, moreover, came to be attached to the +sacred chamber in the Marduk temple. Complementing in a +measure, the cosmological associations that have been noted in +connection with the zikkurat, the papakhu of Marduk was +regarded as an imitation of a cosmical 'sacred chamber.' As +the zikkurat represented the mountain on which the gods were +born and where they were once supposed to dwell, so the +sacred room was regarded as the reproduction of a portion of +the great mountain where the gods assembled in solemn council. +This council chamber was situated at the eastern end of +the great mountain, and was known as Du-azagga, that is, +'brilliant chamber.' The chamber itself constituted the innermost +recess of the eastern limit of the mountain, and the +special part of the mountain in which it lay was known as +Ubshu-kenna, written with the ideographic equivalents to +'assembly room.' It will be apparent that such a view +of the papakhu is the result of theological speculation, and +is not due, as is the conception of the zikkurat, to popular +beliefs.</p> + +<p>The assembly of the gods presupposes a systematization of +the pantheon, and the fact that it is only the papakhu in Marduk's +temple which is known as Du-azagga<a name="FNanchor_1360_1360" id="FNanchor_1360_1360"></a><a href="#Footnote_1360_1360" class="fnanchor">[1360]</a> is a sufficient +indication of the influences at work which produced this conception. +In the creation epic, there is a reference to the +Ubshu-kenna<a name="FNanchor_1361_1361" id="FNanchor_1361_1361"></a><a href="#Footnote_1361_1361" class="fnanchor">[1361]</a> which shows the main purpose of a divine<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_630" id="Page_630">[Pg 630]</a></span> +assembly in the eyes of the priests of Babylon. The gods +meet there in order to do homage to Marduk. They gather +around the victorious vanquisher of Tiâmat, as the princes +gather round the throne of the supreme ruler,—the king of +Babylon and of Babylonia.</p> + +<p>One can see, however, that, as is generally the case with +theological doctrines, there is a popular starting-point from +which these views were developed. The Du-azagga is older +than the Ubshu-kenna. Situated in the extreme east, the +'brilliant chamber' is evidently the place whence the sun +rises in the morning. A hymn to Shamash<a name="FNanchor_1362_1362" id="FNanchor_1362_1362"></a><a href="#Footnote_1362_1362" class="fnanchor">[1362]</a> expressly speaks +of the sun rising out of the Du-azagga, and, since the sun also +appears to rise up out of the ocean, the Du-azagga is placed +at a point close to the great Apsu, which flows underneath the +mountain. In confirmation of this view, a syllabary<a name="FNanchor_1363_1363" id="FNanchor_1363_1363"></a><a href="#Footnote_1363_1363" class="fnanchor">[1363]</a> identifies +the Du-azagga with the Apsu. Marduk, by virtue of his +original quality as a solar deity, would naturally be pictured as +coming forth from Du-azagga. In this sense the title Mar-Du-azaga,<a name="FNanchor_1364_1364" id="FNanchor_1364_1364"></a><a href="#Footnote_1364_1364" class="fnanchor">[1364]</a> +'son of Du-azagga,' is applied to him, just as he is +called Mar-Apsi, the son of Apsu. But the same conception +would hold good of Shamash, of Ninib, and of some other +solar deities, though not of all. That Du-azagga came to be +especially associated with Marduk is due simply to the preëminent +rank that he came to occupy. Whether there was also a +popular basis for the conception of an Ubshu-kenna, an +'assembly room' of the gods, is a question more difficult to +answer. Certainly, the view that the gods gathered together +in one place belongs to an age which attempted to fix, at least +in some measure, the relationship of the divine beings to one +another. The popular phase of the conception of a general<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_631" id="Page_631">[Pg 631]</a></span> +assembly house could, in any case, hardly have proceeded further +than the assumption of some particular part of the great +mountain, where the gods were wont to come together. The +connection of this assembly place with the Du-azagga is distinctly +the work of the theologians of Babylon. In their desire +to make Marduk the central figure of the pantheon, they bring +all the gods to his side. The Ubshu-kenna is thus transferred +to the region whence the sun issues on his daily journey. The +'chamber' of Marduk becomes the most sacred spot in this +region, and the Ubshu-kenna the general name for the region +itself. As Marduk in Babylon was surrounded by his court, so +in Ubshu-kenna the gods assemble to pay homage to the one +freely acknowledged by them as the greatest, and who is +pictured as sitting on his throne in Du-azagga. The further +speculation which brought the gods together yearly on the +occasion of the great Marduk festival belongs likewise, and as +a matter of course, to the period when Marduk's sway was +undisputed.</p> + +<p>The ideas that were thus attached to the papakhu in E-Sagila +are a valuable indication of the sanctity attached to that part +of the temple where the god sat enthroned. In a general way, +what holds good of Marduk's papakhu applies to every sacred +chamber in a temple, and no doubt views were once current of +the papakhu of Bel at Nippur and of the 'holy of holies' in +E-Babbara<a name="FNanchor_1365_1365" id="FNanchor_1365_1365"></a><a href="#Footnote_1365_1365" class="fnanchor">[1365]</a> and elsewhere that formed in some measure, a +parallel to what the Marduk priests told of their favorite +sanctuary.</p> + +<p>Coming back now to the large hall which led into the +papakhu, the absence of bas-reliefs in this hall in the case of +the Assyrian temples excavated by Layard, suggests that the +walls of this hall were not lined with sculptured slabs, as was +the case in the large rooms of the palaces; and we may conclude<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_632" id="Page_632">[Pg 632]</a></span> +that in Babylonian temples, likewise, the decoration of +the walls was confined as a general thing to enameled bricks, +interspersed, perhaps, with metallic panels, and that mythological +scenes—such as the contest with Tiâmat or Gilgamesh's +adventures—were only occasionally portrayed. An aim which, +as the rulers themselves tell us in their inscriptions, they +always kept in view was to make both the exterior and interior +of the temples resplendent with brilliant coloring—"brilliant +as the sun." At the entrances to the Assyrian temples stood +lions, chiseled out of soft limestone or the harder alabaster. +At Telloh various fragments of large lion heads were found,<a name="FNanchor_1366_1366" id="FNanchor_1366_1366"></a><a href="#Footnote_1366_1366" class="fnanchor">[1366]</a> +so that there is every reason not only to trace this custom to +Babylonia, but to carry it back to a very early period. Besides +the lion, a favorite religious symbol, as we have seen,<a name="FNanchor_1367_1367" id="FNanchor_1367_1367"></a><a href="#Footnote_1367_1367" class="fnanchor">[1367]</a> was the +bull, and, since Nebuchadnezzar speaks of retaining the "bull" +statue of the old temple to Nanâ (or Ishtar) at Erech, we may +suppose that the representation of colossal bulls at the entrances +to the temples also belongs to the characteristic features of +Babylonian religious architecture. The lion, it will be recalled, +is more particularly the symbol of Nergal, but he appears originally, +like the bull, to have been a symbol of other gods as +well—perhaps, indeed, of the gods in general. Similarly, the +eagle, which becomes the special symbol of Ashur, appears +prominently on the monuments of Entemena<a name="FNanchor_1368_1368" id="FNanchor_1368_1368"></a><a href="#Footnote_1368_1368" class="fnanchor">[1368]</a> and other +ancient rulers, centuries before the Ashur cult comes into +prominence.</p> + +<p>In the large court in front of the zikkurats there stood the +jars used in connection with the cult, and the presence of +these jars furthermore suggests that there was an altar in the +great court, precisely as in the case of the Solomonic temple.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_633" id="Page_633">[Pg 633]</a></span><a name="FNanchor_1369_1369" id="FNanchor_1369_1369"></a><a href="#Footnote_1369_1369" class="fnanchor">[1369]</a> +In the larger of the temples found by Layard, there was a +smaller hall in front of the large one. We may assume that +the same was the case with the larger temples of Babylonia, +and this three-fold division of the interior,—the vestibule, or +<i>pronaos</i>, the main hall, or <i>naos</i>, and the papakhu,—further +warrants the comparison of a Babylonian sacred edifice with +the Solomonic temple,<a name="FNanchor_1370_1370" id="FNanchor_1370_1370"></a><a href="#Footnote_1370_1370" class="fnanchor">[1370]</a> where likewise we have the vestibule, +the hall known as the 'holy' part, and the 'holy of holies,' the +one leading into the other. As to the further disposition of +the rooms in the main temple, we must be content to wait for +further excavations. What we know is sufficient to warrant +the supposition that there was practical uniformity in the +interior arrangement of the Babylonian and Assyrian temples. +What variation there existed was probably confined to the +decoration of the walls, doorways, and to the façades. Meanwhile, +it is something to have reached general results. The +zikkurat was surrounded by a varying number of shrines that +were used as places of assembly for worshippers. The latter +gathered also in the large court in front of the zikkurat, where +the chief altar probably stood.<a name="FNanchor_1371_1371" id="FNanchor_1371_1371"></a><a href="#Footnote_1371_1371" class="fnanchor">[1371]</a> In the large halls of the +shrines, there were in all probabilities likewise altars. It seems +natural to suppose that the hall of judgment, mentioned already +in Gudea's inscription,<a name="FNanchor_1372_1372" id="FNanchor_1372_1372"></a><a href="#Footnote_1372_1372" class="fnanchor">[1372]</a> was attached to some shrine. Besides +the zikkurats and shrines, there were smaller structures used +as dwellings for the priests and temple officials, for storehouses, +for the archives, and as stalls for the animals to be used +in the sacrifices. At Nippur a smithy was found near the temple<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_634" id="Page_634">[Pg 634]</a></span> +precinct. There were workshops near the temple where +the furnishings for the temple, such as the curtains and the +utensils, were made, and there were magazines where votive +tablets and offerings were manufactured and sold. The number +of these structures varied, naturally, in each religious center, +and increased in proportion to the growth of the center. +The zikkurat, the great court, the shrines, and the smaller +structures formed a sacred precinct, and it was this precinct as +a whole that constituted the temple in the larger sense, and +received some appropriate name. Thus E-Kur at Nippur, +E-Sagila at Babylon, E-Zida at Borsippa are used to denote +the entire sacred precinct in these cities, and not merely the +chief structure. The zikkurat always had a special name of +its own.</p> + +<p>A factor that contributed largely to the growth of the sacred +precinct in the large centers was the circumstance that the +political importance of such centers as Nippur, Lagash, Ur, +Babylon, and Nineveh led the rulers to group around the worship +of the chief deity, the cult of the minor ones who constituted +the family or the court of the chief god. The kings +measured their importance by the number of the gods upon +whose assistance they could rely. The priests came to the +assistance of the kings in connecting the gods of the royal +pantheon in such a way, as to satisfy the pride of both their +royal and divine masters.<a name="FNanchor_1373_1373" id="FNanchor_1373_1373"></a><a href="#Footnote_1373_1373" class="fnanchor">[1373]</a> The ambition of the kings, more +especially of the Assyrian empire, led also to the addition of +foreign deities to the pantheon. For these also shrines were +built within or near the sacred precinct.</p> + +<p>Gudea sets the example for his successors by parading a +large pantheon at the close of his inscriptions,<a name="FNanchor_1374_1374" id="FNanchor_1374_1374"></a><a href="#Footnote_1374_1374" class="fnanchor">[1374]</a> and a list of +temples in Lagash, recently published by Scheil,<a name="FNanchor_1375_1375" id="FNanchor_1375_1375"></a><a href="#Footnote_1375_1375" class="fnanchor">[1375]</a> shows that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_635" id="Page_635">[Pg 635]</a></span> +most, if not all, of the gods invoked by the ruler had a sanctuary +erected in his or her honor. There were, as we have +seen, several quarters in Lagash, and therefore several sacred +precincts, so that we cannot be certain that all of these sanctuaries +stood in one and the same quarter. But, since the list +in question furnishes the name of no less than thirteen sacred +edifices, we are certain that as many as four or five smaller +chapels surrounded the precinct in which stood the great +temple E-Ninnu, sacred to Gudea's chief god Ningirsu-Ninib.</p> + +<p>The list is headed by the sanctuary to Nin-girsu. There +follow temples to Bau, to Nin-gishzida, Nin-mar, Ninâ, Dumuzi-zu-aba, +Nin-si-a, Ga-tum-dug known to us from the inscriptions +of Gudea, besides others, like Shabra (?), Nin-sun, Nin-tu, that +appear here for the first time. In Nippur, we find traces of the +worship of Belit (or Nin-lil), of Ninib, and of Nusku, though +with the exception of the first named, the worship of these gods +has not been traced back further than the days of the Cassite +dynasty. Subsequent excavations may, of course, change the +present aspect; but one gains the impression from the most +ancient inscriptions found at Nippur that at an early period +Bel was a god much like the Hebrew Yahwe, "jealous" of +having others at his side. Such a conception would help to +account for the title 'lord' being applied to him above all +others, and also aids us in understanding the lasting impression +he made upon the people of Babylonia,—an impression so +profound that when the time came for En-lil to yield his +supremacy to Marduk, no better means could be found of +emphasizing the latter's authority, than by transferring to him +the names and titles of the older Bel.<a name="FNanchor_1376_1376" id="FNanchor_1376_1376"></a><a href="#Footnote_1376_1376" class="fnanchor">[1376]</a> In this respect, however, +Nippur was an exception, and in later times the Bel cult +was affected by the same influences that led Gudea to group +around the sanctuary to Nin-girsu, edifices sacred to other gods<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_636" id="Page_636">[Pg 636]</a></span> +and goddesses. Lugalzaggisi<a name="FNanchor_1377_1377" id="FNanchor_1377_1377"></a><a href="#Footnote_1377_1377" class="fnanchor">[1377]</a> of Erech enumerates an extensive +pantheon,<a name="FNanchor_1378_1378" id="FNanchor_1378_1378"></a><a href="#Footnote_1378_1378" class="fnanchor">[1378]</a> which contains most of the chief deities, and +from which we may conclude that the temple of Nanâ was similarly +the center of a large precinct in which the cult of other +deities was carried on. When we come to the cult of Marduk +at Babylon and of Nabu at Borsippa, the inscriptions, chiefly +those of Nebuchadnezzar, come to our aid in showing us the +arrangement of the various chapels that were comprised within +the sacred precincts of E-Sagila and E-Zida, respectively. In +the first place, the close relationship between Marduk and +Nabu was emphasized by placing a papakhu to Nabu in the +precinct of E-Sagila, which—built in imitation of E-Zida at +Borsippa—was called by the same name.<a name="FNanchor_1379_1379" id="FNanchor_1379_1379"></a><a href="#Footnote_1379_1379" class="fnanchor">[1379]</a> This papakhu, it +would seem, was independent of a special temple to Nabu +known as E-Makh-tila, and which lay in Borsippa. The consort +of Marduk, Sarpanitum, likewise had her temple in Babylon, +and naturally close to the chief sanctuary of Marduk.<a name="FNanchor_1380_1380" id="FNanchor_1380_1380"></a><a href="#Footnote_1380_1380" class="fnanchor">[1380]</a> Ea, +the father of Marduk, had a small sanctuary known as E-kar-zaginna +in the sacred precinct.<a name="FNanchor_1381_1381" id="FNanchor_1381_1381"></a><a href="#Footnote_1381_1381" class="fnanchor">[1381]</a> It does not follow, of course, +that all the temples in a center like Babylon or Borsippa +were concentrated in one place. Indeed, when Nebuchadnezzar +speaks of three temples to Gula being erected in +Borsippa,<a name="FNanchor_1382_1382" id="FNanchor_1382_1382"></a><a href="#Footnote_1382_1382" class="fnanchor">[1382]</a> it is certain that they could not have been within +the precinct of E-Zida, and so the temples to Shamash and +Ramman, Sin and Ishtar, as well as to Nabu in Babylon, had +an independent position; but we are at least warranted in concluding +that they were not far removed from E-Sagila, and so, +likewise, the numerous temples enumerated by Nebuchadnezzar<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_637" id="Page_637">[Pg 637]</a></span> +as erected or improved by him in Borsippa were not far distant +from Nabu's sanctuary,—the famous E-Zida. The palaces of +the kings were also erected near the temples. In Babylon, we +know that before Nebuchadnezzar's days, the palace stood so +close to E-Sagila that an enlargement of it was impossible without +encroaching on the sacred quarter.<a name="FNanchor_1383_1383" id="FNanchor_1383_1383"></a><a href="#Footnote_1383_1383" class="fnanchor">[1383]</a> The tendency to +combine with the worship of the chief god, the cult of others is +as characteristic of Assyrian rulers as of their Babylonian +predecessors. We are fortunate in possessing an extensive +list,<a name="FNanchor_1384_1384" id="FNanchor_1384_1384"></a><a href="#Footnote_1384_1384" class="fnanchor">[1384]</a> enumerating the various deities worshipped in the temples +of Assyria, and the occasions on which they are to be invoked. +The information to be gained from this list is all the more +welcome since the Assyrian kings are chiefly interested in +transmitting an account of their military expeditions, and tell +us comparatively little of the religious edifices in their capitols. +From this list we learn that in the old temple sacred to Anu +and Ramman,<a name="FNanchor_1385_1385" id="FNanchor_1385_1385"></a><a href="#Footnote_1385_1385" class="fnanchor">[1385]</a> in the city of Ashur—the oldest Assyrian temple +known to us,<a name="FNanchor_1386_1386" id="FNanchor_1386_1386"></a><a href="#Footnote_1386_1386" class="fnanchor">[1386]</a>—some twenty deities were worshipped. +Images at least of these deities must have stood in the +temple;<a name="FNanchor_1387_1387" id="FNanchor_1387_1387"></a><a href="#Footnote_1387_1387" class="fnanchor">[1387]</a> but, since there is a distinct reference <i>zikkurats</i><a name="FNanchor_1388_1388" id="FNanchor_1388_1388"></a><a href="#Footnote_1388_1388" class="fnanchor">[1388]</a> in +the list, for some of them special sanctuaries of some kind +must have been erected within the precinct. From the same +list we learn that there was a temple to Marduk<a name="FNanchor_1389_1389" id="FNanchor_1389_1389"></a><a href="#Footnote_1389_1389" class="fnanchor">[1389]</a> in Ashur in +which the cult of the Shamash, Sarpanitum, Ramman, Ninib, +Anunit was also carried on; similarly, in the temples of Ashur, +of Gula, and of Ninib, other gods were worshipped. Provisions +of some kind for the cult of these deities must have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_638" id="Page_638">[Pg 638]</a></span> +been made, and one cannot escape the conclusion that in the +Assyrian capitols, the sacred precincts likewise covered considerable +territory, and that the tendency existed towards a steady +increase of the structures erected in connection with the cult +of the patron deity. Sennacherib proudly describes Nineveh +as the city which contained the shrines of all gods and goddesses.<a name="FNanchor_1390_1390" id="FNanchor_1390_1390"></a><a href="#Footnote_1390_1390" class="fnanchor">[1390]</a></p> + + +<h3>The Names of the Zikkurats and Temples.</h3> + +<p>We have seen that every sacred edifice had a special name +by which it was known. This custom belongs to the oldest +period of Babylonian history, and continues to the latest. +Through these names, to which, no doubt, considerable significance +was attached, we obtain a valuable insight into the religious +spirit of the Babylonians; but it is important to note +that the custom does not appear to have been as general<a name="FNanchor_1391_1391" id="FNanchor_1391_1391"></a><a href="#Footnote_1391_1391" class="fnanchor">[1391]</a> in +Assyria, where the temples are simply known as the house of +this or that god or goddess. Of special interest are those +names which were suggested by the original design of the +temples. Such are E-Kur, 'the mountain house' at Nippur, +E-kharsag-kurkura, 'the house of the mountain of all lands,' the +name of several temples.<a name="FNanchor_1392_1392" id="FNanchor_1392_1392"></a><a href="#Footnote_1392_1392" class="fnanchor">[1392]</a> The same idea finds expression also +in such names as E-kharsag-ella, or 'house of the glorious mountain,' +the name of a temple to Gula in Babylon; E-kharsag, 'the +mountain house,' a temple in Ur;<a name="FNanchor_1393_1393" id="FNanchor_1393_1393"></a><a href="#Footnote_1393_1393" class="fnanchor">[1393]</a> E-khur-makh, 'the house of +the great mountain,' which a text<a name="FNanchor_1394_1394" id="FNanchor_1394_1394"></a><a href="#Footnote_1394_1394" class="fnanchor">[1394]</a> declares to be equivalent to +E-kharsag-kalama. Closely allied with these names are those +indicating in one way or the other, the height or greatness of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_639" id="Page_639">[Pg 639]</a></span> +the buildings, as the general aim of the builders. Prominent +among such names are E-Sagila, 'the lofty house,' the famous +temple and temple area at Babylon; E-makh, 'the great +house,' a chapel to Nin-kharsag, situated perhaps within +E-Sagila; E-gal-makh, 'the great palace,' an old temple in Ur; +E-anna, 'the heavenly house,' that is, the house reaching up to +heaven, which is the name of the temple of Ishtar or Nanâ at +Erech; E-lgi-e-nir-kidur-makh,<a name="FNanchor_1395_1395" id="FNanchor_1395_1395"></a><a href="#Footnote_1395_1395" class="fnanchor">[1395]</a> 'the tower of the great dwelling' +sacred to Ninni at Kish. To the same class belong such designations +as E-dur-an-ki, 'the link of heaven and earth,'<a name="FNanchor_1396_1396" id="FNanchor_1396_1396"></a><a href="#Footnote_1396_1396" class="fnanchor">[1396]</a> the +name of a zikkurat at Larsa; E-an-dadia, 'the house reaching +to heaven,' the zikkurat at Agade; E-pa, 'the summit +house,' the zikkurat to Nin-girsu at Lagash; E-gubba-an-ki, +'the point of heaven and earth,' one of the names of the zikkurat +in Dilbat; E-dim-anna, 'the house of heavenly construction,' +the chapel to Sin within the precinct of E-Zida at Borsippa,—a +name that again conveys the notion of an edifice reaching +up to heaven. The names of the zikkurats at Erech and Borsippa, +'the house of seven zones' and 'the house of the seven +divisions of heaven and earth,' respectively, while conveying, as +we saw,<a name="FNanchor_1397_1397" id="FNanchor_1397_1397"></a><a href="#Footnote_1397_1397" class="fnanchor">[1397]</a> cosmological conceptions of a more specific character, +may still be reckoned in the class of names that embody the +leading purpose of the tower in Babylonia, as may also a name +like E-temen-an-ki, 'the foundation stone of heaven and earth,' +assigned to the zikkurat to Marduk in Babylonia.</p> + +<p>The sacred edifice, as the dwelling of the god to whom it is +dedicated, leads to such names as E-Zida, 'the true house or +fixed house,'<a name="FNanchor_1398_1398" id="FNanchor_1398_1398"></a><a href="#Footnote_1398_1398" class="fnanchor">[1398]</a> the famous temple to Nabu in Borsippa; E-dur-gina,<a name="FNanchor_1399_1399" id="FNanchor_1399_1399"></a><a href="#Footnote_1399_1399" class="fnanchor">[1399]</a> +'the house of the established seat,' a temple of Bel-sarbi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_640" id="Page_640">[Pg 640]</a></span><a name="FNanchor_1400_1400" id="FNanchor_1400_1400"></a><a href="#Footnote_1400_1400" class="fnanchor">[1400]</a> +in Baz; E-ki-dur<a name="FNanchor_1401_1401" id="FNanchor_1401_1401"></a><a href="#Footnote_1401_1401" class="fnanchor">[1401]</a>-garza, 'the sacred dwelling,' a temple to Nin-lil-anna +in Babylon; E-kua, 'the dwelling-house,' the name of +the papakhu of Marduk in E-Sagila; E-gi-umunna, 'the permanent +dwelling'; E-esh<a name="FNanchor_1402_1402" id="FNanchor_1402_1402"></a><a href="#Footnote_1402_1402" class="fnanchor">[1402]</a>-gi, a shrine to Nin-girsu at Lagash with +the same meaning, 'permanent house.'</p> + +<p>Another class is formed by such names as are suggested by +the attributes of the deity to whom the edifices are dedicated. +Such are E-babbara, 'the brilliant house,' which, as the name +of the temples to Shamash at Sippar and Larsa, recalls at once +the character of the sun-god. Similarly, E-gish-shir-gal, 'the +house of the great luminary,' was an appropriate name for the +temple to the moon-god at Ur. The staff or sceptre being +the symbol of the god Nabu, suggests as the name of a sanctuary +to him in Babylonia, the name E-pad-kalama-suma, 'the +house of him who gives the sceptre of the world,' while the +character of Shamash as the god of justice finds an expression +in the name E-ditar-kalama, 'the house of the universal judge,' +given to his temple or chapel in Babylon. The association of +the number fifty with Ningirsu-Ninib leads to the name E-ninnu, +'house of fifty,'<a name="FNanchor_1403_1403" id="FNanchor_1403_1403"></a><a href="#Footnote_1403_1403" class="fnanchor">[1403]</a> for his temple in Lagash. Again, the position +of Anu in the pantheon accounts for the name E-adda, 'house +of the father,' given to his temple, just as E-nin-makh, 'the +house of the great lady,' the name of a chapel in Babylon, at +once recalls a goddess like Ishtar. Other names that describe +a temple by epithets of the gods to whom they are sacred, are +E-nun-makh, 'the house of the great lord,' descriptive of Sin; +E-me-te-ur-sagga, 'the house of the glory of the warrior,' a temple +sacred to Zamama-Ninib; E-U-gal, 'the house of the great +lord,' a temple to En-lil. A name like E-edinna, 'house of the +field,' a temple to the consort of Shamash at Sippar, may also +have been suggested by some attribute of the goddess.<a name="FNanchor_1404_1404" id="FNanchor_1404_1404"></a><a href="#Footnote_1404_1404" class="fnanchor">[1404]</a></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_641" id="Page_641">[Pg 641]</a></span> +Lastly, we have a class of names that might be described as +purely ornamental, or as embodying a pious wish. Of such we +have a large number. Examples of this class are E-tila, 'house +of life.' Names extolling the glory and splendor of the temples +are common. In a list of temples<a name="FNanchor_1405_1405" id="FNanchor_1405_1405"></a><a href="#Footnote_1405_1405" class="fnanchor">[1405]</a> we find such designations +as 'house of light,' 'house of the brilliant precinct,' 'great place,' +'lofty and brilliant wall,'<a name="FNanchor_1406_1406" id="FNanchor_1406_1406"></a><a href="#Footnote_1406_1406" class="fnanchor">[1406]</a> 'house of great splendor,' 'the splendor +of heaven and earth,' 'house without a rival,' 'light of +Shamash.' The seat of Sarpanitum in E-Sagila, is known as +'the gate of widespread splendor'; E-salgisa, 'the treasury,' +as the name of a temple in Girsu, may belong here. A temple +to Gula in Sippar was called E-ulla; that is, 'the beautiful +house.' The old temple to Sin at Harran bore the significant +name E-khulkhul, 'house of joys,' while the pious wish of the +worshipper is again expressed in the name 'threshold of long +life,' given to the zikkurat in Sippar.<a name="FNanchor_1407_1407" id="FNanchor_1407_1407"></a><a href="#Footnote_1407_1407" class="fnanchor">[1407]</a> Among a series of names,<a name="FNanchor_1408_1408" id="FNanchor_1408_1408"></a><a href="#Footnote_1408_1408" class="fnanchor">[1408]</a> +illustrating the religious sentiments of the people are the following: +'the heart of Shamash,' 'the house of hearkening to +prayers,'<a name="FNanchor_1409_1409" id="FNanchor_1409_1409"></a><a href="#Footnote_1409_1409" class="fnanchor">[1409]</a> 'the house full of joy,' 'the brilliant house,' 'the life +of the world,' 'the place of fates,' and the like.</p> + +<p>These various classes of names are a valuable index of the +varied and often remarkable conceptions held of the gods. To +call a temple, for example, 'court of the world'<a name="FNanchor_1410_1410" id="FNanchor_1410_1410"></a><a href="#Footnote_1410_1410" class="fnanchor">[1410]</a> may have +been due originally to a haughty presumption on the part of +some one deeply attached to some god; but such a name must +also have led to regarding the god as not limited in his affections +to a particular district. Whatever tendencies existed in +Babylonia and Assyria towards universalistic conceptions of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_642" id="Page_642">[Pg 642]</a></span> +the divine beings were brought out in the temple names, and in +part may have been advanced by these names. The custom +still surviving in the Jewish Church of giving names to synagogues +may be traced back to a Babylonian prototype.<a name="FNanchor_1411_1411" id="FNanchor_1411_1411"></a><a href="#Footnote_1411_1411" class="fnanchor">[1411]</a></p> + + +<h3>The History of the Temples.</h3> + +<p>The history of the temples takes us back to the earliest +period of Babylonian history, and the temples of Assyria likewise +date from the small beginnings of the Assyrian power. +The oldest inscriptions of Mesopotamian rulers commemorate +their services as builders of temples. Naram-Sin and Sargon +glory in the title 'builder of the temple of En-lil in Nippur.' +Of the rulers of the first period of Babylonian history, it so +happens that we know more of Gudea than of any other. We +may feel certain that he but follows the example of his predecessors, +in devoting so large a share of his energies to temple +building. Hammurabi is an active builder of sanctuaries, and +so on, through the period of Assyrian supremacy down to the +closing days of the Babylonian monarchy, the thoughts of the +rulers were directed towards honoring the gods by improving, +restoring, rebuilding, or enlarging the sanctuaries, as well as by +endowing them with rich gifts and votive offerings. The Assyrian +kings, though perhaps more concerned with embellishing their +palaces, do not neglect the seats of the gods. Anxious to +maintain the connection between their kingdom and the old +cities of the south, the Assyrian monarchs were fond of paying +homage to the time-honored sanctuaries of Babylonia. This +feeling, which is of course shared by the Babylonian rulers, +results in bringing about the continuity of the Babylonian and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_643" id="Page_643">[Pg 643]</a></span> +Assyrian religion. If, despite the changes that the religious +doctrines underwent, despite the new interpretations given to +old myths and legends, despite the profound changes introduced +into the relationship of the gods to one another through the +systematization of the pantheon, if, despite all this, the Babylonians +and Assyrians—leaders and people—continued to feel +that they were following the religion of their forefathers, it was +due to the maintenance of the old sanctuaries. We can actually +trace the history of some of these sanctuaries for a period +of over 3000 years. In their restorations, the later builders +were careful not to offend the memory of their predecessors. +They sought out the old dedicatory inscriptions, and took steps +to preserve them. They rejoiced when they came upon the old +foundation stones. In their restorations they were careful to +follow original designs; and likewise in the cult, so far from +deviating from established custom, they strongly emphasized +their desire to restore the cult to its original character, wherever +an interruption for one reason or the other had taken place. +In all this, the rulers were acting in accord with the popular +instincts, for the masses clung tenaciously to the old sanctuaries, +as affording an unfailing means of protection against +the ills and accidents of life.</p> + +<p>To enumerate all the temples of Babylonia and Assyria +would be both an impossible and a useless task. Besides +those mentioned in the historical texts and in the legal literature, +we have long lists of temples prepared by the pedagogues. +Some of these lists have been published;<a name="FNanchor_1412_1412" id="FNanchor_1412_1412"></a><a href="#Footnote_1412_1412" class="fnanchor">[1412]</a> others are to be +found among the unpublished material in the British Museum +collections.<a name="FNanchor_1413_1413" id="FNanchor_1413_1413"></a><a href="#Footnote_1413_1413" class="fnanchor">[1413]</a> It is doubtful whether even these catalogues were +exhaustive, or aimed at being so; moreover, a large number of +gods are known to us only from the lists of the pedagogues.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_644" id="Page_644">[Pg 644]</a></span><a name="FNanchor_1414_1414" id="FNanchor_1414_1414"></a><a href="#Footnote_1414_1414" class="fnanchor">[1414]</a> +So, to mention some, taken from a valuable list<a name="FNanchor_1415_1415" id="FNanchor_1415_1415"></a><a href="#Footnote_1415_1415" class="fnanchor">[1415]</a> which gives +chiefly the names of foreign gods, together with the places where +they were worshipped, we learn of such gods as Lagamal, Magarida, +Lasimu, A-ishtu, Bulala, Katnu, Kannu, Kishshat, Kanishurra, +Khiraitum. Knowing, as we do, that at various periods +foreign deities were introduced into Babylonia and Assyria,<a name="FNanchor_1416_1416" id="FNanchor_1416_1416"></a><a href="#Footnote_1416_1416" class="fnanchor">[1416]</a> it +was necessary to make some provision for their cult; and, while +no doubt most of these minor deities and foreign gods were +represented only by statues placed in some temple or temple +precinct, it is equally certain that some had a shrine or sanctuary +of some kind specially erected in their honor. In +hymns, too, deities are mentioned that are otherwise unknown. +So in a litany, published by Craig,<a name="FNanchor_1417_1417" id="FNanchor_1417_1417"></a><a href="#Footnote_1417_1417" class="fnanchor">[1417]</a> a long series of gods is +introduced. Some are identical with those included in the list +just referred to,<a name="FNanchor_1418_1418" id="FNanchor_1418_1418"></a><a href="#Footnote_1418_1418" class="fnanchor">[1418]</a> others appear here for the first time, as Mishiru, +Kilili Ishi-milku. Epithets also occur in lists and hymns, +that appear to belong to deities otherwise unknown. We are +safe, therefore, in estimating the number of temples, zikkurats, +and smaller shrines in Babylonia and Assyria to have reached +high into the hundreds. Sanctuaries must have covered the +Euphrates Valley like a network. By virtue of the older culture +of the south and the greater importance that Babylonia +always enjoyed from a religious point of view, the sanctuaries +of the south were much more numerous than those of the +north. For our purposes, it is sufficient to indicate some of +the most important of the temples of the south and north. +The oldest known to us at present is the frequently mentioned +temple of E-Kur at Nippur, sacred to En-lil or the older Bel. +Its history can be carried back to a period beyond 4000 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>; +how far beyond cannot be determined until the early chronology<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_645" id="Page_645">[Pg 645]</a></span> +is better known than at present. We know, however, that from +the time of Sargon<a name="FNanchor_1419_1419" id="FNanchor_1419_1419"></a><a href="#Footnote_1419_1419" class="fnanchor">[1419]</a> and probably even much earlier, the rulers +who had control of Nippur devoted themselves to the embellishment +of the temple area. Climatic conditions necessitated +frequent repairs. The temple also suffered occasionally through +political tumults, but with each century the religious importance +of E-Kur was increased. Ur-Bau, we have seen, about 2700 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>, +erected a zikkurat in the temple area. Some centuries later +we find Bur-Sin repairing the zikkurat and adding a shrine near +the main structure. As the political fortunes of Nippur varied, +so E-Kur had its ups and downs. Under the Cassitic rule, an +attempt was made to recover for Nippur the position which it +formerly occupied, but which had now passed over to Babylon. +It was of little avail. Bel had to yield to Marduk, and yet, +despite the means that the priests of Marduk took to transfer +Bel's prerogatives to the new head of the pantheon, the rulers +would not risk the anger of Bel by a neglect of E-Kur. Kurigalzu, +a king of the Cassite dynasty (<i>c.</i> 1400 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>) brings back +from Elam<a name="FNanchor_1420_1420" id="FNanchor_1420_1420"></a><a href="#Footnote_1420_1420" class="fnanchor">[1420]</a> a votive object which, originally deposited by Dungi +in the Ishtar temple at Erech, was carried to Susa by an Elamitic +conqueror about 900 years before Kurigalzu. The latter +deposits this object not in Marduk's temple at Babylon, but in +Bel's sanctuary at Nippur. During the entire Cassitic period, +the kings continued to build or make repairs in the temple precinct, +and almost every ruler is represented by more or less +costly votive offerings made to Bel's sanctuary. In this way, +we can follow the history of the temple down to the Assyrian +period. In the twelfth century the religious supremacy of +E-Kur yields permanently to E-Sagila. The temple is sacked, +part of it is destroyed, and it was left to rulers of the north +like Esarhaddon and Ashurbanabal to once more restore E-Kur<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_646" id="Page_646">[Pg 646]</a></span> +and its dependencies to its former proportions. These kings, +especially the latter, devote much time and energy in rebuilding +the zikkurat and in erecting various buildings connected +with the temple administration. Under the new Babylonian +dynasty, however, E-Kur was again destroyed, and this time +by the ruthless hands of southern rulers. Nebuchadnezzar, so +devoted to Marduk and Nabu, appears to have regarded E-Kur +as a serious rival to E-Sagila and E-Zida. Some traces of +building operations at E-Kur appear to date from the Persian +period, but, practically, the history of E-Kur comes to an end +at the close of the seventh century. The sanctity of the place, +however, remained; a portion of the old city becomes a favorite +burial site, while other parts continue to be inhabited till +the twelfth century of our era. The city of Bel becomes the +seat of a Christian bishop, and Jewish schools take the place +once occupied by the "star-gazers of Chaldea."</p> + +<p>The history of E-Kur, so intimately bound up with political +events, may be taken as an index of the fortunes that befell +the other prominent sanctuaries of Babylonia.</p> + +<p>The foundation of the Shamash temple at Sippar, and known +as E-Babbara, 'the brilliant house,' can likewise be traced as +far back as the days of Naram-Sin. At that time there was +already a sanctuary to Anunit within the precincts of E-Babbara. +Members of the Cassite dynasty devote themselves to +the restoration of this sanctuary. Through a subsequent invasion +of the nomads, the cult was interrupted and the great +statue of Shamash destroyed. Several attempts are made to +reorganize the cult, but it was left for Nabubaliddin in the +tenth century to restore E-Babbara to its former prestige. +Esarhaddon and Ashurbanabal, who pay homage to the old +Bel at Nippur, also devote themselves to Shamash at Sippar. +They restore such portions of it as had suffered from the lapse +of time and from other causes. Nebuchadnezzar is obliged to +rebuild parts of E-Babbara, and the last king of Babylonia,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_647" id="Page_647">[Pg 647]</a></span> +Nabonnedos, is so active in his building operations at Sippar +that he arouses the anger of the priests of Babylon, who feel +that their ruler is neglecting the sanctuaries of Marduk and +Nabu. It is through Nabonnedos<a name="FNanchor_1421_1421" id="FNanchor_1421_1421"></a><a href="#Footnote_1421_1421" class="fnanchor">[1421]</a> and Nabubaliddin,<a name="FNanchor_1422_1422" id="FNanchor_1422_1422"></a><a href="#Footnote_1422_1422" class="fnanchor">[1422]</a> chiefly, +that we learn many of the details of the history of E-Babbara +during this long period.</p> + +<p>Of the other important temples that date from the early +period of Babylonian history, we must content ourselves with +brief indications.</p> + +<p>The temple to Shamash at Larsa, while not quite as old as +that of Sippar, was quite as famous. Its name was likewise +E-Babbara. It is first mentioned in the inscriptions of Ur-Bau +(<i>c.</i> 2700 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>), and it continues to enjoy the favor of the rulers +till the Persian conquest.<a name="FNanchor_1423_1423" id="FNanchor_1423_1423"></a><a href="#Footnote_1423_1423" class="fnanchor">[1423]</a></p> + +<p>The two chief places for the moon-cult were Ur and +Harran. The name of Sin's temple<a name="FNanchor_1424_1424" id="FNanchor_1424_1424"></a><a href="#Footnote_1424_1424" class="fnanchor">[1424]</a> at the former place was +E-Gish-shir-gal, 'the house of the great light'; at the latter, +E-khulklul, 'the house of joys.' Around both sanctuaries, +but particularly around the former, cluster sacred traditions. +We have seen that the moon-cult at an early period enjoyed +greater importance than sun-worship. The temples of Sin +were centers of intellectual activity. It is in these places that +we may expect some day to find elaborate astronomical and +astrological records. Harran, indeed, does not appear at any +time to have played any political rôle<a name="FNanchor_1425_1425" id="FNanchor_1425_1425"></a><a href="#Footnote_1425_1425" class="fnanchor">[1425]</a> (though it was overrun +occasionally by nomads), so that the significance of the place +is due almost entirely to the presence of the great temple at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_648" id="Page_648">[Pg 648]</a></span> +the place. It is Nabonnedos,<a name="FNanchor_1426_1426" id="FNanchor_1426_1426"></a><a href="#Footnote_1426_1426" class="fnanchor">[1426]</a> again, who endeavors to restore +the ancient prestige of the sanctuary at Harran. E-anna, +'the lofty house,' was the name of Ishtar's famous temple +at Erech. The mention of this temple in one of the creation +narratives<a name="FNanchor_1427_1427" id="FNanchor_1427_1427"></a><a href="#Footnote_1427_1427" class="fnanchor">[1427]</a> and the part played by Ishtar of Erech in the Gilgamesh +epic are sufficient indications of the significance of +this structure. Historical inscriptions from the earliest period +to the days of Ashurbanabal and Nebuchadnezzar come to our +further aid in illustrating the continued popularity of the Ishtar +cult in E-anna. The Ishtar who survives in Babylonia and +Assyria is practically the Ishtar of Erech,—that is, Nanâ.<a name="FNanchor_1428_1428" id="FNanchor_1428_1428"></a><a href="#Footnote_1428_1428" class="fnanchor">[1428]</a></p> + +<p>Passing by such sanctuaries as E-shid-lam, sacred to Nergal +at Cuthah, and coming to E-Sagila and E-Zida, the two great +temples of Babylon and Borsippa, respectively, it is of course +evident from the close connection between political development +and religious supremacy, that Marduk's seat of worship +occupies a unique position from the days of Hammurabi to +the downfall of Babylonia. While the history of E-Sagila and +E-Zida cannot be traced back further than the reign of Hammurabi, +the temples themselves are considerably older. Previous +to the rise of the city of Babylon as the political center, +the Nabu cult in E-Zida must have been more prominent than +the worship of Marduk in E-Sagila. Marduk was merely one +solar deity among several, and a minor one at that, whereas +the attributes of wisdom given to Nabu point to the intellectual +importance that Borsippa had acquired. The Nabu cult +was combined with the worship of Marduk simply because it +could not be suppressed. At various times, as we have seen,<a name="FNanchor_1429_1429" id="FNanchor_1429_1429"></a><a href="#Footnote_1429_1429" class="fnanchor">[1429]</a> +Nabu formed a serious rival to Marduk, and it will be recalled +that up to a late period we find Nabu given the preference to +Marduk in official documents.<a name="FNanchor_1430_1430" id="FNanchor_1430_1430"></a><a href="#Footnote_1430_1430" class="fnanchor">[1430]</a> The inseparable association of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_649" id="Page_649">[Pg 649]</a></span> +E-Sagila and E-Zida is a tribute to Nabu which, we may feel +certain, the priests of Marduk did not offer willingly. But this +association becomes the leading feature in the history of the +two temples. To pay homage to Marduk and Nabu meant +something quite different from making a pilgrimage to the seat +of Bel or presenting a gift to the Shamash sanctuary at Sippar. +It was an acknowledgment of Babylonia's prestige. The +Assyrian rulers regarded it as both a privilege and a solemn +duty to come to Babylon and invoke the protection of Marduk +and Nabu. In E-Sagila the installation of the rulers over Babylonia +took place, and a visit to Marduk's temple was incomplete +without a pilgrimage across the river to E-Zida. The +influence exerted by these two temples upon the whole course +of Babylonian history from the third millennium on, can hardly +be overestimated. From the schools grouped around E-Sagila +and E-Zida, went forth the decrees that shaped the doctrinal +development of the religion of Babylonia and Assyria. In +these schools, the ancient wisdom was molded into the shape in +which we find it in the literary remains of the Euphrates Valley. +Here the past was interpreted and the intellectual future of the +country projected. The thought of E-Sagila and E-Zida must +have stored up emotions in the breast of a Babylonian and +Assyrian, that can only be compared to a pious Mohammedan's +enthusiasm for Mecca, or the longing of an ardent Hebrew for +Jerusalem. The hymns to Marduk and Nabu voice this emotion. +There is a fervency in the prayers of Nebuchadnezzar +which marks them off from the somewhat perfunctory invocations +of the Assyrian kings to Ashur and Ishtar. An appreciation +of the position of E-Sagila and E-Zida in Babylonian +history is an essential condition to an understanding of the +Babylonian-Assyrian religion. The priests of Marduk could +view with equanimity the rise and growth of Assyria's power. +The influence of E-Sagila and E-Zida was not affected by such +a shifting of the political kaleidoscope. Babylon remained the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_650" id="Page_650">[Pg 650]</a></span> +religious center of the country. When one day, a Persian conqueror—Cyrus—entered +the precincts of E-Sagila, his first step +was to acknowledge Marduk and Nabu as the supreme powers +in the world; and the successors of Alexander continue to glory +in the title 'adorner of E-Sagila and E-Zida.'<a name="FNanchor_1431_1431" id="FNanchor_1431_1431"></a><a href="#Footnote_1431_1431" class="fnanchor">[1431]</a> With the same +zeal that distinguishes a good Babylonian, Antiochus Soter +hastens to connect his reign with the two temples by busying +himself with their enlargement and beautification. There was +no better way in which he could indicate, at the same time, his +political control over the country.</p> + +<p>One more factor contributing to the general influence of the +Babylonian temples remains to be noted. In the course of +time, all the great temples in the large centers became large +financial establishments. The sources whence the temples +derived their wealth were various. The kings both of Babylonia +and Assyria took frequent occasions to endow the sanctuaries +with lands or other gifts. At times, the endowment took +the form of certain quantities of wine, corn, oil, fruits, and the +like, for which annual provision is made; at times, the harvest +derived from a piece of property is set aside for the benefit of +the temple. In other ways, too, the temples acquired large +holdings, through purchases of land made from the income +accruing to it, and from the tithes which it became customary +to collect. This property was either farmed through the authorities +of the temple for the direct benefit of the sanctuary, or +was rented out to private parties under favorable conditions. +We learn of large bodies of laborers indentured to temples, as +well as of slaves owned or controlled by the temples. These +workmen were engaged for various purposes,—for building +operations, for service in the fields, for working raw material, +such as wool, into finished products, and much more the like. +But, more than this, the temples engaged directly in commercial +affairs, lending sums of money and receiving interest. In some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_651" id="Page_651">[Pg 651]</a></span> +sanctuaries, a thriving business of barter and exchange was +carried on. Crops are sold, houses are rented by the temple +agents, and there was scarcely an avenue of commerce into +which the temples did not enter. An active business was also +carried on in the manufacture and sale of idols, votive offerings, +amulets, and the like. A very large number of the legal documents +found in the Babylonian mounds deal with the business +affairs of the temples.<a name="FNanchor_1432_1432" id="FNanchor_1432_1432"></a><a href="#Footnote_1432_1432" class="fnanchor">[1432]</a> Such a state of affairs naturally contributed +towards making the temples important establishments +and towards increasing the influence of the priests over the +people.</p> + +<p>The temples of Assyria play a minor part in the religious +life of rulers and people. True, grand structures were reared in +Ashur, Calah, Nineveh, and Arbela, and no important step was +taken by the kings without consulting Ashur, Ishtar, or Ramman +through the mediation of the priests. The great cities of +Assyria also become intellectual centers. The priests of Arbela +created a school of theological thought, but all these efforts +were but weak imitations of the example furnished by the temples +of the south. Even Ashurbanabal, whose ambition was to +make Nineveh the center of religious and intellectual progress, +failed of his purpose. His empire soon fell to decay, and +with that decay Nineveh disappears from the stage of history. +Babylon and Borsippa, however, remain, and continue to hand +down to succeeding generations, the wisdom of the past.</p> + + +<h3>The Sacred Objects in the Temples,—Altars, Vases, +Images, Basins, Ships.</h3> + +<p>The earliest altars were made of the same material as the +zikkurats and sanctuaries. One found at Nippur at an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_652" id="Page_652">[Pg 652]</a></span> +exceedingly low level was of sun-dried bricks.<a name="FNanchor_1433_1433" id="FNanchor_1433_1433"></a><a href="#Footnote_1433_1433" class="fnanchor">[1433]</a> How early +this material was replaced by stone, we are not in a position to +say. Gudea, who imports diorite from the Sinai Peninsula to +make statues<a name="FNanchor_1434_1434" id="FNanchor_1434_1434"></a><a href="#Footnote_1434_1434" class="fnanchor">[1434]</a> of himself, presumably uses a similar material +for the sacred furnishings of his temples, though custom and +conventionality may have maintained the use of the older clay +material for some time. In Assyria, altars of limestone and +alabaster became the prevailing types. The shape and size of +the altars varied considerably. The oldest known to us, the one +found at Nippur, was about twelve feet long and half as wide. +The upper surface was surrounded by a rim of bitumen.<a name="FNanchor_1435_1435" id="FNanchor_1435_1435"></a><a href="#Footnote_1435_1435" class="fnanchor">[1435]</a> Assyrian +altars now in the British museum are from two to three +feet high. The ornamentation of the corners of the rim of the +altar led to giving the altar the appearance of horns.<a name="FNanchor_1436_1436" id="FNanchor_1436_1436"></a><a href="#Footnote_1436_1436" class="fnanchor">[1436]</a> The +base of the altar was either a solid piece with a circular or +oblong plate resting on it, or the table rested on a tripod.<a name="FNanchor_1437_1437" id="FNanchor_1437_1437"></a><a href="#Footnote_1437_1437" class="fnanchor">[1437]</a> +The latter species was well adapted for being transported from +place to place by the Assyrian kings, who naturally were +anxious to maintain the worship of Ashur and of other gods +while on their military expeditions. Much care was spent upon +the ornamentation of the altars, and, if we may believe Herodotus, +the great altars at Babylon were made of gold.<a name="FNanchor_1438_1438" id="FNanchor_1438_1438"></a><a href="#Footnote_1438_1438" class="fnanchor">[1438]</a> In front +of the altars stood large vases or jars of terra cotta, used for +ablutions and other purposes in connection with the sacrifices. +Two such jars, one behind the other, were found at Nippur. +They were ornamented with rope patterns, and the depth at +which they were found is an indication of the antiquity and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_653" id="Page_653">[Pg 653]</a></span> +stability of the forms of worship in the Babylonian temples. +It may be proper to recall that in the Solomonic temple, likewise, +there were a series of jars that stood near the great altar +in the large court.<a name="FNanchor_1439_1439" id="FNanchor_1439_1439"></a><a href="#Footnote_1439_1439" class="fnanchor">[1439]</a></p> + +<p>A piece of furniture to which great religious importance was +attached was a great basin known as 'apsu,'—the name, it +will be recalled, for 'the deep.' The name indicates that it +was a symbolical representation of the domain of Ea. In +Gudea's days the symbol is already known,<a name="FNanchor_1440_1440" id="FNanchor_1440_1440"></a><a href="#Footnote_1440_1440" class="fnanchor">[1440]</a> and it continues in +use to the end of the Babylonian empire. The zikkurat itself +being, as we saw, an attempt to reproduce the shape of the +earth, the representation of the 'apsu' would suggest itself as +a natural accessory to the temple. The zikkurat and the basin +together would thus become living symbols of the current cosmological +conceptions. Gudea already regards the zikkurat as +a symbol. To make the ascent is a virtuous deed.<a name="FNanchor_1441_1441" id="FNanchor_1441_1441"></a><a href="#Footnote_1441_1441" class="fnanchor">[1441]</a> The +thought of adding a symbol of the apsu belongs, accordingly, +to the period when this view of the zikkurat was generally +recognized. The shape of the 'sea' was oblong or round. It +was cut of large blocks of stone and was elaborately decorated. +One of the oldest<a name="FNanchor_1442_1442" id="FNanchor_1442_1442"></a><a href="#Footnote_1442_1442" class="fnanchor">[1442]</a> has a frieze of female figures on it, holding +in their outstretched hands flagons from which they pour water. +In Marduk's temple we learn that there were two basins,—a +larger and a smaller one. The comparison with the great +'sea' that stood in the court of Solomon's temple naturally +suggests itself, and there can be little doubt that the latter is +an imitation of a Babylonian model.</p> + +<p>Another sacred object in the construction of which much +care was taken was the ship in which the deity was carried in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_654" id="Page_654">[Pg 654]</a></span> +solemn procession. It is again in the inscriptions of Gudea<a name="FNanchor_1443_1443" id="FNanchor_1443_1443"></a><a href="#Footnote_1443_1443" class="fnanchor">[1443]</a> +that we come across the first mention of this ship. This ruler +tells us that he built the 'beloved ship' for Nin-girsu, and +gave it the name Kar-nuna-ta-uddua, the ship of 'the one that +rises up out of the dam of the deep.' The ship of Nabu is of +considerable size, and is fitted out with a captain and crew, +has masts and compartments.<a name="FNanchor_1444_1444" id="FNanchor_1444_1444"></a><a href="#Footnote_1444_1444" class="fnanchor">[1444]</a> The ship resembled a moon's +crescent, not differing much, therefore, from the ordinary flatbottomed +Babylonian boat with upturned edges. Through Nebuchadnezzar<a name="FNanchor_1445_1445" id="FNanchor_1445_1445"></a><a href="#Footnote_1445_1445" class="fnanchor">[1445]</a> +we learn that these ships were brilliantly studded +with precious stones, their compartments handsomely fitted out, +and that in them the gods were carried in solemn procession on +the festivals celebrated in their honor.<a name="FNanchor_1446_1446" id="FNanchor_1446_1446"></a><a href="#Footnote_1446_1446" class="fnanchor">[1446]</a> A long list<a name="FNanchor_1447_1447" id="FNanchor_1447_1447"></a><a href="#Footnote_1447_1447" class="fnanchor">[1447]</a> of such +ships shows that it was a symbol that belonged to all the great +gods. The ships of Nin-lil, Ea, Marduk, Sin, Shamash, Nabu, +Ninib, Bau, Nin-gal, and of others are specially mentioned. A +custom of this kind of carrying the gods in ships must have originated, +of course, among a maritime people. We may trace it +back, therefore, to the very early period when the sacred cities +of Babylonia lay on the Persian Gulf. The use of the ships also +suggests, that the solemn procession of the gods was originally +on water and not on land, and it is likely that this excursion +of the gods symbolized some homage to the chief water-deity, +Ea. However this may be, the early significance became lost, +but the custom survived in Babylonia of carrying the gods +about in this way. In Assyria, less wedded to ancient tradition, +we find statues of the gods seated on thrones or standing +upright, carried directly on the shoulders of men.<a name="FNanchor_1448_1448" id="FNanchor_1448_1448"></a><a href="#Footnote_1448_1448" class="fnanchor">[1448]</a> In Egypt +sacred ships are very common, and it is interesting to note as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_655" id="Page_655">[Pg 655]</a></span> +a survival of the old Babylonian and Egyptian custom that an +annual gift sent by the khedive of Egypt to Mecca consists of +a tabernacle, known as Mahmal, that presents the outlines of a +ship.<a name="FNanchor_1449_1449" id="FNanchor_1449_1449"></a><a href="#Footnote_1449_1449" class="fnanchor">[1449]</a> The ark of the Hebrews appears, similarly, to have been +originally a ship of some kind.</p> + +<p>The ships of the Babylonian gods had names given to them, +just as the towers and sanctuaries had their names. The name +of Nin-girsu's ship has already been mentioned. Marduk's +ship was appropriately known as Ma-ku-a, 'the ship of the +dwelling.'<a name="FNanchor_1450_1450" id="FNanchor_1450_1450"></a><a href="#Footnote_1450_1450" class="fnanchor">[1450]</a> Similarly, a ship of the god Sin was called 'ship +of light,' reminding one of the name of the great temple to the +moon-god at Ur, 'the house of the great luminary.' The ship of +Nin-gal, the consort of Sin, was called 'the lesser light.' Bau's +ship was described by an epithet of the goddess as 'the ship +of the brilliant offspring,' the reference being to the descent of +the goddess from father Anu.<a name="FNanchor_1451_1451" id="FNanchor_1451_1451"></a><a href="#Footnote_1451_1451" class="fnanchor">[1451]</a> These illustrations will suffice +to show the dependence of the names of the ships upon the +names of the temples, with this important difference, however, +that the names of the ships are chosen from a closer association +with the gods to whom they belong. So a ship of En-lil +was known simply as 'the ship of Bel,' and the ship of Naru,<a name="FNanchor_1452_1452" id="FNanchor_1452_1452"></a><a href="#Footnote_1452_1452" class="fnanchor">[1452]</a> +the river-god, was called 'the ship of the Malku (or royal) +canal'<a name="FNanchor_1453_1453" id="FNanchor_1453_1453"></a><a href="#Footnote_1453_1453" class="fnanchor">[1453]</a>—an indication, at the same time, of the place where +the cult of Naru was carried on.</p> + + +<h3>The Priests and Priestesses.</h3> + +<p>At a certain stage in the religious development of a people, +the priesthood is closely linked to political leadership. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_656" id="Page_656">[Pg 656]</a></span> +earliest form of government in the Euphrates Valley is theocratic, +and we can still discern some of the steps in the process +that led to the differentiation of the priest from the secular +ruler. To the latest times, the kings retain among their titles +some<a name="FNanchor_1454_1454" id="FNanchor_1454_1454"></a><a href="#Footnote_1454_1454" class="fnanchor">[1454]</a> which have reference to the religious functions once +exercised by them. The king who continued to be regarded as +the representative of a god, nominated by some deity to a lofty +position of trust and power, stood nearer to the gods than his +subjects. In a certain sense, the king remained the priest <i>par +excellence</i>. Hence the prominent part played by the ruler in +the religious literature of the country. A large proportion of +the hymns were composed for royalty. The most elaborate +ritual dealt with the endeavor to secure oracles that might +serve as a guide for the rulers. Astronomical reports were +made and long series of omen tablets prepared for the use of +the royal household. The calendars furnished regulations for +the conduct of the kings. A ceremonial error, an offence +against the gods on the part of the kings, was certain of +being followed by disastrous consequences for the whole +country.</p> + +<p>But even the smallest sanctuaries required some service, and +it was not long before the religious interests were entrusted into +the hands of those who devoted themselves to administering the +affairs of the temples. The guardians of the shrines became +the priests in fact, long before the priesthood of the rulers +became little more than a theory; and as the temples grew to +larger proportions, the service was divided up among various +classes of priests.</p> + +<p>The general name for priests was <i>shangû</i>, which, by a plausible +etymology suggested by Jensen,<a name="FNanchor_1455_1455" id="FNanchor_1455_1455"></a><a href="#Footnote_1455_1455" class="fnanchor">[1455]</a> indicates the function of the +priest as the one who presides over the sacrifices. But this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_657" id="Page_657">[Pg 657]</a></span> +function represents only one phase of the priestly office in +Babylonia, and not the most important one, by any means. +For the people, the priest was primarily the one who could drive +evil demons out of the body of the person smitten with disease, +who could thwart the power of wizards and witches, who could +ward off the attacks of mischievous spirits, or who could prognosticate +the future and determine the intention or the will +of the gods. The offering of sacrifices was one of the means +to accomplish this end, but it is significant that many of the +names used to designate the priestly classes have reference to +the priest's position as the exorciser of evil spirits or his power +to secure a divine oracle or to foretell the future, and not to +his function as sacrificer. Such names are <i>mashmashu</i>, the +general term for 'the charmer'; <i>kalû</i>, so called, perhaps, as +the 'restrainer' of the demons, the one who keeps them in +check; <i>lagaru</i>, a synonym of kalu; <i>makhkhû</i>, 'soothsayer'; +<i>surrû</i>, a term which is still obscure; <i>shâilu</i>, the 'inquirer,' who +obtains an oracle through the dead or through the gods; +<i>mushêlu</i>, 'necromancer'; <i>âshipu</i> or <i>ishippu</i>, 'sorcerer.'<a name="FNanchor_1456_1456" id="FNanchor_1456_1456"></a><a href="#Footnote_1456_1456" class="fnanchor">[1456]</a> These +names probably do not exhaust the various kinds of 'magicians' +that were to be found among the Babylonian priests. In the +eighteenth chapter of Deuteronomy, no less than eleven classes +of magic workers are enumerated, and there can be little doubt +but that the Pentateuchal opposition against the necromancers, +sorcerers, soothsayers, and the like is aimed chiefly against +Babylonish customs. We have seen in previous chapters how +largely the element of magic enters into the religious rites and +literature of the Babylonian-Assyrian religion and how persistent +an element it is. For the masses, the priest remained essentially +a <i>mashmashu</i>. But we have also names like <i>ramku</i> and <i>nisakku</i>, +'libation pourer,' which emphasize the sacrificial functions of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_658" id="Page_658">[Pg 658]</a></span> +the priest; and in an interesting list of temple servitors,<a name="FNanchor_1457_1457" id="FNanchor_1457_1457"></a><a href="#Footnote_1457_1457" class="fnanchor">[1457]</a> 'the +dirge singers' are introduced as a special class, and appropriately +designated as <i>munambû</i>, 'wailer,' and <i>lallaru</i>, 'howler.' Of +some terms in this list, like <i>asinnu</i>, it is doubtful whether they +indicate a special class of priests or are terms for servitors in +general, attached to a temple; in the case of others, like <i>nâsh +pilakki</i>, 'ax carrier,' we do not know exactly of what nature the +service was.<a name="FNanchor_1458_1458" id="FNanchor_1458_1458"></a><a href="#Footnote_1458_1458" class="fnanchor">[1458]</a> Lastly, priests in their capacity as scribes<a name="FNanchor_1459_1459" id="FNanchor_1459_1459"></a><a href="#Footnote_1459_1459" class="fnanchor">[1459]</a> and +as judges<a name="FNanchor_1460_1460" id="FNanchor_1460_1460"></a><a href="#Footnote_1460_1460" class="fnanchor">[1460]</a> formed another distinct class, though it should be +noted that in Assyria we meet with scribes occasionally who +are not priests.<a name="FNanchor_1461_1461" id="FNanchor_1461_1461"></a><a href="#Footnote_1461_1461" class="fnanchor">[1461]</a></p> + +<p>The range thus covered by the temple service,—magic, oracles, +sacrifices, the lament for the dead, and the judiciary,—is +exceedingly large. The subdivisions, no doubt, varied in each +center. In the smaller sanctuaries, those who offered the sacrifices +may also have served as soothsayers and dirge singers, +and the judicial functions may likewise have been in the same +hands as those who performed other services. On the other +hand, in a temple like E-Sagila the classes and subclasses must +have been very numerous. Of the details of the organization +we as yet know very little. There was a high priest, known as +the <i>shangam-makhû</i>,<a name="FNanchor_1462_1462" id="FNanchor_1462_1462"></a><a href="#Footnote_1462_1462" class="fnanchor">[1462]</a> and from the existence of a title like +<i>sur-makhû</i>,—that is, the chief <i>surrû</i>,<a name="FNanchor_1463_1463" id="FNanchor_1463_1463"></a><a href="#Footnote_1463_1463" class="fnanchor">[1463]</a>—we may conclude +that each class of priests had its chief likewise. With the +natural tendency in ancient civilizations for professions to become +vested in families, the priests in the course of time +became a caste; but there is no reason to believe that entrance +into this caste was only possible through the accident of birth. +That instruction in the reading and writing of the cuneiform +characters, and hence the introduction into the literature, was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_659" id="Page_659">[Pg 659]</a></span> +open to others than the scions of priests is shown by the presence +in the legal literature of formal contracts for instruction +between teachers and pupils who belong to the 'laity.' These +pupils could become scribes and judges, and their standing as +'priests' represented merely the Babylonian equivalent to a +modern university degree. For such service as the bewailing +of the dead and as musicians, persons were initiated who were +taken from various classes and likewise for the menial duties +of the temples, and it is only when we come to the more distinctive +priestly functions, like the exorcising of evil spirits, +securing an oracle, or performing sacrifices, that the rules limiting +these privileges to certain families were iron bound. As +among the Hebrews and other nations, stress was laid also +upon freedom from physical blemishes in the case of the +priests. The leper, we learn, was not fit for the priesthood.<a name="FNanchor_1464_1464" id="FNanchor_1464_1464"></a><a href="#Footnote_1464_1464" class="fnanchor">[1464]</a> +In the astronomical reports that were spoken of in a previous +chapter,<a name="FNanchor_1465_1465" id="FNanchor_1465_1465"></a><a href="#Footnote_1465_1465" class="fnanchor">[1465]</a> there are references to the 'watches' kept by the +astronomers. These watches, however, were probably not +observed for astronomical purposes alone, but represent the +time division, as among the Hebrews, for the temple service. +There were three night watches among the Babylonians,<a name="FNanchor_1466_1466" id="FNanchor_1466_1466"></a><a href="#Footnote_1466_1466" class="fnanchor">[1466]</a> and, +in all probability, therefore, three day watches likewise. +Relays of priests were appointed in the large sanctuaries for +service during the continuance of each watch, and we may +some day find that the Hebrews obtained their number of +twenty-four priests for each 'watch' from a custom prevailing +in some Babylonian temple.</p> + +<p>An interesting feature of the Babylonian priesthood is the +position occupied by the woman. In the historical texts from +the days of Hammurabi onward, the references to women<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_660" id="Page_660">[Pg 660]</a></span> +attached to the service of temples are not infrequent. Gudea +expressly mentions the 'wailing women,' and there is every +reason to believe that the female wailers, like the male ones, +belong to some priestly class. Again, examples of women as +exorcisers and as furnishing oracles<a name="FNanchor_1467_1467" id="FNanchor_1467_1467"></a><a href="#Footnote_1467_1467" class="fnanchor">[1467]</a> may be instanced in +Babylonia as well as in Assyria, and we have also references to +female musicians as late as the days of Ashurbanabal. A +specially significant rôle was played by the priestesses in +Ishtar's temple at Erech, and probably at other places where +the cult of the great mother goddess was carried on. The +Ishtar priestess was known by the general term of Kadishtu,—that +is, 'the holy one,'—or Ishtaritum, 'devoted to Ishtar'; +but, from the various other names for the sacred harlot that we +come across,<a name="FNanchor_1468_1468" id="FNanchor_1468_1468"></a><a href="#Footnote_1468_1468" class="fnanchor">[1468]</a> it would appear that the priestesses were divided +into various classes, precisely like the priests. That in the +ceremonies of initiation at Erech, and perhaps elsewhere, +some rites were observed that on the surface appeared obscene +is eminently likely; but there is no evidence that obscene +rites, as instanced by Herodotus, formed part of the <i>regular</i> +cult of the goddess. Except in the case of the Ishtar worship, +the general observation may be made that the position of +the priestess is more prominent in the early period of Babylonian +history than in the days when the culture and power of +Babylonia and Assyria reached its zenith.</p> + + +<h3>Sacrifices and Votive Offerings.</h3> + +<p>The researches of Robertson Smith<a name="FNanchor_1469_1469" id="FNanchor_1469_1469"></a><a href="#Footnote_1469_1469" class="fnanchor">[1469]</a> and of others have +shown that the oldest Semitic view of sacrifice was that of a +meal, shared by the worshipper with the deity to be honored or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_661" id="Page_661">[Pg 661]</a></span> +propitiated. Dependent as we are in the case of the Babylonian-Assyrian +religion for our knowledge of sacrifices upon +incidental references in historical or religious texts, it is not +possible to say how far the Semitic dwellers of the Euphrates +Valley were influenced by the primitive conception of sacrifice. +Historical and votive inscriptions and a religious literature +belong to a comparatively advanced stage of culture, and +earlier views of sacrifice that may have existed were necessarily +modified in the process of adaptation to later conditions. The +organization of an elaborate cult with priests and numerous +temple servitors changes the sacrifices into a means of income +for the temple. The deity's representatives receive the share +originally intended for the deity himself; and, instead of +sanctifying the offering to a god by contact with the sacred +element fire, the temple accepts the offering for its own use. +It is likely, however, that among the Babylonians, as among +the Hebrews, certain parts of the animal which were not fit to +eat<a name="FNanchor_1470_1470" id="FNanchor_1470_1470"></a><a href="#Footnote_1470_1470" class="fnanchor">[1470]</a> were burned as a symbolical homage to a god. No references +have as yet been found pointing to any special sanctity +that was attached to the blood; but it is eminently likely that +the blood was regarded at all times as the special property of +the gods, and was poured on the altar. The two kinds of +sacrifice—animals and vegetable products—date from the +earliest period of the Babylonian religion of which we have +any knowledge. In a long list of offerings, Gudea<a name="FNanchor_1471_1471" id="FNanchor_1471_1471"></a><a href="#Footnote_1471_1471" class="fnanchor">[1471]</a> includes +oxen, sheep, goats, lambs, fish, birds (as eagles, cranes,<a name="FNanchor_1472_1472" id="FNanchor_1472_1472"></a><a href="#Footnote_1472_1472" class="fnanchor">[1472]</a> etc.), +and also such products as dates, milk, and greens. From +other sources we may add gazelles, date wine, butter, cream, +honey, garlic, corn, herbs, oil, spices, and incense. Stress is +laid upon the quality of the sacrifice.<a name="FNanchor_1473_1473" id="FNanchor_1473_1473"></a><a href="#Footnote_1473_1473" class="fnanchor">[1473]</a> The animals must be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_662" id="Page_662">[Pg 662]</a></span> +without blemish, and if well nurtured, they would be all the +more pleasing in the sight of the gods. The omission of dogs +and swine is not accidental. Under that double aspect of +sanctity which we find among the Babylonians as among so +many nations, certain animals were too sacred to be offered, +and, on the other hand, they were regarded as unclean.<a name="FNanchor_1474_1474" id="FNanchor_1474_1474"></a><a href="#Footnote_1474_1474" class="fnanchor">[1474]</a> In +treating of the omen texts we already had occasion to speak of +the peculiar ideas attached to the dog by the Babylonians,<a name="FNanchor_1475_1475" id="FNanchor_1475_1475"></a><a href="#Footnote_1475_1475" class="fnanchor">[1475]</a> +and there is sufficient evidence to show that the boar likewise +was viewed as a sacred animal, at least in certain parts of +Babylonia.<a name="FNanchor_1476_1476" id="FNanchor_1476_1476"></a><a href="#Footnote_1476_1476" class="fnanchor">[1476]</a> No certain traces of human sacrifices have been +found, either in Babylonian literature or in artistic representations.<a name="FNanchor_1477_1477" id="FNanchor_1477_1477"></a><a href="#Footnote_1477_1477" class="fnanchor">[1477]</a> +If the rite was ever practised among the Babylonians +or Assyrians it must have been at a very early period—earlier +than any of which we as yet have any knowledge. On the +other hand, a trace of some primitive form of tree worship may +be recognized in the representation, so frequent on seal cylinders +and monuments, of curious figures, in part human, in part +animal, standing in front of the palm tree.<a name="FNanchor_1478_1478" id="FNanchor_1478_1478"></a><a href="#Footnote_1478_1478" class="fnanchor">[1478]</a> The symbol +belongs to Assyria as well as to Babylonia. In some of the +designs the figures—human heads and bodies but furnished +with large wings—appear to be in the act of artificially fertilizing +the palm tree by scattering the male blossom over the +female palm. This plausible interpretation first suggested by +E. B. Tylor<a name="FNanchor_1479_1479" id="FNanchor_1479_1479"></a><a href="#Footnote_1479_1479" class="fnanchor">[1479]</a> carries with it the conclusion that the importance<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_663" id="Page_663">[Pg 663]</a></span> +of palm culture in the Euphrates Valley not only gave the +palm the character of a sacred tree, but lent to the symbol a +wider significance to a more advanced age, as illustrating fertility +and blessings in general. The scene, reproduced in almost +endless variations in which both trees and figures become +conventionalized, came to be regarded as a symbol of adoration +and worship in general. As such, it survived in religious +art and continued to be pictured on seal cylinders to a late age.</p> + +<p>The occasions on which sacrifices were brought were +frequent. If the gods were to be consulted for the purpose +of obtaining an oracle, elaborate offerings formed a necessary +preliminary. In this case, the animals presented at the altar +served a double purpose.<a name="FNanchor_1480_1480" id="FNanchor_1480_1480"></a><a href="#Footnote_1480_1480" class="fnanchor">[1480]</a> They constituted a means of +propitiating the god in favor of the petitioner, and at the same +time the inspection of certain parts of the animal served as an +omen in determining what was the will of the god appealed to. +When the foundations were to be laid for a temple or a palace, +it was especially important to secure the favor of the gods by +suitable offerings, and, similarly, when a canal was to be built +or any other work of a public character undertaken. Again, +upon the dedication of a sacred edifice or of a palace, or upon +completing the work of restoration of a temple, sheep and +oxen in abundance were offered to the gods, as well as various +kinds of birds and the produce of the orchards and fields. +The Babylonian rulers appear to have accompanied their +sacrifices on such occasions with prayers, and in a previous +chapter we had occasion to discuss some of these dedicatory +invocations.<a name="FNanchor_1481_1481" id="FNanchor_1481_1481"></a><a href="#Footnote_1481_1481" class="fnanchor">[1481]</a> In the Assyrian inscriptions, prayers are specifically +referred to only as being offered before setting out on an +expedition, before a battle, or when the kings find themselves +in distress,<a name="FNanchor_1482_1482" id="FNanchor_1482_1482"></a><a href="#Footnote_1482_1482" class="fnanchor">[1482]</a> so that if the Babylonian custom likewise prevailed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_664" id="Page_664">[Pg 664]</a></span> +in Assyria, it did not form a necessary part of the sacrificial +ritual. The sacrifice as a pure homage is illustrated by the +zeal which the Assyrian kings manifest towards honoring the +great temples of the south. The northern rulers were anxious +at all times to reconcile the southern population to Assyrian +control, and it was no doubt gratifying to the south to find +Tiglathpileser II.,<a name="FNanchor_1483_1483" id="FNanchor_1483_1483"></a><a href="#Footnote_1483_1483" class="fnanchor">[1483]</a> upon entering the ancient centers like +Sippar, Nippur, Babylon, Borsippa, Cuthah, Kish, Dilbat, and +Erech, proceeding to the temples in those places in order to +offer his sacrifices. The example of Tiglathpileser is followed +by his successors down through the time of Ashurbanabal. +As often as the Assyrian monarchs may have had occasion to +proceed to Babylonia—and the occasions were frequent, +owing to the constant disposition of the south to throw off the +hated yoke—they emphasized their devotion to Marduk, +Nabu, En-lil, Shamash, and the other gods who had their +seats in the south. Sargon<a name="FNanchor_1484_1484" id="FNanchor_1484_1484"></a><a href="#Footnote_1484_1484" class="fnanchor">[1484]</a> goes so far in this homage as +to pose as the reorganizer of the cults of Sippar, Nippur, Borsippa, +and Babylon, and of restoring the income to temples +in other places.<a name="FNanchor_1485_1485" id="FNanchor_1485_1485"></a><a href="#Footnote_1485_1485" class="fnanchor">[1485]</a> But there was another side to this homage +that must not be overlooked. By sacrificing in the Babylonian +temples, the Assyrian rulers indicated their political control +over the south. Such homage as they manifested was the +exclusive privilege of legitimate rulers, and it was important +for the Assyrians to legitimize their control over the south.</p> + +<p>A phase of sacrifice is represented by the libations of oil +and wine to which frequent references are found in the +historical texts. It appears to have been customary to anoint +the foundation stones of temples and palaces with oil and +wine. Over the thresholds, too, and over the stones—bearing +commemorative or votive inscriptions—libations of oil, honey, +and wine were poured.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_665" id="Page_665">[Pg 665]</a></span></p> + +<p>Nebopolassar<a name="FNanchor_1486_1486" id="FNanchor_1486_1486"></a><a href="#Footnote_1486_1486" class="fnanchor">[1486]</a> speaks of placing sweet herbs under the walls, +and Nabonnedos<a name="FNanchor_1487_1487" id="FNanchor_1487_1487"></a><a href="#Footnote_1487_1487" class="fnanchor">[1487]</a> pours oil over the bolts and doors, as well +as on the thresholds of the Shamash temple at Sippar, and +fills the temple with the aroma of frankincense. Much importance +was attached to this rite, and the kings take frequent +occasion to adjure their successors who may in the course of +restoring edifices come across stones bearing the record of +former builders, to anoint these stones with oil and offer +sacrifices.<a name="FNanchor_1488_1488" id="FNanchor_1488_1488"></a><a href="#Footnote_1488_1488" class="fnanchor">[1488]</a> Thus, Nabonnedos,<a name="FNanchor_1489_1489" id="FNanchor_1489_1489"></a><a href="#Footnote_1489_1489" class="fnanchor">[1489]</a> when he finds the inscription +of Ashurbanabal in the Shamash temple at Sippar, carefully +obeys the injunction. The rite bears all the marks of great +antiquity. The instances of its occurrence in the Old Testament—notably +in the case of Jacob's act of pouring oil over +the holy stone at Bethel<a name="FNanchor_1490_1490" id="FNanchor_1490_1490"></a><a href="#Footnote_1490_1490" class="fnanchor">[1490]</a>—confirm this view; and the interpretation +for the rite suggested by Robertson Smith<a name="FNanchor_1491_1491" id="FNanchor_1491_1491"></a><a href="#Footnote_1491_1491" class="fnanchor">[1491]</a> that the +oil was originally the fat of the sacrificed animal smeared over +an object or a person, as a means of investing them with +sanctity, accounts satisfactorily for the invariable juxtaposition +in the cuneiform texts of sacrificial offerings with the anointing +of the inscribed stones.</p> + +<p>We have no evidence that the rulers of Babylonia and +Assyria were anointed with oil on their installation, though +it is not improbable that such was the case. The use of the +oil in this case is but a modification of the same rite, which, it +is to be noted, loses some of its ancient force by the spread of +the custom in the Orient of unguents as a part of the toilet.<a name="FNanchor_1492_1492" id="FNanchor_1492_1492"></a><a href="#Footnote_1492_1492" class="fnanchor">[1492]</a> +The use of odorous herbs, which, we have seen, were placed +under the walls, and of honey and wine, which were poured +over bolts,<a name="FNanchor_1493_1493" id="FNanchor_1493_1493"></a><a href="#Footnote_1493_1493" class="fnanchor">[1493]</a> is also directly connected with the sacrificial cult.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_666" id="Page_666">[Pg 666]</a></span> +The libation in its purer form appears in the custom of the +Assyrian kings of pouring wine over the animal slain by them +in the hunt. The act is intended to secure divine favor towards +a deed which involved the destruction of something that by all +ancient nations was held sacred, namely, life. Even a despot +of Assyria felt that to wantonly destroy life could not be safely +undertaken without making sure of the consent of the gods. +Significantly enough, Ashurbanabal offers his libations after +the lion or bull hunts to Ishtar as the "goddess of battle."<a name="FNanchor_1494_1494" id="FNanchor_1494_1494"></a><a href="#Footnote_1494_1494" class="fnanchor">[1494]</a> +The animal is sanctified by being devoted to a goddess, just +as the victims in a battle constitute the conqueror's homage +offered to the gods who came to his assistance.</p> + +<p>Sacrifices with libations are so frequently represented on the +seal cylinder that this testimony alone would suffice to vouch +for the importance attached to this rite in the cult. One of +the most archaic specimens of Babylonian art<a name="FNanchor_1495_1495" id="FNanchor_1495_1495"></a><a href="#Footnote_1495_1495" class="fnanchor">[1495]</a> represents a +worshipper, entirely naked, pouring a libation into a large cup +which stands on an altar. Behind the altar sits a goddess who +is probably  or Malkâtu, the consort of the sun-god. The +naked worshipper is by no means an uncommon figure in the +early Babylonian art,<a name="FNanchor_1496_1496" id="FNanchor_1496_1496"></a><a href="#Footnote_1496_1496" class="fnanchor">[1496]</a> and it would appear that at one time it +was customary to remove one's garments preliminary to stepping +into the god's presence, just as among the Arabs the cult +of the Caaba in Mecca was conducted by the worshippers at +an early period without their clothes.<a name="FNanchor_1497_1497" id="FNanchor_1497_1497"></a><a href="#Footnote_1497_1497" class="fnanchor">[1497]</a> The custom so frequently +referred to in the Old Testament to remove one's shoes +upon entering sacred territory,—a custom still observed by the +modern Muslim, who leaves his shoes outside of the Mosque,—may +be regarded as an indication that at an earlier period +people removed their garments as well as the sandals. It may<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_667" id="Page_667">[Pg 667]</a></span> +be that the order to take off the sandal alone, as recorded +in the Old Testament, is nothing but a euphemistic phrase +(suggested by a more refined age) to strip oneself. Certainly, +when we find that in the days of Saul, the seers went about +naked, there can no longer be any doubt that there was a time +when the Hebrews, too, like the Arabs and Babylonians, +entered the holy presence naked.</p> + +<p>The institution of daily sacrifices is vouched for in the case +of the larger religious centers like Babylonia, Borsippa, Sippar, +Cuthah, as well as Nineveh for the late periods. Nebuchadnezzar, +for example, tells us<a name="FNanchor_1498_1498" id="FNanchor_1498_1498"></a><a href="#Footnote_1498_1498" class="fnanchor">[1498]</a> that he provided for a sacrifice of +six lambs daily in the temple E-shidlam at Cuthah, sacred to +Nergal and Laz; while for Nabu's temple at Borsippa, the +daily sacrifices were arranged on a still larger scale, and +included two fattened bulls of perfect form, sixteen smaller +animals, besides offerings of fish, birds, leek, various kinds of +wine, honey, cream, and the finest oil,—all intended, as the king +tells us, for the table of Nabu and his consort. No doubt the +daily official sacrifices at Marduk's temple were even more +elaborate. The custom of regular sacrifices in the larger temples +may be traced back to an early period. The technical +terms for such sacrifices are <i>sattûku</i> and <i>ginû</i>. Both terms +convey the idea of being "fixed," perpetual,<a name="FNanchor_1499_1499" id="FNanchor_1499_1499"></a><a href="#Footnote_1499_1499" class="fnanchor">[1499]</a> and suggest a +comparison with the Pentateuchal institution of the <i>tamîd</i>,<a name="FNanchor_1500_1500" id="FNanchor_1500_1500"></a><a href="#Footnote_1500_1500" class="fnanchor">[1500]</a> <i>i.e.</i>, +the daily sacrifice. Whenever the kings in their inscriptions +mention the regular sacrifices, it is in almost all cases with +reference to their reinstitution of an old custom that had been +allowed to fall into neglect (owing to political disturbances +which always affected the temples), and not as an innovation. +Innovations were limited to increasing the amounts of these<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_668" id="Page_668">[Pg 668]</a></span> +regular sacrifices. So, for example, Nabubaliddin restores and +increases the <i>ginê</i> of the great temple E-babbara at Sippar.<a name="FNanchor_1501_1501" id="FNanchor_1501_1501"></a><a href="#Footnote_1501_1501" class="fnanchor">[1501]</a> +But regular sacrifices do not necessarily involve daily offerings. +The same terms, <i>ginû</i> and <i>sattûku</i>, are applied frequently to +monthly offerings, and except in the large religious centers, +regular sacrifices were in all probabilities brought on certain +days of each month, and not daily. The days thus singled +out, as will be shown further on, differed for various sanctuaries. +It would be important if we could determine the share +in these regular sacrifices taken by the people at large, but the +material at hand does not suffice for settling the question. +There are frequent references to tithes in the clay tablets +forming part of the archives of temples, and monthly tributes +are also mentioned. We certainly may conclude from these +references that the people were taxed in some way for the support +of the temples. Ashurbanabal in one place speaks of +reimposing upon the population of the south the provision for +the <i>sattûku</i> and <i>ginû</i> due to Ashur and Belit<a name="FNanchor_1502_1502" id="FNanchor_1502_1502"></a><a href="#Footnote_1502_1502" class="fnanchor">[1502]</a> and the gods of +Assyria; but, for all that, it is not certain that the regular sacrifices +at the temples partook of a popular character. One +gains the impression that, except on the occasions when the +people came to the sanctuaries for individual purposes, the +masses as such had but comparatively little share in it. In +this respect the cult of the Hebrews, which has so many points +in common with the Babylonian ritual as to justify the hypothesis +that the details of sacrificial regulations in the priestly +code are largely derived from practices in Babylonian temples, +was more democratic. Closely attached as the Babylonians +were to their sanctuaries, the regular sacrifices do not appear +to have been an active factor in maintaining this attachment. +A more decidedly popular character is apparent in the votive +offerings made to the temples. These offerings cover a wide<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_669" id="Page_669">[Pg 669]</a></span> +range. Rulers and people alike felt prompted to make gifts to +the sanctuaries on special occasions, either as a direct homage +to the gods or with the avowed purpose and hope of securing +divine favor or divine intercession.</p> + +<p>The statues of themselves which the rulers from the days of +Gudea<a name="FNanchor_1503_1503" id="FNanchor_1503_1503"></a><a href="#Footnote_1503_1503" class="fnanchor">[1503]</a> on were fond of erecting were dedicated by them as +offerings to the gods, and this avowed aim tempers, in a measure, +the vanity which no doubt was the mainspring of their +action. The statues were placed in the temples, and from +Gudea<a name="FNanchor_1504_1504" id="FNanchor_1504_1504"></a><a href="#Footnote_1504_1504" class="fnanchor">[1504]</a> we learn of the elaborate ceremonies connected with +the dedication of one of the king's colossal blocks of diorite. +For seven days all manual labor was interrupted in Lagash. +Masters and slaves shared in the festivities. The temple of +Nin-girsu is sanctified anew by purification rites, and the statue +is formally presented to the god amidst sacrifices and offerings +of rich gifts. The account given in the Book of Daniel<a name="FNanchor_1505_1505" id="FNanchor_1505_1505"></a><a href="#Footnote_1505_1505" class="fnanchor">[1505]</a> of the +dedication of Nebuchadnezzar's statue may be regarded as an +equally authentic picture of a custom that survived to the closing +days of the Babylonian monarchy, except that we have no +proof that divine honors were paid to these statues.<a name="FNanchor_1506_1506" id="FNanchor_1506_1506"></a><a href="#Footnote_1506_1506" class="fnanchor">[1506]</a> The +front, sides, and back of Gudea's images were covered with +inscriptions, partly of a commemorative character, but in part, +also, conveying a dedication to Nin-girsu. Similarly, the steles +of the Assyrian kings, set up by them either in the temples or +on the highways beyond the confines of Assyria, and which +had images of the rulers sculptured on them in high relief, +were covered with inscriptions, devoted primarily to celebrating +the deeds of the kings; but, since the victories of the +armies were ascribed to the assistance furnished by the gods, +an homage to Ashur or some other deity was involved in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_670" id="Page_670">[Pg 670]</a></span> +recital. That the gods were accorded a minor share of the +glory was but in keeping with the pride of the Assyrian rulers, +who were less affected than the rulers of the south by the +votive character of the statues.</p> + +<p>Both Babylonians and Assyrians, however, unite in making +images of the gods as a distinct homage, and in giving elaborate +presents of gold, silver, precious stones, costly woods, and +garments to the sanctuaries as votive offerings to the gods. +These presents were used in the decoration of temples and +shrines, as well as of the statues of the gods or as direct contributions +to the temple treasury. Celebrations of victories +were chosen as particularly appropriate occasions for making +such votive offerings. So Agumkakrimi, upon bringing back +to E-Sagila the statues of Marduk and Sarpanitum that had +been taken away by ruthless hands, bestows rich gifts upon +the temples and describes<a name="FNanchor_1507_1507" id="FNanchor_1507_1507"></a><a href="#Footnote_1507_1507" class="fnanchor">[1507]</a> at great length the costly garments +embroidered with gold and studded with precious stones that +were hung on Marduk and his consort. Equally vivid is the +description of the high, conical-shaped caps, made of lapis +lazuli and gold, and decorated, furthermore, with various kinds +of stones, that were placed on the heads of the deities. Garments +for the statues of the gods appear to have been favorite +votive offerings at all times. Nabubaliddin, in restoring the +cult of Shamash at Sippar, makes provisions for an elaborate +outfit of garments,<a name="FNanchor_1508_1508" id="FNanchor_1508_1508"></a><a href="#Footnote_1508_1508" class="fnanchor">[1508]</a> specifying different garments for various +periods of the year. It would appear from this that for the +various festive occasions of the year, the garments of the gods +were changed, much as in other religions—including the +Catholic Church—the officiating priests are robed in different +garments on the various festive or solemn occasions.</p> + +<p>Votive tablets or discs of lapis lazuli, agate, turquoise, gold, +silver, copper, antimony, and other metals with dedicatory<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_671" id="Page_671">[Pg 671]</a></span> +inscriptions were deposited in the temples. What particular +purpose they served we do not know. As a specimen of the +more common formula on these tablets, a lapis lazuli tablet of +Nippur may be chosen. It is offered by a Cassite king, and +reads<a name="FNanchor_1509_1509" id="FNanchor_1509_1509"></a><a href="#Footnote_1509_1509" class="fnanchor">[1509]</a> as follows:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>To Bel</p> +<p>His lord</p> +<p>Kadashman-Turgu</p> +<p>For his life</p> +<p>Presented.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>A knob-shaped object<a name="FNanchor_1510_1510" id="FNanchor_1510_1510"></a><a href="#Footnote_1510_1510" class="fnanchor">[1510]</a> of fine limestone contains a dedication +in similar phrases to Marduk. It is offered by Bel-epush, who +is probably identical with a Babylonian ruler of this name in +the seventh century,—a contemporary of Sennacherib:<a name="FNanchor_1511_1511" id="FNanchor_1511_1511"></a><a href="#Footnote_1511_1511" class="fnanchor">[1511]</a></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>To Marduk, his lord</p> +<p>Bel-epush for the preservation of his life</p> +<p>Made and presented.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Kings, however, do not appear to be the only ones for whom +these votive offerings were prepared. A dedication to a +personage otherwise unknown and to all appearances a layman +reads:<a name="FNanchor_1512_1512" id="FNanchor_1512_1512"></a><a href="#Footnote_1512_1512" class="fnanchor">[1512]</a></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>To Ea,<a name="FNanchor_1513_1513" id="FNanchor_1513_1513"></a><a href="#Footnote_1513_1513" class="fnanchor">[1513]</a> his lord, Bel-zir,</p> +<p>Son of Ea-Bân,</p> +<p>For the preservation of his life</p> +<p>Made and presented.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The formulas are thus seen to be conventional ones, though +occasionally the inscription is somewhat longer. So, for +example, Nazi-Maruttash, another Cassite king, puts a little +prayer on a votive offering:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_672" id="Page_672">[Pg 672]</a></span></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>[To Bel, his lord]</p> +<p>Nazi-Maruttash,</p> +<p>Son of Kurigalzu,</p> +<p>To hearken to his supplication,</p> +<p>To be favorable to his prayer,</p> +<p>To accept his entreaty,</p> +<p>To lengthen his days,</p> +<p>[He made and presented].</p> +</div></div> + +<p>This inscription appears, as Dr. Hilprecht informs us,<a name="FNanchor_1514_1514" id="FNanchor_1514_1514"></a><a href="#Footnote_1514_1514" class="fnanchor">[1514]</a> on an +ax made of imitation lapis lazuli.<a name="FNanchor_1515_1515" id="FNanchor_1515_1515"></a><a href="#Footnote_1515_1515" class="fnanchor">[1515]</a> Other votive inscriptions +are found on rings and on knobs of ivory or magnesite.<a name="FNanchor_1516_1516" id="FNanchor_1516_1516"></a><a href="#Footnote_1516_1516" class="fnanchor">[1516]</a> These +various designs no doubt all had some symbolical significance. +The ring suggests some ultimate connection between votive +offerings and amulets. The seal cylinders, we know, although +put to practical use in impressing the design on a clay tablet +as a substitute for a personal signature, were also regarded as +amulets, and this accounts for the frequency with which +scenes of religious worship were introduced as designs on +the cylinders. The ring is distinctly an amulet in Babylonia +as elsewhere, and hence it is by no means improbable that the +custom of carrying little inscribed tablets, discs, or knobs about +the person as a protection against mischances preceded the +use of such tablets as votive offerings to be placed in a temple.</p> + +<p>A very common votive object in Babylonia, especially in the +earlier period, was the clay cone. Such cones were found in +large numbers at Lagash, while at Nippur Peters came across +what may be safely regarded as a magazine where such cones +(and other votive objects) were manufactured in large numbers.<a name="FNanchor_1517_1517" id="FNanchor_1517_1517"></a><a href="#Footnote_1517_1517" class="fnanchor">[1517]</a> +The cones of Gudea bear conventional inscriptions of a +votive character addressed to Nin-girsu. In other temples,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_673" id="Page_673">[Pg 673]</a></span> +other gods were similarly remembered. It has been customary +to regard these cones as phallic symbols;<a name="FNanchor_1518_1518" id="FNanchor_1518_1518"></a><a href="#Footnote_1518_1518" class="fnanchor">[1518]</a> but it should be +noted that not only is the evidence for this lacking, but that +what we know of the popular practices of the Babylonians does +not warrant us in assuming any widespread phallic symbolism. +The point of the cones suggests rather that the objects were +intended to be stuck into the ground or into walls. At Lagash +De Sarzec found, besides cones, a large number of copper +statuettes<a name="FNanchor_1519_1519" id="FNanchor_1519_1519"></a><a href="#Footnote_1519_1519" class="fnanchor">[1519]</a> of gods and goddesses and of animals,—chiefly +bulls,—all terminating in a sharp point or attached to a cone-shaped +object. Others again are clearly human figures, either +male personages holding the cone in their hands,<a name="FNanchor_1520_1520" id="FNanchor_1520_1520"></a><a href="#Footnote_1520_1520" class="fnanchor">[1520]</a> or females +holding baskets on their heads,—the customary attitude of +making an offering. These curious statuettes frequently bear +inscriptions of a votive character, and there can be no doubt +that they were used to be stuck into some substance. At one +place, De Sarzec found a series set up in concentric circles<a name="FNanchor_1521_1521" id="FNanchor_1521_1521"></a><a href="#Footnote_1521_1521" class="fnanchor">[1521]</a> in +the corners of an edifice and under the floor. Heuzey is of the +opinion that these statuettes thus arranged were to serve as a +warning for the demons, but it is more in keeping with the general +character of the Babylonian religion to look upon these +objects simply as votive offerings placed at various parts of a +building as a means of securing the favor of the gods. The cone, +I venture to think, is merely the conventionalized shape of a +votive object originally intended to be stuck into some part of a +sacred building. The large quantity of cones that have been +found at Lagash, Nippur, and elsewhere is an indication of +their popular use. It is not improbable that at one time, and, +at all events, in certain temples, the cones and statuettes +represented the common votive offerings with which worshippers<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_674" id="Page_674">[Pg 674]</a></span> +provided themselves upon entering the sacred precinct. To +facilitate the reproduction of the statuettes, moulds were used,—another +indication of the widespread use of these objects. +Clay figures of gods and goddesses were also made in moulds +or modelled by hand and served as votive offerings. At +Nippur, the images represent chiefly Bel and Belit,<a name="FNanchor_1522_1522" id="FNanchor_1522_1522"></a><a href="#Footnote_1522_1522" class="fnanchor">[1522]</a> either +separately or in combination; but figurines of Ishtar have also +been found.<a name="FNanchor_1523_1523" id="FNanchor_1523_1523"></a><a href="#Footnote_1523_1523" class="fnanchor">[1523]</a> In some the goddess is represented as suckling +a child. Often she is pictured as naked, clasping her breasts or +her womb. The attitude which was suggested by the character +of the goddess as the promoter of fertility appears to have been +too obscene to a more refined age, and, accordingly, we find in +later times the sexual parts suppressed or the figure properly +clothed. The character of these figurines varied naturally +with each religious center, and even in the same center modifications +were introduced.</p> + +<p>Whether these clay figurines, cones, and metallic statuettes +were also placed by individuals in their dwellings, like the +"plague" tablets,<a name="FNanchor_1524_1524" id="FNanchor_1524_1524"></a><a href="#Footnote_1524_1524" class="fnanchor">[1524]</a> we cannot as yet definitely say, but it is +more than likely that such was the case. The <i>teraphim</i> +familiar to us from the references in the Old Testament,<a name="FNanchor_1525_1525" id="FNanchor_1525_1525"></a><a href="#Footnote_1525_1525" class="fnanchor">[1525]</a> and +evidently used as talismans, belong to the class of votive offerings +under consideration. The figurines and cones, and also +(though to a smaller degree) the copper statuettes, thus introduce +us to the popular phases of the cult. As symbols of +homage they appear to have survived to a late period, and +their use as talismans did not materially affect their character +as offerings, made by the people upon seeking the sanctuaries. +The more costly objects, as vases,<a name="FNanchor_1526_1526" id="FNanchor_1526_1526"></a><a href="#Footnote_1526_1526" class="fnanchor">[1526]</a> artistically worked weapons, +handsome "seas" bowls, altars, and statues of the gods and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_675" id="Page_675">[Pg 675]</a></span> +other furniture for the temples were left to the rulers. Such +offerings were made with great pomp. They were formally +dedicated by large processions of priests, with the accompaniment +of hymns and music. The kings of Assyria presented +the captured gods as votive gifts pleasing to their deity.<a name="FNanchor_1527_1527" id="FNanchor_1527_1527"></a><a href="#Footnote_1527_1527" class="fnanchor">[1527]</a> They +bring back with them from their campaigns the beams of the +edifices that they destroyed and offer them to Ishtar.<a name="FNanchor_1528_1528" id="FNanchor_1528_1528"></a><a href="#Footnote_1528_1528" class="fnanchor">[1528]</a> Upon +coming to Babylonia, they do not fail to bring presents of gold, +silver, precious stones, copper, iron, purple, precious garments, +and scented woods to Marduk and Sarpanitum, to Nabu and +Tashmitum, and the other great gods.<a name="FNanchor_1529_1529" id="FNanchor_1529_1529"></a><a href="#Footnote_1529_1529" class="fnanchor">[1529]</a> The first fruits of +extensive groves are offered by Ashurnasirbal to Ashur and the +temples of his land.<a name="FNanchor_1530_1530" id="FNanchor_1530_1530"></a><a href="#Footnote_1530_1530" class="fnanchor">[1530]</a> The rulers of Assyria vie with the kings +of Babylonia in presenting gardens<a name="FNanchor_1531_1531" id="FNanchor_1531_1531"></a><a href="#Footnote_1531_1531" class="fnanchor">[1531]</a> and lands to the gods as +votive offerings; but for all that, in ancient Babylonia and +Assyria, as among other peoples of antiquity, the more fervent +religious spirit was manifested in the small tokens of the +masses, whose attachment to the temples was of a different +order from that which prompted the rulers of the north and +south to a display, in which vanity and the desire to manifest +their power play a larger part as one generation succeeds the +other.</p> + + +<h3>Festivals.</h3> + +<p>We have seen<a name="FNanchor_1532_1532" id="FNanchor_1532_1532"></a><a href="#Footnote_1532_1532" class="fnanchor">[1532]</a> that in the developed system of the Babylonian +religion, every day of the year had some significance, and +that certain days in each month—so, <i>e.g.</i>, the 7th, 14th, 19th, +21st, and 28th—had a special significance. It has also been +pointed out that in different religious centers, the days singled +out for special significance differed. In view of this, we must<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_676" id="Page_676">[Pg 676]</a></span> +be prepared to find that the festival days were not the same +in all parts of Babylonia, nor necessarily identical in the various +periods of Babylonian and Assyrian history.</p> + +<p>The common name for festival was <i>isinnu</i>. If we may judge +from the use of <i>assinnu</i> as a general name for priest,<a name="FNanchor_1533_1533" id="FNanchor_1533_1533"></a><a href="#Footnote_1533_1533" class="fnanchor">[1533]</a>—a +servant of a deity,—the underlying stem appears to signify +simply 'to serve.' Another name that reveals more as to the +character of the Babylonian festivals is <i>tashiltu</i>, which is used +as a synonym for 'joy, delight.' The festivals were indeed +joyous occasions, marked by abundance of offerings and merry-making, +though, as we shall see, the somber note in the rejoicings +was not absent. The kings dedicate their temples and +palaces amidst manifestation of rejoicing. They pray that the +gods may occupy the dwellings prepared for them "in joy and +jubilance,"<a name="FNanchor_1534_1534" id="FNanchor_1534_1534"></a><a href="#Footnote_1534_1534" class="fnanchor">[1534]</a> and the reference to festivals in the historical texts +are all of such a character as to make us feel that the Babylonian +could appreciate the Biblical injunction to "rejoice"<a name="FNanchor_1535_1535" id="FNanchor_1535_1535"></a><a href="#Footnote_1535_1535" class="fnanchor">[1535]</a> +in the divine presence, on the occasions set apart as, in a +peculiar sense, sacred.</p> + +<p>Defective as our knowledge of the ancient Babylonian festivals +still is, the material at our disposal shows that at a comparatively +early period, there was one day in the year on which +a festival was celebrated in honor of a god or goddess that +had a more important character than any other. In the developed +zodiacal system of Babylonia each month is sacred to a +deity.<a name="FNanchor_1536_1536" id="FNanchor_1536_1536"></a><a href="#Footnote_1536_1536" class="fnanchor">[1536]</a> This system was perfected under the direct influence +of the theological schools of Babylonia, but so much of it, +at all events, rests upon ancient traditions which assigns a +month to each god; and since Marduk is not accorded the +first place, but takes his position in a group of solar deities,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_677" id="Page_677">[Pg 677]</a></span> +and since, moreover, these solar deities have a position in the +calendar which accords with their specific solar character,<a name="FNanchor_1537_1537" id="FNanchor_1537_1537"></a><a href="#Footnote_1537_1537" class="fnanchor">[1537]</a> we +may proceed a step further and assume with some confidence +that the Babylonian scholars were guided—in large part, at +least—by ancient traditions in parceling out the months as +they did. Anu, Bel, and Ea, it is true, may have been assigned +to the first three months because of the preëminent position of +these three gods as a special triad; but even here the antiquity +of the triad furnishes a guarantee that the association of some +month with some deity belongs to a very ancient period of +Babylonian history. This being the case, it would be natural +that the first day of the month sacred to a deity would be +regarded as his or her festival <i>par excellence</i>, and in the case +of the cult of a deity spreading beyond its original limits, this +festival would assume a more general character. On this day +the people would come from all parts of the district within +which the cult was carried on, to pay their homage to the god +or goddess. In the days of Gudea, we find Bau occupying this +superior rank. Her festival had assumed such importance as +to serve for reckoning the commencement of the year.</p> + +<p>Hence it became known simply as the day of zag-muku,<a name="FNanchor_1538_1538" id="FNanchor_1538_1538"></a><a href="#Footnote_1538_1538" class="fnanchor">[1538]</a> that +is, the New Year's Day.<a name="FNanchor_1539_1539" id="FNanchor_1539_1539"></a><a href="#Footnote_1539_1539" class="fnanchor">[1539]</a> Whether this festival of Bau was +recognized as the New Year's Day throughout Babylonia, we +do not know, but it must have been observed in a considerably +extensive district, or Gudea would have made the attempt +to give some festival connected with his favorite deity Nin-girsu +this character. As it is, he can only combine Bau's +festival with the cult of Nin-girsu, by making the New Year's +Day the occasion of a symbolical marriage between the god +and the goddess. Nin-girsu is represented as offering marriage<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_678" id="Page_678">[Pg 678]</a></span> +gifts to Bau,<a name="FNanchor_1540_1540" id="FNanchor_1540_1540"></a><a href="#Footnote_1540_1540" class="fnanchor">[1540]</a> on the Zagmuku. How early Bau came to occupy +so significant a rank has not been ascertained. It is her +quality as the 'great mother,' as the goddess of fertility and +abundance,<a name="FNanchor_1541_1541" id="FNanchor_1541_1541"></a><a href="#Footnote_1541_1541" class="fnanchor">[1541]</a> rather than any political supremacy of the district +in which she was worshipped, that constitutes the chief factor +in giving Bau this preëminence, just as we have found in +the case of the other great goddesses of Babylonia,—Ninâ, +Nanâ, Ishtar,—specific traits and not political importance +lending them the significance they acquired.</p> + +<p>At one time we may well suppose that the festival of En-lil +at Nippur, which brought worshippers from all parts of Babylonia, +was recognized as a 'New Year's Day,' and we may +some day find evidence that at a still earlier period the first +day of a month sacred to some other god,—Sin or Shamash +or Nanâ-Ishtar of Erech,—was recognized in some districts +as the starting-point for the year; but to an agricultural community, +the spring, when the seeds are sown, or the fall, after +the harvest has been gathered, are the two most natural periods +for reckoning the beginning of the year. Since we know that +at the time when Babylon acquired her supremacy the year +began in the spring, the conservatism attaching to religious +observances makes it more than probable that Bau's festival +also fell in the spring.</p> + +<p>After the ancient religious and political centers of the south +yielded their privileges to Babylon, it was natural for the +priests of Marduk to covet the honor of the New Year's festival +for the new head of the pantheon. Accordingly, we find the +Zagmuku transformed into a Marduk festival. That it did not +originally belong to Marduk follows from the fact that it was +celebrated in the month of Nisan,—the first month,—whereas +the month sacred to Marduk was Arakh-shamna (or Marcheshwan),—the +eighth month. The deliberate transfer of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_679" id="Page_679">[Pg 679]</a></span> +Zagmuku to Marduk is also indicated by the fact that the +festival of Nisan has another name by which it is more commonly +designated,—Akitu.<a name="FNanchor_1542_1542" id="FNanchor_1542_1542"></a><a href="#Footnote_1542_1542" class="fnanchor">[1542]</a> The name seems to have been +originally a general term for a festival, and it is natural that +Marduk's festival should have come to be known as <i>the</i> festival, +just as among the Hebrews the annual fall pilgrimage to +the sanctuary at Jerusalem became known as <i>the</i> Hag,—the +pilgrimage <i>par excellence</i>. To distinguish it from other festivals, +Marduk's festival is sometimes spoken of as the "great" or +the "lofty" Akitu. The first day was properly the Zagmuku, +whereas the Akitu itself extended at least over the first eleven +days of Nisan<a name="FNanchor_1543_1543" id="FNanchor_1543_1543"></a><a href="#Footnote_1543_1543" class="fnanchor">[1543]</a> and may indeed have lasted the entire month; +but Zagmuku was also used for the festival period. The New +Year's Day was marked by a solemn procession. The union +of Nabu and Marduk was symbolized by a visit which the +former paid to his father, the chief of the Babylonian pantheon. +In his ship, magnificently fitted out,<a name="FNanchor_1544_1544" id="FNanchor_1544_1544"></a><a href="#Footnote_1544_1544" class="fnanchor">[1544]</a> Nabu was carried along +the street known as Ai-ibur-shabû,<a name="FNanchor_1545_1545" id="FNanchor_1545_1545"></a><a href="#Footnote_1545_1545" class="fnanchor">[1545]</a> leading from Borsippa +across the Euphrates to Babylon.</p> + +<p>The street was handsomely paved,<a name="FNanchor_1546_1546" id="FNanchor_1546_1546"></a><a href="#Footnote_1546_1546" class="fnanchor">[1546]</a> and everything was done +to heighten the impressiveness of the ceremony. The visit of +Nabu marked the homage of the gods to Marduk; and Nabu +set the example for other gods, who were all supposed to +assemble in E-Sagila during the great festival. We have +already pointed out that the cult of Nabu at Borsippa at one +time was regarded with greater sanctity than the Marduk worship +in Babylon. As a concession to the former supremacy +of Nabu, the priests of E-Sagila, carrying the statue of Marduk, +escorted Nabu back to Borsippa. The return visit raises the +suspicion that it was originally Marduk who was obliged to +pay an annual homage to Nabu.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_680" id="Page_680">[Pg 680]</a></span> +However this may be, the double ceremony became to such +an extent the noteworthy feature of the Zagmuku or Akitu that +when the chroniclers wish to indicate that, because of political +disturbances, the festival was not celebrated, they use the simple +formula:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p>Nabu did not come to Babylon.</p> +<p>Bel [<i>i.e.</i>, Marduk] did not march out.<a name="FNanchor_1547_1547" id="FNanchor_1547_1547"></a><a href="#Footnote_1547_1547" class="fnanchor">[1547]</a></p> +</div></div> + +<p>The Akitu festival brought worshippers from all parts of +Babylonia and Assyria to the capitol. Kings and subjects +alike paid their devotions to Marduk. The former approached +the divine presence directly, and, seizing hold of the hands of +Marduk's statue, were admitted into a kind of covenant with +the god. The ceremony became the formal rite of royal installation +in Babylonia. "To seize the hands of Bel" was equivalent +to legitimizing one's claim to the throne of Babylonia, and +the chroniclers of the south consistently decline to recognize +Assyrian rulers as kings of Babylonia until they have come to +Babylon and "seized the hands of Bel."<a name="FNanchor_1548_1548" id="FNanchor_1548_1548"></a><a href="#Footnote_1548_1548" class="fnanchor">[1548]</a> That this ceremony +was annually performed by the kings of Babylonia after the +union of the southern states is quite certain. It marked a +renewal of the pledge between the king and his god. The +Assyrian kings, however, contented themselves with a single +visit. Of Tiglathpileser II.<a name="FNanchor_1549_1549" id="FNanchor_1549_1549"></a><a href="#Footnote_1549_1549" class="fnanchor">[1549]</a> and Sargon,<a name="FNanchor_1550_1550" id="FNanchor_1550_1550"></a><a href="#Footnote_1550_1550" class="fnanchor">[1550]</a> we know that they +came to Babylonia for the purpose of performing the old ceremony; +and others did the same.</p> + +<p>The eighth and eleventh days of the festival month were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_681" id="Page_681">[Pg 681]</a></span> +invested with special sanctity. On these days all the gods +were brought together in the "chamber of fates" of Marduk's +temple. In symbolical imitation of the assembly of the gods +in Ubshu-kenna,<a name="FNanchor_1551_1551" id="FNanchor_1551_1551"></a><a href="#Footnote_1551_1551" class="fnanchor">[1551]</a> Marduk sits on his throne and the gods +are represented as standing in humble submission before him, +while he decrees the fates of mankind for the coming year. +The Zagmuku festival in its developed form has striking points +of resemblance to the Jewish New Year's Day. On this day, +according to the popular Jewish tradition, God sits in judgment +with a book before Him in which He inscribes the fate of mankind. +Nine days of probation are allowed, and on the tenth +day—the Day of Atonement—the fates are sealed. The +Jewish New Year is known as Rôsh-hash-shanâ,<a name="FNanchor_1552_1552" id="FNanchor_1552_1552"></a><a href="#Footnote_1552_1552" class="fnanchor">[1552]</a> which is an +exact equivalent of the Babylonian <i>rêsh shatti</i> (or zag-muku). +A difference, however, between the Babylonian and the Jewish +festival is that the latter is celebrated in the seventh month. +It is not correct, therefore, to assume that the Hebrews borrowed +their Rôsh-hash-shanâ from the Babylonians. Even after +they adopted the Babylonian calendar,<a name="FNanchor_1553_1553" id="FNanchor_1553_1553"></a><a href="#Footnote_1553_1553" class="fnanchor">[1553]</a> they continued to regard +the seventh month—the harvest month—as the beginning of +the year. That among the Babylonians the seventh month +also had a sacred character may be concluded from the meaning +of the ideographs with which the name is written.<a name="FNanchor_1554_1554" id="FNanchor_1554_1554"></a><a href="#Footnote_1554_1554" class="fnanchor">[1554]</a> The +question may, therefore, be raised whether at an earlier period +and in some religious center—Nippur, Sippar, or perhaps Ur—the +seventh month may not have been celebrated as the +Zagmuku. At all events, we must for the present assume +that the Hebrews developed their New Year's Day, which they +may have originally received from Babylonia, independently of +Marduk's festival, though, since the Rôsh-hash-shanâ does not +come into prominence among the Jews until the period of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_682" id="Page_682">[Pg 682]</a></span> +so-called Babylonian exile, the possibility of a direct Babylonian +influence in the <i>later</i> conceptions connected with the day cannot +be denied.<a name="FNanchor_1555_1555" id="FNanchor_1555_1555"></a><a href="#Footnote_1555_1555" class="fnanchor">[1555]</a></p> + +<p>Of the other festivals of the Babylonians and Assyrians but +few details are known. Several references have already been +made to the Tammuz festival.<a name="FNanchor_1556_1556" id="FNanchor_1556_1556"></a><a href="#Footnote_1556_1556" class="fnanchor">[1556]</a> Originally a solar festival, +celebrated in the fourth month at the approach of the summer +solstice, it became through the association of ideas suggested +by the mourning of Ishtar for her lost consort Tammuz a kind +of 'All Souls' Day,' on which the people remembered their +dead. Dirges were sung by the wailing women to the accompaniment +of musical instruments; offerings were made to the +dead, and it is plausible to assume that visits were paid to +the graves. The mourning was followed by a festival of +rejoicing, symbolizing the return of the solar-god. The Tammuz +festival appears to have had a strong hold upon the +masses, by reason of the popularity of the Tammuz myth; +nor was it limited to the Babylonians. Among the Phoenicians +the cult of Tammuz, known by his title Adôn (whence +Adonis), was maintained to a late period, and the Hebrews, +likewise, as late as the days of Ezekiel,<a name="FNanchor_1557_1557" id="FNanchor_1557_1557"></a><a href="#Footnote_1557_1557" class="fnanchor">[1557]</a> commemorated with +rites of mourning the lost Tammuz. The calendar of the +Jewish Church still marks the 17th day of Tammuz as a fast, +and Houtsma has shown<a name="FNanchor_1558_1558" id="FNanchor_1558_1558"></a><a href="#Footnote_1558_1558" class="fnanchor">[1558]</a> that the association of the day with +the capture of Jerusalem by the Romans represents merely +the attempt to give an ancient festival a worthier interpretation. +The day was originally connected with the Tammuz<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_683" id="Page_683">[Pg 683]</a></span> +cult. Eerdmans<a name="FNanchor_1559_1559" id="FNanchor_1559_1559"></a><a href="#Footnote_1559_1559" class="fnanchor">[1559]</a> has recently endeavored to show that the +festival of Hosein, celebrated by the Shiitic sect of Mohammedanism +in memory of the tragic death of the son of Ali, is in +reality a survival of the Babylonian-Phoenician Tammuz festival. +The spread of the Tammuz-Adonis myth and cult to the Greeks<a name="FNanchor_1560_1560" id="FNanchor_1560_1560"></a><a href="#Footnote_1560_1560" class="fnanchor">[1560]</a> +is but another indication of the popularity of this ancient +Semitic festival.</p> + +<p>The old Zagmuku festival in honor of Bau and the Tammuz +festival, celebrated in spring and summer, respectively, are +also closely associated with agricultural life. The spring as +the seedtime is, as we have seen, a natural period for beginning +the calculation of the New Year, while a first harvest of +the wheat and barley is reaped in Babylonia at the time of the +summer solstice. We should expect, therefore, to find a third +festival in the fall, at the close of the harvest and just before +the winter rains set in. The seventh month—Tishri—was +a sacred month among the ancient Hebrews as well as among +the Babylonians, but up to the present no distinct traces of +a festival period in Tishri have been found in Babylonian +texts. We must content ourselves, therefore, with the conjecture, +above thrown out, that an Akitu was originally celebrated +in this month at some ancient religious center of the Euphrates +Valley. Further publications of cuneiform texts may throw +light upon this point. The unpublished material in European +and American museums harbors many surprises.</p> + +<p>In Ashurbanabal's annals<a name="FNanchor_1561_1561" id="FNanchor_1561_1561"></a><a href="#Footnote_1561_1561" class="fnanchor">[1561]</a> there is an interesting reference +to a festival celebrated in honor of the goddess Gula, the goddess +of healing,<a name="FNanchor_1562_1562" id="FNanchor_1562_1562"></a><a href="#Footnote_1562_1562" class="fnanchor">[1562]</a> on the twelfth day of Iyyar, the second month. +The festival is described ideographically as Si-gar,<a name="FNanchor_1563_1563" id="FNanchor_1563_1563"></a><a href="#Footnote_1563_1563" class="fnanchor">[1563]</a> but from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_684" id="Page_684">[Pg 684]</a></span> +the fact that the same ideographs are used elsewhere to describe +a day sacred to Sin and Shamash,<a name="FNanchor_1564_1564" id="FNanchor_1564_1564"></a><a href="#Footnote_1564_1564" class="fnanchor">[1564]</a> it would appear that +Si-gar is not a specific appellation, but a general name again +for festival. This month Iyyar and this particular day, as a +"favorable one," is chosen by Ashurbanabal for his installation +as king of Assyria. The same month is selected for a +formal pilgrimage to Babylonia for the purpose of restoring +to E-Sagila a statue of Marduk that a previous Assyrian king +had taken from its place,<a name="FNanchor_1565_1565" id="FNanchor_1565_1565"></a><a href="#Footnote_1565_1565" class="fnanchor">[1565]</a> and Lehmann is probably correct in +concluding<a name="FNanchor_1566_1566" id="FNanchor_1566_1566"></a><a href="#Footnote_1566_1566" class="fnanchor">[1566]</a> that this month of Iyyar was a particularly sacred +one in Assyria, emphasized with intent perhaps by the kings, +as an offset against the sacredness of Nisan in Babylonia.</p> + +<p>Festivals in honor of Ninib were celebrated in Calah in the +months of Elul—the sixth month—and Shabat—the eleventh +month.<a name="FNanchor_1567_1567" id="FNanchor_1567_1567"></a><a href="#Footnote_1567_1567" class="fnanchor">[1567]</a> The sixth month, it will be recalled, is sacred to +Ishtar.<a name="FNanchor_1568_1568" id="FNanchor_1568_1568"></a><a href="#Footnote_1568_1568" class="fnanchor">[1568]</a> Ninib being a solar deity, his festival in Elul was +evidently of a solar character. From Ashurbanabal,<a name="FNanchor_1569_1569" id="FNanchor_1569_1569"></a><a href="#Footnote_1569_1569" class="fnanchor">[1569]</a> again, +we learn that the 25th day of Siwan—the third month—was +sacred to Belit of Babylon, and on that day a procession +took place in her honor. The Belit meant is Sarpanitum in +her original and independent rôle as a goddess of fertility. +The statue of the goddess, carried about, presumably in her +ship, formed the chief feature of the procession. Ashurbanabal +chooses this "favorable" day as the one on which to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_685" id="Page_685">[Pg 685]</a></span> +break up camp in the course of one of his military expeditions. +We would naturally expect to find a festival month +devoted to the god Ashur in Assyria. This month was Elul—the +sixth month.<a name="FNanchor_1570_1570" id="FNanchor_1570_1570"></a><a href="#Footnote_1570_1570" class="fnanchor">[1570]</a> The choice of this month lends weight +to the supposition that Ashur was originally a solar deity.<a name="FNanchor_1571_1571" id="FNanchor_1571_1571"></a><a href="#Footnote_1571_1571" class="fnanchor">[1571]</a> +The honors once paid to Ninib in Calah in this month +could thus easily be transferred to the head of the Assyrian +pantheon. Although in the calendar the sixth month is sacred +to Ishtar, her festival was celebrated in the fifth month, known +as Ab.<a name="FNanchor_1572_1572" id="FNanchor_1572_1572"></a><a href="#Footnote_1572_1572" class="fnanchor">[1572]</a> This lack of correspondence between the calendar +and the festivals is an indication of the greater antiquity of the +latter.</p> + +<p>In the great temple to Shamash at Sippar, there appear to +have been several days that were marked by religious observances. +Nabubaliddin<a name="FNanchor_1573_1573" id="FNanchor_1573_1573"></a><a href="#Footnote_1573_1573" class="fnanchor">[1573]</a> (ninth century) emphasizes that he +presented rich garments to the temple for use on six days of +the year,—the 7th day of Nisan (first month), 10th of Iyyar +(second month), 3rd of Elul (sixth month), 7th of Tishri (seventh +month), 15th of Arakh-shamna (or Marcheshwan, eighth month), +and the 15th of Adar (twelfth month). These garments are +given to Shamash, to his consort Malkatu, and to Bunene.<a name="FNanchor_1574_1574" id="FNanchor_1574_1574"></a><a href="#Footnote_1574_1574" class="fnanchor">[1574]</a> Since +from a passage in a Babylonian chronicle<a name="FNanchor_1575_1575" id="FNanchor_1575_1575"></a><a href="#Footnote_1575_1575" class="fnanchor">[1575]</a> it appears that it +was customary for Shamash on his festival to leave his temple, +we may conclude that the garments were put on Shamash and +his associates, for the solemn procession on the six days in +question.</p> + +<p>The festivals in Nisan and Elul are distinctly of a solar +character. The choice of two other months immediately following<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_686" id="Page_686">[Pg 686]</a></span> +Nisan and Elul cannot be accidental. The interval of +thirty-three days between the Nisan and Iyyar festivals and +thirty-four days between the Elul and Tishri festivals may +represent a sacred period.<a name="FNanchor_1576_1576" id="FNanchor_1576_1576"></a><a href="#Footnote_1576_1576" class="fnanchor">[1576]</a> Tishri, moreover, as has been +pointed out, is a sacred month in a peculiar sense. Marcheshwan, +it may be well to bear in mind, is sacred to Marduk,—a +solar deity,—while the 15th of Adar, curiously enough, is +an old solar festival that, modified and connected with historical +reminiscences, became popular among the Jews of Persia +and Babylonia during the Persian supremacy in the Semitic +Orient, and survives to this day under the name of the Purim +festival.<a name="FNanchor_1577_1577" id="FNanchor_1577_1577"></a><a href="#Footnote_1577_1577" class="fnanchor">[1577]</a> At all events, the six days may be safely regarded +as connected in some way, direct or indirect, with solar worships, +and it is natural to find that in so prominent a center +of sun-worship as Sippar, <i>all</i> the solar festivals were properly +and solemnly observed.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_687" id="Page_687">[Pg 687]</a></span> +It is disappointing that up to the present so little has been +ascertained of the details of the moon-cult—the great rival to +Shamash worship—in the old cities of Ur and Harran. In +the Babylonian calendar, the third month—Siwan—is sacred +to Sin, but since, as we have found, the festivals in honor +of the gods do not always correspond to the assignment of the +months, we cannot be certain that in this month a special festival +in honor of Sin was observed. Lastly, besides the regular and +fixed festivals, the kings, and more especially the Assyrian rulers, +did not hesitate to institute special festivals in memory of some +event that contributed to their glory. Agumkakrimi<a name="FNanchor_1578_1578" id="FNanchor_1578_1578"></a><a href="#Footnote_1578_1578" class="fnanchor">[1578]</a> instituted +a festival upon restoring the statues of Marduk and Sarpanitum +to Babylon, and Sargon does the same upon restoring the palace +at Calah.<a name="FNanchor_1579_1579" id="FNanchor_1579_1579"></a><a href="#Footnote_1579_1579" class="fnanchor">[1579]</a> Dedications of temples and palaces were in general +marked by festivities, and so when the kings return in triumph +from their wars, laden with spoils and captives, popular rejoicings +were instituted. But such festivals were merely sporadic, +and, while marked by religious ceremonies, were chiefly occasions +of general jollification combined with homage to the +rulers. Such a festival was not called an <i>isinnu</i>, but a <i>nigatu</i>,<a name="FNanchor_1580_1580" id="FNanchor_1580_1580"></a><a href="#Footnote_1580_1580" class="fnanchor">[1580]</a>—a +'merrymaking.'<a name="FNanchor_1581_1581" id="FNanchor_1581_1581"></a><a href="#Footnote_1581_1581" class="fnanchor">[1581]</a> More directly connected with the cult was +a ceremony observed in Assyria upon the installation of an +official, known as the <i>limmu</i>, who during his year of service +enjoyed the privilege of having official documents dated with +his name.<a name="FNanchor_1582_1582" id="FNanchor_1582_1582"></a><a href="#Footnote_1582_1582" class="fnanchor">[1582]</a> The ceremony involved a running<a name="FNanchor_1583_1583" id="FNanchor_1583_1583"></a><a href="#Footnote_1583_1583" class="fnanchor">[1583]</a> of some kind, +and reminds one of the running between the two hills Marwa +and Safa in Mekka that forms part of the religious observances<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_688" id="Page_688">[Pg 688]</a></span> +in connection with a visit to the Kaaba.<a name="FNanchor_1584_1584" id="FNanchor_1584_1584"></a><a href="#Footnote_1584_1584" class="fnanchor">[1584]</a> The name of the +ceremony appears to have been puru (or buru). To connect +this word with the Jewish festival of Purim, as Sayce proposes,<a name="FNanchor_1585_1585" id="FNanchor_1585_1585"></a><a href="#Footnote_1585_1585" class="fnanchor">[1585]</a> +is wholly unwarranted. The character of the Puru ceremony +points to its being an ancient custom, the real significance of +which in the course of time became lost. Fast days instituted +for periods of distress might also be added to the cult, but +these, too, like the special festivals, were not permanent institutions. +For such occasions many of the penitential psalms +which were discussed in a previous chapter<a name="FNanchor_1586_1586" id="FNanchor_1586_1586"></a><a href="#Footnote_1586_1586" class="fnanchor">[1586]</a> were composed. +To conciliate angered gods whose temples had been devastated +in days of turmoil, atonement and purification rites were observed. +So Ashurbanabal<a name="FNanchor_1587_1587" id="FNanchor_1587_1587"></a><a href="#Footnote_1587_1587" class="fnanchor">[1587]</a> upon his conquest of Babylonian +cities tells us that he pacified the gods of the south with penitential +psalms and purified the temples by magic rites; and +Nabubaliddin,<a name="FNanchor_1588_1588" id="FNanchor_1588_1588"></a><a href="#Footnote_1588_1588" class="fnanchor">[1588]</a> incidental to his restoration of the Shamash +cult at Sippar, refers to an interesting ceremony of purification, +which consisted in his taking water and washing his mouth +according to the purification ritual of Ea and Marduk,<a name="FNanchor_1589_1589" id="FNanchor_1589_1589"></a><a href="#Footnote_1589_1589" class="fnanchor">[1589]</a> preliminary +to bringing sacrifices to Shamash in his shrine. Sippar +had been overrun by nomads,<a name="FNanchor_1590_1590" id="FNanchor_1590_1590"></a><a href="#Footnote_1590_1590" class="fnanchor">[1590]</a> the temple had been defiled, +and before sacrifices could again be offered, the sacred edifice +and sacred quarter had to be purified. The king's action was +a symbol of this purification. Many such customs must have +been in vogue in Babylonia and Assyria. Some—and these +were the oldest—were of popular origin. On the seal cylinders +there is frequently represented a pole or a conventionalized<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_689" id="Page_689">[Pg 689]</a></span> +form of a tree, generally in connection with a design illustrating +the worship of a deity.<a name="FNanchor_1591_1591" id="FNanchor_1591_1591"></a><a href="#Footnote_1591_1591" class="fnanchor">[1591]</a> This symbol is clearly a survival +of some tree worship<a name="FNanchor_1592_1592" id="FNanchor_1592_1592"></a><a href="#Footnote_1592_1592" class="fnanchor">[1592]</a> that was once popular. The comparison +with the <i>ashera</i> or pole worship among Phoenicians and +Hebrews<a name="FNanchor_1593_1593" id="FNanchor_1593_1593"></a><a href="#Footnote_1593_1593" class="fnanchor">[1593]</a> is fully justified, and is a proof of the great antiquity +of the symbol, which, without becoming a formal +part of the later cult, retained in some measure a hold upon +the popular mind. Other symbols and customs were introduced +under the influence of the doctrines unfolded in the +schools of thought in the various intellectual centers, and as +an expression of the teachings of the priests. The cult of +Babylonia, even more so than the literature, is a compound +of these two factors,—popular beliefs and the theological elaboration +and systematization of these beliefs. In the course +of this elaboration, many new ideas and new rites were introduced. +The official cult passed in some important particulars +far beyond popular practices.</p> + +<h3><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_690" id="Page_690">[Pg 690]</a></span>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1311_1311" id="Footnote_1311_1311"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1311_1311"><span class="label">[1311]</span></a> <i>Vorgeschichte der Indo-Europaer</i>, pp. 126-141.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1312_1312" id="Footnote_1312_1312"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1312_1312"><span class="label">[1312]</span></a> Gen. xi. 4.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1313_1313" id="Footnote_1313_1313"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1313_1313"><span class="label">[1313]</span></a> <i>E.g.</i>, Tiglathpileser I., col. vii. ll. 102, 103; +Meissner, <i>Altbabylonisches Privatrecht</i>, no. 46; Nebopolassar +Cylinder (Hilprecht, <i>Old Babylonian Inscriptions</i>, i. 1, pls. 32, +33), col. i. l. 38. Or 'as high as mountains'; <i>e.g.</i>, +Nebuchadnezzar II., IR. 58, col. viii. ll. 61-63; and so frequently the +Neo-Babylonian kings.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1314_1314" id="Footnote_1314_1314"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1314_1314"><span class="label">[1314]</span></a> <i>Kosmologie</i>, pp. <a href="#Page_185">185</a>-195.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1315_1315" id="Footnote_1315_1315"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1315_1315"><span class="label">[1315]</span></a> Or <i>Kharsag-gal-kurkura</i>; see p. <a href="#Page_558">558</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1316_1316" id="Footnote_1316_1316"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1316_1316"><span class="label">[1316]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_458">458</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1317_1317" id="Footnote_1317_1317"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1317_1317"><span class="label">[1317]</span></a> <i>Ekurrâti</i>; Delitzsch, <i>Assyr. Handwörterbuch</i>, +p. 718b.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1318_1318" id="Footnote_1318_1318"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1318_1318"><span class="label">[1318]</span></a> IR. 35, no. 3, 22.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1319_1319" id="Footnote_1319_1319"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1319_1319"><span class="label">[1319]</span></a> See below.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1320_1320" id="Footnote_1320_1320"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1320_1320"><span class="label">[1320]</span></a> Hebrew <i>Bamôth</i>. Through the opposition of the Hebrew +prophets, the term acquires distasteful associations that were +originally foreign to it.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1321_1321" id="Footnote_1321_1321"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1321_1321"><span class="label">[1321]</span></a> See Peters' <i>Nippur</i>, ii. 124 <i>seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1322_1322" id="Footnote_1322_1322"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1322_1322"><span class="label">[1322]</span></a> IIR. 50, obverse.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1323_1323" id="Footnote_1323_1323"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1323_1323"><span class="label">[1323]</span></a> Perhaps, however, these several names all designate a single zikkurat.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1324_1324" id="Footnote_1324_1324"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1324_1324"><span class="label">[1324]</span></a> Peters' <i>Nippur</i>, i. 246; ii. 120.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1325_1325" id="Footnote_1325_1325"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1325_1325"><span class="label">[1325]</span></a> For the meaning of this phrase, see Winckler's +<i>Altorientalische Forschungen</i>, iii. 208-222, and Jensen's +<i>Kosmologie</i>, p. 167.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1326_1326" id="Footnote_1326_1326"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1326_1326"><span class="label">[1326]</span></a> +From Heuzey's note in De Sarzec, <i>Décourveries en Chaldée</i>, p. 31, it would +appear that at Lagash there was a zikkurat of modest proportions, but Dr. Peters informs +me that from his observations at Telloh, he questions whether the building in +question represents a zikkurat at all, though, as we know from other sources, a +zikkurat existed there in the days of Gudea.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1327_1327" id="Footnote_1327_1327"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1327_1327"><span class="label">[1327]</span></a> <i>Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society</i>, xviii.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1328_1328" id="Footnote_1328_1328"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1328_1328"><span class="label">[1328]</span></a> Of Sargon's zikkurat at Khorsabad, also, only four stories +have been found. Perrot and Chiplez (<i>History of Art in Chaldaea and +Assyria</i>, i. 388) suppose that there may have been seven.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1329_1329" id="Footnote_1329_1329"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1329_1329"><span class="label">[1329]</span></a> <i>E.g.</i> Perrot and Chiplez, <i>ib.</i> p. 128. Hommel, +<i>Geschichte Babyloniens und Assyriens</i>, p. 19.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1330_1330" id="Footnote_1330_1330"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1330_1330"><span class="label">[1330]</span></a> Peters (<i>Nippur</i>, i. 214) found many yellow-colored +bricks at Borsippa.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1331_1331" id="Footnote_1331_1331"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1331_1331"><span class="label">[1331]</span></a> Book I, § 98.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1332_1332" id="Footnote_1332_1332"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1332_1332"><span class="label">[1332]</span></a> See a paper by E. W. Hopkins on <i>The Holy Numbers of the +Rig-Veda</i> (Oriental Studies, Boston, 1894, pp. 141-147).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1333_1333" id="Footnote_1333_1333"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1333_1333"><span class="label">[1333]</span></a> Written ideographically, as the names of the zikkurats and +of all sacred edifices invariably are.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1334_1334" id="Footnote_1334_1334"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1334_1334"><span class="label">[1334]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_459">459</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1335_1335" id="Footnote_1335_1335"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1335_1335"><span class="label">[1335]</span></a> Inscription G, col. i. l. 14; D, col. ii. l. 11.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1336_1336" id="Footnote_1336_1336"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1336_1336"><span class="label">[1336]</span></a> IIR. 50; obverse 20. See p. <a href="#Page_472">472</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1337_1337" id="Footnote_1337_1337"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1337_1337"><span class="label">[1337]</span></a> <i>Kosmologie</i>, pp. 171-174.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1338_1338" id="Footnote_1338_1338"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1338_1338"><span class="label">[1338]</span></a> The suggestion is worthy of consideration whether the name +'seven directions of heaven and earth' may not also point to a +conception of seven zones dividing the <i>heavens</i> as well as the +earth. One is reminded of the 'seven' heavens of Arabic theology.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1339_1339" id="Footnote_1339_1339"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1339_1339"><span class="label">[1339]</span></a> So <i>e.g.</i>, Kaulen, <i>Assyrien und Babylonien</i> (3d +edition), p. 58; Vigouroux, <i>La Bible et les Découvertes Modernes</i> +(4th edition), i. 358.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1340_1340" id="Footnote_1340_1340"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1340_1340"><span class="label">[1340]</span></a> Lit., 'house to be seen,' <i>Igi-e-nir</i>. See, +<i>e.g.</i>, VR. 29, no. 4, 40, and Delitzsch, <i>Assyr. +Handwörterbuch</i>, p. 262.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1341_1341" id="Footnote_1341_1341"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1341_1341"><span class="label">[1341]</span></a> So at Babylon, at least, according to Herodotus. Traces of +such a room were also found in connection with the zikkurat at Nippur +(Peters, <i>Nippur</i>, ii. 122.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1342_1342" id="Footnote_1342_1342"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1342_1342"><span class="label">[1342]</span></a> <i>Bit pirishti</i>. IIR. 50, obverse, 6. Another name (or +perhaps the name of a second zikkurat at Nippur; see p. <a href="#Page_616">616</a>, <a href="#Footnote_1323_1323">note 2</a>) is +<i>Im-kharsag</i>, <i>i.e.</i>, 'mountain of awe.' Peters' rendering +(<i>Nippur</i>, ii. 122) of the names is inaccurate.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1343_1343" id="Footnote_1343_1343"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1343_1343"><span class="label">[1343]</span></a> Peters' <i>Nippur</i>, ii. chapter vi.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1344_1344" id="Footnote_1344_1344"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1344_1344"><span class="label">[1344]</span></a> Schick, <i>Die Stiftschütte, der Tempel, und der +Tempelplatz der Jetztzeit</i>, pp. 8, 9.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1345_1345" id="Footnote_1345_1345"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1345_1345"><span class="label">[1345]</span></a> Snouck-Hurgronje <i>Mekka</i> (Atlas, pl. 1). The present +structure, though comparatively modern, is built after ancient models.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1346_1346" id="Footnote_1346_1346"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1346_1346"><span class="label">[1346]</span></a> Schick, <i>ib.</i> pp. 125-131.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1347_1347" id="Footnote_1347_1347"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1347_1347"><span class="label">[1347]</span></a> <i>Die Stiftshütte, der Tempel, und der Tempelplatz der +Jeiztzeit</i>, p. 82.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1348_1348" id="Footnote_1348_1348"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1348_1348"><span class="label">[1348]</span></a> On the significance of the gate in sacred edifices, see +Trumbull, <i>The Threshold Covenant</i>, pp. 102-108.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1349_1349" id="Footnote_1349_1349"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1349_1349"><span class="label">[1349]</span></a> Dr. Peters is of the opinion that at the entrance to the +temple area proper at Nippur there also stood two large columns.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1350_1350" id="Footnote_1350_1350"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1350_1350"><span class="label">[1350]</span></a> <i>Découvertes en Chaldée</i>, pp. 62-64. Heuzey, in a +valuable note, already suggests the comparison with the two columns of +Solomon's which is here maintained on the basis of the excavations at +Nippur.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1351_1351" id="Footnote_1351_1351"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1351_1351"><span class="label">[1351]</span></a> <i>Ib.</i> p. 64.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1352_1352" id="Footnote_1352_1352"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1352_1352"><span class="label">[1352]</span></a> The best example for Assyria is furnished by the +magnificent bronze gates of Balawat, now in The British Museum. See +Birch and Pinches, <i>The Bronze Ornaments of the Palace Gates of +Balawat</i> (London, 1881).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1353_1353" id="Footnote_1353_1353"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1353_1353"><span class="label">[1353]</span></a> See the illustrations in Perrot and Chiplez, <i>History of +Art in Chaldea and Assyria</i>, i. 142, 143.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1354_1354" id="Footnote_1354_1354"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1354_1354"><span class="label">[1354]</span></a> So Puchstein and Friedrich, but see Meissner-Rost, <i>Noch +einmal das Bithillâni und die Assyrische Säule</i> (Leipzig, 1893).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1355_1355" id="Footnote_1355_1355"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1355_1355"><span class="label">[1355]</span></a> <i>Discoveries among the Ruins of Nineveh and Babylon</i>, +plan 2.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1356_1356" id="Footnote_1356_1356"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1356_1356"><span class="label">[1356]</span></a> Papakhu for Pakhpakhu, from the stem <i>pakhû</i>, "to +close." Parakku, from Parâku, "to shut off, to lock."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1357_1357" id="Footnote_1357_1357"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1357_1357"><span class="label">[1357]</span></a> Inscription D, col. ii. l. 9.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1358_1358" id="Footnote_1358_1358"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1358_1358"><span class="label">[1358]</span></a> V. Rawlinson, pl. 60.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1359_1359" id="Footnote_1359_1359"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1359_1359"><span class="label">[1359]</span></a> Book i. sec. 183.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1360_1360" id="Footnote_1360_1360"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1360_1360"><span class="label">[1360]</span></a> See the chief passage, IR. 54, col. ii, ll. 54-65; another +name is E-Kua, 'dwelling.'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1361_1361" id="Footnote_1361_1361"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1361_1361"><span class="label">[1361]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_423">423</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1362_1362" id="Footnote_1362_1362"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1362_1362"><span class="label">[1362]</span></a> VR. 50, col. i. l. 5.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1363_1363" id="Footnote_1363_1363"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1363_1363"><span class="label">[1363]</span></a> VR. 41, No. 1, Rev. 18.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1364_1364" id="Footnote_1364_1364"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1364_1364"><span class="label">[1364]</span></a> IVR. 57, 24a. Jensen's suggestion (<i>Kosmologie</i>, p. +242) to read Mar-duku is out of the question.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1365_1365" id="Footnote_1365_1365"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1365_1365"><span class="label">[1365]</span></a> What Jensen says (<i>Kosmologie</i>, p. 10) of the temple +at Sippar would apply to the papakhu in the temple, rather than to the +whole structure.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1366_1366" id="Footnote_1366_1366"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1366_1366"><span class="label">[1366]</span></a> De Sarzec, <i>Découvertes en Chaldée</i>, pls. 24, 25 +<i>bis</i>, etc.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1367_1367" id="Footnote_1367_1367"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1367_1367"><span class="label">[1367]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_537">537</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1368_1368" id="Footnote_1368_1368"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1368_1368"><span class="label">[1368]</span></a> De Sarzec, <i>Découvertes en Chaldée</i>, pls. 4, 4 +<i>bis</i> and 43 <i>bis</i>. On the latter, bulls, lions, and eagle in +combination.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1369_1369" id="Footnote_1369_1369"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1369_1369"><span class="label">[1369]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_653">653</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1370_1370" id="Footnote_1370_1370"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1370_1370"><span class="label">[1370]</span></a> See the plan in Schick, <i>Die Stiftshütte</i>, pl. 5. +Layard (<i>Discoveries among the Ruins of Nineveh and Babylon</i>, pp. +642-648) points out some analogies between the constructions at Nimrod +and Solomon's buildings, but what he says applies chiefly to the +palaces.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1371_1371" id="Footnote_1371_1371"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1371_1371"><span class="label">[1371]</span></a> Herodotus, book i. sec. 183, speaks of two altars outside +of the temple of Marduk in Babylon. In the case of so important a +structure, the number of altars was naturally more numerous.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1372_1372" id="Footnote_1372_1372"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1372_1372"><span class="label">[1372]</span></a> See Heuzey's note in De Sarzec's <i>Découvertes en +Chaldée</i>, p. 65.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1373_1373" id="Footnote_1373_1373"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1373_1373"><span class="label">[1373]</span></a> See pp. <a href="#Page_109">109</a> <i>seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1374_1374" id="Footnote_1374_1374"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1374_1374"><span class="label">[1374]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1375_1375" id="Footnote_1375_1375"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1375_1375"><span class="label">[1375]</span></a> <i>Recueil des Travaux</i>, etc., xvii. 39.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1376_1376" id="Footnote_1376_1376"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1376_1376"><span class="label">[1376]</span></a> See pp. <a href="#Page_140">140</a> <i>seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1377_1377" id="Footnote_1377_1377"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1377_1377"><span class="label">[1377]</span></a> The date of this king has recently been pushed down by +Thureau-Dangin, considerably later than the date assigned to him by +Hilprecht (<i>Revue Semitique</i>, v. 265-269).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1378_1378" id="Footnote_1378_1378"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1378_1378"><span class="label">[1378]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_110">110</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1379_1379" id="Footnote_1379_1379"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1379_1379"><span class="label">[1379]</span></a> Nebuchadnezzar, IR. 65, col. i. ll. 34, 35.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1380_1380" id="Footnote_1380_1380"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1380_1380"><span class="label">[1380]</span></a> This is to be concluded from Nebuchadnezzar, ib. l. 32.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1381_1381" id="Footnote_1381_1381"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1381_1381"><span class="label">[1381]</span></a> See Tiele's note, <i>Zeitschrift für Assyriologie</i>, ii. +184, note.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1382_1382" id="Footnote_1382_1382"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1382_1382"><span class="label">[1382]</span></a> IR. 55, col. iv. ll. 54-57.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1383_1383" id="Footnote_1383_1383"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1383_1383"><span class="label">[1383]</span></a> See Tiele, <i>Zeitschrift für Assyriologie</i>, ii. 190.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1384_1384" id="Footnote_1384_1384"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1384_1384"><span class="label">[1384]</span></a> III Rawlinson, pl. 66. The list also contains objects in +the temples used for the cult.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1385_1385" id="Footnote_1385_1385"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1385_1385"><span class="label">[1385]</span></a> IIIR. 66. obverse, col. ii. ll. 2-25.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1386_1386" id="Footnote_1386_1386"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1386_1386"><span class="label">[1386]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_207">207</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1387_1387" id="Footnote_1387_1387"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1387_1387"><span class="label">[1387]</span></a> The sign for image occurs in connection with some of the +gods.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1388_1388" id="Footnote_1388_1388"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1388_1388"><span class="label">[1388]</span></a> The term can hardly be used here in the strict sense of +'towers,' but appears to have become a general word for a sacred +structure.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1389_1389" id="Footnote_1389_1389"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1389_1389"><span class="label">[1389]</span></a> <i>Ib.</i> col. iii. ll. 22-34.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1390_1390" id="Footnote_1390_1390"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1390_1390"><span class="label">[1390]</span></a> Meissner-Rost, <i>Bauinschriften Sanherib's</i>, p. 7.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1391_1391" id="Footnote_1391_1391"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1391_1391"><span class="label">[1391]</span></a> See, <i>e.g.</i>, the list IIIR. 66. An exception is formed +by the temple to Ramman in the city of Asshur, which has a special name. +See the following note.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1392_1392" id="Footnote_1392_1392"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1392_1392"><span class="label">[1392]</span></a> Including the one to Ramman in Asshur.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1393_1393" id="Footnote_1393_1393"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1393_1393"><span class="label">[1393]</span></a> IR. 2. nos. 11, 2.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1394_1394" id="Footnote_1394_1394"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1394_1394"><span class="label">[1394]</span></a> IIR, 50, obverse 13.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1395_1395" id="Footnote_1395_1395"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1395_1395"><span class="label">[1395]</span></a> Lge-e-nir = zikkurat; Kidur = shubtu (dwelling); Makh = +rabu (great).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1396_1396" id="Footnote_1396_1396"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1396_1396"><span class="label">[1396]</span></a> The name approaches closely to the conception of a zikkurat +in the Book of Genesis, as a 'ladder' connecting heaven and earth. Gen. +xxviii. 12.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1397_1397" id="Footnote_1397_1397"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1397_1397"><span class="label">[1397]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_619">619</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1398_1398" id="Footnote_1398_1398"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1398_1398"><span class="label">[1398]</span></a> The ideas 'true, fixed, established, eternal' are all +expressed by the element <i>Zida</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1399_1399" id="Footnote_1399_1399"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1399_1399"><span class="label">[1399]</span></a> I adopt this reading as the one generally used.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1400_1400" id="Footnote_1400_1400"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1400_1400"><span class="label">[1400]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_242">242</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1401_1401" id="Footnote_1401_1401"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1401_1401"><span class="label">[1401]</span></a> Or <i>tush</i>. Cf. Brünnow, Sign List, no. 10523.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1402_1402" id="Footnote_1402_1402"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1402_1402"><span class="label">[1402]</span></a> Or <i>ab</i>. See Jensen, <i>Keils Bibl.</i> 3, i. pp. 15, +173.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1403_1403" id="Footnote_1403_1403"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1403_1403"><span class="label">[1403]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_57">57</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1404_1404" id="Footnote_1404_1404"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1404_1404"><span class="label">[1404]</span></a> +Compare the name 'Belit-seri,' 'mistress of the fields,' as the name of a goddess +who belongs to the pantheon of the lower world. See p. <a href="#Page_588">588</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1405_1405" id="Footnote_1405_1405"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1405_1405"><span class="label">[1405]</span></a> IIR. 61, nos. 1, 2, 6.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1406_1406" id="Footnote_1406_1406"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1406_1406"><span class="label">[1406]</span></a> Text, <i>Kar</i>, <i>i.e.</i>, 'dam,' 'wall,' or 'quay.'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1407_1407" id="Footnote_1407_1407"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1407_1407"><span class="label">[1407]</span></a> IIR. 50, l. 8.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1408_1408" id="Footnote_1408_1408"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1408_1408"><span class="label">[1408]</span></a> Bezold Catalogue, etc., p. 1776.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1409_1409" id="Footnote_1409_1409"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1409_1409"><span class="label">[1409]</span></a> One is reminded of Isaiah's sentiment (lvi. 7) regarding +the temple of Yahwe, which is to be called 'a house of prayer for the +world.'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1410_1410" id="Footnote_1410_1410"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1410_1410"><span class="label">[1410]</span></a> Lit., 'enclosure.'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1411_1411" id="Footnote_1411_1411"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1411_1411"><span class="label">[1411]</span></a> The synagogue is called a 'house' just as the Babylonian +temple is, and among names of synagogues (or of congregations) in modern +times that form close parallels to the names of Babylonian temples may +be instanced 'house of prayer,' 'glory of Israel,' 'tree of life.' The +custom of naming Christian churches after the apostles represents a +further development along the order of ideas current in Babylonia.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1412_1412" id="Footnote_1412_1412"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1412_1412"><span class="label">[1412]</span></a> <i>E.g.</i>, IIR. 50 (zikkurats); IIR. 61; IIIR. 66.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1413_1413" id="Footnote_1413_1413"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1413_1413"><span class="label">[1413]</span></a> See Bezold Catalogue, etc., p. 1776 and elsewhere.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1414_1414" id="Footnote_1414_1414"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1414_1414"><span class="label">[1414]</span></a> <i>E.g.</i>, IIR. 54-60; IIIR. 67-69; VR. 43, 46.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1415_1415" id="Footnote_1415_1415"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1415_1415"><span class="label">[1415]</span></a> IIR. 60, no. 1, obverse.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1416_1416" id="Footnote_1416_1416"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1416_1416"><span class="label">[1416]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_172">172</a>. Some of the gods invoked by Sennacherib (see p. +<a href="#Page_238">238</a>), as Gaga, Sherua, and perhaps also Khani, are foreign deities.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1417_1417" id="Footnote_1417_1417"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1417_1417"><span class="label">[1417]</span></a> Assyrian and Babylonian Religious Texts, i. 56-59.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1418_1418" id="Footnote_1418_1418"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1418_1418"><span class="label">[1418]</span></a> As Lagamal, Kanishurra.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1419_1419" id="Footnote_1419_1419"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1419_1419"><span class="label">[1419]</span></a> See Peters' <i>Nippur</i>, ii. chapter x, "The History of +Nippur."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1420_1420" id="Footnote_1420_1420"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1420_1420"><span class="label">[1420]</span></a> <i>Ib.</i> ll. 260. (Published in Hilprecht's <i>Old +Babylonian Inscriptions</i>, I. 1. pl. 21, no. 43. See also pl. 8, no. +15.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1421_1421" id="Footnote_1421_1421"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1421_1421"><span class="label">[1421]</span></a> VR. 63.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1422_1422" id="Footnote_1422_1422"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1422_1422"><span class="label">[1422]</span></a> VR. pls. 60, 61.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1423_1423" id="Footnote_1423_1423"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1423_1423"><span class="label">[1423]</span></a> So, <i>e.g.</i>, as late as the days of Nebopolassar +(Scheil, <i>Recueil des Travaux</i>, xviii. 16).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1424_1424" id="Footnote_1424_1424"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1424_1424"><span class="label">[1424]</span></a> Besides this temple, there were two others, perhaps only +chapels, dedicated to Sin at Ur: (<i>a</i>) E-te-im-ila (mentioned first +by Ur-Bau, IR. pl. 1, no. 4), and (<i>b</i>) E-Kharsag (mentioned first +by Dungi, IR. 2, II. no. 2). The zikkurat at Ur had, of course, a +special name (IIR. 50, obverse 18).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1425_1425" id="Footnote_1425_1425"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1425_1425"><span class="label">[1425]</span></a> See Nöldeke, <i>Zeitschrift für Assyriologie</i>, xi. +107-109. Hilprecht's theory (<i>Old Babylonian Inscriptions</i>, i. 2, +55) has not been accepted by scholars.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1426_1426" id="Footnote_1426_1426"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1426_1426"><span class="label">[1426]</span></a> VR. 64, col. i. 3-9; col. ii. 46.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1427_1427" id="Footnote_1427_1427"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1427_1427"><span class="label">[1427]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_444">444</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1428_1428" id="Footnote_1428_1428"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1428_1428"><span class="label">[1428]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_81">81</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1429_1429" id="Footnote_1429_1429"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1429_1429"><span class="label">[1429]</span></a> See pp. <a href="#Page_126">126</a> <i>seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1430_1430" id="Footnote_1430_1430"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1430_1430"><span class="label">[1430]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_129">129</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1431_1431" id="Footnote_1431_1431"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1431_1431"><span class="label">[1431]</span></a> So Antiochus Soter, VR. 66, col. i. l. 3.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1432_1432" id="Footnote_1432_1432"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1432_1432"><span class="label">[1432]</span></a> For a further account of the financial side of the temple +establishments, see Peiser's excellent remarks in his <i>Babylonische +Verträge des Berliner Museums</i>, pp. xvii-xxix.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1433_1433" id="Footnote_1433_1433"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1433_1433"><span class="label">[1433]</span></a> Hilprecht, <i>Old Babylonian Inscriptions</i>, i. 2, p. +24.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1434_1434" id="Footnote_1434_1434"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1434_1434"><span class="label">[1434]</span></a> Nine magnificent diorite statues of Gudea were found by De +Sarzec at Telloh.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1435_1435" id="Footnote_1435_1435"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1435_1435"><span class="label">[1435]</span></a> Ashes—the trace of sacrifices—were also found on the +altar.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1436_1436" id="Footnote_1436_1436"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1436_1436"><span class="label">[1436]</span></a> See the illustrations in Perrot and Chiplez, <i>History of +Art in Chaldea</i>, etc., i. 143, 255. Similar horns existed on the +Hebrew and Phœnician altars.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1437_1437" id="Footnote_1437_1437"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1437_1437"><span class="label">[1437]</span></a> See the illustrations in Perrot and Chiplez, <i>ib.</i>, i. +194, 256, 257. On seal cylinders altar titles are frequently +represented.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1438_1438" id="Footnote_1438_1438"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1438_1438"><span class="label">[1438]</span></a> Book i. sec. 183.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1439_1439" id="Footnote_1439_1439"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1439_1439"><span class="label">[1439]</span></a> See Schick, <i>Die Stiftshütte</i>, etc., pp. 119 +<i>seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1440_1440" id="Footnote_1440_1440"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1440_1440"><span class="label">[1440]</span></a> <i>Keils Bibl.</i> 3, 1, p. 13; see also p. <a href="#Page_89">89</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1441_1441" id="Footnote_1441_1441"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1441_1441"><span class="label">[1441]</span></a> Inscription G, col 1. ll. 15-17. See p. <a href="#Page_621">621</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1442_1442" id="Footnote_1442_1442"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1442_1442"><span class="label">[1442]</span></a> Described in De Sarzec's <i>Découvertes en Chaldée</i>, pp. +216, 217. For other specimens, see <i>ib.</i> pp. 106, 171; and see also +Hilprecht, <i>Old Babylonian Inscriptions</i>, i. 2. p. 39, note.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1443_1443" id="Footnote_1443_1443"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1443_1443"><span class="label">[1443]</span></a> Inscription D, col. iii, 1-12.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1444_1444" id="Footnote_1444_1444"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1444_1444"><span class="label">[1444]</span></a> See Winckler's note, <i>Keils Bibl.</i> 3, 2, p. 16.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1445_1445" id="Footnote_1445_1445"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1445_1445"><span class="label">[1445]</span></a> IR. 54, col. iii. l. 10.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1446_1446" id="Footnote_1446_1446"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1446_1446"><span class="label">[1446]</span></a> <i>Ib.</i> 55, col. iv. l. 1, 2.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1447_1447" id="Footnote_1447_1447"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1447_1447"><span class="label">[1447]</span></a> IIR. 61. no. 2, obverse.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1448_1448" id="Footnote_1448_1448"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1448_1448"><span class="label">[1448]</span></a> See Perrot and Chiplez, <i>History of Art in Chaldea and +Assyria</i>, i. 75, 76.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1449_1449" id="Footnote_1449_1449"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1449_1449"><span class="label">[1449]</span></a> See the illustration in Snouck-Hurgronje <i>Mekka</i>, pl. V.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1450_1450" id="Footnote_1450_1450"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1450_1450"><span class="label">[1450]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, of the god, E-Kua being the name of the sacred +chamber in Marduk's temple at Babylon. See p. <a href="#Page_629">629</a>, <a href="#Footnote_1360_1360">note 1</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1451_1451" id="Footnote_1451_1451"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1451_1451"><span class="label">[1451]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_60">60</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1452_1452" id="Footnote_1452_1452"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1452_1452"><span class="label">[1452]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_282">282</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1453_1453" id="Footnote_1453_1453"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1453_1453"><span class="label">[1453]</span></a> The largest canal in Babylonia.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1454_1454" id="Footnote_1454_1454"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1454_1454"><span class="label">[1454]</span></a> <i>E.g.</i>, <i>ishakku</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1455_1455" id="Footnote_1455_1455"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1455_1455"><span class="label">[1455]</span></a> <i>Sha</i> and <i>nakû</i>, <i>i.e.</i>, 'the one over the +sacrifice.' <i>Zeitschrift für Assyriologie</i>, vii., 174, note.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1456_1456" id="Footnote_1456_1456"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1456_1456"><span class="label">[1456]</span></a> That these terms represent classes of priests is indicated +by the fact that the abstract derivatives shangûtu, kalûtu, ishippûtu, +and also ramkûtu (see below) are used as general terms for priesthood.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1457_1457" id="Footnote_1457_1457"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1457_1457"><span class="label">[1457]</span></a> IIR. <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, no. <a href="#Page_3">3</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1458_1458" id="Footnote_1458_1458"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1458_1458"><span class="label">[1458]</span></a> 'A spear carrier of Marduk' occurs in contract tablets.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1459_1459" id="Footnote_1459_1459"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1459_1459"><span class="label">[1459]</span></a> <i>Dupsharru</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1460_1460" id="Footnote_1460_1460"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1460_1460"><span class="label">[1460]</span></a> <i>Daianu</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1461_1461" id="Footnote_1461_1461"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1461_1461"><span class="label">[1461]</span></a> <i>E.g.</i>, IIIR. 48, no. 6, ll. 26, 27.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1462_1462" id="Footnote_1462_1462"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1462_1462"><span class="label">[1462]</span></a> <i>Shangu</i> = priest; <i>makhu</i> = great.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1463_1463" id="Footnote_1463_1463"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1463_1463"><span class="label">[1463]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_657">657</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1464_1464" id="Footnote_1464_1464"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1464_1464"><span class="label">[1464]</span></a> Delitzsch, <i>Assyr. Handwörterbuch</i>, p. 149b.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1465_1465" id="Footnote_1465_1465"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1465_1465"><span class="label">[1465]</span></a> See pp. <a href="#Page_356">356</a> <i>seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1466_1466" id="Footnote_1466_1466"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1466_1466"><span class="label">[1466]</span></a> On these night watches, see Delitzsch's article in the +<i>Zeitschrift für Keilschriftforschung</i>, ll. 284-294.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1467_1467" id="Footnote_1467_1467"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1467_1467"><span class="label">[1467]</span></a> See above, pp. <a href="#Page_267">267</a>, <a href="#Page_343">343</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1468_1468" id="Footnote_1468_1468"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1468_1468"><span class="label">[1468]</span></a> <i>Kharimtu</i>, <i>Kisritu</i>, <i>Ukhatu</i>, +<i>Shamuktu</i>. See IIR, 32, no. 2, ll. 31-36, and above, pp. <a href="#Page_475">475</a>, +<a href="#Page_484">484</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1469_1469" id="Footnote_1469_1469"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1469_1469"><span class="label">[1469]</span></a> See his article on "Sacrifice" in the 9th edition of the +<i>Encyclopaedia Britannica</i> and his <i>Religion of the Semites</i>, +Lectures VI-XI.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1470_1470" id="Footnote_1470_1470"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1470_1470"><span class="label">[1470]</span></a> So in the regulations of the priestly code (Lev. iii. +14-17).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1471_1471" id="Footnote_1471_1471"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1471_1471"><span class="label">[1471]</span></a> Inscription G, cols, iii-vi.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1472_1472" id="Footnote_1472_1472"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1472_1472"><span class="label">[1472]</span></a> Hardly 'roosters,' as Jensen (<i>Kosmologie</i>, p. 517) +proposes.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1473_1473" id="Footnote_1473_1473"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1473_1473"><span class="label">[1473]</span></a> See, <i>e.g.</i>, Gudea, Inscription F, cols. iii, iv.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1474_1474" id="Footnote_1474_1474"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1474_1474"><span class="label">[1474]</span></a> See on this general subject Marillier's admirable articles, +"La Place du Totemisme dans l'evolution religieuse" (<i>Revue de +l'Histoire des Religions</i>, xxxvi).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1475_1475" id="Footnote_1475_1475"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1475_1475"><span class="label">[1475]</span></a> See pp. <a href="#Page_397">397</a>, <a href="#Page_398">398</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1476_1476" id="Footnote_1476_1476"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1476_1476"><span class="label">[1476]</span></a> See Peters' <i>Nippur</i>, ll. 131, and Hilprecht, +<i>Cuneiform Texts</i>, ix. pl. xiii.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1477_1477" id="Footnote_1477_1477"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1477_1477"><span class="label">[1477]</span></a> See Ward, "On Some Babylonian Cylinders supposed to +represent Human Sacrifices" (<i>Proc. Amer. Oriental Soc.</i> May, 1888, +pp. xxvlii-xxx).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1478_1478" id="Footnote_1478_1478"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1478_1478"><span class="label">[1478]</span></a> See, <i>e.g.</i>, Layard, <i>Monuments of Nineveh</i>, 1st +series, pls. 7, 23; Place, <i>Nineve et l'Assyrie</i>, pl. 46, etc.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1479_1479" id="Footnote_1479_1479"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1479_1479"><span class="label">[1479]</span></a> "The Winged Figures of the Assyrian and Other Ancient +Monuments," <i>Proc. Soc. Bibl. Arch.</i> xii. 383-393; see also +Bonavia, "The Sacred Trees of the Assyrian Monuments," <i>Babylonian and +Oriental Record</i>, vols. iii, iv, whose conclusions, however, are not +always acceptable.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1480_1480" id="Footnote_1480_1480"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1480_1480"><span class="label">[1480]</span></a> See <a href="#chapter-xix">chapter xix</a>, "Oracles and Omens."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1481_1481" id="Footnote_1481_1481"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1481_1481"><span class="label">[1481]</span></a> See pp. <a href="#Page_295">295</a>-299.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1482_1482" id="Footnote_1482_1482"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1482_1482"><span class="label">[1482]</span></a> See, <i>e.g.</i>, Sennacherib, IR. 47, col. v. ll. 50-54; +Ashurbanabal, Rassam Cylinder, col. ii. l. 116, and col. iv. l. 9.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1483_1483" id="Footnote_1483_1483"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1483_1483"><span class="label">[1483]</span></a> IIR. 67, 11, 12.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1484_1484" id="Footnote_1484_1484"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1484_1484"><span class="label">[1484]</span></a> Cylinder, l. 4.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1485_1485" id="Footnote_1485_1485"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1485_1485"><span class="label">[1485]</span></a> Winckler, <i>Die Keilschrifttexte Sargon's +Prunkinschrift</i>, ll. 134, 135.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1486_1486" id="Footnote_1486_1486"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1486_1486"><span class="label">[1486]</span></a> Hilprecht, <i>Old Babylonian Inscriptions</i>, i. 1, pl. +33, col. ii. ll. 54-56.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1487_1487" id="Footnote_1487_1487"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1487_1487"><span class="label">[1487]</span></a> VR. 65, col. ii. l. 13.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1488_1488" id="Footnote_1488_1488"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1488_1488"><span class="label">[1488]</span></a> See, <i>e.g.</i>, Tiglathpileser I., IR. 16, col. viii. ll. +56, 57; Sennacherib, IR. 47, col. vi. l. 67-71.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1489_1489" id="Footnote_1489_1489"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1489_1489"><span class="label">[1489]</span></a> VR. 64, col. ii. ll. 43-45.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1490_1490" id="Footnote_1490_1490"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1490_1490"><span class="label">[1490]</span></a> Gen. xxviii. 18.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1491_1491" id="Footnote_1491_1491"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1491_1491"><span class="label">[1491]</span></a> <i>Religion of the Semites</i>, p. 364.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1492_1492" id="Footnote_1492_1492"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1492_1492"><span class="label">[1492]</span></a> See Robertson Smith, ib. p. 215.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1493_1493" id="Footnote_1493_1493"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1493_1493"><span class="label">[1493]</span></a> VR. 61, col. iv. ll. 33, 34.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1494_1494" id="Footnote_1494_1494"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1494_1494"><span class="label">[1494]</span></a> IR. 7, no. ix.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1495_1495" id="Footnote_1495_1495"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1495_1495"><span class="label">[1495]</span></a> Heuzey in De Sarzec's <i>Découvertes en Chaldée</i>, p. +209.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1496_1496" id="Footnote_1496_1496"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1496_1496"><span class="label">[1496]</span></a> Several examples occur in De Sarzec's <i>Découvertes en +Chaldée</i>. See also Ward, <i>Proc. Amer. Oriental Soc.</i>, May, 1888, +p. xxix, and Peters' <i>Nippur</i>, ii. pl. 2.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1497_1497" id="Footnote_1497_1497"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1497_1497"><span class="label">[1497]</span></a> Wellhausen, <i>Reste Arabischen Heidenthums</i>, p. 106.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1498_1498" id="Footnote_1498_1498"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1498_1498"><span class="label">[1498]</span></a> Grotefend Cylinder, col. li. ll. 36-39.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1499_1499" id="Footnote_1499_1499"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1499_1499"><span class="label">[1499]</span></a> They are also used in the sense of any permanent provision +for a temple through an endowment.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1500_1500" id="Footnote_1500_1500"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1500_1500"><span class="label">[1500]</span></a> Lit., 'the steady' sacrifice. See the technical employment, +Dan. viii. 11.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1501_1501" id="Footnote_1501_1501"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1501_1501"><span class="label">[1501]</span></a> VR. 61, col. iv. l. 48-col v. l. 6; see also Ashurbanabal, +Rassam Cylinder, col. iv. l. 90.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1502_1502" id="Footnote_1502_1502"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1502_1502"><span class="label">[1502]</span></a> Belit here used for Ashur's consort; see p. <a href="#Page_226">226</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1503_1503" id="Footnote_1503_1503"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1503_1503"><span class="label">[1503]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_652">652</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1504_1504" id="Footnote_1504_1504"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1504_1504"><span class="label">[1504]</span></a> Inscription B, cols. vii-viii.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1505_1505" id="Footnote_1505_1505"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1505_1505"><span class="label">[1505]</span></a> Chapter iii. 1-7.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1506_1506" id="Footnote_1506_1506"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1506_1506"><span class="label">[1506]</span></a> This touch appears to have been added by the Hebrew writer. +Nebuchadnezzar is but a disguise for Antiochus Epiphanes.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1507_1507" id="Footnote_1507_1507"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1507_1507"><span class="label">[1507]</span></a> VR. 33, col. ii. l. 22-col. iii. l. 12.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1508_1508" id="Footnote_1508_1508"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1508_1508"><span class="label">[1508]</span></a> VR. 61, col. vi. ll. 1-13.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1509_1509" id="Footnote_1509_1509"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1509_1509"><span class="label">[1509]</span></a> Hilprecht, <i>Old Babylonian Inscriptions</i>, i. 1, pl. +23, no. 62.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1510_1510" id="Footnote_1510_1510"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1510_1510"><span class="label">[1510]</span></a> In the museum at Copenhagen. Described by Knudtzon in the +<i>Zeits. f. Assyr.</i>, xil. 255.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1511_1511" id="Footnote_1511_1511"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1511_1511"><span class="label">[1511]</span></a> Tiele, <i>Babylonisch-Assyrische Geschichte</i>, p. 287.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1512_1512" id="Footnote_1512_1512"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1512_1512"><span class="label">[1512]</span></a> In the Berlin Museum (Knudtzon, <i>ib.</i>). It is also on +a knob which contains remains of an iron stick, to which, evidently, the +knob was fastened.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1513_1513" id="Footnote_1513_1513"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1513_1513"><span class="label">[1513]</span></a> Written A-e.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1514_1514" id="Footnote_1514_1514"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1514_1514"><span class="label">[1514]</span></a> Hilprecht, <i>Old Babylonian Inscriptions</i>, i. 1, p. 58.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1515_1515" id="Footnote_1515_1515"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1515_1515"><span class="label">[1515]</span></a> In reality, glass colored with cobalt. On this production +of false lapis lazuli, see Peters' <i>Nippur</i>, ii. 134.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1516_1516" id="Footnote_1516_1516"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1516_1516"><span class="label">[1516]</span></a> For examples, see Hilprecht, <i>ib.</i>, pl. 18, no. 34; +pl. 23, nos. 56, 57; pl. 25, nos. 66, 69; pl. 26, no. 70.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1517_1517" id="Footnote_1517_1517"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1517_1517"><span class="label">[1517]</span></a> Peters' <i>Nippur</i>, ii. 77, 133.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1518_1518" id="Footnote_1518_1518"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1518_1518"><span class="label">[1518]</span></a> So, <i>e.g.</i>, Peters' <i>Nippur</i>, ii. 237, 238, 378, +379.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1519_1519" id="Footnote_1519_1519"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1519_1519"><span class="label">[1519]</span></a> De Sarzec, <i>Découvertes en Chaldée</i>, pls. 1 bis and +28.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1520_1520" id="Footnote_1520_1520"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1520_1520"><span class="label">[1520]</span></a> The opinion has been advanced that the personage who holds +the cone-shaped object is the fire-god turning the fire drill, but this +is highly improbable.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1521_1521" id="Footnote_1521_1521"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1521_1521"><span class="label">[1521]</span></a> <i>Découvertes en Chaldée</i>, p. 239.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1522_1522" id="Footnote_1522_1522"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1522_1522"><span class="label">[1522]</span></a> Peters' <i>Nippur</i> ii. 376, and Hilprecht, <i>Cuneiform +Texts</i>, ix. pl. 12.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1523_1523" id="Footnote_1523_1523"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1523_1523"><span class="label">[1523]</span></a> Peters <i>ib.</i> pp. 374, 375.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1524_1524" id="Footnote_1524_1524"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1524_1524"><span class="label">[1524]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_536">536</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1525_1525" id="Footnote_1525_1525"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1525_1525"><span class="label">[1525]</span></a> <i>E.g.</i>, Gen. xxxi. 19.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1526_1526" id="Footnote_1526_1526"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1526_1526"><span class="label">[1526]</span></a> See the specimens and descriptions in <i>Découvertes en +Chaldée</i>, pl. 44 and p. 234.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1527_1527" id="Footnote_1527_1527"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1527_1527"><span class="label">[1527]</span></a> Tiglathpileser I. (IR. 12, col. iv. l. 23) presents +twenty-five gods of the land of Sugi.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1528_1528" id="Footnote_1528_1528"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1528_1528"><span class="label">[1528]</span></a> Ashurnasirbal, IR. 25, col. iii. ll. 91, 92.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1529_1529" id="Footnote_1529_1529"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1529_1529"><span class="label">[1529]</span></a> Winckler, <i>Die Keilschrifttexte Sargon's +Prunkinschrift</i>, ll. 141-143.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1530_1530" id="Footnote_1530_1530"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1530_1530"><span class="label">[1530]</span></a> IR. 27, 8-10.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1531_1531" id="Footnote_1531_1531"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1531_1531"><span class="label">[1531]</span></a> VR. 60, col. ii. ll. 11-16.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1532_1532" id="Footnote_1532_1532"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1532_1532"><span class="label">[1532]</span></a> See pp. <a href="#Page_373">373</a>-383.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1533_1533" id="Footnote_1533_1533"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1533_1533"><span class="label">[1533]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_658">658</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1534_1534" id="Footnote_1534_1534"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1534_1534"><span class="label">[1534]</span></a> This is a standing phrase in the inscriptions of +Nebuchadnezzar, as well as of other kings. See Delitzsch, <i>Assyr. +Handwörterbuch</i>, p. 270b.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1535_1535" id="Footnote_1535_1535"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1535_1535"><span class="label">[1535]</span></a> Deut. xii. 18; xvi. 14, etc.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1536_1536" id="Footnote_1536_1536"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1536_1536"><span class="label">[1536]</span></a> See pp. <a href="#Page_462">462</a>, <a href="#Page_463">463</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1537_1537" id="Footnote_1537_1537"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1537_1537"><span class="label">[1537]</span></a> See <i>ib.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1538_1538" id="Footnote_1538_1538"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1538_1538"><span class="label">[1538]</span></a> Or zag-mu. Gudea, Inscription G, col. iii. In the later +inscriptions we find zag-mu-ku. The <i>k</i> or <i>ku</i> appears to be +an afformative. See Amlaud, <i>Zeits. f. Assyr.</i> iii. 41. The reading +za-am-mu-ku is found, IR. 67, col. i. l. 34.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1539_1539" id="Footnote_1539_1539"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1539_1539"><span class="label">[1539]</span></a> <i>rêsh shatti</i>. See p. <a href="#Page_681">681</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1540_1540" id="Footnote_1540_1540"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1540_1540"><span class="label">[1540]</span></a> Inscription G, <i>ib.</i>, and Inscription D, col. ii. ll. +1-9. See also p. <a href="#Page_59">59</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1541_1541" id="Footnote_1541_1541"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1541_1541"><span class="label">[1541]</span></a> See above, <i>ib.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1542_1542" id="Footnote_1542_1542"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1542_1542"><span class="label">[1542]</span></a> See, <i>e.g.</i>, Pognon Wadi Brissa, col. ix. ll. 12-18.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1543_1543" id="Footnote_1543_1543"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1543_1543"><span class="label">[1543]</span></a> This follows from a passage in Nebuchadnezzar's +Inscription, IR. 54, col. ii. l. 57.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1544_1544" id="Footnote_1544_1544"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1544_1544"><span class="label">[1544]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_654">654</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1545_1545" id="Footnote_1545_1545"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1545_1545"><span class="label">[1545]</span></a> Signifying 'may the enemy not wax strong.'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1546_1546" id="Footnote_1546_1546"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1546_1546"><span class="label">[1546]</span></a> See Nebuchadnezzar's Inscription, IR. 56, col v. ll. 38-54.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1547_1547" id="Footnote_1547_1547"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1547_1547"><span class="label">[1547]</span></a> So, <i>e.g.</i> during the closing years of Nabonnedos' +reign. Winckler, <i>Untersuchungen zur Altorient. Gesch.</i> i. 154; +obv. 6 (7th year); 11 (9th year); 20 (10th year); 24 (11th year).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1548_1548" id="Footnote_1548_1548"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1548_1548"><span class="label">[1548]</span></a> On the meaning and importance of the rite, see Winckler, +<i>Zeits. f. Assyr.</i> ii. 302-304, and Lehmann's +<i>Shamash-shumukin</i>, pp. 44-53.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1549_1549" id="Footnote_1549_1549"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1549_1549"><span class="label">[1549]</span></a> Eponym List, IIR. 52, no. 1 obv. 45.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1550_1550" id="Footnote_1550_1550"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1550_1550"><span class="label">[1550]</span></a> Winckler, <i>Die Keilschrifttexte Sargon's</i>, pp. 52, +124; of Ashurbanabal, the chronicler tells us that he proceeded to +Babylonia in the month of Iyyar, but, this not being the proper month, +he did not "seize the hands of Bel." See also Winckler, <i>ib.</i> p. +xxxvi, note.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1551_1551" id="Footnote_1551_1551"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1551_1551"><span class="label">[1551]</span></a> See pp. <a href="#Page_423">423</a> and <a href="#Page_629">629</a> <i>seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1552_1552" id="Footnote_1552_1552"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1552_1552"><span class="label">[1552]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, 'The beginning of the year.' See on this +subject Karppe's article, <i>Revue Semitique</i>, ii. 146-151.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1553_1553" id="Footnote_1553_1553"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1553_1553"><span class="label">[1553]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_464">464</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1554_1554" id="Footnote_1554_1554"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1554_1554"><span class="label">[1554]</span></a> See <i>ib.</i>, <a href="#Footnote_839_839">note 3</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1555_1555" id="Footnote_1555_1555"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1555_1555"><span class="label">[1555]</span></a> The opinion of many scholars that the Rôsh hash-shanâ dates +from the Babylonian exile because not referred to in the Book of +Deuteronomy is open to serious objections. The festival has traces of +antiquity (like the Day of Atonement), and appears to have been +<i>revived</i> during the captivity, under Babylonian influence.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1556_1556" id="Footnote_1556_1556"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1556_1556"><span class="label">[1556]</span></a> See especially pp. <a href="#Page_484">484</a> and <a href="#Page_575">575</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1557_1557" id="Footnote_1557_1557"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1557_1557"><span class="label">[1557]</span></a> Ezekiel, viii. 14. There is probably a reference also to +the Tammuz festival in Zech, xii. 10, 11. The interpretation offered by +Robertson Smith (<i>Religion of the Semites</i>, p. 392, note) for the +mourning rites appears strained.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1558_1558" id="Footnote_1558_1558"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1558_1558"><span class="label">[1558]</span></a> <i>Over de Israelietische Vastendagen</i> (Amsterdam, 1897, +pp. 4-6; 12-17).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1559_1559" id="Footnote_1559_1559"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1559_1559"><span class="label">[1559]</span></a> <i>Zeits. f. Assyr.</i> ix. 290 <i>seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1560_1560" id="Footnote_1560_1560"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1560_1560"><span class="label">[1560]</span></a> See Farnell, <i>The Cults of the Greek States</i>, ii. 648 +<i>seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1561_1561" id="Footnote_1561_1561"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1561_1561"><span class="label">[1561]</span></a> Rassam Cylinder, col. i. ll. 11, 12.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1562_1562" id="Footnote_1562_1562"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1562_1562"><span class="label">[1562]</span></a> See pp. <a href="#Page_105">105</a> and <a href="#Page_173">173</a> <i>seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1563_1563" id="Footnote_1563_1563"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1563_1563"><span class="label">[1563]</span></a> The readings Suni-gar and Shum-gar (so Jensen, <i>Keils +Bibl.</i> ii. 155) are also possible.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1564_1564" id="Footnote_1564_1564"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1564_1564"><span class="label">[1564]</span></a> IVR. 32, 49b, where the 20th day of the intercalated Elul +is so designated. An official—'the great Si-gar'—is mentioned in a +list,—IIR. 31, no. 5, 33a.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1565_1565" id="Footnote_1565_1565"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1565_1565"><span class="label">[1565]</span></a> See the discussion (and passages) in Lehmann's +<i>Shamash-shumukin</i>, pp. 43 <i>seq.</i> One is tempted to conclude +that Marduk's statue was removed to Nineveh, not in a spirit of +vandalism, but in order to enable Assyrian kings to 'seize the hands of +Bel' without proceeding to E-Sagila. The Babylonians, no doubt, were +offended by such an act, and in order to conciliate them, Ashurbanabal, +who pursues a mild policy towards the south, orders the statue to be +restored at the time that he appoints his brother Shamash-shumukin as +governor of the southern provinces.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1566_1566" id="Footnote_1566_1566"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1566_1566"><span class="label">[1566]</span></a> <i>Ib.</i> p. 53, note.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1567_1567" id="Footnote_1567_1567"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1567_1567"><span class="label">[1567]</span></a> Ashurnasirbal's Inscription, IR. 23, col. ii. l. 134.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1568_1568" id="Footnote_1568_1568"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1568_1568"><span class="label">[1568]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_462">462</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1569_1569" id="Footnote_1569_1569"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1569_1569"><span class="label">[1569]</span></a> Rassam Cylinder, col. viii. ll. 96-100.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1570_1570" id="Footnote_1570_1570"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1570_1570"><span class="label">[1570]</span></a> George Smith, <i>The History of Ashurbanipal</i>, p. 126 +(Cylinder B, col. v. l. 77). See also Rassam Cylinder, col. iii. l. 32.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1571_1571" id="Footnote_1571_1571"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1571_1571"><span class="label">[1571]</span></a> See above, pp. <a href="#Page_195">195</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1572_1572" id="Footnote_1572_1572"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1572_1572"><span class="label">[1572]</span></a> See Ashurbanabal Cylinder B, col. v. l. 16 (<i>Keils +Bibl.</i> ii. 248; also Meissner, <i>Beiträge zum Altbabylonischen +Privatrecht</i>, no. 14, p. 23).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1573_1573" id="Footnote_1573_1573"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1573_1573"><span class="label">[1573]</span></a> VR. 61. col. v. l. 51-vi. l. 8.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1574_1574" id="Footnote_1574_1574"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1574_1574"><span class="label">[1574]</span></a> See above, pp. <a href="#Page_74">74</a> and <a href="#Page_176">176</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1575_1575" id="Footnote_1575_1575"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1575_1575"><span class="label">[1575]</span></a> Winckler, <i>Zeits. f. Assyr.</i> ii. 155 (col. ii. l. 41).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1576_1576" id="Footnote_1576_1576"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1576_1576"><span class="label">[1576]</span></a> One is reminded of the sanctity attaching in the Jewish +ritual to the "counting" of the seven weeks intervening between Passover +(the old Nisan festival) and Pentecost (an old summer festival). See +Deut. xvi. 9. The 33d day of this period has a special significance in +the Jewish Church.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1577_1577" id="Footnote_1577_1577"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1577_1577"><span class="label">[1577]</span></a> The non-Jewish origin of the Purim festival is generally +accepted by critical scholars. Lagarde (<i>Purim—Ein Beitrag zur +Geschichte der Religions</i>) endeavors to trace it back to a Persian +fire festival; Zimmern (<i>Zeits. f. Alt. Wiss.</i>, 1891, pp. 160 +<i>seq.</i>) connects it with the Babylonian Zagmuku. Sayce's +supposition (<i>Proc. Soc. Bibl. Arch.</i> xix. 280, 281) is not to be +taken seriously. The origin of the Jewish feast and fast of Purim is +still obscure. The fact that there is both a fast (14th Adar) and a +festival (15th Adar) is a safe indication of antiquity. Zimmern's view +of a possible relationship between Purim and Zagmuku is untenable, but +that there is a connection between Purim and <i>some</i> Babylonian +festival follows from the fact that the two chief personages in the Book +of Esther—namely, Mordecai and Esther—bear names identical with the +two Babylonian deities, Marduk and Ishtar. This cannot be an accident. +On the other hand, Haman and Vashti, according to Jensen (<i>Wiener +Zeits. f.d. Kunde des Morgenlandes</i>, vi. 70), are Elamitic names of +deities corresponding to the Babylonian Marduk and Ishtar. The case for +Vashti is not clearly made out by Jensen, but, for all that, it is +certain that the Babylonian elements in the institution have been +combined with some bits of Persian mythology. The historical setting is +the work of the Jewish compiler of the tale, that has of course some +historical basis. See now Toy, <i>Esther as a Babylonian Goddess</i> +(<i>The New World</i>, vi. 130-145).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1578_1578" id="Footnote_1578_1578"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1578_1578"><span class="label">[1578]</span></a> VR. 33, col. v. l. 40.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1579_1579" id="Footnote_1579_1579"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1579_1579"><span class="label">[1579]</span></a> Winckler, <i>Die Keilschrifttexte Sargon's</i>, p. 172 and +p. xxvi, note.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1580_1580" id="Footnote_1580_1580"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1580_1580"><span class="label">[1580]</span></a> <i>E.g.</i>, Sargon's <i>Annals</i>, l. 179; Cylinder, l. +20, VR. 33, col. v. l. 40 (<i>nigatu</i>).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1581_1581" id="Footnote_1581_1581"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1581_1581"><span class="label">[1581]</span></a> Not necessarily 'music festival,' as Delitzsch proposes +(<i>Assyr. Handw.</i>, p. 447a).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1582_1582" id="Footnote_1582_1582"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1582_1582"><span class="label">[1582]</span></a> For examples, see the Assyrian contract tablets translated +by Peiser, <i>Keils Bibl.</i> iv. 98 and <i>passim.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1583_1583" id="Footnote_1583_1583"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1583_1583"><span class="label">[1583]</span></a> See the passage Shalmanaser obelisk, ll. 174, 175, and +Peiser's comment, <i>Keils Bibl.</i> iv. 106, note.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1584_1584" id="Footnote_1584_1584"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1584_1584"><span class="label">[1584]</span></a> Burton, <i>A Pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina</i>, iii. +chapter vii.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1585_1585" id="Footnote_1585_1585"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1585_1585"><span class="label">[1585]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_686">686</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1586_1586" id="Footnote_1586_1586"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1586_1586"><span class="label">[1586]</span></a> <a href="#chapter-xviii">Chapter xviii</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1587_1587" id="Footnote_1587_1587"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1587_1587"><span class="label">[1587]</span></a> Rassam Cylinder, col. iv. ll. 86-89.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1588_1588" id="Footnote_1588_1588"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1588_1588"><span class="label">[1588]</span></a> VR. 61, col. ii. ll. 22-27.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1589_1589" id="Footnote_1589_1589"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1589_1589"><span class="label">[1589]</span></a> Ea and Marduk, it will be recalled, are the chief gods +invoked in magic rites involving purification. See pp. <a href="#Page_275">275</a>, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1590_1590" id="Footnote_1590_1590"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1590_1590"><span class="label">[1590]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_646">646</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1591_1591" id="Footnote_1591_1591"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1591_1591"><span class="label">[1591]</span></a> See numerous examples in Menant's <i>Collection de +Clercq</i> (Paris, 1888).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1592_1592" id="Footnote_1592_1592"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1592_1592"><span class="label">[1592]</span></a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_662">662</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1593_1593" id="Footnote_1593_1593"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1593_1593"><span class="label">[1593]</span></a> Stade, <i>Geschichte des Volkes Israel</i>, i. 458 seq.</p></div> + + + + +<h2><a name="chapter-xxvii" id="chapter-xxvii"></a>CHAPTER XXVII.</h2> + +<h3>CONCLUSION.</h3> + +<h3>General Estimate and Influence.</h3> + + +<p>In forming a general estimate of a religion, one's verdict +will largely depend upon the point of view from which the +religion in question is regarded. It is manifestly unjust and +illogical to apply modern standards to an ancient religion, not +that such a religion would necessarily suffer by the comparison +involved, but because of the totally different conditions under +which religion developed in antiquity from those prevailing in +modern times. The close association, nay, the inseparable +bond, between religion and the state is only one of several +determining factors that might be adduced, while the small +scope permitted to individualism in matters of religious belief +and practice in a country like Babylonia or Assyria was fraught +with such peculiar results that all comparisons, even with other +religions of antiquity, could only obscure and not illumine our +judgment.</p> + +<p>There are manifestly three phases of the religion of Babylonia +and Assyria that need to be considered in reaching some +general conclusions as to the character and rank to be accorded +to it,—the doctrines, the rites, and the ethics. So far as the +pantheon is concerned, the limitations in the development of +doctrines connected with it were reached when the union of +the several Euphratean states was permanently effected under +Hammurabi. Marduk, a solar deity, takes his place as the head +of the pantheon by virtue of the preëminent place occupied by +his patron city,—Babylon. The other great gods, each representing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_691" id="Page_691">[Pg 691]</a></span> +some religious center that at one time or the other +rose to importance, grouped themselves around Marduk, as +the princes and nobles gather around a supreme monarch. A +certain measure of independence was reserved for the great +mother goddess Ishtar, who, worshipped under various names +as the symbol of fertility, plenty, and strength, is not so +decidedly affected by the change as deities like En-lil, Shamash, +Sin, and Ea, who could at any time become rivals of Marduk. +As the position of Marduk, however, became more and more +assured without danger of being shaken, the feeling of rivalry +in his relations to the other gods began to disappear. Marduk's +supremacy no longer being questioned, there was no necessity +to curtail the homage paid to Shamash at Sippar or to En-lil +at Nippur; hence the religious importance of the old centers +is not diminished by the surpassing glory of Babylon. There +was room for all. Marduk's toleration is the best evidence +of his unquestioned headship.</p> + +<p>The centralization of political power and of religious supremacy +is concomitant with the focussing of intellectual life in +Babylon. The priests of Marduk set the fashion in theological +thought. So far as possible, the ancient traditions +and myths were reshaped so as to contribute to the glory of +Marduk. The chief part in the work of creation is assigned +to him. The storm-god En-lil is set aside to make room for +the solar deity Marduk. But, despite such efforts, the old tales, +once committed to writing on the practically imperishable clay, +survived, if not in the minds of the people, at least in the +archives of the ancient temples.</p> + +<p>The antiquity of literature in Babylonia was the factor that +prevented the cult from acquiring a uniform character in the +various parts of the empire. The priests of Nippur, of Sippar, +of Eridu, of Erech, Cuthah, Ur, and other places began long +before the period of Hammurabi to compile, on the basis of +past experience and as a guide for future needs, omen lists,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_692" id="Page_692">[Pg 692]</a></span> +incantation formulas, and sacrificial rituals. These collections +created orthodox standards, and these standards, once acknowledged, +the natural conservatism attaching to religious customs +was sufficient to maintain their continuance. The uniformity +of doctrine was thus offset by variations in the cult; +and the policy adopted by both Babylonian and Assyrian rulers, +in permitting each center to remain undisturbed, and in freely +recognizing the religious independence of each, prevented the +Babylonian and Assyrian religion from falling into the state of +stagnation which would otherwise have been its fate.</p> + +<p>In the views taken of the relationship between the gods and +men, no notable advances were made when once the ethical +spirit was infused into the religious beliefs. The problem of +good and evil was solved in a simple fashion. By the side of +the great gods there existed a large, almost infinite number +of spirits and demons, who were generally held responsible for +the evils affecting mankind.<a name="FNanchor_1594_1594" id="FNanchor_1594_1594"></a><a href="#Footnote_1594_1594" class="fnanchor">[1594]</a> These demons and spirits were +in many cases gods 'fallen from grace,'—minor local deities +who, unable to maintain themselves in the face of the growing +popularity of the great gods, sank to an inferior position as +messengers, forced to do the will of their masters and who +could be controlled by the latter. But the intercession of the +priests was essential to obtaining divine help against the +mischievous workings of the spirits. Even the kings, though +originally standing very close to the gods, could not dispense +with the services of the priests, and by virtue of their conspicuous +position had to exercise greater precautions than the +masses not to offend the gods, by errors of commission or +omission in the cult. The priests held the secret that could +secure freedom from ills and promote the comparative well-being +of rulers and subjects. They alone knew what incantations +to use for each case that was brought before them, in +what way the sacrifices were to be brought, when the deity<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_693" id="Page_693">[Pg 693]</a></span> +should be approached, and why divine anger had manifested +itself. The intellectual leadership thus acquired by the priests, +in addition to their control of religious affairs, was an additional +factor in maintaining orthodox standards of belief when once +they had become fixed. In the doctrines of life after death, +this influence of the priesthood is distinctly seen. The popular +notions were systematized, but the priests, true to their rule as +conservators, did not pass beyond primitive conceptions. Some +weak attempts at a philosophical view of the problem of death +are attempted in the Gilgamesh epic as finally put together +under the influence of the Babylonian schools of thought,<a name="FNanchor_1595_1595" id="FNanchor_1595_1595"></a><a href="#Footnote_1595_1595" class="fnanchor">[1595]</a> but +the leaders shared with the people the sense of hopelessness +when picturing the life in the great hollow Aralû. It is in the +hymns and prayers, rather than in the cosmology and eschatology, +that the spiritual aspirations of the priests (and to a +limited degree of the masses) manifest themselves. In these +productions, whether existing independently or incorporated +into incantation rituals, we see the religion of Babylonia at its +best. A strong emphasis is placed upon the doctrine that +misfortunes and ills come as a punishment for sins of commission +or omission. It is true that no distinction is drawn +between ceremonial errors and real misdeeds, but the sense of +guilt is aroused by the priests in the minds of those who come +to the temples, seeking relief from the attacks of the evil spirits, +or the bewitchment of sorcerers.</p> + +<p>It is in this doctrine of guilt, as revealed through the magical +texts, that we must seek both for the starting-point of the +development of an ethical system (so far as such a system +existed among the Babylonians), and also for the limitations +of this system. The aim of the priests to observe the right +ceremonies, to pronounce the right words in order to accomplish +their aim, reacted on rulers and subjects, and led them to +make the pleasure of the gods the goal of life. With fear of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_694" id="Page_694">[Pg 694]</a></span> +the gods, upon which stress is always laid,<a name="FNanchor_1596_1596" id="FNanchor_1596_1596"></a><a href="#Footnote_1596_1596" class="fnanchor">[1596]</a> there is thus associated +an equally strong love<a name="FNanchor_1597_1597" id="FNanchor_1597_1597"></a><a href="#Footnote_1597_1597" class="fnanchor">[1597]</a> of the divine powers. Obedience +to the gods is primarily inculcated as a means of securing +their protection and blessing; but the fear of the gods, we are +told, is the cause of joy;<a name="FNanchor_1598_1598" id="FNanchor_1598_1598"></a><a href="#Footnote_1598_1598" class="fnanchor">[1598]</a> and the Babylonians passed far +beyond the stage of making the satisfaction of one's own +desires the standard of right and wrong. A penitential psalm +declares<a name="FNanchor_1599_1599" id="FNanchor_1599_1599"></a><a href="#Footnote_1599_1599" class="fnanchor">[1599]</a> that what is pleasing to oneself may be sinful in the +eyes of a god.</p> + +<p>The kings pride themselves upon being the promoters of +justice. Even the Assyrian rulers, who impress one while conducting +their wars as bereft of all softer emotions, declare that +their highest aim is to spread plenty and happiness.<a name="FNanchor_1600_1600" id="FNanchor_1600_1600"></a><a href="#Footnote_1600_1600" class="fnanchor">[1600]</a> Sennacherib +calls himself a king who 'loves righteousness,'<a name="FNanchor_1601_1601" id="FNanchor_1601_1601"></a><a href="#Footnote_1601_1601" class="fnanchor">[1601]</a> and he, +as well as his predecessors and successors, busies himself with +actually restoring the rights of those of his subjects who have +been wrongfully deprived of their possessions.</p> + +<p>The standard of private morality was high both in Babylonia +and Assyria. The legal and commercial tablets reveal that +proper consideration was given to the treatment of woman—a +most satisfactory index of ethical conditions.<a name="FNanchor_1602_1602" id="FNanchor_1602_1602"></a><a href="#Footnote_1602_1602" class="fnanchor">[1602]</a> She could +hold property and dispose of it. Before the courts, her status +did not differ materially from that of the male population. The +husband could not divorce his wife without sufficient cause, and +children owed obedience to the mother as well as to the father.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_695" id="Page_695">[Pg 695]</a></span><a name="FNanchor_1603_1603" id="FNanchor_1603_1603"></a><a href="#Footnote_1603_1603" class="fnanchor">[1603]</a> +Polygamy, as a matter of course, prevailed, but it is an error to +suppose that polygamy is inconsistent with high ideals of family +life, even though it does not lead to the highest ideals.</p> + +<p>Hatred, lying, cheating, using false measures, removing +boundaries, adultery, insincerity are denounced in the incantation +texts,<a name="FNanchor_1604_1604" id="FNanchor_1604_1604"></a><a href="#Footnote_1604_1604" class="fnanchor">[1604]</a> and in accord with this standard, we see in the +records of lawsuits and agreements between parties<a name="FNanchor_1605_1605" id="FNanchor_1605_1605"></a><a href="#Footnote_1605_1605" class="fnanchor">[1605]</a> clear +indications of the stringent laws that prevailed in order to +protect citizens against infringement of their rights. It comes +as a surprise, but also as a welcome testimony to the efficacy +of justice in Assyria, to find Ashurbanabal emphasizing the +fact that he established ordinances so that the strong should +do no harm to the weak.<a name="FNanchor_1606_1606" id="FNanchor_1606_1606"></a><a href="#Footnote_1606_1606" class="fnanchor">[1606]</a></p> + +<p>The institution of slavery flourished in Babylonia and Assyria +throughout all periods of their history,<a name="FNanchor_1607_1607" id="FNanchor_1607_1607"></a><a href="#Footnote_1607_1607" class="fnanchor">[1607]</a> but there were +various grades of slaves. Some classes differed but little from +that of servants, indentured for a longer or shorter period for +certain services. The temple slaves appear to have largely +belonged to this class. Mild treatment of slaves is enjoined +and was the rule. The slaves are often the confidential agents +of their masters who attend to the business affairs of the latter. +We find slaves holding property in their own right. Contracts +entered into by them are legal and binding. Injuries +inflicted upon them by their masters are punished, and they are +protected against losses and mishaps encountered while in service. +While we have no evidence to show that the laws of +Assyria were on a lower ethical plane than those of Babylonia, +still, as the pupils and imitators of the Babylonians in almost +everything pertaining to culture and religion, the general tone +of life in Assyria was hardly as high as in the south. The warlike<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_696" id="Page_696">[Pg 696]</a></span> +spirit of the rulers is but a symptom of the fiercer character +of the people.</p> + +<p>The tendency towards monotheism in the religion of Babylonia +and Assyria has been referred to. We must remember +that it was only a tendency. No decided steps in this direction +were ever taken. Both in the south and in the north, this +tendency is but the expression of the preëminent rank accorded +to Marduk and Ashur, respectively. The independent existence +of two heads in the combined pantheon was sufficient to +prevent the infusion of an ethical spirit into this monotheistic +tendency; and unless a monotheistic conception of the universe +is interpreted in an ethical sense, monotheism (or monolatry) +has no great superiority, either religiously or philosophically, +over polytheism.</p> + +<p>From the standpoint of religious doctrine, accordingly, the +religion of Babylonia and Assyria does not occupy a unique +position. In this respect, the Egyptian religion reaches a +higher level. For all that, the influence exerted by the religion +that developed in the Euphrates Valley was profound and +lasting. We have had occasion in various chapters of this +work to point out the close analogies existing between the +thoughts, tradition, and practices of the Hebrews and the Babylonians.<a name="FNanchor_1608_1608" id="FNanchor_1608_1608"></a><a href="#Footnote_1608_1608" class="fnanchor">[1608]</a> +A proper study of the Hebrew religion is closely +bound up with an investigation of the religious antiquities +of Babylonia; and as our knowledge of these antiquities +increases, it will be found that not only are Hebrews and +Babylonians equipped with many common possessions when +starting out upon their intellectual careers, but that, at different +times and in diverse ways, the stimulus to religious advance +came to the Hebrews from the ancient centers of thought and +worship in the Euphrates Valley. This influence was particularly +strong during the period of Jewish history known as Babylonian +exile. The finishing touches to the structure of Judaism—given<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_697" id="Page_697">[Pg 697]</a></span> +on Babylonian soil<a name="FNanchor_1609_1609" id="FNanchor_1609_1609"></a><a href="#Footnote_1609_1609" class="fnanchor">[1609]</a>—reveal the Babylonian trademark. +Ezekiel, in many respects the most characteristic Jewish figure +of the exile, is steeped in Babylonian theology and mysticism; +and the profound influence of Ezekiel is recognized by modern +scholarship in the religious spirit that characterizes the Jews +upon the reorganization of their commonwealth.</p> + +<p>It would be a mistake, however, to suppose that what Babylonia +gave to others was always the best she had to offer. +Degrading tendencies, too, found an entrance into post-exilic +Judaism through Babylonian influence. Close contact of Jews +with Babylonians served to make the former more accessible to +the popular beliefs in incantations and in the power of demons +than they would otherwise have been. Not that the Jews (as +little as any other people) were ever entirely free from superstitious +practices; but, living in an atmosphere charged, so to +speak, with magic and astrology, it was inevitable that even the +best among them should be infected by customs that they daily +witnessed. In the Babylonian Talmud, the references to evil +spirits are numerous. Specific incantations are introduced, and +an elaborate system of angelology and demonology forms a +feature of Talmudical Judaism in which, by the side of Persian +influences,<a name="FNanchor_1610_1610" id="FNanchor_1610_1610"></a><a href="#Footnote_1610_1610" class="fnanchor">[1610]</a> we may detect equally strong traces of Babylonian +ideas. In the upper strata of the ruins of Nippur, +hundreds of clay bowls were found, inscribed with Jewish +inscriptions, in the Aramaic dialect that was spoken by the +Babylonian Jews.<a name="FNanchor_1611_1611" id="FNanchor_1611_1611"></a><a href="#Footnote_1611_1611" class="fnanchor">[1611]</a> Similar bowls were found elsewhere in the +mounds of the Euphrates Valley.<a name="FNanchor_1612_1612" id="FNanchor_1612_1612"></a><a href="#Footnote_1612_1612" class="fnanchor">[1612]</a> These bowls indicate +the presence of Jews in various parts of the country.<a name="FNanchor_1613_1613" id="FNanchor_1613_1613"></a><a href="#Footnote_1613_1613" class="fnanchor">[1613]</a> Placed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_698" id="Page_698">[Pg 698]</a></span> +in the graves as a protection for the dead against evil spirits, +the inscriptions contain formulas of denunciation against the +demons that constitute a striking parallel to the incantation +texts of ancient Babylonia. Some of the demons are identical +with those occurring in these texts, and by the side of the +inscriptions, there are illustrations<a name="FNanchor_1614_1614" id="FNanchor_1614_1614"></a><a href="#Footnote_1614_1614" class="fnanchor">[1614]</a> and magical designs to +which parallels exist on the Babylonian tablets.</p> + +<p>This custom of endeavoring to secure protection for the +dead through the power of the curses and propitiatory phrases +inscribed on bowls continued in vogue as late as the ninth +century at the least, and perhaps considerably later. There +are indications also that Babylonian ideas found an entrance +into the Jewish Kabbala,—the strange mystic system of the +middle ages, the sources of which are to be sought in the +apocalyptic chapters of Ezekiel and Daniel.</p> + +<p>Christianity as well as Judaism felt the fascination of the +mystic lore of Babylonia. Gunkel<a name="FNanchor_1615_1615" id="FNanchor_1615_1615"></a><a href="#Footnote_1615_1615" class="fnanchor">[1615]</a> has demonstrated the +Babylonian origin of the myth embodied in the twelfth chapter +of Revelations. This myth is but another form of the Marduk-Tiâmat +contest, which, it will be recalled, is the chief episode +in the Babylonian creation 'epic.'<a name="FNanchor_1616_1616" id="FNanchor_1616_1616"></a><a href="#Footnote_1616_1616" class="fnanchor">[1616]</a> More significant is the +influence exerted by the religious ideas of Babylonia upon +the various Gnostic sects that arose within the Christian +Church. That the source of Gnosticism was to be sought +in Mesopotamia was always recognized by scholars, but +until the discovery of Babylonian literature, it was customary +to seek for Jewish influences in the formation of the various +Gnostic sects. Kessler<a name="FNanchor_1617_1617" id="FNanchor_1617_1617"></a><a href="#Footnote_1617_1617" class="fnanchor">[1617]</a> was the first to demonstrate clearly +the dependence of the leading ideas of Gnosticism upon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_699" id="Page_699">[Pg 699]</a></span> +the Babylonian cosmology and the conceptions developed +with reference to the gods. More recently, Anz<a name="FNanchor_1618_1618" id="FNanchor_1618_1618"></a><a href="#Footnote_1618_1618" class="fnanchor">[1618]</a> has undertaken +a renewed investigation of the subject, and, approaching +the theme from various points of view, reaches conclusions +confirmatory of Kessler's thesis. All of the Gnostic sects have +certain fundamental doctrines in common, such as the dwelling +of God in the abyss,<a name="FNanchor_1619_1619" id="FNanchor_1619_1619"></a><a href="#Footnote_1619_1619" class="fnanchor">[1619]</a> the migration of the soul after death +through seven zones, the emanation of aeons from a supreme +aeon.<a name="FNanchor_1620_1620" id="FNanchor_1620_1620"></a><a href="#Footnote_1620_1620" class="fnanchor">[1620]</a> All these doctrines exhibit such close affinities with +Babylonian ideas as to warrant the assertion that the religion +of Babylonia survives in Gnosticism; and since, as we know, +Babylonian culture and customs maintained an undisturbed +existence almost to the threshold of our era, there is no need +to go back to the older periods of the Babylonian religion to +find the connecting link, uniting Gnosticism with the Babylonian +religion. The spread and influence of the Gnostic sects was +notoriously wide. It is sufficient to recall the chief centers of +Gnostic schools of thought in Antioch, Edessa, and Alexandria +and the various branches of the powerful sect of the Ophites. +The influence of these schools extended into Greece and Rome. +While the Gnostic sects disappear in the sixth century, the +influence of Gnosticism can be followed down to the twelfth +century,—a significant testimony to the enduring qualities of +Babylonian doctrines.</p> + +<p>In the ancient world, prior to the rise of Christianity, +Egypt, Persia, and Greece felt the influence of the Babylonian +religion. Budge<a name="FNanchor_1621_1621" id="FNanchor_1621_1621"></a><a href="#Footnote_1621_1621" class="fnanchor">[1621]</a> is of the opinion that many of the +magic practices carried on in the Egyptian temples are to +be traced back to the incantation rituals perfected by the +Babylonian priests. In view of the early contact between<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_700" id="Page_700">[Pg 700]</a></span> +Egypt and Babylonia, as revealed by the El-Amarna tablets, +there were certainly abundant opportunities for the infusion of +Babylonian views and customs into Egyptian cults. In Persia, +the Mithra cult reveals the unmistakable influence of Babylonian +conceptions;<a name="FNanchor_1622_1622" id="FNanchor_1622_1622"></a><a href="#Footnote_1622_1622" class="fnanchor">[1622]</a> and if it be recalled what a degree of +importance the mysteries connected with this cult acquired +among the Romans, another link will be added connecting the +ramifications of ancient culture with the civilization of the +Euphrates Valley. The strong admixture of Semitic elements +both in early Greek mythology and in Grecian cults is now so +generally admitted by scholars as to require no further comment.<a name="FNanchor_1623_1623" id="FNanchor_1623_1623"></a><a href="#Footnote_1623_1623" class="fnanchor">[1623]</a> +These Semitic elements are to a large extent more +specifically Babylonian. The spread of the Gilgamesh epic +and of the Ishtar cult into Asia Minor and Greece may be +instanced as illustrations of Babylonian influence; and granting +that the Phoenicians acted largely as the mediators in carrying +these ideas to the Greek settlements, still there must have +been influences at work long before this direct contact with +Semitic culture that prepared the way for the ready acceptance +which Semitic conceptions and Semitic practices found. The +time has not yet come for pronouncing an opinion as to the +influence exerted by Babylonia upon lands in the distant East. +The theory of DeLacouperie<a name="FNanchor_1624_1624" id="FNanchor_1624_1624"></a><a href="#Footnote_1624_1624" class="fnanchor">[1624]</a> and Ball, which proposes to +trace the Chinese script to the hieroglyphic system of Babylonia, +is still to be tested. Early commercial contact between +the Euphrates Valley and India is maintained as a probable +theory by several scholars,<a name="FNanchor_1625_1625" id="FNanchor_1625_1625"></a><a href="#Footnote_1625_1625" class="fnanchor">[1625]</a> and the possibility, therefore, of +the spread of the religious ideas of Babylonia to the distant +East is not to be rejected. Patient research and the additional<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_701" id="Page_701">[Pg 701]</a></span> +discoveries (which are constantly being made) will alone place +us in a position some day to give a definite answer to the question. +Whatever that answer may be, the verdict as to the high +quality and profound influence of the religion that arose in the +valley of the Euphrates and that flourished for several millenniums +will not be altered.</p> + +<p>To show the general indebtedness of Grecian, Roman, +mediaeval, and even modern civilization to Babylonian culture +lies beyond the range of this work, but the profound impression +made upon the ancient world by the remarkable manifestations +of religious thought in Babylonia and by the religious +activity that prevailed in that region is but an index of the +influence that must have been exerted in other directions by +the varied intellectual activity that converted a district, exposed +to the by no means tender mercies of the elements, into one of +the most notable illustrations of the power and achievements +of man.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_703" id="Page_703">[Pg 703]</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_702" id="Page_702">[Pg 702]</a></span></p> + +<h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1594_1594" id="Footnote_1594_1594"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1594_1594"><span class="label">[1594]</span></a> See above, pp. <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1595_1595" id="Footnote_1595_1595"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1595_1595"><span class="label">[1595]</span></a> See pp. <a href="#Page_513">513</a> <i>seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1596_1596" id="Footnote_1596_1596"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1596_1596"><span class="label">[1596]</span></a> Babylonian and Assyrian kings alike speak constantly of +their fear of the gods. See the passages in Delitzsch's <i>Assyrisches +Handwörterbuch</i>, pp. 526, 527, to which many more could be added.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1597_1597" id="Footnote_1597_1597"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1597_1597"><span class="label">[1597]</span></a> See, <i>e.g.</i>, Nebuchadnezzar, IR. 53, col. i, l. 31.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1598_1598" id="Footnote_1598_1598"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1598_1598"><span class="label">[1598]</span></a> IVR. 60, B obv. 25.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1599_1599" id="Footnote_1599_1599"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1599_1599"><span class="label">[1599]</span></a> IVR. 60, C obv. 14.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1600_1600" id="Footnote_1600_1600"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1600_1600"><span class="label">[1600]</span></a> So Sargon cylinder, ll. 34-42.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1601_1601" id="Footnote_1601_1601"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1601_1601"><span class="label">[1601]</span></a> IR. 37, col. i. l. 4.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1602_1602" id="Footnote_1602_1602"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1602_1602"><span class="label">[1602]</span></a> See the writer's remarks in <i>Oriental Studies of the +Oriental Club of Philadelphia</i>, pp. 119-121.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1603_1603" id="Footnote_1603_1603"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1603_1603"><span class="label">[1603]</span></a> See the so-called family laws (as early as the days of +Hammurabi) in Meissner's <i>Beiträge zum Altbabylonischen +Privatrecht</i>, p. 15, where the punishment in the case of the son who +casts aside his mother is specifically referred to.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1604_1604" id="Footnote_1604_1604"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1604_1604"><span class="label">[1604]</span></a> See, <i>e.g.</i> p. <a href="#Page_291">291</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1605_1605" id="Footnote_1605_1605"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1605_1605"><span class="label">[1605]</span></a> See the admirable discussions on Babylonian jurisprudence +in Kohler and Pelser's <i>Aus dem Babylonischen Rechtsleben</i> (parts +i.-iii., Leipzig, 1890-97).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1606_1606" id="Footnote_1606_1606"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1606_1606"><span class="label">[1606]</span></a> S. A. Strong in <i>Journal of the Royal Asiatic +Society</i>, 1891, p. 460.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1607_1607" id="Footnote_1607_1607"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1607_1607"><span class="label">[1607]</span></a> See on this subject Meissner, <i>De Servitute +Babylonico-Assyriaca</i> pp. 3, 4, 40-49.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1608_1608" id="Footnote_1608_1608"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1608_1608"><span class="label">[1608]</span></a> See especially chapters xxi., xxv., and xxvi.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1609_1609" id="Footnote_1609_1609"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1609_1609"><span class="label">[1609]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_611">611</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1610_1610" id="Footnote_1610_1610"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1610_1610"><span class="label">[1610]</span></a> See Kohut, <i>Die Jûdische Angelologie und Dämanologie in +ihrer Abhängigkeit vom Parsismus</i> (Leipzig, 1866).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1611_1611" id="Footnote_1611_1611"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1611_1611"><span class="label">[1611]</span></a> Peters' <i>Nippur</i>, pp. 182, 395.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1612_1612" id="Footnote_1612_1612"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1612_1612"><span class="label">[1612]</span></a> See, <i>e.g.</i>, Layard, <i>Nineveh and Babylon</i> (New +York edition, 1853), p. 509.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1613_1613" id="Footnote_1613_1613"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1613_1613"><span class="label">[1613]</span></a> On the extent of the settlements of Jews in Nippur, see +Hilprecht, <i>Cuneiform Texts</i>, ix. 27, 28.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1614_1614" id="Footnote_1614_1614"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1614_1614"><span class="label">[1614]</span></a> So, <i>e.g.</i>, on some of the bowls in the University of +Pennsylvania collection, crude pictures of Bel-Marduk and Ishtar are +portrayed.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1615_1615" id="Footnote_1615_1615"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1615_1615"><span class="label">[1615]</span></a> <i>Schöpfung und Chaos</i>, pp. 381-397.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1616_1616" id="Footnote_1616_1616"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1616_1616"><span class="label">[1616]</span></a> See pp. <a href="#Page_432">432</a> <i>seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1617_1617" id="Footnote_1617_1617"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1617_1617"><span class="label">[1617]</span></a> "Ueber Gnosis und die Altbabylonlsche Religion," +<i>Verhandlungen des fünften Orientalisten Congress</i>, 1881, ii. +288-305.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1618_1618" id="Footnote_1618_1618"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1618_1618"><span class="label">[1618]</span></a> <i>Zur Frage nach dem Ursprung des Gnostizismus</i> +(Leipzig, 1897).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1619_1619" id="Footnote_1619_1619"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1619_1619"><span class="label">[1619]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, Ea dwelling in the Apsu. See p. <a href="#Page_430">430</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1620_1620" id="Footnote_1620_1620"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1620_1620"><span class="label">[1620]</span></a> Anu, the source of all gods. See p. <a href="#Page_417">417</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1621_1621" id="Footnote_1621_1621"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1621_1621"><span class="label">[1621]</span></a> <i>The Life and Exploits of Alexander the Great</i>, pp. +xii. <i>seq</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1622_1622" id="Footnote_1622_1622"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1622_1622"><span class="label">[1622]</span></a> See Anz, as above, pp. <a href="#Page_78">78</a>-85.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1623_1623" id="Footnote_1623_1623"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1623_1623"><span class="label">[1623]</span></a> R. Brown, <i>Semitic Influence in Hellenic Mythology</i> +(London, 1898).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1624_1624" id="Footnote_1624_1624"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1624_1624"><span class="label">[1624]</span></a> <i>Western Origin of the Early Chinese Civilization</i> +(London, 1894).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1625_1625" id="Footnote_1625_1625"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1625_1625"><span class="label">[1625]</span></a> A paper on this subject was announced by Jas. Kennedy at +the Eleventh International Congress of Orientalists.</p></div> + + + +<h2><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_705" id="Page_705">[Pg 705]</a></span> +<a name="bibliography" id="bibliography"></a>BIBLIOGRAPHY.</h2> + + + +<h3>NOTE.</h3> + + +<p>The bibliography is arranged in nine sections, the order adopted +corresponding to the broad subdivisions of the book. The beginning +is therefore made:</p> + +<p>(1) With references to the most important or most useful publications, +dealing with the excavations conducted in Babylonia and +Assyria, the method of decipherment of the cuneiform inscriptions, +the general history of Babylonia and Assyria, and the general aspects +of the Babylonian-Assyrian culture. This section corresponds to the +first two chapters of the book.</p> + +<p>(2) The second section is devoted to books, monographs, articles, +and chapters in books, dealing with the general subject of the Babylonian-Assyrian +religion.</p> + +<p>In neither of these two sections have I aimed at being exhaustive, +though the second will be found, I think, to include almost everything +of any value.</p> + +<p>The detailed bibliography begins with the following section. Corresponding +again to the treatment of the subject in the book, I take up +in succession:</p> + +<p>(3) The Pantheon.</p> + +<p>(4) Religious Texts.</p> + +<p>(5) Cosmology.</p> + +<p>(6) Gilgamesh Epic (including the Deluge episode).</p> + +<p>(7) Beliefs and Customs (Views of Life after Death, Funeral +Rites, Legends, Ethics, etc.).</p> + +<p>(8) Temples and Cult.</p> + +<p>(9) Bearings of the Babylonian-Assyrian Religion on the Old +Testament, and General Influence Exerted by the Religion.</p> + +<p>Of these seven sections, all but the last aim at being exhaustive. +It was not always easy to decide into what division a particular reference<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_706" id="Page_706">[Pg 706]</a></span> +belonged, but I have been generally guided by the needs of +students for whom this portion of the bibliography is particularly +intended.</p> + +<p>The fifth and sixth sections should be taken together; and similarly +the seventh and eighth, while the fourth section should of course +be consulted in connection with the third, fifth, sixth, seventh, and +eighth.</p> + +<p>Under each section the authors named are arranged in alphabetical +order. Occasionally, I have added some comments to the reference +given, as a guide or a warning to students. In a subject like Assyriology, +where new discoveries are constantly being made and progress +in the interpretation of texts is steadily going on, it is inevitable that +views and translations should be subject to modification—sometimes +slight, but frequently significant. I have endeavored to avoid repetition +of references. In a few cases this was unavoidable. In the +second section portions of books are referred to, which by virtue of +their character as very general works had to be assigned a place also +in the first section. Two or three of the references in the fourth +section had to be repeated elsewhere; and I should also add that +there are a few references which I have been unable to verify.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_707" id="Page_707">[Pg 707]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>BIBLIOGRAPHY.</h2> + + +<p>The following abbreviations are employed:</p> + +<p> +AB = Assyriologische Bibliothek, ed. by Friedrich Delitzsch and Paul Haupt.<br /> +AD = Andover Review.<br /> +AI = Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres.<br /> +AJP = American Journal of Philology.<br /> +AJT = American Journal of Theology.<br /> +AJSL = American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures.<br /> +AL = Delitzsch's Assyrische Lesestücke (3d ed.)<br /> +APC = Annales de Philosophie Chrétienne.<br /> +BA = Beiträge zur Assyriologie.<br /> +BAZ = Beilage zur Allgemeinen Zeitung (Munich).<br /> +BOR = Babylonian and Oriental Record.<br /> +BW = Biblical World.<br /> +CR = Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres.<br /> +DR = Deutsche Rundschau.<br /> +DRe = Deutsche Revue.<br /> +ET = Expository Times.<br /> +FLJ = Folk Lore Journal.<br /> +H = Hebraica.<br /> +IAQR = Imperial and Asiatic Quarterly Review.<br /> +ICO = International Congress of Orientalists.<br /> +JA = Journal Asiatique.<br /> +JAOS = Journal of the American Oriental Society.<br /> +JHUC = Johns Hopkins University Circulars.<br /> +JRAS = Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society.<br /> +JTVI = Journal of the Transactions of the Victoria Institute.<br /> +KAA = Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen (Amsterdam).<br /> +KAW = Königliche Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin.<br /> +M = Museon.<br /> +MVG = Miltheilungen der Vorderasiatischen Gesellschaft.<br /> +OTS = Old Testament Student.<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_708" id="Page_708">[Pg 708]</a></span>PAOS = Proceedings of the American Oriental Society.<br /> +PR = Presbyterian Review.<br /> +PSBA = Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology.<br /> +R = Rawlinson's 'Selection from the miscellaneous Inscriptions of Western Asia.' (London 1861-1891.) 5 vols.<br /> +RA = Revue d'Assyriologie et d'Archéologie Orientale.<br /> +RAr = Revue Archéologique.<br /> +RB = Revue Biblique.<br /> +RC = Revue Critique.<br /> +RHR = Revue de l'Histoire des Religions.<br /> +RIA = Royal Irish Academy.<br /> +RP = Records of the Past.<br /> +RR = Revue des Religions.<br /> +RS = Revue Semitique.<br /> +RT = Recueil de Travaux relatifs à la Philologie et à l'Archéologie Egyptiennes et Assyriennes.<br /> +SST = Sunday School Times.<br /> +TSBA = Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archaeology.<br /> +TZ = Theologische Zeitblätter.<br /> +WZKM = Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes.<br /> +ZA = Zeitschrift für Assyriologie.<br /> +ZATW = Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft.<br /> +ZDMG = Zeitschrift der Deutsch-Morgenländischen Gesellschaft.<br /> +ZK = Zeitschrift für Keilschriftforschung.<br /> +</p> + +<p>Periodicals, the volumes of which correspond to years, are quoted by the years; +others, by the volumes, or by series, or by series and volumes.</p> + +<p>Roman numerals indicate volumes, except in the case of PAOS, where they indicate +pages; Arabic numerals indicate pages or plates.</p> + + +<h3>I.</h3> + +<h3>Excavations.—Method of Decipherment.—History of Babylonia +and Assyria.—Origin and General Aspects of Babylonian And +Assyrian Culture.—General Bibliography.</h3> + + +<h4>(<i>a</i>) <i>Excavations and Decipherment.</i></h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">Kaulen, Fr.</span>—Assyrien und Babylonien nach den neuesten Entdeckungen. +(4th ed. Freiburg 1891.)</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Popular account of excavations, method of decipherment, Babylonian +literature and architecture. A work in English of this character is much to be +desired. See also <span class="smcap">Hommel, F.</span>—Geschichte Babyloniens und Assyriens. +Berlin 1885. pp. 30-134; <span class="smcap">Evetts, B. A.</span>—New Light on the Holy Land. +London 1891. pp. 79-129.]</p></div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_709" id="Page_709">[Pg 709]</a></span></p> + +<h4>(<i>b</i>) <i>History.</i></h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">Duncker, Max.</span>—Geschichte des Alterthums. Vols. I. and II, +(5th ed. Berlin 1878.)</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Also English translation of earlier edition.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Hommel, F.</span>—Geschichte Babyloniens und Assyriens. (Berlin 1885.)</p> + +<p>---- Geschichte des alten Morgenlandes. (Stuttgart 1895.)</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Chapters I., IV.-VIII.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lenormant, François</span> [and <span class="smcap">Ernest Babelon</span>].—Histoire ancienne +de l'Orient. Vol. IV. (9th ed. Paris 1885.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Maspero, G.</span>—The Dawn of Civilization: Egypt and Chaldaea. (London 1894.)</p> + +<p>---- The Struggle of the Nations: Egypt, Syria, and Assyria. (London 1896.)</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Replacing earlier historical works of this author.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Meyer, Ed.</span>—Geschichte des Alterthums. Vol. 1. (Stuttgart 1884.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Muerdter</span> und <span class="smcap">Delitzsch</span>.—Kurzgefasste Geschichte Babyloniens +und Assyriens. (2d ed. Stuttgart 1891.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ragozin, Z.</span>—(1) The Story of Chaldea. (2) The Story of Assyria. +(New York 1886-1887.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Rawlinson, George.</span>—The Five Great Monarchies of the Ancient +Eastern World. Vols. I.-III. (4th ed. London 1879.)</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Antiquated, but still of some use.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Rogers, R. W.</span>—Outlines of the History of Early Babylonia. +(Leipzig 1895.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Schmidt, Valdemar.</span>—Assyriens og Aegyptens gamle Historie. +(Copenhagen 1872-1877.)</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[pp. 347-461]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Tiele, C. P.</span>—Babylonisch-Assyrische Geschichte. (Gotha 1886.)</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[The best history that has as yet been published.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Wachsmuth, Curt.</span>—Einleitung in das Studium der alten +Geschichte. (Leipzig 1895.)</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[pp. 365-403 "Babylonier und Assyrier,"—indication of ancient and modern +sources for the study.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Winckler, Hugo.</span>—Geschichte Babyloniens und Assyriens. +(Leipzig 1892.)<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_710" id="Page_710">[Pg 710]</a></span></p> + +<h4>(<i>c</i>) <i>Origin and General Aspects of Babylonian-Assyrian Culture.</i></h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">Baumstark, A.</span>—Babylon and Babylonia.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[In Pauly-Wissowa's Real Encyclopaedie, II. cols. 2667-2718.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Bezold, C.</span>—Assyria.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[<i>Ib.</i> II. cols. 1751-1771.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Hommel, F.</span>—Der Babylonische Ursprung der Aegyptischen Kultur. +(Munich 1892.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ihering, Rudolph Von.</span>—Vorgeschichte der Indo-Europäer. +(Leipzig 1894.) 2tes Buch, 'Arier und Semiten,' pp. 93-305.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[A most suggestive sketch of the development and influence of Babylonian +culture; also in English translation, 'The Evolution of the Aryan.' New +York 1897.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Nikel, Johannes.</span>—Herodot und die Keilschriftforschung. (Paderborn +1896.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Peiser, F. E.</span>—Skizze der Babylonischen Gesellschaft. (Berlin +1896.)</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Brief but capital sketch of Babylonian culture and social life.]</p></div> + + +<h4>(<i>d</i>) <i>Bibliography.</i></h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">Bezold, C.</span>—Kurzgefasster Ueberblick über die Babylonisch-Assyrische +Literatur. (Leipzig 1886.)</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[A new edition is needed of this most valuable work.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Delitzsch, Friedrich.</span>—'Litteratura' in the appendix to his +'Assyrian Grammar.' (London 1889.) pp. 55-78.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Kaulen, Fr.</span>—Assyrien und Babylonien (as above), pp. 248-266.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lincke, A.</span>—Bericht über die Fortschritte der Assyriologie in den +Jahren 1886-1893. (Leipzig 1894.)</p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Full bibliographical reports are given in:</span></p> + +<p>(1) The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures +(University of Chicago; quarterly).</p> + +<p>(2) Jahrbücher für Geschichte, ed. by I. Jastrow and E. Berner +(Berlin; annual).</p> + +<p>(3) Orientalische Bibliographie, ed. by Lucian Scherman (Berlin; +semi-annual).<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_711" id="Page_711">[Pg 711]</a></span></p> + +<p>(4) Zeitschrift für Assyriologie, ed. by C. Bezold (Munich; quarterly).</p> + +<p>(5) Revue d'Assyriologie et d'Archéologie Orientale, ed. by J. Oppert +and E. Ledrain (Paris; published at irregular intervals).</p> + + +<h3>II.</h3> + +<h4>General Works and Articles on the Religion of Babylonia and +Assyria.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Berger, P.</span>—'Assyrie' in Lichtenberger's 'Encyclopédie des Sciences +Religieuses.'</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Boscawen, W. St. Chad.</span>—Lectures on the Religion of Babylonia +[abstract] BOR III. 118-120, 150-163.</p> + +<p>---- The Religion of Babylonia in 'Religious Systems of the World.' +(Swan Sonnenschein & Co. 1896. pp. 15-25.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Delitzsch, Friedrich.</span>—The Religion of the Kassites. H 1885. +189-191.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[From Delitzsch's 'Sprache der Kossaer.' Leipzig 1884. pp. 51-54.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Eerdmans, B. D.</span>—Babylonian-Assyrian Religion.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[In 'Progress,' a publication issued by the University Association, Chicago, +Ill. 3d series, No. 6 (1897), pp. 403-415.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Finzi, Felice.</span>—Ricerche per lo Studio dell' Antichita Assira. +(Rome 1872.) Libro Secondo. Mitologia, pp. 433-554.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[General sketch of the religion, more particularly of the pantheon and +legends of Babylonia and Assyria.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Guyard, S.</span>—Bulletin de la Religion Assyro-Babylonienne. RHR +I. 327-345; V. 253-278.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Halévy, Joseph.</span>—La Religion des Anciens Babyloniens et son +plus recent historien M. Sayce. RHR XVII. 169-218.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Elaborate review of Sayce's work on the 'Religion of the Babylonians,' +with summary of Halévy's own views.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Heuzey, Leon.</span>—Description of Monuments in De Sarzec's +'Découvertes en Chaldée.' (Paris 1889-1891.) pp. 77-240.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Contains much valuable information on religious art, votive objects, representations +of religious ceremonies. The publication is not yet complete.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Hewitt, J. F.</span>—Early History of Northern India, Part III. JRAS, +1889, 527-583.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[An attempt to trace the origin of Indian civilization to emigrants from +southern Babylonia. The investigation has little value.]</p></div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_712" id="Page_712">[Pg 712]</a></span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Hincks, Edward.</span>—On the Assyrian Mythology. RIA Transactions +XXII. Polite Literature, 1854, 405-422.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Hommel, F.</span>—Die Semitischen Völker und Sprachen. (Leipzig +1883.) pp. 356-396. Die Religion der alten Babylonier, +pp. 266-356. Sprache und Literatur der Sumero-Akkadier.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Specimens of hymns and incantations.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Jeremias, Friedrich.</span>—'Die Babylonier und Assyrier' in Chantepie +de la Saussaye's 'Lehrbuch der Religionsgeschichte.' (2d ed. +Freiburg 1897.) I. 163-221.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[An excellent sketch of the Babylonian-Assyrian religion.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lenormant, François.</span>—Les Sciences Occultes en Asie. I. La +Magie chez les Chaldéens et les Origines Accadiennes. II. La +Divination et la Science des Présages chez les Chaldéens. (Paris +1874-1875.)</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Also in English translation (in part) under the title 'Chaldaean Magic.' +London 1877.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Loisy, A.</span>—Études sur la Religion Chaldéo-Assyrienne. (RR, +1890-1892.)</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Seven articles.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Meyer, Ed.</span>—Geschichte des Alterthums. I. 174-183. (Stuttgart +1884.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mürdter und Delitzsch.</span>—Kurzgefasste Geschichte Babyloniens +und Assyriens. (2d ed. Stuttgart 1891.) pp. 23-53.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Oppert, J.</span>—'Babylone et Chaldée' in Lichtenberger's 'Encyclopedie +des Sciences Religieuses.'</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Pinches, T. G.</span>—The Religious Ideas of the Babylonians. JTVI +XXVIII. 1-22.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Pressensè, E. de.</span>—La Religion Chaldéo-Assyrienne. RHR XIV. +73-94.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Rawlinson, George.</span>—The Religions of the Ancient World. +(New York 1883.)</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Chapter II.—The Religion of the Assyrians and Babylonians.]</p></div> + +<p>---- The Religion of Assyria in 'Religious Systems of the World.' +(Swan Sonnenschein & Co. London 1896.) pp. 26-41.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Rawlinson, H. C.</span>—The Religion of the Babylonians and Assyrians.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[In George Rawlinson's 'The History of Herodotus.' London 1859. Vol. +I. Essay X.]</p></div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_713" id="Page_713">[Pg 713]</a></span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sayce, A. H.</span>—The Origin and Growth of Religion as Illustrated +by the Religion of the Ancient Babylonians. (London 1887.)</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Brilliant and suggestive, but unreliable in details. The translations +attached to the volume are to be accepted with caution. See Halévy's elaborate +review, RHR XVII. 169-218.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Strong, S. A.</span>—Die Religion der Babylonier.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Announced to appear.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Schwally, F.</span>—'Die Religion der Babylonier und Assyrier,' in +Friedrich von Hellwald's 'Kulturgeschichte in ihrer natürlichen +Entwicklung bis zur Gegenwart.' (4th ed. Leipzig 1896.) +I. 423-433.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Tiele, C. P.</span>—Babylonisch-Assyrische Geschichte. (1886.) pp. +515-557. Religion: Die Mythologie und Glaubenslehre.</p> + +<p>---- Vergelijkende Geschiedenis der Aegyptische en Mesopotamische +Godsdiensten. (Amsterdam 1869.) pp. 282-413. De Godsdienst +van Babel en Assur.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[French translation (abridged) by G. Collins, 'Histoire Comparée des Anciennes +Religions de l'Egypte et des Peuples Semitiques.' Paris 1882, +pp. 145-255. La Religion de Babylonie et de l'Assyrie. Also English translation +by J. Ballingue. 1882.]</p></div> + +<p>---- Geschichte der Religion im Alterthum bis auf Alexander den +Grossen. (Gotha 1895.) I. 127-216. Die Religion in Babylonien +und Assyrien.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Also in Dutch. Amsterdam 1893.]</p></div> + + +<h3>III.</h3> + +<h4>Pantheon, Gods, Spirits, Heroes.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Ball, C. J.</span>—Tammuz, the Swine-god. PSBA XVI. 195-200.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Barton, G. A.</span>—The Semitic Ishtar Cult. H IX. 131-165; X. +1-73.</p> + +<p>---- Was Ilu Ever a Distinct Deity in Babylonia? H X. 206, 207.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Bezold, C.</span>—A Cuneiform List of Gods. PSBA XI. 173, 174; +see also IX. 377.</p> + +<p>---- Note on the god Addu or Daddu. <i>Ib.</i> p. 377.</p> + +<p>---- Ueber Keilinschriftliche Babylonisch-Assyrische Göttertypen. +ZA IX. 114-125, 405-409.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_714" id="Page_714">[Pg 714]</a></span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Chwolson, D. A.</span>—Ueber Tammûz und die Menschenverehrung +bei den alten Babyloniern. (St. Petersburg 1860.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">De Cara, Caesare.</span>—Identificazione d'Iside e d'Osiride con Ishtar +ed Ashur. 8th ICO, Section Semitique 2<sup>me</sup> Fasc, 275-278.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Delitzche, Friedrich.</span>—Article on 'Thammuz' in 'Calwer, +Bibellexikon.' (Calw und Stuttgart 1885.)</p> + +<p>---- Articles on Dagon, Merodach, Nebo, Nergal, Nisroch, Rimmon. <i>Ib.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Eerdmans, B.</span>—Goddess  (or Malkatu) in 'Melekdienst en +Vereering von Hemellichamen in Israel's Assyrische Periode.' +(Leiden 1891.) pp. 73-82.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Guyard, S.</span>—Le Dieu Assyrien Ninib. RC, 1879, 1<sup>er</sup> Mars.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Hoffmann, G.</span>—Neue und Alte Götter (Nin-gal, Nusku, Ea, Nabu, +Gibil, Ninib, Nergal, Sin). ZA XI. 258-292.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Chiefly discussions of symbols of these deities found upon seal cylinders.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Hommell, Fritz.</span>—Die Identität der ältesten Babylonischen und +Aegyptischen Göttergenealogie und der Babylonische Ursprung +der Aegyptischen Kultur. 9th ICO II. 218-244.</p> + +<p>---- Note on Ninib. PSBA XIX. 312-314.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Jastrow, Morris, Jr.</span>—On the Assyrian Kuduru and the Ring of +the Sun-god in the Abu-Habba Tablet. PAOS, Oct. 1888. +XCV.-XCVIII.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Jensen, P.</span>—Ueber einige Sumero-Akkadische und Babylonisch-Assyrische +Götternamen. ZA, 1886. I. 1-24.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Anshar, Ashur, Igigi, Dûzu, or Tammuz. <i>Cf.</i> Schrader's remarks, +<i>ib.</i> pp. 209-217.]</p></div> + +<p>---- Die Götter Amurru und Ashratu. ZA XI. 302-305.</p> + +<p>---- Nik(k)al-Sharratu; Sharratu in Harran. ZA XI. 293-301.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Jeremias, A.</span>—Articles on Ashur, Marduk, Nebo, Nergal, Shamash, +Sin, Tammuz in Roscher's 'Ausführliches Lexikon der Griechischen +und Römischen Mythologie.'</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Articles on Adar, Anu, Anunnaki, Ea, Etana announced to appear in the +supplement to Roscher's 'Ausführliches Lexikon,' etc.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lenormant, François.</span>—Il mito di Adone-Tammuz nei documenti +cuneiformi. 4th ICO, 1878. I. 143-173.</p> + +<p>---- Sur le nom de Tammuz. 1st ICO II. 149-165.</p> + +<p>---- Les Dieux de Babylone et de l'Assyrie. (Paris 1877.)<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_715" id="Page_715">[Pg 715]</a></span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Luzzato, P.</span>—L'Existence d'un Dieu Assyrien nommé Semiramis. +JA, 4th Series, XVII. 465-480.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lyon, D. G.</span>—Was there at the Head of the Babylonian Pantheon +a Deity bearing the Name El? PAOS, May 1883, clxiv.-clxviii.</p> + +<p>---- The Pantheon of Assurbanipal. PAOS, Oct. 1888, xciv., xcv.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Menant, J.</span>—Le Mythe de Dagon. RHR XI. 295-301.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Also in 'Les Pierres Gravées de la Haute Asie. Recherches de la Glyptique +Orientale.' Paris 1883.]</p></div> + +<p>---- Le Panthéon Assyro-Chaldéen. Les Beltis. RHR VIII. 489-519.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[The representation of goddesses engraved on seal cylinders. See also +'Les Pierres Gravées de la Haute Asie,' etc., as above.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Meyer, Eduard.</span>—Articles Baal and Astarte (with references +to Bel and Ishtar) in Roscher's 'Ausführliches Lexikon der +Griechischen und Römischen Mythologie.'</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Nicolsky, M. V.</span>—La Déesse des Cylindres et des Statuettes Babyloniennes. +RAr, 3<sup>me</sup> série, XX. 36-43.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Offord, J.</span>—The Nude Goddess in Assyro-Babylonian Art. PSPA +XVIII. 156, 157.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Oppert, Jules.</span>—La Vraie Assimilation de la Divinité de Tello. +CR, 1884, 231-233.</p> + +<p>---- Le Dieu de Sirtella [<i>i.e.</i>, Lagash]. ZK II. 261, 262.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[M. Oppert accepts the reading Nin-girsu first proposed by Arthur Amlaud. +Ib. pp. 151, 152.]</p></div> + +<p>---- Adad. ZA IX. 310-314.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Discussion of pronunciation. See also Hilprecht, 'Assyriaca,' pp. 76-78, +and Jastrow, AJSL XII. 143.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Pinches, Theo. G.</span>—Note upon the divine name Â. PSBA XIII. +25-27, 42-56.</p> + +<p>---- Was Ninib the Most High God of Salem? Ib. XVI. 225-229.</p> + +<p>---- The Pronunciation of the Name of the Plague-god, Urra not +Dibbarra. BOR I. 207, 208.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[See Scheil, RT. XX. 57.]</p></div> + +<p>---- A Bilingual List of Assyrian Gods. Academy, 1887, No. 816.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[See Evetts, <i>ib.</i> No. 819.]</p></div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_716" id="Page_716">[Pg 716]</a></span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Rawlinson, H. C.</span>—Notes on Captain Durand's Report upon the +Islands of Bahrein. JRAS, 1880, 201-227.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Contains important remarks on the origin of Ea worship at the Persian +Gulf, pp. 202-208.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Reisner, George.</span>—The Different Classes of Babylonian Spirits. +PAOS, April 1892, cxcv., cxcvi.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Revillout, E. and V.</span>—Istar Taribi. BOR II. 57-59.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robiou, F. A.</span>—A Study on Egyptian and Babylonian Triads. +IAQR, 1894.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sayce, A. H.</span>—Who was Dagon? SST, 1893, No. 21.</p> + +<p>---- The God Ramman. ZA II. 331, 332.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Scheil, Fr. V.</span>—Le Dieu-roi Bur-Sin Planète. ZA XII. 265, 266.</p> + +<p>---- Ishtar sous la symbole de la vache. RT XX. 62.</p> + +<p>---- Le Culte de Gudea. RT XVIII. 64-74.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Schrader, E.</span>—Die Göttin Ishtar als Malkatu und Sharratu. ZA +III. 353-364; IV. 74, 75</p> + +<p>---- Die Malkat hash-Shamayim und ihr Aramäisch-Assyrisches +Aequivalent. KAW Sitzungsberichte, 1886, 477-491.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[See also Stade in ZATW VI. 123-132; 289-339; and Kuenen KAA +Afdeeling 'Letterkunde,' 1888, 157-189.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Talbot, H. Fox.</span>—The Legend of Ishtar Descending to Hades. +TSBA II. 179-212. See also RPI, 141-149.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Thureau-Daugin, Fr.</span>—La Lecture de l'Idéogramme AN-IM +(Ramman). JA, 9th Series, II. 385-393.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[See also Oppert, <i>ib.</i> pp. 393-396.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Tiele, C. P.</span>—- La Déesse Ishtar surtout dans le mythe Babylonien. +6th ICO, Part II. Section I. 493-506.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[See also discussion in the Comptes Rendus of the Congress, pp. 87-91.]</p></div> + +<p>---- Die Beteekenis van Ea en zijn verkoudung tot Marduk en Nabû. +KAA Verslagen en Mededeelingen 'Letterkunde,' 1887, 67-81.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ward, W. H.</span>—The Babylonian Gods in Babylonian Art. PAOS, +May 1890, xv.-xviii.</p> + +<p>---- Was there a Babylonian Gate-god? Academy, 1888, No. 847.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Winckler, H.</span>—Die Istar von Nineve in Egypten. MVG I. 286-289.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Witte, J. de.</span>—Sur le nom de Thamouz attribué à Adonis. M, +1887, 81 <i>seq.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Zehnpfund, R.</span>—Altbabylonische Götter und Heldensagen. BAZ, +1891, Nos. 39, 40, 52, 56, 63.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_717" id="Page_717">[Pg 717]</a></span></p> + +<h3>IV.</h3> + +<h4>Religious Texts.</h4> + +<p><i>Hymns, Incantations, Omens, Oracles, Prayers, Legends, Myths, Votive Texts.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ball, C. J.</span>—A Bilingual Hymn (IVR 46, 5-19) PSBA XV. +51-54.</p> + +<p>---- A Babylonian Ritual Text. JRAS, 1892, 841-853.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Banks, E. J.</span>—Sumerisch-Babylonische Hymnen der von George +Reisner herausgegebenen Sammlung, umschrieben, übersetzt +und erklärt. (Breslau 1897.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Barton, G. A.</span>—Esarhaddon's Account of the Restoration of Ishtar's +Temple at Erech. PAOS, May 1891, cxxx.-cxxxii.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Bertin, G.</span>—Akkadian Hymn to the Setting Sun. RP, new series, +II. 190-193.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Bezold, C.</span>—Remarks on Some Unpublished Cuneiform Syllabaries +with Respect to Prayers and Incantations written in Interlinear +Form. PSBA X. 418-423.</p> + +<p>---- Translation and Analysis of a Hymn to the Sun-god (Sp III.). +RA I. 157-161.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Boissier, Alfred.</span>—Deux Documents Assyriens relatifs aux Présages. +RS I. 63-70, 168-172.</p> + +<p>---- Documents Assyriens relatifs aux Présages.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Vols. I. and II., Paris 1894-1897. Vol. III. announced.]</p></div> + +<p>---- Notes d'Assyriologie. RS VI. 143-151.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Two texts—a Prayer and an Incantation.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Boscawen, W. St. Chad.</span>—The Babylonian Legend of the Serpent +Tempter. BOR IV. 251-255.</p> + +<p>---- Babylonian Teraphim. BOR I. 39, 40.</p> + +<p>---- The Legend of the Tower of Babel. RP III. 129-132; also +in the TSBA V. 303-312.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[The interpretation is erroneous.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Brünnow, R.</span>—Assyrian Hymns. ZA IV. 1-40, 225-258; V. 55-80.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Hymns to Shamash, Marduk, and Ishtar.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Budge, Ernest A.</span>—Assyrian Incantations to Fire and Water. +RP XI. 133-138; also in TSBA VI. 420-435.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_718" id="Page_718">[Pg 718]</a></span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Craig, Jas. A.</span>—Prayer of the Assyrian King Ashurbanipal. H X. +75-87.</p> + +<p>---- Assyrian and Babylonian Religious Texts, Vols. I. and II. +(Leipzig 1895-1897.) AB XIII.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Announces also volumes of texts (1) Prayers to Shamash and Ramman, +and (2) Series 'Illumination of Bel.']</p></div> + +<p>---- K 69 (a hymn). ZA XI. 276.</p> + +<p>---- An Assyrian Incantation to the God Sin, cir. 650 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span> H XI. +101-109.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Delattre, A. J.</span>—The Oracles Given in Favor of Esarhaddon. +RP, new series, III. 25-31; see also BOR III. 25-31.</p> + +<p>Delitzsch, Friedrich.—Babylonisch-Assyrisches Psalmbuch.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Announced to appear in the 'Abhandlungen der königlichen Gesellschaft +der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig.']</p></div> + +<p>---- Assyrische Lesestücke. (Leipzig 1885. 3d ed.)</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Contains a selection of religious texts as follows: pp. 93-99, Creation tablets; +99-104, Deluge episode; 117, 118, Oracle to Esarhaddon; 130-132, Incantations; +134-136, Hymn to Ishtar.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Evetts, B. T. A.</span>—An Assyrian Religious Text. PSBA X. 478, +479 and two plates.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Apparently a royal prayer.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Halévy, J.</span>—Assyrian Fragments. RP XI. 157-162.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Part of a hymn, of a penitential psalm, etc.]</p></div> + +<p>---- Documents religieux de l'Assyrie et de la Babylonie. (Paris +1882.)</p> + +<p>---- Textes religieux Babyloniens en double Redaction. RS IV. +150-160, 245-251, 344-348.</p> + +<p>---- 'Les Inscriptions peints de Citium' in 'Mélanges de Critique et +d'Histoire,' pp. 165-196.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Translation in large part and discussion of Ishtar's descent into the +nether world.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Harper, Edward T.</span>—Die Babylonischen Legenden von Etana, +Zu, Adapa und Dibbarra. BA II. 390-521.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[See also Academy 1891, No. 976.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Haupt, Paul.</span>—Akkadische und Sumerische Keilschrifttexte. (Leipzig +1881-1882.)</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Contains pp. 75-79, 82-106 Incantations; 79, 115-131 Hymns and Psalms.]</p></div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_719" id="Page_719">[Pg 719]</a></span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Jastrow, Morris, Jr.</span>—A fragment of the Babylonian "Dibbarra" +Epic. Publications of the University of Pennsylvania. Series +in Philology, Literature, and Archaeology, Vol. 1., No. 2. (Boston +1891.)</p> + +<p>---- A new Fragment of the Babylonian Etana Legend. BA III. +363-384.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Jensen, P.</span>—De Incantamentorum Sumerico-Assyrorum seriei quae +dicitur "surbu" Tabula VI. ZK I. 279-322; II. 15-61; also +306-311, 416-425.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Appeared as a revised and separate publication under same title with the +addition of the words "commentatio Philologica." Munich, Straub, 1885.]</p></div> + +<p>---- Hymnen auf das Wiedererscheinen der drei grossen Lichtgötter. +ZA II. 76-94, 191-204.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Hymns to Sin, Shamash, and Ishtar. A volume by Jensen, embodying +translation of religious texts is in course of preparation for +Schrader's 'Keitschriftliche Bibliothek.']</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Jeremias, A.</span>—Die Höllenfahrt der Ishtar. Eine altbabylonische +Beschwörungslegende. (Munich 1886.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">King, L. W.</span>—Babylonian Magic and Sorcery, being 'the Prayers +of the Lifting of the Hand.' (London 1896.)</p> + +<p>---- New Fragments of the Dibbarra Legend. ZA XI. 50-62.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Knudtzon, J. A.</span>—Assyrische Gebete an den Sonnengott für Staat +und königliches Haus aus der Zeit Asarhaddons und Assurbanipals. +Band I. Autographierte Texte; Band II. Einleitung, +Umschrift und Erklärung Verzeichnisse. (Leipzig 1893.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lenormant, François.</span>—Chaldaean Hymns to the Sun. RP X. +119-128.</p> + +<p>---- Hymne au Soleil. Texte primitif Accadien. JA, 7<sup>th</sup> Series, +XII. 378; XIII. 1-98; postscriptum <i>ib</i>. XIV. 264, 265.</p> + +<p>---- Une Incantation Magique Chaldéenne. RAr, 2<sup>d</sup> Series, XXXIV. +254-262.</p> + +<p>---- Lettres Assyriologiques. 2<sup>me</sup> Série Études Accadiennes, Vols. +II. and III. (Paris 1874-1879.)</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Contains numerous hymns and incantations accompanied by a French +translation.]</p></div> + +<p>---- Translations of religious texts in 'Les Origines de l'Histoire +d'après la Bible et les Traditions des Peuples orientaux.' (Paris +1880-1882.) 2 vols.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_720" id="Page_720">[Pg 720]</a></span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lyon, D. G.</span>—Assyrian and Babylonian Royal Prayers. PAOS, +October 1888. XCIII., XCIV.</p> + +<p>---- On a Sacrificial Tablet from Sippar. PAOS, May 1886, xxx.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Messerschmidt, L.</span>—Tabula VA. Th. 246, Babylonica Museï +Berolinensis primum editur commentarioque instruitur. (Kirchhain +1896.)</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[A hymn.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Oppert, J.</span>—'Chants et Invocations' in Eichoff and David 'Chef +d'œuvres litteraires de l'Inde, de la Perse, de l'Egypte et de la +Chine.' (Paris.) II. 211-219.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Translations of selected prayers, hymns, and incantations.]</p></div> + +<p>—— Fragments Mythologiques. (Paris 1882.)</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Reprints of several articles.]</p></div> + +<p>---- Translation of III. Rawlinson, pl. 65, in JA, 6<sup>th</sup> Series, XVIII. +449-453.</p> + +<p>---- Hymnes en Sumerien et en Accadien ou Assyrien, 1st ICO. +II. 217-224.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[A hymn to Ishtar in dialogue form.]</p></div> + +<p>---- Le Champ Sacré de la Déesse Ninâ. CR, 1893, 326-344. See +also ZA VII. 360-374.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Contains important remarks about the goddess Ninâ, in connection with +the text published by Hilprecht, 'Old Babylonian Inscriptions', I. 1, pls. 30, 31.]</p></div> + +<p>---- Traduction de Quelques Textes Assyriens.... Louange du +Dieu Nibir et de ses sept Attributions. 4th ICO I. 233-235.</p> + +<p>---- L'Immortalité de l'âme chez les Chaldéens. (Paris 1875.)</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Legend of Ishtar's descent to the lower world.]</p></div> + +<p>---- Chant en Sumerien et en Assyrien sur une épidémie. JA, 7<sup>th</sup> +Series, I. 289-293.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Translation of tablet K 1284 (incantation against Namtar) and of IIR 19.]</p></div> + +<p>---- Notice sur d'anciennes formules d'Incantation et autres dans +une langue antérieure au Babylonien. JA, 7<sup>th</sup> Series, I. 113-122.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Translation of II Rawl. 17, 18.]</p></div> + +<p>---- Babylonian legends found at Khorsabad. RP XI. 41-44.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[See also translations of various religious texts in 'Expedition Scientifique +en Mesopotamie,' pp. 328-350.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Peiser, F. E.</span>—Ein Satz in den Beschwörungsformeln. ZA II. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_721" id="Page_721">[Pg 721]</a></span>102, 103.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Pinches</span>, T. G.—An Erechite's Lament. RP, new series, I. 84, 85.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[A penitential psalm with historical references; see also BOR I, 21-23.]</p></div> + +<p>---- The Oracle of Ishtar of Arbela. RP XI. 59-72; also RP, +new series, V. 129-140.</p> + +<p>---- Sin-Gashid's Gift to the Temple Ê-Ana. BOR I. 8-11. See +also RP, new series, I. 78-83.</p> + +<p>---- and E. A. W. <span class="smcap">Budge</span>.—Some New Texts in the Babylonian +Character, relating Principally to the Restoration of Temples. +PSBA, 1884. pp. 179-182.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Rawlinson, H. C.</span>—A Selection from the Miscellaneous Inscriptions +of Western Asia. Vol. IV. 2d ed. revised (and with +additions) by T. G. Pinches. (London 1891.)</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[This fourth volume of the publications of tablets in the British Museum +is almost exclusively devoted to religious texts. In the other volumes some +texts of this character will be found as follows: Vol. II. pls. 17-19, incantations; +51-61, names and titles of gods and temples; miscellaneous. Vol. +III. pls. 61-65, astronomical and astrological reports, omen tablets and portents; +66-69, lists and titles of gods and temples; miscellaneous. Vol. V. +pl. 31, omen tablets (with explanations); 43, titles of Nebo, etc.; 46, No. 2, +lists of gods and their epithets; 47, prayer (with commentary); 48, 49, religious +calendar; 50, 51, hymn to Shamash. Note also that many of the historical +tests in Vols. I.-V. contain invocations to gods.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Reisner, George.</span>—Sumerisch-Babylonische Hymnen nach Thontafeln +Griechischer Zeit. (Berlin 1896.) Königliche Museen +zu Berlin. Mittheilungen aus den Orientalischen Sammlungen +No. X.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sayce, A. H.</span>—Accadian Hymn to Istar. RP I. 155-160.</p> + +<p>---- Accadian Poem on the Seven Evil Spirits. <i>Ib.</i> IX. 144-148.</p> + +<p>---- An Accadian Liturgy. <i>Ib.</i> III. 125-130.</p> + +<p>---- An Accadian Penitential Hymn. <i>Ib.</i> VII. 151-156.</p> + +<p>---- Ancient Babylonian Charms. <i>Ib.</i> III. 145-154.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Shurpu Series, 6th Tablet.]</p></div> + +<p>---- An Assyrian Talismanic Tablet. BOR III. 17, 18.</p> + +<p>---- Babylonian Augury by means of Geometrical Figures. TSBA +IV. 302-314.</p> + +<p>----Fragment of an Assyrian Prayer after a Bad Dream. RP IX. +149-152.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_722" id="Page_722">[Pg 722]</a></span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sayce, A. H.</span>—Babylonian Exorcisms. <i>Ib.</i> I. 131-135.</p> + +<p>---- Tables of Omens Furnished by Dogs and Births. <i>Ib.</i> V. 167-176.</p> + +<p>---- The Dedication of three Babylonians to the service of the Sun-god +at Sippara. RP, new series, IV. 109-113.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Interpretation false.]</p></div> + +<p>---- The Overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah (Accadian Account). +RP XI. 115-118.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Title, translation, and Interpretation alike fanciful.]</p></div> + +<p>---- Two Accadian Hymns. <i>Ib.</i> XI. 129-132.</p> + +<p>---- Two Hymns to the Sun-god [in preface, pp. ix.-x., to RP, new +series, IV., 1890].</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Copious translations of magical texts, hymns, legends, etc., by Sayce in +Hibbert Lectures on 'The Religion of the Ancient Babylonians.' London +1887. See especially pp. 441-540.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Scheil, F. V.</span>—Psaume de Pénitence Chaldéen inedit, RB, 1896, +75-78.</p> + +<p>---- Legende Chaldéenne trouvée à El-Amarna [Adapa]. RR +Mars-Avril 1891.</p> + +<p>---- Choix des Textes Religieux Assyriens. RHR XXXVI. 197-207.</p> + +<p>----Fragments de Poésie lyrique Babylonienne. RB VI. 28-30.</p> + +<p>----Fragment mythologique avec mention de Uddushu-namir patesi. +RT XX. 62, 63.</p> + +<p>---- Hymne Babylonien avec metre appartent. ZA XI. 291-298.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Schrader, E.</span>—Die Höllenfahrt der Ishtar. Ein Altbabylonisches +Epos. (Giessen 1874.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Smith, S. A.</span>—Miscellaneous Texts. (Leipzig 1887.) pp. 1-5, 8-10.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Portions of the Creation Series.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Strong, S. Arthur.</span>—A Prayer of Assurbanipal. RP, new series, +VI. 102-106; also 9th ICO II. 199-208.</p> + +<p>---- Note on a Fragment of the Adapa Legend. PSBA XX. 274-279.</p> + +<p>---- On Some Oracles to Esarhaddon and Assurbanipal. BA II. +627-645.</p> + +<p>---- Votive Inscriptions. RP, new series, IV. 90-95.</p> + +<p>---- A Hymn to Nebuchadnezzar. PSBA XX. 154-162.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_723" id="Page_723">[Pg 723]</a></span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Talbot, H. Fox.</span>—A Prayer and a Vision. TSBA I. 346-348 and +RP VII. 65-68.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Ashurbanabal's prayer to Ishtar and dream sent by the goddess.]</p></div> + +<p>---- Assyrian Sacred Poetry. RP III. 131-138.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Prayers and incantations.]</p></div> + +<p>---- Assyrian Talismans and Exorcisms. <i>Ib.</i> III. 139-144.</p> + +<p>---- War of the Seven Evil Spirits Against Heaven. <i>Ib.</i> V. 161-166.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Incantation text]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Tallquist, K. L.</span>—Die Assyrische Beschwörungsserie Maqlû. +(Leipzig 1894.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Weissbach, F. H.</span>—Ueber die ersten Tafeln im IV. Bande Rawlinsons.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Announced.]</p></div> + +<p>---- Eine Sumerisch-Assyrische Beschwörungsformel IV. Rawl. 16, +No. 1 in 'Melanges Charles de Harlez.' (Leiden 1896.) +pp. 360-371.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Winckler, H. and Abel Ludwig.</span>—Thontafelfund von El-Amarna. +(Berlin 1891.)</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Vol III. pp. 166, <i>a</i> and <i>b</i>. Legend of Adapa; see Erman In +KAW Sitzungsberichte XXIII. 585; Lehmann, ZA III. 380; other +mythological fragments, pp. 164-165.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Zimmern, Heinrich.</span>—Babylonische Busspsalmen, umschrieben, +übersetzt und erklärt. (Leipzig 1885.) BA VI.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Also published in part as a thesis.]</p></div> + +<p>---- Beiträge zur Kenntniss der Babylonischen Religion. Erste +Lieferung. Die Beschwörungslafeln Shurpu. (Leipzig 1896.) +AB XII.</p> + +<p>---- Zusatzbemerkungen zur Legende von Adapa. BA II. 437, 438.</p> + +<p>---- Hexenbeschwörungen bei den Babyloniern. BAZ, 1891, No. +337.</p> + +<p>---- An Old Babylonian Legend from Egypt [Adapa]. SST, 1892, +No. 25.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_724" id="Page_724">[Pg 724]</a></span></p> + +<h3>V.</h3> + +<h4>Cosmology.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Barton, G. A.</span>—Tiâmat. JAOS XV. 1-28; also PAOS, May +1890, xiii.-xv.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Brunengo, Giuseppe.</span>—L'Impero di Babilonia e di Ninive. (2 +vols. Prato 1885.) Capo I. La Cosmogonia de Caldei comparata +alla Mosaica, pp. 67-85. Capo II. La Ribellione degli +Angeli e la Caduta del Uomo, (<i>i.e.</i>, Marduk and Tiâmat story), +pp. 86-108. Capo IV. La Storia del Diluvio, pp. 124-140.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Budge, E. A. W.</span>—The Fourth Tablet of the Creation Series, relating +to the fight between Marduk and Tiâmat. PSBA VI. 5-11.</p> + +<p>----Fourth Tablet of the Creation Series. PSBA X. 86 and six pls.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Delitzsch, Friedrich.</span>—Texte zur Weltschöpfung und zur Auflehnung +und Bekämpfung der Schlange Tiâmat. AL, 3d ed., +1885. pp. 93-99.</p> + +<p>---- Das Babylonische Weltschöpfungsepos. (Leipzig 1896.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Engel, Moritz.</span>—Die Lösung der Paradiesfrage. (Leipzig 1885.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Halévy, J.</span>—La Cosmologie Babylonienne d'après M. Jensen. +RHR XXII. 180-208.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Summary and critique of Jensen's 'Kosmologie der Babylonier.']</p></div> + +<p>---- Recherches Bibliques—L'Histoire des Origines d'après la +Genèse. Texte, Traduction et Commentaire. Tome I. Genèse +I.-XXV. (Paris 1895.)</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Contains translations of the Babylonian Cosmological Texts, and discusses +their bearings on the O. T. narrative. A most suggestive work.]</p></div> + +<p>---- Recherches Bibliques—Chapter 28, La Création et les Vicissitudes +du Premier Homme. RS I. 101-117, 193-202.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Transliteration, translation, and discussion of the Babylonian Creation +Tablets.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Hommel, F.</span>—Eine Neugefundene Weltschöpfungslegende. DR, +1892, 105-114; see also Neue Kirchliche Zeitung, I. 393 <i>seq.</i>, +II. 89 <i>seq.</i></p> + +<p>---- The Oldest Cosmogony. SST, 1891, No. 7.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Jensen, P.</span>—Die Kosmologie der Babylonier. Studien und Materialien. +(Strassburg 1890.)<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_725" id="Page_725">[Pg 725]</a></span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Jensen, P.</span>—Ursprung und Geschichte des Tierkreises. DR, 1890, +112-116.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lajard, F.</span>—Fragments d'un Mémoire sur le Système théogonique +et cosmogonique des Assyriens ou des Chaldéens d'Assyrie. +JA, 2<sup>d</sup> Series, XIV. 114-143.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Laurie, Thomas.</span>—Cuneiform Inscriptions and the Deluge. +Bibliotheca Sacra, XLII. 165-168.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lenormant, F.</span>—Essai de Commentaire sur les Fragments cosmogoniques +de Berose. (Paris 1871.)</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[An elaborate treatise on the traditions of Berosus in connection with the +cuneiform account of creation.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Loisy, A.</span>—Les Mythes Chaldéens de la Création et du Déluge. +(Amiens 1892.) RR, 1896.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[From RR, 1890-1891. See §I.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lukas, FR.</span>—Die Grundbegriffe in den Kosmogonieen der Alten +Völker. 1893. pp. 1-46.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Translations by Jensen, pp. 1-14. Die Kosmogonie der Babylonler und +der Genesis.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Müller, D. H.</span>—Die Propheten in ihrer Ursprünglichen Form. +(Wien 1895.) pp. 6-13.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Translation of considerable portions of the Babylonian creation narratives. +Follows Zimmern.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Muss-Arnolt, W.</span>—The Cuneiform Account of the Creation. Revised +translation. BW III. 17-27.</p> + +<p>---- A Comparative Study of the Translations of the Babylonian +Creation Tablets, with special reference to Jensen's 'Kosmologie' +and Barton's 'Tiâmat.' H IX. 6-23.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Oppert, J.</span>—Fragments Cosmogoniques in Ledrain's 'Histoire +d'Israel.' (Paris 1882.) pp. 411-422.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Translation of Creation Series of tablets of deluge.]</p></div> + +<p>---- Le Poème Chaldéen du Déluge. (Paris 1885.)</p> + +<p>---- Die Fragmente der Epopöen welche die Schöpfung und Sintfluth +nach babylonischer Auffassung betreffen. Verhandlungen +Deutscher Philologen und Schulmänner, XXXIV. 128, 129.</p> + +<p>---- Traductions de quelques textes Assyriens.—Fragments des +Récits de la Création.—Guerre de Merodach et Tiâmat. 4th +ICO, 229-238.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_726" id="Page_726">[Pg 726]</a></span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Pinches, T. G.</span>—A Babylonian Duplicate of Tablets I. and II. of +the Creation Series. BOR IV. 25-33.</p> + +<p>---- The New Version of the Creation Story. 9th ICO, 1892. II. +190-198; also JRAS, 1891, 393-408; and Academy, 1890, +Nos. 968, 974, and the Times, 1889, Dec. 16.</p> + +<p>---- The Non-Semitic Version of the Creation Story. RP, new +series, VI. 107-114.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sayce, H.</span>—The Assyrian Story of the Creation. RP, new series, +I. 122-146.</p> + +<p>---- Babylonian Legend of the Creation RP XI. 109-114.</p> + +<p>---- The Babylonian Story of the Creation according to the Tradition +of Cutha. RP, new series, I. 147-153.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Schrader, E.</span>—Cuneiform Inscriptions and the Old Testament. +(London 1885.) I. 1-22.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Translation of portions of the Creation Series with comments; third +German edition announced.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Smith, George.</span>—The Chaldaean Account of Genesis. (2d ed. +London 1881.) German trans, ed. by Friedrich Delitzsch +(Leipzig 1876), under the title 'Chaldaeische Genesis.'</p> + +<p>---- On Some Fragments of the Chaldaean Account of the Creation. +TSBA IV. 363, 364.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Stucken, Ed.</span>—Astralmythen der Hebraer, Babylonier und +Aegypter. I. und II. Theil. (Leipzig 1896-1897.)</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Rather fanciful.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Talbot, H. Fox.</span>—The Fight between Bel and the Dragon. RP +IX. 135-140.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Portion of the Creation Series.]</p></div> + +<p>---- The Fight between Bel and the Dragon and the Flaming Sword +which turned every way. TSBA V. 1-21.</p> + +<p>---- The Chaldaean Account of the Creation. RP IX. 115-118; +also TSBA V. 426-440.</p> + +<p>---- The Revolt in Heaven, from a Chaldaean Tablet. TSBA IV. +349-362.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Portions of the Creation Series.]</p></div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_727" id="Page_727">[Pg 727]</a></span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Warren, W. F.</span>—Paradise Found. 10 ed. (Boston 1893.) Part IV. +chapter 6. The Cradle of the Race in Akkadian, Assyrian, and +Babylonian Thought.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Discussion in connection with a general theory of the site of paradise.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ward, W. Hayes.</span>—Contest between Bel-Merodach and the Dragon. +PAOS, May 1879. X.</p> + +<p>---- Dragon and Serpent in Chaldaean Mythology. PAOS, Oct. +1879, xvii.</p> + +<p>---- Bel and the Dragon. AJSL XIV. 94-105.</p> + +<p>---- The Dragon Tiâmat in Babylonian and Assyrian Art. PAOS, +Oct. 1889, clxviii-clxix.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Zimmern, H.</span>—Translations of the Babylonian Creation and Deluge +Stories in Gunkel's 'Schöpfung und Chaos,' pp. 401-428.</p> + +<p>---- 'König Tukulli bëi nisi und die Kuthaische Schöpfungslegende.' +ZA XII. 317-330.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Translation of the Cuthaean Version of the Creation Story.]</p></div> + + +<h3>VI.</h3> + +<h4>The Gilgamesh Epic</h4> + +<h4>(<i>including the Deluge Story.</i>)</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Adler, C.</span>—The Legends of Semiramis and the Nimrod Epic. +JHUC, No. 55.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Boscawen, W. St. Chad.</span>—Hymn to Gilgames. BOR VII. +121-125.</p> + +<p>---- The Twelfth Izdubar Legend. RP IX. 131-134.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Casanowicz, I. M.</span>—Professor Haupt's Nimrod Epic. JHUC, +No. 98.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Cheyne, T. K.</span>—Nimrod, a Kassite King. Academy, 1895, No. 47.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">De Lacouperie, Terrien.</span>—The Deluge Tradition and its Remains +in Ancient Chaldaea. BOR pp. 15-24, 49-55, 79-88, 102-111.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Delitzsch, Friedrich.</span>—Article 'Nimrod' in 'Calwer Bibellexikon.'</p> + +<p>---- Die Sintflutherzählung oder die elfte Tafel des Nimrod Epos. +AL. (3d ed. Leipzig 1885.) 99-109.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dryoff, K.</span>—Wer ist Chadir? ZA XII. 319-327.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_728" id="Page_728">[Pg 728]</a></span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Grivel, Josef.</span>—Nimrod et les Ecritures Cunéiformes. TSBA +III, 136-144.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Proposed identification of Nimrod and Marduk. See also Sayce, below.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Hamilton, L. le Cenci.</span>—Ishtar and Izdubar, the Epic of Babylon. +Restored in modern verse. Vol. I. Illustrated. (London +1884.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Harper, E. T.</span>—The Legend of Etana, Gilgamos and his Kindred +in Folklore. Academy, 1891, No. 995; see also Nos. 985, 987, +988.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Haupt, Paul.</span>—The Cuneiform Account of the Deluge. OTS, +1883, 77-85.</p> + +<p>---- Das babylonische Nimrodepos. Keilschrifttext der sogenannten +Izdubarlegenden mit dem Keilinschriftlichen Sintfluthberichte, +nach den Originalen im Britischen Museum copiert und +herausgegeben. (Leipzig 1884-1891.) 2 vols. AB III.</p> + +<p>---- Die zwölfte Tafel des Babylonischen Nimrodepos. BA I. +48-79.</p> + +<p>---- On Two Passages in the Chaldaean Flood Tablet. PAOS, +March 1894, CV.-CXI.</p> + +<p>---- On Some Passages in the Cuneiform Account of the Deluge, +with special reference to the first column of the tablet. JHUC, +No. 69.</p> + +<p>---- Ergebnisse einer neuen Collation der Izubar Legenden. BA I. +94-152. See Halévy ZA IV. 61.</p> + +<p>---- On the Dimensions of the Babylonian Ark. PAOS, Oct. 1888, +lxxxix.-xc.; see also AJP IX. 419-424.</p> + +<p>---- Der Keilinschriftliche Sintfluthbericht. Eine Episode des babylonischen +Nimrodepos. (Leipzig 1881.)</p> + +<p>---- Der Keilinschriftliche Sintfluthbericht. Umschrift, Uebersetzung, +und Erläuterungen in Schrader's 'Die Keilinschriften und das +Alte Testament,' 3d ed., 1898.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Latest and most satisfactory translation.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Hoffmann, G.</span>—Die Dubar-Sage und der Keilinschriftliche Sintfluthbericht. +Die Grenzboten, Jahrgang 47.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Hommel, F.</span>—Gis-dubarra, Gibilgamish, Nimrod. PSBA XV. 291-300; +XVI. 13-15.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_729" id="Page_729">[Pg 729]</a></span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Heuzey, L.</span>—La Lance Colossale d'Izbubar et les Nouvelles +Formeles de M. de Sarzec. AI. Bulletin 1893, 305.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Jastrow, Morris, Jr.</span>—The New Version of the Babylonian +Account of the Deluge. The Independent, Feb. 10, 17, 1898.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Jensen, P.</span>—Gishgimash (=Gilgamish) ein Kossaer? ZA VI. +340-342.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Jeremias, A.</span>—Article 'Izdubar' in Roscher's 'Ausführliches Lexikon +der Griechischen und Römischen Mythologie.' Vol. II. +cols. 773-823.</p> + +<p>---- Izdubar-Nimrod. Eine Altbabylonische Heldensage nach den +Keilschriftfragmenten dargestellt. (Leipzig 1891.) See also +article by Quentin in RHR XXXI. 162-177.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lenormant, F.</span>—Le Déluge et l'Épopée Babylonienne. (Paris 1873.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lidzbarski.</span>—Zu den Arabischen Alexandergeschichten. ZA +VIII. 263-312. See also <i>ib</i>., 317-319.</p> + +<p>---- Wer ist Chadhir? ZA VII. 104-116.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Meissner, Bruno.</span>—Alexander und Gilgamos. (Leipzig 1894.)</p> + +<p>---- Einige Bemerkungen zur Erklärung des Sintfluthberichtes. +ZA III. 417-421.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Menant, J.</span>—Le Déluge. Noé dans l'arche. (Paris 1880.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Moor, Fl.</span>—De la Geste de Gilgames confrontée avec la Bible et +avec les Documents Historiques indigènes. M, June 1897.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Muss-Arnolt, W.</span>—The Chaldaean Account of the Deluge. A +revised translation. BW III. 109-118.</p> + +<p>---- Remarks Introductory to a Comparative Study on the Translations +of the Deluge Tablets. PAOS, April 1892, cxc.-cxcv.; +also JHUC, No. 98.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Offord, J.</span>—A New Fragment of the Babylonian Deluge Story. +PSBA XX. 53, 54.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Scheil's tablet from Sippara.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Oppert, J.</span>—The Chaldaean Perseus. BOR V. 1, 2; also CR, +1890, 464, 465.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Identification of Izdubar-Gilgamesh with Gilgamos in Aelian's zoölogical +work 'De Natura Animalium,' XII. 21. See also Sayce in the Academy, 1890, +No. 966; Ward, <i>ib</i>., No. 971; and Kohler, <i>ib</i>., 1891, No. 985.]</p></div> + +<p>---- Nimrod. Bulletin de l'Athenée Orientale, 1873, Jan.-Feb.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_730" id="Page_730">[Pg 730]</a></span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Oppert, J.</span>—Le Poème Chaldéen du Déluge. Traduit de l'Assyrien. +(Paris 1885.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Pinches, T. G.</span>—Exit Gishtubar. BOR IV, 264.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Proposal to read the name of the Babylonian hero Gilgamesh. <i>Cf.</i> Sayce +in Academy, 1890, No. 966, and Ward, <i>ib.</i>, No. 971.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Rawlinson, H. C.</span>—The Izdubar Legends. Athenaeum, 1872, +No. 2354.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Rochette, Raoul.</span>—Mémoire sur l'Hercule Assyrien et Phenicien. +AI Mémoires, 2<sup>me</sup> Partie, XVII. 9-374.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sauveplane, F.</span>—Une Épopée Babylonienne. Ishtubar-Gilgames. +(Paris 1894.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sayce, A. H.</span>—On Nimrod and the Assyrian Inscription. TSBA +II. 248, 249; see also Academy, 1893, No. 1054.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Proposed identification of Nimrod with Amar-ud = Marduk, the head of +the Babylonian Pantheon.]</p></div> + +<p>---- The Higher Criticism and the Verdict of the Monuments. +(London 1894.) pp. 97-119.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Scheil, F. V.</span>—Notes d'Epigraphie et d'Archéologie Assyrienne. +XXX. Un Fragment d'un Nouveau Récit du Déluge de +l'Époque du Roi Ammizaduga. RT XX. 55-59; see also RB, +1898, 5-9.</p> + +<p>---- The New Babylonian Account of the Deluge. The Independent, +Jan. 20, 1898.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Smith, George.</span>—The Chaldaean Account of the Deluge. TSBA +II. 203-234.</p> + +<p>---- The Eleventh Tablet of the Izdubar Legends. The Chaldaean +Account of the Deluge. TSBA III. 530-596; also RP VII. 133.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Suess, Ed.</span>—Die Sintfluth in 'Das Antlitz der Erde.' (Leipzig +1883.) pp. 25-98.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Discussion of the Babylonian tale with notes by Prof. Paul Haupt.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Talbot, H. Fox.</span>—Ishtar and Izdubar, being the 6th Tablet of the +Izdubar Series. Translated from the Cuneiform. TSBA +V. 97-121; also RP IX. 119-128.</p> + +<p>---- Commentary on the Deluge Tablet. TSBA IV. 49-83.</p> + +<p>---- Tablet in the British Museum Relating Apparently to the Deluge. +TSBA IV. 129-131.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Talbot's supposition is erroneous.]</p></div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_731" id="Page_731">[Pg 731]</a></span></p> + +<h3>VII.</h3> + +<h4>Beliefs, Legends, Ethics, and Special Phrases of the Religion.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Ader, Cyrus.</span>—The Views of the Babylonians Concerning Life +after Death. AR, 1888, 92-101; see also PAOS, Oct. 1887, +ccxxxviii.-ccxliii.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ball, C. J.</span>—Glimpses of Babylonian Religion. I. Human Sacrifices. +II. The Gods and Their Images. PSBA XIV. 149-162.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Bonavia, E.</span>—The Sacred Trees of the Assyrian Monuments. +BOR III. 7-12, 35-40, 56-61; see also IV. 95, 96.</p> + +<p>---- The Sacred Trees of Assyria. 9th ICO, pp. 245-257.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Arguments not conclusive.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Boscawen, W. St. Chad.</span>—Notes on the Religion and Mythology +of the Assyrians. TSBA IV. 267-301.</p> + +<p>---- Texts Bearing on the Belief in Immortality. (1) 12<sup>th</sup> Izdubar +Tablet. (2) Descent of Ishtar. (3) 7<sup>th</sup> Izdubar Tablet. +(4) Hymn to Marduk. BOR IV. 251-254.</p> + +<p>---- Babylonian Witchcraft. ET, 1898, 228-230.</p> + +<p>---- Notes on Assyrian Religion and Mythology. TSBA VI. 535-542.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Translations of some religious texts. General remarks.]</p></div> + +<p>---- Babylonian Teraphim. BOR I. 39, 40.</p> + +<p>---- The Babylonian Legend of the Serpent Tempter. BOR IV. +251-255.</p> + +<p>---- Oriental Eschatology (Egypt and Chaldaea). BOR VI. 38-42.</p> + +<p>---- The Plague Legends of Chaldaea. BOR I. 11-14.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Clermont-Ganneau.</span>—L'Enfer Assyrien. RAr, 2d Series, +XXXVIII. 337-349.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Craig, James A.</span>—The Babylonian Ishtar Epic. OTS VIII. +249-256.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Goessling, E.</span>—Die Hölle nach Babylonisch-Assyrischer Anschauung. +TZ, 1895, No. 3.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Halévy, J.</span>—L'Immortalité de l'Âme chez les Peuples Semitiques. +RAr, 2d Series, XLIV. 44-53.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Translation and discussion of Ishtar's descent into the nether world.]</p></div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_732" id="Page_732">[Pg 732]</a></span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Halévy, J.</span>—Le Rapt de Perséphoné ou Proserpine par Pluton +chez les Babyloniens. RS I. 372-376.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Haug, M.</span>—Die Unsterblichkeit der Seele bei den Chaldäern. +BAZ, 1875, Nos. 70, 71.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Heuzey, L.</span>—Mythes Chaldéens. RA, 3d Series, XXVI. 295-308.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Hilprecht, H. V.</span>—Serpent and Tree in Babylonian Records. +SST, 1893, No. 52.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Hincks, Edward.</span>—On the Assyrian Mythology. RIA Memoirs, +1854, 405-422.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Hommel, F.</span>—Hexenverbrennungen im alten Babylonien. Münchener +Neueste Nachrichten, 1896, No. 415.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Jastrow, Morris, Jr.</span>—The Ethics of the Babylonians and Assyrians. +ER. III. 65-77.</p> + +<p>---- The Babylonian Term Shu'âlu. AJSL XIV. 165-170.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Jensen, Peter.</span>—The Queen in the Babylonian Hades and Her +Consort. SST, 1897, Nos. 11, 12.</p> + +<p>---- The Supposed Babylonian Origin of the Week and the Sabbath. +SST, 1892, No. 3.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Jeremias, A.</span>—Die Babylonisch-Assyrischen Vorstellungen vom +Leben nach dem Tode. (Leipzig 1897.)</p> + +<p>---- Articles 'Arallu' and 'Etana.'</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Announced to appear in the supplement to Roscher's 'Ausführliches +Lexikon der Griechischen und Römischen Mythologie.']</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Kiesewetter, Carl.</span>—Der Occultismus des Alterthums. (Leipzig +1896.) Book I. 364 <i>seq.</i>, 'Der Occultismus bei den Akkadern, +Babyloniern, Chaldäern und Assyriern.'</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Based largely upon Lenormant's 'Chaldaean Magic.']</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Laurent, A.</span>—La Magie et la Divination chez les Chaldéo-Assyriens. +(Paris 1894.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lenormant, F.</span>—La Legende de Semiramis. (Paris 1872.)</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[A transformed Ishtar legend.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Oppert, J.</span>—L'Immortalité de l'Âme chez les Chaldéens. (Paris +1875.)</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Translation of Ishtar's descent into the nether world.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Pinches, T. G.</span>—The Messianic Idea among the Early Babylonians +and Assyrians. Academy, 1887, Nos. 816, 818, 820.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_733" id="Page_733">[Pg 733]</a></span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ravenshaw, E. C.</span>—On the Winged Bulls, Lions, and Other Symbolical +Figures from Nineveh. JRAS, 1854, 93-117.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Contains some interesting suggestions on Babylonian mythology, but the +paper as a whole is antiquated.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sayce, A. H.</span>—Ancient Babylonian Moral and Political Precepts. +RP VII. 119-122.</p> + +<p>---- The Babylonian Legend of the Creation of Man. Academy, +1893, No. 1055.</p> + +<p>---- Babylonian Folk-Lore. FLJ I. 16-22.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Scheil, Fr. V.</span>—Relief Ciselé représentant une Scène Funéraire +Babylonienne. RT XX. 59-62.</p> + +<p>---- Le Culte de Gudéa. RT XVIII. 64-74.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Talbot, H. Fox.</span>—On the Religious Belief of the Assyrians. Nos. +I., II., III., IV. TSBA I. 106-115; II. 29-79, 346-352.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[No. I. contains text and translation of two prayers; Nos. II and III., Incantation +Texts; No. IV., Future Punishment of the Wicked.]</p></div> + +<p>---- Legend of the Descent of Ishtar. RP I. 141-149.</p> + +<p>---- Revised Translation of the Descent of Ishtar with a Further +Commentary. TSBA III. 118-135. Addenda pp. 357-360.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Thureau-Daugin, F.</span>—Le Culte des Rois dans la Période Prébabylonienne. +RT XIX. 185-187.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Tiele, C. P.</span>—Cyrus de Groote en de Godsdienst van Babel in 'Melanges, +Charles de Harlez' (Leiden 1896), 307-312.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Tyler, Thomas.</span>—The Babylonian Idea of a Disembodied Soul. +BOR I. 55-57.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Tylor, Edward B.</span>—The Winged Figures of the Assyrians and +Other Ancient Monuments. PSBA XII. 383-393; see also +RHR XXII. 209-220.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Explanation of the symbols on Assyrian sculptures.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ward, W. H.</span>—On the Representation of the Solar Disk. AJT +II. 115-118.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Warren, W. F.</span>—Gates of Sunrise in Ancient Babylonian Art. +BOR III. 241-244.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Zimmern, H.</span>—Vater, Sohn und Fürsprecher in der Babylonischen +Gottesvorstellung. (Leipzig 1896.)</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[See review by Jastrow, AJT I. 468-474.]</p></div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_734" id="Page_734">[Pg 734]</a></span></p> + +<h3>VIII.</h3> + +<h4>Temples and Cult.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Ball, C. J.</span>—Glimpses of Babylonian Religion. I. Human Sacrifices. +II. The Gods and Their Images. PSBA XIV. 149-162.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Boscawen, W. St. Chad.</span>—The Babylonian and Jewish Festivals. +BOR IV. 34-38.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">D'Alviella, Goblet.</span>—Des Symboles qui ont influencé la Représentation +figurée des Pierres Comiques chez les Semites. RHR +XX. 135-150.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Jeremias, Johann.</span>—Die Cultustafel von Sippar. BA I. 267-92.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[An important archive of the Sharmash temple at Sippar, illustrative of +the cult.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Karppe, S.</span>—Mélanges de Critique Biblique et d'Assyriologie. +RS II. 146-151.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[The Babylonian festival Zagmuk und the Biblical New Year.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Koldewey, Robert.</span>—Die altbabylonischen Gräber in Surghul +und El Hibba. ZA II. 403-430.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Funeral customs.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Kohut, A.</span>—The Talmudic Records of the Persian and Babylonian +Festivals critically illustrated. AJSL XIV. 182-194. See +also REJ XXIV. 256-271.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Insufficient discussion.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Menant.</span>—Les Sacrifices sur les Cylindres Chaldéens. Gazette +Archeologique, 1883, Nos. 7-9.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Perrot & Chiplez.</span>—A History of Art in Chaldaea and Assyria. +(London 1884.) Eng. trans. Vol. I. chapters III., IV.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Temples and Tombs.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Peters, J. P.</span>—Nippur. Explorations and Adventures on the +Euphrates. Vol. II. chapter V., The Oldest Temple in the +World. Chapter VIII., Coffins and Burial Customs.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Pinches, T. G.</span>—Sin-Gashid's Endowment of the Temple Ê-ana. +RP, new series, I. 78-83. See also BOR I. 8-11.</p> + +<p>---- A Fragment of a Babylonian Tithe List. <i>Ib.</i> I. 76-78.</p> + +<p>---- Gifts to a Babylonian Bitili or Bethel. <i>Ib.</i> II. 142-145.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_735" id="Page_735">[Pg 735]</a></span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Rawlinson, H. C.</span>—On the Birs Nimrud, or the Great Temple +of Borsippa. JRAS, 1861, 1-24.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Reber, F.</span>—Ueber altchaldäische Kunst ... Der Tempelbau. ZA +I. 149-164.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sayce, A. H.</span>—A Babylonian Saint's Cylinder. RP VII. 157-170.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Days sacred, and otherwise, of the month of Elul, with directions for +religious ceremonies to be observed.]</p></div> + +<p>---- On Human Sacrifice among the Babylonians. TSBA IV. 25-31.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Tiele, C. P.</span>—De Hoofdtempel van Babel en die van Borsippa. +KAW Afdeeling 'Letterkunde' (1886) 3<sup>de</sup> Reeks Deel III; also +in German ZA II. 179-190.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Tristram, H. B.</span>—Sacrifices in Babylonia and Phoenicia. SST, +1894, No. 1.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ward, W. H.</span>—On Some Babylonian Cylinders, supposed to Represent +Human Sacrifices. PAOS, May 1888, xxviii.-xxx.</p> + + +<h3>IX.</h3> + +<h4>Bearings on the Old Testament; General Influence.</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Anz, Wilhelm.</span>—Zur Frage nach dem Ursprung des Gnostizismus. +(Leipzig 1897.) pp. 58-112, Die Herkunft ... aus Babylonien.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ball, C. J.</span>—The First Chapter of Genesis and the Babylonian +Cosmogonies. PSBA XVIII.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Bonnett, E.</span>—Les Découvertes Assyriennes et le Livre de la Genèse. +(Paris 1884.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Boscawen, W. St. Chad.</span>—The Bible and the Monuments. (London +1895.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Brandt, W.</span>—Die Assyrisch-Babylonische Keilschriftliteratur und +das Alte Testament. Deutsch-evang. Blätter, 1884. Heft 3. +pp. 164-187.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Brown, Francis.</span>—Critical review with valuable comments of +E. Schrader's 'Die Keilinschriften und das Alte Testament.' +AJP IV. 338-343.</p> + +<p>---- The Sabbath in the Cuneiform Records. PR, 1882, 688-700.</p> + +<p>---- Assyriology: Its Use and Abuse in Old Testament Study. +(New York 1885.)<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_736" id="Page_736">[Pg 736]</a></span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Brown, Robert, Jr.</span>—Semitic Influence in Hellenic Mythology. +(London 1898.)</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Part III. discusses Babylonian Influence.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Buddensieg, R.</span>—Die Assyrischen Ausgrabungen und das Alte +Testament. (Heilbronn 1880.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Delitzsch, Friedrich.</span>—Wo Lag das Paradies? Eine Biblisch-Assyriologische +Studie. (Leipzig 1881.)</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[See Francis Brown. OTS IV. 1-12.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Evetts, B. A.</span>—New Light on the Bible and the Holy Land. +(London 1892.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gruppe, O.</span>—Die Griechischen Kulte und Mythen in ihren Beziehungen +zu den Orientalischen Religionen. (Leipzig 1887.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gunkel, H.</span>—Schöpfung und Chaos in Urzeit und Endzeit. (Göttingen +1895.)</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[A most important discussion of the relationship of the Biblical creation +narratives to the Babylonian cosmology.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Halévy, J.</span>—Recherches Bibliques. (Paris 1896.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Haupt, Paul.</span>—Wo Lag das Paradies? Ueber Land und Meer, +1894-1895, No. 15.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Also syllabus of lectures before the Gratz College of Philadelphia, +Dec 10, 1895, on 'The Site of Paradise and the Nimrod Epic.']</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Jastrow, Morris, Jr.</span>—The Bible and the Assyrian Monuments. +The Century Magazine, XLVII. 395-411.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Translated into French by E. Lacordaire in Revue des Revues, 1894 +227-235.]</p></div> + +<p>---- The Original Character of the Hebrew Sabbath. AJT II. +312-352.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Relationship between Hebrew and Babylonian Sabbath.]</p></div> + +<p>---- Adam and Eve in Babylonian Literature.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Announced.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Jensen, P.</span>—The Cult of Ashera and the Cult of Mary.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Announced to appear in the Sunday School Times, 1898.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Kessler, K.</span>—Ueber Gnosis und Altbabylonische Religion. 5<sup>th</sup> +ICO, II. Part I. 288-305.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Kellner, M. L.</span>—The Deluge in the Izdubar Epic and the Old +Testament.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Reprinted from the Church Review, November, 1888.]</p></div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_737" id="Page_737">[Pg 737]</a></span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lacouperie, T. de.</span>—Origin from Babylonia and Elam of the +Early Chinese Civilization. Series of articles in the BOR +III-VIII.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Also in book form under the title, 'Origin of Early Chinese Civilization and +its Western Sources.' (London 1894.) Lacouperie's method is unsatisfactory. +The theory, however, merits farther investigation.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lotz, W.</span>—Quaestiones de Historia Sabbati. (Leipzig 1883.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lyon, D. G.</span>—Assyrian Study: Its Bearing on the Old Testament. +The Christian Register, 1885, Nos. 15, 16.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Menant, J.</span>—Remarques sur un Cylindre du Musée Britannique. +La Bible et les Cylindres Chaldéens. CR, 1879, 270-286.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Discussion of a scene on a cylinder supposed to represent the first human +pair and the serpent.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Meyer, Ed.</span>—Der Babylonische Einfluss auf Judenthum und Christenthum. +BAZ, 1894, No. 344.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Oppert, J.</span>—Origines Communes de la Chronologie Cosmogonique +des Chaldéens el des Dates de la Genèse. APC, 6th series, +XIII. 237-240.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Palmer, A. S.</span>—Babylonian Influence on the Bible and Popular +Beliefs. Têhôm and Tiâmat, Hades and Satan: a Comparative +Study of Genesis, i., ii. (London 1897.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robiou, F.</span>—L'État Religieux de la Grèce et de l'Orient au Siècle +d'Alexandre ... II. Les Regions Syro-Babyloniens et l'Eran. +(Paris 1896.)</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Unsatisfactory, and not based on independent researches.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sayce, A. H.</span>—The Higher Criticism and the Verdict of the Monuments. +(London 1894.)</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Suggestive, but unreliable. Full of inaccuracies.]</p></div> + +<p>----Fresh Light from the Ancient Monuments. (2d ed. London +1886.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Schleussner.</span>—Die Bedeutung der Ausgrabungen in dem Euphrat und +Tigris-Gebiet für das Alte Testament. (Wittenberg 1892.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Schrader, E.</span>—Die Keilinschriften und das Alte Testament. 3d ed. +(Announced for 1898.)</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[English translation of the 2d German ed., 'The Cuneiform Inscriptions +and the Old Testament.' London 1885-1889.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sillem, C. H. W.</span>—Das Alte Testament im Lichte der Assyrischen +Forschungen und ihrer Ergebnisse. (Hamburg 1877.)<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_738" id="Page_738">[Pg 738]</a></span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Simpson, William.</span>—The Tower of Babel and the Birs Nimroud. +TSBA IX. 307-332.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Stucken, Edward.</span>—Astralmythen der Hebraer, Babylonier und +Aegypter. Religionsgeschichtliche Untersuchungen, Parts I., II. +(Leipzig 1896-1897.)</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Rather fanciful.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Tallquist, K. L.</span>—Altbabylonischer Aberglauben in den Abendländern. +[In Norwegian]; Valvoja, Helsingfors, 1896, 498-520.</p> + +<p>----Fornbabyloniska och hebräiska psalmer. Finisk Tidskrift, Mars +1892.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Tiele, C. P.</span>.—Die Assyriologie und ihre Ergebnisse für die Religionsgeschichte.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[German translation by Friederick. Leipzig 1878.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Toy, C. H.</span>—Esther as a Babylonian Goddess. The New World, +VI. 130-145.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Vigouroux, F.</span>—Le Bible et les Découvertes Modernes en Palestine, +en Egypte et en Assyrie. 4 vols. (Paris 1884-1885.)</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Written from a Catholic standpoint, but comprehensive and accurate.]</p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Wahrmund.</span>—Babylonierthum, Judenthum und Christentum. +(Leipzig 1882.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ward, W. H.</span>—Light on Scriptural Texts from Recent Discoveries, +Hebrew and Babylonian Poetry. The Homiletic Review, 1895, +408.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Zehnpfund, R.</span>—Einige zeitgemässe Bemerkungen über den Wert +der Assyriologie für die alttestamentliche Litteraturkritik. +(Ernste Allotria. Dessau 1896.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Zimmern, H.</span>—Die Assyriologie als Hülfswissenschaft für das +Studium des Alten Testaments und des Klassischen Alterthums. +(Königsberg 1889.)</p> + +<p>---- Zur Frage nach dem Ursprung des Purimfestes. (Zeits. f. alttest. +Wiss., XI. 157-169.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Zschokke, Hermann.</span>—Ueber die Wichtigkeit der Assyriologischen +Forschungen, insbesondere für das Alttestamentliche Bibelstudium. +(Vienna 1884.)<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_739" id="Page_739">[Pg 739]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2><a name="index" id="index"></a>INDEX.</h2> + + +<p><i>Â</i>, or <i>Malkatu</i>,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her names and their explanation, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">position and relationship to Shamash, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>-5, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_685">685</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temples of  and Shamash in Larsa and Borsippa, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple E-edinna in Sippar, <a href="#Page_640">640</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Ab</i>, 5th month, sacred to Nin-gish-zida, <a href="#Page_462">462</a>, <a href="#Page_547">547</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"the mission of Ishtar," <a href="#Page_564">564</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">festival of Ishtar, <a href="#Page_685">685</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Abram</i> and <i>Abraham</i>, followers of,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in fight with Babylon, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cult of Father Abraham, <a href="#Page_562">562</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Abu-Habba</i>, excavations, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">see also <i><a href="#index-sippar">Sippar</a></i>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple records and legal documents, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Abu-Shahrein</i>=Eridu.</p> + +<p><i>Abydenus</i>, source for B. A. religion, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Achaemenian inscriptions</i>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Ad</i>, Arabic tribe, <a href="#Page_496">496</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Adad</i>=Ramman, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">solar deity of Syria, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Adam</i>, parallelism betw. A. and Eabani, <a href="#Page_511">511</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">parallelism betw. A. and Adapa, <a href="#Page_552">552</a>.</span></p> + +<p><a name="index-adapa-legend" id="index-adapa-legend"></a><i>Adapa Legend</i>, a nature myth, <a href="#Page_548">548</a>, <a href="#Page_644">644</a> ff.;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">found on El-Amarna tablets, <a href="#Page_544">544</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Adapa, son of Ea, <a href="#Page_545">545</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A. fighting the south wind, <a href="#Page_545">545</a> ff.;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">seconded by Tammuz and Gish-zida, <a href="#Page_548">548</a>-9;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">identified with Marduk, <a href="#Page_548">548</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Adapa myth compared with 3d chapter of Genesis, <a href="#Page_551">551</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Adar</i>, 12th month, sacred to the Seven Evil Spirits, <a href="#Page_463">463</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">15th day, sacred to Shamash, Malkatu, and Bunene, <a href="#Page_685">685</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">compared with Purim, <a href="#Page_636">636</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Adar, 2d</i> (intercalated), sacred to Ashur, <a href="#Page_463">463</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Addu</i>, equivalent of Ramman, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Adón</i>, Phoenician equivalent for Tammuz;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">see <i><a href="#index-tammuz">Tammuz</a></i>.</span></p> + +<p><a name="index-adra-khasis" id="index-adra-khasis"></a><i>Adra-Khasis</i>, epithet of Parnapishtim, <a href="#Page_505">505</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Aelian</i>, historian, mentions Gilgamesh, <a href="#Page_469">469</a>, <a href="#Page_524">524</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Agade</i>, ancient center, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rulers, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple E-ul-mash of Nanâ, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple of Anunit-Ishtar, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">zikkurat E-an-dadia, <a href="#Page_639">639</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Agriculture</i>, A. and calendar, <a href="#Page_462">462</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Agum</i>, see <i><a href="#index-agumkakrimi">Agumkakrimi</a></i>.</p> + +<p><a name="index-agumkakrimi" id="index-agumkakrimi"></a><i>Agumkakrimi</i>, king of Babylon, recovers the statues of Marduk and Sarpanitum, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_670">670</a>, <a href="#Page_687">687</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cult of Shamash, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cult of Shukamuna, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>;</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_740" id="Page_740">[Pg 740]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">institutes special festival for Marduk and Sarpanitum, <a href="#Page_687">687</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Ahasverus</i>, the wandering Jew, =Parnapishtim, <a href="#Page_515">515</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Ai-ibur-shabû</i>, name of street in Babylon, <a href="#Page_679">679</a>.</p> + +<p><a name="index-airu" id="index-airu"></a><i>Airu</i>, 2d month, sacred to Ea, <a href="#Page_462">462</a>, <a href="#Page_677">677</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">12th day of A., sacred to Gula, <a href="#Page_683">683</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">installation of king Ashurbanabal, <a href="#Page_684">684</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sacred in Assyria, <a href="#Page_684">684</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">10th day of A., sacred to Shamash, Malkatu, and Bunene, <a href="#Page_685">685</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>A-ishtu</i>, a foreign god, <a href="#Page_644">644</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Akitu</i>, see <i><a href="#index-zag-muk">Zag-muk</a></i>; festival, <a href="#Page_679">679</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Akkad</i>, see also <a href="#index-sumer-akkad"><i>Sumer</i> and <i>Akkad</i></a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">=Babylonia, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_532">532</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Akkadian</i>=Sumerian.</p> + +<p><i>Alala</i>,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">deity, <a href="#Page_417">417</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in incantations, <a href="#Page_417">417</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Allatu's court, <a href="#Page_593">593</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">consort of Belili, <a href="#Page_589">589</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">connection with Alallu, <a href="#Page_589">589</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Alallu</i>, a bird;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relations to Ishtar, <a href="#Page_482">482</a>, <a href="#Page_589">589</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">connection with deity Alala, <a href="#Page_589">589</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Alamu</i>, phase of Nergal, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Alexander Polyhistor</i>, source for B.-A. religion, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_413">413</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Alexander the Great</i>, probably contemporary of Berosus, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A. and Gilgamos, <a href="#Page_469">469</a>, <a href="#Page_516">516</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Alexandria</i>, gnostic center, <a href="#Page_699">699</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Allatu</i>, goddess, 1st Bab. period, originally associated with Bel, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with Nin-azu, <a href="#Page_586">586</a>, <a href="#Page_590">590</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with Nergal, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_565">565</a>, <a href="#Page_580">580</a>, <a href="#Page_583">583</a>, <a href="#Page_593">593</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">goddess of subterranean cave, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>, <a href="#Page_511">511</a>, <a href="#Page_565">565</a>, <a href="#Page_580">580</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in incantations, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">=Nin-ki-gal, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>, cf. <a href="#Page_584">584</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Namtar, her messenger, <a href="#Page_570">570</a>, <a href="#Page_580">580</a>, <a href="#Page_587">587</a>, <a href="#Page_592">592</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bêlit-seri, her scribe, <a href="#Page_587">587</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">pictured as a lion, <a href="#Page_580">580</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Allatu's court, <a href="#Page_587">587</a>, <a href="#Page_592">592</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">authoress of evil and disease, <a href="#Page_593">593</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">called Eresh-kigal, <a href="#Page_584">584</a> (<i>cf.</i> <a href="#Page_282">282</a>);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">vanquished by Nergal, <a href="#Page_584">584</a>-5;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">imitation of Tiâmat-Marduk episode, <a href="#Page_585">585</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">correlated to Ishtar, goddess of fertility, <a href="#Page_587">587</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">explanation of name, <a href="#Page_587">587</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>All-Souls' Day</i>, see under <i><a href="#index-tammuz">Tammuz</a></i> and <i><a href="#index-dead">Dead</a></i>, <a href="#Page_599">599</a>, <a href="#Page_605">605</a>, <a href="#Page_682">682</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Altar</i>, description of, <a href="#Page_651">651</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the "horns" of the altar compared with those of Hebrew and Phoenician altars, <a href="#Page_652">652</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Alu-usharshid</i>, king of Kish, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Amalgamation of divinities</i>, cause, features, and results, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>-5, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>-5.</p> + +<p><i>Amanus</i>, district famous for its wood, <a href="#Page_627">627</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Amiand</i>, his attempt at a genealogical arrangement of Old Bab. pantheon, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Am-na-na</i>, in proper names of the 2d Bab. period, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Amraphel</i>=Hammurabi, <a href="#Page_534">534</a>.</p> + +<p><a name="index-amulet" id="index-amulet"></a><i>Amulets</i>, see <i><a href="#index-talisman">Talisman</a></i>, <i><a href="#index-teraphim">Teraphim</a></i>, <a href="#Page_672">672</a>, <a href="#Page_674">674</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Anatum</i>, goddess, consort of Anu, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Animism</i>, starting-point of religious belief, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">survivals of, <a href="#Page_180">180</a> ff., <a href="#Page_457">457</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">popular rather than theological, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Anshar</i>, god, in the cosmology, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_410">410</a>, <a href="#Page_417">417</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">=Ashur, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_414">414</a>-5;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A. and Kishar created, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_410">410</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">builds Esharra, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A. and Kishar intermediate betw. the monsters and the gods in cosmology, <a href="#Page_414">414</a>, <a href="#Page_416">416</a>;</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_741" id="Page_741">[Pg 741]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Anshar and Kishar in the creation epic and their meaning, <a href="#Page_418">418</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">conquers Tiâmat (one version), <a href="#Page_422">422</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Anshar-gal</i>, cosmological deity, <a href="#Page_417">417</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Antar</i>, Arabian romance of A., <a href="#Page_494">494</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Antares</i>, observations of, <a href="#Page_372">372</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Antioch</i>, gnostic center, <a href="#Page_699">699</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Antiochus Soter</i>, cult of Marduk and Nabu, <a href="#Page_650">650</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Anu</i>, god, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relationship to Ishtar, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>-5;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dêr, city of Anu, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">god of heavenly expanse, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_432">432</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">abstract conception, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">priest of Anu, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Anu as term for 'lofty,' <a href="#Page_90">90</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">member of the great triad, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_677">677</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Lugalraggisi's pantheon, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">artificial character in Hammurabi's pantheon, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">position in Agum's pantheon, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dwells in Uruk, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Anatum, his consort, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Ass. pantheon, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>-5, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with Ramman, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with Dagan, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">disappears after Sargon, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in religious texts, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Nebuchadnezzar's I. pantheon, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">father of Anunnaki and Igigi, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_593">593</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fighting Tiâmat, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple in Lagash, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_640">640</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple at Ashur, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">succeeded by Ashur, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with Ishtar, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">blesses handiwork, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with Bel and Belit, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>-7;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Anu and Ishtar, names of the west gates of Sargon's II. palace, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with Nusku, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">made god of heavenly expanse, <a href="#Page_432">432</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Way of Anu"=ecliptic of sun, <a href="#Page_457">457</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">pole star of the ecliptic, <a href="#Page_460">460</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nisan, sacred to A. and Bel, <a href="#Page_462">462</a>, <a href="#Page_677">677</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tebet, sacred to A., Papsukal, and Ishtar, <a href="#Page_463">463</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">2d Ululu, sacred to Anu and Bel, <a href="#Page_463">463</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the Adapa myth, <a href="#Page_546">546</a> ff.</span></p> + +<p><i>Anunit</i>, goddess, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a variant of Ishtar, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in proper names of 2d Bab. period, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">worshipped at Agade, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">shrine in E-babbara at Sippar, <a href="#Page_646">646</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Anunnaki</i>, explanation of name, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">number of, and its explanation, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">spirits of earth, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_593">593</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gods in whose service the A. are, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their character, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with Igigi, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_593">593</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">altar of A. and Igigi, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">shining chiefs of Eridu, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ruled by Ishtar, <a href="#Page_204">204</a> (<i>cf.</i> <a href="#Page_502">502</a>);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Anu, their chief, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_593">593</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bel, king of all the A., <a href="#Page_222">222</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with the great triad, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">created by Marduk, <a href="#Page_447">447</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">offspring of Anu, <a href="#Page_593">593</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A. and Mammitum determine death and life, <a href="#Page_493">493</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the deluge story, <a href="#Page_500">500</a>, <a href="#Page_502">502</a> (<i>cf.</i> <a href="#Page_204">204</a>);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Allatu's court, <a href="#Page_593">593</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Apollodorus</i>, source for B.-A. religion, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Apotheosis</i>, see <i><a href="#index-deification">Deification</a></i>.</p> + +<p><i>Apsu</i>, the deep, personified ocean, <a href="#Page_411">411</a>, <a href="#Page_443">443</a>, <a href="#Page_489">489</a>, <a href="#Page_580">580</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">synonymous with Tiâmat, <a href="#Page_411">411</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">male principle, <a href="#Page_411">411</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dominion of A. and Tiâmat precedes that of the gods, <a href="#Page_412">412</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gods, product of the union of A. and Tiâmat, <a href="#Page_413">413</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mythical monsters, product of the union of A. and Tiâmat, <a href="#Page_414">414</a>;</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_742" id="Page_742">[Pg 742]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">basin, a sacred object and symbol, <a href="#Page_653">653</a>; comparison with the "sea" in Solomon's temple, <a href="#Page_653">653</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Arabia</i>, metals and stone exported, <a href="#Page_627">627</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Arabians</i> invade Mesopotamia, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>.</p> + +<p><a name="index-arakh-shamnu" id="index-arakh-shamnu"></a><i>Arakh-shamnu</i>, 8th month, sacred to Marduk, <a href="#Page_463">463</a>, <a href="#Page_678">678</a>, <a href="#Page_686">686</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">15<sup>th</sup> day, sacred to Shamash, Malkatu, and Bunene, <a href="#Page_685">685</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Aralû</i>, the nether-world, <a href="#Page_489">489</a>, <a href="#Page_557">557</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">called E-kur or mountain house, <a href="#Page_558">558</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">distinction betw. Aralû, the mountain (= earth), and Aralû, the district of the dead proper, <a href="#Page_558">558</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">names and epithets of A., <a href="#Page_563">563</a>, <a href="#Page_592">592</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">pictorial representation of, <a href="#Page_579">579</a> ff.;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">pantheon of, <a href="#Page_582">582</a> ff.</span></p> + +<p><i>Arbela</i>, temple of Ishtar, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>-3, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>, <a href="#Page_651">651</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meaning of name, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">theological center, <a href="#Page_342">342</a>, <a href="#Page_651">651</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Archaeological religious monuments</i>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Architecture</i>, reed and clay materials for building, <a href="#Page_495">495</a>-6;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">see <i><a href="#index-temples">Temple</a></i>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Ardi-Ea</i>, ferryman of Parnapishtim, <a href="#Page_491">491</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">takes Gilgamesh to the fountain of life, <a href="#Page_509">509</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Ark</i>, see <i><a href="#index-ship">Ship</a></i>.</p> + +<p><i>Ark of the covenant</i> compared with the Babylonian ship for the gods, <a href="#Page_655">655</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Armenia</i>, legend of Rustem parallel to Etana legend, <a href="#Page_520">520</a> ff.;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">exports precious stones, <a href="#Page_627">627</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Arts</i>, patron gods, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>-8.</p> + +<p><i>Aruru</i>, goddess, creates mankind, together with Marduk, <a href="#Page_448">448</a>, <a href="#Page_474">474</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">creates Eabani, <a href="#Page_448">448</a>, <a href="#Page_474">474</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">= Ishtar, <a href="#Page_448">448</a>-9;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">creates Gilgamesh, <a href="#Page_473">473</a>-4.</span></p> + +<p><i>Ashera</i> compared with tree worship in Babylonia, <a href="#Page_689">689</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Ashur</i>, capital of Assyria, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_651">651</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">modern name Kalah-Shergat, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple to Ashur, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_651">651</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple to Ishtar, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple to Anu, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple to Shamash, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple to Bel, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple to Ea, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">intellectual center, <a href="#Page_651">651</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Ashur</i>, god, consort of Belit, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_668">668</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rivaled by Ramman, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Ass. pantheon, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">head of Ass. pantheon, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his unique position, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>-2, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">local deity, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">symbol, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_632">632</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">interpretation of symbol, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>-6, <a href="#Page_685">685</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">general character of Ashur, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">etymology of name, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Anshar another form of A., <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_414">414</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">god of battle, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">chief of pantheon and epithets, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>-2;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">king of the Igigi, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with Ninib, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his temples few, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with Ninib and Nergal, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with Marduk, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with the great triad, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">name of inner wall of Sargon's II. palace, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">permits the king to grow old and protects the troop, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">superiority to Marduk, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">god of oracles, <a href="#Page_344">344</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bel Tarbasi or lord of the court, <a href="#Page_345">345</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">2d Adar, sacred to A., <a href="#Page_463">463</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ululu, sacred to A., <a href="#Page_463">463</a>, <a href="#Page_685">685</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Ashurbanabal</i>, library, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">patron of science and art, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rule, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">recaptures Nanâ's statue, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gives prominence to Nabu cult, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>;</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_743" id="Page_743">[Pg 743]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">celebrates festival in honor of Gula, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>, <a href="#Page_683">683</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">embellishes temple of Nergal at Tarbisu, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his pantheon, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sacrifices in Babylonia, <a href="#Page_664">664</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">restores temple E-kur at Nippur, <a href="#Page_645">645</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Shamash cult in Sippar, <a href="#Page_646">646</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ishtar cult in Uruk, <a href="#Page_648">648</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Ashuretililani</i>, king of Assyria, improves Nabu's temple at Calah, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Ashurnasirbal</i>, king of Assyria, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gives prominence to Ninib cult, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Calah, his capital, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">builds sanctuaries to Ishtar, Sin, Gula, Ea, Ramman, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">as a hunter, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">builds sanctuary to Gula, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">builds sanctuary to Sin at Calah, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his pantheon, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gives prominence to Ishtar cult, <a href="#Page_325">325</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Ashur-rish-ishi</i>, king of Assyria, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>.</p> + +<p><a name="index-assyria" id="index-assyria"></a><i>Assyria</i>, military superiority, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">history by Herodotus, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">art and antiquities, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of country and culture, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>-1;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of people, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">comparison with Babylonia, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">architecture, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">history, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>-4;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">conquest of, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sun worship, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Assyrian Ishtar cult as distinguished from Bab., <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ass. Nabu cult as against Bab. Marduk cult, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">religious beliefs more popular than Bab., <a href="#Page_153">153</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">influence upon Bab. culture and religion, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">pantheon, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">divisions of Ass. pantheon, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>-9;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">comparison of Ass. and Bab. pantheons, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attacked by Cassites, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A. god of oracles, <a href="#Page_344">344</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">continuity of Ass. and Bab. religion owing to Ass. worship of Bab. deities, <a href="#Page_642">642</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Airu, sacred month in Ass., <a href="#Page_684">684</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Assyrians</i>, see <i><a href="#index-assyria">Assyria</a></i>.</p> + +<p><i>Astrology</i>, lunar worship influenced by A., <a href="#Page_219">219</a>-20;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bar to monotheistic development, <a href="#Page_319">319</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">observation of the planets, <a href="#Page_370">370</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">questions put to the astrologer, <a href="#Page_369">369</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Astronomy</i>, factor in spreading lunar worship, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mixture of astronomy and astrology in the observation of eclipses, <a href="#Page_357">357</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the observation of the planets, <a href="#Page_370">370</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">forms part of cosmology, <a href="#Page_454">454</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the determination of the laws under which the stars stood, <a href="#Page_457">457</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">composite character of A. science, <a href="#Page_460">460</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">divisions of, <a href="#Page_460">460</a>-1;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">moon and sun in, <a href="#Page_461">461</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Azag-sir,</i> minor deity in Ass. pantheon, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>.</p> + + +<p><i>Babbar</i>, surname of Shamash, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">etymology, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Babylon</i>, founded, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supremacy, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">capture of, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ancient center, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">capital of Babylonia, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Marduk, deity of, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>-8, <a href="#Page_531">531</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">E-sagila, temple of Marduk, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>, <a href="#Page_639">639</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple of Shamash, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_640">640</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple of Sin, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple of Nin-makh, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_640">640</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple of Nin-khar-sag, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple of Gula, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_638">638</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attacked by Dibbarra, <a href="#Page_531">531</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">zikkurat at Bab., <a href="#Page_619">619</a>, <a href="#Page_639">639</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple to Nin-lil-anna (242), <a href="#Page_640">640</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">religious center of the country, <a href="#Page_649">649</a>-50.</span></p> + +<p><a name="index-babylonia" id="index-babylonia"></a><i>Babylonia</i>, conceptions of netherworld, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">notices in rabbinical literature, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">extent, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>;</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_744" id="Page_744">[Pg 744]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of country, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of people, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of culture, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Babylonian states and their history, <a href="#Page_35">35</a> ff.;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dynasties of, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>-41, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>-5, <a href="#Page_489">489</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">united under Hammurabi, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bab. and Ass. Ishtar cult, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bab. and Ass. Marduk cult, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bab. beliefs less popular than Ass., <a href="#Page_153">153</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">periods of Bab. religion, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gods common to all three periods of Bab. religion, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bab. culture and beliefs influenced by Assyria, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">comparison of Bab. and Ass. pantheons, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">country of Bel, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">under Ass. rule, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">source of Ass. culture, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">independent of Assyria, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">political and religious centers, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">replaces Nippur, <a href="#Page_542">542</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sanctuary of Nabu, <a href="#Page_640">640</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sacrificial acts in Bab. and their meaning, <a href="#Page_664">664</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nisan, the sacred month in Bab., <a href="#Page_684">684</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">continuity of Bab. and Ass. belief owing to Ass.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">worship of Bab. gods, <a href="#Page_642">642</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Babylonians</i>, see also <i><a href="#index-babylonia">Babylonia</a></i>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">subjects of Bel, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">humanity of Bel, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Babylonian-Assyrian religion</i>, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">phases of, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>-7;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">age of essentials of religion, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gods of the B.-A. pantheon, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">continuity of B.-A. religion, <a href="#Page_642">642</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">see <i><a href="#index-assyria">Assyria</a></i> and <i><a href="#index-babylonia">Babylonia</a></i>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Bahrein</i>, exports wood, <a href="#Page_627">627</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Ba-kad</i>, in the Cassite pantheon, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Balasi</i>, astrologer, <a href="#Page_340">340</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Balawat</i>, explorations, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">portals of palace at B., <a href="#Page_627">627</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Bar</i>, offspring of Ishtar declines to fight Zu, <a href="#Page_541">541</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Bashtum</i>, goddess in proper names of the 2d Bab. period, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Battles of Yahwe</i>, recalls Dibbarra epic, <a href="#Page_534">534</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Bau</i>, goddess, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her attributes, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>-60, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_678">678</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple in Uruazagga, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Zag-muk, her festival, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_677">677</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">consort of Nin-girsu, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_677">677</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">identification with Gula, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her sphere, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">daughter of Anu, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>-60;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mother of Ea and water-deity, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">common features with Ga-sig(?)-dug, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bau not Hebr. bohu, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her sons (Amiaud), <a href="#Page_103">103</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Gudea's pantheon, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in incantations, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bau's ship, <a href="#Page_655">655</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Ba'u-ukin</i> = Dungi (Winckler), <a href="#Page_65">65</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Baz</i>, city in Babylonia, temple of Bel-sarbi, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_639">639</a>.</p> + +<p><a name="index-bel" id="index-bel"></a><i>Bel</i>, see also <i><a href="#index-marduk">Marduk</a></i> and <i><a href="#index-bel-marduk">Bel-Marduk</a></i>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">god, temple of, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple at Nippur, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_642">642</a>, <a href="#Page_644">644</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">position in the Babylonian theology, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">oldest spelling and meaning of name, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple in Lagash, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">growth of his cult, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">blending with Marduk, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">phases of cult, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associations and relations with Ea, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with Allat, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Lugalzaggisi's and Gudea's pantheon, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">subordination to Marduk, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">transfers his name to Marduk, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>, <a href="#Page_439">439</a>, <a href="#Page_635">635</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">god of earth <i>par excellence</i>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_432">432</a>, <a href="#Page_440">440</a>, <a href="#Page_497">497</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">creator of mankind, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_441">441</a>;</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_745" id="Page_745">[Pg 745]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the deluge story, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_497">497</a>, <a href="#Page_502">502</a>, <a href="#Page_504">504</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bel and the triad, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>-9, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_677">677</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bel in Hammurabi's pantheon, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>-6, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Cassite period, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple at Dur-Kurigalzu, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the Assyrian pantheon, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>-7, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>-6;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the neo-Bab. pantheon, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">epithets, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relationship to the other members of the triad, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bel (and Belit) decree fates, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_538">538</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dagan = Bel, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relationship to Zakar, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">lord of Annunaki and Igigi, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">husband of Ishtar, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">confused with Dagan, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ninib, first-born of Bel, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sin, first-born of Bel, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>, <a href="#Page_462">462</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nusku, messenger of, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple at Ashur, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dwells in E-khar-sag-kurkura, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with Anu and Belit, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>-8;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">consort of Ishtar, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Belit, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">B. and Belit, names of the northern gates of Sargon's II. palace, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">lays foundations, <a href="#Page_237">237</a> (<i>cf. Ninib</i>);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with fire-god, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bel made lord of the earth by Marduk, <a href="#Page_432">432</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the zodiacal system in conjunction with Nibir and Ea marks the three divisions of the year, <a href="#Page_434">434</a>-5;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">identified with north polar-star, <a href="#Page_435">435</a>, <a href="#Page_460">460</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nisan, sacred to Anu and B., <a href="#Page_462">462</a>, <a href="#Page_677">677</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">2nd Elul, sacred to Anu and B., <a href="#Page_463">463</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bel in 11th tablet of Gilgamesh epic, <a href="#Page_496">496</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rivalry with Ea, <a href="#Page_497">497</a>, <a href="#Page_507">507</a> ff.;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">god of Dur-an-ki, <a href="#Page_539">539</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on seal cylinders, <a href="#Page_540">540</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">robbed of tablets of fate by Zu, <a href="#Page_540">540</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple E-U-gal, <a href="#Page_640">640</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">figurines of Bel, <a href="#Page_674">674</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Zagmuk, festival of, <a href="#Page_678">678</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Bêl-epush</i>, Babylonian prince, votive object, <a href="#Page_671">671</a>.</p> + +<p><a name="index-bel-marduk" id="index-bel-marduk"></a><i>Bel-Marduk</i>, see <i><a href="#index-bel">Bel</a></i> and <i><a href="#index-marduk">Marduk</a></i>.</p> + +<p><i>Belili</i>, deity, <a href="#Page_417">417</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in incantations, <a href="#Page_417">417</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sister of Tammuz, <a href="#Page_575">575</a>, <a href="#Page_588">588</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Allatu's court, <a href="#Page_588">588</a>, <a href="#Page_593">593</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">consort of Alallu, <a href="#Page_589">589</a>.</span></p> + +<p><a name="index-belit" id="index-belit"></a><i>Belit</i>, goddess, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">place of cult, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_635">635</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">titles and their meanings, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>-6, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sanctuaries, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Lugalzaggisi's pantheon, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">consort of En-lil, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">consort of Ashur, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_668">668</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">uses of "Belit," <a href="#Page_151">151</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bel and Belit decree the fate, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relationship to Zakar, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with Anu and Bel, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>-8;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">confusion in Ass. pantheon, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>-7;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">consort of Bel, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">consort of Ea, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>-7, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">= Ishtar, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>-7;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">= Sarpanitum, wife of Bel-Marduk, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_684">684</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">E-mash-mash, her temple at Nineveh, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">B. and Bel, names of the northern gates of Sargon's II. palace, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">brings fertility, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple at Babylon (see <i><a href="#index-nin-khar-sag">Nin-khar-sag</a></i>), <a href="#Page_242">242</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">= Nin-lil, <a href="#Page_635">635</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">figurines of, <a href="#Page_674">674</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Belit of Akkad</i> = Belit, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Belit-ekalli,</i> in the Cassite pantheon, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">consort of Ninib, l<a href="#Page_73">73</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">= Gula, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meaning, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Belit-ilâni,</i> consort of Ea, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">B. and Ea, names of southern gates of Sargon's II. palace, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">increases offspring, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>.</span></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_746" id="Page_746">[Pg 746]</a></span><i>Belit mati</i> = Belit of the land = Ishtar, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">perhaps=Belit, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Belit-seri</i>, scribe of Allatu, <a href="#Page_587">587</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Bel-sarbi</i>,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">god, his temple at Daz, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_639">639</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">perhaps=Nergal, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Bel-zir</i>, a layman, offers a votive object, <a href="#Page_671">671</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Berosus</i>, source B.-A. religion, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_412">412</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Birs Nimrud</i>, explored, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Bit-Khabban</i>, town in Babylonia; its patron gods, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Bit-Khabban</i>, district of Babylonia, sacred to Sin, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Blood</i>, sanctity of, <a href="#Page_661">661</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Boaz</i>, name of column in Solomon's temple, <a href="#Page_624">624</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Borsippa</i>,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">explorations, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple of Nabu, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>, <a href="#Page_639">639</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its situation, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">beloved city of Marduk, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple of Ramman, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">3 sanctuaries of Gula, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_636">636</a> (E-ul-la), <a href="#Page_641">641</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">zikkurat at B., <a href="#Page_617">617</a>, <a href="#Page_619">619</a>, <a href="#Page_639">639</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">E-makhtila shrine in E-zida to Nabu at Borsippa, <a href="#Page_307">307</a>, <a href="#Page_606">606</a>, <a href="#Page_636">636</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Botta, P. E.</i>, excavations, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Buddhism</i>, doctrine of annihilation, <a href="#Page_556">556</a>-7.</p> + +<p><i>Bulala</i>, a foreign god, <a href="#Page_644">644</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Bunene</i>,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Nabubaliddin's pantheon, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in proper names of the 2d Bab. period, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with Shamash and Malik, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Bunene</i> and <i>Malik</i>,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attendants of Shamash, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">consort of Malik, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with Shamash and Malkatu, <a href="#Page_685">685</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Burial</i>, see <i><a href="#index-dead">Dead</a></i>.</p> + +<p><i>Bur-Sin</i>, repairs zikkurat and builds shrine in Nippur, <a href="#Page_645">645</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Calah</i>,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">capital of Assyria, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_651">651</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple of Nabu, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple of Belit mâti, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple of Ninib, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">capital of Ashur-nasirbal, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sanctuary of Sin, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">intellectual center, <a href="#Page_651">651</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">worship of Ninib, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_684">684</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">palace of Sargon II., <a href="#Page_687">687</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Calendar</i>,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fixed by Marduk, <a href="#Page_434">434</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">importance of moon for c., <a href="#Page_436">436</a>, <a href="#Page_461">461</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">agriculture and c., <a href="#Page_462">462</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">growth and character, <a href="#Page_465">465</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">adopted by Hebrews, <a href="#Page_464">464</a>, <a href="#Page_681">681</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Cappadocian</i> wedge writings, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Cassites</i>,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dynasty, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>-1, <a href="#Page_480">480</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cult of Bel of Nippur, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_645">645</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cult of Shamash, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_646">646</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cult of Ramman, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cult of Shukamuna, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cult of Nin-dim-su, Bakad, Pap-u, Belit-ekalli, Shumalia, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attack upon Assyria, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Chaldaean Wisdom</i>, <a href="#Page_362">362</a>, <a href="#Page_384">384</a>, <a href="#Page_403">403</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Chaos</i>,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attempts at picturing c., <a href="#Page_411">411</a>, <a href="#Page_419">419</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gods contemporaneous with the primeval c., <a href="#Page_413">413</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Christianity</i>, influenced by Ass.-Bab. religion, <a href="#Page_698">698</a>.</p> + +<p><a name="index-claudius-ptolemaeus" id="index-claudius-ptolemaeus"></a><i>Claudius Ptolemaeus'</i> astronomy, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Commercial literature</i> in syllabaries, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>.</p> + +<p><a name="index-cosmology" id="index-cosmology"></a><i>Cosmology</i>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>, <a href="#Page_407">407</a> ff.;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the Tiâmat episode, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">two or more versions of creation, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>-2, <a href="#Page_407">407</a>-8;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">literary-religious character of, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rise and development of cosmological speculations, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">distinction between popular and scholastic c., <a href="#Page_249">249</a>-50, <a href="#Page_442">442</a>-3;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">distinction as to contents and form, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">historical kernel, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>;</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_747" id="Page_747">[Pg 747]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">c. deities antecedent to the known gods of the B.-A. pantheon, <a href="#Page_417">417</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">not <i>creatio ex nihilo</i>, but evolution of chaos to order, the keynote of c, <a href="#Page_418">418</a>, <a href="#Page_442">442</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">similarities with Biblical account, <a href="#Page_409">409</a>, <a href="#Page_433">433</a>, <a href="#Page_435">435</a>, <a href="#Page_451">451</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">creation of heaven, <a href="#Page_435">435</a>, <a href="#Page_443">443</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of sun, <a href="#Page_435">435</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of moon, <a href="#Page_436">436</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of earth, <a href="#Page_443">443</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of mankind, <a href="#Page_443">443</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">second version, its similarities with and dissimilarities from the first version, <a href="#Page_444">444</a> ff.;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the gods of Nippur, Erech, Eridu, the original creators of the universe, Marduk a later introduction, <a href="#Page_449">449</a>-50;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the mountain Mashu and the cosmological conceptions, <a href="#Page_489">489</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">see <i><a href="#index-creation-epic">Creation epic</a></i>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Court of the World</i>, name of temple, <a href="#Page_641">641</a>.</p> + +<p><a name="index-creation-epic" id="index-creation-epic"></a><i>Creation epic</i>,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">purpose of, <a href="#Page_409">409</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">similarity with the Biblical account, <a href="#Page_409">409</a>, <a href="#Page_433">433</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">literary form, <a href="#Page_409">409</a> ff.;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a nature myth, <a href="#Page_432">432</a>-3;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">representation of sun, <a href="#Page_461">461</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">see <i><a href="#index-cosmology">Cosmology</a></i>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Ctesias</i>, source for B.-A. religion, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Cult and worship</i>, cf. <i>Festivals</i> and <i>Rituals</i>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">organization, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gods in cult and in invocations, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">revival of old c. in Neo-Bab. period, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>-3;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tree-worship, <a href="#Page_688">688</a>-9;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">compounded of popular belief and theology, <a href="#Page_689">689</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Cuneiform</i>, see <i>Wedge writing</i>.</p> + +<p><a name="index-cuthah" id="index-cuthah"></a><i>Cuthah</i>, ancient center, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">= Tell-Ibrahim, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cult and temple Nergal (see <i>Laz</i>), <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>, <a href="#Page_563">563</a>, <a href="#Page_583">583</a>, <a href="#Page_648">648</a>, <a href="#Page_667">667</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a designation for the nether-world, <a href="#Page_563">563</a>, <a href="#Page_570">570</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">synonymous with netherworld, <a href="#Page_583">583</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Cuthaeans</i>, <a href="#Page_532">532</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Cyrus</i>, captures Babylon, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">adopts Babylonian religion, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_650">650</a>.</span></p> + + +<p><i>Dagan</i>, god, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">confusion with Bel, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with Anu, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">chiefly in Assyria, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">comparison with Dagon, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">probably Aramaic origin, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">god of earth, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Damascius</i> (or Damascenus), see <i>Nicolas of Damascus</i>.</p> + +<p><i>Damascus</i>, in Syria, cult of Ramman, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Damkina</i>,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">consort of Ea, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meaning of name, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relationship to Ea and Marduk, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in magical texts, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ea and Damkina grant long life, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">title Belit-ilâni, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">occasionally invoked in incantations, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Damku</i>,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">god, associated with Sharru-ilu and Sha-nit(?)-ka, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meaning of name, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">evidently a title, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">perhaps foreign deity, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">worshipped at Magganubba, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Damu</i> and <i>Damu-gal</i>, epithets of Gula, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Daniel</i>, book of;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bearing upon B.-A. religion, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Daniel and Bab. religion, <a href="#Page_3">3</a> (<i>cf.</i> <a href="#Page_668">668</a>);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">illustrative of Babylonian dream lore, <a href="#Page_403">403</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">authentic description of dedication of statue, <a href="#Page_669">669</a>.</span></p> + +<p><a name="index-dead" id="index-dead"></a><i>Dead</i>,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">universal, <a href="#Page_556">556</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">location and names of the gathering place of the dead, <a href="#Page_557">557</a> ff. (cf. <i>Netherworld</i>);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">All-Souls' Day, <a href="#Page_599">599</a>, <a href="#Page_605">605</a>, <a href="#Page_682">682</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">under the special protection of the gods, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_558">558</a>, <a href="#Page_552">552</a>, <a href="#Page_592">592</a>;</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_748" id="Page_748">[Pg 748]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">furnish oracles to the living, <a href="#Page_559">559</a>, <a href="#Page_560">560</a>, <a href="#Page_582">582</a>, <a href="#Page_657">657</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">deification of dead, <a href="#Page_561">561</a>, <a href="#Page_582">582</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">condition of dead, <a href="#Page_563">563</a> ff.;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">purified, <a href="#Page_578">578</a>, <a href="#Page_602">602</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">can hear lamentations, <a href="#Page_575">575</a>, <a href="#Page_577">577</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cannot be brought back from Aralû, <a href="#Page_576">576</a>, <a href="#Page_582">582</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">suffer hunger, <a href="#Page_598">598</a>-9;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tombs and burial, <a href="#Page_595">595</a> ff.</span></p> + +<p><i>Death and burial</i>, life after death, <a href="#Page_512">512</a>, <a href="#Page_514">514</a>, <a href="#Page_556">556</a> ff.;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cave burial, <a href="#Page_557">557</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">pyramid burial, <a href="#Page_557">557</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Deborah</i>, song of, among the "Battles of Yahwe," <a href="#Page_534">534</a>.</p> + +<p><a name="index-deification" id="index-deification"></a><i>Deification</i> (Parnapishtim and Etana), <a href="#Page_470">470</a>, <a href="#Page_527">527</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of dead, <a href="#Page_561">561</a>, <a href="#Page_582">582</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Gudea and Dungi, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>, <a href="#Page_470">470</a>, <a href="#Page_561">561</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Gimil-Sin, <a href="#Page_561">561</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Gilgamesh, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>, <a href="#Page_470">470</a>, <a href="#Page_561">561</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Delila,</i> parallelism with Ishtar, <a href="#Page_516">516</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Delitzsch, Friedrich</i>, Sumerian question, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>; see Preface.</p> + +<p><i>della Valle, Pietro</i>, traveler, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Deluge</i>, in Gilgamesh epic and O. T., <a href="#Page_495">495</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">place of origin of deluge, <a href="#Page_498">498</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">embodying two distinct traditions, <a href="#Page_502">502</a>, <a href="#Page_506">506</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">points of contact with Biblical narrative, <a href="#Page_506">506</a> ff.;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">antiquity of the tradition, <a href="#Page_508">508</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Demons</i>, see also <i>Animism</i> and <i>Spirits</i>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">chief demon, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_497">497</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in incantations, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">how exorcised, <a href="#Page_330">330</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">when not to be exorcised, <a href="#Page_378">378</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">messenger of god, <a href="#Page_378">378</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Targul-le</i>, in the deluge story let loose by Dibbarra, <a href="#Page_500">500</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the Utukku, <a href="#Page_260">260</a> (<i>cf.</i> <a href="#Page_511">511</a>);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the Ekimmu, <a href="#Page_260">260</a> (<i>cf.</i> <a href="#Page_512">512</a>);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">authors of evil and disease, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_593">593</a>, <a href="#Page_306">306</a>, <a href="#Page_692">692</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Der</i>, center of worship of Ninâ, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">city of Anu, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>de Sacy, Silvestre</i>, decipherment of wedge writing, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>.</p> + +<p><i>de Sarzec, Ernest</i>, explorer, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Dibbarra</i>, in Ass. pantheon, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">plague-god, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>, <a href="#Page_505">505</a>, <a href="#Page_528">528</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a spirit, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">identified with Nergal, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>, <a href="#Page_528">528</a>-9, <a href="#Page_594">594</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">minor god, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the deluge story, <a href="#Page_500">500</a> (<i>cf.</i> <a href="#Page_505">505</a>);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">solar deity, <a href="#Page_528">528</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">god of war, "the warrior," <a href="#Page_528">528</a>-9;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attendant of Nergal, <a href="#Page_529">529</a>, <a href="#Page_588">588</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attended by Ishum, <a href="#Page_529">529</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">D.'s attack upon Babylon, <a href="#Page_530">530</a>-1;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">D.'s attack upon Uruk, <a href="#Page_531">531</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">general war among mankind, <a href="#Page_531">531</a> ff.;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dibbarra enraged and appeased, <a href="#Page_535">535</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">identified with Girra, <a href="#Page_588">588</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Dibbarra epic</i>, see <i>Dibbarra</i>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>, <a href="#Page_528">528</a> ff.;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">recalls the "Battles of Yahwe," <a href="#Page_534">534</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Dilbat</i>, city in Babylonia;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple of Ninib, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">zikkurat E-gubba-an-ki, <a href="#Page_639">639</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Dilmun</i>, island, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Diodorus</i>, source for B.-A. religion, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_399">399</a>, <a href="#Page_435">435</a>.</p> + +<p><a name="index-dirges" id="index-dirges"></a><i>Dirges</i>, sung by priests and priestesses, <a href="#Page_604">604</a>, <a href="#Page_658">658</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">by priestesses, <a href="#Page_660">660</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Divine names</i>, variety of names of individual divinities and local uses thereof, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">transference of name and its meaning, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>-1;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in proper names, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>-6, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">obscurity of, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Djumdjuma</i>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Dogma</i>, establishment of, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>, <a href="#Page_690">690</a> ff.</p> + +<p><i>Dreams</i>, importance of, <a href="#Page_322">322</a>-3;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on par with oracles, <a href="#Page_350">350</a>, <a href="#Page_479">479</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">treated as omens, <a href="#Page_350">350</a>, <a href="#Page_403">403</a> ff.;</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_749" id="Page_749">[Pg 749]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the Gilgamesh epic, <a href="#Page_481">481</a>, <a href="#Page_486">486</a>, <a href="#Page_497">497</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Du'ar</i>, <i>Da'ur</i>, cosmological deity, <a href="#Page_417">417</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Du-azagga</i>, council chamber of the gods, <a href="#Page_629">629</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">= Apsu, <a href="#Page_630">630</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">place where the sun rises, <a href="#Page_630">630</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Dumu-zi</i>, god;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his double aspect, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>-7;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">worship at Lagash, <a href="#Page_635">635</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Dumuzi-zu-aba</i>, god, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">interpretation of name, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">functions and character, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">places of worship, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Gudea's pantheon, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Dungi</i>, of Ur, builds temple of Nergal at Cuthah, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">builds temple of Nanâ in Uruk, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">builds temple to Nin-Mar, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">deified, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>, <a href="#Page_470">470</a>, <a href="#Page_561">561</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Dun-shagga</i>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">son of Nin-girsu, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meaning of name, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Gudea's pantheon, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Dur-an-ki</i>, name of a temple tower in Nippur, <a href="#Page_539">539</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Dur-ilu</i>, Ass. city near Elamitic frontier;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cult of Kadi, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Dur-Kurigalzu</i>, temple of Bel, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Dur-padda</i>, a fort sacred to Ramman, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Dur-zakar</i>, sanctuary of Belit, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Du'zu</i>, see <i>Tammuz</i>.</p> + + +<p><a name="index-ea" id="index-ea"></a><i>Ea</i>, god, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">functions, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">epithets, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associations and relations with Bel, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">king of Eridu, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>-3, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sanctuary in Girsu, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">god of the water, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>, <a href="#Page_430">430</a>, <a href="#Page_699">699</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">explanation of name, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">identification with Nin-a-gal and other deities, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">member of the great triad, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>, <a href="#Page_677">677</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Lugalzaggisi's and Gudea's pantheon, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">survival of his cult, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>-4, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">change of position since Hammurabi, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">non-mention in historical texts, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prominence in religious texts, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ea and Marduk in incantation texts, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>-40;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">transfers his name to Marduk, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_439">439</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">god of humanity <i>par excellence</i>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a> (cf. <a href="#Page_264">264</a>, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>, <a href="#Page_437">437</a>, <a href="#Page_441">441</a>, <a href="#Page_462">462</a>, <a href="#Page_497">497</a>);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">formed of clay, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ea in the deluge story, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_497">497</a>, <a href="#Page_504">504</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ea and Damkina grant long life, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">god of fine arts, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fighting Tiâmat, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_422">422</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ninib, first-born of Ea, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">shrine in E-Sagila, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Belit, consort of, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nabu, son of, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the Ass. pantheon, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sanctuary at Ashur, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">titles emphasizing his skill, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">house of wisdom, <a href="#Page_522">522</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">similarity and difference between Ea and Nabu, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>-1;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ea and Belitilâni, names of southern gates of Sargon's palace, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">unlocks fountains, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">shrine in E-Zida, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prominent in incantations, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the spirits hostile to, <a href="#Page_264">264</a> (cf. <a href="#Page_141">141</a>);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">as a healer, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">overcomes eclipse of moon, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with fire-god, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the Shurpu series, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">conquers Tiâmat, <a href="#Page_422">422</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the zodiac in conjunction with Nibir and Bel, <a href="#Page_434">434</a>-5;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">identified with some star in southern heaven, <a href="#Page_435">435</a>, <a href="#Page_460">460</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Iyar, his sacred month, <a href="#Page_462">462</a>, <a href="#Page_677">677</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ea in the 11th tablet of the Gilgamesh epic, <a href="#Page_496">496</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rivalry with Bel, <a href="#Page_497">497</a>, <a href="#Page_507">507</a> ff.;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Persian Gulf, sacred to Ea, <a href="#Page_498">498</a>, <a href="#Page_545">545</a>;</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_750" id="Page_750">[Pg 750]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">father of Adapa, <a href="#Page_545">545</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ea in Ishtar's descent, <a href="#Page_571">571</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ea's sanctuary E-karzaginna, <a href="#Page_636">636</a>.</span></p> + +<p><a name="index-eabani" id="index-eabani"></a><i>Eabani</i>, created by Aruru, <a href="#Page_448">448</a>, <a href="#Page_474">474</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">E. and Ishtar, <a href="#Page_484">484</a>, <a href="#Page_486">486</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">parallelism betw. Adam and E., <a href="#Page_511">511</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">E.'s spirit conjured up by Nergal, <a href="#Page_511">511</a> ff., <a href="#Page_560">560</a>, <a href="#Page_565">565</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>E-adda</i>, temple of Anu, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_640">640</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meaning of name, <a href="#Page_640">640</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>E-an-dadia</i>, name of zikkurat at Agade, <a href="#Page_639">639</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meaning of name, <a href="#Page_639">639</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>E-anna</i>, temple of Ninni in Girsu, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple of Nanâ or Ishtar in Uruk, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_311">311</a>, <a href="#Page_331">331</a>, <a href="#Page_639">639</a>, <a href="#Page_648">648</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meaning of name, <a href="#Page_639">639</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Eannatum</i>, burial costumes, <a href="#Page_597">597</a>.</p> + +<p><i>E-babbara</i>, name of the temples of Shamash in Larsa and Sippar, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_628">628</a>, <a href="#Page_640">640</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">worship of Shamash, Malik, Bunene in E. at Sippar, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_628">628</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meaning of name, <a href="#Page_640">640</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">history of Ebabbara in Sippar, <a href="#Page_646">646</a> ff.;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">with shrine of Anunit, <a href="#Page_646">646</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">history of Ebabbara in Larsa, <a href="#Page_647">647</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Ecbatana</i>, concentric walls, <a href="#Page_618">618</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Ecclesiastes</i>, unsatisfactory ending like 12th tablet of Gilgamesh epic, <a href="#Page_513">513</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Eclipses</i>, e. of moon removed by Ea, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cause of e., <a href="#Page_264">264</a>, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">calculation of time of occurrence of e., <a href="#Page_357">357</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">indication of omens the ulterior motive of observations of, <a href="#Page_357">357</a>, <a href="#Page_368">368</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">omens gathered from observation of e. in the "Illumination of Bel" series, <a href="#Page_364">364</a> ff.;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">eclipses portend public disaster, <a href="#Page_366">366</a>, <a href="#Page_369">369</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">importance of omens deduced from observations of e., <a href="#Page_368">368</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">e. of sun called the "way of Anu," <a href="#Page_457">457</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Eden</i>, Garden of, legendary, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">identical with the confluence of streams, <a href="#Page_506">506</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Edessa</i>, gnostic center, <a href="#Page_699">699</a>.</p> + +<p><i>E-dim-anna</i>, chapel of Sin in E-Zida, <a href="#Page_639">639</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meaning of name, <a href="#Page_639">639</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>E-dingiranagin</i>, see <i>E-anna-tuma</i>.</p> + +<p><i>E-ditar-kalama</i>, sanctuary of Shamash in Babylon, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_640">640</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meaning of name, <a href="#Page_640">640</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>E-dur-an-ki</i>, zikkurat at Larsa, <a href="#Page_639">639</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meaning of name, <a href="#Page_639">639</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>E-dur-gi-na</i>, temple of Belsarbi, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_639">639</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meaning of name, <a href="#Page_639">639</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>E-edinna</i>, temple of Shamash's consort, <a href="#Page_640">640</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meaning of name, <a href="#Page_640">640</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>E-esh-gi</i>, shrine of Nin-girsu at Lagash, <a href="#Page_640">640</a>.</p> + +<p><i>E-gal-makh</i>, temple in Ur, <a href="#Page_639">639</a>.</p> + +<p><i>E-gish-shir-gal</i>, temple of Sin at Ur, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>, <a href="#Page_295">295</a>, <a href="#Page_640">640</a>, <a href="#Page_647">647</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meaning of name, <a href="#Page_640">640</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>E-gi-umunna</i>, a sanctuary, <a href="#Page_640">640</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meaning of name, <a href="#Page_640">640</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>E-gubba-an-ki</i>, zikkurat at Dilbat, <a href="#Page_639">639</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meaning of name, <a href="#Page_639">639</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>E-igi-e-nir-kidur-makh</i>, temple to Ninni at Kish, <a href="#Page_639">639</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meaning of name, <a href="#Page_639">639</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Ekallâte</i>, name of city in Assyria, cult of Ramman and Shala, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>.</p> + +<p><i>E-karzaginna</i>, sanctuary of Ea in E-Sagila, <a href="#Page_636">636</a>.</p> + +<p><i>E-kharsag</i>, temple in Ur, <a href="#Page_638">638</a>.</p> + +<p><i>E-kharsag-ella</i>, temple of Gula in Babylon, meaning of name, <a href="#Page_638">638</a>.</p> + +<p><i>E-kharsag-kalama</i>, name of temple, <a href="#Page_638">638</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">E-kur-makh, <a href="#Page_638">638</a>.</span></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_751" id="Page_751">[Pg 751]</a></span><i>E-kharsag-kurkura</i>, dwelling of Bel, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple in Assyria, <a href="#Page_615">615</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meaning of name, <a href="#Page_638">638</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>E-khulkhul</i>, temple of Sin in Harran, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>, <a href="#Page_641">641</a>, <a href="#Page_647">647</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meaning of name, <a href="#Page_641">641</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>E-ki-dur-garza</i>, temple to Nin-lil-anna in Babylon, <a href="#Page_640">640</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meaning of name, <a href="#Page_640">640</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Ekimmu</i>, a class of spirits, <a href="#Page_260">260</a> (<i>cf.</i> <a href="#Page_512">512</a>, <a href="#Page_581">581</a>, <a href="#Page_602">602</a>).</p> + +<p><i>E-kua</i>, papakhu of Marduk in E-Sagila, <a href="#Page_640">640</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meaning of name, <a href="#Page_640">640</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>E-kur</i>, temple of Bel, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_642">642</a>, <a href="#Page_644">644</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meaning of E-kur, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>, <a href="#Page_614">614</a>, <a href="#Page_638">638</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">= Eshara, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">history of the temple, <a href="#Page_644">644</a> ff.;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">= Kharsag(-gal)-kurkura, <a href="#Page_558">558</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">lofty dwelling of gods, <a href="#Page_541">541</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">designation for the nether-world, <a href="#Page_558">558</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">= temple, <a href="#Page_558">558</a>, <a href="#Page_614">614</a> (cf. <a href="#Page_622">622</a>);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">= earth, <a href="#Page_614">614</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in plural = divinities, <a href="#Page_615">615</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>E-kur-makh</i>, name of temple, <a href="#Page_638">638</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">= E-kharsag-kalama, <a href="#Page_638">638</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Elali</i>, in proper names of the 2nd Bab. period, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">epithet of Gibil, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Elam</i>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Elamites invade Babylonia, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_480">480</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">capture Nanâ's statue, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Elamitic deities: Eria, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Kadi, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>.</span></p> + +<p><a name="index-el-amarna" id="index-el-amarna"></a><i>El-Amarna</i>, tablets of, containing the Adapa legend, <a href="#Page_544">544</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">contains legend of Nergal conquering and wedding Allatu, <a href="#Page_584">584</a>-5.</span></p> + +<p><i>Elul</i>, see <i>Ululu</i>.</p> + +<p><i>E-makh</i>, chapel to Nin-kharsag, <a href="#Page_639">639</a>.</p> + +<p><i>E-makh-tila</i>, shrine to Nabu at Borsippa, <a href="#Page_307">307</a>, <a href="#Page_606">606</a>, <a href="#Page_636">636</a>.</p> + +<p><i>E-mash-mash</i>, temple of Ishtar, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Belit, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>E-me-te-ur-sagga</i>, temple of Zamama-Ninib, <a href="#Page_640">640</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meaning of name, <a href="#Page_640">640</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>En-anna-tuma</i>, patesi of Lagash, constructs storehouse to Nin-girsu, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>.</p> + +<p><i>En-anna-tuma</i> II., 2nd dynasty of Ur, devotee of Nin-gal, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>.</p> + +<p><i>E-nin-makh</i>, chapel of Ishtar in Babylon, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_640">640</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meaning of name, <a href="#Page_640">640</a>.</span></p> + +<p><a name="index-e-ninnu" id="index-e-ninnu"></a><i>E-ninnu</i>, temple of Nin-girsu, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_635">635</a>, <a href="#Page_640">640</a>.</p> + +<p><i>En-ki</i>, see <i>Ea</i>.</p> + +<p><i>En-lil</i>, see <i>Bel</i>.</p> + +<p><i>En-meshara</i>, attendant of Allatu, god of vegetation, <a href="#Page_588">588</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">festival of E. in the 10th month, <a href="#Page_588">588</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Ennanna</i> = Ninni, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>.</p> + +<p><i>En-ninna</i>, a minor deity in the Etana legend, <a href="#Page_521">521</a>.</p> + +<p><i>En-nugi</i>, leader of the gods, <a href="#Page_495">495</a>.</p> + +<p><i>En-temena</i>, patesi of Lagash, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">constructs storehouse to Nin-girsu, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>En-tena</i>, see <i>En-temena</i> (better reading).</p> + +<p><i>E-nun-makh</i>, temple of Sin at Ur, <a href="#Page_295">295</a>, <a href="#Page_640">640</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meaning of name, <a href="#Page_640">640</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Enshar</i>, cosmological deity, <a href="#Page_417">417</a>.</p> + +<p><i>En-zu</i>, see <i>Sin</i>.</p> + +<p><i>E-pa</i>, zikkurat at Lagash, <a href="#Page_639">639</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meaning of name, <a href="#Page_639">639</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>E-pad-kalama-suma</i>, sanctuary of Nabu in Babylonia, <a href="#Page_640">640</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meaning of name, <a href="#Page_640">640</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Epics and legends</i>, literary-religious character of, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">historical spirit of, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nature myths, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Erech</i> = Warka = Uruk; see <i>Uruk</i>.</p> + +<p><i>Eresh-Kigal</i> = Allatu, <a href="#Page_584">584</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Eria</i>, Elamitic goddess, possibly identical with Erua, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_752" id="Page_752">[Pg 752]</a></span></p> + +<p><i>Eridu</i>, ancient center, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>, <a href="#Page_445">445</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sanctuary of Ea, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_445">445</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">lost her political prestige, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cult of Anunnaki and Igigi, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prominent in incantations, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Erua</i>, the "begetting" goddess, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">amalgamation with Sarpanitum, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>-3, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dwelling in E-Zida, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">consort of Nabu, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">possibly identical with Eria, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">water deity, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cult suppressed by Hammurabi, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">place of worship, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>E-Sagila</i>, temple of Marduk in Babylon, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_636">636</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">with a shrine of Sarpanitum, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>, <a href="#Page_636">636</a>, <a href="#Page_641">641</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">with shrine of Nusku, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">with shrine of Nabu, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_636">636</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">with shrine of Ea, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">with shrine of Tashmitum, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">with shrine of Nin-kharsag, <a href="#Page_639">639</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sanctuary E-karzaginna of Ea, <a href="#Page_636">636</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meaning of name, <a href="#Page_639">639</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">with papakhu of Marduk, <a href="#Page_640">640</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">takes the place of E-kur, <a href="#Page_645">645</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">history of E-Sagila, <a href="#Page_648">648</a> ff.;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">place of installation of rulers, <a href="#Page_649">649</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">influence of E-Sagila and E-Zida, <a href="#Page_649">649</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>E-Sagila</i>, temple of Ea, <a href="#Page_446">446</a>.</p> + +<p><i>E-salgisa</i>, temple in Girsu, <a href="#Page_641">641</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meaning of name, <a href="#Page_641">641</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Esarhaddon</i>, king of Assyria, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">restores temple of Nanâ-Ishtar at Erech, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his pantheon, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">restores Ekur, <a href="#Page_645">645</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Shamash cult in Sippar, <a href="#Page_646">646</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Eschatological literature</i>, gods and demons in e., <a href="#Page_183">183</a>.</p> + +<p><i>E-shara</i>, meaning, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">offsprings of, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bride of E., <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">built by Anshar, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">built by Marduk, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_431">431</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">= Ekur, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">placed by Marduk under control of Bel, <a href="#Page_432">432</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>E-shid-lam</i>, temple of Nergal and Laz at Cuthah, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_648">648</a>, <a href="#Page_667">667</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Etana</i>, legendary personage, <a href="#Page_468">468</a>, <a href="#Page_505">505</a>, <a href="#Page_519">519</a> ff.;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dwells in the netherworld, <a href="#Page_511">511</a>, <a href="#Page_520">520</a>, <a href="#Page_523">523</a>, <a href="#Page_527">527</a>, <a href="#Page_590">590</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">E.'s patron, Shamash, <a href="#Page_520">520</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">name occurs in O. T., <a href="#Page_519">519</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">traditions among other nations, <a href="#Page_519">519</a>-21;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">E. and Ganymede, <a href="#Page_523">523</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">deified, <a href="#Page_527">527</a>, <a href="#Page_590">590</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">god of vegetation, <a href="#Page_590">590</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>E-temen-an-ki</i>, zikkurat to Marduk at Babylon, <a href="#Page_619">619</a>, <a href="#Page_639">639</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meaning of name, <a href="#Page_639">639</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Ethics</i>, B.-A. religion, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>, <a href="#Page_692">692</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">belong to advanced period, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>, <a href="#Page_304">304</a>-5;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in prayers, <a href="#Page_298">298</a>-9;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gods whose nature create e. notions, <a href="#Page_306">306</a>, <a href="#Page_692">692</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in penitential psalms, <a href="#Page_312">312</a> ff.;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">private morality, <a href="#Page_694">694</a> ff.</span></p> + +<p><i>E-tila</i>, name of a temple, and meaning of name, <a href="#Page_641">641</a>.</p> + +<p><i>E-tur-kalama</i>, temple of Ishtar, <a href="#Page_311">311</a>.</p> + +<p><i>E-u-gal</i>, temple to En-lil, <a href="#Page_640">640</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meaning of name, <a href="#Page_640">640</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>E-ulla</i>, temple to Gula in Sippar, <a href="#Page_641">641</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meaning of name, <a href="#Page_641">641</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>E-ul-mash</i>, temple of Nanâ in Agade, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Euphrates</i>, stream of Garden of Eden, <a href="#Page_2">2</a> (<i>cf.</i> <a href="#Page_506">506</a>);<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">E. valley, central habitation of mankind, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">old settlements of Hebrews, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">course of, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">comparison with Tigris, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>;</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_753" id="Page_753">[Pg 753]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">one of the four streams forming the confluence of streams, <a href="#Page_506">506</a> (<i>cf.</i> <a href="#Page_2">2</a>).</span></p> + +<p><i>E-ur-imin-an-ki</i>, zikkurat at Babylon, <a href="#Page_619">619</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Eusebius</i>, source for B.-A. religion, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Eve</i>, parallelism with Ukhat, <a href="#Page_511">511</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Excavations</i>, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>-15.</p> + +<p><i>Exorcism</i>, see <i>Incantations</i>.</p> + +<p><i>E-Zida</i>, temple of Nabu at Borsippa, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>, <a href="#Page_639">639</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">with shrine of Erua, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">with shrine of Sarpanitum, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">with shrine of Tashmitum, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">with shrine of Nusku, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">with shrine of Ea, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">with shrine of Sin, <a href="#Page_639">639</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">history of E-Zida, <a href="#Page_648">648</a> ff.;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">influence of E-Zida and E-Sagila, <a href="#Page_649">649</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>E-Zida</i>, shrine of Nabu in E-Sagila, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>, <a href="#Page_636">636</a>.</p> + + +<p><i>Family</i>, systematization of O. B. pantheon according to Davis, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Fast days</i>, special occasions, <a href="#Page_688">688</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Fate tablets</i>, tablets of fate in the hands of Bel, <a href="#Page_538">538</a> (<i>cf.</i> <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>);<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the Tiâmat story, <a href="#Page_420">420</a>, <a href="#Page_428">428</a>, <a href="#Page_538">538</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">robbed by Zu, <a href="#Page_540">540</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">compared with the tablets of wisdom, <a href="#Page_585">585</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Festivals</i>, zag-muk, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_631">631</a>, <a href="#Page_677">677</a>, <a href="#Page_678">678</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">significance of every day, <a href="#Page_675">675</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">special significance of special days, <a href="#Page_675">675</a>, <a href="#Page_677">677</a>, <a href="#Page_680">680</a>-1, <a href="#Page_683">683</a>-5;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">words for f. in Assyrian, <a href="#Page_676">676</a>, <a href="#Page_687">687</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">each month sacred to a deity, <a href="#Page_462">462</a>-3, <a href="#Page_676">676</a>, <a href="#Page_683">683</a>-4;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">festivals and months sacred to divinities not always corresponding, <a href="#Page_687">687</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">special festivals, <a href="#Page_687">687</a>-8;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the puru ceremony, <a href="#Page_688">688</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fast days and rites, <a href="#Page_688">688</a>.</span></p> + +<p><a name="index-fire" id="index-fire"></a><i>Fire</i>, see <i>Water</i> (cf. Gibil-Nusku in incantations, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>);<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">means of purification, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">belongs to all three divisions of the universe, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Foreign gods</i> in B.-A. religion (see also <i>Cassites</i>), <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_644">644</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Adad = Ramman, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Kadi, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Damku, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Eria, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a> (Elamitic).</span></p> + +<p><i>Fresnel, Fulgente</i>, expedition, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>.</p> + + +<p><i>Gaga</i>, Assyrian pantheon, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">minor god, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Anshar's messenger to Tiâmat, <a href="#Page_423">423</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a foreign deity, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>, <a href="#Page_644">644</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Gal-alim</i>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">center of worship, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">son of Nin-girsu, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Gudea's pantheon, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Gamlat</i>, in Ass. pantheon, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Ganymede and Etana</i>, <a href="#Page_523">523</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Ga-tum-dug</i>, goddess, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">similar to Bau, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">worship at Lagash, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_635">635</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Gudea's pantheon, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_635">635</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Gate of Widespread Splendor</i>, seat of Sarpanitum in E-Sagila, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>, <a href="#Page_636">636</a>, <a href="#Page_641">641</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Gegunu</i>, epithet of Aralû, <a href="#Page_563">563</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Genealogical</i> systematization of Old Bab. pantheon according to Amiaud, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Genesis</i>, see <i><a href="#index-cosmology">Cosmology</a></i>.</p> + +<p><a name="index-gibil" id="index-gibil"></a><i>Gibil</i>, fire-god, E-la-li, perhaps an epithet, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Ass. pantheon, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">amalgamated with Nusku, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in incantations, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">older than Nusku, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">epithets, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a mythological conception, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">G.-Nusku, god of civilization, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">medium betw. worshipper and deity, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with Anu, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>;</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_754" id="Page_754">[Pg 754]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with Bel and Ea, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with Nin-gish-zida, <a href="#Page_463">463</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">identified with Nergal, <a href="#Page_594">594</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Gil</i>, attendant of Nergal and Allatu, <a href="#Page_588">588</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">god of foliage, <a href="#Page_588">588</a>.</span></p> + +<p><a name="index-gilgamesh" id="index-gilgamesh"></a><i>Gilgamesh</i>, hero of the Bab. epic, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_468">468</a> ff.;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in incantations, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>, <a href="#Page_470">470</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mythological explanation of, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>, <a href="#Page_486">486</a>-7;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">with omens, <a href="#Page_387">387</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">solar deity, <a href="#Page_470">470</a>-1, <a href="#Page_515">515</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">king of the earth, <a href="#Page_471">471</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">born in Marada, <a href="#Page_473">473</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">conquers Uruk, <a href="#Page_473">473</a>, <a href="#Page_513">513</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">created by Aruru, <a href="#Page_473">473</a>-4;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Shamash (see <i><a href="#index-lugal-marada">Lugal-Marada</a></i>), his patron, <a href="#Page_471">471</a>, <a href="#Page_479">479</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">love affair with Ishtar, <a href="#Page_481">481</a> ff.;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lugal-Marada, his patron (see <i><a href="#index-shamash">Shamash</a></i>), <a href="#Page_486">486</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">conquers Khumbaba, <a href="#Page_480">480</a>, <a href="#Page_514">514</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">G.'s contest with the bull, <a href="#Page_486">486</a>, <a href="#Page_514">514</a>, <a href="#Page_537">537</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">contest with lion, <a href="#Page_488">488</a>, <a href="#Page_514">514</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Gilgamesh half divine, half human, <a href="#Page_490">490</a>, <a href="#Page_514">514</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">G. and Sabitum, <a href="#Page_490">490</a>-1;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">G. and Parnapishtim, <a href="#Page_492">492</a> ff.;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">points of contact with O. T., <a href="#Page_495">495</a>, <a href="#Page_515">515</a>-6;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">G. and Eabani, <a href="#Page_510">510</a>, <a href="#Page_565">565</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">seeking immortality and the secret of life after death, <a href="#Page_513">513</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">parallelism with Samson, <a href="#Page_516">516</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">parallelism with Hercules, <a href="#Page_516">516</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Gilgamesh and Alexander the Great, <a href="#Page_469">469</a>, <a href="#Page_516">516</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">G. in Aelian, <a href="#Page_469">469</a>, <a href="#Page_524">524</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">G.'s grandfather Sokkaros, <a href="#Page_524">524</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Gimil-Sin</i>, deified, <a href="#Page_561">561</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple at Lagash, <a href="#Page_561">561</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Gim-nun-ta-ud-du-a</i>, son of Bau, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">explanation of name, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">probable functions, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Gin-shul-pa-uddu</i>, wife of Gudea, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Girra</i>, attendant of Nergal and Allatu, <a href="#Page_588">588</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">identified with Dibbarra, <a href="#Page_588">588</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a form of Nergal in later texts, <a href="#Page_589">589</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Girsu</i>, see <i><a href="#index-lagash">Lagash</a></i>.</p> + +<p><i>Gish-galla</i> (?), quarter of Lagash, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple of Ninni, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Gish-zida</i>, identical with solar deity Nin-gish-zida, <a href="#Page_547">547</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">G. and Tammuz, doorkeepers of heaven, <a href="#Page_546">546</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">5th month sacred to G., <a href="#Page_547">547</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">intercedes for Adapa with Anu, <a href="#Page_548">548</a>-9.</span></p> + +<p><i>Gnosticism</i>, influenced by B.-A. religion, <a href="#Page_698">698</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Great Place</i>, name of temple, <a href="#Page_641">641</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Grotefend, Georg Friedrich</i>, decipherment of wedge writing, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Gudea</i> statues, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_652">652</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his pantheon, <a href="#Page_106">106</a> ff., <a href="#Page_635">635</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">number of deities indicative of the extent of his sovereignty, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">principle of order, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gods common to Gudea's and Lugalzaggisi's pantheon, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">deified, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>, <a href="#Page_470">470</a>, <a href="#Page_561">561</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his zikkurat, <a href="#Page_615">615</a>, <a href="#Page_619">619</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">builder of temples, <a href="#Page_642">642</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">imports diorite from Sinai peninsula, <a href="#Page_627">627</a>, <a href="#Page_651">651</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Gudea's apsu, <a href="#Page_653">653</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Gudea's ship for Ningirsu, <a href="#Page_654">654</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">G.'s votive objects and inscription, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_668">668</a>-9, <a href="#Page_672">672</a>.</span></p> + +<p><a name="index-gula" id="index-gula"></a><i>Gula</i>, identified with Bau, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with Ninib, <a href="#Page_105">105</a> (<i>cf.</i> <a href="#Page_576">576</a>);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">goddess of healing, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a> (<i>cf.</i> <a href="#Page_576">576</a>, <a href="#Page_683">683</a>);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Nebuchadnezzar's I. pantheon, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">epithets, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_576">576</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">goddess of nether-world, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>-5;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">position intermediate betw. gods of the living and gods of the dead, <a href="#Page_175">175</a> (<i>cf.</i> <a href="#Page_576">576</a>);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">creator of mankind, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her sanctuary erected by Ashurnasirbal, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>;</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_755" id="Page_755">[Pg 755]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">her festival celebrated by Ashurbanabal, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>, <a href="#Page_683">683</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">= Nin-Karrak, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple at Babylon (see <i><a href="#index-nin-karrak">Nin-Karrak</a></i>), <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_638">638</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">three sanctuaries at Borsippa, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_636">636</a> (E-ulla), <a href="#Page_641">641</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in incantations, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">12th day of Iyar sacred to G., <a href="#Page_683">683</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Gurmu</i>, son of Bau, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Gushgin-banda</i>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"brilliant chief," patron of metal-workers, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>.</span></p> + + +<p><i>Halévy, J.</i>, Sumerian question, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>-4.</p> + +<p><i>Hallabi</i>, city near Sippar, temple of Ninni, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Hamath</i>, city in N. Syria, <a href="#Page_578">578</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Hammurabi</i>, king of Babylon, secures the hegemony in Babylonia, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_532">532</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Marduk, the chief of his pantheon, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">builds temples, <a href="#Page_642">642</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">builds temple to Ninni at Hallabi, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">builds E-Zida, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ignores cult of Nabu, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">suppresses cult of Erua, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">care of temple of Shamash at Larsa, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>-4;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Shamash cult, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>-4;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Sippar, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Larsa, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ninni cult at Hallabi, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>-5;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"proclaimer of Anu and Bel," <a href="#Page_146">146</a>-7;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">beloved shepherd of Belit, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">list of names of gods in H.'s pantheon, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>-2;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"The Akkadian," <a href="#Page_532">532</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">H.'s character as a Messiah, <a href="#Page_533">533</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">= Amraphel, <a href="#Page_534">534</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Harran</i>, city in Mesopotamia, sacred to Sin, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>, <a href="#Page_641">641</a>, <a href="#Page_647">647</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its importance and political decline, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meaning of its name, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associations with Ur, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">enjoys the patronage of Sargon II., <a href="#Page_77">77</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple of Sin, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>, <a href="#Page_641">641</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">patronized by Nabonnedos, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Haynes, John H.</i>, excavations, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Heart of Shamash</i>, name of a temple, <a href="#Page_641">641</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Hebrews</i>, see <i><a href="#index-old-testament">Old Testament</a></i>.</p> + +<p><i>Hercules</i>, parallelism with Gilgamesh, <a href="#Page_516">516</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Herodotus</i>, source for B.-A. religion, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">history of Assyria, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">history of Persia, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">notices on B.-A. religion, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">notices on Ishtar cult in Erech, <a href="#Page_485">485</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Hillah</i>, village, site of, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Historical texts</i>, value as source for religion, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>, <a href="#Page_661">661</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">pantheon in h. t. compared with that in incantation texts, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">source for knowledge of sacrifices, <a href="#Page_661">661</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Hittites</i>, eagle standard among the H., <a href="#Page_527">527</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">influence on Assyrian architecture, <a href="#Page_627">627</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Hommel, Fritz</i>, Sumerian question, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Homoroka</i> = Marduk, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>.</p> + +<p><i>House Full of Joy</i>, name of temple, <a href="#Page_641">641</a>.</p> + +<p><i>House of Fifty</i>, see <i><a href="#index-e-ninnu">E-ninnu</a></i>.</p> + +<p><i>House of Great Splendor</i>, name of temple, <a href="#Page_641">641</a>.</p> + +<p><i>House of Hearkening to Prayers</i>, name of temple, <a href="#Page_641">641</a>.</p> + +<p><i>House of Light</i>, name of temple, <a href="#Page_641">641</a>.</p> + +<p><i>House of the Brilliant Precinct</i>, name of temple, <a href="#Page_641">641</a>.</p> + +<p><i>House of the Seven Divisions of Heaven and Earth</i>, name of zikkurat at Borsippa, <a href="#Page_639">639</a>.</p> + +<p><i>House of the Seven Zones</i>, name of zikkurat at Uruk, <a href="#Page_639">639</a>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_756" id="Page_756">[Pg 756]</a></span></p> + +<p><i>House Without Rival</i>, name of temple, <a href="#Page_641">641</a>.</p> + +<p><a name="index-hymns" id="index-hymns"></a><i>Hymns and prayers</i>, division of religious literature, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">where composed, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in connection with incantations, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>, <a href="#Page_301">301</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">h. to Shamash, <a href="#Page_300">300</a> ff.;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">to Sin, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>-4;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dialogue style of composition, <a href="#Page_305">305</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">to Nebo, <a href="#Page_306">306</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">no difference in thought betw. h. and incantation, <a href="#Page_301">301</a>, <a href="#Page_307">307</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">illustrating relationship betw. man and gods, <a href="#Page_309">309</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">deity as person of dialogue in, <a href="#Page_310">310</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">see also <i><a href="#index-prayers">Prayers</a></i>.</span></p> + + +<p><i>Iamblichus</i>, source of B.-A. religion, <a href="#Page_399">399</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Idiklat</i> = Tigris, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Igi-dug-ga</i>, title of Ea, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Igigi</i>, explanation of name, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">number of, and explanation, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">spirits of heaven, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gods in whose service the I. are, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their character, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with Anunnaki, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_593">593</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">altar of I. and Anunnaki, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">chiefs of Eridu, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ashur, king of, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Anu, their chief, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_593">593</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with the great triad, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Ilabrat</i>, minor god, in the Adapa legend, <a href="#Page_546">546</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Illumination of Bel</i>, name of an omen series, <a href="#Page_363">363</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Im</i> = Ramman, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Immeru</i> = Ramman, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Immortality</i>, see <i><a href="#index-dead">Dead</a></i>.</p> + +<p><i>Im-pa-ud-du</i>, son of Bau, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">explanation of name, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">function, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Incantations</i>, see also <i><a href="#index-magical-texts">Magical Texts</a></i>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in therapeutics, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">means and methods of, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>-3;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gods invoked in, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sacred objects invoked, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gods in incantations <i>par excellence</i>, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the fire-god in, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favorite time of, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>-1;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">i. services, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>, <a href="#Page_283">283</a> ff.;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">principle of sympathetic magic, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mixed with ethical conceptions, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in connection with prayers, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>, <a href="#Page_301">301</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the oldest fixed ritual, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">no line of demarcation betw. prayers and i., <a href="#Page_297">297</a>, <a href="#Page_307">307</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">points in common with and differences from penitential psalms, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the natural expression of popular beliefs, <a href="#Page_326">326</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">demons exorcised by i., <a href="#Page_330">330</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">connecting link betw. omens and i., <a href="#Page_352">352</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Inmarmaru</i>, city in Dibbarra epic, <a href="#Page_533">533</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Invocations</i>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in records of the 2nd Bab. period, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">combined invocations, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">where found, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">motive and manner of, <a href="#Page_236">236</a> ff.;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tiglathpileser I., <a href="#Page_236">236</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ramman-nirari I., <a href="#Page_237">237</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ashurnasirbal, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Shalmaneser II., <a href="#Page_237">237</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sargon II., <a href="#Page_237">237</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sennacherib, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Esarhaddon, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ashurbanabal, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gods in invocation and in actual worship, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Irkalla</i>, a designation of the netherworld, <a href="#Page_563">563</a>, <a href="#Page_566">566</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">name of the consort of the queen of Aralû, <a href="#Page_563">563</a>, <a href="#Page_591">591</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">identified with Nergal, <a href="#Page_592">592</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Isaiah</i>, prophet, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Ish-gu-tur</i>, temple of Nin-Mar in Mar, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Ishi-milku</i>, a foreign deity, <a href="#Page_644">644</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Ishme-Dagan</i>, king of Assyria, evidence of age of Dagan cult, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_757" id="Page_757">[Pg 757]</a></span></p> + +<p><i>Ishtar</i>, goddess Nanâ, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_311">311</a>, <a href="#Page_643">643</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">absorbs other deities, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">epithets, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>-2, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">functions in B.-A., <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_459">459</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">functions in A., <a href="#Page_83">83</a>-5;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Gilgamesh epic, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>-5, <a href="#Page_482">482</a>, <a href="#Page_501">501</a>, <a href="#Page_563">563</a>-4;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">zodiacal interpr., <a href="#Page_82">82</a>-4, <a href="#Page_310">310</a>-1;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relationship to Sin, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_565">565</a>, <a href="#Page_571">571</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relationship to Anu, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>-5, <a href="#Page_566">566</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">significance of these relationships, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">variants, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple at Agade, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple at Calah, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple E-mash-mash, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relationship to Sin and Shamash, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_571">571</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">goddess of war, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">during Cassite and Nebuchadnezzar's I. reign, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_645">645</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">variants of Assyrian Ishtar, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mighty over the Anunnaki, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">milder nature in religious texts, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mother of mankind, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>-5, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relationship to her devotees, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple Kidmuru, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temples at Arbela, Nineveh, and Ashur, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I. of Nineveh and I. of Arbela distinguished, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ab her sacred month, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>, <a href="#Page_462">462</a>, <a href="#Page_685">685</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wife of Bel, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Belit of the land (<a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>), <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, = Belit, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple in Uruk, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_311">311</a>, <a href="#Page_531">531</a>, <a href="#Page_639">639</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">worship in Uruk, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_472">472</a>, <a href="#Page_475">475</a>, <a href="#Page_531">531</a> (see <i><a href="#index-nana">Nanâ</a></i>);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wife of Ashur, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with the great triad, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ishtar and Anu, names of west. gates of Sargon's II. palace, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">causes the inhabitants to flourish, <a href="#Page_237">237</a> (<i>cf.</i> <a href="#Page_204">204</a>);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple at Babylon, <a href="#Page_242">242</a> (<i>cf. Ninmakh</i>), <a href="#Page_640">640</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in incantations, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in hymns, <a href="#Page_310">310</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple E-tur-kalama, <a href="#Page_311">311</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in a penitential psalm, <a href="#Page_318">318</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prominence of cult of I. under Ashurnasirbal and before, <a href="#Page_325">325</a>, <a href="#Page_342">342</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in oracles and omens, <a href="#Page_343">343</a>-4;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">= Venus as name of planet, <a href="#Page_370">370</a>, <a href="#Page_458">458</a>-9, <a href="#Page_571">571</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">importance of Ishtar-Venus in omen literature, <a href="#Page_371">371</a>-2;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I. appears in a dream to the king, <a href="#Page_374">374</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">personification of fertility, <a href="#Page_459">459</a>, <a href="#Page_462">462</a>, <a href="#Page_482">482</a>, <a href="#Page_563">563</a>, <a href="#Page_587">587</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">causes decline, <a href="#Page_483">483</a>, <a href="#Page_563">563</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">10th month sacred to I., Papsukal, and Anu, <a href="#Page_463">463</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the Kizrêti, Ukhâti, and Kharimâti of I. in Uruk, <a href="#Page_475">475</a>, <a href="#Page_485">485</a>, <a href="#Page_660">660</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relationship to Tammuz, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_482">482</a>, <a href="#Page_484">484</a>, <a href="#Page_547">547</a>, <a href="#Page_564">564</a>, <a href="#Page_574">574</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ishtar's love fatal to her lovers, <a href="#Page_482">482</a>, <a href="#Page_516">516</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I. and Eabani, <a href="#Page_484">484</a>, <a href="#Page_486">486</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the deluge, <a href="#Page_501">501</a>, <a href="#Page_503">503</a>-4;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">parallelism with Delila, <a href="#Page_516">516</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I. in the lower world, <a href="#Page_564">564</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the 6th month "the mission of Ishtar," <a href="#Page_564">564</a>, <a href="#Page_684">684</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">festival celebrated in Ab, <a href="#Page_685">685</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">correlated to Allatu, <a href="#Page_587">587</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I. cult under Ashurbanabal, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>, <a href="#Page_648">648</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cult under Nebuchadnezzar II., <a href="#Page_648">648</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">figurines of, <a href="#Page_674">674</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Ishtaritu</i>, general designation of Ishtar priestess, <a href="#Page_660">660</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Ishum, god</i>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">identity with Pa-sag, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in proper names of, 2nd Bab. period, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">messenger of Nusku, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">solar deity, <a href="#Page_528">528</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">local deity, <a href="#Page_528">528</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attendant of Dibbarra, <a href="#Page_529">529</a>, <a href="#Page_594">594</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">describes Dibbarra's deeds, <a href="#Page_530">530</a> ff.;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his wars, <a href="#Page_533">533</a> ff.;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with Sibi, <a href="#Page_533">533</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"the warrior," <a href="#Page_533">533</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with Nergal, <a href="#Page_594">594</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Isin</i>, ancient center, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">kings, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>;</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_758" id="Page_758">[Pg 758]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Isin dynasty as "builders" of temple of Nanâ in Ur, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Iskenderun</i>, bay of, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Iyar</i>, see <i><a href="#index-airu">Airu</a></i>.</p> + +<p><i>Izdubar</i> = Gilgamesh.</p> + + +<p><i>Jezreel plain</i>, cult of Ramman, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Job</i>, book of, unsatisfactory ending like 12th tablet of Gilgamesh epic, <a href="#Page_513">513</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Josephus</i>, historical references to B.-A., <a href="#Page_5">5</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Judges</i> = priests, <a href="#Page_625">625</a>, <a href="#Page_658">658</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Judith</i>, book of, bearing upon B.-A. religion, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Jupiter</i> = Marduk, name of planet, <a href="#Page_370">370</a>, <a href="#Page_434">434</a>, <a href="#Page_458">458</a>-9, <a href="#Page_676">676</a>-7;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">see <i><a href="#index-marduk">Marduk</a></i>.</span></p> + + +<p><i>Kaaba</i>, at Mecca, <a href="#Page_624">624</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Kabru</i>, epithet for Aralû, <a href="#Page_563">563</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Kadashman-Turgu</i>, Cassite king, votive tablet, <a href="#Page_671">671</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Kadi</i>, in Ass. pantheon, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Elamitic god, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">worshipped in Dur-ilu, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">minor god, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Kadishtu</i>, general designation of Ishtar priestess, <a href="#Page_660">660</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Kalah-Shergat</i>, excavations, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">site of city of Ashur, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Kallat-Eshara</i>, epithet of Gula, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Kanishurra</i>, a foreign god, <a href="#Page_644">644</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Kara-indash</i>, king of Babylon, restores Shamash temple at Larsa, <a href="#Page_144">144</a></p> + +<p><i>Kar-nuna-ta-uddua</i>, ship of Ningirsu, <a href="#Page_654">654</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meaning of name, <a href="#Page_654">654</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Karun</i>, one of the four streams forming the confluence of streams, <a href="#Page_506">506</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Katnu</i>, a foreign god, <a href="#Page_644">644</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Kercha</i>, one of the four streams forming the confluence of streams, <a href="#Page_506">506</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Khadir</i> = Parnapishtim, <a href="#Page_515">515</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Khani</i>, tribe hostile to Babylon, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Khani</i>, god, in Ass. pantheon, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a form of Nebo, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">minor god, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a foreign deity, <a href="#Page_644">644</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Kharimâti</i>, sacred harlots of Uruk, <a href="#Page_475">475</a>, <a href="#Page_531">531</a>, <a href="#Page_660">660</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Kharsag(-gal)-kurkura</i>, "the (great) mountain of the earth," <a href="#Page_558">558</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">native place of the gods, <a href="#Page_558">558</a>, <a href="#Page_614">614</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">= Ekur, <a href="#Page_558">558</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Khashur</i>, mountain destroyed by Ishum, <a href="#Page_533">533</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Khasis-Adra</i>, see <i><a href="#index-adra-khasis">Adra-khasis</a></i>, <a href="#Page_505">505</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Khi-gir-nun-na</i>, son of Bau, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Khi-khi</i>, mountain attacked by Ishum, <a href="#Page_533">533</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Khiraitum</i>, a foreign deity, <a href="#Page_644">644</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Khi-shaga</i>, a son of Bau, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Khorsabad</i>, unearthed, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">capital of Assyria, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sanctuary of Sin, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">palace of Sargon, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">names of its gates and walls, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sanctuary of Nin-Gal, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">zikkurat at K., <a href="#Page_617">617</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Khumbaba</i> attacks Uruk, <a href="#Page_480">480</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">conquered by Gilgamesh, <a href="#Page_514">514</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Khusha</i>, god of the 2nd Bab. period, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Kidin-Marduk</i>, father of Parnapishtim, <a href="#Page_488">488</a>, <a href="#Page_496">496</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Kidmuru</i> temple of Ishtar in Nineveh, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Kigallu</i>, a designation of the netherworld, <a href="#Page_562">562</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Kilili</i>, a foreign deity, <a href="#Page_644">644</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Kingship</i>, differentiation of kingly and priestly functions late, <a href="#Page_374">374</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">traces of direct relationship betw. gods and king, <a href="#Page_374">374</a>-5.</span></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_759" id="Page_759">[Pg 759]</a></span><i>Kingu</i>, consort of Tiâmat, <a href="#Page_420">420</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">symbol of chaos, <a href="#Page_538">538</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">deprived of the tablets of fate by Marduk, <a href="#Page_428">428</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Kinunira</i>, city on the Euphrates (?), sanctuary of Dumuzi-zu-aba, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Kish</i>, city in Babylonia, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple of Zamama, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>;</span><br/> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple of Ninni, <a href="#Page_639">639</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Kishar,</i> god, K. and Anshar created, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_410">410</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">K. and Anshar intermediate betw. the monsters and the gods in creation, <a href="#Page_414">414</a>, <a href="#Page_416">416</a>-7;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">creation of theologians, <a href="#Page_416">416</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Anshar and Kishar in the creation epic and their meaning, <a href="#Page_418">418</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Kishar-gal</i>, cosmological deity, <a href="#Page_417">417</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Kishshat</i>, a foreign god, <a href="#Page_644">644</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Kislev</i>, 9th month, sacred to Nergal, <a href="#Page_463">463</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Kizrêti</i>, Ukhâti, and Kharimâti, the harlots of Uruk, <a href="#Page_475">475</a>, <a href="#Page_531">531</a>, <a href="#Page_660">660</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Koyunjik</i>, mound, unearthed, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Ku(?)-anna</i>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">place of worship, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">functions, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">consort of Ramman (?), <a href="#Page_102">102</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Kudur-mabuk</i>, 2d dynasty of Ur, "builder" of temple of Sin in Ur, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_295">295</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of temple of Nanâ in Ur, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Kumari</i>, city in Babylonia, temple of Ramman, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Kurigalzu</i>, Cassite, king of Babylon, cult of Bel of Nippur, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_645">645</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Kutu</i>, see <i><a href="#index-cuthah">Cuthah</a></i>.</p> + + +<p><i>Lagamal</i>, a foreign god, <a href="#Page_644">644</a>.</p> + +<p><a name="index-lagash" id="index-lagash"></a><i>Lagash</i>, governors, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple of Anu, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_640">640</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple of Belit, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple of Bau, <a href="#Page_635">635</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">quarters of, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>-7;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple of Ningirsu-Ninib, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_635">635</a>, <a href="#Page_640">640</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">center of worship of Ninni, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ancient center, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple of Dumu-zi-zu-aba, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dumuzi, temple of Ninmar, <a href="#Page_635">635</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple of Nin-gish-zida, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_635">635</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple of Ninâ, <a href="#Page_635">635</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple of Ku(?)-an-na, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple of Gimil-Sin, <a href="#Page_561">561</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">shrine of Nin-girsu, <a href="#Page_640">640</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">zikkurat of Nin-girsu, <a href="#Page_619">619</a>, <a href="#Page_635">635</a>, <a href="#Page_639">639</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple of E-salgisa, <a href="#Page_641">641</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple of Nin-si-a, <a href="#Page_635">635</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple of Shabra, <a href="#Page_635">635</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple of Nin-sun, <a href="#Page_635">635</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple of Nin-tu, <a href="#Page_635">635</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">votive objects, <a href="#Page_673">673</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Lakhamu</i>, L. and Lakhmu cosmological, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_410">410</a>, <a href="#Page_417">417</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a monster, <a href="#Page_414">414</a>, <a href="#Page_418">418</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in incantations, <a href="#Page_417">417</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Allatu's court, <a href="#Page_593">593</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Larsa</i>, ancient center, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rulers, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>-8;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dynasty, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">center of worship of Shamash, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>-4, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>, <a href="#Page_628">628</a>, <a href="#Page_640">640</a>, <a href="#Page_646">646</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">zikkurats at L., <a href="#Page_617">617</a>, <a href="#Page_639">639</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Lasimu</i>, a foreign god, <a href="#Page_644">644</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Layard, Austen Henry</i>, excavations, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Laz</i>, consort of Nergal, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">not mentioned in Ass. texts, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">not mentioned in religious texts, <a href="#Page_583">583</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Lebanon</i>, cedar forests, <a href="#Page_626">626</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Legal literature</i>, see also <i><a href="#index-literature">Literature</a></i>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">source for study of religion, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">religious character of, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Libations</i>, <a href="#Page_664">664</a>, <a href="#Page_666">666</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Old Testament and in A.-B., <a href="#Page_665">665</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Libit-Ishtar</i>, 2d dynasty of Ur, builds temple of Nanâ in Ur, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Life of the World</i>, name of temple, <a href="#Page_641">641</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Light of Shamash</i>, name of temple, <a href="#Page_641">641</a>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_760" id="Page_760">[Pg 760]</a></span></p> + +<p><i>Lists of gods</i>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prepared on the basis of religious texts, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>.</span></p> + +<p><a name="index-literature" id="index-literature"></a><i>Literature</i>, Ashurbanabal's library, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">syllabaries, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">religious l., <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>, <a href="#Page_690">690</a>-1;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple records, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">legal documents, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>-6;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">connection betw. religion and literature, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>, <a href="#Page_691">691</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">historical texts, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">uncertain demarcation betw. religious and secular l., <a href="#Page_247">247</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">epics, see <i><a href="#index-gilgamesh">Gilgamesh</a></i>, <i><a href="#index-eabani">Eabani</a></i>, <i><a href="#index-adapa-legend">Adapa</a></i>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">compound of popular belief and of theology, <a href="#Page_689">689</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Local cults</i>, origin of, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">confusion with nature cult, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>-50;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">growth of, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">policy of preservation of local cults by foreign conquerors, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>-70, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">confusion of (female) local cults, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prominence given to local gods as compared with others, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">local cult features and general cult features compared, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">survival of local cults, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">factors obscuring local cults, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>-5;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">political factors, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">popular factors, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">theological factors, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">absorption, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">number of, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in lists, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the Ass. pantheon, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">importance diminishes, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Loftus, William K.</i>, excavations, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Lofty and Brilliant Wall</i>, name of temple, <a href="#Page_641">641</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Lot</i>, bears more resemblance to Parnapishtim than Noah, <a href="#Page_507">507</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Lugal-banda</i>, god, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple at Uruk, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">local character, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">identification with Nergal, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">signification of name, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Lugal-edinna</i>, epithet of Nergal, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Lugal-erima (?)</i>, god, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his local character, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">interpretation of name, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Lugal-gira</i>, epithet of Nergal, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Lugal-ki-mu-na</i>, in proper names of the 2d Bab. period, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>.</p> + +<p><a name="index-lugal-marada" id="index-lugal-marada"></a><i>Lugal-Marada</i>, god, temple at Marad, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a solar deity, <a href="#Page_473">473</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">patron of Gilgamesh, identical with Shamash, <a href="#Page_486">486</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Lugal-mit-tu</i>, in Samsu-iluna's pantheon, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wall of L., <a href="#Page_172">172</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meaning of name, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Lugal-zaggisi</i>, old Babylonian king of Uruk, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his pantheon and its age, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_636">636</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gods common to Lugal-zaggisi's and Gudea's pantheon, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">priest of Anu, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Lulubite</i>, name of people, <a href="#Page_532">532</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Lunar cycle and sun calendar</i>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>.</p> + + +<p><i>Ma-an-ish-tu-su</i>, servitor of Â, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Magarida</i>, a foreign god, <a href="#Page_644">644</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Magganubba</i>, city in n.-e. Assyria, sanctuary of Sin, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">restored by Sargon II., <a href="#Page_232">232</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cult of Damku, Sharru-ilu, Sha-nit(?)-ka, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>.</span></p> + +<p><a name="index-magical-texts" id="index-magical-texts"></a><i>Magical texts</i>, subdivision of religious literature, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">practical purposes, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">beginning of rituals, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>-4, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">number of, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">comparative age of, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">primitive popular thought, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">method of composition, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">titles of, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>-5;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">incantation rituals and their growth, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_283">283</a> ff.;</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_761" id="Page_761">[Pg 761]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ea and Eridu prominent in, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">compiled character, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>-7;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">date of composition, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bilingual redaction, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">metrical traits, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">source of study of popular beliefs, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">occurrence of Gibil evidence of ancient age of, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">pantheon in m. t. compared with that in historical texts, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Mahmal</i>, tabernacle, compared with the Bab. ship for the gods, <a href="#Page_655">655</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Makhir</i>, god of dreams, <a href="#Page_323">323</a>, <a href="#Page_402">402</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Maklu series</i>, <a href="#Page_286">286</a> ff., <a href="#Page_302">302</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Ma-ku-a</i>, name of Marduk's ship, <a href="#Page_655">655</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Malik</i>, god, in Nabubaliddin's pantheon, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with Shamash and Bunene, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in proper names of the time of Hammurabi, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">often used as epithet of Shamash, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meaning of name, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Malik and Bunene, attendants of Shamash, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">consort of Bunene, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Malkatu</i> = Â.</p> + +<p><i>Malku</i>, name of canal, <a href="#Page_655">655</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">name of Naru's ship, <a href="#Page_655">655</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Ma-ma</i>, variant for Gula, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Mammitu</i>, goddess; M. and Anunnaki determine death and life, <a href="#Page_493">493</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Mamu</i>, a form of Gula in proper names of the 2d Bab. period, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Mandacan</i>, legend of Rustem parallel to Etana legend, <a href="#Page_520">520</a> ff.</p> + +<p><i>Mar</i>, district in southern Babylonia, sacred to Nin-Mar, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple Ish-gu-tur of Nin-Mar, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Marad</i>, city in Babylonia, temple of Lugal-Marada, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">native place of Gilgamesh, <a href="#Page_473">473</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Marcheshwan</i>, see <i><a href="#index-arakh-shamnu">Arakh-shamnu</a></i>.</p> + +<p><a name="index-marduk" id="index-marduk"></a><i>Marduk</i>, 2d Bab. period, deity of Babylon, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">child <i>par excellence</i> of Ea, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_548">548</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prominence of his cult since Hammurabi, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>-5, <a href="#Page_690">690</a>-1;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his titles, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>, <a href="#Page_500">500</a>, <a href="#Page_576">576</a>, <a href="#Page_630">630</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">identification with Bel and Ea, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">solar deity, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_528">528</a>, <a href="#Page_576">576</a>, <a href="#Page_690">690</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his warlike traits, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in religious texts, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temples in Babylon (E-Sagila) and Borsippa, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>, <a href="#Page_636">636</a>, <a href="#Page_639">639</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his papakhu, <a href="#Page_640">640</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his consort, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>-4, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">statue brought from Nineveh to E-Sagila, <a href="#Page_684">684</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his statue recovered by Agum, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_670">670</a>, <a href="#Page_687">687</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">lord of E-Sagila and E-Zida, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">New Year's Day his festival, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_631">631</a>, <a href="#Page_678">678</a>, <a href="#Page_681">681</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mediator betw. Ea and mankind, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Marduk and Ea in incantation texts, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>-40;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">conquers Tiâmat, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_408">408</a>, <a href="#Page_422">422</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rivaled by Ramman, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">during the Cassite period, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">called Sag-ila, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">lord of Anunnaki and Igigi, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">absorbs the rôle of other gods, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_409">409</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">builds Eshara, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">blended with Bel, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>-6, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>, <a href="#Page_542">542</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bel's titles applied to, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>, <a href="#Page_409">409</a>, <a href="#Page_542">542</a>, <a href="#Page_635">635</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">position in the Assyrian pantheon, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>-5, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with Ashur, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with Ashur, Shamash, and Ramman, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">second to Ashur, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prominence of his cult in the neo-B. period, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>-40;</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_762" id="Page_762">[Pg 762]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">rivaled by Nabu in the pantheon of Nebopolassar, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>, <a href="#Page_679">679</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">also in old Bab period, <a href="#Page_648">648</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in incantations, <a href="#Page_272">272</a>-3, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the Shurpu series, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in hymns, <a href="#Page_307">307</a> ff.;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">lord of rest, <a href="#Page_309">309</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">god of oracles, esp. in the south, <a href="#Page_342">342</a>, <a href="#Page_345">345</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">zodiacal interpretation, <a href="#Page_370">370</a>, <a href="#Page_434">434</a>, <a href="#Page_458">458</a>-9, <a href="#Page_676">676</a>-7;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his double aspect in the creation epic, <a href="#Page_409">409</a>, <a href="#Page_432">432</a>, <a href="#Page_450">450</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">takes the tablets of fate from Kingu, <a href="#Page_428">428</a> (<i>cf.</i> <a href="#Page_542">542</a>, <a href="#Page_681">681</a>);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">creates the universe, <a href="#Page_428">428</a> ff., <a href="#Page_447">447</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">establishes the districts of Anu, Bel, and Ea, <a href="#Page_432">432</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">arranges the stations of the gods in the zodiacal system, <a href="#Page_434">434</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">creates man, <a href="#Page_437">437</a> (<i>cf.</i> <i>Ea</i>, <i>Bel</i>, <a href="#Page_443">443</a>, <a href="#Page_448">448</a>);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the fifty names (of the Igigi) are bestowed upon M., <a href="#Page_438">438</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">creates the Anunnaki, <a href="#Page_447">447</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">= Nibir, <i>i.e.</i>, Jupiter, exercises control over all the stars, <a href="#Page_434">434</a>, <a href="#Page_458">458</a>-9;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">8th month sacred to M., <a href="#Page_463">463</a>, <a href="#Page_678">678</a>, <a href="#Page_686">686</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Marduk as Sharru in the deluge story, <a href="#Page_500">500</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">absent in the deluge story, <a href="#Page_508">508</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dogs symbol of the solar god Marduk, <a href="#Page_528">528</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">conquers Zu, <a href="#Page_542">542</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">identified with Adapa, <a href="#Page_548">548</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple at Ashur, <a href="#Page_637">637</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">zikkurat at Babylon, <a href="#Page_639">639</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ship of Marduk, <a href="#Page_655">655</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">procession on New Year, <a href="#Page_679">679</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">spec. festival instituted by Agum, <a href="#Page_687">687</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Marduk-baladan</i>, of Babylon, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Marduk-nadin-akhe</i>, king of Babylon, carried statues of Ramman and Shala to Babylon, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Marriage offerings</i>, time of, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">to Bau, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Mars</i> = Nergal, name of planet, <a href="#Page_370">370</a>, <a href="#Page_459">459</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the "sheep" <i>par excellence</i>, <a href="#Page_459">459</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Mar-tu</i> = Ramman, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Marwa</i>, hill in Mecca, <a href="#Page_687">687</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Mashu</i>, mythical mountain, <a href="#Page_488">488</a>-9;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">= Musas or Masis, <a href="#Page_516">516</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Masis</i>, or Musas, = Mashu, <a href="#Page_515">515</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Mecca</i>, <a href="#Page_623">623</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Medes</i>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>-5.</p> + +<p><i>Median wedge writing</i>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Meme</i>, variant of Gula, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Mer</i> = Ramman, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Mercury</i> = Nabu, planet, <a href="#Page_371">371</a>, <a href="#Page_459">459</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Mesopotamia</i>, religious ideas and customs, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">seat of Terahites, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">empire of Nimrod, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">geography, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of, <a href="#Page_28">28</a> ff.</span></p> + +<p><i>Messiah</i>, Hammurabi and the Hebr.-Christian notion of Messianic time, <a href="#Page_533">533</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Mili-shikhu</i>, king of Babylon, his cult of Shamash, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">minor gods worshipped, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Minor gods</i>, 2d Bab. period, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>-2;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">by Mili-shikhu, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">some Cassite deities, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Ass. texts, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in neo-B. period, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>-3;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">absorbed by greater gods, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">patron-gods of arts, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">as personifications, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dividing line betw. spirits and m. g., <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Mishiru</i>, a foreign deity, <a href="#Page_644">644</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Mitanni wedge writings</i>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Months</i>, connected with gods, <a href="#Page_462">462</a> ff., <a href="#Page_676">676</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">names of the months, <a href="#Page_464">464</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">m. sacred to gods and their festivals not always corresponding, <a href="#Page_687">687</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Monumental finds</i>, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Moon</i>, importance of m. as omen giver, <a href="#Page_358">358</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">manifold relations between man and m., <a href="#Page_358">358</a>;</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_763" id="Page_763">[Pg 763]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">importance of m. for calendar, <a href="#Page_436">436</a>, <a href="#Page_461">461</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">moon and sun in religion and astronomy, <a href="#Page_461">461</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Moon-god</i>, see <i><a href="#index-sin">Sin</a></i>.</p> + +<p><i>Moses</i>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">parallelism with Sargon I., <a href="#Page_562">562</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Mosul</i>, excavations near, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Mugheir</i>, mound, excavated, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">see also <i><a href="#index-ur">Ur</a></i>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Mummu</i>, associated with Apsu and Tiâmat, <a href="#Page_420">420</a>-1.</p> + +<p><i>Münter, Frederick</i>, decipherment of wedge writing, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Musas</i>, or Masis, = Mashu, <a href="#Page_516">516</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Mythology</i>, see also <i><a href="#index-nature">Nature</a></i>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">extent and influence of Bab. m., <a href="#Page_518">518</a> ff.</span></p> + + +<p><i>Nabonnedos</i>, of Babylon, restores temple of Shamash in Sippar, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_647">647</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">last king of Babylonia, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">restores temple of Sin in Harran, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_646">646</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gives prominence to Shamash cult, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>-1.</span></p> + +<p><i>Nabu</i>, god, 2d B. period, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">most prominent trait, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">probable aqueous origin, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>-5, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rank as compared with that of Ea and Marduk, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_648">648</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">agricultural deity, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">suppression of cult by Hammurabi and his successors, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">becomes son of Marduk, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a> (<i>cf.</i> <a href="#Page_648">648</a>-9);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his shrine in E-Sagila, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>-9, <a href="#Page_636">636</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prominence during the Assyrian period, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>-9, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his symbol, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple at Calah, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>-9;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prominence during the neo-Bab. period, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his epithets, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>-31, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meaning of name, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his functions, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his cult with other Semites, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">identified with Nusku, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his consort Tashmitum, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>-9;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his consort Nanâ, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favorite of Ramman-nirari III., <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple E-Zida in Borsippa, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>, <a href="#Page_639">639</a>, <a href="#Page_648">648</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">god of wisdom, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">son of Ea, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the subscript to Ashurbanabal's tablets, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>-30;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">similarity and difference betw. N. and Ea, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>-1;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in hymn, <a href="#Page_306">306</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">shrine E-makh-tila in Borsippa, <a href="#Page_307">307</a>, <a href="#Page_636">636</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">god of oracles in Assyria, <a href="#Page_344">344</a>, <a href="#Page_348">348</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">= Mercury, name of planet, <a href="#Page_371">371</a>, <a href="#Page_459">459</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the deluge, <a href="#Page_500">500</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sanctuary E-pad-kalama-suma, <a href="#Page_640">640</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nabu's ship and procession, <a href="#Page_654">654</a>, <a href="#Page_679">679</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Nabu-akhe-irba</i>, astrologer, <a href="#Page_340">340</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Nabu-bal-iddin</i>, king of Babylon, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_685">685</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">restores cult of Sippar, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_628">628</a>, <a href="#Page_645">645</a>, <a href="#Page_670">670</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">votive offerings, <a href="#Page_670">670</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Nabupelassar</i>, see <i><a href="#index-nebopolassar">Nebopolassar</a></i>.</p> + +<p><i>Namar</i>, district in Babylonia, sacred to Kamman, Nergal, and Nanâ, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>.</p> + +<p><a name="index-names" id="index-names"></a><i>Names</i>, transference of name and interpretation of this act, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>-1;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">composition of proper names, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bab. etymologies of names, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Namtar</i>, god of pestilence, <a href="#Page_569">569</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">strikes Ishtar with disease, <a href="#Page_570">570</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">messenger of Allatu, <a href="#Page_570">570</a>, <a href="#Page_580">580</a>.</span></p> + +<p><a name="index-nana" id="index-nana"></a><i>Nanâ</i>, goddess, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">titles, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">center of worship, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">position in the pantheon proper and in the cosmology, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her temples, E-anna in Uruk, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_311">311</a>, <a href="#Page_531">531</a>, <a href="#Page_639">639</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">E-ul-mash in Agade, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>;</span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_764" id="Page_764">[Pg 764]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Ur, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>-2, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_311">311</a>, <a href="#Page_639">639</a>, <a href="#Page_678">678</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">statue captured by Elamites and recaptured by Ashurbanabal, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">absorbs inferior local deities, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with Nergal and Ramman, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">worshipped by Assyr. kings, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">consort of Nabu, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Zag-muk of Nanâ, <a href="#Page_678">678</a>.</span></p> + +<p><a name="index-nannar" id="index-nannar"></a><i>Nannar</i> = Sin, etymology of N., <a href="#Page_75">75</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">N. attached to Ur, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sin to Harran, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his position, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his representation, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his functions, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his epithets, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relationship to Ningal, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Naram-Sin</i>, founds temple of Shamash in Sippar, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_646">646</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his exploits incorporated in omen text, <a href="#Page_562">562</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">builder of the temple of En-lil in Nippur, <a href="#Page_642">642</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Nâru</i>, rivergod in incantations, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ship of Nâru, <a href="#Page_655">655</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">place of worship, <a href="#Page_655">655</a>.</span></p> + +<p><a name="index-nature" id="index-nature"></a><i>Nature</i>, worship, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">confusion with local cults, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>-50;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nature myth, <a href="#Page_432">432</a>-3, <a href="#Page_487">487</a>, <a href="#Page_494">494</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Nazi-Maruttash</i>, Cassite king, votive objects, <a href="#Page_671">671</a>-2.</p> + +<p><i>Nebo</i>, mount in Moab, place of death of Moses, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>.</p> + +<p><a name="index-nebopolassar" id="index-nebopolassar"></a><i>Nebopolassar</i>, king of Babylon, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">makes Babylon independent, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">makes cult of Marduk prominent, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">makes cult of Nabu prominent, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Shamash cult at Larsa, <a href="#Page_647">647</a>, <a href="#Footnote_1423_1423">note 3</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Nebuchadnezzar I.</i>, expels the Cassites, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cult of Marduk and Ramman, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his pantheon, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Nebuchadnezzar II.</i>, religion of N. and Daniel, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">builder of Birs Nimrud, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rule, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">worships Sarpanitum as the begetting deity, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">makes cult of Marduk prominent, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>, <a href="#Page_646">646</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">revives ancient cults, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>-3;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">restores temple of Nin-karrak at Sippar, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his prayers exemplification of ethical tendencies, <a href="#Page_299">299</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposed to Bel cult in Nippur, <a href="#Page_646">646</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">restores Shamash temple in Sippar, <a href="#Page_646">646</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ishtar cult in Uruk, <a href="#Page_648">648</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Nergal</i>, god, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">local cult and temple in Cuthah, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>, <a href="#Page_563">563</a>, <a href="#Page_583">583</a>, <a href="#Page_648">648</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">worship in Palestine, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Uruk, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his names and their meanings, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">functions, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>-7, <a href="#Page_537">537</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">development of his attributes, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>-8, <a href="#Page_582">582</a>, <a href="#Page_593">593</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">identification with Lugal-banda, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">with Irkalla, <a href="#Page_592">592</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with Allat, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_565">565</a>, <a href="#Page_580">580</a>, <a href="#Page_593">593</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with Ramman and Nanâ, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nergal in Samsu-iluna's pantheon, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Nebuchadnezzar's I. pantheon, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">epithets, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">chief of nether-world and subterranean demons, <a href="#Page_183">183</a> (<i>cf.</i> <a href="#Page_260">260</a>), <a href="#Page_511">511</a>, <a href="#Page_563">563</a>, <a href="#Page_582">582</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with Ninib as god of the chase, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">with Ninib and Ashur, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">god of war, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>, <a href="#Page_582">582</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cuthah his sacred city, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>, <a href="#Page_563">563</a>, <a href="#Page_583">583</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Kar-Nergal named in his honor, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple at Tarbisu, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Laz his consort, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_583">583</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">identified with Dibbarra, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>, <a href="#Page_528">528</a>-9, <a href="#Page_594">594</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">perhaps = Bel-sarbi, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in incantations, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">phases of, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>, <a href="#Page_459">459</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">= Mars as name of planet, <a href="#Page_370">370</a>, <a href="#Page_459">459</a>;</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_765" id="Page_765">[Pg 765]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">9th month sacred to N., <a href="#Page_463">463</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sun of midday and summer solstice, <a href="#Page_528">528</a>, <a href="#Page_582">582</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">pictured as a lion, <a href="#Page_530">530</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the lion a symbol of Nergal, <a href="#Page_537">537</a>, <a href="#Page_580">580</a>, <a href="#Page_582">582</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">identified with Gibil, <a href="#Page_594">594</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with Allatu, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_565">565</a>, <a href="#Page_580">580</a>, <a href="#Page_583">583</a>, <a href="#Page_593">593</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nergal conquers and weds Allatu, <a href="#Page_584">584</a>-5;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">imitation of Tiâmat-Marduk fight, <a href="#Page_585">585</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Nether-world</i>, names of: Aralû, <a href="#Page_557">557</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ekur, <a href="#Page_558">558</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Shuâlu, <a href="#Page_558">558</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Kigallu, <a href="#Page_562">562</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Irkalla, <a href="#Page_563">563</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Kutu or Cuthah, <a href="#Page_563">563</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">epithets for n., <a href="#Page_559">559</a>, <a href="#Page_563">563</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nergal, lord of the n., <a href="#Page_563">563</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the older head of the lower world a goddess, Allatu, not a god, <a href="#Page_585">585</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>New Year's Festival</i>, see <i><a href="#index-zag-muk">Zag-muk</a></i>.</p> + +<p><i>Nibir</i> = planet Marduk or Jupiter, in the zodiac in conjunction with Bel and Ea, <a href="#Page_434">434</a>-5;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">exercises control over all the stars, <a href="#Page_458">458</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Nicolas of Damascus</i>, source B.-A. religion, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_412">412</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Niebuhr, Carsten</i>, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Niffer</i>, excavations, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">see <i><a href="#index-nippur">Nippur</a></i>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Nika</i>, mother of Esarhaddon, <a href="#Page_340">340</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Nimrod</i>, incidental biblical reference to, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">not = Gilgamesh, <a href="#Page_514">514</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Nimrud</i> (mound), unearthed, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_627">627</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Ninâ</i>, quarter in Lagash, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">explanation of name, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Ninâ</i>, goddess, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">explanation of name, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">centers of worship, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>-8, <a href="#Page_635">635</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associations with Nin-girsu, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_635">635</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relations to Ea, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>-8;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fusion with Ishtar of Nineveh, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">interprets a dream, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a daughter of Nin-si-a, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Gudea's pantheon, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_635">635</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Nin-a-gal</i>, god, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meaning of name, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">function, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">identification with Ea, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Nin-akha-kuddu</i>, goddess, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her titles in incantation texts, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Lugalzaggisi's pantheon, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">goddess of purification, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mistress of Uruk, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">water deity, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">lady of spells, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Nin-azu</i>, "god of the great city," <a href="#Page_592">592</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with Allatu, <a href="#Page_586">586</a>, <a href="#Page_590">590</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">god of healing, <a href="#Page_590">590</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">identified with Ninib, <a href="#Page_591">591</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Nin-dara</i>, see <i><a href="#index-nin-si-a">Nin-si-a</a></i>.</p> + +<p><i>Nin-dim-su</i>, god, in the Cassite pantheon, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">epithet of Ea, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Nin-din-dug</i>, name of Bau. (See <a href="#corrections">Corrections</a>.)</p> + +<p><i>Nin-e-gal</i>, variant of Nin-gal, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Nineveh</i>, center of action in book of Judith, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">site of, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">capital of Assyria, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_651">651</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cult of Ishtar, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>-3;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple E-mash-mash of Ishtar, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">resp. of Belit, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sha-nit(?)-ka, mistress of, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">worship of all gods and goddesses, <a href="#Page_638">638</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">intellectual center, <a href="#Page_651">651</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Nin-gal</i>, god, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">center of worship, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relationship to Nannar, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sanctuary at Khorsabad, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nin-gal's ship, <a href="#Page_655">655</a>.</span></p> + +<p><a name="index-nin-girsu" id="index-nin-girsu"></a><i>Nin-girsu</i>, solar deity, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">subordinate to Bel, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">identity with Ninib, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a> (<i>cf.</i> <a href="#Page_528">528</a>);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple E-Ninnu in Girsu, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_634">634</a>-5, <a href="#Page_640">640</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">votive offerings, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">agricultural deity = Shulgur, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">identity with Tammuz, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relations to Nin-shakh, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Gudea's pantheon, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>;</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_766" id="Page_766">[Pg 766]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">in incantations, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">zikkurat in Lagash or Girsu, <a href="#Page_619">619</a>, <a href="#Page_635">635</a>, <a href="#Page_639">639</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">shrine in Lagash, <a href="#Page_640">640</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his ship, <a href="#Page_654">654</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">consort of Bau, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_677">677</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Nin-gish-zida</i>, solar deity, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a form of Nin-girsu, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meaning of name, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">identified with Ninib, Nin-girsu, Nin-shakh, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>, <a href="#Page_528">528</a>, <a href="#Page_547">547</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">local character, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_528">528</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple in Girsu, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_635">635</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Gudea's inscriptions and incantation texts, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">consort of Nusku, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">brings famine in the land, <a href="#Page_387">387</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">5th month sacred to N., <a href="#Page_462">462</a>, <a href="#Page_547">547</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">servant of Gibil, <a href="#Page_463">463</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">4th month sacred to, <a href="#Page_463">463</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">identical with Gish-zida, <a href="#Page_547">547</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with Tammuz, <a href="#Page_546">546</a>, <a href="#Page_588">588</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">presides over the growth of trees, <a href="#Page_588">588</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Nin-gul</i>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">consort of Lugal-banda, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">interpretation of name, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">place of worship, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Ninib</i>, see <i><a href="#index-nin-girsu">Nin-girsu</a></i>, solar deity, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>, <a href="#Page_459">459</a>, <a href="#Page_462">462</a>, <a href="#Page_576">576</a>, <a href="#Page_684">684</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">consort of Gula, <a href="#Page_105">105</a> (<i>cf.</i> <a href="#Page_576">576</a>, <a href="#Page_591">591</a>);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Belitekalli, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Hammurabi's pantheon, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Nebuchadnezzar's I. pantheon, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">god of war, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">= Ud-zal, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with Ashur, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">epithets, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>-4, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple in Calah, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>-5 (<i>cf.</i> <a href="#Page_684">684</a>);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favorite of Ashurnasirbal and Shamshi-Ramman, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">god of the chase in association with Nergal, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">hero of the heavenly and earthly spirits, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in association with Nergal and Ashur, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">identical with Nin-girsu, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">with Nin-azu, <a href="#Page_591">591</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">absorbs Nin-gish-zida and Nin-shakh, <a href="#Page_217">217</a> (<i>cf.</i> <a href="#Page_547">547</a>);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">represents east sun and morning sun, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first-born of Ea, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">offspring of Ekur, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first-born of Bel, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">god of destructive cloud storm, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>, <a href="#Page_500">500</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">other qualities in religious literature, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>, <a href="#Page_576">576</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">name of outer wall of Sargon's II. palace, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">lays the foundations of cities, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">three forms, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple in Dilbat, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in incantations, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">= Saturn, name of planet, <a href="#Page_371">371</a>, <a href="#Page_459">459</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">6th and 11th months sacred, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_684">684</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">4th month sacred to N., <a href="#Page_462">462</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the deluge story, <a href="#Page_500">500</a> (<i>cf.</i> <a href="#Page_217">217</a>), <a href="#Page_504">504</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">worshipped at Nippur, <a href="#Page_635">635</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple of Zamama-Ninib, <a href="#Page_640">640</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Nin-igi-azag</i>, title of Ea, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Nin-igi-nangar-bu</i>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">presides over metal workers, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>.</span></p> + +<p><a name="index-nin-karrak" id="index-nin-karrak"></a><i>Nin-Karrak</i> = goddess Gula, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple at Babylon (see <i><a href="#index-gula">Gula</a></i>), <a href="#Page_242">242</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in incantations, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple at Sippar, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in a prayer of Nebuchadnezzar, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>.</span></p> + +<p><a name="index-nin-khar-sag" id="index-nin-khar-sag"></a><i>Nin-khar-sag</i> = goddess Belit, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Samsu-iluna's pantheon, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sanctuary at Babylon (see <i><a href="#index-belit">Belit</a></i>), <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_639">639</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Nin-kigal</i> = Allatu, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Nin-kurra</i>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">lord of mountain, patron of stone workers, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Nin-lil</i>, see <i><a href="#index-belit">Belit</a></i>.</p> + +<p><i>Nin-lil-anna</i>, in Nebuchadnezzar's II. pantheon, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple in Babylon, <a href="#Page_640">640</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Nin-makh</i> = Ishtar, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple at Babylon, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Nin-mar</i>, goddess, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">center of worship, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her temples in Mar, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">daughter of Ninâ, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">popularity of cult, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>;</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_767" id="Page_767">[Pg 767]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Gudea's pantheon, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_635">635</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">daughter of Marduk, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple at Lagash, <a href="#Page_635">635</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Ninni</i>, goddess, = Enanna, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">titles, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">center of worship, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">variant of Ishtar, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Lugal-zaggisi's and Gudea's panthea, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">identical with Nanâ of Uruk, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple at Hallabi, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her cult by Hammurabi, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>-5;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Ninni," consort of Zamama, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple in Kish, <a href="#Page_639">639</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Nin-shakh</i>, god, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his character and functions, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">identified with Ninib, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relations to Nin-girsu and Nin-gishzida, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>-3;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple at Uruk, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Ninshar</i>, cosmological deity, <a href="#Page_417">417</a>.</p> + +<p><a name="index-nin-si-a" id="index-nin-si-a"></a><i>Nin-si-a</i>, god, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">or Nin-dar-a, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">center of worship, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_635">635</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">absorbed by Nin-girsu, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Gudea's pantheon, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_635">635</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Nin-sun</i>, god, temple of N. at Lagash, <a href="#Page_635">635</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Nin-tu</i>, god, temple of N. at Lagash, <a href="#Page_635">635</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Nin-zadim,</i> god, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>; patron of sculpture, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>.</p> + +<p><a name="index-nippur" id="index-nippur"></a><i>Nippur</i>, rulers, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple of Bel, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_642">642</a>, <a href="#Page_644">644</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple of Belit, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_635">635</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">inscriptions from Nippur, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prominence during Cassite period, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_480">480</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wall of Zakar, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wall of Lugal-mittu, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ancient center, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>, <a href="#Page_445">445</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">chief god Del, or En-lil, <a href="#Page_445">445</a>, <a href="#Page_542">542</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reference to N. in Gilgamesh epic, <a href="#Page_486">486</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rivalry betw. Nippur and Eridu, <a href="#Page_508">508</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">replaced by Babylon, <a href="#Page_542">542</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">zikkurat at N., <a href="#Page_617">617</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">worship of Ninib, <a href="#Page_635">635</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">worship of Nusku, <a href="#Page_635">635</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">votive objects, <a href="#Page_671">671</a>-3.</span></p> + +<p><i>Nisaba</i>, goddess, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">agricultural deity, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">traits in common with Ea, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sister of Ninâ, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">centers of cult, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Gudea's pantheon, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">probably local in Uruk, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Nisan</i>, sacred to Anu and Bel, <a href="#Page_462">462</a>, <a href="#Page_677">677</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sacred in Babylonia, <a href="#Page_684">684</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">7th day sacred to Shamash, Malkatu, and Bunene, <a href="#Page_685">685</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Nisir</i>, mount on which the ship alights, <a href="#Page_503">503</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Nisroch</i>, Assyrian deity, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Noah</i>, resemblance to Parnapishtim less than is the case with Lot, <a href="#Page_507">507</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Nu-gim-mud</i>, title of Ea, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Nun-gal</i>, god of the 2d Bab. period, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple in Sippar, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meaning of name, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">solar deity, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">becomes a demon, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Nur-Rammân</i>, of Ur, builder of Sin's temple in Ur, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">builder of temples to Nin-gal and Nannar at Ur, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Nusku</i>, fire-god, in Ass. pantheon, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>-1;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Bab. pantheon, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">amalgamated with Gibil, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">identified with Nabu, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>-1;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ideographic writing of name and its explanation, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">solar deity, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>-1, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">shrine in E-Sagila, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">epithets, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">functions, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">shrine in E-Zida, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in incantations, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>-3, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">younger than Gibil, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a mythological conception, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Gibil-N, god of civilization, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">medium betw. worshipper and deity, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>;</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_768" id="Page_768">[Pg 768]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with Anu, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with Bel and Ea, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ishum, messenger of, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">worship at Nippur, <a href="#Page_635">635</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">see <i><a href="#index-gibil">Gibil</a></i>.</span></p> + + +<p><i>Oktanos</i>, see under <i><a href="#index-ea">Ea</a></i>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>.</p> + +<p><a name="index-old-testament" id="index-old-testament"></a><i>Old Testament</i>, source for B.-A. religion, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_669">669</a> (<i>cf.</i> <a href="#Page_696">696</a>);<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relations betw. the Hebrews and B.-A., <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_611">611</a>, <a href="#Page_697">697</a>-8;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">contrast betw. Hebr. and B.-A. religion, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_668">668</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">O. T. points of contact with Gilgamesh epic, <a href="#Page_495">495</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">with deluge story, <a href="#Page_506">506</a> ff.;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">parallels betw. Adam and Eabani, Eve and Ukhat, <a href="#Page_511">511</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">betw. Samson and Gilgamesh stories, <a href="#Page_515">515</a>-6;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">3d chapter Genesis compared with Adapa legend, <a href="#Page_551">551</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hebr. Sheôl || Bab. Shuâlu, <a href="#Page_560">560</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hebr. Shôel || Bab. Shâ'ilu, <a href="#Page_560">560</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hebr.-Bab. custom of inquiring of the dead, <a href="#Page_560">560</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">parallelism betw. Sargon I. and Moses, <a href="#Page_562">562</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">conceptions of nether-world in O. T. and in Bab., <a href="#Page_606">606</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">parallels betw. temple of Solomon and Bab. temple, <a href="#Page_623">623</a>, <a href="#Page_632">632</a>, <a href="#Page_652">652</a>-3, <a href="#Page_655">655</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">libation of oil in O. T. and in Ass.-Bab., <a href="#Page_665">665</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sacrifices in O. T. compared with Ass.-Bab., <a href="#Page_667">667</a>-8;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">teraphim and Ass.-Bab. amulets, <a href="#Page_674">674</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hebr. and Bab. New Years, <a href="#Page_681">681</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Purim compared with Bab. 15th Adar festival, <a href="#Page_686">686</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ashera and tree worship in Babylonia, <a href="#Page_689">689</a>.</span></p> + +<p><a name="index-omens" id="index-omens"></a><i>Omens</i>, division of religious literature, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">purposes of, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>, <a href="#Page_331">331</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">comparative age of, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>-4;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">an indirect means of forecasting the future, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">directions for the priest in recognizing o., <a href="#Page_330">330</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relationship betw. o. and prayers, <a href="#Page_331">331</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">part of magic element in the ritual, <a href="#Page_331">331</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">occasions for seeking an o., <a href="#Page_331">331</a> ff.;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">derived from offered animals, <a href="#Page_332">332</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of a public character, <a href="#Page_332">332</a> ff., <a href="#Page_362">362</a>, <a href="#Page_364">364</a>, <a href="#Page_374">374</a>, <a href="#Page_401">401</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">questions of an omen seeker, <a href="#Page_333">333</a> ff., <a href="#Page_369">369</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">list of, <a href="#Page_337">337</a>, <a href="#Page_362">362</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their relation to reports, <a href="#Page_368">368</a>, <a href="#Page_372">372</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">o. ritual, <a href="#Page_338">338</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">connecting link betw. incantations and o., <a href="#Page_352">352</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">variety of o. literature, <a href="#Page_355">355</a>, <a href="#Page_362">362</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">o. from stars, <a href="#Page_356">356</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the more variety, the more significance—a principle of general application in interpretation of o., <a href="#Page_358">358</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">other guiding principles, <a href="#Page_358">358</a> ff., <a href="#Page_388">388</a>, <a href="#Page_401">401</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">private o., <a href="#Page_362">362</a>, <a href="#Page_403">403</a>, <a href="#Page_405">405</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">o. series and mode of their composition, <a href="#Page_363">363</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">omens deduced from observations of eclipses, <a href="#Page_357">357</a>, <a href="#Page_364">364</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">restricted application of o. no hindrance to their practical use, <a href="#Page_366">366</a>, <a href="#Page_372">372</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">vagueness of o. intentional, <a href="#Page_367">367</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">interrelation betw. reports and o., <a href="#Page_368">368</a>, <a href="#Page_372">372</a>-3;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">importance of o. deduced from eclipses and more ordinary phenomena, <a href="#Page_368">368</a>-9;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">omens deduced from observations of planets, esp. Ishtar, and of other heavenly bodies, <a href="#Page_371">371</a>-3;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">omen calendars, <a href="#Page_375">375</a>, <a href="#Page_382">382</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">omens from terrestrial phenomena, <a href="#Page_383">383</a> ff.;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">logical principle controlling the interpretation, <a href="#Page_384">384</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">offshoot of sympathetic magic, <a href="#Page_384">384</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">birth omens, <a href="#Page_384">384</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">partly public, partly private character, <a href="#Page_386">386</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the rarer the phenomena, the greater the significance, <a href="#Page_385">385</a>;</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_769" id="Page_769">[Pg 769]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">ideas of sympathetic magic in the interpretation of o., <a href="#Page_388">388</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">omens from offsprings of animals, <a href="#Page_391">391</a> ff.;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">omens from the actions of animals, <a href="#Page_397">397</a>-402;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">omens from dreams, <a href="#Page_402">402</a>-4;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">o. of a private character, <a href="#Page_403">403</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">popular phase of augury, <a href="#Page_403">403</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">omens from individual experiences, <a href="#Page_404">404</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dividing line betw. omens of individual and of public character, <a href="#Page_405">405</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the practical working of the omen belief, <a href="#Page_406">406</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Ophites</i>, a gnostic sect, <a href="#Page_699">699</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Oppert, Jules</i>, expedition to Babylonia, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Oracles</i>, see also <i><a href="#index-omens">Omens</a></i> and <i><a href="#index-witchcraft">Witchcraft</a></i>, direct means of forecasting the future, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">occasions for asking o., <a href="#Page_338">338</a> ff.;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">blank forms for o., <a href="#Page_341">341</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">form of, <a href="#Page_341">341</a> ff.;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Marduk, god of, <a href="#Page_342">342</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">asked of the sun-god, <a href="#Page_334">334</a> ff.;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Ishtar of Arbela, <a href="#Page_342">342</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ceremonies accompanying o., <a href="#Page_345">345</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relationship to penitential psalms, <a href="#Page_347">347</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">practical purpose of, <a href="#Page_349">349</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">by means of dreams, <a href="#Page_349">349</a> ff.;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">generally vague language, <a href="#Page_344">344</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">occasionally definite language, <a href="#Page_360">360</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">objects with which o. are concerned, <a href="#Page_360">360</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">given by priestesses, <a href="#Page_485">485</a>, or priests, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>, <a href="#Page_560">560</a>, <a href="#Page_657">657</a>-8;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">asked of the dead, <a href="#Page_559">559</a>-60, <a href="#Page_657">657</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">asked on the New Year's festival, <a href="#Page_628">628</a>-9.</span></p> + + +<p><i>Pantheon</i>, divisions and development, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>-50;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sources, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">comparison betw. p. in historical and in incantation texts, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">comparison betw. B. and A. pantheon, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Papakhu</i>, chamber of the god, <a href="#Page_627">627</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cosmological significance, <a href="#Page_629">629</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Pap-sukal</i>, <i>i.e.</i>, divine messenger, epithet of Nin-shakh, Nebo, and Nusku, <a href="#Page_93">93</a> (cf. <a href="#Page_463">463</a>, <a href="#Page_571">571</a>);<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in incantations, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">10th month sacred to P., Ishtar, and Anu, <a href="#Page_463">463</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Pap-u</i>, god, in the Cassite pantheon, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">offspring of E-sharra, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">function, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Paradise</i>, belief in, among Babylonians, <a href="#Page_578">578</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Parakku</i>, chamber of the god, <a href="#Page_627">627</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Parnapishtim</i>, immortal, <a href="#Page_488">488</a>, <a href="#Page_577">577</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">P. and Gilgamesh, <a href="#Page_492">492</a> ff.;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">son of Kidin-Marduk, <a href="#Page_488">488</a>, <a href="#Page_496">496</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">born in Shurippak, <a href="#Page_496">496</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his epithet Adra-Khasis, <a href="#Page_505">505</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bears more resemblance to Lot than to Noah, <a href="#Page_507">507</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Pa-sag</i>, god, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"the leader of the land," <a href="#Page_101">101</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">identity with Ishum, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">lieutenant of Shamash, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Gudea's pantheon, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Patesi</i>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Patron gods</i>, of persons, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nabu, patron of Ramman-nirari III., <a href="#Page_228">228</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of places, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>-70, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>.</span></p> + +<p><a name="index-penitential-psalms" id="index-penitential-psalms"></a><i>Penitential psalms</i>, points in common with and differences from incantations, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">national origin of, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marks relationship betw. god and man, <a href="#Page_313">313</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">purpose to appease the anger of the gods, <a href="#Page_315">315</a>, <a href="#Page_688">688</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">advanced religious conceptions, <a href="#Page_314">314</a>-5, <a href="#Page_326">326</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dialogue form, <a href="#Page_315">315</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">language, <a href="#Page_316">316</a>-7;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">age, <a href="#Page_317">317</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">anonymity of the deity addressed, <a href="#Page_318">318</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">p. for specific purposes, <a href="#Page_324">324</a>, <a href="#Page_688">688</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relationship to oracles, <a href="#Page_347">347</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Persepolis</i>, wedge writings, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_770" id="Page_770">[Pg 770]</a></span></p> + +<p><i>Persian Gulf</i>, sacred to Ea, <a href="#Page_497">497</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">not the source of the deluge, <a href="#Page_497">497</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">confluence of the streams, <a href="#Page_577">577</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Persian wedge writing</i>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Personifications of human arts</i>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Peters, John P.</i>, explorer, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Pilgrimage</i>, <a href="#Page_684">684</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Place, Victor</i>, excavations, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Place of Fates</i>, name of temple, <a href="#Page_641">641</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Planets</i>, observations of, <a href="#Page_370">370</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">identifications of p. with deities, <a href="#Page_370">370</a>, <a href="#Page_459">459</a> (<i>cf.</i> <a href="#Page_619">619</a>);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prominence of Ishtar-Venus, in astrological texts, <a href="#Page_371">371</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">regarded as auguries for the chiefs and the general welfare, <a href="#Page_373">373</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">planets and zikkurats, <a href="#Page_619">619</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Politics</i>, affecting religion and literature, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>-1, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>-5, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>, <a href="#Page_690">690</a>-1.</p> + +<p><i>Popular Belief</i>, see <i><a href="#index-theology">Theology and Popular Belief</a></i>.</p> + +<p><a name="index-prayers" id="index-prayers"></a><i>Prayers</i>, see also <i><a href="#index-hymns">Hymns</a></i>, occasions, <a href="#Page_663">663</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in connection with incantations, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>, <a href="#Page_299">299</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">without accompaniment of incantations, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">curses regarded as p., <a href="#Page_296">296</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">no line of demarcation betw. incantations and p., <a href="#Page_297">297</a>, <a href="#Page_299">299</a>, <a href="#Page_307">307</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ethics in, <a href="#Page_298">298</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">power of words, <a href="#Page_328">328</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">no p. in its highest form, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relationship betw. prayers and omen, <a href="#Page_330">330</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">efficacy dependent on their being uttered in the right manner and by the right person, <a href="#Page_353">353</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Priestly codes</i>, <a href="#Page_362">362</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Priests and priestesses</i>, divisions of, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>-2, <a href="#Page_657">657</a>-8;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">p. as exorciser and his function, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>-2, <a href="#Page_330">330</a>, <a href="#Page_657">657</a>-8;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mediator betw. man and god, <a href="#Page_315">315</a>, <a href="#Page_331">331</a>, <a href="#Page_353">353</a>, <a href="#Page_374">374</a>, <a href="#Page_560">560</a>, <a href="#Page_627">627</a>, <a href="#Page_692">692</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prognostication of future, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>, <a href="#Page_560">560</a>, <a href="#Page_657">657</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">importance of, <a href="#Page_353">353</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Priests of Ashur," association of priestly functions with early kingship, <a href="#Page_374">374</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">priests and priestesses in their functions, <a href="#Page_485">485</a>, <a href="#Page_655">655</a> ff., <a href="#Page_692">692</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">priests purifying the dead, <a href="#Page_578">578</a>, <a href="#Page_602">602</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">general name for priest, <a href="#Page_657">657</a>-8, <a href="#Page_676">676</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">priestesses as dirge singers, <a href="#Page_604">604</a>, <a href="#Page_658">658</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">as judges, <a href="#Page_625">625</a>, <a href="#Page_658">658</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">intellectual leaders, <a href="#Page_693">693</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">as sacrificers, <a href="#Page_657">657</a>-8;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">eligibility to priesthood, <a href="#Page_658">658</a>-9;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">women priests, <a href="#Page_485">485</a>, <a href="#Page_659">659</a>-60.</span></p> + +<p><i>Proper names</i>, see also <i><a href="#index-names">Names</a></i>, composition of, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">source of study of divinities, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">evidence of age of cult of gods (Ishme-Dagan), <a href="#Page_208">208</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Samsi-Ramman, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Psalms</i>, see <i><a href="#index-penitential-psalms">Penitential Psalms</a></i>; also <i><a href="#index-hymns">Hymns</a></i>, <i><a href="#index-prayers">Prayers</a></i>.</p> + +<p><i>Ptolemy</i>, see <i><a href="#index-claudius-ptolemaeus">Claudius Ptolemaeus</a></i>.</p> + +<p><i>Pudilu</i>, builds temple of Shamash at Ashur, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Purat</i> = Euphrates, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Purification</i>, see <i><a href="#index-rituals">Rituals</a></i>.</p> + +<p><i>Purim</i>, compared with the Bab. solar festival, 15th of Adar, <a href="#Page_686">686</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">not to be compared with Puru, <a href="#Page_688">688</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Puru</i>, a festival ceremony, <a href="#Page_688">688</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Puzur-Shadu-Rabû</i>, captain of the ship of Parnapishtim, <a href="#Page_500">500</a>.</p> + + +<p><i>Ra</i>, Egyptian sun-god, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Rabbinical literature</i>, bearing upon B.-A. religion, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_697">697</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Races</i>, of Mesopotamia, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Ramman</i>, god, Shala his consort, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with Anu, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>;</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_771" id="Page_771">[Pg 771]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with Shamash, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>-8, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with Sin and Shamash, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with Nergal and Nanâ, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rivals of Marduk, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ideographic and other readings of the name, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>-7;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meaning of name, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>-7;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">extent of his cult, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cult by Aramaeans, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">indigenous to Assyria, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rival of Ashur, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his two aspects as storm-god, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">epithets, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>, <a href="#Page_498">498</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Hammurabi's pantheon, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Nebuchadnezzar's I. pantheon, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">= Martu, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">popular in Assyria, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his instruments of destruction, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"the mightiest of the gods," <a href="#Page_212">212</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">name of one of the eastern gates of Sargon's II. palace, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">brings abundance, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple at Borsippa, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple at Kumari, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">11th month sacred to R., <a href="#Page_463">463</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">R. in the deluge, <a href="#Page_500">500</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">declines to fight Zu, <a href="#Page_541">541</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Ramman-nirari I.</i>, king of Assyria, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cult of Ramman, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Anunnaki and Igigi as spirits of earth and heaven resp., <a href="#Page_185">185</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">repels the Cassites, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his pantheon, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>, <a href="#Page_593">593</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Ramman-nirari III.</i>, king of Assyria, gives prominence to Nabu cult in Assyria, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">erects temple to Nabu at Calab, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nabu his patron god, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Rassam</i>, Hormuzd researches, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Rawlinson, Henry</i>, explorations, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Regulus</i>, observations, <a href="#Page_372">372</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Religion</i>, unity of church and state, <a href="#Page_690">690</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">influence upon Hebrews, see <i><a href="#index-old-testament">Old Testament</a></i>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">upon Christianity, <a href="#Page_698">698</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">upon Egypt, Persia, and Greece, <a href="#Page_699">699</a>-701.</span></p> + +<p><a name="index-religious-texts" id="index-religious-texts"></a><i>Religious texts</i>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>-3, <a href="#Page_467">467</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sources for religion, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_661">661</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Bab. theological schools, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reshaping of r. t. during Hammurabi's time, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>-2;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">divisions, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>-51;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">age, <a href="#Page_691">691</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">comparison betw. Ass. and Bab. r. t., <a href="#Page_251">251</a>-2;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their value as source for knowledge of sacrifices, <a href="#Page_661">661</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">votive inscriptions on statues, <a href="#Page_669">669</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on other objects, <a href="#Page_671">671</a>-2;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">worn as amulets, <a href="#Page_672">672</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">plague tablets, <a href="#Page_536">536</a>, <a href="#Page_674">674</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Rim-Sin</i>, of 2d dynasty of Ur, "called" by Bel and Ea, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cult of moon and sun-god in Ur, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Nanâ in Ur, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">builds temple of Nin-shakh at Uruk, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his wife builds temple to Nin-gal at Ur, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>.</span></p> + +<p><a name="index-rituals" id="index-rituals"></a><i>Rituals</i>, establishment of, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">and incantations, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>-8, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>-4, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">manner of growth, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">purification, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>, <a href="#Page_688">688</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">incantations the oldest fixed r., <a href="#Page_294">294</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">penitential psalms, <a href="#Page_312">312</a> ff., <a href="#Page_688">688</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bodily castigation, <a href="#Page_320">320</a>, <a href="#Page_688">688</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">offerings, <a href="#Page_328">328</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prayers, <a href="#Page_293">293</a> ff.;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">never without ulterior motive, <a href="#Page_328">328</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">oracles and omens, <a href="#Page_328">328</a> ff.;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">composition and growth, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>-30;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">strictness in observation of, <a href="#Page_347">347</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Rustem</i>, son of Sal in Armen. and Mandaean legend, parallel to Etana, <a href="#Page_520">520</a>.</p> + + +<p><i>Saba</i>, district in southern Arabia, <a href="#Page_491">491</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Sabitum</i>, maiden in Gilgamesh epic, <a href="#Page_490">490</a>-1;<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_772" id="Page_772">[Pg 772]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">the goddess of Siduri, <a href="#Page_491">491</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Sacred objects</i>, <a href="#Page_651">651</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Sacred period</i>, <a href="#Page_686">686</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Sacred quarter</i>, <a href="#Page_622">622</a> ff.</p> + +<p><i>Sacredness of animals</i>, meaning of, <a href="#Page_397">397</a>-8, <a href="#Page_662">662</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of trees, <a href="#Page_662">662</a>-3.</span></p> + +<p><i>Sacrifices</i>, when not to be offered, <a href="#Page_378">378</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">when offered, <a href="#Page_663">663</a>, <a href="#Page_667">667</a>-8;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">offered by priests, <a href="#Page_657">657</a>-8;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Semitic view of, <a href="#Page_660">660</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">comparison with Hebrew, <a href="#Page_667">667</a>-8;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">as determined from religious and historical literature, <a href="#Page_661">661</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">development of, <a href="#Page_661">661</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">two kinds of, <a href="#Page_661">661</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">connected with prayers, <a href="#Page_663">663</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">use of oil and wine, <a href="#Page_664">664</a>, <a href="#Page_666">666</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">daily, <a href="#Page_667">667</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">monthly, <a href="#Page_668">668</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Sâdu</i>, the hunter in the service of Gilgamesh, <a href="#Page_475">475</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with Ukhat, <a href="#Page_511">511</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Safa</i>, hill in Mecca, <a href="#Page_687">687</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Sag-ila</i> = Marduk, in proper names of the 2d Bab. period, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Sal</i>, father of Rustem, <a href="#Page_520">520</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Samsi-Ramman,</i> king of Assyria, builds temple to Ramman, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">builds temple to Ashur in Ashur, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his name as evidence of age of Shamash cult, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Samson</i>, parallelism with Gilgamesh, <a href="#Page_515">515</a> ff.</p> + +<p><i>Samsu-iluna</i>, king of Babylon, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">builds sanctuary of Belit, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">builds Dur-padda, sacred to Ramman, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his pantheon, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">builds wall of Zakar in Nippur, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">builds wall of Lugal-mittu in Nippur, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Samuel</i>, prophet, his spirit called up, <a href="#Page_559">559</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Saracus</i>, last king of Assyria, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Sargon I.</i>, "builds" temple E-ulmash of Nanâ in Agade, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">myth of Sargon I. related to an incident in Moses' life, <a href="#Page_562">562</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his exploits incorporated in a religious text, <a href="#Page_562">562</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"builder" of temple of En-lil in Nippur, <a href="#Page_642">642</a>, <a href="#Page_645">645</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Sargon II.</i>, of Assyria, restores "laws and customs of Harran," <a href="#Page_77">77</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">builds sanctuary to Shamash, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">names Kar-Nergal in honor of Nergal, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">builds sanctuary to Sin at Khorsabad and Magganubba, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">patron of learning, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prominence of Nabu cult, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">erects sanctuary to Nin-gal at Khorsabad, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">restores Magganubba, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">revives the triad, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his pantheon, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his palace at Khorsabad, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his zikkurat at Khorsabad, <a href="#Page_617">617</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sacrifices in Babylonia, <a href="#Page_664">664</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">institutes special festival, <a href="#Page_687">687</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Sarpanitum</i>, consort of Marduk, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>, <a href="#Page_636">636</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">interpretation of name, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_449">449</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">shrine in E-Sagila, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>, <a href="#Page_636">636</a>, <a href="#Page_641">641</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her statue recovered by Agum, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_670">670</a>, <a href="#Page_687">687</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her subordinate position, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>-2;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">goddess of matrimonial fertility, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_684">684</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of secret knowledge, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">amalgamation with Erua, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">epithets of Sarpanitum-Erua, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">called Belit, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>, <a href="#Page_684">684</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">shrine in E-Zida, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rarely in incantations, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">25th day of Siwan her festival, <a href="#Page_684">684</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">festival instituted by Agum, <a href="#Page_687">687</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Saturn</i> = Ninib, planet, <a href="#Page_371">371</a>, <a href="#Page_459">459</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Saul</i>, king of Israel, and the witch, <a href="#Page_559">559</a>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_773" id="Page_773">[Pg 773]</a></span></p> + +<p><i>Semites and non-Semites</i> in Babylonia, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>-2, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>-4.</p> + +<p><i>Sendschirli</i>, excavations in, <a href="#Page_579">579</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Senkereh</i> = Larsa.</p> + +<p><i>Sennacherib</i>, king of Assyria, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">takes statues of Ramman and Shala back from Babylon, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">erects temple to Nergal at Tarbisu, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his pantheon, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>, <a href="#Page_644">644</a>, <a href="#Footnote_1416_1416">note 2</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Seven spirits</i>, cause eclipse of moon, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">12th month sacred to them, <a href="#Page_463">463</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sibi, collective personification of the s. p. associated in war with Ishum, <a href="#Page_533">533</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Sex</i>, inferiority of female to male in the B.-A. pantheon, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">confusion of female cults, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">variety of "ladies" in pantheon, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">position of female deities as consorts of male deities, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_586">586</a>, <a href="#Page_594">594</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">male deities becoming female and consorts of male deities, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">association of sexes in cosmology, <a href="#Page_411">411</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">association of sexes in the creation of the gods, <a href="#Page_413">413</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">female deities and the months, <a href="#Page_463">463</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sex in witchcraft, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>, <a href="#Page_342">342</a>, <a href="#Page_660">660</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sex in priesthood, <a href="#Page_485">485</a>, <a href="#Page_659">659</a>-60;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sex in furnishing oracles, <a href="#Page_485">485</a>, <a href="#Page_660">660</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sex among musicians and dirge singers, <a href="#Page_660">660</a> (see <i><a href="#index-dirges">Dirge</a></i>);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">position of woman, <a href="#Page_694">694</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Shabat</i>, 11th month, sacred to Ramman, <a href="#Page_463">463</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sacred to Ninib, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_684">684</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Shabra</i>, god, temple at Lagash, <a href="#Page_635">635</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Shàilu</i>, a designation for priest, <a href="#Page_560">560</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">|| Hebr. Shôel, <a href="#Page_560">560</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Shala</i>, consort of Ramman, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in proper names of 2d Bab. period, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Ass. pantheon, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meaning of name, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">other applications of the name, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">epithets, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Shalman</i>, god, in Ass. pantheon, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Shalmaneser II.</i>, king of Assyria, gives prominence to Shamash cult, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his pantheon, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>.</span></p> + +<p><a name="index-shamash" id="index-shamash"></a><i>Shamash</i>, or Utu, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">signification of name, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relations to the moon-god, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>-70, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_305">305</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">centers of worship, Sippar and Larsa, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>, <a href="#Page_628">628</a>, <a href="#Page_640">640</a>, <a href="#Page_646">646</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relative age of the centers, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple Ebabbara, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_628">628</a>, <a href="#Page_640">640</a>, <a href="#Page_645">645</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attributes and functions, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in incantations, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">probable age of these conceptions, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his other names and their meaning, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>-4, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">local uses thereof, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Malkatu his consort, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>-5, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>-685;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">offspring of Nin-gal, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Lugalzaggisi's and Gudea's pantheon, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Hammurabi's pantheon, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">warrior of heaven and earth, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mighty hero, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">position in Bab. pantheon during and after Hammurabi, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">position in Ass. pantheon, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>-11;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with Ramman, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>-8, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with Sin and Ramman, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with Ishtar, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_511">511</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with Malik and Bunene, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">often called Malik, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">symbol of Shamash, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>-7;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple at Ashur, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">protecting deity, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>;</span><br/> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_774" id="Page_774">[Pg 774]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">ethical level in Ass. pantheon, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>-10;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">judge of heaven and earth, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>, <a href="#Page_527">527</a> (<i>cf.</i> <a href="#Page_640">640</a>);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prominence of sun cult during reign of Ashurnasirbal and Shalmaneser II., <a href="#Page_210">210</a>, <a href="#Page_646">646</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">under Esarhaddon, <a href="#Page_646">646</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sanctuary by Sargon II., <a href="#Page_211">211</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cult influenced by that of Egyptian Ra, <a href="#Page_210">210</a> (<i>cf.</i> <a href="#Page_699">699</a>);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">name of one of the eastern gates of Sargon's II. palace, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">grants victory, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nebuchadnezzar II. and Shamash cult, <a href="#Page_646">646</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nabonnedos gives prominence to Sh. cult, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>-1, <a href="#Page_647">647</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple in Babylon, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_640">640</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sh. in incantations, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in hymns, <a href="#Page_300">300</a> ff.;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in omens and oracles, <a href="#Page_334">334</a>, <a href="#Page_344">344</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Shamash and Sin, <a href="#Page_305">305</a>, <a href="#Page_647">647</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">7th month sacred to Sh., <a href="#Page_463">463</a>, <a href="#Page_685">685</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">patron of Gilgamesh, <a href="#Page_471">471</a>, <a href="#Page_479">479</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">identical with Lugal-Marada, <a href="#Page_486">486</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">patron of Etana, <a href="#Page_520">520</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">controls Zu, <a href="#Page_538">538</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on seal cylinders, <a href="#Page_540">540</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Si-gar, a festival of, <a href="#Page_684">684</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">festival days, <a href="#Page_685">685</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Shamshi-Ramman</i>, king of Assyria, gives prominence to Ninib cult, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Shamuktu</i>, a class of priestesses of Ishtar, <a href="#Page_660">660</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Sha-nit(?)-ka</i>, goddess, in Ass. pantheon, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with Damku and Sharru-ilu, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mistress of Nineveh, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">= Ishtar, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Sharru</i>, title of Marduk, in the deluge story, <a href="#Page_500">500</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Sharru-ilu</i>, god, associated with Damku and Sha-nit(?)-ka, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meaning of name, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">evidently a title, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">perhaps a foreign god, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">worshipped at Magganubba, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Shar-sarbi</i> = Belsarbi, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Sherua</i>, minor god in Ass. pantheon, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">foreign deity, <a href="#Page_644">644</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Sheôl</i>, <a href="#Page_560">560</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">O. T. conceptions of Sheôl || to Babylonian conceptions, <a href="#Page_606">606</a> ff.;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">see also <i><a href="#index-shualu">Shuâlu</a></i>, <i><a href="#index-dead">Dead</a>.</i>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Shinar</i> = Babylonia, <a href="#Page_613">613</a>.</p> + +<p><a name="index-ship" id="index-ship"></a><i>Ship</i>, construction of, <a href="#Page_498">498</a>-9;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Puzur-shadu-rabu, captain of ark, <a href="#Page_500">500</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a sacred object, <a href="#Page_653">653</a>-4;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its uses and significance, <a href="#Page_654">654</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">compared with the Mahmal and the ark, <a href="#Page_655">655</a>.</span></p> + +<p>"<i>Ship of Light</i>," name of Sin's ship, <a href="#Page_655">655</a>.</p> + +<p>"<i>Ship of Malku</i>," name of the ship of Nâru, <a href="#Page_655">655</a>.</p> + +<p>"<i>Ship of the Brilliant Offspring</i>," name of Bau's ship, <a href="#Page_655">655</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Shir</i>, god, in Nebuchadnezzar's I. pantheon, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">local god, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">patron of Bit-Khabban, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Shirpurla</i>, see <i><a href="#index-lagash">Lagash</a></i>.</p> + +<p><a name="index-shualu" id="index-shualu"></a><i>Shuâlu</i>, designation of the district of the dead, <a href="#Page_560">560</a> ff.;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meaning, <a href="#Page_559">559</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">|| to Hebr. Sheôl, <a href="#Page_560">560</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Shubu</i>, in Nebuchadnezzar's I. pantheon, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">local character, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">patron god of Bit-Khabban, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>.</span></p> + +<p><a name="index-shu-bu-la" id="index-shu-bu-la"></a><i>Shu-bu-la</i>, god, in proper names of the 2d Bab. period, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">patron of Shumdula, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Shu-gid-la</i>, see <i><a href="#index-shu-bu-la">Shu-bu-la</a></i>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Shukamuna</i>, Cassite god, identical with Nergal, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">head of Agum's pantheon, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">consort of Shumalia, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Shul-gur</i> = Nin-girsu, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Shul-pa-uddu</i>, god, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_775" id="Page_775">[Pg 775]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">meaning of name, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">age and extension of cult, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">decline of cult in favor of Shamash and Ninib, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">position in Babylonian astronomy, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">solar deity, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_531">531</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Shumalia</i>, in the Cassite pantheon, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>-3, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Nebuchadnezzar's I. pantheon, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">consort of Shukamuna, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">epithet, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Shumdula</i>, city in Babylonia, cult of Shubula, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Shum-gar</i>, see <i><a href="#index-si-gar">Si-gar</a></i>.</p> + +<p><i>Shurippak</i>, city on Euphrates, destroyed by rainstorm, <a href="#Page_495">495</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">comparison with Sodom, <a href="#Page_496">496</a>, <a href="#Page_507">507</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Shurpu series</i>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Shu-sil-la</i>, see <i>Shubula</i>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Sibi</i>, collective personification of the seven evil spirits associated with Ishum, <a href="#Page_533">533</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Sibittum</i>, minor deity in the Etana legend, <a href="#Page_521">521</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Siduri</i>, Sabitum, the goddess of Siduri, <a href="#Page_491">491</a>.</p> + +<p><a name="index-si-gar" id="index-si-gar"></a><i>Si-gar</i>, festival of Gula, <a href="#Page_683">683</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">festival of Sin, <a href="#Page_684">684</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">festival of Shamash, <a href="#Page_684">684</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meaning, <a href="#Page_684">684</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">date of installation of Ashurbanabal, <a href="#Page_684">684</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Silili</i>, mother of one of Ishtar's associates, <a href="#Page_482">482</a>.</p> + +<p><a name="index-sin" id="index-sin"></a><i>Sin</i>, god, see also <i><a href="#index-nannar">Nannar</a></i>; worshipped in Harran, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>, <a href="#Page_641">641</a>, <a href="#Page_647">647</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple at Ur, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>, <a href="#Page_295">295</a>, <a href="#Page_640">640</a>, <a href="#Page_644">644</a>, <a href="#Page_687">687</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">occurrence of the name elsewhere, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">amalgamation with Nannar, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">chief trait, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">lunar cycle and sun calendar, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">epithets and functions, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>-9, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>, <a href="#Page_462">462</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gradual decrease of Sin cult, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>-9;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Lugalzaggisi's and Gudea's pantheon, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with Shamash and Ramman, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Hammurabi's pantheon, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">patron of Bit-Khabban, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">head of 2d triad, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with Ishtar, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_571">571</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">father of Ishtar, <a href="#Page_565">565</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple at Calah, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sanctuary at Khorsabad, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sanctuary at Magganubba, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">god of wisdom, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">god of water in Ass. pantheon, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first-born son of Bel, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">subordinate position in Ass. pantheon, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>-20;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sin and astronomy, resp. astrology, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>-20;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple at Babylon, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in incantations, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in hymn, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>-4;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sin and Shamash, <a href="#Page_305">305</a>, <a href="#Page_647">647</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first-born of Bel, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>, <a href="#Page_462">462</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Siwan, 3d month, sacred to Sin <a href="#Page_462">462</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">chapel in E-Zida, <a href="#Page_639">639</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sin cult under Nabonnedos, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_648">648</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sin's ship, <a href="#Page_655">655</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">zagmuk of, <a href="#Page_678">678</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Si-gar, festival of, <a href="#Page_684">684</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Sinai</i>, a peninsula (metals and stone), <a href="#Page_627">627</a>, <a href="#Page_652">652</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Sin-gamil</i>, of Uruk, builds sanctuaries to Nergal at Cuthah, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Sin-gashid</i>, of Uruk, servitor of Lugal-banda and Nin-gul, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>-6.</p> + +<p><i>Sin-iddina</i>, of Larsa, builds sanctuary to Shamash in Larsa, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">builds temple of Sin in Ur, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>.</span></p> + +<p><a name="index-sippar" id="index-sippar"></a><i>Sippar</i>, temple and archives, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ancient center, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">center of worship of Shamash, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>-4, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>, <a href="#Page_628">628</a>, <a href="#Page_640">640</a>, <a href="#Page_646">646</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple of Nun-gal, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">worship of Shamash, Malik, and Bunene, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple of Nin-karrak, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple of Malkalu or Â, <a href="#Page_640">640</a>;</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_776" id="Page_776">[Pg 776]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">zikkurat, "Threshold of Long Life," <a href="#Page_641">641</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Sir</i>, serpent god, in proper names of the 2d Bab. period, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Sirius</i>, observations of, <a href="#Page_372">372</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Siwan</i>, 3d month, sacred to Sin, <a href="#Page_462">462</a>, <a href="#Page_687">687</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sacred to the god of brick structures, <a href="#Page_463">463</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">25th day of Siwan sacred to Belit of Babylon, <a href="#Page_684">684</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Slaves</i>, standing of slaves a measure of social ethics, <a href="#Page_695">695</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Smith, George</i>, explorations, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Sodom</i>, destruction of, point of contact with Gilgamesh epic, <a href="#Page_495">495</a>-6, <a href="#Page_507">507</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Sokkaros</i>, grandfather of Gilgamesh (Aelian), <a href="#Page_524">524</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Solomonic</i> temple and the sacred quarter in Nippur, <a href="#Page_623">623</a>-4;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">horns of altar compared with Bab. custom, <a href="#Page_652">652</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"sea" compared with Apsu, <a href="#Page_653">653</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ark compared with the Bab. ship, <a href="#Page_655">655</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Sorcer</i>, <i>Sorceress</i>, see also <i><a href="#index-witchcraft">Witchcraft</a></i>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relationship betw. s. and oracle-giver, <a href="#Page_342">342</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Spirits</i>, in proper names, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nun-gal-e-ne, a class of, <a href="#Page_168">168</a> (cf. <a href="#Page_184">184</a>);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their symbols, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">functions, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">lists of, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">classification of, <a href="#Page_181">181</a> ff.;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of disease, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the field, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the nether-world, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dividing line betw. gods and spirits, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of evil, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">activity of, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>-1;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">representations of, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">habitations of, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the seven spirits, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">strength attribute of, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relationship betw. demons and witchcraft, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">differentiation of demons, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Spiritualization of mythology</i>, <a href="#Page_304">304</a>, <a href="#Page_306">306</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">characteristic of later times, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in penitential psalms, <a href="#Page_313">313</a>, <a href="#Page_319">319</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Splendor of Heaven and Earth</i>, name of temple, <a href="#Page_641">641</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Stars</i>, writing of heaven, <a href="#Page_454">454</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">division of, <a href="#Page_455">455</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Storm</i>, symbols of storm (birds and bulls), <a href="#Page_537">537</a> ff.</p> + +<p><i>Subartu</i>, name of country, <a href="#Page_532">532</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Sugi</i>, name of country, <a href="#Page_675">675</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Sukhaul-ziku</i>, name of mythical fountain, <a href="#Page_572">572</a>.</p> + +<p><a name="index-sumer-akkad" id="index-sumer-akkad"></a><i>Sumer and Akkad</i>, ethnological-geographical, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>-3;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">S.-A. language in incantations, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Sumerian question</i>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>-4, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>-4.</p> + +<p><i>Sun</i>, see <i><a href="#index-shamash">Shamash</a></i>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gates of s., <a href="#Page_435">435</a>, <a href="#Page_443">443</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">representation of sun in creation story, <a href="#Page_461">461</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sun and moon in astronomy and religion, <a href="#Page_461">461</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Susian wedge writing</i>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Syllabaries</i>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Syncellus</i>, source for B.-A. religion, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Systematized religion</i>, see <i><a href="#index-theology">Theology</a></i>.</p> + + +<p><i>Taboo</i>, meaning of, <a href="#Page_397">397</a>.</p> + +<p><a name="index-talisman" id="index-talisman"></a><i>Talisman</i>, see <i><a href="#index-amulet">Amulet</a></i>, <i><a href="#index-teraphim">Teraphim</a></i>.</p> + +<p><a name="index-tammuz" id="index-tammuz"></a><i>Tammuz</i>, agricultural deity, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_588">588</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relations to Ishtar, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_482">482</a>, <a href="#Page_484">484</a>, <a href="#Page_547">547</a>, <a href="#Page_564">564</a>, <a href="#Page_574">574</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">T. and Gish-zida doorkeepers of heaven, <a href="#Page_546">546</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">solar deity, <a href="#Page_547">547</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">4th month named for T., <a href="#Page_547">547</a>, <a href="#Page_682">682</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">intercedes for Adapa with Anu, <a href="#Page_548">548</a>-9;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">brother of Belili, <a href="#Page_575">575</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">T.'s day = All-Souls' Day, <a href="#Page_599">599</a>, <a href="#Page_605">605</a>, <a href="#Page_682">682</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">identified with Nin-girsu, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>;</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_777" id="Page_777">[Pg 777]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with Nin-gish-zida, <a href="#Page_546">546</a>, <a href="#Page_588">588</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Tammuz</i>, 4th month, sacred to Ninib, <a href="#Page_462">462</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">named for god Tammuz, <a href="#Page_547">547</a>, <a href="#Page_682">682</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sacred to the servant of Gibil, <a href="#Page_463">463</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Tarbisu</i>, city north of Nineveh; temple of Nergal, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Tar-gul-le</i>, names of some demons let loose by Dibbarra in the deluge story, <a href="#Page_500">500</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Tashmitum</i>, goddess in pantheon of Hammurabi, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a new creation, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>-2;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">consort of Nabu, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>-1, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>-9;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meaning of name, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her quasi-artificial character, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>-2;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">called Nanâ, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">shrine in E-Sagila, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the subscript to Ashurbanabal's tablets, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>-30;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">shrine in E-Zida, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Tashritu</i>, see <i><a href="#index-tishri">Tishri</a></i>.</p> + +<p><i>Taylor, J. E.</i>, excavations, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Tebet</i>, 10th month, sacred to Papsukal, Ishtar, and Anu, <a href="#Page_463">463</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">festival of En-meshara, <a href="#Page_588">588</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Tel-Id</i>, mound near Warka, site of ancient capital of Mar, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Tell-el-amarna</i>, see <i><a href="#index-el-amarna">El-amarna</a></i>.</p> + +<p><i>Tell-Ibrahim</i> = Cuthah.</p> + +<p><i>Telloh</i>, excavations, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple records and legal documents, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Tell-Sifr</i>, temple records and legal documents, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Temple records</i>, see also <i><a href="#index-literature">Literature</a></i>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">source of study of the deities, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>.</span></p> + +<p><a name="index-temples" id="index-temples"></a><i>Temples</i>, <a href="#Page_612">612</a> ff.;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">names of t., <a href="#Page_638">638</a> ff.;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">history of t., <a href="#Page_642">642</a> ff.;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">as financial establishments, <a href="#Page_650">650</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">minor part played by the temples in Assyria, <a href="#Page_659">659</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Terah</i>, <i>Terahites</i>, appearance in Palestine, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">migrations, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">home of, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>.</span></p> + +<p><a name="index-teraphim" id="index-teraphim"></a><i>Teraphim</i>, talismans parallel to Ass.-Bab. statuettes of gods, <a href="#Page_674">674</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Teumman</i>, king of Elam, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Thamud</i>, Arabic tribe destroyed, <a href="#Page_496">496</a>.</p> + +<p><i>The Brilliant House</i>, name of temple, <a href="#Page_641">641</a>.</p> + +<p>"<i>The Lesser Light</i>," name of Ningal's ship, <a href="#Page_655">655</a>.</p> + +<p><a name="index-theology" id="index-theology"></a><i>Theology and popular belief</i>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>, <a href="#Page_411">411</a>, <a href="#Page_414">414</a>, <a href="#Page_416">416</a>, <a href="#Page_458">458</a>, <a href="#Page_494">494</a>, <a href="#Page_527">527</a>, <a href="#Page_584">584</a>, <a href="#Page_614">614</a>, <a href="#Page_619">619</a>, <a href="#Page_629">629</a>-30, <a href="#Page_689">689</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Gudea's system, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">interaction betw. political fortunes and positions of divinities, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>-11, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>-5, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">genealogical arrangement according to Amiaud, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">family theory according to Davis, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its value, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tendency towards recognition of certain great gods, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>-5, <a href="#Page_696">696</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">organization of cult and ritual, establishment of dogmas, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>, <a href="#Page_690">690</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">pedagogical activity, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">formation of the great triad, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">re-systematization of gods by Hammurabi, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">systematization of spirits, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attempts to systematize series of gods, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">theology in cosmology, <a href="#Page_412">412</a> ff., <a href="#Page_418">418</a>, <a href="#Page_443">443</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the 12th tablet of the Gilgamesh epic, <a href="#Page_512">512</a>-3;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the Etana legend, <a href="#Page_527">527</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">theology in the Zu epic, <a href="#Page_542">542</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Thomas, Felix</i>, excavations, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Thousand and One Nights</i>, <a href="#Page_494">494</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Threshold of Long Life</i>, name of zikkurat in Sippar, <a href="#Page_641">641</a>.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_778" id="Page_778">[Pg 778]</a></span><i>Tiâmat</i>, mythical monster, conquered by Marduk, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_408">408</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fought by Anu, Ea, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">synonymous with Apsu, <a href="#Page_411">411</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">female principle, <a href="#Page_411">411</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">personified chaos, <a href="#Page_411">411</a>, <a href="#Page_414">414</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dominion of T. and Apsu precedes that of the gods, <a href="#Page_412">412</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gods product of the union of T. and Apsu, <a href="#Page_413">413</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mythical monsters product of the union of T. and Apsu, <a href="#Page_414">414</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associates of T., <a href="#Page_419">419</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ummu-Khubur, epithet of T., <a href="#Page_419">419</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Kingu her consort, <a href="#Page_420">420</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tiâmat epic compared with Zu myth, <a href="#Page_543">543</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">comparison with Nergal-Allat fight, <a href="#Page_585">585</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Tiglathpileser I.</i>, king of Assyria, nomenclature of Bel, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dedicates temple to Anu and Ramman, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">as a hunter, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rebuilds temple of Bel at Ashur, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">pantheon, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dedicates captured gods, <a href="#Page_675">675</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Tiglathpileser II.</i>, sacrifices in Babylonia, <a href="#Page_664">664</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Tigris</i>, course of, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>-9;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">comparison with Euphrates, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in garden of Eden, <a href="#Page_2">2</a> (<i>cf.</i> <a href="#Page_506">506</a>);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">one of the four streams forming the confluence of streams, <a href="#Page_506">506</a> (<i>cf.</i> <a href="#Page_2">2</a>).</span></p> + +<p><a name="index-tishri" id="index-tishri"></a><i>Tishri</i>, 7th month, sacred to Shamash, <a href="#Page_462">462</a> (<i>cf.</i> <a href="#Page_681">681</a>, <a href="#Page_685">685</a>);<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">7th day sacred to Shamash, Malkatu, and Bunene, <a href="#Page_685">685</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Tombs</i>, see <i><a href="#index-dead">Dead</a></i>.</p> + +<p><i>Triad</i>, the great, Anu, Bel, Ea, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relationship of the members, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">product of theology, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">development of, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">extraneous position, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">representative of the three kingdoms, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">punish the violator of monuments, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fix the name of the months, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">general position in Ass. pantheon, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">give victory, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">grant rule, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with Ashur, Ishtar, and Igigi, and Anunnaki, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in incantations, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with fire-god, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Gudea, <a href="#Page_418">418</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the cosmology, <a href="#Page_418">418</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ancestors of the triad, <a href="#Page_418">418</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">symbolizes the eternal laws of the universe, <a href="#Page_432">432</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Triad</i>, second, Sin, Shamash, Ramman, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in incantations, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Tubal-cain</i>, biblical father of metal workers, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Tur-lil-en</i>, in Nebuchadnezzar's II. pantheon, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Tychsen, Gerhard</i>, decipherment of wedge writing, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>.</p> + + +<p><i>Ubshu-kenna</i>, council chamber of the gods, <a href="#Page_423">423</a>, <a href="#Page_629">629</a>, <a href="#Page_687">687</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Uddushu-Namir</i>, a divine servant, created by Ea, <a href="#Page_571">571</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Ud-zal</i> = Nimib, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Ukhat</i>, in the Gilgamesh epic, <a href="#Page_475">475</a>, <a href="#Page_476">476</a> ff.;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">parallelism betw. U. and Eve, <a href="#Page_511">511</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Ukhâti</i>, sacred harlots of Uruk, <a href="#Page_475">475</a>, <a href="#Page_531">531</a>, <a href="#Page_660">660</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Ul-mash-shi-tum</i>, in proper names of the 2d Bab. period, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Ululu</i>, 6th month, sacred to Ishtar, <a href="#Page_462">462</a>, <a href="#Page_684">684</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sacred to Ashur, <a href="#Page_463">463</a>, <a href="#Page_685">685</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sacred to Ninib, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_684">684</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">3d day of U. sacred to Shamash, Malkatu, and Bunene, <a href="#Page_685">685</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Ululu 2d</i> (intercalated), sacred to Anu and Bel, <a href="#Page_463">463</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Umu</i>, goddess, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">priestess of Uruk, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>;</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_779" id="Page_779">[Pg 779]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Lugalzaggisi's pantheon, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Umun-pa-uddu</i> = Shul-pa-uddu, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>.</p> + +<p><a name="index-ur" id="index-ur"></a><i>Ur</i>, city, home of Terahites, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dynasties, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>-7;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sacred to Sin or Nannar, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>-70, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_640">640</a>, <a href="#Page_647">647</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sanctuary of Shamash, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">starting point of Hebrew migrations, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">association with Harran, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple of Nanâ, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple of Nin-gal, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple of Sin, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_295">295</a>, <a href="#Page_640">640</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">literary center, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">zikkurat at Ur, <a href="#Page_617">617</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple E-kharsag, <a href="#Page_638">638</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple E-gal-makh, <a href="#Page_639">639</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Ur-Bau</i>, patesi of Lagash,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">builds sanctuary of Belit, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">builds sanctuary to Ea in Girsu, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>-3;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">builds temple of Ninni in Gishgalla, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">builds temple to Nin-Mar in Mar, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">builds temple to Ku(?)-anna in Girsu, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">erects a zikkurat in Nippier, <a href="#Page_645">645</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Ur-Gur</i>, 2d dynasty of Ur,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">builds sanctuary to Shamash in Larsa, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">preserves local cults in Larsa, Nippur, Uruk, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">builds temple to Sin in Ur, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">builds temple to Nanâ in Uruk, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Ur-Kasdim</i> = Ur.</p> + +<p><i>Ur-Nin-Girsu</i>, of Lagash, priest of Anu, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Ur-Shul-pa-uddu</i>, ruler of Kish, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Uru-azagga</i>, quarter of Lagash, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple of Bau, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Uru-gal</i>, "great city,"<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">designation of nether-world, <a href="#Page_592">592</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nin-azu, god of U., <a href="#Page_592">592</a>.</span></p> + +<p><a name="index-uruk" id="index-uruk"></a><i>Uruk</i>, ancient center, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>, <a href="#Page_445">445</a>, <a href="#Page_472">472</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">excavated, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rulers, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple of Nin-shakh, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple of Lugal-banda, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple of Nin-gul, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">origin of cult of Nisaba, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nanâ, or Ishtar, the great goddess of Uruk, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_311">311</a>, <a href="#Page_445">445</a>, <a href="#Page_473">473</a>, <a href="#Page_475">475</a>, <a href="#Page_645">645</a>, <a href="#Page_648">648</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">importance of Uruk in Nippur inscriptions, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">worship of Nisaba, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple of Nanâ or Ishtar, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_311">311</a>, <a href="#Page_531">531</a>, <a href="#Page_639">639</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Uruk supûri, <a href="#Page_472">472</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">city of the Kizrêti, Ukhâti, and Kharimâti, <a href="#Page_475">475</a>, <a href="#Page_531">531</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">conquered by Gilgamesh, <a href="#Page_473">473</a>, <a href="#Page_513">513</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attacked by Khumbaba, <a href="#Page_430">430</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Uruk under Cassites (?), <a href="#Page_480">480</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attacked by Dibbarra, <a href="#Page_531">531</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dwelling of Anu and Ishtar, <a href="#Page_531">531</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">zikkurat at U., <a href="#Page_619">619</a>, <a href="#Page_639">639</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Uru-kagina</i>, patesi of Lagash, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">king of Girsu, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">erects temple of Bau at Uru-azagga, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Utu</i>, surname of Shamash, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">etymology, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Utukku</i>, a class of spirits, <a href="#Page_260">260</a> (<i>cf.</i> <a href="#Page_511">511</a>).</p> + + +<p><i>Vases</i>, sacred objects, <a href="#Page_652">652</a>, <a href="#Page_674">674</a>-5<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">comparison with vases in the Solomonic temple, <a href="#Page_653">653</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Venus</i> = Ishtar, name of planet, <a href="#Page_370">370</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Votive inscriptions</i>, see <i><a href="#index-religious-texts">Religious Texts</a></i>.</p> + +<p><i>Votive offerings</i>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_660">660</a> ff.;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">lists of, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">popular character, <a href="#Page_668">668</a>-9;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">statues of kings votive offerings, <a href="#Page_669">669</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">occasions for, <a href="#Page_670">670</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">offered by kings and laymen, <a href="#Page_671">671</a>, <a href="#Page_675">675</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">various objects, <a href="#Page_671">671</a>, <a href="#Page_675">675</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">captured gods as offerings, <a href="#Page_675">675</a>.</span></p> + + +<p><i>Warka</i>, see <i><a href="#index-uruk">Uruk</a></i>.</p> + +<p><i>Water</i>, see <i><a href="#index-fire">Fire</a></i> and <i><a href="#index-ea">Ea</a></i>;<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_780" id="Page_780">[Pg 780]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">means of purification, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Wedge writing</i>, styles and varieties, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">origin, <a href="#Page_21">21</a> ff., <a href="#Page_454">454</a>, <a href="#Page_455">455</a>.</span></p> + +<p><a name="index-witchcraft" id="index-witchcraft"></a><i>Witchcraft</i>, origin of belief in, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relationship betw. w. and demons, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the sex in w., <a href="#Page_267">267</a>, <a href="#Page_342">342</a>, <a href="#Page_485">485</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">means of w., <a href="#Page_268">268</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">protection against, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">release from, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>, <a href="#Page_657">657</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">causes of punishment by, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Worship</i>, tree worship compared with Hebrew-Phoenician Ashera cult, <a href="#Page_689">689</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">symbolical in Bab., <a href="#Page_689">689</a>.</span></p> + + +<p><i>Xenophon</i>, contemporary of Ctesias, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Xisuthras</i>, <a href="#Page_505">505</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">see <i><a href="#index-adra-khasis">Adra-Khasis</a></i>.</span></p> + + +<p><i>Yakhin</i>, name of column in Solomon's temple, <a href="#Page_624">624</a>.</p> + + +<p><i>Zab</i>, lower, tributary of Tigris, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Zabu</i>, king of Babylon, restores Shamash temple at Sippar, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">restores Anunit temple at Agade, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>.</span></p> + +<p><a name="index-zag-muk" id="index-zag-muk"></a><i>Zag-muk</i>, festival of Bau, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_677">677</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">festival of Marduk, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_631">631</a>, <a href="#Page_678">678</a>-9;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">festival of En-lil, <a href="#Page_678">678</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">festival of Sin, <a href="#Page_678">678</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">festival of Nanâ, <a href="#Page_678">678</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">propitious time for asking oracles, <a href="#Page_628">628</a>-9;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">spring and fall the time of the z., <a href="#Page_678">678</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">compared with Jewish New Year, <a href="#Page_687">687</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Zakar</i>, god, meaning of name, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">place of worship, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"wall of Zakar," <a href="#Page_172">172</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relationship to Bel and Belit, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Zamama</i>, god of the 2d Bab. period, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sanctuary to Z. in Kish, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">god of battle (identified with Ninib, <a href="#Page_640">640</a>), <a href="#Page_169">169</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ninni his consort, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in incantations, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temple of Zamama-Ninib, <a href="#Page_640">640</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Zarmu</i>, son of Bau, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Za-za-uru</i>, son of Bau, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Zikkurat</i>, staged tower, <a href="#Page_615">615</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">imitation of mountain, <a href="#Page_615">615</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">house of oracle, <a href="#Page_622">622</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">names of zikkurats, <a href="#Page_638">638</a> ff.</span></p> + +<p><i>Zodiac</i>, z. system outcome of religious thought, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>, <a href="#Page_434">434</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">zodiacal interpretation of the gods, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_310">310</a>-1, <a href="#Page_434">434</a>, <a href="#Page_462">462</a>-3, <a href="#Page_676">676</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">almost the entire zodiac known to the Babylonians, <a href="#Page_456">456</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Zoroastrianism</i>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Zu</i>, personification of storm, <a href="#Page_525">525</a>, <a href="#Page_537">537</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">myth of Zu, <a href="#Page_537">537</a> ff.;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">compared with Tiâmat epic, <a href="#Page_543">543</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">explanation of name, <a href="#Page_537">537</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the chief worker of evil, <a href="#Page_538">538</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">under the control of Shamash, <a href="#Page_538">538</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">robs the tablets of fate, <a href="#Page_540">540</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">conquered by Marduk, <a href="#Page_542">542</a>.</span></p> + +<p><i>Zurghul</i>, city in Babylonia, <a href="#Page_578">578</a>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_781" id="Page_781">[Pg 781]</a></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_782" id="Page_782">[Pg 782]</a></span></p> +<h2>ANNOUNCEMENTS</h2> + + + + +<h3>HANDBOOKS ON THE HISTORY +OF RELIGIONS</h3> + +<p>Edited by Morris Jastrow, Jr., Professor of Semitic Languages +in the University of Pennsylvania</p> + +<p>The distinguishing features of this series will be: first, each volume +will deal with the history of a special religion, which is to +be intrusted to the hands of a competent specialist; second, the +treatment of the subject in the various volumes will follow so +far as possible a uniform order; a third division will embody a full +exposition of the beliefs and rites, the religious art and literature; a +fourth division will give the history of the religion and set forth its +relation to others. 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