The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria

M >> Morris Jastrow >> The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria

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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.e._, the earth,--that,
according to another version, belongs to Marduk.[242] 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.

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 _patesi_,--_i.e._, 'religious chief,'[243]--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 B.C., 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 can, of course, be no doubt that the
temple at that place is referred to.

The rulers of Assyria, even after they assumed the title of 'king' (_c._
1500 B.C.), 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 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,[244] to whom conjointly
he ascribes his victories. We have already had occasion (see pp.
153-155) 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.

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 be said to follow from his role 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 _patesis_ 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.

Ishtar.

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 Nana,--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 of Ishtar of
Nineveh. The third Ishtar had her cult at Arbela,[245] 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.'[246] 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, B.C.)--a comparatively late date. Tiele[247] 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 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,[248] and in the Izdubar or
Gilgamesh epic, as already pointed out, she appears at times in the role
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 role as the goddess of
war grows in prominence as the Assyrian rulers proceed in their
triumphal careers. Ashurrishishi (_c_. 1150 B.C.) 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 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,[249] are not dwelt upon in the historical texts.
Still, an element of love also enters into the relationship with her
subjects. Ashurnasirbal (885-860 B.C.) 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[250] 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.[251]
Now Ishtar never appears in this capacity in the Babylonian
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.[252] 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 _real_ 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 Nana of Erech that had been captured 1635 years previous.[253]

Anu.

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
role 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,[254] 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.[255] 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 the monuments set up by the
kings. Sargon tells us that it is Anu, Bel, and Ea who fix the names of
the months,[256] 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,[257] describing him as the god who blesses his
handiwork.

Dagan.

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,[258] it would appear that his worship was imported from
the north into the south.[259] 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.),[260] whose date may be fixed at the close of the nineteenth
century B.C. The form Dagan is interesting as being almost identical
with the name of the chief god of the Philistines, Dagon,[261] 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 _Dag_, 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 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,[262] 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.[263]

Shamash.

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 (_c._ 1350 B.C.) 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, preeminently 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 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 _sun_ of the world. The
phrase,[264] 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 _Ra_ 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, _tertu_, is identical with the Hebrew term _tora_ that is
used to designate the Pentateuchal legislation. No better testimony
could be desired to show the nature of the conceptions that 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[265] 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.