The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria

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

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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.

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 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 _literati_ 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 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.

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 _literati_, 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 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 _models_, 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.

FOOTNOTES:

[339] See above, pp. 72, 114, 133 _seq._

[340] See pp. 12-14.

CHAPTER XVI.

THE MAGICAL TEXTS.

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 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.

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 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,[341] 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.

The prominence given to Ea and to his favorite seat, the city of Eridu,
in the incantations suggests the theory that many 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.

The only legitimate inference is that the main purpose of the collectors
of incantation texts was to exhaust the subject so far 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.

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 _a quo_ beyond which we need not proceed for _final_
editing. On the other hand, there are indications in the language which
warrant us in not passing below 2000 B.C. 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.

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 _copies_ themselves may of course belong to a much later
period without, for that reason, being more recent productions.

Attention must also be directed to the so-called 'bilingual' form, in
which many of the incantation texts are edited; each line being first
written in the ideographic style, and then followed by a transliteration
into the phonetic style.[342] 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, 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. Mueller[343] calls the "response." The
same metrical traits being found in other parts of the Babylonian
literature,--so, _e.g._, 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,[344]--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.

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.

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.

Demons.

The demons were of various kinds and of various grades of power. The
names of many of them, as _utukku_, _shedu_, _alu_, _gallu_, point to
'strength' and 'greatness' as their main attribute; other names, as
_lilu_, 'night-spirit,' and the feminine form _lilitu_, are indicative
of the moment chosen by them for their work; while again, names like
_ekimmu_, the 'seizer,' _akhkhazu_, the 'capturer,' _rabisu_, 'the one
that lies in wait,' _labartu_, 'the oppressor,' and _labasu_, '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.

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 _Namtar_,
the demon of 'plague,' and _Ashakku_, 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 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:[345]

The _utukku_[346] of the field and the _utukku_ of the mountain,
The _utukku_ of the sea and the one that lurks in graves,
The evil _shedu_, the shining _alu_.
The evil wind, the terrible wind,
That sets one's hair on end.

Against these the spirits of heaven and earth are invoked. The text
proceeds:

The _utukku_ that seizes hold of a man,
The _ekimmu_ that seizes hold of a man,
The _ekimmu_ that works evil,
The _utukku_ that works evil.

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.

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 translated, the _utukku_, _shedu_, _alu_, and _ekimmu_
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 _ekimmu_ 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. _Lilu_ and _lilitu_
are the spirits that flit by in the night. Of a specific character
likewise are the conceptions connected with a demon known as _ardat
lili_, '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 _rabisu_
or the _labartu_ appears to have been especially associated with the
horrible sensations aroused by a 'nightmare.'[347] Again the _utukku_ is
represented at times as attacking the neck of man; the _gallu_ attacks
the hand, the _ekimmu_ the loins, the _alu_ the breast. But these
distinctions count for little in the texts. _Utukku_ becomes a general
name for demon, and _gallu_, _alu_, and _shedu_ are either used
synonymously with _utukku_ 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 _rabisu_
and _gallu_, with the _labartu_, _akhkhazu_, and _ekimmu_.