The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria

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

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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.

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
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.

Omens From Terrestrial Phenomena.

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 tablets have been published,[624] 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.

Jevons has shown[625] 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.

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.

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 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.[626]

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 role in the series. In fact, the opening
tablet is devoted in part to this phase of the subject. We are told, for
example, that[627]

If a woman gives birth to twins, one male and one female, it is
an unfavorable omen. The land is in favor[628], but that house
(wherein the child was born) will be reduced.

And again,

If a woman gives birth to twins, and both are brought out
alive(?),[629] but the right hand of one is lacking, the ruler
(?) will be killed by force, the land will be diminished....

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.

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.[630]

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.

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

If a woman gives birth to a child with a lion's head,[631] a
strong king will rule in the land.

If a woman gives birth to a child with a dog's head, the city in
his district[632] will be in distress, and evil will be in the
country.

...

If a woman gives birth to a child with a swine's head, offspring
and possession (?) will increase in that house.

...

If a woman gives birth to a child with a bird's head, that land
will be destroyed.

If a woman gives birth to a child with a serpent's head, for
thirty days (?) Nin-Gishzida[633] will bring a famine in the
land, and Gilgamesh[634] will rule as king in the land.

In the same tablet[635] 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

If a woman gives birth to a child with two heads, two mouths,
but the regular number of eyes, hands, and feet[636], it is an
omen of vigorous life [for the country, but the son] will seize
the king his father and kill him.

But

If a woman gives birth to a child with two heads and two mouths,
and the two hands and two feet are between them[637], disease
will settle upon that city (where the monstrosity was born).

If the deformity consists in the misplacement of certain organs, the
omen is invariably bad.

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.

And again,

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.

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 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.

At times the connection between the omen and its interpretation is quite
obvious. In a portion of this same series we are told that[638]

If a woman gives birth to a child with a lion-like ear, a mighty
king will arise in the land.

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.

If a woman gives birth to a child with the right ear missing,
the days of the ruler will be long.

If a woman gives birth to a child with the left ear missing,
distress will enter the land and weaken it.

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 absence of the 'right' ear a good
omen may again be offset by the entrance of a third factor. So we are
told that

If a woman gives birth to a child with a small[639] right ear,
the house of the man[640] will be destroyed.

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.

If a deformed right ear is disastrous, we are prepared to learn that

If a woman gives birth to a child with both ears short, the
house of the man will be utterly rooted out.

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[641] 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 us, simply because our logic differs from the logic of primitive
peoples in certain important particulars.

The list of peculiarities occurring in the case of babes continues as
follows:

If a woman gives birth to a child whose mouth is shaped like a
bird's, the country will be stirred up.

If a woman gives birth to a child without any mouth, the
mistress of the house will die.

If a woman gives birth to a child with the right nostril
lacking, misfortune is portending.

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.

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.

If a woman gives birth to a child whose lower jaw is lacking,
the ground will not bear fruit during the year.

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.

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.

If a woman gives birth to a child with the right hand lacking,
the land advances to destruction.

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.

If a woman gives birth to a child with the fingers of the right
hand lacking, the ruler will be captured by his enemy.

If a woman gives birth to a child with six toes on the right
foot, through distress (?), the house of the man will perish.

If a woman gives birth to a child with six very small toes on
the left foot, distress (?) will come to pass.

If a woman gives birth to a child with six toes on the right
foot, some disaster is portending.

Altogether no less than ninety kinds of human deformities in the various
parts of the body are enumerated and interpreted.

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,[642] 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.

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,[643] and which reads:

If in the flock[644] a dog is born, weapons will destroy life
and the king will not be triumphant

it would appear that the first subject taken up was the anomalous unions
among animals, which naturally aroused attention when they occurred.

A number of tablets--at least seven--follow in which monstrosities
occurring among the young of sheep are noted.

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.

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:[645]

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.

This is the omen in the case that the litter consists of five young
ones, all normal. But if anomalies occur, as, _e.g._,

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.

Again,

If seven young are thrown off, three male and four female, that
man[646] will perish.

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." The
variations are nigh endless.

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.

If the young ones have six legs, the population will decrease
and devastation will settle over the country.

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.

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.

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.

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

If the young one has its ears at its neck,[647] the ruler will
be without judgment,

it is the association of ideas between 'ears' and 'judgment,'[648] that
supplies the link. A misplaced ear is equivalent to misdirected
judgment.

Consistent with this interpretation, the next line informs us that

If the young one has its ears below the neck,[649] the union of
the country is weakened.

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.

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:

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.

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 (?).

If the right ear of the young one falls off, the stall[650] will
be destroyed.

If the left ear of the young one falls off, the stall will be
increased, the stall[651] of the enemy will be destroyed.

If the right ear of the young one is split (?), that stall will
be destroyed, the enemy (?) will advance against the city.

If the left ear of the young one is split (?), that stall will
be increased, the king[652] will advance against the enemy's
land.

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 _what_ happens
to the right ear. Above, we have seen that an unusually large 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.

Our text continues:

If the right ear of the young one is shrunk (?), the house of
the owner will prosper.

If the left ear is shrunk, the house of the owner will perish.

If the right ear is torn off, the house of the owner will
prosper.

If the left ear is torn off, the house of the owner will perish.

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.

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:[653]

If a colt has no right legs, the house[654] will be destroyed.

If a colt has no left legs, the days of the ruler will be long.

If a colt has no legs, the country will be destroyed.

If a colt has the right leg shortened,[655] ... his stall[4]
will be destroyed.

If a colt has the left leg shortened, the stall[656] will be
destroyed

...

If a colt has no hoof on the right foreleg, the wife will cause
trouble to her husband.

If a colt has no hoofs at all, there will be dissensions (?)
within the country, and the enemy will enter the ruler's land.

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.

If a mare gives birth to twins, male and female, and each has
only one eye, the enemy triumphs and devastates Babylonia.

If the male or female colt has a mane like a lion, the country
will be reduced.

If the male or female colt has a dog's hoof, the country will be
reduced.

If the male or female colt has a lion's claw, the country will
be enlarged.