The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria

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

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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.

FOOTNOTES:

[16] I may be permitted to refer to a publication by Dr. Brinton and
myself, _The Cradle of the Semites_ (Philadelphia, 1889), in which the
various views as to this home are set forth.

[17] It has been suggested that since the statues of Telloh are those of
the priest-kings, only the priestly classes shaved their hair off.

[18] See an interesting discussion of the question by Professor Hommel,
"Arabia according to the Latest Discoveries and Researches."--_Sunday
School Times_, 1895, nos. 41 and 43.

[19] Also known as Shirpurla which Jensen (_Keils Bibl._ 3, 1, 5) thinks
was the later name.

[20] See Hilprecht, _Old Babylonian Inscriptions_, 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.

[21] _Sunday School Times_, 1895, no. 41.

[22] For various views regarding the name and character of this dynasty
see Winckler, _Geschichte_, pp. 67, 68, 328; Hilprecht, _Assyriaca_, pp.
25-28, 102, 103; Winckler, _Altorientalische Forschungen_, I. 275-277,
and Rogers, _Outlines_, 32, note.

[23] See Delitzsch, _Die Sprache der Kossaer_.

CHAPTER III.

GENERAL TRAITS OF THE OLD BABYLONIAN PANTHEON.

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
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 _jinns_, 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 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.

CHAPTER IV.

BABYLONIAN GODS PRIOR TO THE DAYS OF HAMMURABI.

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.

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.

Taking up the group of inscriptions prior to the union of the Babylonian
States under Hammurabi, _i.e._, prior to 2300 B.C., 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 A, who is the consort of Shamash, Nannar or Sin, Nana, Anunit,
Ishtar, Innanna or Ninni, Nina, 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.

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[24] 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.

En-lil or Bel.

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. 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 B.C.), 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.e._, the lord _par excellence_;
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 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.e._, 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.[25] 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,[26] 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 severe punishment for disobedience to his
commands. We must distinguish, then, in the case of En-lil, at least
four phases:

1. His original role as a local deity;

2. The extension of his power to the grade of a great 'lord' over a
large district;

3. Dissociation from local origins to become the supreme lord of the
lower world; and

4. The transfer of his name and powers as god of Nippur to Marduk, the
god of Babylon.

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.

Nin-lil or Belit.

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.e._, the lady _par
excellence_. 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

Nin-khar-sag.[27]

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 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,"[28] 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
(_c._ 2200), erected in her honor.

Nin-girsu.

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 which were originally independent cities, are
Uru-azagga, Nina, and apparently Gish-galla.[29]

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 role, 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.[30] 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 _patesis_, 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 over the
agricultural prosperity of the district. In this role he is addressed as
Shul-gur or Shul-gur-an, _i.e._, 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;[31] and an old hymn[32] 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.

Bau.

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, 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[33]. 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'.[34] 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.[35] 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.

The offerings, themselves, consist of lambs, sheep, birds, fish, cream,
besides dates and various other fruits. When 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.

It is quite certain, however, that Bau is originally an independent
goddess, and that the association of Uru-azagga and Girsu[36] 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,[37] 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,
_Tohu-wa-bohu_. 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

Ga-tum-dug.[38]

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 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' (_Azag_), 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,[39]
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.[40]

En-ki or Ea.

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 god as the "supreme councillor." From him, the king
receives "wisdom."[41] 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 _par excellence_. 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,[42] adopting the language of Gnosticism, aptly puts it;
only that, as already suggested, Marduk assumes the role of the older
Bel.