The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria

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

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[1335] Inscription G, col. i. l. 14; D, col. ii. l. 11.

[1336] IIR. 50; obverse 20. See p. 472.

[1337] _Kosmologie_, pp. 171-174.

[1338] The suggestion is worthy of consideration whether the name 'seven
directions of heaven and earth' may not also point to a conception of
seven zones dividing the _heavens_ as well as the earth. One is reminded
of the 'seven' heavens of Arabic theology.

[1339] So _e.g._, Kaulen, _Assyrien und Babylonien_ (3d edition), p. 58;
Vigouroux, _La Bible et les Decouvertes Modernes_ (4th edition), i. 358.

[1340] Lit., 'house to be seen,' _Igi-e-nir_. See, _e.g._, VR. 29, no.
4, 40, and Delitzsch, _Assyr. Handwoerterbuch_, p. 262.

[1341] So at Babylon, at least, according to Herodotus. Traces of such a
room were also found in connection with the zikkurat at Nippur (Peters,
_Nippur_, ii. 122.)

[1342] _Bit pirishti_. IIR. 50, obverse, 6. Another name (or perhaps the
name of a second zikkurat at Nippur; see p. 616, note 2) is
_Im-kharsag_, _i.e._, 'mountain of awe.' Peters' rendering (_Nippur_,
ii. 122) of the names is inaccurate.

[1343] Peters' _Nippur_, ii. chapter vi.

[1344] Schick, _Die Stiftschuette, der Tempel, und der Tempelplatz der
Jetztzeit_, pp. 8, 9.

[1345] Snouck-Hurgronje _Mekka_ (Atlas, pl. 1). The present structure,
though comparatively modern, is built after ancient models.

[1346] Schick, _ib._ pp. 125-131.

[1347] _Die Stiftshuette, der Tempel, und der Tempelplatz der Jeiztzeit_,
p. 82.

[1348] On the significance of the gate in sacred edifices, see Trumbull,
_The Threshold Covenant_, pp. 102-108.

[1349] Dr. Peters is of the opinion that at the entrance to the temple
area proper at Nippur there also stood two large columns.

[1350] _Decouvertes en Chaldee_, pp. 62-64. Heuzey, in a valuable note,
already suggests the comparison with the two columns of Solomon's which
is here maintained on the basis of the excavations at Nippur.

[1351] _Ib._ p. 64.

[1352] The best example for Assyria is furnished by the magnificent
bronze gates of Balawat, now in The British Museum. See Birch and
Pinches, _The Bronze Ornaments of the Palace Gates of Balawat_ (London,
1881).

[1353] See the illustrations in Perrot and Chiplez, _History of Art in
Chaldea and Assyria_, i. 142, 143.

[1354] So Puchstein and Friedrich, but see Meissner-Rost, _Noch einmal
das Bithillani und die Assyrische Saeule_ (Leipzig, 1893).

[1355] _Discoveries among the Ruins of Nineveh and Babylon_, plan 2.

[1356] Papakhu for Pakhpakhu, from the stem _pakhu_, "to close."
Parakku, from Paraku, "to shut off, to lock."

[1357] Inscription D, col. ii. l. 9.

[1358] V. Rawlinson, pl. 60.

[1359] Book i. sec. 183.

[1360] See the chief passage, IR. 54, col. ii, ll. 54-65; another name
is E-Kua, 'dwelling.'

[1361] See p. 423.

[1362] VR. 50, col. i. l. 5.

[1363] VR. 41, No. 1, Rev. 18.

[1364] IVR. 57, 24a. Jensen's suggestion (_Kosmologie_, p. 242) to read
Mar-duku is out of the question.

[1365] What Jensen says (_Kosmologie_, p. 10) of the temple at Sippar
would apply to the papakhu in the temple, rather than to the whole
structure.

[1366] De Sarzec, _Decouvertes en Chaldee_, pls. 24, 25 _bis_, etc.

[1367] See p. 537.

[1368] De Sarzec, _Decouvertes en Chaldee_, pls. 4, 4 _bis_ and 43
_bis_. On the latter, bulls, lions, and eagle in combination.

[1369] See p. 653.

[1370] See the plan in Schick, _Die Stiftshuette_, pl. 5. Layard
(_Discoveries among the Ruins of Nineveh and Babylon_, pp. 642-648)
points out some analogies between the constructions at Nimrod and
Solomon's buildings, but what he says applies chiefly to the palaces.

[1371] Herodotus, book i. sec. 183, speaks of two altars outside of the
temple of Marduk in Babylon. In the case of so important a structure,
the number of altars was naturally more numerous.

[1372] See Heuzey's note in De Sarzec's _Decouvertes en Chaldee_, p. 65.

[1373] See pp. 109 _seq._

[1374] See p. 106.

[1375] _Recueil des Travaux_, etc., xvii. 39.

[1376] See pp. 140 _seq._

[1377] The date of this king has recently been pushed down by
Thureau-Dangin, considerably later than the date assigned to him by
Hilprecht (_Revue Semitique_, v. 265-269).

[1378] See p. 110.

[1379] Nebuchadnezzar, IR. 65, col. i. ll. 34, 35.

[1380] This is to be concluded from Nebuchadnezzar, ib. l. 32.

[1381] See Tiele's note, _Zeitschrift fuer Assyriologie_, ii. 184, note.

[1382] IR. 55, col. iv. ll. 54-57.

[1383] See Tiele, _Zeitschrift fuer Assyriologie_, ii. 190.

[1384] III Rawlinson, pl. 66. The list also contains objects in the
temples used for the cult.

[1385] IIIR. 66. obverse, col. ii. ll. 2-25.

[1386] See p. 207.

[1387] The sign for image occurs in connection with some of the gods.

[1388] The term can hardly be used here in the strict sense of 'towers,'
but appears to have become a general word for a sacred structure.

[1389] _Ib._ col. iii. ll. 22-34.

[1390] Meissner-Rost, _Bauinschriften Sanherib's_, p. 7.

[1391] See, _e.g._, the list IIIR. 66. An exception is formed by the
temple to Ramman in the city of Asshur, which has a special name. See
the following note.

[1392] Including the one to Ramman in Asshur.

[1393] IR. 2. nos. 11, 2.

[1394] IIR, 50, obverse 13.

[1395] Lge-e-nir = zikkurat; Kidur = shubtu (dwelling); Makh = rabu
(great).

[1396] The name approaches closely to the conception of a zikkurat in
the Book of Genesis, as a 'ladder' connecting heaven and earth. Gen.
xxviii. 12.

[1397] See above, p. 619.

[1398] The ideas 'true, fixed, established, eternal' are all expressed
by the element _Zida_.

[1399] I adopt this reading as the one generally used.

[1400] See above, p. 242.

[1401] Or _tush_. Cf. Bruennow, Sign List, no. 10523.

[1402] Or _ab_. See Jensen, _Keils Bibl._ 3, i. pp. 15, 173.

[1403] See above, p. 57.

[1404] Compare the name 'Belit-seri,' 'mistress of the fields,' as the
name of a goddess who belongs to the pantheon of the lower world. See p.
588.

[1405] IIR. 61, nos. 1, 2, 6.

[1406] Text, _Kar_, _i.e._, 'dam,' 'wall,' or 'quay.'

[1407] IIR. 50, l. 8.

[1408] Bezold Catalogue, etc., p. 1776.

[1409] One is reminded of Isaiah's sentiment (lvi. 7) regarding the
temple of Yahwe, which is to be called 'a house of prayer for the
world.'

[1410] Lit., 'enclosure.'

[1411] The synagogue is called a 'house' just as the Babylonian temple
is, and among names of synagogues (or of congregations) in modern times
that form close parallels to the names of Babylonian temples may be
instanced 'house of prayer,' 'glory of Israel,' 'tree of life.' The
custom of naming Christian churches after the apostles represents a
further development along the order of ideas current in Babylonia.

[1412] _E.g._, IIR. 50 (zikkurats); IIR. 61; IIIR. 66.

[1413] See Bezold Catalogue, etc., p. 1776 and elsewhere.

[1414] _E.g._, IIR. 54-60; IIIR. 67-69; VR. 43, 46.

[1415] IIR. 60, no. 1, obverse.

[1416] See p. 172. Some of the gods invoked by Sennacherib (see p. 238),
as Gaga, Sherua, and perhaps also Khani, are foreign deities.

[1417] Assyrian and Babylonian Religious Texts, i. 56-59.

[1418] As Lagamal, Kanishurra.

[1419] See Peters' _Nippur_, ii. chapter x, "The History of Nippur."

[1420] _Ib._ ll. 260. (Published in Hilprecht's _Old Babylonian
Inscriptions_, I. 1. pl. 21, no. 43. See also pl. 8, no. 15.)

[1421] VR. 63.

[1422] VR. pls. 60, 61.

[1423] So, _e.g._, as late as the days of Nebopolassar (Scheil, _Recueil
des Travaux_, xviii. 16).

[1424] Besides this temple, there were two others, perhaps only chapels,
dedicated to Sin at Ur: (_a_) E-te-im-ila (mentioned first by Ur-Bau,
IR. pl. 1, no. 4), and (_b_) E-Kharsag (mentioned first by Dungi, IR. 2,
II. no. 2). The zikkurat at Ur had, of course, a special name (IIR. 50,
obverse 18).

[1425] See Noeldeke, _Zeitschrift fuer Assyriologie_, xi. 107-109.
Hilprecht's theory (_Old Babylonian Inscriptions_, i. 2, 55) has not
been accepted by scholars.

[1426] VR. 64, col. i. 3-9; col. ii. 46.

[1427] See p. 444.

[1428] See p. 81.

[1429] See pp. 126 _seq._

[1430] See p. 129.

[1431] So Antiochus Soter, VR. 66, col. i. l. 3.

[1432] For a further account of the financial side of the temple
establishments, see Peiser's excellent remarks in his _Babylonische
Vertraege des Berliner Museums_, pp. xvii-xxix.

[1433] Hilprecht, _Old Babylonian Inscriptions_, i. 2, p. 24.

[1434] Nine magnificent diorite statues of Gudea were found by De Sarzec
at Telloh.

[1435] Ashes--the trace of sacrifices--were also found on the altar.

[1436] See the illustrations in Perrot and Chiplez, _History of Art in
Chaldea_, etc., i. 143, 255. Similar horns existed on the Hebrew and
Ph[oe]nician altars.

[1437] See the illustrations in Perrot and Chiplez, _ib._, i. 194, 256,
257. On seal cylinders altar titles are frequently represented.

[1438] Book i. sec. 183.

[1439] See Schick, _Die Stiftshuette_, etc., pp. 119 _seq._

[1440] _Keils Bibl._ 3, 1, p. 13; see also p. 89.

[1441] Inscription G, col 1. ll. 15-17. See p. 621.

[1442] Described in De Sarzec's _Decouvertes en Chaldee_, pp. 216, 217.
For other specimens, see _ib._ pp. 106, 171; and see also Hilprecht,
_Old Babylonian Inscriptions_, i. 2. p. 39, note.

[1443] Inscription D, col. iii, 1-12.

[1444] See Winckler's note, _Keils Bibl._ 3, 2, p. 16.

[1445] IR. 54, col. iii. l. 10.

[1446] _Ib._ 55, col. iv. l. 1, 2.

[1447] IIR. 61. no. 2, obverse.

[1448] See Perrot and Chiplez, _History of Art in Chaldea and Assyria_,
i. 75, 76.

[1449] See the illustration in Snouck-Hurgronje _Mekka_, pl. V.

[1450] _I.e._, of the god, E-Kua being the name of the sacred chamber in
Marduk's temple at Babylon. See p. 629, note 1.

[1451] See p. 60.

[1452] See p. 282.

[1453] The largest canal in Babylonia.

[1454] _E.g._, _ishakku_.

[1455] _Sha_ and _naku_, _i.e._, 'the one over the sacrifice.'
_Zeitschrift fuer Assyriologie_, vii., 174, note.

[1456] That these terms represent classes of priests is indicated by the
fact that the abstract derivatives shangutu, kalutu, ishipputu, and also
ramkutu (see below) are used as general terms for priesthood.

[1457] IIR. 32, no. 3.

[1458] 'A spear carrier of Marduk' occurs in contract tablets.

[1459] _Dupsharru_.

[1460] _Daianu_.

[1461] _E.g._, IIIR. 48, no. 6, ll. 26, 27.

[1462] _Shangu_ = priest; _makhu_ = great.

[1463] See above, p. 657.

[1464] Delitzsch, _Assyr. Handwoerterbuch_, p. 149b.

[1465] See pp. 356 _seq._

[1466] On these night watches, see Delitzsch's article in the
_Zeitschrift fuer Keilschriftforschung_, ll. 284-294.

[1467] See above, pp. 267, 343.

[1468] _Kharimtu_, _Kisritu_, _Ukhatu_, _Shamuktu_. See IIR, 32, no. 2,
ll. 31-36, and above, pp. 475, 484.

[1469] See his article on "Sacrifice" in the 9th edition of the
_Encyclopaedia Britannica_ and his _Religion of the Semites_, Lectures
VI-XI.

[1470] So in the regulations of the priestly code (Lev. iii. 14-17).

[1471] Inscription G, cols, iii-vi.

[1472] Hardly 'roosters,' as Jensen (_Kosmologie_, p. 517) proposes.

[1473] See, _e.g._, Gudea, Inscription F, cols. iii, iv.

[1474] See on this general subject Marillier's admirable articles, "La
Place du Totemisme dans l'evolution religieuse" (_Revue de l'Histoire
des Religions_, xxxvi).

[1475] See pp. 397, 398.

[1476] See Peters' _Nippur_, ll. 131, and Hilprecht, _Cuneiform Texts_,
ix. pl. xiii.

[1477] See Ward, "On Some Babylonian Cylinders supposed to represent
Human Sacrifices" (_Proc. Amer. Oriental Soc._ May, 1888, pp.
xxvlii-xxx).

[1478] See, _e.g._, Layard, _Monuments of Nineveh_, 1st series, pls. 7,
23; Place, _Nineve et l'Assyrie_, pl. 46, etc.

[1479] "The Winged Figures of the Assyrian and Other Ancient Monuments,"
_Proc. Soc. Bibl. Arch._ xii. 383-393; see also Bonavia, "The Sacred
Trees of the Assyrian Monuments," _Babylonian and Oriental Record_,
vols. iii, iv, whose conclusions, however, are not always acceptable.

[1480] See chapter xix, "Oracles and Omens."

[1481] See pp. 295-299.

[1482] See, _e.g._, Sennacherib, IR. 47, col. v. ll. 50-54;
Ashurbanabal, Rassam Cylinder, col. ii. l. 116, and col. iv. l. 9.

[1483] IIR. 67, 11, 12.

[1484] Cylinder, l. 4.

[1485] Winckler, _Die Keilschrifttexte Sargon's Prunkinschrift_, ll.
134, 135.

[1486] Hilprecht, _Old Babylonian Inscriptions_, i. 1, pl. 33, col. ii.
ll. 54-56.

[1487] VR. 65, col. ii. l. 13.

[1488] See, _e.g._, Tiglathpileser I., IR. 16, col. viii. ll. 56, 57;
Sennacherib, IR. 47, col. vi. l. 67-71.

[1489] VR. 64, col. ii. ll. 43-45.

[1490] Gen. xxviii. 18.

[1491] _Religion of the Semites_, p. 364.

[1492] See Robertson Smith, ib. p. 215.

[1493] VR. 61, col. iv. ll. 33, 34.

[1494] IR. 7, no. ix.

[1495] Heuzey in De Sarzec's _Decouvertes en Chaldee_, p. 209.

[1496] Several examples occur in De Sarzec's _Decouvertes en Chaldee_.
See also Ward, _Proc. Amer. Oriental Soc._, May, 1888, p. xxix, and
Peters' _Nippur_, ii. pl. 2.

[1497] Wellhausen, _Reste Arabischen Heidenthums_, p. 106.

[1498] Grotefend Cylinder, col. li. ll. 36-39.

[1499] They are also used in the sense of any permanent provision for a
temple through an endowment.

[1500] Lit., 'the steady' sacrifice. See the technical employment, Dan.
viii. 11.

[1501] VR. 61, col. iv. l. 48-col v. l. 6; see also Ashurbanabal, Rassam
Cylinder, col. iv. l. 90.

[1502] Belit here used for Ashur's consort; see p. 226.

[1503] See p. 652.

[1504] Inscription B, cols. vii-viii.

[1505] Chapter iii. 1-7.

[1506] This touch appears to have been added by the Hebrew writer.
Nebuchadnezzar is but a disguise for Antiochus Epiphanes.

[1507] VR. 33, col. ii. l. 22-col. iii. l. 12.

[1508] VR. 61, col. vi. ll. 1-13.

[1509] Hilprecht, _Old Babylonian Inscriptions_, i. 1, pl. 23, no. 62.

[1510] In the museum at Copenhagen. Described by Knudtzon in the _Zeits.
f. Assyr._, xil. 255.

[1511] Tiele, _Babylonisch-Assyrische Geschichte_, p. 287.

[1512] In the Berlin Museum (Knudtzon, _ib._). It is also on a knob
which contains remains of an iron stick, to which, evidently, the knob
was fastened.

[1513] Written A-e.

[1514] Hilprecht, _Old Babylonian Inscriptions_, i. 1, p. 58.

[1515] In reality, glass colored with cobalt. On this production of
false lapis lazuli, see Peters' _Nippur_, ii. 134.

[1516] For examples, see Hilprecht, _ib._, pl. 18, no. 34; pl. 23, nos.
56, 57; pl. 25, nos. 66, 69; pl. 26, no. 70.

[1517] Peters' _Nippur_, ii. 77, 133.

[1518] So, _e.g._, Peters' _Nippur_, ii. 237, 238, 378, 379.

[1519] De Sarzec, _Decouvertes en Chaldee_, pls. 1 bis and 28.

[1520] The opinion has been advanced that the personage who holds the
cone-shaped object is the fire-god turning the fire drill, but this is
highly improbable.

[1521] _Decouvertes en Chaldee_, p. 239.

[1522] Peters' _Nippur_ ii. 376, and Hilprecht, _Cuneiform Texts_, ix.
pl. 12.

[1523] Peters _ib._ pp. 374, 375.

[1524] See p. 536.

[1525] _E.g._, Gen. xxxi. 19.

[1526] See the specimens and descriptions in _Decouvertes en Chaldee_,
pl. 44 and p. 234.

[1527] Tiglathpileser I. (IR. 12, col. iv. l. 23) presents twenty-five
gods of the land of Sugi.

[1528] Ashurnasirbal, IR. 25, col. iii. ll. 91, 92.

[1529] Winckler, _Die Keilschrifttexte Sargon's Prunkinschrift_, ll.
141-143.

[1530] IR. 27, 8-10.

[1531] VR. 60, col. ii. ll. 11-16.

[1532] See pp. 373-383.

[1533] See above, p. 658.

[1534] This is a standing phrase in the inscriptions of Nebuchadnezzar,
as well as of other kings. See Delitzsch, _Assyr. Handwoerterbuch_, p.
270b.

[1535] Deut. xii. 18; xvi. 14, etc.

[1536] See pp. 462, 463.

[1537] See _ib._

[1538] Or zag-mu. Gudea, Inscription G, col. iii. In the later
inscriptions we find zag-mu-ku. The _k_ or _ku_ appears to be an
afformative. See Amlaud, _Zeits. f. Assyr._ iii. 41. The reading
za-am-mu-ku is found, IR. 67, col. i. l. 34.

[1539] _resh shatti_. See p. 681.

[1540] Inscription G, _ib._, and Inscription D, col. ii. ll. 1-9. See
also p. 59.

[1541] See above, _ib._

[1542] See, _e.g._, Pognon Wadi Brissa, col. ix. ll. 12-18.

[1543] This follows from a passage in Nebuchadnezzar's Inscription, IR.
54, col. ii. l. 57.

[1544] See p. 654.

[1545] Signifying 'may the enemy not wax strong.'

[1546] See Nebuchadnezzar's Inscription, IR. 56, col v. ll. 38-54.

[1547] So, _e.g._ during the closing years of Nabonnedos' reign.
Winckler, _Untersuchungen zur Altorient. Gesch._ i. 154; obv. 6 (7th
year); 11 (9th year); 20 (10th year); 24 (11th year).

[1548] On the meaning and importance of the rite, see Winckler, _Zeits.
f. Assyr._ ii. 302-304, and Lehmann's _Shamash-shumukin_, pp. 44-53.

[1549] Eponym List, IIR. 52, no. 1 obv. 45.

[1550] Winckler, _Die Keilschrifttexte Sargon's_, pp. 52, 124; of
Ashurbanabal, the chronicler tells us that he proceeded to Babylonia in
the month of Iyyar, but, this not being the proper month, he did not
"seize the hands of Bel." See also Winckler, _ib._ p. xxxvi, note.

[1551] See pp. 423 and 629 _seq._

[1552] _I.e._, 'The beginning of the year.' See on this subject Karppe's
article, _Revue Semitique_, ii. 146-151.

[1553] See p. 464.

[1554] See _ib._, note 3.

[1555] The opinion of many scholars that the Rosh hash-shana dates from
the Babylonian exile because not referred to in the Book of Deuteronomy
is open to serious objections. The festival has traces of antiquity
(like the Day of Atonement), and appears to have been _revived_ during
the captivity, under Babylonian influence.

[1556] See especially pp. 484 and 575.

[1557] Ezekiel, viii. 14. There is probably a reference also to the
Tammuz festival in Zech, xii. 10, 11. The interpretation offered by
Robertson Smith (_Religion of the Semites_, p. 392, note) for the
mourning rites appears strained.

[1558] _Over de Israelietische Vastendagen_ (Amsterdam, 1897, pp. 4-6;
12-17).

[1559] _Zeits. f. Assyr._ ix. 290 _seq._

[1560] See Farnell, _The Cults of the Greek States_, ii. 648 _seq._

[1561] Rassam Cylinder, col. i. ll. 11, 12.

[1562] See pp. 105 and 173 _seq._

[1563] The readings Suni-gar and Shum-gar (so Jensen, _Keils Bibl._ ii.
155) are also possible.

[1564] IVR. 32, 49b, where the 20th day of the intercalated Elul is so
designated. An official--'the great Si-gar'--is mentioned in a
list,--IIR. 31, no. 5, 33a.

[1565] See the discussion (and passages) in Lehmann's
_Shamash-shumukin_, pp. 43 _seq._ One is tempted to conclude that
Marduk's statue was removed to Nineveh, not in a spirit of vandalism,
but in order to enable Assyrian kings to 'seize the hands of Bel'
without proceeding to E-Sagila. The Babylonians, no doubt, were offended
by such an act, and in order to conciliate them, Ashurbanabal, who
pursues a mild policy towards the south, orders the statue to be
restored at the time that he appoints his brother Shamash-shumukin as
governor of the southern provinces.

[1566] _Ib._ p. 53, note.

[1567] Ashurnasirbal's Inscription, IR. 23, col. ii. l. 134.

[1568] See above, p. 462.

[1569] Rassam Cylinder, col. viii. ll. 96-100.

[1570] George Smith, _The History of Ashurbanipal_, p. 126 (Cylinder B,
col. v. l. 77). See also Rassam Cylinder, col. iii. l. 32.

[1571] See above, pp. 195, 196.

[1572] See Ashurbanabal Cylinder B, col. v. l. 16 (_Keils Bibl._ ii.
248; also Meissner, _Beitraege zum Altbabylonischen Privatrecht_, no. 14,
p. 23).

[1573] VR. 61. col. v. l. 51-vi. l. 8.

[1574] See above, pp. 74 and 176.

[1575] Winckler, _Zeits. f. Assyr._ ii. 155 (col. ii. l. 41).

[1576] One is reminded of the sanctity attaching in the Jewish ritual to
the "counting" of the seven weeks intervening between Passover (the old
Nisan festival) and Pentecost (an old summer festival). See Deut. xvi.
9. The 33d day of this period has a special significance in the Jewish
Church.

[1577] The non-Jewish origin of the Purim festival is generally accepted
by critical scholars. Lagarde (_Purim--Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der
Religions_) endeavors to trace it back to a Persian fire festival;
Zimmern (_Zeits. f. Alt. Wiss._, 1891, pp. 160 _seq._) connects it with
the Babylonian Zagmuku. Sayce's supposition (_Proc. Soc. Bibl. Arch._
xix. 280, 281) is not to be taken seriously. The origin of the Jewish
feast and fast of Purim is still obscure. The fact that there is both a
fast (14th Adar) and a festival (15th Adar) is a safe indication of
antiquity. Zimmern's view of a possible relationship between Purim and
Zagmuku is untenable, but that there is a connection between Purim and
_some_ Babylonian festival follows from the fact that the two chief
personages in the Book of Esther--namely, Mordecai and Esther--bear
names identical with the two Babylonian deities, Marduk and Ishtar. This
cannot be an accident. On the other hand, Haman and Vashti, according to
Jensen (_Wiener Zeits. f.d. Kunde des Morgenlandes_, vi. 70), are
Elamitic names of deities corresponding to the Babylonian Marduk and
Ishtar. The case for Vashti is not clearly made out by Jensen, but, for
all that, it is certain that the Babylonian elements in the institution
have been combined with some bits of Persian mythology. The historical
setting is the work of the Jewish compiler of the tale, that has of
course some historical basis. See now Toy, _Esther as a Babylonian
Goddess_ (_The New World_, vi. 130-145).

[1578] VR. 33, col. v. l. 40.

[1579] Winckler, _Die Keilschrifttexte Sargon's_, p. 172 and p. xxvi,
note.

[1580] _E.g._, Sargon's _Annals_, l. 179; Cylinder, l. 20, VR. 33, col.
v. l. 40 (_nigatu_).

[1581] Not necessarily 'music festival,' as Delitzsch proposes (_Assyr.
Handw._, p. 447a).

[1582] For examples, see the Assyrian contract tablets translated by
Peiser, _Keils Bibl._ iv. 98 and _passim._

[1583] See the passage Shalmanaser obelisk, ll. 174, 175, and Peiser's
comment, _Keils Bibl._ iv. 106, note.

[1584] Burton, _A Pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina_, iii. chapter vii.

[1585] See above, p. 686.

[1586] Chapter xviii.

[1587] Rassam Cylinder, col. iv. ll. 86-89.

[1588] VR. 61, col. ii. ll. 22-27.

[1589] Ea and Marduk, it will be recalled, are the chief gods invoked in
magic rites involving purification. See pp. 275, 276.

[1590] See p. 646.

[1591] See numerous examples in Menant's _Collection de Clercq_ (Paris,
1888).

[1592] See above, p. 662.

[1593] Stade, _Geschichte des Volkes Israel_, i. 458 seq.

CHAPTER XXVII.

CONCLUSION.

General Estimate and Influence.

In forming a general estimate of a religion, one's verdict will largely
depend upon the point of view from which the religion in question is
regarded. It is manifestly unjust and illogical to apply modern
standards to an ancient religion, not that such a religion would
necessarily suffer by the comparison involved, but because of the
totally different conditions under which religion developed in antiquity
from those prevailing in modern times. The close association, nay, the
inseparable bond, between religion and the state is only one of several
determining factors that might be adduced, while the small scope
permitted to individualism in matters of religious belief and practice
in a country like Babylonia or Assyria was fraught with such peculiar
results that all comparisons, even with other religions of antiquity,
could only obscure and not illumine our judgment.

There are manifestly three phases of the religion of Babylonia and
Assyria that need to be considered in reaching some general conclusions
as to the character and rank to be accorded to it,--the doctrines, the
rites, and the ethics. So far as the pantheon is concerned, the
limitations in the development of doctrines connected with it were
reached when the union of the several Euphratean states was permanently
effected under Hammurabi. Marduk, a solar deity, takes his place as the
head of the pantheon by virtue of the preeminent place occupied by his
patron city,--Babylon. The other great gods, each representing some
religious center that at one time or the other rose to importance,
grouped themselves around Marduk, as the princes and nobles gather
around a supreme monarch. A certain measure of independence was reserved
for the great mother goddess Ishtar, who, worshipped under various names
as the symbol of fertility, plenty, and strength, is not so decidedly
affected by the change as deities like En-lil, Shamash, Sin, and Ea, who
could at any time become rivals of Marduk. As the position of Marduk,
however, became more and more assured without danger of being shaken,
the feeling of rivalry in his relations to the other gods began to
disappear. Marduk's supremacy no longer being questioned, there was no
necessity to curtail the homage paid to Shamash at Sippar or to En-lil
at Nippur; hence the religious importance of the old centers is not
diminished by the surpassing glory of Babylon. There was room for all.
Marduk's toleration is the best evidence of his unquestioned headship.

The centralization of political power and of religious supremacy is
concomitant with the focussing of intellectual life in Babylon. The
priests of Marduk set the fashion in theological thought. So far as
possible, the ancient traditions and myths were reshaped so as to
contribute to the glory of Marduk. The chief part in the work of
creation is assigned to him. The storm-god En-lil is set aside to make
room for the solar deity Marduk. But, despite such efforts, the old
tales, once committed to writing on the practically imperishable clay,
survived, if not in the minds of the people, at least in the archives of
the ancient temples.