The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria

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

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 55 | 56 | 57 | 58 | 59 | 60 | 61

The antiquity of literature in Babylonia was the factor that prevented
the cult from acquiring a uniform character in the various parts of the
empire. The priests of Nippur, of Sippar, of Eridu, of Erech, Cuthah,
Ur, and other places began long before the period of Hammurabi to
compile, on the basis of past experience and as a guide for future
needs, omen lists, incantation formulas, and sacrificial rituals. These
collections created orthodox standards, and these standards, once
acknowledged, the natural conservatism attaching to religious customs
was sufficient to maintain their continuance. The uniformity of doctrine
was thus offset by variations in the cult; and the policy adopted by
both Babylonian and Assyrian rulers, in permitting each center to remain
undisturbed, and in freely recognizing the religious independence of
each, prevented the Babylonian and Assyrian religion from falling into
the state of stagnation which would otherwise have been its fate.

In the views taken of the relationship between the gods and men, no
notable advances were made when once the ethical spirit was infused into
the religious beliefs. The problem of good and evil was solved in a
simple fashion. By the side of the great gods there existed a large,
almost infinite number of spirits and demons, who were generally held
responsible for the evils affecting mankind.[1594] These demons and
spirits were in many cases gods 'fallen from grace,'--minor local
deities who, unable to maintain themselves in the face of the growing
popularity of the great gods, sank to an inferior position as
messengers, forced to do the will of their masters and who could be
controlled by the latter. But the intercession of the priests was
essential to obtaining divine help against the mischievous workings of
the spirits. Even the kings, though originally standing very close to
the gods, could not dispense with the services of the priests, and by
virtue of their conspicuous position had to exercise greater precautions
than the masses not to offend the gods, by errors of commission or
omission in the cult. The priests held the secret that could secure
freedom from ills and promote the comparative well-being of rulers and
subjects. They alone knew what incantations to use for each case that
was brought before them, in what way the sacrifices were to be brought,
when the deity should be approached, and why divine anger had manifested
itself. The intellectual leadership thus acquired by the priests, in
addition to their control of religious affairs, was an additional factor
in maintaining orthodox standards of belief when once they had become
fixed. In the doctrines of life after death, this influence of the
priesthood is distinctly seen. The popular notions were systematized,
but the priests, true to their rule as conservators, did not pass beyond
primitive conceptions. Some weak attempts at a philosophical view of the
problem of death are attempted in the Gilgamesh epic as finally put
together under the influence of the Babylonian schools of thought,[1595]
but the leaders shared with the people the sense of hopelessness when
picturing the life in the great hollow Aralu. It is in the hymns and
prayers, rather than in the cosmology and eschatology, that the
spiritual aspirations of the priests (and to a limited degree of the
masses) manifest themselves. In these productions, whether existing
independently or incorporated into incantation rituals, we see the
religion of Babylonia at its best. A strong emphasis is placed upon the
doctrine that misfortunes and ills come as a punishment for sins of
commission or omission. It is true that no distinction is drawn between
ceremonial errors and real misdeeds, but the sense of guilt is aroused
by the priests in the minds of those who come to the temples, seeking
relief from the attacks of the evil spirits, or the bewitchment of
sorcerers.

It is in this doctrine of guilt, as revealed through the magical texts,
that we must seek both for the starting-point of the development of an
ethical system (so far as such a system existed among the Babylonians),
and also for the limitations of this system. The aim of the priests to
observe the right ceremonies, to pronounce the right words in order to
accomplish their aim, reacted on rulers and subjects, and led them to
make the pleasure of the gods the goal of life. With fear of the gods,
upon which stress is always laid,[1596] there is thus associated an
equally strong love[1597] of the divine powers. Obedience to the gods is
primarily inculcated as a means of securing their protection and
blessing; but the fear of the gods, we are told, is the cause of
joy;[1598] and the Babylonians passed far beyond the stage of making the
satisfaction of one's own desires the standard of right and wrong. A
penitential psalm declares[1599] that what is pleasing to oneself may be
sinful in the eyes of a god.

The kings pride themselves upon being the promoters of justice. Even the
Assyrian rulers, who impress one while conducting their wars as bereft
of all softer emotions, declare that their highest aim is to spread
plenty and happiness.[1600] Sennacherib calls himself a king who 'loves
righteousness,'[1601] and he, as well as his predecessors and
successors, busies himself with actually restoring the rights of those
of his subjects who have been wrongfully deprived of their possessions.

The standard of private morality was high both in Babylonia and Assyria.
The legal and commercial tablets reveal that proper consideration was
given to the treatment of woman--a most satisfactory index of ethical
conditions.[1602] She could hold property and dispose of it. Before the
courts, her status did not differ materially from that of the male
population. The husband could not divorce his wife without sufficient
cause, and children owed obedience to the mother as well as to the
father.[1603] Polygamy, as a matter of course, prevailed, but it is an
error to suppose that polygamy is inconsistent with high ideals of
family life, even though it does not lead to the highest ideals.

Hatred, lying, cheating, using false measures, removing boundaries,
adultery, insincerity are denounced in the incantation texts,[1604] and
in accord with this standard, we see in the records of lawsuits and
agreements between parties[1605] clear indications of the stringent laws
that prevailed in order to protect citizens against infringement of
their rights. It comes as a surprise, but also as a welcome testimony to
the efficacy of justice in Assyria, to find Ashurbanabal emphasizing the
fact that he established ordinances so that the strong should do no harm
to the weak.[1606]

The institution of slavery flourished in Babylonia and Assyria
throughout all periods of their history,[1607] but there were various
grades of slaves. Some classes differed but little from that of
servants, indentured for a longer or shorter period for certain
services. The temple slaves appear to have largely belonged to this
class. Mild treatment of slaves is enjoined and was the rule. The slaves
are often the confidential agents of their masters who attend to the
business affairs of the latter. We find slaves holding property in their
own right. Contracts entered into by them are legal and binding.
Injuries inflicted upon them by their masters are punished, and they are
protected against losses and mishaps encountered while in service. While
we have no evidence to show that the laws of Assyria were on a lower
ethical plane than those of Babylonia, still, as the pupils and
imitators of the Babylonians in almost everything pertaining to culture
and religion, the general tone of life in Assyria was hardly as high as
in the south. The warlike spirit of the rulers is but a symptom of the
fiercer character of the people.

The tendency towards monotheism in the religion of Babylonia and Assyria
has been referred to. We must remember that it was only a tendency. No
decided steps in this direction were ever taken. Both in the south and
in the north, this tendency is but the expression of the preeminent rank
accorded to Marduk and Ashur, respectively. The independent existence of
two heads in the combined pantheon was sufficient to prevent the
infusion of an ethical spirit into this monotheistic tendency; and
unless a monotheistic conception of the universe is interpreted in an
ethical sense, monotheism (or monolatry) has no great superiority,
either religiously or philosophically, over polytheism.

From the standpoint of religious doctrine, accordingly, the religion of
Babylonia and Assyria does not occupy a unique position. In this
respect, the Egyptian religion reaches a higher level. For all that, the
influence exerted by the religion that developed in the Euphrates Valley
was profound and lasting. We have had occasion in various chapters of
this work to point out the close analogies existing between the
thoughts, tradition, and practices of the Hebrews and the
Babylonians.[1608] A proper study of the Hebrew religion is closely
bound up with an investigation of the religious antiquities of
Babylonia; and as our knowledge of these antiquities increases, it will
be found that not only are Hebrews and Babylonians equipped with many
common possessions when starting out upon their intellectual careers,
but that, at different times and in diverse ways, the stimulus to
religious advance came to the Hebrews from the ancient centers of
thought and worship in the Euphrates Valley. This influence was
particularly strong during the period of Jewish history known as
Babylonian exile. The finishing touches to the structure of
Judaism--given on Babylonian soil[1609]--reveal the Babylonian
trademark. Ezekiel, in many respects the most characteristic Jewish
figure of the exile, is steeped in Babylonian theology and mysticism;
and the profound influence of Ezekiel is recognized by modern
scholarship in the religious spirit that characterizes the Jews upon the
reorganization of their commonwealth.

It would be a mistake, however, to suppose that what Babylonia gave to
others was always the best she had to offer. Degrading tendencies, too,
found an entrance into post-exilic Judaism through Babylonian influence.
Close contact of Jews with Babylonians served to make the former more
accessible to the popular beliefs in incantations and in the power of
demons than they would otherwise have been. Not that the Jews (as little
as any other people) were ever entirely free from superstitious
practices; but, living in an atmosphere charged, so to speak, with magic
and astrology, it was inevitable that even the best among them should be
infected by customs that they daily witnessed. In the Babylonian Talmud,
the references to evil spirits are numerous. Specific incantations are
introduced, and an elaborate system of angelology and demonology forms a
feature of Talmudical Judaism in which, by the side of Persian
influences,[1610] we may detect equally strong traces of Babylonian
ideas. In the upper strata of the ruins of Nippur, hundreds of clay
bowls were found, inscribed with Jewish inscriptions, in the Aramaic
dialect that was spoken by the Babylonian Jews.[1611] Similar bowls were
found elsewhere in the mounds of the Euphrates Valley.[1612] These bowls
indicate the presence of Jews in various parts of the country.[1613]
Placed in the graves as a protection for the dead against evil spirits,
the inscriptions contain formulas of denunciation against the demons
that constitute a striking parallel to the incantation texts of ancient
Babylonia. Some of the demons are identical with those occurring in
these texts, and by the side of the inscriptions, there are
illustrations[1614] and magical designs to which parallels exist on the
Babylonian tablets.

This custom of endeavoring to secure protection for the dead through the
power of the curses and propitiatory phrases inscribed on bowls
continued in vogue as late as the ninth century at the least, and
perhaps considerably later. There are indications also that Babylonian
ideas found an entrance into the Jewish Kabbala,--the strange mystic
system of the middle ages, the sources of which are to be sought in the
apocalyptic chapters of Ezekiel and Daniel.

Christianity as well as Judaism felt the fascination of the mystic lore
of Babylonia. Gunkel[1615] has demonstrated the Babylonian origin of the
myth embodied in the twelfth chapter of Revelations. This myth is but
another form of the Marduk-Tiamat contest, which, it will be recalled,
is the chief episode in the Babylonian creation 'epic.'[1616] More
significant is the influence exerted by the religious ideas of Babylonia
upon the various Gnostic sects that arose within the Christian Church.
That the source of Gnosticism was to be sought in Mesopotamia was always
recognized by scholars, but until the discovery of Babylonian
literature, it was customary to seek for Jewish influences in the
formation of the various Gnostic sects. Kessler[1617] was the first to
demonstrate clearly the dependence of the leading ideas of Gnosticism
upon the Babylonian cosmology and the conceptions developed with
reference to the gods. More recently, Anz[1618] has undertaken a renewed
investigation of the subject, and, approaching the theme from various
points of view, reaches conclusions confirmatory of Kessler's thesis.
All of the Gnostic sects have certain fundamental doctrines in common,
such as the dwelling of God in the abyss,[1619] the migration of the
soul after death through seven zones, the emanation of aeons from a
supreme aeon.[1620] All these doctrines exhibit such close affinities
with Babylonian ideas as to warrant the assertion that the religion of
Babylonia survives in Gnosticism; and since, as we know, Babylonian
culture and customs maintained an undisturbed existence almost to the
threshold of our era, there is no need to go back to the older periods
of the Babylonian religion to find the connecting link, uniting
Gnosticism with the Babylonian religion. The spread and influence of the
Gnostic sects was notoriously wide. It is sufficient to recall the chief
centers of Gnostic schools of thought in Antioch, Edessa, and Alexandria
and the various branches of the powerful sect of the Ophites. The
influence of these schools extended into Greece and Rome. While the
Gnostic sects disappear in the sixth century, the influence of
Gnosticism can be followed down to the twelfth century,--a significant
testimony to the enduring qualities of Babylonian doctrines.

In the ancient world, prior to the rise of Christianity, Egypt, Persia,
and Greece felt the influence of the Babylonian religion. Budge[1621] is
of the opinion that many of the magic practices carried on in the
Egyptian temples are to be traced back to the incantation rituals
perfected by the Babylonian priests. In view of the early contact
between Egypt and Babylonia, as revealed by the El-Amarna tablets, there
were certainly abundant opportunities for the infusion of Babylonian
views and customs into Egyptian cults. In Persia, the Mithra cult
reveals the unmistakable influence of Babylonian conceptions;[1622] and
if it be recalled what a degree of importance the mysteries connected
with this cult acquired among the Romans, another link will be added
connecting the ramifications of ancient culture with the civilization of
the Euphrates Valley. The strong admixture of Semitic elements both in
early Greek mythology and in Grecian cults is now so generally admitted
by scholars as to require no further comment.[1623] These Semitic
elements are to a large extent more specifically Babylonian. The spread
of the Gilgamesh epic and of the Ishtar cult into Asia Minor and Greece
may be instanced as illustrations of Babylonian influence; and granting
that the Phoenicians acted largely as the mediators in carrying these
ideas to the Greek settlements, still there must have been influences at
work long before this direct contact with Semitic culture that prepared
the way for the ready acceptance which Semitic conceptions and Semitic
practices found. The time has not yet come for pronouncing an opinion as
to the influence exerted by Babylonia upon lands in the distant East.
The theory of DeLacouperie[1624] and Ball, which proposes to trace the
Chinese script to the hieroglyphic system of Babylonia, is still to be
tested. Early commercial contact between the Euphrates Valley and India
is maintained as a probable theory by several scholars,[1625] and the
possibility, therefore, of the spread of the religious ideas of
Babylonia to the distant East is not to be rejected. Patient research
and the additional discoveries (which are constantly being made) will
alone place us in a position some day to give a definite answer to the
question. Whatever that answer may be, the verdict as to the high
quality and profound influence of the religion that arose in the valley
of the Euphrates and that flourished for several millenniums will not be
altered.

To show the general indebtedness of Grecian, Roman, mediaeval, and even
modern civilization to Babylonian culture lies beyond the range of this
work, but the profound impression made upon the ancient world by the
remarkable manifestations of religious thought in Babylonia and by the
religious activity that prevailed in that region is but an index of the
influence that must have been exerted in other directions by the varied
intellectual activity that converted a district, exposed to the by no
means tender mercies of the elements, into one of the most notable
illustrations of the power and achievements of man.

FOOTNOTES:

[1594] See above, pp. 183, 266.

[1595] See pp. 513 _seq._

[1596] Babylonian and Assyrian kings alike speak constantly of their
fear of the gods. See the passages in Delitzsch's _Assyrisches
Handwoerterbuch_, pp. 526, 527, to which many more could be added.

[1597] See, _e.g._, Nebuchadnezzar, IR. 53, col. i, l. 31.

[1598] IVR. 60, B obv. 25.

[1599] IVR. 60, C obv. 14.

[1600] So Sargon cylinder, ll. 34-42.

[1601] IR. 37, col. i. l. 4.

[1602] See the writer's remarks in _Oriental Studies of the Oriental
Club of Philadelphia_, pp. 119-121.

[1603] See the so-called family laws (as early as the days of Hammurabi)
in Meissner's _Beitraege zum Altbabylonischen Privatrecht_, p. 15, where
the punishment in the case of the son who casts aside his mother is
specifically referred to.

[1604] See, _e.g._ p. 291.

[1605] See the admirable discussions on Babylonian jurisprudence in
Kohler and Pelser's _Aus dem Babylonischen Rechtsleben_ (parts i.-iii.,
Leipzig, 1890-97).

[1606] S. A. Strong in _Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society_, 1891, p.
460.

[1607] See on this subject Meissner, _De Servitute Babylonico-Assyriaca_
pp. 3, 4, 40-49.

[1608] See especially chapters xxi., xxv., and xxvi.

[1609] See p. 611.

[1610] See Kohut, _Die Judische Angelologie und Daemanologie in ihrer
Abhaengigkeit vom Parsismus_ (Leipzig, 1866).

[1611] Peters' _Nippur_, pp. 182, 395.

[1612] See, _e.g._, Layard, _Nineveh and Babylon_ (New York edition,
1853), p. 509.

[1613] On the extent of the settlements of Jews in Nippur, see
Hilprecht, _Cuneiform Texts_, ix. 27, 28.

[1614] So, _e.g._, on some of the bowls in the University of
Pennsylvania collection, crude pictures of Bel-Marduk and Ishtar are
portrayed.

[1615] _Schoepfung und Chaos_, pp. 381-397.

[1616] See pp. 432 _seq._

[1617] "Ueber Gnosis und die Altbabylonlsche Religion," _Verhandlungen
des fuenften Orientalisten Congress_, 1881, ii. 288-305.

[1618] _Zur Frage nach dem Ursprung des Gnostizismus_ (Leipzig, 1897).

[1619] _I.e._, Ea dwelling in the Apsu. See p. 430.

[1620] Anu, the source of all gods. See p. 417.

[1621] _The Life and Exploits of Alexander the Great_, pp. xii. _seq_.

[1622] See Anz, as above, pp. 78-85.

[1623] R. Brown, _Semitic Influence in Hellenic Mythology_ (London,
1898).

[1624] _Western Origin of the Early Chinese Civilization_ (London,
1894).

[1625] A paper on this subject was announced by Jas. Kennedy at the
Eleventh International Congress of Orientalists.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

NOTE.

The bibliography is arranged in nine sections, the order adopted
corresponding to the broad subdivisions of the book. The beginning is
therefore made:

(1) With references to the most important or most useful publications,
dealing with the excavations conducted in Babylonia and Assyria, the
method of decipherment of the cuneiform inscriptions, the general
history of Babylonia and Assyria, and the general aspects of the
Babylonian-Assyrian culture. This section corresponds to the first two
chapters of the book.

(2) The second section is devoted to books, monographs, articles, and
chapters in books, dealing with the general subject of the
Babylonian-Assyrian religion.

In neither of these two sections have I aimed at being exhaustive,
though the second will be found, I think, to include almost everything
of any value.

The detailed bibliography begins with the following section.
Corresponding again to the treatment of the subject in the book, I take
up in succession:

(3) The Pantheon.

(4) Religious Texts.

(5) Cosmology.

(6) Gilgamesh Epic (including the Deluge episode).

(7) Beliefs and Customs (Views of Life after Death, Funeral Rites,
Legends, Ethics, etc.).

(8) Temples and Cult.

(9) Bearings of the Babylonian-Assyrian Religion on the Old Testament,
and General Influence Exerted by the Religion.

Of these seven sections, all but the last aim at being exhaustive. It
was not always easy to decide into what division a particular reference
belonged, but I have been generally guided by the needs of students for
whom this portion of the bibliography is particularly intended.

The fifth and sixth sections should be taken together; and similarly the
seventh and eighth, while the fourth section should of course be
consulted in connection with the third, fifth, sixth, seventh, and
eighth.

Under each section the authors named are arranged in alphabetical order.
Occasionally, I have added some comments to the reference given, as a
guide or a warning to students. In a subject like Assyriology, where new
discoveries are constantly being made and progress in the interpretation
of texts is steadily going on, it is inevitable that views and
translations should be subject to modification--sometimes slight, but
frequently significant. I have endeavored to avoid repetition of
references. In a few cases this was unavoidable. In the second section
portions of books are referred to, which by virtue of their character as
very general works had to be assigned a place also in the first section.
Two or three of the references in the fourth section had to be repeated
elsewhere; and I should also add that there are a few references which I
have been unable to verify.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

The following abbreviations are employed:

AB = Assyriologische Bibliothek, ed. by Friedrich Delitzsch and Paul
Haupt.
AD = Andover Review.
AI = Academie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres.
AJP = American Journal of Philology.
AJT = American Journal of Theology.
AJSL = American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures.
AL = Delitzsch's Assyrische Lesestuecke (3d ed.)
APC = Annales de Philosophie Chretienne.
BA = Beitraege zur Assyriologie.
BAZ = Beilage zur Allgemeinen Zeitung (Munich).
BOR = Babylonian and Oriental Record.
BW = Biblical World.
CR = Comptes Rendus de l'Academie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres.
DR = Deutsche Rundschau.
DRe = Deutsche Revue.
ET = Expository Times.
FLJ = Folk Lore Journal.
H = Hebraica.
IAQR = Imperial and Asiatic Quarterly Review.
ICO = International Congress of Orientalists.
JA = Journal Asiatique.
JAOS = Journal of the American Oriental Society.
JHUC = Johns Hopkins University Circulars.
JRAS = Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society.
JTVI = Journal of the Transactions of the Victoria Institute.
KAA = Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen (Amsterdam).
KAW = Koenigliche Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin.
M = Museon.
MVG = Miltheilungen der Vorderasiatischen Gesellschaft.
OTS = Old Testament Student.
PAOS = Proceedings of the American Oriental Society.
PR = Presbyterian Review.
PSBA = Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology.
R = Rawlinson's 'Selection from the miscellaneous Inscriptions of
Western Asia.' (London 1861-1891.) 5 vols.
RA = Revue d'Assyriologie et d'Archeologie Orientale.
RAr = Revue Archeologique.
RB = Revue Biblique.
RC = Revue Critique.
RHR = Revue de l'Histoire des Religions.
RIA = Royal Irish Academy.
RP = Records of the Past.
RR = Revue des Religions.
RS = Revue Semitique.
RT = Recueil de Travaux relatifs a la Philologie et a l'Archeologie
Egyptiennes et Assyriennes.
SST = Sunday School Times.
TSBA = Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archaeology.
TZ = Theologische Zeitblaetter.
WZKM = Wiener Zeitschrift fuer die Kunde des Morgenlandes.
ZA = Zeitschrift fuer Assyriologie.
ZATW = Zeitschrift fuer die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft.
ZDMG = Zeitschrift der Deutsch-Morgenlaendischen Gesellschaft.
ZK = Zeitschrift fuer Keilschriftforschung.