Myths & Legends of Babylonia & Assyria by Lewis Spence PDF

UN
I F O RM
WIT H
Th e illus t r at ions , w h ic h
s eri es , a r e r ep rod uc ed
wor ks
nes t
t he
M yt h s
Th e
feat ur e of t h is
most p a rt from
ar e a
for t h e
f past
of
lw ing
a nd
art is ts.
R om e
5 7 Fu p g
a nd
G r eec e
G un ma n
VO L UM E
HIS
A
ll a e Illu
Wit h
A cla s ic vol m
At once fascinatin g t y
b oo k and a v l ab l wor k of referen
Myt h f t h N o m n
Ed das and S g a
Fr m t h
By H A
With 3 3 F ll p ag Ill stration
G
f th
Mid dl A g e
Myt h s nd L g nd
B y H A GU
With 3 6 F ll p ag e Ill s
By H
t r at ions
.
e.
a u
s o
UE R B E R
ce .
s o
s.
s.
E R B ER .
t r a t ions
rse
s or
H er o -M t h s a nd Le g e nd s of t h e B r it i s h
R ce
By M
E B B UI T M A
Wi h 5 1
F u p ge
Or gi
us
i
y
a
i nal
.
Myt h s
ll a Ill trat ons

.
Le g e nd s of t h e C e l t ic Rac e
With 46 Original Full
By T W R u
o
a nd
x sr
pag e Ill s t rat ion

.
My th s
s.
L e g e nd s of J a p an
H A LA ND DAVI S
With
a nd
By P
C
u
olo r
Th e
x.
es
in
M yt h s
By
3 2 Pl a
LE W I
Me x ic o
of
P NC
a nd
P e ru
E,
With
S6 , Full
a e Plat e nd oth r Ill s tr ti ns

f th e
N t h Am e i an
Th e M yt h
I nd i n
B y LE W S SP N C E
With
3 Pl t s in Colo r and ot h r Ill tr tions
p g
s a
or
s.
r c
a e
My th s
us
L e g e nd s of Anci en t E gyp t
SP N C
F RA I
Wit h 6 Plat es
B y LE W
a nd
IS
E,
oth er Ill trations

My th f t h H ind u nd B u d dh i t s
B y SIS T R N
( MA R A R T E N m )
nd D
ANA N A C M W M With
3 Plat e in Colo r b y Indi an A t is t s
nd L e g nd s of B b y l ni
Myt h
and
A y i
C
B y L W IS SP
W i th 8 Pl t in Colou nd 3 Plat in
Half tone
olo r
in C
an d
s o
By
in
OO
al e s and
Le ge nd s
E,
Y.
EN
W o rsu
Colour
A RAS
a es
He r o -
r a
ss
us
I V E D I TA
s a
32
t h e S e r b ians
s
P na o vxr cn
i h 32
of
.
Wt
Plate
acr i c ing to B
E
l
S
Fr
v ely n
Pa u
el
MYT H S
85 L EG EN D S
O F B A B Y L O N I A 89
A SS Y R I A
BY
L E W I S SP E N C E
OF
MYT H S O F M E I C O A ND P E RU T H E
AU H
N
AN C I E NT ME I C O
P O P O L VU
A
f
M YT H S O F TH E N
AM
A
M YTH S A ND
O F AN N E G Y P T
T
OR
TI O
LIZ
TH E
0F
E RI CA N I N D I
O RTH
TH E
TH E
LEGE ND S
CI E
C I VI
NS
ETC .
W I T H E IG H T P L A T E S I N C OL O U R B Y
EV ELY N PA U L AN D T H I RT Y TW O
O T H E R I LL U ST RA T I ON S
-
L O NDO N
G EO R G E
2
G H A RR A P
.
{9 CO MP A NY L TD
t5 3 PO RT SMOU TH STREET KI NG SWAY
wc
.
HE
p urp os e of this b ook is
to
p rovid e n ot
only a popular ac count Of the religion an d

mythology of ancient B abylonia an d A ssyria
but to extract and present t o the reader the treasures
Of romance latent in the subj ect the p eculiar richness
of which has b een recognized since the early days
O f arch aeological e ffort in Chaldea
U nfortunately
with few excep tions writers who have made the field
a Sp ecial study have rarely b een able to triumph
over the limitations which so often ob tru de in works
O f s cholarship
and research I t is tru e that the
p ages of R awlinson Smith L ayard an d Sayce are
enlivened at intervals with pictures O f A ssyrian
splendour and Babylonian gloryglea ms which escap e
as th e curtain s which veil the wondrous p ast are
partially liftedb ut such glimps es are only interludes
in lengthy dis quisitions which t oo often must b e
tedious for the general reader
I t was s uch a consideration which p rom p ted the
re p aration O f this volume Might not a b ook
pe written which should c ontain the pure gold of
Babylonian romance free d fro m the darker ore O f
antiquarian research ! SO far so good B ut gold
in the pure stat e is notoriously unserviceable an d
an alloy which renders it o f great er utility may
detract nothing from its brilliance R omance or no
romance in thes e days it will not do to furnish stories
O f the gods without attem p ting some denition o f
their nature and origin F or mor e than ever b efore
romanc e an d knowledge are a n ecessary blend in
the making of a satisfa ctory b ook on mythology
Nevertheless it is anticipate d that it will b e t o the
modern reader who loves the romance Of antiquity tha t
,
MYT H S O F B A B YL O NI A AND A SSY RIA

this b ook will esp ecially a p p eal I t is claime d tha t
the greater part O f Chaldean romanc e clusters around
the wonderful mythology an d religion of that lan d ;
it is therefore O f thes e depart ments of Chaldean lor e
that this volu me chiefly treats B ut the history O f
B abylonia an d A ssyria has not b een neglected The
grea t na mes in its records will b e found t o recur
c onstantly in thes e pages in most instances a c c om
a nie d by a tale or legend which will illu minat e the
p
circums tan ces O f their careers and s erve t o retain
these in the mind of the reader Nor has the B iblical
c onnexion with Chaldea b een forgotten ;
the rea der
will nd as he p roceeds frequent references to t h e
p ages Of the most p ictures qu e B ook in the world
.
L S
.
CONTE NT S
CH PTER
II
III
IV
QV
VI
VI I
V II I
IX
XI
X II
III
X IV
X V.
A B YLO N IA A N D A SSYRIA I N H I ST ORY AND

LE G E N D
B A B Y L O N IA N C O SMOG ON Y
E A RL Y B A B YL ON IA N REL I G I ON
T HE G I L G AME SH E PI C
TH E L A T E R PA NT HE O N O F B A B Y L ON IA
TH E G R E A T G OD ME RODA C H A N D H I S C U L
T HE PA NT HE ON OF A SSY RIA
B A B YL O N I AN ST A R W ORSH IP
TH E P R I E ST H OO D C U L T A N D T E MP LE S
T HE MAGI C A N D D EMON OLO G Y OF B A B YL ON IA
A N D A SSY R IA
TH E MY T H OL O GI C A L MON ST E RS A N D A N I MA L S
OF C H A L D E A
T AL E S OF THE B A B Y L ON IA N A N D A SSYRIA N
KI N GS
T HE C OMPA RA T I VE V AL U E OF TH E B A B YLON IA N
A ND A SSY RIA N REL IGI ON S
MOD E RN E X C A V A T I ON I N B A B YL ON IA A N D
A SSYR IA
TH E T W I L IG H T O F TH E G OD S
PAGE
G LOSSA RY AN D I ND E X
11
70
88
1
54
84
99
2 03
231
39
2 57
89
99
31 3
33 9
3 77
38 1
L I S T O F I LL US T RAT I ONS
P AG E
Sa c ri c i g
Assault
ro
on a
( Eve ly n
B el
P a u l)
F ront isp ie ce
C it y
e ng a e d w it h t h e T t of Kh am m u
C od e of L a w s
Se nn h er ib re e i ing T ibu t
Th e D e t h of S d a n p a lu s (L Ch al n)
Th L ib r ary of K ing Assu bani p l a t N ine e h
e
B a salt
St le
ac
ex
ra b i s
20
30
ar
r-
32
(F e rna nd L Qu esne)
36
D a nie l int e r p re t s t h e D r e a m
of
N e bu c h ad re z z ar
( Evely n
of
ra nt
e es t
Priv il g
B it s
N im rud
Th e
Murd e r
Th e Se v e n
Migh t y
T a bl e t s
w as h e t o
En lil
Of
I sh t a r
as
by
N e buc h a d re zzar
( Evely n
P a ul)
Cr
58
70
(Eve ly n
C hi e
a nd
G od
of
80
N ipp ur
of
h is
ssy ria
ar
Tig lat h - Pil e se r I
1 24
ve
War
ve
re
( Alla n Ste wa rt)
N e bo
of
a nd
94
H ll in
76
P a u l)
Tiaw a t h
Go d d e s of Lo
Th e M t h e r g d d e ss I s h t
(E ly n P ul)
Ass y ian R c k S ul p t u
Ass y r ian Ty p e of G ilg m e h
Ut N p ish t im m a k e s O ff er in g t o t h e G od s
r
40
48
( I ) Mot h e r g od d e ss ( 2 ) G o d d e ss
-
N in lil
( 3)
38
B ab l
e at i n
look u p n
of
the
Mard u k
P a u l)
Of
Me ro d a c h
C onso rt
Se t ap o
Con ic t b et w e e n
T y p es
Rit t i
To w e r
the
of
P a la c e
( Sir H e nry L ay a rd)
d ire c t e d
by
N inib
( Evely n
P a ul)
36
48
62
76
84
96
2 1
MYT H S
O F B A B YL O NI A AN D
A SSY RIA
Ass u n a ir p al t t en d e d by a W in g e d Myt h logi l B e in g

Z ikku r t s oi t h e Anu Ad ad at Ash ur
St a g e t we
t Sam a a
E ca t e d Ruins Of t h e T e m p l of E S gila
E o c isin g D m ons of D ise ase
C l y Obj e t r e s e m bling
Sh e p s L i e r
Ea gl h e a d e d Myt h log i al B e in g
C p t ure of S
( E ly n P ul)
p nu b y Tigl t h Pil e s r I I
t n
Th F t al E c lip
(M D
Sh lm ne s e I p u r in g ut t h
D u st of a Conq ue re d C ity
r-
r a
2 42
rr
2 42
e-
arra
se
ovas o
ve
Ma rria g e Ma r k e t
( Edwin L ong R A )
aa
av
er
so
ors
IO
s a
82
2 96
3 00
3 06
318
r v
62
310
p e ailin g o e r t h e P r ie st s of B l (Ev ly n P ul)

f Sh lm ne s r I I
B l c k Ob e lis k
Th
t N im r ud
Out line Of t h Mo u nd
(Sir H enry L y rd)
Th P a l a e s of Nim d
(f umes F g u n)
in B b y l n
Wo k f t h E c at
Ruins f B a by l n
t n
Th e H ang in g G ar d e ns of B by l n (M D
e
308
A Royal H unt
Elij ah
2 50
D
u
d
e
l
A
s
e
ro
m
b
y)
(
Th e
222
va
ca
P AG E
ovas o
326
3 42
3 46
3 48
35 4
366
3 7o
CHAPT E R I : B AB YL ONIA AND ASS YRIA

IN HI S T O RY AND L E GE ND
0 our fathers until well nigh a century ago
B abylon was no more than a mighty name
a
gigantic skeleton whose ribs protru de d
here and there fro m the sands of Syria in colossal
ruin o f tower and te mple B ut n ow the grey shrou d
which hid fro m V iew the remains o f the glow and
glitter of her ancient Splendour has t o s ome extent
been withdrawn and thro u gh the lab ours o f a band
o f scholars and explorers whos e lives and work must
b e classed a s a mong the most romantic passages in
the history o f hu man effort we are n ow enabled t o
V iew the wondrou s panora ma o f hu man civilization
as it evolve d in the valleys o f th e Tigris an d
E uphrates
The name Babylon carries with it the s ound o f
a deep mysterious sp ell such a conj uration as might
b e uttere d in the recesses o f se cret te mples I t
awakens a thousand echoes in the imagination I t
holds a mus ic richer than that Of E gyp t B abylon
Babylon the sonorous charm O f the word is a s a
lin e from s ome great epic
I t falls on the ear
o f the historian like distant thunder B ehind th e
grandeur O f R ome an d the b eauty o f Greec e it looms
as a great and thick darkness over which fl ash a t
in tervals strea ms o f uncerta in light as half forgotten
kings an d priests con querors and tyrants de mi
gods and mighty b uilders pas s through the gloo m
from Obscurity t o O bscuritys ometimes in the full
glare o f historical recognition but more O ften in t h e
half light and partially relieved d us k o f u ncertainty
O ther shapes again move like ghosts in com p lete
-
11
MYTH S O F B A B YL ONI A AND A SSY RI A

an d utter darkness an d thes e are by far the mos t
nu merous of all
B ut the Spirit of Babylon is no s oft and alluring
thi ng eloquent of O riental wonders or charge d with
the delicious fascination of the E ast R ather is it
a thing stark and Strong
informed with fa te and
epical in its intense recognition o f destiny I n
Babylonian history there are but two figures of
moment the s oldier an d the pries t We are dealing
with a rac e austere and stern a race of rigorous
religious devotees and conquerors the R o mans of
the E ast but not an unimaginative race for the

B abylonians an d A ssyrians ca me of that stock
which gave to the world its greatest religions
J udaism Christianity and Moha mmedanis m a race
not without the s ense of mystery and s cience for
B abylon was the mother of astrology and magic
and establishe d the b eginnings of th e study of the
stars ; and lastly of commerce for the rst tru e
nancial o p erations an d the rst houses of exchange
were founde d i n the shadows of her te m p les and
palaces
The b oundaries of the land where the races of
B abylonia and A ssyria evolve d one of the most
remarkable and original Civilizations in the world s
history ar e the two migh t y rivers of Western A sia
the Tigris and E u p hrates A ssyria b eing identical
with the more northerly and mountainous p ortion
and Babylonia with the s outherly part which in
B oth tracts of country
c line d to b e at and marshy
were inhabited by p eople of the sa me rac e save that
the A ssyrians ha d acquired the chara cteristics of a
p op ul ation dwelling in a hilly country and had
b eco m e to s ome extent intermingled with H ittite
an d A morite ele ments B ut both were branches
,
12
T H E A KK A DI A NS
of an ancient Se mitic s tock the ep och of whose
entranc e int o the land it is impossible t o x I n
the oldest inscriptions discovere d we nd thos e
Semitic immigrants at strife with the in digen
ous p eople o f the country the A kkadians with
who m they were subsequently t o mingle and whos e
b eliefs an d magical and occult c onceptions e sp e c i
ally they were afterward to in corp orat e with their
,
OW II
Th e
A kk adians
Who then were the A kkadians who m the Baby

lonian Semites came to dISp la c e b ut with who m they
nally mingled ! Great an d bitter has b een th e
cont roversy which has raged around the racial
a ffinities o f this peo ple Some have held that the y
were themselves of Semitic stock others tha t the y
were of a race more nearly approa ching the Mongol
the L app and the Basque I n such a b ook as this
the obj ect of which is t o pres ent an account of the
Babylonian mythology it is unnecessary t o follow
the protagonists of either theory into the dark
recesses whither the conict has led the m B ut the
probability is that the A kkadians who are us ually
represented upon their monuments as a b eardles s
people with obliqu e eye s were conn ecte d with tha t
great Mongolian fa mily which has thrown ou t
tentacles fro m its original home in central A sia t o
t h e frozen regions of the A rctic the north of E uro p e
the Turkish E mpire aye an d p erhaps t o A meri ca
itself ! A kkadian in it s linguistic feature s a nd
esp ecially in it s gra mmatical structure show s a
resemblan c e to the U ral Altaic gr oup o f language s
which e mb ra ces Turkish and F innish and this is
in itself good evidence that the p e o p le wh o Sp oke it
,

b elonged to that ethn ic division B ut the question
is a thorny one and pages nay volu mes might b e
occupied in presenting the arguments for and aga inst
such a b elief
I t was fro m the A kkadians however that the
B abylonian Se mites received the germs o f their
culture indeed it may b e avowe d that this ab original
p eople carried the m well on the way toward civi liza
tion Not only did they instruct the Semitic new
c omers in the arts of writing and reading but they
strongly biased their religious b eliefs and so ins p ire d
the m with the idea of the sanctity of their own faith
that the later Babylonian priesthood preserve d the
old A kkadian tongu e a mong the m a s a sacre d lan
g u age j ust as the R o man priesthood has retain e d
the u se of the dead L atin Speech I ndeed the
proper pronunciation of A kkadia n was an abs olute
necessity t o the success fu l p erformance of religious
ritual and it is passing strange t o observe that the
Babylonian pries ts comp osed new religious texts in
a Species of dog A kkadian j u st as the monks of the
Mid dl e A ges c omposed their writings in dog L atin !

with such zeal have the religio u s in all ages clung
to the cult of the anc ient the mystic and half
forgotten thing unknown to the vulgar
When we rs t enco u nter B abylonian civilization
w e nd it grouped round about two n u clei Nippur
in the North and E ridu in the South The rst had
grown up around a sanctuary of the god En lil who
held sway over the ghostly animistic spirits which
at his bidding might pose as the friends or enemies
o f men A more c ivilize d deity held sway at E ridu
which was the home of E a or O annes the go d of
light an d wisdom who exerci sed his knowledge of
the healing art for the benet of his votaries From
.
MYT H S O F B A BYL ONI A AND A SSY RIA

Semitic immigrants in E gypt they ca me originally
from A rabia
The Semit e readily accepte d the
Su merian civilization which he foun d fl ourishing in
the valley of the E uphrates and a dapte d the
Su merian syste m of writing t o his own language
in what manner will b e indicate d later B ut the
Su merians thems elves were not ab ove b orrowin g
fro m the rich Semitic tongue an d many of the earliest
Su merian texts we encounter are strongly Semitize d
B ut although the Semites app ear to have ltered into
Su merian territory by way of E ridu and U r the rs t
denite notices we have of their presenc e within it
are in the monu ments of the more northern p ortion o f
that territory in what is known as A kkad in th e
neighb o u rhood of Bagdad w here they foun ded a
s mall kingdom in much the sa me manner as th e
Jutes founded the kingdo m of Kent The earlies t
monu ments howeve r c ome fro m L agash the moder n
Tel
lo so me thirty m iles north of U r and rec oun t
the dealings of the high
priest of that plac e with
other neighb ouring dignitaries
The priest s o f
L agash became kings and their con quests extende d
b eyon d the connes of Babylonia t o E la m on the
east and s outhward t o the Persian Gulf
,
A B aby lonian C onq uer or
B ut the rst great Semitic empire in Babylonia

was that founded b y the fa mous Sargon of Ak kad
A s is the cas e with many popular heroes and monarchs
whos e deeds are re me mb ered in s ong and sto ry
for exa mple Perseus ( Edip u s Cyrus R omulus an d
our ow n King A rthur the early years of Sargon

were passed in obs curity Sargon is in fact one of
the fatal children
H e was legend stated born
in c oncealment and s ent adrift like Moses in an a rk
As sa l t on a C ity
t m g t h C m paigns
p
u
F rom a b r lie f
us- e
re
r e se n
P lzolo l l
'
.
Ma xwell
a nd
of
Sc nnac h c n b
C0
16
B A B YL O NIAN C O NQ U E RO R
of bulrushes on the waters of the E uphrates whence

he was res cued and brought u p by on e A kki a
husbandman B ut the time of his recognition at
length arrived an d he received the crown of Baby
lonia His foreign conquests were extensive O n
four suc cessive occasion s h e invaded Syria and
Palestin e which he su cceeded in welding into a
Pressing his victories
Single empire with Babylonia
to the margin of the Mediterranean he erected upon
its shores statues of himself a s an earn est of his
con quests
He als o overca me E la m an d northern
Mesopota mia an d qu elled a rebellion of s ome magni
tude in his own dominions H is son Nara m Sin
claimed for himself the title of King of the F our
and enlarged the e mp ire left him by his

Zon es
father p enetrating even into A rabia A monu ment
un earthed by
de Morgan at Susa depicts him
trium p hing over the c on quered E la mites He is
s een p assing his Sp ear through the prostrat e body
of a warrior whos e hands are upraised as if pleading
for quarter H is head dress is orna mented with the
horns emble matic of divinity for the early Baby
lonian kings were the direct vicegerents of the
gods on earth
E ven at this co m p aratively early time ( c 3800
the resources of the country had been well exploited
by its Semitic con qu erors and their absorption of
the Sumerian civilization had p ermitted them t o
make very considerable progress in the enlightene d
arts Some of their work in bas relief an d even in
the lesser if e qua lly di f c u lt craft of gem cutting
is a mong the nest e ff t s of Babylonian art Nor
were they decient in more utilitarian elds They
construct ed roads through the most imp ortant p or
tions of the e mpire along which a service of p osts
,
13

c arried messages at stated intervals the letters con
v e e d by these being stamped or franked by clay
y
s eals b earing the name of Sargon
,
Th e F ir st
Sargon
L ibr ary in B aby lonia

is also fa mous as the rst founder of a
Babylonian library This library app ears to have
c ontained works of a most surprising nature having
regard to the p eriod at which it was instituted O n e
of thes e was entitled The Observa t ions of B el an d
c onsisted of n o less than seventy two books dealing
with astron omical matters of considerable com
it
registered
and
describ
ed
the
app
earances
l
ex it
y;
p
of comets conj unctions of the sun and moon and the
phases of the planet Ven u s b esides recording many
eclipses This wonderfu l b ook was long a fterwar d
translated into Greek by the Babylonian historian
B e rossus an d it demo nstrates the great antiquity
o f Babylonian astronomical scien ce even at this
very early epoch Another fa mous work contained
in the library of Sargon dealt with omens the manner
of casting them and their interpretationa very
important side issu e of Babylonian magico religious
pract i ce
A mong the c onquests of this great monarch whose
Splendo u r shines through the shadows of anti quity
like the distant flash of arms on a misty day was the
fair islan d of Cyprus E ven imagination reels at
the well a u thenticated assertion that ve thousand

s even hundred years ago the keels of a Babylonian
conqueror cut the waves of the Mediterranean an d
landed upon the shores of fl owery Cyprus stern Semitic
wa rriors who loading themselves with loot erected
statues of their royal leader and returned with their
b ooty I n a Cyp rian te m p le De Ce snola discovered
.
18
G U DE A
down in the lowest va ults a h aematite cylinder

which describ ed its owner as a servant of Nara m
Sin the son of Sargon so that a c ertain degre e of
communication must have b een kept up b etween
Babylonia and the distant island j us t as early E gyp t
and Crete were b ound t o each o ther by ties of culture
and c ommerce
,
G udea
B ut the empire which Sargon ha d founded was

doo med to precipitate ruin The seat of p ower was
diverted s outhward to U r I n the reign of Dungi
on e o f the monarchs who ruled fro m this southern
sphere a great vassal of the thron e Gudea stands
out a s on e of the most re markable chara cters in
early Babylonian antiquity This Gudea ( e 2 700
B C ) was high pries t of L agash a city p erhap s thirty
miles north of U r and was fa mous as a patron of
the architectural an d allied arts
He ransacked
western A sia for building materials A rabia supplied
him with c opper for orna mentation the Am a m e s
mountains with cedar
wood the quarries of L ebanon
with stone while the deserts adj acent t o Palestine
furnished him wi t h rich stones of all kinds for u se
in decorative work and districts on the shores of
the Persian Gulf with timber for ordinary building
purp oses H is architectural ability is vouche d for
by a plan of his palace measured t o s cale which is
carved upon the lap of one of his statues in the
L o u vre
There is n o intention in this s ketch t o follow
minutely the events in the history of Babylonia and
A ssyria The purpos e is to depict and des crib e the
circumstances deeds and times of its most out
standing gures it s most typical and chara cteristic
.
I9
MYT H S O F B A B YL ONI A AND A SSY RIA

rulers By following this plan we hop e t o b e b e t ter
able to present the reader with a more faithful and
genuin e picture of the c ivilization the myt hs of
which we are about to p erus e than if we s quandere d
spac e and time in the description of the reigns of
kings d u ring whos e t enure of the thron e n o event
of importance is re corded
.
K h am m ur abi t h e Gr eat
L ike that which preceded it the dynasty o f U r
fell and A rabian or Canaanit e inva ders usur p ed t h e
royal p ower in much the sa me manner as the She p herd
Kings s eized the s overeignty of E gyp t A subsequ ent
foreign yoke that of E la m was thrown off by Kha m
m ura bi perhap s the mos t celebrate d and most
p opularly famous na me in Babylonian history This
brilliant wis e and p olitic monarch did not content
himself with merely expelling the hated E la mites
but advanced to fu rther conq u est with such success
that in the thirty second year of his reign ( 2 338 B C )
he ha d formed Babylonia into a single monarchy
with the capital at B abylon its elf U nder the
fostering care of Kha mmurabi Babylonian art and
literature unfolded and blossomed with a luxurianc e
surprising t o c onte mplat e at this distanc e of time
I t is astonishing too to not e how c ompletely he
succ eeded in welding into on e homogeneous whole
the various elements of the empire he carved out for
himself So surely did he unify his c on quests that
the Babylonian power as he left it survived undivided
for nearly fteen hundred years The welfare of his
subj ects of all races was constantly his care No
on e satised of the justice of his ca u s e feared to
approa ch him The legal c ode which he formulated
and which remains as his greatest claim t o the
,
20
K H A MMU R A BI T H E G R E A T
applaus e of p osterity is a monu ment o f wis dom and
e qu ity I f Sargon is t o b e regarded as the A rthur
of Babylonian history s u rely Khammurab i is its
Alfred The circu mstanc es of the lives of the two
monarchs present a decidedly Similar pict u re B oth
had in their early years t o fre e their c ountry from a
foreign yok e b oth instituted a legal c ode were patrons
of letters an d assiduous in their attention t o the
wants of their subj e cts
I f a great p e ople has fre quently evolved a legal
code of sterling merit there are cases on record where
such an institution has s erved to make a p eople great
and it is probably n o inj ustice t o the Se mites of
Babylonia t o sa y of the m that the code of Kha m
A c opy of this
m ura bi made the m what they were
world fa mous c ode wa s found at Susa by d e Morgan
an d is n ow in the L ouvre
What the Babylonian chron ologists called the
First Dynasty of Babylon fell in its turn and it is
cla imed that a Su merian lin e of eleven kings took
its p lac e Their sway lasted for 36 8 years a state
ment which is obviously op en to q u es tion These
were the mselves overthrown and a Kassite dynasty
fro m the mountains of E la m wa s founded by Kandis
e
0
B
C
which
lasted
for
nearly
s
centuries
1
8
i
x
(
)
7
Thes e alien monarchs faile d t o retain their hold on
much of the A siatic an d Syrian territory which ha d
paid tribut e to Babylon and the suzerainty o f
Palestin e was likewis e lost to the m I t was a t this
epoch too that the high
priests of A sshur in the
north took the title of king but they appear t o have
b een subservient t o Babylon in so me degree A ssyria
grew gra dually in p ower I ts p eople were hardier
and more warlike than the art loving an d religious
folk of B abylon an d little by little they en croache d
.
21

up on the weakness of the s o u thern kingdo m until
at length an a ffair of tragic proportions entitle d the m
to direct interference in Babylonian p olitics
.
Mur der
The circumstance s which necessitate d this inter
v e nt ion are not unlike those o f the assa ssination o f
King Alexander o f Serb ia and Draga his Q ueen
tha t happ ened 3000 years la ter The Kassite king
o f Babylonia ha d marrie d the daughter o f A ssur
u ba llidh o f A ssyria
But
the
match
did
no
t
meet
y
with the approval o f the Kassite faction a t court
whi ch murdered the bridegroom king This a trocious
a ct met wi t h swift vengeance a t the hands o f A ssur
the
bride
s
father
a
monarch
b
a ll idh o f A ssyria
u
y
of a ctive and statesmanlike qualitie s the a uthor
of the celebrate d serie s o f letters to A men h e t e p I V
of E gypt unearthe d a t Tel el A marna H e led a
p unitive army into Babylonia hurled fro m the
throne the pretender place d there by the Kassite
faction and replace d him with a scion of the leg it i
mate royal stock This king B u rna burya s reigned
for over twenty years and upon his deceas e the
A ssyrians still nominally the vassals o f t h e
Babylonian Crown declare d the mselve s inde p e n
dent of it Not content with such a revolutionary
measure under Shalmaneser I ( 1 300 B C ) they la id
cla im to the suzerainty of the Tigris E uphrates
region and extended their con quests even to the
boundaries o f far Cappa docia the H ittites an d
nu merou s other confederacies sub mitting to their
yoke Sh a lm a ne se r s son Tu k ult i in A risti took the
city o f Babylon slew its king B it ilya su an d thus
completely shattere d the claim of the older sta te to
suprema cy H e ha d reigned in B abylon for so me
C ourt
22
TIGLATH PILESER
seven years when he was faced by a p opular revolt

which seems to have b een hea ded by his own son
A ssur na zir pal who slew him and place d H ada d
nadin akhi on the throne This king con quere d
and kille d the A ssyrian mona rch o f h is time Bel
kudur uzur the last of the old A ssyria n royal line

whose death necessitated the institution o f a new
dynasty the fth monarch o f which wa s the fa mous
,
Tigla t h p ile se r
-
Tig lat h Pileser

Tigla t h p ile se r ,
r
or Tu k ult i pal E sana to confer

on him his full A ssyrian title ca me to the throne
about 1 1 2 0 B C and soon commenced the career o f
a ctive con ques t which wa s to render his na me on e
o f the most fa mous in the warlike annals of A ssyria
Ca m p aigns in the Upper E uphrates against alien
immigrants who ha d settle d there were fo llowed by
the con quest o f the H ittites o f Suba r t i in A ssyrian
territory Pressing northwa rd toward L ake Van in
the Kurdish country he subsequently turne d his
arms westward and overran Ma la ria Ca ppadocia
and the Ara m ze a ns o f Northern Syria n ext felt the
force of his arms and he penetra te d on this occasion
even to the sources o f the Tigris H e left behin d
him the chara cter of a grea t warrior a grea t hun ter
and a grea t b uilder re storing the se mi ruinous
temples of A sshur and H ada d or R immon in the city
o f A sshur
I t is not until the reign o f A ssur na zir pal I I I
8
B C
tha
t
we
are
once
more
enabled
to
t
ke
e
8
a
(
3
)
up the thread o f A ssyrian history with any degree
o f c ertainty I n this reign artistic develop ment
appea rs to have proceede d apace ; bu t it cannot be
said of A ssur na zir pal tha t in him culture went hand
-
23
MYT H S O F B A B YLONIA AND A SSY RIA

in han d with humanity the records of his cruelties
b eing long an d revolting H is successor Shalmaneser
I I p ossessed an insatiable thirs t for military glory
and d u ring his reign of thirty v e years overthrew
a grea t confederacy o f Syrian Chiefs which included
A ha b King o f I srael H e was disturbed during
the latter part of his reign by the rebellion of his
eldest son But his second son Sa msi Ra mm on
ca me to his father s a ssistance a nd his faithful
a dherence secure d hi m the succession to the throne
in 8 2 4 B C
,
.
Sem iram is t h e G r eat
I t was probably in the reign o f this monarch that

the queen known in legen d a s Se mira mis live d I t
.
would have been wonderful indee d ha d the magic

o f he r na me not been connecte d with ro mance by
the O riental imagination Se mira mis ! The na me
sparkles an d s cintill a tes with ge ms o f legend and
song Myth magic and music encircle it and sweep
round it a s fairy sea s surround some island para dise
I t is a central rose in the chaplet o f legend it has
b een enshrined in music p erhap s the most divine
and melodious which the songful soul o f I taly ha s
ever conceived ye t no t more beauteou s than itself

L et us introduce into the iron chain o f A ssyrian
history the golden link o f the legend of this H elen
o f the E ast and having heard the ctions of her
greatnes s le t u s attemp t to remove the veils which
hide her real personality fro m V iew an d look upon
her a s she wa s Sa m m u ra m a t the Babylonian queen

and favourite o f Sa msi Ra m m on who crush e d the
assembled armies o f Media and Chaldea and whos e
glories are engraved upon a column which setting
forth the tale of her con quests des cr ibes her in a ll
.
24
SE MI R A MI S
T H E GRE A T
simplicity as A woman o f the palace o f Sa msi
Ra mm on King of the World

L egend says tha t Ninus King o f A ssyria hav
ing conquered the Babylonians pro ceeded toward
A rmenia with the obj ect of reducing the p eople o f
tha t country B ut its politic king Ba rsa nes unable
to meet him b y arme d force made a voluntary su b
mission a cco mpanie d by presents o i such m a g ni
cence tha t Ninus wa s placa ted B ut insatiable in
his desire for con quest he turned his eyes to Media
which he speedily subdued H is next a mbition wa s
to bring under his rule the territory b etween the
This grea t task occupied him
Ta na is and the Nile
for no less than seventeen years by which time all
A sia ha d sub mitted to him with the single exception
of Ba ctria which still ma intained its indep endence
H aving laid the foundations o f the city of Nineveh
he resolved to p roceed against the Ba ctrians H is
army wa s of dimensions truly mythical for he wa s
said to b e a ccompanied by
o f infantrymen
of horse soldiers with the a ddition o f
chariots e quipped with scythes
I t wa s during this ca mpaign says Diodoru s Sic ulus
tha t Ninus rst b eheld Semira mis
H er precis e
legendary or mythical origin is obscure
So me
writers aver tha t Sh e wa s the daughter o f the sh
goddess At a rya t is or De rk e t o and O annes the
Babylonian god of wisdom who ha s alrea dy been
allude d to At a rya t is wa s a goddess of A scalon in
Syria and a fter birth her daughter Semira mis wa s
mira culously fe d by doves until sh e wa s fo u nd by
one Sim m a s the royal shepherd who brought her
up and married h e r to O nnes or Menon one of
Ninus s generals H e fell by his own hand an d
Ninus thereu p on took Semira mis to W ife having
.
25

profoundly a dmired her ever since her conduct a t
the capture o f Ba ctria where sh e ha d greatly dis
Not long a fterward Ninus died
t ing uish e d herself
leaving a son called Ninya s During her son s
minority Semiramis assumed the regen cy and the
rst grea t work sh e undertook wa s the interment of
her husband who m sh e b u rie d with grea t splendour
and raised over him a mound o f earth no less than a
mile and a quarter high and proportionally wide
a fter which sh e built Babylon This city b eing
nished sh e made an expedition into Media ; and
wherever sh e went left memorials of her p ower and
m u nic e nc e
Sh e erected vast structures forming
lakes and laying out gardens o f grea t extent p ar
I n short she
t ic ula rly in Chao u ia and E cbatana
levelled hills and raised mounds o f an immens e
height which retained her na me for ages A fter
this sh e inva ded E gypt and conquered E thio p ia
with the greater part of L ibya ; and having a c
complished her wish and there being no ene my to
cope with her excepting the kingdo m o f I ndia sh e
resolved to direct her forces toward tha t quarter
foot
horse
Sh e had an army of
and
chariots
F or the passing of rivers
and engaging the ene my by water sh e had procured
to b e so constr u cted a s to b e taken to
2 000 ships
p ieces for the a dvantage of carriage : which ships
were built in Bactria by men fro m Ph oe nicia Syria
and Cyprus With these she fought a naval engage
ment with St ra bro ba t e s King of I ndia and a t the
rst encounter sunk a tho u sand of his ships A fter
this sh e built a bridge over the river I ndus and
penetra ted into the heart of the country H ere
Being deceived by the
St ra br oba t e s engaged her
nu merous appearance of her elephants he a t rst
,
26
MYT H S O F BA BYL O NIA AND A SSY RIA

said to have b een changed to a dove b ecaus e they
found her always depicted an d worshippe d unde r
tha t form
F ro m the above I think it is p lain
tha t Semira mis wa s a n e mblem and tha t the na me
was a c ompound of Sama ramas or ramis and it
signie d the divin e token a typ e o f providence
and a s a military ensign ( for a s s u ch it was used) it
may with some la titude b e interpreted the standard
o f the most H igh
I t consisted of the gure o f a
dove which wa s probably encircled with the iris a s
those two e mblems were often repre sente d together
All who went under that standard or who paid any
deference to tha t emblem were styled Se m a rim o r
I t wa s a title conferred u p on all who
Sa morim
ha d this device for their national insigne

There
is much more of this sor t o f thing typical of the
mythic science o f the eighteenth a nd early nineteenth
centuries I t is easy to se e how myth b eca me busy
with the na me of the A ssyrian Q ueen whos e exploits
undoubtedly aroused the enthusiasm no t only o f
the A ssyrians themselves but o f the co p ies sur
rounding them Jus t a s any grea t w orE
in ancient
Britain was a scribe d to the agen cy o f Merlin or
A rthur so such monu ments a s could not otherwise
b e a ccounte d for were a ttributed to Semira mis
Western A sia is monumentally eloquent of her name
and even the B ehistun inscriptions o f Darius have
been placed to her credit Herodotus states tha t
one of the ga tes of Babylon was called after her and
tha t sh e raised the articial banks tha t conned th e
river E uphrates H er fa me laste d until well into
the Middle A ges and the A rmenians called the district
ro u nd L ake Van Sh a m ira m ag erd
There is very little doub t that her fa me beca me
mingle d with tha t of the goddess I shtar : sh e p os
.
28
T H E SE C OND A SSY RI A N E MP I R E
sesses the sa me Venus like attributes the dove is her
emble m and her story beca me so inextricably inter
twined with tha t of the Babylonian goddess that she
ultimately be ca me a variant o f her The story o f
Semira mis is a triumphant vindication o f the manner
in which by certain mythical pro cesses a human b eing
can a ttain the rank of a god or goddess for Semira mis
wa s originally very real indeed A column discovere d
in 1 909 describes her a s a wo man o f the pala ce of
Samsi ra m m on King o f the World King of A ssyria
King of the F our Q uarters o f th e World

This
dedication indicates tha t Semira mis or t o give her
her A ssyrian title Sa m m u ra m a t evidently possessed
an immense in fluence over her husband Sa msi
an d tha t p erhaps a s queen mother tha t
ra m m on
inuenc e lasted for more than one reign so that the
legen d tha t a fter a regency o f forty two years sh e
delivered up the kingdom to her son Ninya s may
have some foundation in fact Sh e seems to have
ma de war against the Medes an d Chaldeans The
story that on relinquishing her p ower Sh e turne d
into a dove and disappeare d may mean tha t her
name Sa m m u ra ma t was eas ily connected with the
A ssyrian summat the word for dove
and for a
p erson of her subsequent legendary fa me the mythical
conne x ion with I shtar is easily a c counted for
-
A ssy
E m p ir e
What is known a s the Secon d A ssyrian E mpire
commenced with the reign o f Tigla t h p ile se r II I
who organized a great scheme o f provincial govern
ment This plan app ears to have been the rst
forecast o f the feudal syste m for each p rovince paid
a xed tribute and provided a military contingent
Great e il ort s were ma de to render the army a s
Th e Sec ond
r ian
29

irresistible as p ossible with the obj ect o f imposing
an A ssyrian suprema cy upon the entire known world
Tigla t h overran A rmenia defeated the Medes and
H ittites s eized the s eaports of Phoenicia and the
trade routes connecting them with the centres o f
A ssyrian commerce and nally conquere d Babylon
where in 7 2 9 B C he wa s investe d with the sovereignty
of A sia
Two years later he died but his successor
Shalmaneser I V carried on the policy he had initiated
H e had however only ve years o f life in which to
do so for at the end of tha t p eriod the u surping
general Sargon who laid claim to b e a descendant
of Sargon the Great o f A kkad seized the royal power
o f Ba bylon He wa s murdered in 705 B C an d his
of B iblical fa me a pp ears to have
son Senna cherib
b een una ble to carry on affairs with the p rudence
or ability of his father H e outraged the religious
feelings o f the p eople by ra zing to the ground the
city of Babylon b ecaus e o f the revolt of the citizens
The ca mpaign he made against H ezekiah King o f
Judah was marked by a complete failure Hezekiah
ha d allie d himself with the Philistine princes o f
A scalon and E kron but when he sa w his E gyp tian
a llies b ea ten a t the battle of E ltekeh he endeavoure d
c
to buy ofi the invaders by nu merous presents though
without success
The wonderful deliverance of
J erusalem from the for ces of Senna cherib recorded
in Scripture and sung by Byron in his Hebrew
Melodies appears to have a good fo u ndation in fact
I t seems tha t the A ssyrian army wa s a ttacked and
almost decima ted by plague which obliged Sen
na c h e r ib to ret u rn to Nineveh but it is not likely
tha t the phenomenon occurred in the watch o f a
ni g ht Senna cherib was eventually murd ered by
his two sons who the deed accomplished fl e d to
.
30
ennac h er ib rece iv in g T r ib t e
F m t h P l ce at N i e ve h
u
ro
P h oto l l
a a
Ha nsel!
a nd
C0
S A RDA NA PAL U S THE S PLE NDI D

Armenia
O f all the Assyrian monarchs he was
perhaps the most p ompous and the least tted to

rule The grea t palace a t Nineveh and the grea t
wall of tha t city eight miles in circu mference were
built a t his command
His son and successor E sar ha ddon initiated his
reign by sending ba ck the sa cred image of Merodach
to its shrine a t B abylon which city he restore d
He was sole mnly declared king in the restored te mple
of Merodach and during his reign b oth B abylonia
and Assyria enj oyed quiet and contentment War
with E gypt broke out in 670 B C and the Egyptians
were thrice defeated with heavy loss The Assyrians
entered Memphis and instituted a protectora te over
part o f the country Two years later Egyp t revolted
and wh ile marching to quell the o utbrea k E sar
ha ddon died on the road his fa te rese mbling tha t
of E dward I who d ied while on his way to over
come the Scottish people th e n in rebellion against
his usurpation
.
Sa
danap alus t h e
S p lendid
E sar haddon wa s succeede d by Assur banipal

known to Gree k legend as Sardanapalus How fa r
the legendary descrip tion o f him s quares with the
historical it is di fcult to sa y The former sta tes
that he was the last king of Assyria and the thirtieth
in succession fro m Ninya s E e m ina t e and corrup t
he see ms to have been a perfect exa mple of the 7 02
a zn a nt
The
populace
of
the
conquere
d
provinces
f
disgusted with his extravagances revolted and an
army led by Arba c e s satrap of Medea and B e le sys a
Babylonian pries t surrounded him in Nineveh and
threatened his life Sardanapalus however throwing
off h is sloth
made such a vigorous defence tha t for
-
31
MYTH S O F BA BYLO NIA AND AS SY RIA

two years the issue was in doub t The river Tigris
a t this j uncture ov e r ow e d and undermined part of
th e city wall thus p ermitting ingress to the host ile
army Sardanapalus seeing tha t resistance was hope
less collected his wives and trea sures in his pala ce
and then se t it on re so tha t all perishe d
I t is a strange c oincidence that the fate which
legend a scribes to Sardanapalus was probably that
which rea ll y overtook the brother o f Assur bani pal
Sa mas su m yuk in I t is likely tha t the self immola
tion o f Sardanapalus is merely a legendary state
ment o f a rite well known to Semitic religion which
wa s pra ctised a t Tarsus down to the time o f Dio
Chrys ostom and the me mory o f which survives in
other Greek legends esp eciall y those o f Hera cles
Melcarth a nd Queen Dido At Tarsus an annual
festival wa s held and a pyre erected upon which the
local Heracles or B aal wa s burned in c h igy This

annual co mmemoration of the death o f the god in
re probably ha d its origin in the older rite in which
an a ctual man or sacred animal wa s b urned a s rep re
1
senting the deity 7733 Golden B ough contains
a n instructive passage concerning the myth of
Sardanapalus Sir Ja mes F razer writes :

There
seems to b e no doubt that the na me Sardanapalus
is only the Greek way o f representing Ash urba na p a l
the na me of the greatest and nearly the las t King
o f Assyria B u t the records o f the real monarch
which have come to light within recent years give
little support to the fables that attached to his na me
in classical tradition F or the y prove tha t far fro m
b eing the e fie m ina t e weakling he seemed to the
Greeks o f a later age he was a warlike and enlightened
V l iii p 1 67
Seco nd Edi t i o n
( By ki nd p e m i ss i o n f
Messrs M c m i ll n nd C o )
.
32
SARDANA PALU S THE S PLENDID

monarch who carried the arms of Assyria to distant
lands and fostered a t home the growth of scienc e
and letters Still though the historical reality o f
King Ash ur banap a l is a s well a ttested a s that o f
Alexander or Charle magne it would b e no wonder
if myths gathered like clouds around the grea t gure
that loomed large in the stormy sunset o f Assyrian
glory Now the two fea tures tha t sta nd out most
prominently in the legends of Sardanapalus are his
extravagant deba uchery a n d his violent death in
the a mes of a grea t pyre on which he b urned him
self and his concubines to save the m fro m fall ing
into the hands of his victorious enemies I t is
said that the womanish king with painted fac e and
arrayed in female attire passe d his days in the
seclusion of the hare m spinning purple wool a mong
his concubines and wallowing in sensual delights ;
and tha t in the ep itaph which he caused to b e carved
on his tomb he recorded tha t all the days of his life
he ate and drank and toyed reme mb ering tha t life
is short an d full o f trouble tha t fortune is uncertain
and tha t others would soon enj oy the good thing s
which he mus t leave behind Thes e traits bear
little rese mblance to the portrait o f Ash urba nap a l
either in life or death ; for a fter a brilliant career
o f conques t the Assyrian king died in old age a t
the height o f hu man a mb ition with p eace a t home
and triumph abroad the a dmiration o f his subj ects
and the terror of his foes But if the traditional
charac t eristics o f Sardanapalus harmonize but ill
with what we know of the real monarch of tha t
na me they t we ll enough with all tha t we know or
can conj ecture of the mock kings who led a short
life and a merry during the revelry o f the Sa c aea
the Asiatic e quivalent o f the Sa turnalia We can
,
33
MYTH S OF BAB YLO NIA AND AS SY RIA

hardly doub t that for the most part such men with
death staring them in the fac e at the end of a few
days sought to drown care and deaden fear by
plunging madly into all the eeting j oys that still
o ffered themselves under the sun
When their
brief pleasures and sharp su fferings were over and
their bones or ashes mingled with the dust wha t
more natural tha t on their tomb those mounds
in which the people saw not untruly the graves of
the lovers of Se miramis th ere should b e carved
some such lines as those which tra dition place d in
the mouth of the great Assyrian king to remind the
heedless passer by of the shortness and vanity of
life 2
According to Sir Ja mes F razer then the real
Sardanapalus may have been one of those mock
kings who led a short bu t merry existence b efore
a sa crifice ended their convivial career We have
analogous instances in the sacrice of Sandan at
Tarsus and that of the representative o f the Mexican
god Tezcatlipoca The legend of Sardanapalus is
thus a distorted re miniscence of the death of a
magnicent king sa cr iced in name of a god
When the real Assur bani pal s ucceeded E sar
haddon a s King of Assyria his brother Sa mas su m
u k in was created V iceroy of B abylonia but shortly
y
after he claime d the kingship itself revived the old
Sumerian language as the o fficial tongue of t h e
Babylonian court and initiate d a revolt which shook
the Assyrian e mpire fro m one en d to the other A
grea t s truggle ensued between the northern and
southern p owers and a t last B abylon wa s forced to
uk in
surrender through starva tion and Sa mus sum
y
wa s put to death
Assur bani pal like Sardanapalus his legendary
,
34
THE FI RS T G REAT LI BRARY

counterpart found hi mself surro unded by ene mies
Having conquere d Elam as we ll a s B abylonia he
had to fa ce the inroads o f hordes o f Scythians who
p oured over his frontiers He succeeded in defeating
and slaying one o f their chiefs Dug da m m e who m
in an inscription h e ca ll s a limb of Satan b ut

shortly after this he die d himself His e mpire was
already in a state of decay and had not long to stand
Th e First G r eat L ibr ar y

B ut if Assur bani pal wa s effe minate and lax in
government , he wa s the fi rs t grea t patron of literature
I t is to his magnifi cen t library at Nineveh tha t we
-
owe practically all that we have pres erved o f the

literature tha t wa s produced in B abylonia H e sa w
tha t the s outhern par t of his e mpire wa s far more
intellectual and cultured than Assyria and he de
s a t c h e d nu merous scribes to the temple schools of
p
the south wher e they copied extensively fro m their
archives every description o f literary curiosity
hymns legends medical prescriptions myths and
rituals were a ll included in the grea t library a t
These through the lab ours o f L ayard and
Nineveh
I t is a mo st
Ra ssa m have b een restore d to u s
extraord inary instance of anti quarian zeal in an
epoch which we regard a s not fa r distant fro m the
beginnings of verifiable history Nearly twenty
thousand fragments of brick b earing the res ults
of Assur bani pal s researches are house d in the

B ritish Museum and this probably represents only
a portion of his entire collection Political motives
have been a ttrib uted to Assur bani
pal in thus
bringing together such a great library I t ha s been
argued that he desired to make Assyria the cen t re
of the religious inuence o f the e mpire This wo uld
.
35
MYTH S OF BABYLO NIA AND AS SY RIA

derogate greatly from the V iew tha t sees in him a
king solely red with the idea o f preserving and
reta ining all th at wa s b est in ancient Babylonian
literature in the north a s we ll as in the s outh an d
having b eside hi m for his own p ersonal us e those
records which many circumstances prove he wa s
extre mely desirous o f ob taining Thus we nd him
sending officials on special missions to ob tain copies
o f certain works I t i s also signicant tha t Assur
bani pal pla ce d his collection in a library and not
in a te mple a fac t which discounts the theory tha t

his coll ection o f literature ha d a religious p olitical
ba sis
,
L ast King s of Ass y ria

After the dea th o f Assur bani pal the S c ythians
succeede d in p ene tra ting into Assyria through which
they pushe d their way a s far a s the b orders o f E gyp t
an d the re ma ins o f the Assyrian a rmy took refuge
in Nin eveh The end wa s n ow n ea r a t hand The
la st King of Assyria wa s probably Sin sar iskin the
Sa ra k o s of the Greeks who reign ed for some years
and who even tells us through the mediu m o f in
sc ri t ions tha t he intended to restore the ruined
p
te mple s of his land War broke ou t with Baby
lonia however and Cyax a res the Scythian King o f
E cbatana came to the assistanc e of the Babylonians
Nineveh w a s cap tured by the Scythians sacked and
destroyed and the Assyrian emp ire was a t an end
Th e
Nebuc h adr ezzar
But strangely enough the older sea t of p ower

Babylon still ourished to some extent By super
human exertions Neb ucha drezzar II (o r Ne buc h ad
ne zza r) w h o reigned for forty three years sen t the
,
36
Th e
L i br a ry
of
K i n g A s sur b ni
ne
F erna nd L e Q
-
p al
at
N i neve h
ues
By
'
{ en m sszon of
v
31 6 55 1 3
Il ulc /t m son
a nd
Co
MYTH S OF B A B YLO NIA AND A S SY RI A

b egged that the wise men o f B abylon b e not
destroyed and going to a court o fficial he o ffered
to interpret the drea m H e told the King that in
his drea m he ha d b eheld a great image whose bright
ness and form were terrible The hea d of this image
wa s of ne gold the breast and arms o f silver and
the o ther parts o f brass excepting the legs which
were o f iron and the feet which were partly of that
metal and partly o f clay But a stone wa s cast a t
it which smote the image upon its fee t and it bra ke
into pieces and the win d swept away the remnants
The stone tha t ha d smitten it b eca me a grea t moun
tain and lled the whole earth
Then Daniel proceeded to the interpreta tion The
King he said represente d the golden hea d of the
image ; the silver an inferior kingdo m which would
rise after Neb uchadrezzar s death ; and a third o f
brass which should b ear rule over a ll the earth
The fourth dynas t y fro m Nebuchadrezzar would b e
as strong as iron but since the toes o f the image s
feet were pa rtly o f iron and partly o f clay so should
that kingdo m b e partly strong and partly broken
Neb ucha drezzar was so awed with the interpretation
that he fell upon his fa ce and worshipp ed Daniel
telling him how greatly he honoured the God who
could have reveale d such secrets to him ; an d he
set him a s ruler over the whole province o f Babylon
and made him chief o f the governors over all the
w ise men of that kingdom
B u t Daniel s three co mpanions Shadrach Me
A
shach an d be dnego re fuse d to worship a golden
image which the King ha d se t up an d he commanded
that they should b e cast into a ery furnac e through
which they passe d unharmed
This c i rcu mstance still m ore turne d the hear t
,
38
D ni el i nterp rets
a
re
th e
ly n
ve
am
au l
of Neb uc h d rezz r
a
NE BU CHADREZZ A R
of Nebucha drezzar in the direction of the God of

Israel A secon d drea m which he ha d he begged
He said he ha d seen a tree in
Daniel to interpret
the midst of the earth of more than natural height
which ourishe d an d was excee dingly strong so
that it reache d to heaven So abundant was the
fruit of this tree that it provide d meat for the whole
earth and so a mple its foliage that the beasts of
the eld ha d sha dow u nder it an d the fowls of the
air dwelt in its midst A spirit descende d fro m
heaven an d called alou d de manding that the tree
should b e cut down an d its leaves an d fruit scat
t e r e d but that its roots should b e left in the earth
surrounded by a band of iron an d brass Then
ordering that the tre e shoul d b e treate d as if it
were a man the voic e of the spirit continue d to
ask tha t it should b e wet with the dew of heaven
and that its portion should b e with the beasts in
the grass of the earth
L et his heart b e change d
fro m a man s said the voice

an d let a beast s
heart b e given him ; and let seven times pass over
him
Then was Daniel greatly troubled
He kept
sil enc e for a space until the King begge d him t o
take heart an d S pea k The tree he announce d
re p resente d Nebuchadrezzar himself an d what ha d
happene d to it in the vision would co me to pass
regarding the great King of Babylon H e would b e
driven fro m a mong men and his dwelling would b e
with the beasts of the eld H e would be ma de
to eat grass as oxen and b e wet with the dew o f
heaven and seven times would pass over him till
he knew an d recognize d that the Most High rule d
in the kingdo m of man an d gave it t o whomsoever
he desired
.
39
MYTH S O F BABYLO NIA AND AS SY RI A

Twelve months after this Nebucha drezzar was
in the midst o f his palace a t Babylon boasting of
wha t he ha d accomplished during his reign when
a voice fro m heaven S pake saying
0 King
Nebucha drezza r to thee it is S poken the kingdo m
is departe d fro m thee

and straightway wa s Nebu
c h a dre zza r driven fro m man and he did eat grass a s
an ox an d his body wa s wet with the dew of heaven
till his ha ir was grown like eagle s feathers an d his
nails like b ird s claws
A t the ter mination of his time of trial Ne buch ad
rezza r lifted his eyes to heaven and praising the
Most High a dmit t e d his domination over the whole
earth Thus wa s the punishment o f the boaster
c o mplete d
I t has been state d with so me show o f probab ility
that the j udgment upon Nebuchadrezzar wa s con
ne c t e d with
that weird disease known as lycan
t h rop y
fro m the Greek words lukos a wolf an d
a nt hro os a man
I
t
develops
a
s
a
kind
of
hysteria
p
and is chara cterize d by a b elief on the part of the
victim that he h a s b eco me an animal There are
too cravings for strange food and the afflicted
p erson runs ab out on all fours Among primitive
p eoples such a seizure is a scribe d to supernatural
agency an d garlic or onion the common scourge
of va mpires is held to the nostrils
,
Th e
L ast of t h e Baby lonian K ing s

Nabonidus ( 55 5 5 39 B C ) wa s the last of the
Babylonian kings a man o f a very religious dis
position a nd of a ntiquarian tastes He desire d to
restore the temple o f the moon go d at Harran and
to restore such o f the images of the gods a s had
been re moved to the ancient shrines But rst he
-
Gr n t of Pr i ile g e s to R i tt i M r d uk f m ou s
B b ylo n i n C p t n b y N e b u c h d rez z r I
-
P lzo/u
ai
Ma xwel l
a nd
Co
40
MYTH S OF BA BYLO NIA AND AS SY RIA

beca me little b etter than a quarry out o f which
the newer city of Seleucia an d other towns wer e
bu t
Th e
H ist ory of B erossus

I t will b e of interest to exa min e a t least on e of
the ancient authorities upon B abylonian history
B e rossu s a priest of B e l at B abylon who lived about
c o mpiled from native docu ments a history of
2 50 B C
h is country which he p ublished in Greek His writings
have p erished b ut extracts fro m the m have b een
pres erved by Josephu s and E us ebius There is a
good deal of myth in B e rossu s work esp ecially when
he deals with the ques tion of c os mology the story
of the d eluge and so forth als o the facts which
he places b efore u s a s history cannot b e reconcile d
with thos e inscrib ed on the monu ments He seems
indeed to have arranged his history so that it should
exactly ll the assu med period of
years be
ginning with the creation of man and ending with
the con quest of Babylon by Alexan der the Great
1
B e r ossu s tells of a c ertain Sisu t h ru s whos e history
will b e rec ounted in full in another chapter H e
then relates a legen d of the advent of the sh man
0r sh god
O annes fro m the waters of the Persian
Gulf Indeed he alludes t o thre e b eings of this typ e
who one after another app eared to instruct the
Babylonians in arts and letters
.
Ac count of t h e Del ug e
More imp ortant is his ac coun t of the deluge
There is more than one Babylonian version of the
deluge : that which is to b e found in the Gilga mesh
Ep ic is given in the chapter dealing with that p oem
t
U N p i ht im
B er ossus
ACCO U NT O F THE DEL U G E

As B e ro ssus acc ount is quite a s i mportant we shall
give it in his own words b efore c o mmenting upon
it
After the death o f Arda t e s his son ( Sisu t h r u s)
succeeded an d reigned eighteen sari In his ti me
happened the great deluge ; the history of which is
given in this manner The Deity Cr onus appeared
to him in a vision ; a nd gave him n otic e that u p on
the fteenth day o f the month D aesiu s there wo u ld
b e a ood by which man kind would b e destroyed
He therefore enj oined him to c ommit to writing a
history of the beginning procedure and nal con
a nd
e lusion o f all things down t o the present ter m
to bury thes e accounts securely in the City of the
Sun a t Sip p a ra H e then ordered Sisu t h ru s to b uild
and t o take w ith him into it his friends
a vessel
and relations ; an d trus t h imself to the deep The
latter implicitly obeye d : an d having conveyed on
b oard every thing necessary to sustain life he took
in also all sp ecies of animals that either y or rove
upon the surfac e of the earth H aving asked the
Deity whither he was t o go he was answered To
th e gods : upon which he o ffere d u p a prayer for
the good of mankind Thus he ob eyed the divin e
admonition : an d the vessel which he bu ilt was
ve stadia in length an d in breadth two Into this
he put every thing which he had got ready an d last
of all conveye d into it his wife children and friends
After the ood ha d b een upon the earth and wa s
in time abated Sisu t h ru s s ent out some birds fro m
the vess el ; which not nding any food nor any
place t o rest their feet returned to him again After
an interval of s ome days ; he sent the m forth a
s econd time : and they n ow returned with their
feet tinged with mud He made trial a third time
with thes e birds : b ut they returned t o him no
B ERO SSUS
43
MYTH S O F BABYLO NIA AND AS SYRIA

more fro m whence he formed a j udgment that the
s urfac e of the earth wa s n ow above the waters
Having therefore made an op ening in the vess el an d
nding upon looking out that the vessel wa s driven
t o the side of a mountain he immediately q uitted
it b eing attended with his wife chil dren and the
pilot Sisut h rus immediately p aid his adoration
t o th e earth : and havi ng constructed a n alta r
o ffere d sacric es t o the gods Thes e things b eing
duly p erformed b oth Sisu t h rus and thos e who ca me
out of the vess el with him disappeared They who
r e mained in the vessel nding that the others did not
return ca me out with many la mentations and called
c ontinually on the name of Sisu t h rus Him they
sa w n o more ;
b ut they could distinguish his voic e
in the a ir and c ould hear him a dmonish the m t o
p ay du e regard t o the gods ; and likewis e inform
the m that it was u p on account of his piety tha t h e
wa s translated to live with the gods ; that h is wife
and children with the p ilot had obtained the sa me
honour To this he added that he would have
the m make the b est of their way t o Babylonia and
a ra which were t o b e
s earch for the writings at Si
pp
made known to all man kin d The plac e where thes e
things happened was in Armenia The re mainder
having heard thes e words o ffered sacri ces to the
gods ; a nd ta king a circuit jo urneyed towa rd s
Babylonia
B e rossu s a dds that the re mains of the
vessel were to b e s e en in his t ime u p on one of the
Co rc yre a n mountains in Armenia ; and that people
us ed t o scrap e off the bitu men with which it had
b een outwardly c oated and made us e of it by way
o f an antidot e for poison or a mulet In this manner
they returned t o B abylon ; and having found the
writings at Sipp ara they se t about building cities
,
44
MYTH
an d Babylon was thu s
ANALO G IE S WITH THE FLOO D

a nd
erecting t e mples
inhab ite d again
My t h
I t is interesting to note that Sisu t h rus the hero
of this deluge story wa s also the tenth Babylonian
king j ust a s Noah was the tenth patriarch The
birds s ent out by Sisut h rus strongly recall the
raven and dove despatche d by Noah ; but there
are several American myths which intro duce this
conception
Birds an d b easts in many cos mologies provide
the nucleus of the new worl d which e merges fro m
the waters which have engulfe d the old Perhaps
it is the b eaver or the musk rat which dive s into
the abyss an d brings u p a piec e of mud which
gra duall y grows into a Spacious continent ; but
so metimes birds carry this nucleus in their beaks
In the myth under consideration they return with
mud on their feet which is obviously expressive
o f the sa me idea A tte m p ts have been ma de to
show that a great difference e x ists b etween the
Babylonian an d Hebrew story U n doubte dly the
two stories have a co mmon origin
The rst B abylonian version o f the myth dates
fro m about 2 000
and its text is evidently derive d
fro m a still older tablet I t see ms likely that this
was in turn indebte d to a still more archaic version
which probably recounte d the earliest ty p e o f the
myth This perhaps relate d how the earth an d
its inhab itants were not to the liking of the Creator
an d how he resolve d to recreate the whole The
great ocean dragon was therefore calle d in to su b
merge the world after which the Creator re moulde d
it and se t the survivor an d his fa mily u p on it as the
Analog ies
w it h t h e
Flood
45
MYTH S OF BA BYLO NIA AND A S SY RIA

ancestors of a new hu man ra ce I t is possible also
that the grea t sea dragon or serpent which wa s
slain by the Creator may have ooded the earth
with h is blood as he expire d there is an Algon quin
Indian myth to this effect In an old cuneifor m
text in fact the year of the deluge is alluded to as
the yea r of the raging serpent

The wise man
who takes refuge in the ship or ark is warne d by a
drea m of the forthcoming deluge In s ome North
American Indian myths he is warne d by frien dl y
animals The mountain too as a place o f refuge
for the ark is fairly co mmon in myth
We have de a lt in Chapter I I with the creation
myth found in B e r ossus and with this ends the
part of his history which is of any imp or tance
.
Arc h aeolog y
U ntil a bout the mid dl e o f the nineteenth cen
tury our knowledge o f the history an d antiquities 0f
Ba bylonia and Assyria was extre mely scanty The
deeply interesting series of excavations which unroll e d
the circ umstances of these ancient civilizations before
the almost incre dulous eyes o f learne d E urop e are
described at length towards the close of this
volume H ere we may sa y shortly that the labours
of L ayard and B otta at Nin eveh convince d anti
that
the
remains
of
a
great
civilization
ua rie s
q
La ya r d s excavation of the
awaite d discovery
library of Assur bani pal was the rst great step
toward reconstructing the ancient life of the two
kingdoms He was followed by Op p e rt and L oftus
but the syste matic excavation of the country wa s
yet to be undertaken This as we shall see was
commence d by George Sm ith o f the B ritish Mus eum
but unfortunately he died on his way home fro m
B aby lonian
6
4
THE TO WE R OF
BA B EL
His work a t Nineveh was ta ken up by

Mr Horm uzd Ra ssa m who s ucc ee ded in unearthing
inscribe d ta bles and bron ze gates in bas relief A
few years afterwar d Mr Rassa m d iscovere d the
site of the temple of the su n god of Sip p a ra at Abu
habba to the south west of B agdad An impo rtant
nd by de Sa rze c was that of the diorite statues of
Gudea the Pa tesi or Ruler of L agash about 2 700
the stone of which according to the inscriptions
B C
upon them ha d been brought fro m the Sinaitic
p eninsula
The university of Pennsylvania sent
H H aynes in 1 8 89 to excavate at Nippur
Mr
where he unearthed the re mains of the great te mple
of En lil in the heart o f which is a mo u nd of bricks
sta mp e d with the na mes of Sargon of Akka d and his
Nara m sin
The German expedition of 1 899
son
explored the ruins o f B abylon the p alac e of Neb u
c h a dre zza r and the sit e of Asshur
the East
Th e
T ow er of B abel
Many atte mpts have b een ma de to attach the
legend of the confusion of tongues to certain ruine d
towers in Babylonia especially to that of E
Sa g ila
the grea t te mple of Merodach and so me re marks
upon this most interesting tale may not b e out o f
place a t this point The myth is not fo u nd in
B abylonia itself and in its b est form may b e dis
covere d in S cripture In the B ible story we are
told that every region was of one tongue an d mo de
of sp eech As men j ourneye d westward fro m their
original home in the East they encountere d a plain
in the lan d of Shinar where they settled In this
region they commence d bu ilding op erations con
structed a city an d laid the foundations of a tower
the summit of which they hope d would reach to
,
47
MYTH S
O F BAB YLO NIA AND AS S Y RI A
heaven itself I t woul d appea r that th i s edi c e

was constructe d with the obj ect of serving a s a
great landmark to the people so that they should
not b e scattere d over the face of the earth an d the
L ord ca me down to view the city an d the towe r an d
he considere d that as th ey were all o f one language
this gave the m undue power an d tha t what they
i magine d to the mselves under such conditions they
would b e able to achieve So the L ord scattered
the m abroa d fro m thenc e over the fac e of every
region and the bu ilding o f the tower c eas ed and
the name of it was calle d Bab el b ecaus e a t that
plac e the single language of the people wa s confounded
Of cours e it is merely the native name of Babylon
which translate d means gat e of the god an d has
n o s uch etymology as the Scriptures pretend the
Hebrews con fusing their verb ba la l t o con fuse or
confound with the word ba bel The s tory was
n o doub t suggeste d by one of the te mple t owers
o f B abylon
O ver an d over again we nd in
connexion with the J ewish religion that anything
which savours of presu mption or unnatural aspira
tion is strongly condemned The a mbitious e ffort
of the Tower of Bab el would thus see m abhorrent
to th e Hebrews of old The s trange thing is tha t
these ancient t owers or zik/eura ts as the Babylonians
ca lled them were intende d to s erve as a lin k b etween
heaven an d earth j ust a s does the minaret of the
Maho mmedan mos que
The legen d of the confusion of tongues is to b e
tra ce d in other folk lores than that of Babylon I t
is foun d in Central America where the story runs
that Xe lh ua one of the s even giants rescue d fro m
the deluge built the great pyra mid of Cholula in
o rder to b esiege heaven The structure w as h ow
.
8
4
NI MRO D
THE MI G HTY H U NTER

ever destroye d by the gods who cast down re u p on
it and con founded the language of its b uilders
L ivingston e found s ome s u ch myth a mong the African
tribes aroun d L ake Ngami an d c ertain Australian
and Mongolian p eoples p ossess a similar tradition
,
Mig h t y H unt er
I t is strange that the dis p ersion of trib es at B ab el
should b e connecte d with the na me of Nimrod
who gures in B iblical as well as B abylonian tradi
tion a s a mighty hunter Ep ip h a niu s states tha t
fro m the very foundation of this c ity ( B abylon )
there c ommenced an immediate s cene of conspiracy
s edition and tyranny which wa s carried on by
A round this
Nimrod the son of Chus the ZEt h iop
dim legendary gure a great deal of learned c ontro
B efore we exa mine his legendary
v e rsy has raged
and mythological signicanc e let u s se e what legend
and Scripture say of him In the Boo k o f Gen esis
he is mentioned a s
a mighty
( chap x 8
hunter b efore Yahweh : where fore it is said E ven
as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the L ord
He was also the ruler of a great kingdom

The
beginning of his kingdo m was B ab el and E rech
and A ccad an d Calneh in the lan d of Shinar O ut of
that land went forth A sshur ( that is by c o mpulsion
of Nimrod) and builded Nineveh an d other grea t

c ities In the Scriptures Nimrod is mentioned a s
a descendant of Ha m but this may arise fro m the
rea ding of his father s name a s Cur /3 which in the
The na me may
Script u res indicates a c oloured rac e
possibly b e Cas h and should relate to the Cassi tes
I t app ears then that the sons of Cush or Chus
the Cassites according to legend did n ot parta ke
of the general division of the hu man rac e a fter the
Nim rod
the
49
MYTH S O F B A B YLO NIA AND AS SY RIA

fall of Bab el but under the leadership of Nimrod
hims elf remained where they were After the disp er
s ion Nimro d built B abylon and fortied the territory
around it I t is also said that he built Nineveh
and trespassed upon the land of Asshur so that
1
at last he force d A sshur to quit that territory
The Greeks gave him the name of Nebrod or Nebros
and p reserved or invented many tales c oncerning
hi m and his apostasy an d c oncerning the tower
which he is suppose d to have erec ted He is de
scribe d as a gigantic p erson of mighty b earing
an d a contemn er of everything divine his followers
a re represented as b eing e qually p res um p tuous an d
overbearing In fact he seems to have app eared to
the Greeks very much like on e of their own Titans
Nimrod has b een identied b oth with Merodach
the tut elar god of Babylon an d with Gilga mesh
the her o of the epic of that name with O rion and
with others The na me according to Petrie has
even b een found in Egyp tian docu ments of the
XX I I Dynasty as Ne ma rt
Nimrod s ee ms to b e on e of thos e giants who rage
against the gods a s do the Titans o f Greek myth
an d the Jotunn of Scandinavian s to ry All are
in fact earth gods the disorderly forces of nature
who were defeate d by the deities who s too d for
law and order The derivation of the name Nimrod
may mean rebel
I n all his later legends for
instanc e thos e of the m that are related by Ph ilo in
his De Gzga nt zbur (a title which p roves that Nimro d
was c onn ected with the giant rac e by tradition )
This p ss ge h
h ow ever been i nte prete d by som e Biblic l
sch ol rs t o m e n th a t N im ro d w en t ut o f th is l nd i nto A sh ur
nd bu i lt N i neveh
Bry nt Ant im t Mytbol gy
S
( or Assyr ia
ol v i pp 1 1 2 3
9
,
as,
0
5
ee
A BRAM AND NI MRO D

he app ears a s treacherous and untrustworthy The
theory that he is Merodach ha s no real founda tion
either in s cholarship or probability As a matter
of fact the Nimrod legend se ems t o b e very much
more archaic than any p iec e of tradition c onnecte d
with Merodach who indeed is a god of no very grea t
ant i q u i ty
.
Abr am
Nim r od
and
Many Jewish legends bring Abra m into relation

shi p with Ni mrod the mythical King of Babylon
A ccording to legend Abra m wa s originally an
idolater an d many stories are preserve d respecting

his conversion Jewish legend states that the F ather
of the F aithful originally followe d his father Terah s
occupation which was that of ma king and selling
images of clay ; and that when very young he
a dvise d his father

to leave his pernicious tra de
of idolatry by which he impose d on the world

The Jewish Rabbins relate tha t on one occasion
his father Tera h having undertaken a considerable
j ourney the sale of the images devolve d on him
and it happene d tha t a man who pretende d to be a
p urchaser aske d him how old he was

F ifty years
answere d the Patriarch

Wretch that thou art
said the man for a doring at that age a thing which
Abra m wa s astonishe d ;
is only one day old !
and the excla mation of the old man ha d such an
effect upon him that when a woman soon after
brought so me our a s an offering to one of the idols
he took an axe and broke the m to pieces preserving
only the largest one into the hand of which he put
the axe Terah returne d ho me and in quire d what
this havoc meant Abra m replie d tha t the deities
had q uarrelle d a bout an o ffering which a woman had
,
SI
MYTHS OF BAB YLO NIA AND A S SY RIA

brought upon which the larger one ha d s eize d an
axe and destroyed the others Terah replie d that
he m u st be in j est as it was impossible that inani
mate s tatues could so act ; and Abra m i mme diately
retorte d on his father his own wor ds showing him
the a bsurdity of worshipping fals e deities B ut
Terah who does not appear to have b een convince d
delivere d Abra m to Nimro d who then dwelt in
the Plain of Shinar where Bab y lon was b uilt Nim
rod having in vain exhorte d Abra m to worship
re ordere d him to b e thrown into a burning fur
nace exclaiming
L et your Go d co me an d ta ke
you o ut
A s soon a s Haran Abra m s youngest
brother sa w the fate o f the Patriarch he resolve d
to confor m to Nimrod s religion ; but when he sa w
his brother co me out of the re unhurt he declare d
for the God of Abra m which caused him to be

thrown in turn into the furnace and he was consu me d
A certain writer however narra tes a di fferent version
o f Ha ra n s death He says tha t he endeavoured
to snatch Terah s idols fro m the a mes into which
they ha d been thrown by Abra m an d was burnt
to death in conse quence
,
Per sian
Version
The Persian Mussulmans allege that the Patriarch

who wa s born in Chaldea after Go d ha d mani
proceeded to Mecca and
fe st e d himself to him
b uilt the celebrate d Kaaba or te mple there When
he returne d ho me he publicly declare d himself
the Prophet of God an d specially announce d it to
Ni mr o d K ing of Chaldea who was a worshipper of
re Abra m met Nimro d a t a town in Mesopo
ta mia ca lle d Urga afterwards Ca ra m it and now
Diarbekr in which was a large temple consecrate d
52
A PE RSIAN V ERS IO N
to re an d publicly entreate d the King to renounce
Nimro d
h is idolatry an d worship the true Go d
consulte d his wise men an d in quire d what punish
ment such a blasphe mer deserved an d they a dvise d
that he should b e consigne d to the a mes A pile
o f woo d was ordere d to be prepare d and A bra m
wa s pla ce d upon it b ut to their astonishment it
would not kindle
Nimro d aske d the priests the
caus e o f this pheno menon an d they replie d that
an angel wa s constantly ying about the pile an d
preventing the woo d fro m burning The King aske d
how the angel could be driven away an d they replie d
that it could only be done by so me drea dful rite
Their a dvice was followe d b ut the angel still persisted
and Nimro d a t length banished Abra m fro m his
do minions
The Mussulmans also relate tha t the King ma de
war against the Patriarch an d when he wa s marching
against him he sent a per son to him with this message
O Abra m ! it is now time to ght ; where
is thy army !
A bra m answere d
I t will co me
i mmediately ;
and imme diately there a pp eare d
an i mmense sundarkening clo u d of gnats which
devoure d Nimrod s soldiers to the very bones
A nother tradition is preserve d in the Ea st
S pecially referring t o the casting of A bra m into
a ery furnace a t B abylon by order of Nimrod
which s ee ms t o b e a c orrupte d story of the deliver
ance of the thre e Hebrews recorded by Daniel
Nimrod merely sub s titute d for Nebuchadrezzar
a s n o evidenc e exists that A bra m ever wa s a t
Babylon
it is said
in a drea m sa w
Nimrod
a star rising above the horizon the light of which
eclip sed tha t of the sun The s oothsayers who
wer e c onsulte d foretold that a child wa s t o b e bor n
,
53
MYTH S OF BA B YLO NIA AND A SS Y RIA

in Babylon who shortly would b eco me a great
princ e and that he (Nimrod) ha d reason to fear
him Terried a t this answer Nimrod gave orders
t o s earch for such an infant Notwithstanding this
precaution however Adna the wife of Azar on e
of Nimrod s guards hid her child in a cave the
mouth of which sh e diligently closed an d when sh e
returned sh e told her husband that it had p erished
A dna in the meantime proceeded regularly to
the cave to nurs e the infant but sh e always found
him suckling the ends of his ngers on e of which
furnishe d him milk and the other honey This
miracle surprise d her and a s her anxiety for the
child s welfare wa s thu s greatly relieved an d a s
that Heaven had undertaken the care
sh e
saw
from
sh e merely satise d herself with visiting him
time t o t ime She soon p erc eived that he grew a s
much in three days a s common children do in a
month so that fteen moons ha d scarc ely passe d
b e fore he appeare d a s if he were fteen years of age
A dna n ow t old her husband Azar that the son of
who m sh e ha d been delivered an d who m sh e ha d
reporte d dead was living and that God ha d pro
Azar went
v ide d miraculously for his sub sistence
i mme diately to the cave where he foun d his son
an d desire d his mother t o convey him t o the city
a s he wa s resolved to present him to Nimrod and
plac e him ab ou t the c ourt
In the evening A dna brought him forth out of
his den an d conducted him to a meadow where
herds of cattle were feeding This wa s a sight
entirely new to the young Abram who wa s in quisi
t ive to learn their nature and wa s informed by his
mother of their names u ses and qualities Abra m
c ontinu e d his in quiries and desired to know wh o
,
54
MYTH S O F B AB YLO NIA AND A S S Y RIA
p ossible
replied Abra m
that he S hould be
their God s inc e he is not so b eautiful an d c onse
quently n ot so p erfect as the generality of thos e
a bout him
Abra m now too k an opportunity of c onversing
with his father ab out the unity of God which after
wards drew him int o great contests with the prin
c i al men of Nim ro d s c ou rt who would by n o means
p
a c q uiesc e in the truths he declared Nimrod in
forme d of thes e disp utes c ommanded him a s we
have already mentioned t o b e thrown into a burning
furnace out of which he ca me withou t receiving the
leas t hurt
,
Th e
B aby lonic a
F ragments of Babylonian history
o r rather
historical ro mance o ccur in the writings of early
a uthors other than B e rossu s O ne o f thes e is to
b e foun d in the B a bylonica o f Ia m blic h us a work
e mbracing no less than sixteen books by a native
o f Ch alc h is in C oele Syria who w a s much ena moure d
o f the mysterious ancient life of Babylonia and
A ssyria and who die d about A D 333 All that
re mains of what is palpably a ro mance which may
have been founde d upon historical probability is
an epito me of the B a bylonica by Photius which
still further condensed is as follows
Attracte d by her beauty and relying on his own
grea t power Ga rm us King of B abylon decide d
to mari y Sinonis a mai den of surpassing beauty
Sh e however was alrea dy in love with another
Rh o da ne s and discourage d Ga r m u s every a dvance
Her atta chment beca me known to the King b ut
did not alter his determination an d to prevent
the possibility o f any attempt at ight on the p art
,
56
T H E BA B YLO NICA
of the lovers he appointe d two eunuchs Da mas
and Saca to watch their m ovements Th e penalty
for negligence was loss o f c a rs a nd nose a nd that
penalty the eunuchs su ffered In spite o f their
close vigilance the lovers escaped
Da ma s and
Sa ca were however place d at the hea d o f t roop s
and despatche d to recapt u re the fugitives Their
relentless search was not the lovers only anxiety for
in seeking refuge with so me shepherds in a mea dow
they encountere d a de mon a satyr which in the
shape o f a goat haunte d tha t part of the country
This de mon to Sinonis horror began to pay he r
all sorts o f weird fantastic attentions a nd nally
co mpelle d her and Rh o da ne s to abandon the pro
t e c t ion of the S hepherds for the conceal men t o ffere d
by a cavern Here they were discovere d by Da ma s
and his forces and must have been capture d bu t
for the o p portun e a rrival and attac k of a swarm o f
p oisonous bee s which ro ute d the eunuchs When
the runaways were alone again they taste d an d ate
so me o f the bees honey and almost immediately
lost consciousness L a ter Da ma s again a ttacke d
the cavern but nding the lovers still unconscious
he an d his troop s le ft the m there for dea d
I n time however they recovere d and continue d
their ight into the co u ntry A man who a fterward
p oisoned his brother an d a ccuse d the m o f the crime
offere d the m sanctuary O nly the suicide o f this
man save d the m fro m seriou s trouble an d probably
reca p ture and fro m his ho u s e they wandere d int o
the co mpa ny of a robber Here again the troops o f
Da ma s ca me u p on the m and burne d their dwelling
to the ground I n desperation the f ugitives ma s
u
e ra de d a s the ghosts o f the people the robb er
q
ha d murdere d in his house Their rus e succeeded
,
57
MYTH S O F BA B YLO NIA AND AS S Y RIA

and once again their pursuers were thrown off the
scent They next encountered the funeral of a young
girl and witnessed her apparent return to life almost
at the door of the sepulchre In this s ep ulchre
Sinonis and Rh oda ne s slep t that night and once
more were believe d to be dea d by Da mas an d his
soldiers L a ter however Si monis tried to dispose
of their grave clothes an d wa s arreste d in the a ct
Sora c c h us the magistrate of the district decided to
send her to Babylon In despair sh e and Rh oda ne s
took so me p oison with which they had provide d
the mselves against such a n e mergency This ha d
been anticipated by their g u ards however with
the result that a S leeping draught had been sub
stitute d for the poison and so me time later the
lovers to their a maze ment awoke to n d the mselves
in the vicinity of Babylon O verco me by such a
succession of misfortunes Sinonis stabbed herself
though not fatally Sorac c h u s on learning this w as
moved to co mpassion and consente d to the es cape of
his prisoners
After this the lovers e mbarke d on a new series
of a dventures even more thrilling than those which
ha d gone b efore The Te mple of Venus ( Ishtar)
situate d on an island of the Euphrates was their
rst destination a fter escaping fro m the captivity
of Sora c c h u s H ere Sinonis wound was healed
and afterward they sought refuge with a cot tager
whose da u ghter consented to dispose o f so me trinkets
belonging to Sinonis In doing so the girl wa s
mista ken for Sinonis and news that Sinonis ha d
been seen in the neighbourhood was sent at onc e
to Garm us Wh ile selling the trinkets the cottage
girl ha d beco me so alarmed by the suspicious ques
tions and manner of t h e purchasers that she hurried
.
58
Th e
Murder of S t
E l
P l
e ap o
ve
yn
au
T H E B A B YLO NI C A
home with all possible speed O n her way ba ck her
c uriosity was excited by sounds of a great dist u rbance
issuing fro m a house har d by and on entering sh e
wa s appalled to discover a man in the very act of
taking his life after murdering h is mistress Terried
and S prin kled with blood sh e S pe d back to her father s
house O n hearing the girl s story Sinonis realise d
that the safety o f herself and Rh oda ne s lay only in
ight They prepared at once to go but before
starting Rh oda ne s kissed the peasant girl Si monis
discovering what he ha d done by the blood on his
lips beca me furious with j ealousy In a transport
of rage S he tried to stab the girl and on being pre
vented rushed to the house of Se t a p o a wealth y
Babylonian of evil repute Se t a p o welcome d her
only too c ordially A t rst Sinonis pretended to
meet his mood but a s time went by sh e relented of
her treatment of Rh o da nes and b egan to cast about
for s ome means of escap e
AS the evening wore
on sh e plied Se t a p o with wine until he was int ox i
then during the night sh e murdered him
c at ed
an d in the rst ea rly dawn left the hous e The
slaves of Se t ap o purs u ed and overtook her how
ever an d committed her t o custody t o answer for
her crime
All Babylon rej oice d with its king over the n ews
of Sinonis discovery So great w a s Garm us delight
that he commanded that all the prisoners throughout
his dominions should b e released and in this general
b oon Sinonis shared Meanwhile the dog of Rhod
ane s had scented o ut the hou s e in which the p easant
girl ha d witnessed the suicide of the lover who ha d
murdered his mistress and while the animal wa s
devouring the remain s of the woman the father of
Thinking the
Si monis arrive d at the sa me house
.
59
MYTH S OF BA B YLO NIA AND AS SY RIA

mutilated b ody wa s that of his daughter h e buried
it and on the tomb he plac ed the inscription :
H ere lie s the b eautiful Sinonis

Some days lat er
Rh oda ne s passe d that way and on reading the
i nscription a dded t o it
A nd also the b eautiful
Rh odane s
In his grie f he would have stabb ed
hims elf had not the p easant girl who had b een the
caus e of Si monis j ealousy prevented him by telling
him wh o in reality wa s buried there
During thes e a dventure s Sora c c h u s ha d b een
imprisoned for allowing the lovers to e scap e an d
this a dded t o the threa t of furth er punishment
induc ed him t o hel p the Babylonian o i c e rs t o trac e
Rh o da ne s So in a Short time Rh o da ne s wa s p risoner
onc e again an d b y the c ommand o f Ga rm u s wa s
nailed t o a cros s I n sight of him the King dance d
deliriou s with revengefu l j oy an d while he wa s so
engage d a messenger arrive d with the news tha t
Sinonis wa s a b o u t t o b e e sp oused by the King of
Syria into whose dominion s sh e had escap ed
Rh o
danes wa s taken down fro m the c ross and pu t in
c omman d of the Babylonian army This see ming
change of fortun e wa s really dictated by the trea chery
of Ga rm u s a s certain in ferior officers were c o mmanded
by Ga rm u s t o slay Rh oda ne s should he defeat the
Syrians an d t o bring Sinonis alive t o Babylon
Rh o da ne s won a sweep ing victory and also regaine d
the affection an d trust of Sinonis Th e o ffic er s
o f Ga r m u s instea d of ob eying his c ommand pro
claime d the victor king an d all ende d au sp ic iously
for the lovers
,
Wr it ing
The ma nner in which the ancient c un e i form writing
of Bab ylonia and A ssyri a w a s deci p hered and restored
Cuneiform
60
MYTH S OF BA B YLO NIA AND A S SY RIA

distinctly the authors of the inscriptions b efore him
He too indep endently identied the obliqu e w edge
a s a s eparative of words and hit upon the signicanc e
of the S ign for the letter b
But after these
a chieve ment s it seemed a s if little more could b e
d on e I t must b e re me mb ered that up to this time
n o such a ssistance wa s vouchsafed the searchers a s
in th e case of the E gyptian hieroglyphs where a
Gre e k inscrip tion had be en found side by side with
an E gyp tian one
G r ot efend
B ut a man of the greatest natural ingenuity was

resolve d to co mbat the di fficulty presente d by the
c u neiform script Georg Grot e fe nd took u p the
task in the early years o f the nineteenth century
B eginning with the assu mption that the inscriptions
represente d three languages and that one o f thes e
was ancient Persian he took two of the inscriptions
which he understood to b e Persian and placing the m
side by Side found tha t certain signs were of fre quent
recurrence This indicated to him the possibility
that their contents were similar A certain word
appear e d very fre quently in the inscriptions but
it see med to have two forms a longer and a shorter
and this Gro t e fe nd adopting a suggestion of Munter s
took to mean king in the short form and kings
in the longer the j uxtaposition of the two signs
thus being taken to signify king of kings
In
both the inscriptions studied by Grot e fe nd he found
tha t this expression king of kings was followed
by the sa me word which he took to mean great
B u t there were no denite facts to s u pport these
hypotheses Turning to certain Sassanian inscriptions
which ha d recently been deciphered he found tha t
.
62
G ROTEFEN D
the expression great king king of kings ine v it

ably occurred and this strengthened his Opinion
that it was present in the inscriptions he studied
I f this was so tho ught he the two texts under his
observation must have been se t up by two different
k ing s for the na mes were not the sa me at the beginning
Moreover the na me with which text No I began
appears in the third line of text No I I following
the word supposed to be king an d another which
might mean son Grot e fe nd thus concl u ded that
i n the two inscri p tions he had the na mes of a tria d
of rulers son father and grandfather A pplying
to the list of the Ac h ae ne nia n dynasty in the atte mpt
to nd three na mes which would suit the conditions
he selected those of Xer x es Darius and Hyst a Sp e s
Supposing the na me at the beginning of inscription I
to b e Darius he thus considere d himself to be j ustied
in translating text I as Darius grea t king king of
kings son of Hyst a sp e s and text I I a s X erxes
great king king o f kings son of Darius

Considering
that the Persian S pelling of Dariu s wo u ld be Da r
h e ush he applie d the letters o f that na me to the
letters of the cuneiform script Su bseq u ent investi
a t ion ha s shown that the na me sho u ld have been
g
rea d Da rya v u sh bu t Gro t e fe nd a t least succeede d
in discovering the letters for d
a
r and
,
sh .
But this was practically the en d of Gro t e fe nd s

discoveries Burnou f by a caref ul study of Persian
geographical names managed to decipher a large
nu mber of the characters of the Persian alphabet
and Professor L assen of Bonn by similar means
achieved a like end These two independent a chieve
ments raised a erce controversy as to priority of
discover Y but L assen s sy ste m was the more Pe r fe c t
63
MYTH S OF B A B YL O NIA AND A S SY RIA

a s he found out that the ancient Persian signs were
not entirely alphabetic but were partially syll abic
that is that certain signs represente d syllables
instea d of letters This meant that Grot e fe nd s
syste m which ha d been almost vowelless wa s now
to a great extent lled in with the necessary vowels
,
Raw linson
At this j uncture
a certain Maj or Henry R awlinson

a servant of the East India Co mpany with a good
knowledge of Persian went t o Persia for the purpos e
o f assisting to organize the native army there He
was far away fro m books and when he began to copy
certain cuneiform texts it was because of deep personal
interest He was quite unaware of the strenuous toil
which ha d been lavished u pon the m in Europe an d
worked quite independently of all assistance The
strange thing is that he labo ured almost on the sa me
lines as Grot e fe nd ha d done He sa w al most a t
once that he ha d three languages to deal with and
b eing a ma n of great natural gifts he soon grouped
the signs in a correct manner Strangely enough he
a pplied the very sa me na mes those of Hyst asPe s

Darius an d X erxes to the texts a s Grot e fe nd ha d
done and found the m answer in the sa me manner
Turning his a ttention to the inscription of Darius
a t B ehistun high up in the fa ce o f the living wall o f
rock there R awlinson succeeded in copying part of
it at great personal risk In 1 8 38 he forwarded his
translation of the rst two paragraphs of the Pe r
sian text containing the genealogy of Darius to the
The feat ma de
Royal Asiatic Society of L ondon
a tre mendo u s sensation and he was supplie d with
all the principal works on the subj ect and much
correspondence fro m E uropean scholars He was
64
RA W LI N SO N
however patience personi ed and would not publish

a work he had written on the subj ect because he
thought it better to wait until he had veried his
conclusions and perhaps made fresh discoveries
But in 1 840 he was despa tched to A fghanistan on a
p olitical mission and did not return to Bagda d for
three years and it was not until 1 846 that he p ub
lish e d a series of memoirs in the your na l of the Royal
Asiatic Society in which he gave to the world a
translation of the Persian text at Behistun I t
was a marvellous achieve ment for unlike those
who had been labouring on the subj ect in E urope
he was ignorant o f the languages allied to Persian
yet he had surpassed all other s cholars in his
results
B ut the deciphering of the s econd and third
languages ha d ye t to b e atta cked I n
Wester
gaard working on the lines of Grot e fe nd atta cke d
the second language He selecte d the na mes of
Darius Hyst a Sp e s and X erxes and co mpare d the m
with their e quivalents in the Persian texts By
this means he discovered a nu mber of signs and
by their aid a tte mpte d to S pell out the syllables or
words Judging the writing to b e partly alphab etic
and partly syllabic he gave the na me Median to the
language Morris w h o ha d Rawlinson s copy of the
second transcription of the B ehist u n text to work
upon deciphered nearly all o f it Shortly a fter this
the lang uage was na med Susian The deciphering o f
the third of the three languages fo u n d at Persepolis
was attacke d by L owenstern and by the Re v
E dward H inks an Irish clergyman This language
was Assyrian purely H inks was fearful of making
blunders a nd whils t he was engaged in assuring
himself that every step he took was not a false one
,
,
,
65
MY TH S
A S S Y RIA
Longp ri e r publishe d in 1 847 a translation of the
entire text He was only able to read it by
a nalogy with the other texts ; he could not provide
the forms of the Assyrian words the mselves B ut
Rawlinson once more ca me to the aid of the Study
and it was shown that a large nu mber of signs were
ideographic This paved the way for a band of o thers
who by their unite d e fforts succeeded in unravelling
the complicated script
O F B A B YLO NIA A ND
Or ig in of Cuneiform
This pec u liar syste m of writing originated in
Babylonia its inventors being the Su merian or non
Se mitic people Vh O inhabite d that country before
its settlement by the Babylonians I t was developed
fro m picture writing and indeed some of the more
highly signicant of the pictorial signs can still
b e faintly tra ce d in their cuneifor m e quivalents
This early picture writing was inscribe d on stone
b ut eventually soft clay was a dopte d as a mediu m
for the script and it wa s found that straight lines
impressed upon this mediu m tended to the shape of
a wedge The pictures therefore lost their original
character and ca me to b e mere conventional groups
of wedges The pl u ral was represented by doubling
the sign and a term might be intensied by the
a ddition of a certain S troke thus the Sign for house
if fo u r s mall strokes were added to it would mean
great house and so forth The script wa s badly
suited to the A ssyrian language as it had not b een
originally designed for a Semitic tongue I t consists
of Simple syllables ma de up of a vowel by itself
or a vowel and a consonant ideogra ms or signs
which express an entire word and closed syllables
s uch a s bit or ba l A gain many of the signs have
,
66
THE S A CRED LITE RAT U RE O F B A B YLO NIA

more than one syllabic value and they may b e
used as ideogra ms a s well a s phonetically A s in the
Egyptian script determinatives are e mploye d to indi
cate the class to which the word belongs : thus a
certain sign is placed before the na mes of e rsons
another b efore territorial na mes and a thir b efore
the na mes of gods and sacre d b eings The date
of the epoch in which this writing rst began to b e
use d wa s probably ab out 4500 B C and it persisted
until the rst century B C The Assyrians e mployed
it fro m abo u t 1 500 B C u ntil ab out the beginning of
the sixth century B C This ancient for m of writing
was thus used rst by the Su merians then by their
Babylonian and A ssyrian con querors then by those
Persians who nally overthrew the Babylonian and
A ssyrian e mpire
,
Th e
Sa
L it er at ure of B aby l onia

The literature which this peculiar and individual
script has brought down to u s is chiey religious
magical epical and legendary The last three cate
rie s are dealt with elsewhere
so tha t it only fall s
o
g
here to consider the rst class the religio u s writings
These are u sually co mposed in Se mitic B abylonian
without any trace of A kkadian inuence and it
cannot be said that they display any especial natural
eloquence or literary distinction In an address
to the sun god which begins nobly enough with a
high apostrophe to the golden lu minary of day we
nd ourselves descending gra d u ally into an a t mos
u dicro u s dullness
of
al
most
l
The
person
h
e re
p
praying desires the sun go d to free him fro m the
commonplace cares o f fa mily and do mestic annoy
a nc e s enu merating spells against all of his relative s
in order that they may not place their ban upon
c r ed
67
MYTH S O F BA B YLO NIA AND A S SY RIA

him In another written in A kkadian the penitent
addresses Guba rra Merodach and other gods de
siring tha t they direct their eyes kin dl y upon him
and that his sup p lication may reach the m Strangely
enough the prayer fervently pleads that its utterance
may do good t o t he gods that it may let their hearts
rest their livers be quieted and gla dden the m like
a father and a mother who have begotten children
This is not so s trange when we co me to consider
the nature of these hymns many o f which co me
perilously near the border line of pure magic tha t
is they closely rese mble spells
We nd too that
those which invoke the older deities such as Gibi the
r e god are more magical in their trend than thos e
addressed to the later gods when a higher sense of
religious feeling had probably b een evolved
In
d eed it does not see m too much to sa y tha t so me of
thes e early hymns may have served the pur p os e of
later incantations Most of tho se magical hymns
appear to have e manate d fro m that extre mely
ancient sea t of religion E ridu and are probably
relics of the time when a s yet magic and religion
were scarcely di fferentiate d in the priestly or the
popular mind
.
H y m n t o Adar
A n e hymn t o Adar describes the rumbling of the
s torm in the abys s the voic e of th e god
Th t er o f t h sple ndou r o f Ann in t h mids t o f h e v n
,
r r o
The gods it is said urge A dar on he descends like

the deluge the champion of the gods swoops down
upon the host ile lan d Nusku the mess enger of
Mul lil receives Adar in the t emple and addresses
words of praise to him
,
68
C H APT E R II
C O SMO G O NY
B ABY LO NI AN
My t h of Cr eation
EW c reation myths are more replet e with
interest than thos e which have literary
sanction Thes e are few in nu mb er as fo r
exa mple the creation story in Genesis those to b e
foun d in E gyptian papyri an d that contained in
the P ap al Va l) of the Maya of Central America
In such an acc o u nt we can trac e the creation story
fro m the rst dim conception of world shaping t o
the polished an d nal e ffort of a priestly caste to
give a the ological int erpretation to the intentions of
the creative deity and this is perhaps more the cas e
with the creation myth which ha d its ris e a mong the
old A kkadian population of Babylonia than with
any other known t o mythic s cience In the a ccount
in Genesis of the framing of the world it has b een
discovered that two di fferent versions have b een
fus ed t o for m a s ingle s tory ; the creation tale
of the Popol Va l) is certainly a c omposite myth ;
and S imilar s uspicions may rest upon the analogous
myths of Scandinavia an d Japan But in the cas e
of Babylonia we may b e convinc ed that n o other
inu ences except thos e of the races who inhabite d
Babylonian territory could have been brought t o
b ear upon this ancient story an d that although
c ritical exa mination has proved it to consis t of
materials which have b een drawn from more than
one s ource yet these sources are not foreign and
they have not undergone s ophist ication at the hands
of any alien mythographer or inter p olator
I t wo u ld s ee m that this B abylonian cosmogony was
drawn from various sources b ut it appears to b e c on
Th e Baby lonian
'
70
THE BI RTH OF THE G O DS

t a ined in it s nal form in what are known as the
Seven Ta blets o f Creatio n brought fro m the library
of Ass ur b ani pal at Nineveh a nd now in the B ritish
Museu m Thes e have from time to time been supple
m e nt e d by later nds but we may take it that in
this record we have the nal o fficial develop ment
of Babylonian b elief du e to the priests of Babylon
after that city had b ecome the metrop olis of the
empire The primary obj ect of the Seven Tablets
was to record a terric ght between B el a nd the
Dragon an d the account of the creation is insert ed
by way of introduction It is undoubtedly the mos t
important nd dealing with Babylonian religion
that has a s yet co me to light B efore we a dvanc e
any critical S peculations resp ecting it let us se t
forth the story which it has to tell
As in so many creation myths we nd chaotic
darkness b rooding over a waste of waters ; heaven
and earth wer e no t a s yet Na u ght existed save
1
the primeval ocea n Mo m m u Tia w a t h from who s e
fert ile depths ca me every living thing Nor were the
waters distributed a s in the days of man into se a
river ; or lake but all were c onned together in on e
vast an d b ottomless abyss Neither did god or
man exist : their names were unknown an d their
des tinies undetermined The future was as dark as
the gloom which lay over the mighty gulf of chaos
Nothing had b een designed or de bated concerning it
,
Th e Bir t h
G ods
f the
B ut ther e ca me a stirring in the darkness and th e

great gods aros e First ca me L ahm u and La h a m e ;
an d many epochs later A nsar and Kisar ; component
p art s of whose na mes signify Host of Heaven
Anoth e sp elli ng i T i m t
.
7X

and Host of Earth
Thes e latter names we may
perhaps accep t as symb olical of the spirit s of h e aven
and of earth respectively Many days afterward
came forth their son A nu god of the heavens
At this p oint it sho u ld be explained that the na me
Tia w a t h a ffords a parallel t o the expression T hom
or deep of the O ld Testa ment Practicall y the
sa me word is u sed in A ssyrian in the form Ta mtu
1
to signify the deep se a
The reader will recall
tha t it was upon the face of the deep that the spirit
of God brooded according t o the rst chapter of
Genesis The word a nd the idea which it c ontain s
are e qually Semitic but strangely en ough it has an
A kka dian origin F or the conception that the watery
a bys s was the s ource of a ll things originate d with
the worshippers of the se a
god E a a t Eridu They
termed the dee p apsu or a house of knowledge
wherein their tutelar god was supposed t o have his
dwelling an d this word was o f A kkadian descent
This a ps u or abyss ; in virtu e of the animistic
ideas prevailing in early A kkadian t im es h a d b ecom e
pers onalized a s a fe male who was regarde d as the
mother of E a She was kn own by another na me as
well as that of Ap su for sh e was als o entitled Ziga r un
the heaven or the mother that has b egotten
heaven an d earth
and indeed sh e see ms to have
had a form or variant in which she was an earth
goddess a s well But it was n ot the existing earth or
heaven tha t sh e re resented in either of her forms
bu t the primeval ahyss out of which b oth of thes e
were fashioned
A t this point the narrative exhibits numerous
defects an d for a c ontinuation of it we must apply
to Da ma sc ius the last of the Neoplaton ists who was
Sa yc e Hibbe t L ct u s p 374
72
re
THE BI RTH O F TH E G O DS
b orn in Da mascu s about A D 480 an d who is re
garde d by most Assyriologists as having ha d a ccess
to valuable written or traditional material H e wa s
the author of a work entitled Doubts a nd Solut ions
of t he F irst P r inc ip les in which he states that Ann
was followed by Bel (we retain the Babylonian
form of the na mes rather than Da m a sc iu s Greek
Fro m E a and
titles ) and E a the god of Eridu
w a s b orn a son ca ll ed B elo s

Daw k ina he writes
or B el Merodach whom the Babylon ians regarded
as the creator of the world

Fro m Da ma sc iu s we
can learn n othing further and the defective character
of the tablet does n ot p ermit u S to procee d with any
degree of certainty until we arrive at the na me of
Nudim m u d which appears to b e simply a variant of
the name of Ea F rom obscure passages it may b e
generally gleaned that Tia w a t h an d A p su on ce one
or rather originally representing the Babylonian and
Akkadian forms of the deep are n ow regarded as
mates Tia w a t h b eing the female and Ap su once
female in this cas e the male These have a son
Mou m is or Mu m m u a na me which at one time seems
to have been given t o Tia w a t h so that in thes e changes
we m a y b e able t o trace the han d of the later m y t h o
grapher who with less s kill an d greater levity than
is t o b e foun d in most myths has taken up on him
s elf the responsibility o f man u facturing three deities
out of one It may be that the scribe in question
wa s well aware that his literary e ffort mus t s quare
with and placate p opular b elief or popular prej udice
and in no era and a t no time has priestly ingenuity
b een un e qual t o s uch a task as is well evidenced by
many myths which exhibit trac es of late alteration
Bu t in dwell ing for a moment on this q u estion it is
only j ust to the priesthood to a dmit that such changes
.
73
MYTH S OF B AB YLO NIA AND A SS Y RIA

did not always emanat e from them but were the
work of poets an d philosophers who for ae sthetic
or rational reas ons t ook it u p on themselves to recast
the myths of their rac e according to the dictates of
a nice r tast e or in the interests of reason
,
Dar k som e
T r init y
Thes e thre e then Tiawa t h Apsu and Mu m m u
appear to have forme d a trinity which bore no
1
good will to the higher gods

They the mselves
as deities of a primeval epoch were doubtless regarded
by the theological O pinion of a later day as dark
dubious and unsatisfactory I t is notorio u s that
in many lands the early ele mental gods ca me into
bad odour in later times ; and it may be that the
Akka dian descent o f this trio did not conduce to
their popularity with the Babylonian people B e
that as it may alien and a boriginal gods have in all
times been looked upon by a n inva ding and con
q u ering race with distrust a s the workers of magic
and the sowers o f evil an d even although a Ba bylo
nian na me had been accorded one o f them it may
not have been e mployed in a co mplimentary sense
Whereas the high gods regarde d thos e of the abyss
with distrust the darker deities of chaos took up an
attitude towards the divinities o f light which can
only be co mpare d to the sarcastic tone which Milton s
Satan adopts against the Power which thrust him
into outer darkness A psu was the most ironical
o f all There was no peace for him he declare d so
long as the n ew co mers d welt on high : their way
was not his way neither was it that o f Tia w a t h
who if A ps u represente d sarcas m deied exhibite d
a erce truculence much more overpowering than
1
Of w h o m w now h e r f r t h e st t im e
,
74
MYTH S O F B AB YLO NIA AN D A SS Y RIA

Apsu and Mu mm u originally one as three separat e
deities 3 This would explain the divergence but
the point is an obscure one and hasty conclusions
on slight evidence are usually doomed to failure
To resume our narrative Tia w a t h whoever her
coadj utors was resolve d to retain in her own hands
the source of all living things that great deep over
which S he preside d
But the gods o f heaven were by no means lulled
into peaceful security for they were aware of the ill
will which Tiaw a t h bore the m They learne d of her
plot and great was their wrath E a the god of water
wa s the rst to hear o f it and related it to Ansar
his father who lled heaven with his cries of anger
Ansar betook himself to his other son A nu go d o f
the sk y
Spea k to the great dragon he urged
him ;
speak to her my son and her anger will b e
assuaged and her wrath vanish

Duly obedient
Anu betook himself to the real m of Tia w a t h to
reason with her but the monster snarled a t him so
ercely that in drea d he turned h is bac k upon her
and departed Next ca me Nu dimm u d to her but
with no better success At length the gods decided
that one of their nu mber calle d Merodach should
undertake the task of co mbating Tia w at h the
terrible Merodach asked that it might b e written
that he should be victorious and this was grante d
him H e w as then given rule over the entire univers e
and to test whether or not the greatest power ha d
passed to him a garment was placed in the midst
o f the gods an d Merodach Spoke words commanding
that it sho uld disappear Straightway it vanishe d
and was not O nce more spake the god and the
garment r e appeared before the eyes of the dwellers
in heaven The portion of the epic which describes
,
76
M i gh t y
ook pon
w as h e to l
Ev e ly n
au
MYTH S O F B AB YLO NIA AND A SS Y RIA

gleaming with the waters o f the abyss ame darting
fro m her eyes and nostrils and such terric sounds
issuing fro m her widely open mouth a s wo u ld have
terrie d any b ut the bravest of the gods Merodach
reproached Tiaw a t h for her reb ell ion and ende d
by challenging her to co mbat L ike the dragons
of all time Tiaw a t h appears to have been versed
in magic and hurled the most potent incantations
against her a dversary Sh e cast many a S pell B ut
Merodach unawed by this threw over her his great
net and caused an evil wind which he ha d sent on be
fore him to blow on her so that sh e might not close
her mouth The te mpest rushed between her j aws
and held the m open it entere d her b ody and racked
her fra me Merodach sw u ng his club on high and
with a mighty blow shattere d her grea t ank and
slew her Down he cast her corpse and stood upon it
then he cut out her evil heart F inally he overthrew
the host of monsters which had followed her so that
at length they tre mbled turned and ed in hea dlong
rout
These also he ca u ght in his net and kept
the m in bondage
King u he bound and took fro m
him the tablets o f destiny which ha d been granted
to him by the slain Tia w a t h which obviously means
that the god of a later generation wrenches the power
o f fate fro m an earlier hierarchy j ust a s one earthly
dynasty may overthrow and replace another The
north wind bore Tia w a t h s blood away to secret
places and a t the sight E a sitting high in the
heavens rej oiced exceedingly Then Merodach took
res t and nourishment and a s he reste d a plan arose
in his mind Rising he ayed Tia w a t h of her scaly
skin an d cut her asunder
We have alrea dy seen
that the north wind bore her blood away which
probably symbolises the distribution of rivers over
,
78
A DA RK SO ME T RI NITY
1
the earth
Then did Merodach take the two parts
o f her vast b ody and with one of the m he fra med a
covering for the heavens
Merodach next divided
the upper fro m the lower waters made dwellings for
the gods se t lights in the heaven and ordained their
regular courses
he lit u p the sk y
AS the tablet poetically puts it
establishing the upper rm a m e nt and caused Anu
B el a nd Ea to inhabit it
H e then founde d the
constellations as stations for the great gods and
instituted the year setting three constellations for
each month and placing his own star Nibiru as the
chief light in the rm a m e nt Then he caused the
new moon Na nna ru to shine forth and gave hi m
the rulership of the night granting him a day of
rest in the mid dl e of the month There is a nother
mutilation a t this point and we gather that the
net of Meroda ch with which he ha d snared Tia w a t h
wa s placed in the heavens as a constellation along
with his bow The winds also appear to have been
bound or ta med and pla ce d in the several points of
the compass b ut the whole passage is very obscure
and doubtless information of surpassing interest has
b een lost through the mutilation of the tablet
We shall probably not b e far in error if we regard
the myth of the co mbat between Meroda ch and Tia
wath a s an explanation of the primal strife between
light and darkness Among the most primitive
peoples the solar hero has at one stage of his career
to encounter a grisly dragon or serpent who threatens
his very existence I n many cases this monster
guards a treasure which mythologists o f a generation
ago almost invariably explained as that gold which
is sprea d over the sk y at the hour of sunset The
nd A y i
S Pinc h es Th R ligi n f B byl ni
p 39
.
ee
a a
ss
r a,
79
MYTH S O F BAB YLO NIA AND A S SY RIA

a ssigning of solar characteristics to all S layers of
dragons and their kind wa s a weakness of the older
s chool of mythology a kin to its deductions base d
o n philological grounds ; but such criticis m as has
be en dire cted against the solar theory and it has
been extensive has not always been pertinent
and in many cases has been merely futile I n fact
the solar theory su ffere d beca use of the philological
arg uments with which it was bound up and neither
critics nor readers appeare d to discriminate between
these B ut we should constantly bear in mind that
to attempt to elucidate or explain myths by any one
syste m or by one hard and fast hypothesis is futile
O n the other hand nearly all syste ms which have
yet atte mpted to elucidate or disentangle the ter m s
o f myth are capable of application to certain type s
o f myth The dragon story is all but universal : in
China it is the monster which te mporarily swallows
the su n during eclipse ; in E gypt it was the great
serpent Ap e p which battled with Ra and Horus
both solar heroes ; in I ndia it is the serpent Vrit ra
or A hi who is van quished by Indra ; in Australia
and in so me parts of North America a great frog
takes the place of the dragon In the story of
B eowulf the last exploit of the hero is the S laying of
a terrible re
breathing dragon which guards a hi dden
treasure hoard ; and B eowulf receives a mortal wo und
in the encounter In the Volsung Saga the covetous
Fa ffnir is turne d into a dragon and is slain by Sigurd
These must not be confounde d with the monsters
which cause drought and pestilence I t is a sun
swallowing monster with which we have here to deal
The ta blets here allude to the creation of man ;
the gods it is state d so a dmired the handiwork of
Merodach that they desired to se e him execute
,
8o
A DA RK SO ME T RI NITY
st ill further marvels Now the go ds had none to
worship the m or pay the m ho mage and Merodach
suggested to his father Ea the creation of man out
o f his divine blood Here once more the tablets
fail us and we must turn to the narrative of the
Chaldean writer B e ro ssu s as preserve d by no less
than thre e authors of the classical age B e r ossu s
s tates that a certain woman Th a la t t h ( that is Tia
wath) ha d many strange creatures a t her bidding
B elus ( tha t is B e l Merodach) attacke d and c ut her
in twain forming the earth out of one half and the
heavens o ut o f the other and destroying all the
creatures over which sh e r uled Then did Merodach
decapitate himself and as his bloo d owed forth the
other gods mingle d it with the earth and for me d
man fro m it F ro m this circu mstanc e mankin d is
rational and has a s park of the divine in it Then
did Merodach divide the darknes s separate the
heavens fro m the earth and order the details o f the
entire universe B ut those ani mals which he had
created were not a ble to bear the light and die d
A passage then o cc u rs which sta tes that the stars
the sun and moon and the ve planets were created
and it wo uld see m fro m the repetition that there were
two creations that the rst wa s a fail u re in which
Merodach had a s it were essayed a rst atte mpt
perfecting the process in the second creation O f
course it may b e conj ectured that B e rossu s may have
drawn fro m two conicting accounts or that thos e
who qu ote him have inserted the s econd passage
The Sumerian incantation which is provided with
a Se mitic translation adds so mewhat to our know
ledge of this cos mogony I t states that in the
beginning nothing a s yet existed none o f the great
cities o f Ba bylonia ha d yet b een built indeed there
.
81
MYTH S O F B A BYLO NIA AN D AS SY RIA

wa s no land nothing but sea I t wa s not unt il the
veins of Tia w a t h had been c ut through that paradise
and the abyss a ppear to have been separated and
the gods created by Merodach Also did he create
a nnuna /ei or
gods o f the earth a nd esta blished a
wondrou s city a s a place in which they might dwell
Then men were for med with the aid of the goddess
A ruru and nally vegetation trees and animals
Then did Merodach raise the great te mples of E rech
and Nippur F ro m this a ccount we se e that instea d
of Merodach being alluded to a s the son of the gods
he is regarded as their crea tor In the library o f
Nineveh was also discovered a co p y of a ta blet
written for the grea t temple o f Nergal a t Cuthah
Nergal himself is supposed to m a ke the state ment
which it contains H e tells us how the hosts of chaos
and confusion ca me into being A t rst a s in the
other a ccounts nothingness reigned supre me then
did the great gods create warriors with the bodies
of birds and men with the fa ces of ravens They
founded the m a city in the ground and Tia wa t h the
great dragon did suckle them They were fostered
in the midst of the mountains and under the care
of the mistress of the gods they greatly increased
a nd beca me heroes of might Seven kings ha d they
who rule d over six thousan d people Their father
wa s the god B e na ni and their mother the queen
Mc lili These beings who might almost be called
1
ta me gods o f evil Nergal states tha t he destroyed
.
accoun t h bee n c la im e d
w e k vers i on o f th a t
p r t of t h cre t ion s t ory wh ich de ls w i th t h c ea tio n o f t h h ost
of t h byss Th f ct th t N erg l st tes th t h des t royed th ese
m ons t ers m i gh t j u s t ify u in bel ev i ng th t t h my th w
n th i
occ si on so e di te d t p rov i de t h m o n rch w i t h n opp o t unity
f
bo sting
1
Th is
as
as
or
82
as
as o
MYTH S OF B A B YLO NIA AND AS SY RIA

defeat instea d of Em lil or the deity who was his
pre decessor a s monarch of the gods Jastrow holds
tha t the entire cos mological tale has been constru c t e d
fro m an a ccount of a conict with a pri meval monster
and a story of a rebellion against Ea ; tha t thes e
two tales have beco me fused an d tha t the rst is
again divisible into thre e versions originating one
a t Uruk and the other two a t Nippur a t di fferent
epochs The rst celebrates the con q uest o f A nu
over Tia w a t h the s econd exalts Ninib a s the con
and
the
third
replace
s
him
by
lil
We
u e r or
n
E
q
thus se e how it wa s p ossible for the go d of a con
quering or pop ular dynasty to have a co mplete
myth made over to him a nd how at last it wa s
co mpetent for the mighty Merodach o f Babylon to
replace an entire line of deities a s the central gure
o f a myth which must have b een popular with untol d
genera tions o f Akkadian and Babylonian people
-
T y p e of B aby l onian Cosm olog y

We must now consider the precise na ture o f the
Babylonian cos mology and it s place a mong other
creation myths L ike the cos mological efforts o f
most pri mitive or barbarian p eoples it does not par
ta ke o f the character of a creation myth so much
a s an account of an evolution fro m chaos and the
e stablishment of physical laws The primitive mind
cannot grasp the idea o f the creation of so mething
out of nothing and the Babylonians and A kka dians
did not di ffer in this respect fro m other races in the
sa me stage o f development In whatever direction
we loo k when exa mining the cosmologies of barbarian
or se mi civilized peoples we nd a total inability to

get b ehind and beyond the idea that the matter o f
creation la y alrea dy to the hand o f the creative
.
84
T Y PE OF B A B YLO NIA N CO S MOLO G Y

agency and that in order to shape a world it ha d but
to draw the material therefor fro m the tee ming deep or
the slain body of a hostile monster Not only doe s
the idea of creating land and water out o f nothingness
see m absurd to the primitive mind but man as well
must b e frame d fro m dust mud clay or the blood o f
the creative go d himself Ye t Merodach was able to
bring a garment ou t of nothingness and to return
it thither by merely Spea king a word ! Why then
did not the theology which a dmitted the possibility
o f such a pheno menon carry o ut its own conception
to a logical conclusion and own the likelihoo d of
the go d s ability to create an entire univers e in the
self sa me manner
Perhaps the step was too bold
for an individual to take in the face o f an entire
theological college and in any case what would see m
a perfectly feasible act o f magic to the theologians
of B abylon when applie d to a garment might not
serve for application to the making of the earth and
all that is therein The cos mology of B abylon is
therefore on a par with those of Scandinavia China
and many North American Indian tribes nor does
it reach so high an imaginative level as those o f
ancient E gypt I ndia or the Maya of Central A merica
in so me of which the vocal co mmand of a god is
su fficient to bring about the creation of the earth and
the waters surro u nding it
The making of the su n the moon and the other
heavenly bodies is as will be more fully shown later
o f great importance in B abylonian myth The
stars appear to have been attache d to the rm a m e nt
of heaven as t o a cloth Across this the sun passe d
daily his function being to inspect the move ments
of the other heavenly bodies The moon likewise
ha d her xe d course and certain stars were also
,
8:
MYTH S O F BAB YL O NIA AND A S SY RIA

s u pp ose d to move a cross the picture o f the night
.
with greater o r less regularity The heavens were

guarde d a t either end by a great gateway and
through one o f thes e the sun passed after rising fro m
the o cean whilst in setting he quitted the heavens
by the opposite portal
The terrestrial world wa s i magined a s a grea t
holl ow Structure resting on the dee p
Indeed
it would s ee m to have been regarde d as an islan d
oating on a n abyss of waters This conce p tion o f
the world o f earth wa s by no means peculiar to the
Babylonians b ut was share d by the m with many
of the nations of antiquity
A s e manating fro m the blood o f Merodach himself
man was loo ked u p on as dire ctly of heavenly origin
A n older tra dition existe d to the e ffect that Mero dach
ha d been assisted in the creation of mankind by the
goddess A ruru who gures in the Gilga mesh epic
a s the creatress of Babani out of a piece of clay
We als o nd an ancient belief c urrent that humanity
owed it s origin to the god Ea but when Merodach
displace d this god politically he would of course
ta ke over his entire re cord and creative deeds
as well a s his p owers and sovereignties At Nippur
B el was looke d up to as the originator o f man B ut
thes e b eliefs probably obtained in re moter times
and would na lly b e quenched by the a dvance to full
and un questioned power of the great go d Mero dach
.
Connex ion w it h t h e J onah L eg end

So me mythologists se e in the story o f Jonah a
hidden a llusion to the circumstances o f B abylonian
cos mology Jonah a s we re me mber w a s summoned

to Nineveh to pro p hesy against it but proceeding
instea d to Joppa ( the scene of the la ter myth of
.
86
C H APT E R
R E L I GI ON
III
Th e B eg inning s
E AR L Y BAB YLO NIAN
f B aby lonian Rel ig ion
H E true beginning o f a religion is that epoch

in it s history when it succeeds by reason o f
local or national circu mstances and environ
ment and by racial genius in raising itself fro m those
p urely animistic in u ences which are characteristic
o f early faith and fro m which all great religions have
e merged if they have not been a ble entirely to fre e
the mselves fro m associations which by reason of their
a nti quity and the hold they a chieve on the mind of
hu manity are particularly dii c ult to cast off Thus
a sense of nationality an d the attain ment of a high
sta ndard of righteousness assisted in shaping Jewish
religion The necessity for military e ic ie nc y a nd
therefore of sacrice to the gods was moulding a
real if terrible religion in ancient Mexico when the
invading Spaniards ende d the hideous mas que o f
trage dy I nsight and meditation lent an air o f
ethical exaltation to the Vedic religion of I ndia
Thus in a manner peculiarly it s own and according
to the tren d of its particular genius did ea ch race
evolve a suitable religion fro m an original animistic
basis
I f we are to discover the foundations of any
syste m or cult however if we are to excava te the
s oil religious a s we would the soil arch aeological in
the h Op e of co ming upon the basis of a ny particular
faith we must underta ke the work in a manner as
thorough a s tha t of the antiquary who pick in hand
delve s his way to the lowest foundations of pala ce
or te mple The earliest B a bylonian religious ideas
that is subse quent to the entrance of that p eople
,
88
S PI RIT S
AND G O D S
into the country watered by the Tigris and E u phrates

were undo u bte dly coloure d by those of the non
Semitic Su merians who m they found in the country
They adopted the alphabet o f tha t race and this
affords strong presu mptive evidence that the im
migrant Se mites as an unlettered people woul d
naturall y accept much if not all of the religion of the
more cultured folk who m they found in possession of
the so il
There is no necessity in this place to outline the
nature of animistic belief a t any length This has
b een done in so many other volu mes of this series
and in such detail that it is su fficient to state here
succinctly that animis m is a condition o f tho u ght
o r b elief in which man considers everything in the
universe along with himself to b e the possessor o f
soul
o r at least volition Thus the wind
Spirit
water animals the heavenly bodies all live move
and have their b eing and because o f his fear of or
a dmiration for the m man placates or a dores the m
until a t length he almost unconscio u sly exalts the m
into a condition of godhea d H ave we any reason to
think that the ancien t Se mites o f B abylonia regarde d
the universe as people d by gods or go dl ings of su ch
a type 3 The p roofs that they did so are not a few
-
S p irit s and G ods

Spirits swarme d in ancient B abylonia as the
reader will observe when he co mes to peruse the
chapter dealing with the magical ideas of the ra ce
And here it is important to note that the deter
symb olic written Sign for Spirit
m ina t iv e or
is the sa me a s that for god
Thus the god and
the Spirit must in B abylonia have had a co mmon
descent The manner in which we can disting u ish
,
89
MYTHS OF BA BYLONIA AND AS SY RIA

between a go d and a S pirit however is simple L ists
o f the oi c ial gods are provided in the historical
texts whereas S pirits and de mons are not included
therein B ut this is not to sa y that no atte mpt
ha d been ma de to syste matize the belief in spirits
in Babylonia for j ust as the great gods of the universe
were apportione d their several o ffices so were the
spirits allotted almost exa ctly similar powers Thus
the Annuna lai were p erhaps regarded as the s p irits
o f earth and the I gigi as S pirits o f heaven So
a t least are they designate d in an ins cription o f
Ra m m a nnira ri I
The grouping evidently survived
fro m animistic times when perhaps the spirits which
are e mbraced in these two classe s were the only
gods
of the Babylonians or Sumerians and
fro m w hose ranks some of the great gods of future
times may have b een evolved In any cas e they
b elong to a very early perio d in the Babylonian
religion an d play no unimportant part in it almost
to the end The god A nu the most ancient of t h e
Ba bylonia n deities was regarded a s the father o f
b oth co mpanies b ut other gods ma ke use of their
services They do not appear to b e well dis p osed to
hu manity The Assyrian kings were wont to invo ke
the m when they desire d to inculcate a fear o f their
maj esty in the people and fro m this it may b e inferred
that they were o bj ects o f peculiar fear to the lower
orders of the population for the people often cling
to the elder cults and the elder pantheons despite
the innovations of ecclesiastical politicians or the
religious eccentricities of kings There can however
b e no doubt a s to the tr uly animistic character o f
early B abylonian religion Thus in the early insc rip
tions one reads of the Spirits of various kinds o f
diseases the spirit of the south wind the Spirits of
,
90
MYTH S O F BA B YLO NIA AND A SS Y RIA

synonymous terms ; and we must not look for the
most primitive form o f Se mitic faith in a region
where society was not primitive In B abylonia
i t would see m society and religion alike were based
on a fusion o f two races and so were not primitive
bu t co mplex
Moreover the official syste m of Baby
lonian and Assyrian religion as it is known to us
fro m priestly texts and p u blic inscriptions bears
clea r marks of being so mething more than a popular
traditional faith ; it has been articially moulded
by priestcraft and statecra ft in much the sa me way
as the o fficial religion of Egypt that is to sa y it is
in great measure an articial co mbination for im
perial purposes o f ele ments drawn fro m a nu mber
o f local worships I n all probab ility the actual
religion of the masses was always much simpler than
the o fficial syste m ; an d in later times it wo u ld
see m that both in religion and in ra ce A ssyria
wa s little di fferent fro m the a dj acent Ara m aean
countries These remarks are not meant to throw
doub t on the great importance of cuneiform studies
for the history of Se mitic religion ; the monumental
data are valuable for co mparison with what we
know o f the faith and worship of other Se mitic
peoples and peculiarly valuable because in religion
a s in other matters the civilization of the Euphrates
Tigris valley exercised a great historical inuence
on a large part of the Semitic eld

.
T ot em ism in B aby l onian Rel ig ion

Signs of totemis m are not wa nting in the Bab y
Many of the
lonia n as in other religious systems
gods are pictured as riding upon the backs of certain
animals an almost certain indication that at one
time they had themselves possessed the form of the
.
92
THE G REAT G O DS
animal they bestrode R eligious conservatis m would
p robably not tolerate the immediate abolitio n of the
totem shape so this means was taken of gradually
shelving it B ut some gods reta ined ani mal form
unt il comparatively late times
Thus the su n god
of Kis had the form of an eagle a nd we n d that
Ish tar took as lovers a horse an eagle and a lio n
surely gods who were represented i n e q uine aquiline
a nd leonine forms The sh form of O annes the god
of wisdom is certainly a relic of totemis m Some
of the old ideographic representations of the names
of the gods are eloquent of a totemic connexion
Thus the na me of Ea the god of the deep is expressed
by an ideograph which signies antelope
Ea
is spoken of as the a ntelope of the deep
the
lusty antelope and so forth H e was also as a
water god connected with the serpent a universal
symbol of the o w ing stream The strange god Uz
probab ly an Akkadian survival was worshipped
u nder the form of a goat
The su n
god of Nipp u r
Adar was connected with the pig and was called
lord of the s w ine
Merodach may have been a
bull god In early astronomical literature we nd
him alluded to as the bull of light
The storm
god Zu as is seen by his myth retained his birdli k e
form Another name of the storm bird was Lug al
banda patron god of the city of Marad near Sip p a ra
L ike Prometheus also o nce a bird god as is prove d
by many analogous myths h e stole the sacred re fro m
heaven for the service and mental illu mination of man
.
Th e
Gr eat G ods
I n th e phase in which it becomes rst know n

to us Babylonia n religion is neither Semitic no r
A kkadian but Semitic Akka dia n : tha t is the ele
,
93
MYTH S O F B A B YLO NIA AND AS SY RIA

me nts of both religious forms are s o intermingle d
in it that they can not be disti nguished one fro m
another ; but very little that is trustworthy can
b e a dvanced concerning this shadow y time E ach
petty State (and these were nu merous in early Baby
lo nia) possessed its own tutelar deity and he again
had comma nd over a nu mber of lesser gods Whe n
a ll
thos e pa ntheons were added together as was
the case in later days they afforded the sp ectacle
of perhaps the largest assembly of gods known to
any religion The most outstanding of these tribal
divinities as they might j ustly be called were
Merodach who was worshipped at Babylon ; Sh a
mash who was adored a t Sippar ; Sin the moo n
god who ruled at Ur ; A nu who held sway over
E rech and De r ; E a the O annes of legend whos e
city was Eridu B el who ruled at Nippur or Niffur
Nergal of Cuthah ; a nd I shtar who was goddess
of Nineveh The peoples of the several p rovinces
identied their prominent gods one with another
a nd indeed when A ssyria rose to rivalry with Baby
lonia its chief divinity A sshur was naturally
ide ntied with Merodach
I n the chapter on cos mology we have seen how
Merodach gained the lordship of heaven It has
been shown that the rise of this god to power was
comparatively recent Prior to the days of Khammu
rabi a rather di fferent pantheon from that described
in later inscriptio ns held sway In those more
primitive days the principal gods appear to have
been Bel or En lil Belit or Nin lil h is q uee n Nin
g irsu Ea Nergal Sha mash Sin Ann and other
lesser divi nities There is indeed a sharp distinction
betwee n the pre and post Kh a mm ura bic types of
religio n Attempts had bee n made to form a pan
.
94
B EL
theon before Kha mmurabi s day but his exaltation

of Merodach the patro n of Babylon to the head of
the Babylonia n pantheon was destined to destroy
thes e A glance at the conditio n of the great gods
before the days of Kha mmurabi will assist us to
understan d their later develop ments
,
B el
B el or ; to give him his earlier name En lil is

spoke n of in very early inscriptions especially in
those of Nippur ; of which city he was the tutelar
deity He was described as the lord of the lower
world and much e ffort seems to have been made
to reach a denite conception of his position and
attributes H is name had also been tra nslated
lord of mist
The title B el had been give n
to Merodach by Tiglat h p ile se r I about 1 2 00 B C
after which he was referred to as the older B el
The c hi ef s eat of h is worship was at Nippur where
the name of his temple E Kur or mountain ho u se
came to b e applied to a sanctuary all over Baby
lonia He was also addressed as the lord of the
storm and as the great mou ntain and his consort
Nin lil is also alluded to as lady of the mountain
Jastrow rightly concludes that there are s u bsta ntial
reasons for assuming that h is original city w as on
the top of some mou ntain a s is so generally the
case of storm deities
There being no mountai ns
in the E uphrates valley however the co nclusion
is warranted that En lil was the god of a people
whose home was in a mou ntainous region and w h o
brought their god w ith them when they came to the
1
E uphrates valley
En lil is undoubtedly of the class o f temp est
R ligi u B li f in B byl ni
nd A y i
p 69
-
o s
a a
ss
r a,
95
MYTH S O F B AB YLO NIA AND A SS YRIA

deities who dwe ll on mo u ntain peaks No te x t
a ppears to have been found which alludes to him as
of a red colour The ashing of the lightning through
the clouds which veil the mountain s ummits usuall y
generates a belief in the mind of primitive man that
the god who is concealed by the screen o f vapour
is red i n h u e and q u ick in movement The secon d
table t of a text known as the
crying storm
l
al udes to En lil a s a storm god Addressing him
it says
Spirit that overcomes no evildoing Spirit
that has no mother spirit that has no wife spirit that
has no sister Spirit that has no brother that kno ws
n o a biding place the evil slaying S pirit tha t deva s
tates the fold t hat wrecks the Stall tha t sweeps
A s a huge deluge
a way son and mother like a reed
it tears away dwellings consumes the provisions
of the home s mites mankind everywhere and
wic k edly drowns the harvests of the land Devoted
temples it devastates devoted men it affl icts him
tha t clothes himself in a rob e of maj esty the Sp irit
lays low with cold him of wide pasture lands with
u
h nger it lays low When En lil the lord o f lands
cries out a t sunset the dreadful word goes forth
Destroy
u nto the spacious Shrine
Nippur the city of En lil was of Sumerian
origin so we must connect the earliest cult of En lil
with the Sumerian aborigines Many of his lesser
na mes point to such a conclusion B ut he greatly
outgrew all local circumstances a nd a mong other
things he appears to have been a god who fostere d
vegetation Some a uthorities appear to be of opinion
tha t because En lil was regarde d a s a god of vegeta
tion the change w a s owing to his removal from a
mountainous region to a more level neighbourhood
The truth is it would be difficult to discover a god
.
96
MYTH S O F B AB YLO NIA AND AS SY RIA

ma nner in which B el was worshipp ed at Babylo n
and how he was s u pposed to take hu man shape
devour food and b ehave very much as a man might
The legend states that the B abylonians lavishe d
every day upo n the idol of B el twelve great measures
of ne our and forty sheep a nd six vessels of wine
Ki ng Cyrus of Persia who had overthrown the
Babylo nian kin g dom went daily t o worship B el
a nd asked Daniel why he d id no t do likewise
The
prophet replied that his religion did not p ermit him
t o worship idols b ut rather the living God who ha d
create d the heaven s a nd the earth
The n said Cyrus :

Thi nkes t thou not that
B el is the livi ng God Seest thou not how much he
eateth and drin keth every day i
Then Daniel s mile d a nd said O King b e not
deceived for he is but clay withi n and brass without
a nd can n ever eat or drink a nything
Cyrus was exceeding wroth a nd calling for
his priests said to the m I f ye tell me not who
this is tha t devoureth thes e exp e nses ye S hall die
but if ye can sho w me that B el devours the m
Da niel shall die for he hath spoken blasphe my
agains t B el ;
an d to this Daniel cheerfully
agreed
I t would have b een s urprising had not the pro
visions vanished b eca u se we are told that the pri e sts
of B el were threescore and ten in n u mber a nd had
nu merous wives and children So Cyrus and Daniel
betook the mselves to the temple of B el an d the
p riests asked the m to bless the meat a nd wine b efore
B el and to shu t the door fast a nd s eal it with the
Ki ng s own S ig net stating that if they ca me on th e
morrow t h ey would nd that B el ha d eaten u p a ll
of the prov i sions
8
9
THE DRA G O N
B ut they had taken good care t o protect the m
s elves for they had made a s ecret entrance underneath
the great table in the te mple which they used c on
so
that
they
might
c
ons
ume
the
good
things
st a nt l
y
that were se t before the idol
An d Cyrus did as the priests as ked s etting the
meat and win e b efore the Statu e of B el but Daniel
c omman ded his s ervants t o bring ashes which they
strewed throughout the temple in the presence of
the K ing ; the n they went out and shut the door
and s ealed it with the King s Signet
And in the night time the priests with their wives
and fa milies entered the te mple by the s ecret way
and sp eedily c onsu me d the provisions
I n the morning Cyrus and Daniel b etook the m
s elves t o the te mple a nd the King broke t he s eals
an d op ened the door and when he p erceived that
all the p rovisions ha d vanished he ca lle d ou t with
a loud voic e
Great art thou O B el and with the e
is n o dec eit at all
B ut Daniel lau ghe d and barri ng the King s
way into the t emple re queste d him t o look a t the
pave ment and mark well whos e footsteps he sa w
there
I see the footsteps of men

And Cyrus replied
women a nd children
H e a t onc e called the pries ts who when they
sa w that their stratage m had b een discovered showed
him the s ecret way int o the temple ; an d in his
rage Cyru s slew the m and delivered B e l into Daniel s
p ower The prophet Sp eedily destroye d the idol and
the t emple which sheltere d it
Now in that t e mple w a s a great dragon worshippe d
by the p eople of B a bylon and the King sai d t o
Wilt thou als o sa y that this is of brass

Da niel
B EL AND
99
MYTH S O F BA BYLO NIA AN D AS SY RIA

for behold ! he liveth he eateth and drinketh
therefore shouldest thou worship him
B ut Daniel shook his hea d and said t o Cyru s :
Give me le ave 0 Ki ng and I will Slay this dragon
without sword or s ta ff
Then Daniel t ook pitch and fat and hair and
b oiled the m all together a nd shaped the m into great
pieces Thes e he placed in the dragon s mouth and
shortly the dragon burst asunder
Now the people of Babylon b eca me greatly
incensed at these doi ngs a nd cla moured t o Cyrus
asking hi m t o deliver Daniel up to them or els e
they wo u ld destroy him and all b elonging t o him
A nd c ontinu es the legend Cyrus b eing a fraid for
his crown delivered Daniel to the p eople who cast
hi m into a lions den where he remained for six days
S even lions were in the den and their food wa s
re moved from the m so that they might b e the e rc e r
and the A p ocrypha story which di ffers considerably
from that given in the sixth chapter of the B ook of
Daniel states that the angel of the L ord took up
a c ertain prophet called Ha bba c uc who was ab out
t o carry a mess of pottage to certain reap ers an d
taking hi m by the hair of the hea d conveyed him
a ll the way fro m Palestin e to Babylon along with
the fo od which he se t at Daniel s feet Daniel
partook of the meal and Ha bba c u c was c onveyed
back to Palestin e in the sa me manner as that in
which he had come
And on the s eventh day Cyrus ca me to the den
to mourn for Daniel and when he looked in Daniel
was there So impress ed was Cyrus with the power
o f Daniel s God that he re solved to w orship Hi m
in future and s e iz ing thos e who had been inst ru
mental in casting the Hebrew pro p het into the den
,
1 00

anked by enormo u s g u res the canal ga te and the
ga te o f the tower view
A wa lled S pace platform or hir ut orienta ted so
a s to face the four car dinal points is next described
Inside this S tood a building the na me of which is
indecipherable I t was connected in some manner
with the Ziggura t or grea t tower aroun d the base
of which were ranged the temples o f the princi pal
gods all o f which faced one or other of the four chief
p oints of the compass
O n the eastern side of the grou p stood a large
temple 1 1 7 feet by 67 fee t broad containing no
less than S ixteen shrines the principal of which
were sa cred to Nebo the son o f B e l and his wife
Tashmit To the north were temples to E a and
Nusku the rst
feet long by 50 feet broa d and
the second a s quare 5 8 feet either way To the
so u th was a shrine to B e l and Anu 1 1 7 feet by 50
fe et
The pur p ose of the buildings on the western
side o f the great tower is only to b e conj ect u red
I t is known however tha t the c ouch of Bel and his
throne o f gold alluded to by Herodotus were house d
in one or other of the buildings on this side The
couch is said to have measured 1 5 feet by 6 fee t
8 inches
In the centre towered the grea t Z iggurat rising
s tage upon stage its S i des fa cing the cardinal points
The rst stage was 300 feet square and 1 1 0 fe et high
and was ornamented with buttresses The second
was 2 60 feet Square and 60 feet high the third 2 00
feet square and 2 0 feet high up to the seventh stage
which wa s 80 feet long 70 feet broad and 50 feet
high The entire height of the Ziggura t w a s th u s
00
feet
exactly
e
qual
to
the
breadth
of
the
3
,
1 02
THE TE MPLE OF B EL
base or only half the height attributed to it by
Herodotus
Regarding the possible site o f this temple Mr
Smith says :
The only ruin now existing a t or
near Babylon which can be supposed to repres en t
the temple of B elus is the mound and enclosure o f
B abil the ruins corresponding fairly with the account
of these struct u res in the Greek authors and in the
i nscription The S ides o f the b uilding face the
cardinal points like those in the inscription ; the
remains of the two sides of the enclosure now existing
indicate a circumference a bout e q u al to the Greek
measurement and slightly in excess o f that in the
inscription ; but it must b e remembered tha t the
exact length of the B abylonian measures is not
known and there are di fferent opinions even as to
the length o f the Greek stade while the presen t
remains of the wall require careful meas u re ment to
determine more exa ctly their length and the dim e n
sions they indicate
O n the other side o f the
E uphrates stands a rui n Birs Nim r d also con
sisting of an enclosure various temples and a temple
tower ; but this represents the site of the te mple
o f Nebo a t B or sip p a and its angles instead of its
face the cardinal points while not a single one
Sides
o f its known dimensions agrees with the corresponding
point in the inscription The mound of B abil which
is already identied by the best a uthorities with the
te mple of B elus consists now of the lower stage of
1
the tower and the ruins of the buildings ro u nd it
Ye t H erodot u s account o f the temple o f B el
wa s not wholly false H e says :

I t had gates o f
brass and wa s two stadia every way being qu a d
in the middle o f the temple a solid tower
r a ng ular ;
,
At hena um Feb
1 2 , 1 8 6.
7
1 03
MYTH S O F BA BYLONIA AND A S S Y RIA

wa s built a stadiu m in height and brea dth and on
this tower was placed another and another still
on this to the number of eight towers in a ll Th e
ascent wa s on the outside and was ma de by a winding
passage round a ll the towers ; and about half up
the a scent there is a landing a nd seats for rest where
thos e ascending may repose ; and in the highest
to w er there is a large temple and in the temple a
large b ed well furnished and beside it a golden table
but there is no Statue erected in it and by night no
one lodges in it except a single woman o f the country
whom the god ha s selected fro m the rest a s sa y the
Chald aeans who are the p riests of this god

An inscriptio n wa s discovere d and translated
by Sir H C R awlinson in which King Ne buc h a d
rezzar b oasts of having repaired and c om p leted this
t ower i n honour of his god Merodach

B ehold
now the building na med Th e Stages of the Seven
Spheres which was the wonder of B orsipp a had
b een b uilt by a former king H e ha d completed
forty two a m mas ( of the height ) but he did not
nish its hea d From the la p s e of time it ha d
b eco me rui ned ; they ha d not take n care of the
exits of t he waters so the rain and wet had pene
t ra t e d into the bric kwork ;
the casing of bur nt
brick ha d bulged out and the terraces of crude
brick lay Scattere d in heaps Then Merodach my
grea t lord incli ned my heart to repair the b uilding
I did not change it s Site nor did I destroy the foun
dation platform ; b ut in a fortunate month an d on
an auspicious day I undertook the rebuilding of
the crude bri ck terrac es and the burnt brick casing
( of the temple ) I strengthened its foundations
and I placed a titular record in the parts that I ha d
re built I se t my hand to buil d it up and to nish
,
10
MYTH S O F BA BYLO NIA AND A S S Y RIA

unlike the Scandinavian L oki who typies the
malevolenc e of re
.
Dibarr a
Diba rra
wa s probably a varian t of Nergal in

his guis e as solar destroyer Concerning him a
strange myth is recounte d as follows
The s ons of B abylon were as birds and thou

their falconer In a ne t thou didst catch them
enclos e them and destroy them O warrior Diba rra
L eaving the city tho u didst pass t o the outside
taking on the form of a lion thou didst enter the
palace
The p eopl e saw thee a nd drew their
weap ons
So Sp oke I shu m the faithful attendant of Diba rra
by way of beginning an account of the havoc wrought
in the valley of E uphrates by the war and plagu e
god
is the gist of his commands
Spare no one
to his satellites
Have neither fear nor pity
Kill the young as well as the old a nd rob Babylon
of all its treasures

A ccordi ngly against the rs t city a large army
was dispatched to carry out thes e instructions
a nd the battle with b ow and sword was begun
a
strife which ended so disastrously for the s oldiers and
inhabitants that their blood owed like torrents
of water through the city s highways

This defeat
the great lord Merodach was c ompell ed to witness
p owerless to help or avert it E nraged a t his help
lessnes s and overcome with fury he curs ed his
enemies until he is said to have los t consciousness
b ecaus e of his grief
F ro m this scene of devastatio n Diba rra tur ned
his attention to Er ech appointing others of his host
to mete out to this city t h e fat e of Babylon I shtar
,
1 06
DIBARRA
goddes s of E rech sa w her devoted city exposed t o

plunder pillage and bloodshed and ha d to endure
the a go ny of inactivity exp erienced by Merodach
Nothing sh e c ould do or sa y would s tay the V iole nc e
of Diba rra s ve ngeance
O warrior Diba rra thou dost dispatch the j ust
thou dos t di spatch the unj ust ; who Sins agains t
thee thou dost dispatch and the one who does not
sin against thee thou dost dispatch

Thes e words were used by I shu m Dibarra s s er vant
in a subse qu ent address t o the god of war H e k ne w
his lord s craving for battle and bloodshed w as Still
unapp eased and he hims elf was planning a wa r more
terrible than any he had yet c ond u cted a c o nict
not only world
wid e but which wa s t o e mbra ce
heaven itself So in order t o gain Diba rra s cons ent
to the hideous destruction he anticipated he c on
t inu e d to pander to his war like tendencies
Said he :
The b rightness of Shul p a nddu I
will destroy the root of the tre e I will t ear ou t
that it no lo nger blossom Agains t the dwelli ng
o f the king of gods I will proceed

To all o f which the warrior god listene d with
growing pleasure until red by his myrmidon s
words he cried out in sudden erc e resolve
S ea
coast against se a coast Su ba r t u against Su ba r t u
Assyrian against Assyrian Ela mite against E lamit e
Cassite against Cassite Su t a e a n against Su t a e a n
Ku t h e a n agains t Kut h e a n Lu llu bit e against L ull u
bite country against country hous e against hous e
man against man B rother is to show no mercy
t owards brother ; they shall kill one another
Go I shum he added later

carry out the
w ord thou hast spoken in acc ordance with thy
desire
,
10
MYTH S O F B A B YLO NIA AND A SS Y RIA

And with alacrity I shum obeye d
directing his
c ou nte nanc e to the mountain of Khi kh i This
with the help of the god Sibi a warrior une qualled
he a ttacke d and destroyed all the vineyards in the
forest of Kh a sh ur and nally the city of Inm a rm a on
These last atrocious acts roused Ea the g od of
hu manity and lled him with wrath though what

attitu de he adopted t owards Diba rra is not known
L isten all of you to my words b ecaus e of sin
did I formerly plan evil my heart wa s enraged and
I swept peoples away

Thi s wa s Diba rra s defence when eventually
he wa s propitiated and all the gods were gathered
together in council with him I shu m a t this p oint
changing his tactics urged on Diba rra the necessity
for pacifying the gods he ha d incensed
App eas e said he the gods of the land who

a re angry May fruits and corn ourish may moun
tains and s eas bring their produce

AS he had listened to Ishu m b efore Diba rra
listened again and the c ouncil of the gods was clos ed
by his promising pros p erity and protectio n to thos e
who would t t ingly hon our him
H e who glorie s my na me will rule the world
Who proclaims the glory of my p ower will b e without
rival The singer who sings of my deeds will not
die through p estilence to kings and nobles his words
will b e pleasing The writer who pres erves the m
will es cap e fro m the grasp of the enemy in the
te mple where the people proclaim my name I will
op en his ear I n the hous e where this tablet is
s e t up
though war may rage a nd the god Sibi work
havoc sword and p estilenc e will not touch hi m
h e will dwell in sa fety L e t this s ong resoun d
for ever and endure for eternity L et all lands h ea r
,
1 08
MY TH S OF BA B YLO NIA AND A S SY RIA

t o s ome extent a nd Nabonidus the last King of
B abyl on as we shall re member o ffended Merodach
and his priests by his too eager notice of Sha mash
During the whole cours e o f B abylonian histo ry
however Shamash retained his popularity and wa s
perhaps the only sun god who was not absorbed
by Merodach O ne nds the sa me phenomenon
in ancient Mexico where various solar deities did
not su cceed in displacing or a bsorbing To t e c the
ancient god of the su n p ar ex cellence B ut Sha mash
s u cceeded in a bsorbing many small local sun gods
and indee d we nd his na me used a s that o f the sun
thro u ghout Semitic lands There were s everal solar
deities such as Nergal and Ninib whom Sha mash
did not a bsorb proba bly for the reason tha t they
typify various phases of t h e sun There is reason t o
believe tha t in ancient times even Sha mash was not
an entirely be ne c e nt solar deity but like Nergal
c o u ld gure a s a warrior on occasion B ut in la ter
time s he wa s regarded a s the god who brings light
and life upon all created things and upon whom
depends everything in nature fro m man to vegetable
His consort wa s Aa who was worshipped a t Sippar
along with him Her cult s eems to have been one
of great antiquity but sh e does not appear to have
any distinctive character of her own Sh e was sup
posed to receive the su n upon his setting and fro m
this circu msta nce it has been arg u ed sh e perhap s
represents t h e double sun fro m the magnied
disk which he presents a t sunset ; but this explana
tion is perhaps rather too much on allegorical lines
Jast r ow thinks tha t sh e may have been evolve d
from the su n god of a city on the other S ide of the
E uphrates fro m Sippar

Such an a malgamation
of two origin a lly male deities into a combination
,
I IO
of male and fe male strange as it may see m to us
he says
is in keeping with the lack o f Sharp dis
tinction between male and female in the oldest forms
of Semitic religions I n the old cuneiform writing
the sa me Sign is used to indicate lord or lady
when attached to deities Ishtar app ea rs a mongst the
Semites both as male and female Se x was primarily
a question o f strength the S tronger god wa s viewed
as masculine the wea ker as fe minine

,
Ea
E a wa s the third of the grea t B abylonian tria d

Anu , Eu
of gods which consiste d of

lil and himself
He was a god of the waters and like Anu is called
the father o f the gods
A s a god of the abyss
he appears to have been also a deity of wisdo m and
occult power th u s allegorically associa te d with the
idea of depth or profundity H e wa s the father o f
Merodach who consulted him on the most important
matters connected with his kingship of the gods
Indeed he wa s consulted by individuals of all classes
who desire d light to be thrown u pon their cra fts
or businesses Th u s he was the god o f artisans in
general bla cks miths stone c utters sailors and arti
H e wa s also the patron o f
c e r s of every kind
prophets and seers As the abyss is the place where
the seeds o f everything were suppose d to fructify
so he appears to have fostere d reproduction of every
d escription H e was supposed to dwell beside Anu
who inhabited the pole of the ecliptic The site
of his chief te mple wa s a t E ridu which a t one time
stood before the waters receded up on the S hore o f
the Persian Gulf We have seen already tha t E a
under his Greek name of O annes was supp osed to
bring knowledge and culture t o the p eople of Eridu
-
III
MYTH S O F BA B YLONIA AND A S SY RIA

There are many confusing myths connected with
him and he see ms in some measure to enter into the
Alexander Poly
B a bylonian myth of the deluge
h ist o r A po llodorus and E use bius copying fro m
B e rossu s state that he rose from the se a u p on his
civilizing mission an d Abyde nu s says that in the
time of Daon the shepherd king o f the c ity of Panti
biblon ( mea ning the city where books were gathere d
Anne da t us appeared again fro m the

Er u t h re a n se a in the sa me form a s those who had
showed themselves before having the shap e o f a
Then reigne d
sh blended with that of a man
Ae dora c h u s of Pa nt ibiblon for the term of eighteen
sari I n his days there a p peared another p ersonage
fro m the se a of Eru t h ra like those a bove having
the sa me co mplicated form b etween sh and man :
his na me w a s Oda c on
F ro m remarks by Ap ollo
dorus it would se e m tha t these beings were messengers
from O annes but the whole passages are very obscure
The chief extract fro m the fragments of B erossus
concerning O annes states that :

I n the rst year
there made its appearance fro m a part o f the Erut h
rean se a which b ordere d upon Babylonia an ani mal
endowed with reason who wa s called O annes
A ccording to the accounts of A pollodorus the whole
b ody of the animal was like tha t o f a sh ; and ha d
under a sh s head another head and also feet
below S imilar to those of a man subj oined to t h e
sh s ta il H is S peech too wa s articulate and human
and there was a representation of him to be seen
in the time of B erossu s This B eing in the day
time used to convers e with men b ut took no food a t
that s eason and he gave them an insight into letter s
and science an d every kind of art H e taught the m
t o construct houses to found te mples to c om p ile
,
I IZ
MYTH S OF BA BYLO NIA AND A SS Y RIA

with the limbs of every species of animals A dd to
these shes rep tiles s erpents with other wonder
ful animals which assu med each other s shap e and
c ountenanc e O f all thes e were preserved delin ea
tions i n the temple of B elus a t Babylon The p erson
who was supp osed to have preside d over them
had the na me of Om or c a This i n the Chaldaic
lang u a ge is Thalath which the Gre eks express t ha
larra the se a : but acc ording to the most probable
theory it is e q u ivalent t o selene the moon All
things b eing in this sit u ation B elus ca me and cu t
the woman creat u re as u nder : and out of one half
o f her he formed the earth and o f the other half the
heavens A t the same time he destroyed the a nimals
1
in the abyss All this B e rossus said was an alle
F
or
the
whole
univers
e
o ric a l description of nature
g
c onsisting of moisture and animals b eing continuall y
generate d therein the Deity ( B elus ) above mentioned
c ut off his own head upon which the other gods
mixed the blood as it gushed out with the earth
and fro m this men were formed O n this account
it is that they are rational and partake of divin e
k nowledge This B elus whom men call Dis divi de d
the darkness and s eparated the heavens from the
e arth
and reduced the univers e to order B ut the
animals so lately created n ot b e ing able to b ear the
p revalence of light died B elus u p on this s eein g a
vast space quit e uninhabited though by nature very
fruitful ordered one of the gods t o take off his hea d ;
and when it was taken o ff they were t o mix the blood
with the s oil of the earth and from thenc e to form
other men and animals which should b e capable
Polyhi s t or i s st i ll s p ea k in g
Th p ss g e i som ew h a t o bscure
m y th o f Mero dach nd Ti w at h B el
nd of co u rse rela t es to t h
re p resen tin g Mero dac h nd t h wom n cre t ure Ti w th
.
,
,
1 14
THE WRITI NG S O F OANNE S

of b earing the light B el u s als o formed the stars and
the su n and moon togethe r with the ve planets
This myth related by E a or O annes regarding
the creation of the worl d b ears a very clos e relation
to tha t of Merodach and Tia w a t h t old in Chapter I I
I t is not o ften that one nds a sh god acting as a
c u lture hero altho u gh we nd in Mexican myth a
c ertain deity all u ded t o as the old sh god of our
Al legorical mythology wo u ld have s een in

esh
E a a hero arriving fro m another clime in a wave
toss ed vess el who had landed on the Shores of th e
Persian G u lf a nd ha d instructed the rude i nhabita nts
thereof in the c u lture of a higher civilization There
is very little do u b t that E a has a close co nnexio n
in s ome manner with the Noah legend of the deluge
F or exa mple a Su merian text exists in which i t
would s eem a s if the S hip of E a was described as th e
timb ers of which its various parts were c onstructe d
a re mentioned and the refugees it saved consis ted of
Ea himself Da w k ina his wife Merodach and Ine sh
the pilot of E ri du along with Nin igi nagir sir
O f course it w ould see m natural to the B a bylo
nia ns to regard the Persian Gulf as the grea t a byss
whence all things emanated A s Jastrow very j ustly
remarks : I n the word of Ea of a character more

spiritual than that of En lil he commands and what
he plans comes into existence a who lly be ne c e nt
power he blesses the elds an d heals mankind H is
mos t striking trait is his love of humanity In con
ic t s between the gods and mankind he is inv a ri
ably on the side o f the latter
When the gods
at the instance of Em lil as the god of storms
de cide to bring on a del uge to sweep away mankind
it is E a who reveals the secret to his favourite
Ut Na p ish t im (Noah ) who saves himself h is fam ily
.
1 15

and his belongings on a ship that he is instructed to
1
build
The waters p ersonied by him are not those
of the turbulent and treacherous ocean but those
of irrigating S trea ms and commerce carrying canals
He is thus very di fferent from the god En lil the
lord of heaven who possesses so many attributes
of destruction E a in his benevolent way thwarts
the purpose of the riotous god of tempest which
greatly enrages En lil and it ha s been thought that
this myth suggests the rivalry which perhaps a t one
time existed between the two religious centres of
E ridu and Nippur cities of Ea and En lil respectively
I n an eloquent manner E a implores Eu lil not t o
precipitate another deluge and begs tha t instead of
such wholesale destruction man may b e p unished
by sending lions and j ackals or by fa mines or pesti
lences En lil hearkens to his S peech his heart is
touched and he blesses U tnapishtim and his wife
I f this myth is a piece of priestcraft it argues
better rela tions b etween the ecclesiastical a uthorities
a t Eridu and Nippur E a had many other names
the chief of which Nin a gal meaning god o f grea t
strength alluded to h is patronage of the smith s
art He wa s also called En k i which describes
him as lord o f the earth through which his waters
meandered In such a c ountry a s Babylonia earth
and water are closely associated as under that soil
water is always to b e found at a distance of a few feet :
thus the interior of the earth is the domain of Ea
.
Adap a and t h e S out h Wind

Here is the story of Adapa the son of E a who but
for his obedience to his father s command might have
attained de ic at ion and immortality
Th e
St
or y
1 16
Religious Be lief in B abylonia
and
Assyr ia, p 8 8
.
MYTH S OF B A B YLO NIA AND A SS Y RIA

to answer to the great gods for the ill usage of their
servant the demon Shutu Nevertheless he began
to make preparations for h is j ourney and ere he
se t o u t his father Ea instr u cted him a s to how he
should comport himself in the asse mbly o f the
g ods
Wrap thyself not in a vesture of gold O my son
but clothe thee in the garments o f the dea d A t the
gates of heaven thou wilt nd Ta mmu z and Gish
zida guarding the way Salute the twain with due
respe ct I charge thee baring thy hea d and show
ing all deferenc e to them I f tho u dost nd favou r
in their eyes they will S peak well of thee b efore Anu
And whe n thou standest within the precincts of
heaven don the garment that is given thee to wea r
and anoint thy hea d with the oil that is brought thee
B ut when the gods o ffer the e food and drin k touch
them not for the food will b e the Meat of Death
and the drin k the W ater of Death
let neither
pass within thy lips Go n ow my son and rememb er
these my instructions B ear thyself with humility
and all will b e well

A dapa bade his father farewell and set out on h is
j o u rney to heaven H e fo u nd all as his father ha d
predicted ; Ta mmuz and Gishzida receive d him at
the p ortals of the divin e dwelling and so hu mble
wa s Adapa s attitude that they were move d with
compassion t owards him They led him into the
presence of Ann and he bowe d low before the grea t
god
I a m come in answer to thy summons said he

Have mercy upon me O thou Most H igh
A nu frowned upon him
I t is said of thee he ma de answer that thou

hast broken the wings of Shutu the South W ind
-
,
.
1 18
ADA PA AND THE S O U TH WI ND

W hat manner of man art thou who da re st destroy
Kn owest thou n ot that the
Shutu in thy wrath !
people su ffer for lack of nourish ment ; that the
herb dr o op e t h and the cat tle lie parched on the
scorching ground ! Te ll me why has t thou don e
this thing
I was out on the se a shing

said Adapa
an d the South Wind blew violently upsetting my
boat and casting me into the water Therefore I
seized her wings and broke the m And lo ! I a m
c ome t o seek thy pardon

Then Ta mmuz and Gishzida the deities whos e
favour Adapa ha d won at the gates of heaven stepped
forth and knelt at the feet of their ki ng
B e merciful O Anu ! Adapa hath b een sorely
tried a nd now is he truly hu mble and repentant
L et his treat me nt of Shutu b e forgotten

Anu listen ed t o the words of Ta mmuz an d Gish
zida and his wrath was turned a w ay
R ise A dapa he said kindly

thy looks please
me well Thou hast seen the interior of this our
kingdom and now mus t thou re main in heaven for
ever an d we will make thee a god like unto us
W hat s ayes t tho u son of E a
A dapa b owed low b efore the ki ng of the gods an d
tha nked him for his pardon and for his p romis e o f
godhead
A nu therefore c ommanded that a feast b e made
and that the Meat of L ife and the W ater o f
L ife be placed b efore A dapa for only by eating
and drinking of thes e could he attain immortality
B u t when the feast was sprea d A dapa refused to
partake of the repast for he re me mb ered his father s
inj unctions on this p oin t So he sa t in silenc e a t the
table of the gods whereu p on A nu exclaimed
S TO RY
OF
1 19
MYTH S OF BAB YLO NIA AND A SS Y RIA

Why dost thou not eat or
What n ow Adapa
drin k ! Except thou taste o f the food and wat er
b efore thee thou canst not hop e to live for
se t
ever
Adapa p erc eived that he ha d offended his divine
host so he hastened to explain
B e not wroth
most mighty Anu I t is b ecaus e my lord Ea hath
so co mmanded that I break not bread nor drink
water at thy table Tu rn not thy c ountenance fro m
me I b es eech thee
A nu frowned
I s it that Ea feared I should
seek thy life by o ffering thee deadly food ! Truly
he that kn oweth so much an d hath schooled th ee
in so many di fferent arts is for once put t o
sha me
A dapa would have Spoke n but the lord of heaven
s ilen ce d him
Peace !
he said ; then to his attendants
B ring forth a garment that he may clothe himself
and oil bring also to anoint his head

When the King s c ommand ha d been carried out
A dapa rob ed himself in the heavenly garment and
anointed his head with the oil Then he a ddress ed
A nu thu s
O A nu I salute thee
The privilege of godhea d
must I indeed forego but never sha ll I forget the
honour tha t thou wouldst have conferre d upon me
Ever in my heart shall I keep the words thou hast
spoken and the memory of thy kindness shall I
ever retain B la me me not exceedingly I pray
thee My lord E a a w a it e t h my return
Truly said A nu
I censure not thy decision
B e it even a s thou wilt Go my son and p eace
go with thee
And thus Adap a returned to the abod e o f E a
,
1 20
MYTH S O F BA B YLONIA AND A SS Y RIA

ts in moreover with the comparatively advanced
period when the seats of the gods were pla ced in
1
the skies a nd the gods identied with the stars
A merely s u percial acq u aintance with the nature
o f animis m and the sk y myths of primitive and
barbaria n peoples would lead us to the conclusion
tha t the Opposite is the case I n E gyptian Poly
mesian and North A merican I ndian myth the sk y
itself is directly personalized E gyptian m y t h o
logical ill ustration depicts the Sk y in fe male form
for in E gyptian myth the sk y is the mother and t h e
earth the father of everything L ang has shown
tha t the sky father is fre quently personalized as a
magnied non n a tural man a mong races which

possess no theological s chools We do not say that
the arrangement of Ann E a and En
lil into a triad
is not a bit of learned speculation but to state

that early animis m did not rst personalize the sk y
and the earth and the sea is rash in the extreme
When Deucalion an d Pyrrha in the Greek myth
asked the gods h o w they might best replenish the
earth with the h u man race they were instructed to
ca st
the bones of their mother
behind them
and these bones they interpreted as the stones and
rocks and a cted accordingly
So would primitive
man all the world over have interpreted this a dvice
for universally he believes the very soil upon which
he walks to be the great mother which produced
his ancestors out of whose dust or clay they were
formed and who still nourishes and preserves him
Jastrow proceeds to state that A nu was origi

nally the personication of some denite power of
nature and everything points to this power having
been the sun in the heavens Starting from this
nd A yr i
R ligi u B li f in B byl ni
8
1
p
.
1 22
o s
a a
ss
a,
I S HTA R
point of view we quite understand how the grea t
illuminer of heaven should have been identied with
the heavens in an articially devised theological
u
E
system j st a s n lil beca me in this system the
designation o f the earth and of the region a b ove the
1
earth viewed a s a whole
The very fact tha t in
the earliest times Anu was identied with the expans e
of the S ky itself and that the symbol used to denote
him meant heaven is against this supposition
A gain the theory suffers fro m la ck o f analogy I n
what other mythology is there to be found a sk y god
who at one time possessed a solar signicance !
The converse might be the case Some sk y gods
have attained the solar connexion beca use of their
rule over the entire expanse o f the heavens j ust a s
they have a ttained the power of wielding lightni ng
and the wind B ut w e are a t a loss to recall any
d eity originally o f distinctive solar attributes who
la ter took the position of a S ky god
A nu was regarded as head of the triad and the
father of En lil W e are told that the goddes s
A ruru rst shape d man in the image of Anu who
m u st thus have attained an anthropomorphic c on
dit ion H e app ears als o to have b een regarded as
the con qu eror of primeval chaos His cons ort wa s
Ana t u probably a later feminine form of himself
,
Ish tar
I shtar wa s undoubtedly a goddess of Semitic
origin and symb olized the fertility of the earth
She was the grea t mother who fostered a ll v e g e
It is probable that her c ult
t a t ion and agriculture
originated at E rech and in the c ours e of cent u ries
and under many nominal changes disp erse d itself
nd A y i
R ligi us B li f in B byl ni
8
2
p
.
a a
ss
r a,
1 23
MYTH S O F BA B YLO NIA AND A S SY RIA

throughout the length a nd breadth of western Asi a
and even into Greece and E gypt
It is probable
that a nu mber of lesser goddesses such as Nan a a nd
Anunit may have become merged in the conception
of this divinity and that lesser local deities of the
sa me character as herself may have taken her na me
and assisted to swe ll her reputation She is fr e
quently addressed as mother of the gods and
indeed the na me Ishtar beca me a generic designa
tion for goddess
B ut these were later honours
W hen her cult centred at E rech it ap p ears to have
speedily blossomed out in many directions and a s
has b een said lesser cults probably eagerly identied
themselves with that of the great earth mother
so that in time her worship b eca me more tha n a
Indeed wherever p eople of Semitic
B abylonian cul t
speech were to b e found there wa s the worship of
Ishta r AS A shteroth or Astarte Sh e was known
to Canaanites Ph oenicians and Greeks and there
is some likelihood that the cult of A phrodite had
also its b eginnings in that of Ishtar We shall
enq u ire later whether sh e can b e the E sther of the
Astrologically she was identie d with
Scriptures
the planet Venus but so nu merous were the attributes
surrounding her taken fro m other goddesses with
which sh e had become identied that they threa tened
to overshadow her real c haracter which was tha t
of the great and fertile mother More especially
did her identicatio n with Nin lil the consort of
En lil the Storm god threaten to alter her real
nature as in this guise sh e was regarded as a goddess
of war I t is s eldom that a goddess of fertility or
love achieves such a distinction Gods possessi ng
an agricultural signicance are nearly always war
gods but that is becaus e they bring the fertilizing
.
1 24
THE DES CENT OF I S HTA R I NTO HADE S

thunder c louds and therefore possess the lightning
arrow or sp ea r B ut I shtar is Specically a goddes s
of the class of Persephone or I sis and her ide nt ic a
tion with battle mus t b e regarded as purely accidental
In later times in A ssyria sh e was conceived as the
consort of Asshur head of the Assyrian pantheon in
days when a god or goddess who did not breathe war
w a s of little u se to a p eople like the A ssyrians who wer e
consta ntly employed in hostilities and this circu m
stance naturall y heightened her reputatio n as a war
like divinity B u t it is at present her original char
acter with which we are occupied indeed in s ome texts
we n d that so far from b eing able to protect hers elf
I shtar and her prop erty are made the prey of the
savage En lil the storm god

H is word sent me
forth sh e c o mplains ; as often a s it comes to me it

casts me prostrate upon my face The unconsecrated
foe entered my c ourts placed his unwashed han ds
upon me and caused me to tremble Putting forth
his hand he s mote me with fea r H e tore away my
rob e an d clothed his wife therein : he stripped o ff
my ew els and pla ce d the m upon his daughter L ike
a quivering dove upon a b ea m I sa t L ike a eeing
bird from my cran ny swiftly I passed F ro m my
temple like a bird they caused me to y

Such is
the plaint o f I shtar who in this case appears to b e
q uite helples s before the enemy
The myth which b est illustrates her character is
that which speaks of her j ourney to A ralu the
u nderworld
-
I sht ar int o H ades

The poem which in its e x isting form consists
of 1 37 lines in cuneiform characters appears to b e
incomplete We are not told therein what was the
Th e Desc ent
o
,
125

purpose of the goddess in j ourneying t o the H ous e
of No ret u rn but we gather from various legends
and fro m the c oncl u ding p or t ion o f the poe m
itself that Sh e went thither in s earch of her bride
groo m Ta mmuz the sun god of E ridu The im
p ortance of the myth of I shtar and Ta mmuz lies
partly i n the fact that travelling westwards to
Greec e by way of Ph oenicia it furnished a ground
work for classic myths of the A donis A ttis typ e
which still provide mythologists with matter for
endless spec ulation The mythological signicance
of the poem and the persons it mentions will b e
dealt with later ; the theories c oncerning the primi
tive s tat u s o f Ta mmu z an d I shtar are numerous
and distinct more tha n one of them b eing su ffi
to call for a careful s crutiny
c ie nt ly plausible
Consideration of the myth may therefore b e de
ferred till we have glanced at the Babylonian story
itself and some of its principal variants and
analogues
T am m uz and I sht ar
The myth o f Ta mmuz is one of high anti q uity
da ting p ossibly fro m 4000 B C or even earlier B oth
Ta mmuz and Ishtar were originally non Semitic
the na me of the former deity being derived fro m the
A kka dian Du mu zi son of life or the only son
perha ps a contraction of Dumu zi apsu offspring

o f the S pirit of the deep as Professor Sayce indicates
The S pirit of the deep is o f course the wa ter
god Ea and Ta mmuz apparently typies the sun
tho u gh he is not as will presently b e seen a simple
solar deity but a god who unites in himself the
attrib utes of various departmental divinities A n
a ncient Akka dian hymn a ddresses Ta mmuz a s Shep
1 26
MYTH S OF B AB YLO NIA AN D A SS Y RIA

there is little doubt that I shtar enters A ralu in search
of her youthful husband The poem we are about
to consider briey deals with a part only of the myth
the story of Ishtar s descent into A ralu I t o p en s
thus :
To the land o f No return the region o f
darkness I shta r the da ughter of Sin turned her
ear even I shtar the daughter of Sin turned her ear
to the abode o f darkness the dwelling of Irk alla to
the house whose enterer goes not forth to the road
whenc e the wayfarer never returns t o the house
whose inhabitants se e no light to the region where
dust is their bre a d and their food mud ; they se e no
light they dwell in darkness they are clothed like th e
birds in a garment of feathers O n the d oor and the
bolt hath the dust fall en

The moral conta ined in
this passage is a gloomy one for mortal ma n he who
enters the drea d precincts of A ralu goes not forth
he is doomed to re main for ever in the enveloping
darkness his sustenance mud and dus t The men
tion of the dust which lies on door and bolt

strikes a peculiarly bleak and dreary note like other
primitive races the ancient Babylonians painted the
other world not denitely a s a pla ce of reward or
punishment but rather as a wea k reection of the
earth world a region of darkness and passive misery
which must have o ffered a singularly uninviting
prospect to a vigorous human being The garment
of feathers is somewhat puzzling
Why should the
dead wea r a garment of feathers ! Unl ess it be
that the sun god identied in some of his a spects
with the eagle descends into the underworld in a
dress of feathers and that therefore mortals who
foll ow him must appear in the nether regions in
similar guise The description a bove quoted of the
B abylonian Hades tallie s with tha t given in drea m
.
1 28
AT THE G AT ES OF A RAL U
to B abani by the temple maiden Ukh u t ( Gilga mesh
epic ta blet VI I )
-
At t h e G at es
f A r alu
Co ming to the gate of A ral u Ishta r assumes a

menacing aspect and threatens to brea k down the
door and shatter its bolts and bars if sh e b e not
admitted Straightway
The keeper of the gate
endeavours to soothe the irate deity an d goes to
announce her presence to Er e sh k i gal (Alla t u) the
mistress of Hades F rom his words it would appear
tha t I shtar has j ourneyed thither in search of the
waters of life wherewith to restore her husband Ta m
muz to life Alla t u receives the news of her Sister s
a dvent with a bitter tirade bu t nevertheless instructs
t h e keeper to admit her which he proceeds to do
Ishtar on entering the sombre domains is oblige d
t o pass thro u gh seven gates at each of which sh e is
relieved of s ome article of dress or adornment ( evi
de nt ly in accordance with the ancient c u stom o f
Aralu ) till at last sh e stands entirely uncla d
At
the rst gate the keeper takes from her the mighty
crown of her hea d
at the secon d her earrings are
taken at the third her neckl ace ; at the fourth the
orna ments of her breast ; at the fth her j ewelled
girdl e at the sixth her bracelets and at the s eventh
the cincture of her b ody The goddess does not part
with thes e save under protest but the keep er of the
gate answers all her queries with the words
Enter
O lady it is the command of Alla t u

The divine
wayfarer at length appears b efore the goddess o f
the underworld who shows her s cant c ourtesy bid
ding the plague de mon Na mta r s mite her from
hea d to foot with dis eas e in her eyes s ide feet
heart and hea d
,
12
MYTH S O F B AB YLO NIA AND A S SY RIA

During the time that I shtar is c onned within th e
bo u nds of A ralu all fertility on the earth is suspended
b oth in the animal and vegetable kingdoms Know
ledge of this disa strous state of a ffairs is conveyed t o
the gods by their messenger Pap sukal who rst
t ells the s tory to Sha mash th e sun god Sha mash
weep s as he b ears the matter b efore E a an d Sin
gods of the earth and the moon resp ectively ; b ut E a
to re medy the sterility of the earth creates a b eing
called Ash u sh u namir who m he dispatches t o the
underworld to demand the releas e of I shtar Alla t u
is greatly enraged when the demand is made

in
the name of the great gods and curs es Ash u sh u

na mir with a ter r ible curse c ondemning him t o
dwell in the darkness of a dungeon with the garbage
of the city for his food Nevertheless sh e cannot
resist the p ower of the c onj uration wherefore sh e
bids Na m tar the plague demon release the Annunaki
or earth Spirits and plac e the m on a golden thron e
and pour the waters of life over Ishtar Na mta r
ob eys ; in the words of the p oe m he s mot e the

rm ly b uilt palace he shattered the threshold which
b ore up the stones of light he ba de the spirits of
earth c ome forth on a throne of gold did he s eat
them over I shtar he p oured the waters of life and
brought her along

I shtar is then led through the
s even gates of Arula receiving at each the arti cle
of attire whereof she had the re been deprived
F inall y sh e e merges into the earth world which
res u mes its normal cours e Then foll ow a few lines
addressed to Ishtar p erhap s by the plague demon
or by the keeper of the gates

I f sh e (Allat u)
hath not given thee that for which the ransom is
paid her return t o her for Ta mmuz the bridegroom
of thy youth Pour over him p ure waters and
,
,
,
1 30
MY TH S OF BAB YLO NIA AND A SS Y RIA

king Theias and his daughter S myrna (Myrrha)
Theias pursued the princess intending to take her
life for the crime bu t the pity o f the gods turned
her into a tree from which at the end of ten months
A donis was b orn I t is said that a boar rent op en the
tree trunk with its tusk a nd thus enabled the divine
infant to se e the light Aphrodite charme d with
the b eauty O f the child gave him into the care of
Persephone who was so enamoured o f her charge
that sh e afterwards refu sed to give hi m up The
goddesses appealed to Z eus who decreed that Adonis
should spend six months of each year with Aphrodite
and six with Pers ephon e in the underworld ; or
according to another version four months were t o
b e passed with A phrodite and four with Pers ephone
while the remaining fou r w ere to b e at his own
disp osal H e was a fterwards slain b y a b oar s en t
against him by A rtemis (hers elf by the way a
develop ment of I shtar) I t may b e remarked that
Aphrodit e who gures like Ishtar as the goddess of
love an d b eauty is also closely associated with the
n ether regions p erhap s b ecaus e Sh e was identie d
with the B abylonian goddess in her j ourney t o H a des
in s earch of her Spo u s e
Akin to Adonis is the god Attis who likewise
according to one version of his myth is slain by
a boar After his death he becomes a pine tre e
and fro m his blood violets spring He is beloved
of Cybele the mother goddess who la ments his um
timely end
I n the Adonis legend there is evidence of some
overlapping Persephone or Proserpine who here
corresponds to the Alla t u of the B abylo nian var iant
g u res in another well known myth a s the prototyp e

o f Tammuz When Sh e is carried o ff to t h e nether
.
2
3
I S HTA R AND PERSEPH ONE

world by Pluto her mother Ceres will not suffer the
corn to grow while her daughter remains a prisoner
L ike Ishtar in search of her spouse the mother
goddess seeks her child with weeping and lamen
Through the eating of a pomegranate seed
t a t ion
Proserpine is nally obliged to pass four ( or six )
months of every year with her dark captor a s his
co nsort
Another myth which has affinities with the tale
of Ta mmuz and Ishtar is the E gyptian one which
deals with the quest of Isis The god O siris is
slain through the machinations of his brother Se t
who
being
identied
elsewhere
with
a
black
hog
(
re calls the boar which slew Adonis and Attis ) and
h is body enclosed in a chest is cast into the Nile
Afterwards the chest is thrown up by the waves
and round it S prings mirac u lo u sly a ta marisk tree
Meanwhile I sis wife a nd sister to O siris travels
hither and thither in search of his remains wh ic h in
due time sh e nds H owever t h e ches t is stolen
from her by Set who taking therefro m the body o f
O siris tears the corpse into fourteen pieces which
he scatters broadcast through the la nd I sis still
pursues her quest till sh e ha s found a ll the portions
and buried them
Thes e tales were the mythical correlates of certain
ritualistic practices designed t o bring a bo ut the
change of seasons and other natural phenomena
by means of sympathetic magic The burden o f
a great d u ty falls upon the shoulders of primitive
man ; with his rites and spell s and magic arts he
m u st assist the u niverse in its co u rse H is esoteric
pla ys typifying the mysterio u s fact o f growth are
necessary to ens u re the S prouting o f the corn ; his
charms and incantations are essential even for the
,
33
MY TH S OF BA B YLO NIA AND A S S Y RIA

rising of the su n ; lacking the guarantee of science
that one season S hall follow another in it s p roper
order he goes through an elaborate performanc e
symbolizing the decay and revival of vegetation
believing t hat only thus can the na tural order b e
mainta ined Through the force of sympa thetic
magic he sees his puny e fforts rela ted to the mighty
results which follow them
This then is the origin of the ritual of the Ta mmuz
festival which may conceivably have ha d an existenc e
prior to that of the myth itself The representation
o f the death and resurre ction o f the god whether
in myth or ritual ha d undoub tedly a seas onal sig
nic a nc e wher efore the date o f his festival varied
in the di fferent localities In Babylonia it wa s
celebrated in June thus showing that the deity
was slain by the erce heat of the sun burning up
all the Springtide vegetation I shtar s soj ourn in
H ades would thus occupy the arid months of su mmer
In other and more temperate climes winter would b e
regarded as the enemy o f Ta mmuz An interesting
a ccount of the Ta mmuz festival is that given by an
A rabic author writing in the tenth century and
quoted by Sir James Frazer in his Golden B ough
Tammuz ( July) I n the middle of this month is

the festival o f e l B g at that is of the weeping
women and this is the Ta uz festival which is
celebrate d in honour o f the god Ta uz The women
b ewail him because his lord slew him so crue lly
ground h is bones in a mill and then scattere d the m
to the w ind The women ( during this festival) ea t
nothing which has been ground in a mill but limit
their diet to steeped wheat sweet vetches dates
raisins and the like

The material for this desc rip
tion was furnished by the Syrians o f Harran O f
,
1 34

river Nahr Ibrahim ( formerly called Adonis ) bore
down from the mountains of L ebanon the red earth
in which the devout sa w the blood of the slain Adonis
Golden boxes of myrrh were employed at the Adonia
festival incense was burned and p igs were sacriced
Pigs were sacriced als o t o O siris whos e cult as
has b een shown ha d much in common with that of
Ta mmuz and A donis The E gyptian god was cast
b y his enemies into the waters of the Nile ; and it
may b e that this myth t oo had a ritualistic counter
part designe d as a charm to
rain
I t has b een indicated a lre a cp
yroduc
that ethe elucidations
of the myth of I shtar s j ourney to Aralu are many
and divergent The variants ab ove enu merated
serve each to cast light on the other and from a
c omparison of these we may su c e e e d in arriving a t
a satis factory conclusion To b egin with however
it must b e rememb ered that when the cult of any
deity has reached a fairly a dvanced stage it is im p os
s ible to assign to him any one depart ment of nature
t o say that he is a sun god a rain god a corn god
for he may p ossess the attributes of all of these I n
giving any god a depart mental designation we are
to express his primitive or predominant
Striving
characteristics merely
.
An Alleg oric al I nt erp r et at ion of t h e My t h

A truly allegorical elucidation of
the myth of
I shtar s descent into H ades would depict Ishtar
as the goddess of fertility seeking in the underworld
for her husband the sun god slain by the icy breath
of winter Du ring her soj ourn in the nether regions
to b e resumed only
a ll fertility ceases on the earth
when sh e ret u rns a s the j oyful bride of the Spring
tide sun The surrender of her clothing and j ewels
1 36
Th e
M th er g ddess Is h t r
E l P l
o
ve
yn
au
36
MYTH S O F B A BYLO NIA AND A SS Y RIA

death b eca me a pine tree Ta mmu z himself wa s
c onc eived of as dwelling in the midst of a grea t
world tre e whos e roots extended down t o the under
world while its branches reached to the heavens
This tre e app ears to have b een the c edar for which
the ancient B abylonians had an e special reverenc e
O ne feature which lea ds us t o identify the deit ies of
this class both male and female with gods of v e g e
t a t ion is the ir association with the moo n
O siris
is regarded and with much reason a s a moon god ;
in on e of her aspects A phrodite is a lunar deity
whil e a like signicance b elongs to Proserpine an d
t o the Ph oenician Ashtoreth Ishtar herself it is
tru e was n ever identied with the moon which
in Babylonia was a male divinity ; yet sh e was
associated with him as his daughter
A mong
primitive p eoples the moon is b elieved to exercis e a
p owerful inu ence on vegetation and i ndeed on all
manner of growth and productivity The ass ociation
of a god with the moo n therefore a rgues for him als o
a c onnexion with vegetation and fertility I t may
b e remarked in passing that a lunar signi canc e
has b een atta ched by some authorities to the story
of I shtar s descent into H ades and t o kindred myths
I t is held that the soj ourn of the goddess in Aralu
typies a lunar e clips e or p erhap s the p eriod between
the waning of the old moo n and the app earance of
the n ew B u t as has b een said the a ncient Baby
lonia ns sa w in the lu minary of night a male deity s o
that any lunar characteristics pertaining to I shtar
mu st b e regar ded as of merely s econdary i mp ortance
-
I sh t ar T amm uz and Veg et ation

I f it b e granted then that Ishtar and Ta mmu z
are deities of vegetation it is possible Still further to
,
38
I S HTA R TA MMU Z AND V E G ETATIO N

narrow their Sphere by associating them particularly
with the c orn A donis and Aphrodite are connected
with the growth of the crops Ceres who forbids the
corn to Spring while her daughter is in the realm of
Pluto is undoubtedly a corn mother and Pros erpine

evidently partakes of the sa me nature O siris was
the culture deity who intro duced c orn into E gyp t
A representation of him in the te mple of I sis a t
Phil ae depicts corn stalks growing ou t of his d ea d
b odythe body of O siris (the grain ) is torn to pieces
s cattered through the land and the pieces buried
( or planted ) in the earth when the corn S prouts
from it
Moreover Ta mmuz hims elf was cruelly
disposed of by his lord who ground his bones in a
m ill and then s cattered them t o the wind plainly
a typ e of the treatment meted out to the corn
An Arabic writer relates that Tammu z was cru elly
kil led several times bu t that he always ca me t o
life again a story which recalls Robert Burns yohn
B a rleycorn itself p erhaps based on mythical matter
May not thes e examples suggest an elucidation on
animistic lines
Deities of the Ta mmuz typ e app ear
t o symbolize the corn grain and nothing more
cut down bruise d and beaten buried in the earth
and nally spri nging t o renewed life W ho then
are the goddesses likewise identied with the corn
who s eek in the un derworld for lover or child e n
dea v ou ring with tears t o ranso m the c or n from the
dark earth A re they n ot the primitive corn spirits
the indwelling animistic spirits of the s tanding grain
doomed at the harvest to wander disconsolately
through the earth t ill the sprouting of the corn onc e
more gives them an opp ortunity to materialize
The stories of the mut ilation and disp ersio n of
the b odies of Ta mmuz and O siris and of the many
,
1 39
MYTH S OF B A B YLO N IA AND A SS Y RIA

dea t hs of the former god furnish a basis for yet
an other explanation of the Tammuz myth Sir
Ja mes F razer brings forward the theory that the
L a mentations of the ancient B abylonians were
intended not for mourning for the decay o f vegeta
tion but to b ewail the cruel treatment of the grain
a t harvest time and cites in this conne xion the
ballad of 7ohn B a rleycor n which w e are told wa s
b as ed on a n early English p oem probably itself of
mythological origin
I t is however most likely th at the myth of
Ta mmu z a nd I shtar is of a c omposite nature as
has alrea dy b een indicated Possibly a myth of the
su n god and earth godde ss has
b een sup erimposed
o n the early groundwork of the corn Spirit seeking
the c orn I t would c ertainly s ee m that Ishtar in
her descent into A ralu typied the earth shorn of
her c overi ng of vegetation Then in time sh e might
c ome to symb olize the vegetatio n itself or the
fert ility which produced it and so would gain new
attributes and new ele ments would enter into the
myths c oncerning her O nly by regarding her a s a
c omposite deity is it possible to reach an u nder
standing of the principles underlying thes e myth s
,
I sh t ar and Est h er
We have already questioned whether the Scripture
st ory of Esther is in s ome manner connecte d with
the goddess I shtar W riting of the J ewish feas t
of Purim Sir Ja mes F razer says ( Golden B ough
vol iii p
F ro m the absenc e of all notic e
of Puri m in the older b ooks of the Bible we may
fairly conclude that the festival was instituted or
i mported at a co mparatively late date a mong the
J ews The same conclusion is supported by th e
.
1 40

for the royal honours which he had looked for fell
to his rival Mordecai and he himself was hanged on
the gall ows which he had made rea dy for his foe
I n this story we see m to detect a re miniscence more
or less confused of the Zog a ne s of the Sa c aea in
other words of t h e c u sto m of investing a private
with
the
insignia
of
royalty
for
a
few
days
and
1n
_ an
then putting him t o death on the gallows or the
cross
A strong conrmation of this vie w is furnished
by a philological analysis of the na me s of the four
personages I t seems to b e now generally recognised
by B iblical scholars that the na me Mordecai which
h a s no meaning in Hebrew is nothing but a slightly
altered form of Marduk or Merodach the na me of
the chief god o f B abylon whose grea t festival wa s
the Za k m u k ; a nd further it is generally admitted
tha t Esther in like manner is e qu ivalent to Ishtar
the great B abylonian goddess who m th e Greeks
ca lled Astarte and who is more fa miliar to E nglish
rea ders as Ashtaroth The derivation of the names
of H a man and Vashti is less certain but som e high
authorities are disposed to a ccept the view o f Jensen
that H a man is identical with H u m ma n o r Hom m a n
the national god of the Elamites and that Vashti
is in like manner a n Ela mite deity probably a god
dess whose na me appears in inscriptions

,
L ang ou t h e Est h er S t or y
Commenting on this theory L ang in his Magic
1 6 1 ) says :
The na me Mordecai
a nd Religion ( p
resembles Marduk E sther is like I shtar Ha man is
like Hu m m a n the Ela mite god and there is a divine
name in the inscriptions rea d a s resembling Vashti
and probably the name of a n E la mite goddess Thus
,
1 42
LANG ON THE E S THE R S TO RY

the human chara cters in E sther are in p eril of merg
ing in B a bylonian a nd Ela mite gods B ut lest that
S hould occur we ought als o to remember that Mor
deca i wa s the real na me of a real historical Jew of
t h e Ca ptivity one of the companions of Nehemiah in
the return from exile to J erusalem A gain E sther
appears to me to b e the crown na me of the J ewish
wife o f X erxes in the B ook of E sther : H adassah
that is E sther
In the B iblica l stor y S he conceals
her J ewish descent Hadassah says NOlde k e is no
Ha dassah
m er e invention of the writer of E sther
is said to mean myrtle bough and girls are s t ill
call ed Myrtle E sther appears to have been an
assumed na me after a royal mixed marriage Now
if a real historical Jew might b e na med Mordecai
which we know to b e the ca se a J ewess whether
in fact or in this Book of E sther which says Dr
Jastrow ha s of cours e some historical basis might
b e styled E sther
B ut if Mordecai be a s it is
an historical na me of a real J ew of the period while
E sther ma y be and probably is a na me which a
Jewess might bear it is not ascertained tha t Vashti
really is the na me of a n Ela mite goddess Ye t
Vashti is quite essential as a goddess to Mr F ra zer s
argument
The derivation he says of the na mes
of H aman and Va shti is less certain but some high
a uthorities a re disposed to accept the V iew of Jensen
tha t H a man is identical with H u mm a n or Hom m a n
the national god of the Ela mites and tha t Vashti
is in like manner a n E la mite deity proba bly a god
dess whose na me appears in inscriptions
I t is thus seen tha t the fa cts regarding these
na mes ma ke such a n explanation a s is a dvanced by
H a man
Sir Ja mes F razer rather a hazardous one
a ccording to his theory would represent the dying
.
I 43
MYTH S O F B A BYLONIA AND A S SY RIA

god whilst Mordeca i would play the part of the re
risen god of vegetation L ang puts forward a counter
theory and that is that Ha ma n or H u m ma n wa s
a conq u ering god of the Elamites which a ccounts
for him having been whipped and hanged in derision
This Hu m m a n was he thinks possibly an E la mite
god of vegetatio n
,
Nin G ir su
was a part of the city of L agash an d the

na me Nin Girsu means L ord of Girsu
Gods fre
quently had lordship over a c it y quart er one of the
b est known instanc es of this b ei ng that o f Huit zi
lop o c h t li who ruled over that part of the city o f
Tenochtitlan called Mexico which a fterwards gave
it s na me to the entire c ommunity
Girsu ha d
originally b een a c ity itself and ha d b ecome merge d
into L agash so its god was probably of an cient
origin Nin Girsu is frequ ently alluded t o as the
warrior of B el h e who broke through the hostil e
ranks to aid the worshipp ers of the grea t god of the
netherworld L ike many combatant deities how
ever he presided over local agriculture and in this
c onn exion he was known as Shul gur L ord of the
corn heaps
H e is even ident ied with Ta mmuz
Girsu
B au
I n ancient inscriptions esp ecially thos e of Gudea

,
Urban and U ru kagina the goddess Bau is allude d

-
to as the great mother of mankind who restores the

sick to health She is called chief daughter of
Anu and s ee ms to play the part of a fate to some
extent
She ha s als o an agricultural side to her
character G u dea was especially devoted to her
and has left it on record that sh e lled him with
,
1 44
MYTH S OF BAB YLONIA AND A S SY RIA

the moon in very early times than to the sun The
moon is usually represented on Babylonian cylinders
as b earing a crescent upon his hea d and wearing a
long owing b eard described a s of the c olour of
lapis lazulimuch the sa me shade a s his b ea ms pos
s ess in warmer latitudes Nannar was fre q uently
alluded to a s the heifer of A nu b ecause of the
horn which the moon displays a t a c ertain phase
Many monarchs a p p ear to have delighted in the
u pkeep and restoration of his temple a mong them
Nur R a mman and Sin iddina
.
Nannar in Dec ay
But a s happ ens to many gods Nannar b eca me

confounded with some earthly herowas even alluded
t o as a satrap o f Babylonia under the Media n mo narch
Ctesias
Art a iosa p ers onage unknown t o history
hands down to u s a very c ircu mstantial tale c on
1
cerning him as follows
There wa s a Persian of the na me of Pa rsonde s
in the s ervice of the king of the Medes an eager
hunts man and an active warrior on foot and in the
chariot disting u ished in c ouncil and in the eld
a nd of i nuence with the king
Pa r sonde s often
urged th e king t o make him satra p of Babylon in
the plac e of Na nna ros who wore wo men s clothes
and orna ments but the king always put the p etition
aside for it could not b e granted without bre aking
the promise which his a ncestor had made to B ele sy s
Nanna r os discovered the i nte ntions of Pa rsonde s
and sought to secure himself against them and t o
ta ke vengeanc e He promised great rewards to the
c ooks who were in the train of the king if they
,
6
4
Transla t i on from
Prof Sayce
.
s Hihhe t Le tu
r
res,
1 57.
NANNAR IN DE CAY
ucceeded in s eizing Pa rsonde s a nd giving him up

O ne day Pa rsonde s in the heat of the chas e strayed
far from the king He ha d already killed ma ny
boars and deer when the p ursuit of a w ild a ss carried
him to a great distance At last h e ca me up on the
cooks who were occupied in preparations for the
king s table B eing thirsty Pa rsonde s asked for
wine ; they gave it took care o f his hors e and in
a n i nvitation agreeable t o
him
to
take
food
t
e
d
vi
Pa rsonde s who had b een hunting the whole da y
He bade the m sen d the ass which he ha d captured
to the king and t e ll his own s ervants where he was
Then h e at e of the various kinds of food se t b efore
him and drank abundantly of the excellent wine
and at las t asked for his hors e in order t o return t o
the king But they b rought b eautiful women to
him and urged him to remain for the night H e
agreed and as soon as overcome by hunting wine
and love he ha d fallen into a deep slee p the cooks
b ound him and brought him t o Na nna ros Na nna r os
reproached Pa rsonde s with calling him an e ffeminate
m an a nd seeking t o obtain his satrapy ; he ha d the
king to thank that the satrapy granted t o his ancestors
had not b een ta ken fro m him Pa rsonde s replied
that he considered hims elf more worthy of the offic e
b ecaus e he was more manly and more useful t o the
ki ng B ut Na nna ros swore by B el a nd Mylitta that
Pa rsonde s should b e s ofter and whiter than a woman
called for the eu nuch who wa s over the fe male players
and bade hi m shave the b ody o f Pa rsonde s and
bathe and anoint him every day pu t women s clothes
on him plait his hair a fter the manner o f women
paint his fac e and place him a mong the women who
pla yed the guita r and sa ng that he might learn their
arts This was done and soon Pa rsonde s played and
s
,
,
'47
MYTH S O F B A B YLONIA AND AS SY RIA

sang b etter a t the table of Na nna ros than any of t h e
women Meanwh ile the king of the Medes had
caused s earch to b e made everywhere for Pa rsonde s
a nd sinc e he c ould nowhere b e found
and nothing
c ould b e heard o f him he b elieved that a lion or
some other wild animal ha d kille d him when out
hunting and la mented for his loss Pa rsonde s ha d
lived for s even years as a woman in Babylon when
Na nnaros caused a eun u ch to b e scourged and
grievously maltreated This eunuch Pa rsonde s in
du c e d b y large pres ents to retire to Media and tell
the king the misfortune which ha d come upon him
Then the king s ent a message commanding Na nna ros
t o give up Pa rsonde s Na nna ros declared that he
had never s een him But the king s ent a s econd
messe nger with orders t o put Na nna ros to death if
he did not surrender Pa rsonde s Na nnaros e nter
and when the
t a ine d the messenger of the king ;
meal w a s bro u ght 1 50 women entered of whom some
played the g u itar while others blew the ute A t
t h e end of the meal
Nanna ros aske d the king s
envoy which of a ll the women was the most b eauti
ful and had played b est The envoy pointed to
Na nna ros laughed long a nd said That
Parsonde s
is the p ers on whom you seek a nd released Pa rsonde s
who on the next day return ed home with the envoy
to the king in a chariot The king was astonished
at the S ight of him and asked why he had not avoided
such disgrac e by death Pa r sonde s answered In
order that I might se e you again and by you execute
vengea nce on Na nna ro s which could never have b een
mine had I taken my life
The king promised him
that his hop e sho uld b e realized as soon as he ca me
to B abylon B ut when he ca me there Nannaros
defended himself on the gro und that Parsonde s
.
8
4
ARAL U OR ERES KL GAL

tho ugh in no way inj ured by him ha d maligned him
and so ught to obtain the satrapy over B a bylonia
The king pointed out that he had made hims elf j udge
in his own caus e and had imposed a punishmen t
of a degrading character in ten days he wo uld pro
nounce j udgment u pon him for his conduct I n terror
Na nna r os hastened t o Mit ra p h e rne s the e u nu ch of
greatest inuence with the ki ng and promised him
the most lib eral rewards 1 0 talents of gold an d 1 00
talents of silver 1 0 golden and 2 00 silver b owls if
he c ould induce the king to spare his life and retain
him in the satrapy of B abylo nia H e w a s p repared
to give the king 1 00 talents of gold 1 000 talents of
silver 1 00 golden and 300 silver b owls and c ostly
robes with other gifts Pa rsonde s also should rec eive
After many
1 00 talents of s ilver and costly rob es
entreaties Mit rap h e rne s persuaded the king not to
order the executio n of Na nna r os as he ha d not
killed Pa rsonde s but to exact from hi m the c o m p e n
sation which he was prepared to pay Pa rsonde s and
the king Na nna r os in gratit u de threw himself at
the feet of the king ; b ut Pa rso nde s said C u rs ed
b e the man who rst b rought gold a mong men ;
for the sake of gold I have been made a mockery
to the Babylonians
It is impossible t o sa y wha t the mythological
meaning hidden in this tale may portend We
ha ve the moon god attem p ting to femini ze an u nfor
Does this mean tha t Pa r sonde s ca me
t una t e enemy
under the inuence of the moon godthat is tha t
he beca me a lunatic
,
Ar alu or Er es k i Gal
The deities of the underworld of the region of the
dead are usually of later origin than thos e of the
,
49
MYTH S OF B AB YLONIA AND AS SY RIA

1
heavens
They are frequently the gods of an older
and d iscredited religio n and are relegated to the
cold shades of opposition dwell ing there j ust a s
the dea d are supposed t o dwell in the grave A
legend exists regarding A ralu which was discovered
a mong other texts at Tel cl Amarna The story
goes that the gods once gave a feast to which they
invited A ralu apologizing at the sa me time that they
were unable to go down to her and regretting that
she could not ascend to them I n their dilemma they
requested her t o send a messenger t o bring to her the
via nds which fell to her share She complied with
the request and when the messenger arrived a ll the
gods stood up to do him honour for his mistress s
sake all save Nergal The messenger ac quainted
Aralu with this slight and greatly enraged Sh e sent
him back to the dwelling of the gods to ask that the
delinquent might b e delivered into her hands so tha t
The gods after some discussion
sh e might Slay him
requested the messenger to take back him who had
offended the dark goddess and in order that the
envoy might the more easily discover him all the
gods were gathered together But Nergal remained
in the background His absence was discovered
however and he w a s despatched to the gloomy realm
o f A ralu But he had no mind to taste death
I ndeed Aralu found the tables turned for Nergal
seizing her by the hair dragged her from her throne
and prepared to cut off her head Sh e begge d to
b e allowed to S peak and upon her request being
granted sh e o ffered herself as a wife to her con
u e r or
along
with
the
dominions
over
which
sh e
q
I Th ese de ties of t h u nde w orl d m us t no t b
co nfou nded with t h
byss referre d to a t g re t le ng th in Ch a p t er I I
Th rs t
god s of t h
g ro up
go ds of t h de d t h secon d go ds o f t h p i m eval w te s
.
e a
are
1 5o
A nd when they o f Ashdod arose early on the

m orrow behold Dagon was fallen upon his face to
the earth before the ark of the L ord And they took
Dagon and se t him in h is place aga in
And when they arose early on the morrow morning
behold Dagon was fall en upon his face to the ground
before the ark of the L ord ; and the hea d o f Dagon
and both the palms of h is hands were cut off upon
the threshold ; only the stump of Dagon was left to
him
Therefore neither the priests of Dagon nor any
tha t come into Dagon s ho u se tread on the threshold
of Dagon in A shdod unto this day
B u t the hand of the L ord was heavy upon them
of A shdod and he destroyed them and smote
them with e merods even Ashdod and the coasts
thereof
And when the men of Ashdod sa w that it w as
so they said The a rk o f the God of I srael sha ll not
abide with us for his hand is sore upon us and upon
Dagon our god

Thus in the Bible story o nl y the stum p or
sh s tail of Dagon w a s left to him In some of the
Ninevite sculptures of this deity the head of the
sh forms a kind of mitre on the head of the man
while the body of the sh appears as a cloak or
cape over his shoulders and b a ck This is a sure
Sign
to the mythological student that a god so
a dorned is in process of quitting the a nimal for the
1
human form
,
n s cr i ce t oo t h tote mi or symbolic ni m l o f t h
o ft en ye d nd t h s kin worn by t h p ries t wh in th i s
p ersona t es t h g d In nc i e nt Mex ico t h p r ies t s of C nt
t h s ki n o f
w o m n s c i ce d nnu ll y to th t g o ddess
1
a
e
1 52
a r
god is
ma nn r
eot l w re
NIRIG OR ENU RESTU
Nir ig ,
or
Enu Rest u
This deity is alluded to in an ins cription as the
eldest of the gods

He was especially favoure d
by the Kings of Assyria and we nd h is name entering
into the composition of several of their texts I n a
certain poem he is called the son o f B el and is
described as b eing made in the likeness of Anu

H e rides it is said against the gods of his enemies
in a chariot of lapis lazuli and his onset is full of
the fury of the t empest B el his father c ommands
him to se t forth for the t emple o f B e l at Nippur
H ere Nus ku the messenger of B el meets him bestows
a gift upon him and humbly requests that he will
not disturb the god B el his father in his dwelling
place nor terrify the earth
gods I t would app ear
fro m this passage that Nirig was on the p oint of
taking the place o f B el his father but that he ever
did so is improbable A s a deity of storm he is
also a god of war but he was the seed scatterer u pon
the mountains therefore he had also a n agric u ltural
signicance I t is strange that in Babylonia t empest
gods possess the sa me functions and attributes
thos e of war and agriculture as do rain or thunder
or rain thu nder or wind and rain deities elsewhere
a circumstance which is el oquent of the p ower of
climatic conditions in the manufacture of myth
I n Mesop otamia erc e sand storms must have given
the p eople the idea of a savage and intractable deity
destructive rather than be ne c e nt a s ma ny hymns
and kindred texts witness
We have now briey examined the elder gods of
the Babylonian pantheon O ther and in some cases
m ore imp osing gods were yet t o b e adopted by the
Babylonians a s we shall se e in the following chapters
.
I S3
C H APT E R
IV
THE GI LGAME SH EPI C
it is probable that the materials of the Gil

ga mesh epic the great myt hological poe m
of Babylonia originally b elong t o the older
epoch of Babylonian mythology it is ttin g that it
should b e described and considered b efore p assing
to the later development s of Chaldean religion
The Gilgamesh epic ra nks with the B abylonian
myth of creation as one of the greatest literar y pro
The main ele ment
du c t ions of ancient B abylonia
in its composition is a conglomeration of mythic
matter drawn fro m various sources with p erhap s
a substratu m of historic fact the whole b eing woven
into a continuous narrative around the c entral
gure of Gilgamesh princ e of Erech I t is not
possible at present to x the date when the epic was
rs t written O ur knowledge of it is gleaned chiey
fro m mutilated fragments belonging t o the library
of Assur bani
pal b ut fro m internal and o t her evi
dence we gather that some at least of the traditions
e mbodied in the epic are of much greater antiquity
than his reign
Thus a tablet dated 2 1 00 B C
contains a variant of t h e deluge story inserted in the
Probably this and
X It h tablet of the Gilga mesh e p ic
other portions of the epic existed in oral traditio n
b efore they were c ommitted to writingthat is in
the remote Sumerian period
Assur bani pal was an e nthusiastic and practical
patron of literature I n his great library at Nineveh
( the nucleus of whi c h ha d b een taken from Calah by
Sennacherib ) he had gathered a vast c ollection of
volumes clay tablets and papyri most of which
ha d b een carried as S poil from conquered lands H e
also e mployed scrib es t o copy older texts and this
,
1 54
MYTH S O F BAB YLONIA AND A S S Y RIA

The rs t and mos t important of the trio the hero
Gilga mesh may have been at one time a real person
1
age tho ugh nothing is known of him historically
Possibly the exploits of some ancient king of E rech
have furnished a basis for the narrative His name
( for a time provisionally read Gisdhuha r or I zdubar
2
but now known to have be en pronounced Gilga mesh )
s uggests that he was not B abylonian but E la mite
or Kassite in origin an d from indications furnished
by the poe m itself we learn that he conquered E rech
or
relieved
the
city
from
a
b
esieging
force
at
the
(
)
outset of his adventurou s career I t has been sug
gested also that he was identical with the B iblical
Nimrod like hi m a hero of ancient Babylo n ; b ut
there are no other grounds for the suggestion
So much for the historical aspect of Gilga mesh
His mythological character is more easily established
I n this regard he is the p ersonication of the sun
H e represents in fact the fusion of a great national
hero with a mythical b eing Throughout the epic
there are indications that Gilga mesh is partly divine
by na t u re t h ough nothing sp ecic is said on that head
H is identity with the s olar god is veiled in the popular
narrative but it is evident that he ha s some con
ne x ion with the god Shamash t o who m he p ays his
devotions and w h o acts as his patron and p r otector
,
Th e B ir th
of
G ilg am esh
Among
the traditions c oncerning his birth is on e

related by [Elian (H ist oria Animalium X I I 2 1 )
it e h i stor i c l not i ces conce rnin
1 Th a t i s
w h a e n de
g him
but we m y i nfer from in t ernal ev idence in h i sag a th at h p ossess es
cert i n m oun t o f h i stor c i t y
in a le i co g aph i cal t ablet
By t h di scovery by M T Fin h
th t Gi dh ub G lg m h
,
1 56
ar z
es
es
THE BI RTH OF G IL GA MESH

of Gilg a m os ( Gilgamesh ) the grands on of Sok k a ros
Sokk a ros who according to B e rossu s was the rst
king to reign in Babylonia a fter the deluge wa s
warned by means of divi nation that his daughter
should b ear a son who would deprive him of his throne
Thinking to frustrate the designs of fate he sh u t her
up in a tower where sh e was clos ely watched B u t
in time sh e b ore a son and her attendants knowing
how wroth the King would b e to learn of the event
ung the child from the tower B ut be fore he reached
the ground an eagle seize d him up and b ore him o ff
to a certain garden where he was d u ly found and
cared for by a p easant And when he grew to man
hood he became Ki ng of the B abylonians having
presumably usurped the thron e of his grandfather
H ere we have a myth obviously of solar signicanc e
c onforming in every particular to a den ite typ e of
sun legend
I t cannot have b een by chanc e that it
b eca me attached to the person of Gilga mesh Every
thing in the epic too is c onsonant with the b elief tha t
Gilga mesh is a sun
god his connexion with Sha mash
( who may have b een his father in the tradition given
by zElia n a s well a s the eagle which saved him fro m

death) the fact that no mention is made of his
father in the p oem though his mother is brought in
more than once and the assu mption throughout the
epic that he is more than hu man
Given the key to his mythical character it is not
hard to perceive in his a dventure s the daily ( or annual)
cours e of the sun rising to its full Strength at noonda y
( or mid su mmer) and sinking at length to the western
horizon to return in due time to the abode of men
L ike all solar deities like the su n itself h is birth
and origin are wrapped in mystery He is indeed
one of the fatal children like Sargon Perse u s
.
I S7
MYTH S O F BAB YLO NIA AND AS SY RIA

or A rthur When he rst appears in the narrative
he is already a full grown hero the ruler and ( it
would seem) oppressor o f Erech H is mother Rimat
belit is a priestess in the temple of Ishtar and
through her he is descended fr o m Ut Na p ish t im
a native o f Sh urip p a k and the hero of the Baby
lonian ood legend Early in the narrative he is
bro u ght into c ontact with the w ild man B abani
originally designed for his destruction by the gods
but with whom he event ually concludes a rm
friendship The pair proceed to do battle with the
monster Kh u m ba ba whom they overcome a s they
do also the sacred bull sent against them by Ann
U p to the end o f the VI t h ta blet their conquer
ing and tri u mphant career is without interruption ;
Gilga mesh increases in strength a s does the sun
approa ching the zenith A t the VIIt h tablet how
ever his good fortune begins to wane Ea ba ni dies
slain doubtless by the wrath o f Ishtar whose love
Gilgamesh ha s rej ected with scorn ; and the hero
mourning the death of his friend and s mitten with
fear that he himself will perish in like manner decides
to go in search of his ancestor Ut Na p ish t im ( who
as sole survivor of the del u ge ha s receive d fro m the
gods de ic a t ion and i mmortality) and learn of hi m
the secret of et ernal life His further a dventures
have not the triumphal character of his earlier
exploits Sunwise he j ourneys to the Mountain of
the Su nset encounters the scorpion men and c rosses
the Waters of Death Ut Na p ish t im teaches him
the lesson that all men must die (he himself being
an exception in exceptional circu mstances) and
though he afterwards gives Gilgamesh an opportunity
of eating the plant of life the opportunity is lost
H owever Ut Na p ish t im cures Gilga mesh of a disease
.
,
,
58
MYTHS OF BA B YLO NIA AND AS SY RIA

rises to the zenith of his powers in a triumphal
progress then descends into the underworld H e is
not lost Sight of however but lives in the me mory of
his friend Gilga mesh and in the XIIt h ta blet he is
t empo rarily brought forth fro m the underworld ( tha t
is his ghost or ut ule lau) which in a dim and S hadowy
fashion may typify the da ily restoration of the sun
A nother important stratu m of myth is that which
c oncerns Ut Na p ish t im the B a bylonian Noah ; but
whereas the myths o f Ea bani and Gilgamesh though
still distinguisha ble have become thoroughl y fus ed
the deluge story o f which Ut Na p ish t im is the hero
ha s b een inserted bodily into the X It h tablet of
the epic being related t o Gilga mesh by Ut Na p ish t im
hi mself When he rst appears in the narrative he
has the attributes and powers of a god having
rec eived these for his delity to the gods during the
ood fro m whos e waters he alon e of all mankind
escaped The obj ect of his narrative in the Gilga mesh
epic seems to b e to point out to the hero that only
the most exceptional circu mstances uniqu e circu m
stances indeedc a n save man fro m his doom
O ther distinct portions of the epic are the battle
with the monster Kh u m baba the episode of Ishtar s
love for Gilga mesh the ght with the sacred bull o f
These
Ann and the search for the plant of life
whatever their origin have become naturally incor
But
besides
o r a t e d with the story of Gilga mesh
p
the vario u s historical and mythical elements herein
presented there is also a c ertain amount of Baby
lonia n religious doctrine eviden t to some extent in
the X It h tablet (which points the moral that all
men must die ) b ut doubly so in the XIIt h tablet
wherein the shade of B abani appears t o Gilga mesh
relates the misfortunes of the unburied dead or of
.
,
,
1 60
GIL GA MESH A S TY RAN T
thos e uncared for after death and inculcates care

for the deceased as the only means whereby they
may evade the grievous woes which threaten the m
in the underworld
L et u s exa min e in deta il the Gilga mesh e p ic a s
we have it in the broken fragments which remain
t o u s The Ist an d l 1nd tablets are much muti
lated A nu mb er of fragments are extan t which
b elong t o on e or other of thes e two but it is not
easy t o say where the Ist ends and the l 1nd b egins
O n e fragment would s ee m t o c ontain the very be
ginning o f the Ist tablet a sort of general prefac e
t o the epic c omprising a list of the a dvantages t o b e
derived from rea ding it After this comes a fragme nt
whose title to inclusion in the epic is dou bt ful
I t describes a siege of the city of E rech but ma kes
n o mention of Gilga mesh The woeful c ondition o f
E rech un der the siege is thus pictures quely detailed
She asses ( tread down ) their young cows ( turn up on )
their calves Me n cry aloud like beasts and ma idens
mourn like doves The gods of strong walled E rech
are changed t o ies and buzz ab out the streets The
spirits of strong walled E rech are changed t o serp ents
and glide into holes F or three years the enemy
b esiege d E rech an d the doors were barred an d the
b olts were shot and I shtar did not rais e her hea d
against the foe

I f this fra gmen t b e indeed a
p ortion of the Gilga mesh epic we have n o means
of asc ertaining whether Gilgamesh was the besieger
or the raiser of the siege or whether he wa s c on
c erne d in the a ffair a t all
,
Gilg am esh as T y r ant

Now we c ome t o the real c ommencement of the
p oem inscribed on a fragment which some a uthorities

,
1.
1 61
MYTH S O F B A B YLO NIA AND AS S Y RIA

assign to the b eginning of the l 1nd tablet bu t which
more probably forms a part of the Ist In this
portion we n d Gilga mesh lling the double role of
ruler and oppressor of Erech the latter evidently
There
n ot inconsistent with the character O f a hero
is no mention here of a siege nor is there any record
of the c omi ng of Gilga mesh though a s has b een
indicated he probably ca me as a con queror His
intolerable tyranny towards the p eople of E rech
lends colour to this view H e p resses the young
men into his servic e in the building of a great wall
and carries off the faires t maidens to his court ; he
hath not left the son t o his father nor the maid to
the hero nor the wife t o her husband

F inally his
harshnes s con strained the p eople to appeal to the
gods and they prayed the goddess Aruru to create
a mighty hero who would cha mpion their cause
and through fear of whom Gilgamesh should b e
forced to temper his s everity The gods the mselves
a dded their prayers t o those of the oppressed p eople
an d A ruru at length agreed to create a cha mpion
against Gilga mesh
U pon hearing these words ( so
runs the narrative ) A ruru conceive d a man ( in the
image) of Ann in her min d Aruru washed her hands
s h e broke off a piece of clay sh e cast it on t h e ground
Thus sh e created B abani the hero

When the
creation of this cha mpion was nished his appear
anc e was tha t of a wild man of the mountains
The
whole of h is body was ( c overed) with hair he was
clothed with long hair like a woman H is hair wa s
l u xuriant like that of the corn god H e knew (not )
the land and the inhabitants thereof he wa s clothed
with garments a s the god of the eld With the
gazelles he ate herb s with the beasts he slaked his
thirst with the creatures of the water his heart
,
1 62
TH E BE G UILING O F EAB ANI
rej oiced
I n pictorial representations on cylinder
seals and els ewhere Ea ba ni is depicted as a sort of
satyr with the head arms and body of a man and
the horns ears and legs of a beast A s we have
s een he is a typ e o f b east man a s ort of Caliban
ranging with the b easts of the eld utterly ignorant
of the things of civilization
.
Th e B eg uil ing
of
Eabani
The p oe m goes on t o introduce a new character

Tsa idu the hunter apparently designed by the gods
to bring about the meeting of Gilgamesh and B abani
How he rst encounters Ea ba ni is not quit e clear
fro m the m u tilated text O n e reading has it that the
King o f E rech learni ng the p lan of the gods for his
overthrow sent Tsa idu i nto the mountains in
search of Ea bani with instructions t o entrap him by
whatever means a nd bring him to E rech Another
reading describes the encounter as purely accidental
However this may b e Tsa idu retur ned to E rech and
relate d t o Gilga mesh the story of his e ncou nter
telling him o f th e strength an d e e t ne ss of the wild
man and his exceeding shyness a t the sight of a
hu man b eing By this time it is evident that Gil
ga mesh knows or conj ectures the purpos e for which
Ea ba ni is designed a nd intends to frustrate the
divine plans by anticipating the meeting b etween
himself and the wild man A ccordi ngly he bids
Tsa id u retur n t o the mo u ntains taking with him
Ukh u t one of the sacre d women of the t emple o f
I shtar His pla n is that Ukh u t with her wiles
shall persuade B abani to return with her t o E rech
Thus the hunter and the girl se t out
They took
the straight road and on the third day they reach e d
the usua l drinking
place of Ea bani The n Tsa idu
,
1 63
MYTH S OF BAB YLO NIA AND A S SY RIA

a nd the woman placed themselves in hiding Fo r
one day for two days they lurked by the dri nking
plac e W ith the beasts ( Babani ) slaked his thirst
with the creatures of the waters his heart rej oiced
Then Babani (approached)
The scen e which
follows is described at some length Ukh u t had no
di fficulty in enthralling B abani with the s nares of her
beauty F or Six days a nd s even nights he reme m
b ere d nothing b ecause of his love for her W hen at
length he b ethought him of his gazelles his ocks
and herds he found that they would no longer follow
him as b efore So he sat at the feet of Ukh ut whil e
she told him of E rech and its ki ng

Thou art
han dsome O B ab a ni thou art like a god Why
dost thou travers e the plain with the beasts
Come
I will take the e t o strong wall ed E rech t o the bright
palace the dwelling of A nu and I shtar to the palac e
o f Gilga mesh the perfect in strength who like a
mountain bull w ie lde t h power over man

B abani
foun d the prospect de lightful He longe d for the
friendship of Gilgamesh and declared himself willing
to follow the woman to the city of E rech A nd so
Ukh u t Ea bani and Tsa idu se t out on their j ourney
.
G ilg am esh
m eet s Eabani
The feast of I shtar wa s in progress when they

reached Erech Babani ha d c onceived the idea that
he must do battle with Gilga mesh before he c ould
claim that hero a s a friend but b eing warned (whether
in a dream or by Ukh u t is not clear ) that Gilga mesh
wa s stronger than he a nd withal a favourite of the
gods he wisely refrained from c ombat Meanwhile
Gilgamesh also ha d drea med a drea m which inter
belit
foretold
the
coming
r e t e d by his mother Rimat
p
of Ea bani That part of the p oe m which deals with
.
1 64

the heart o f my son Gilga mesh ! Tho u hast laid
thy hand upon him and he goeth away on a far
j ourney to the dwelling of Kh u m ba ba ; he entereth
into a co mba t (whose issue) he knoweth not ; he
followeth a roa d unknown to him Till he arrive and
till he return till he rea ch the F orest of Cedars till
he hath slain the terrible Kh u m ba ba and rid the
land o f all the ev il tha t tho u hatest till the day of his
return let Aya thy betrothed thy Splendour r e
call him to thee

With this dignied and bea utiful
appeal the tablet comes to a n end
,
Monst er Kh um baba
The IVt h tablet is conc erned with a description
of the monster with who m the heroes are about t o
do ba ttle Kh u m ba ba who m B e l had appointed to
g uard the c edar
one particular cedar which
appears to b e of greater height and sanctity than the
others ) is a creat u re of most terrifying aspect the
very presence of who m in the forest makes those
who enter it grow wea k a nd impotent As the hero es
dra w near Ba bani complains tha t his hands are feeble
and his arms without strength but Gilga mesh S pea ks
words of encourage ment to him I t may b e noted
in passing that the word Kh u m ba ba is of Ela mite
origin a fact which h as led certain authorities t o
identify the monster with an E la mite dyna sty which
anciently do minated Erech and which ca me to grief
about 2 2 50 B C I t is diffi cult if not impossible
to establish the connexion between the mythical e n
counter a nd a denite historical event ; but it may
at least be presu med th a t the bestowal of an E lamite
designation on the monster argues a certain en mity
between E la m and B a bylon
The next fragments bring us into the Vt h ta blet
Th e
1 66
I S HTA R S LO V E FOR G IL GA ME S H
The heroes having reached a verdant mountain

pa u sed to s u rvey th e F orest of Cedars When they
entered the forest the death of Kh u m ba ba wa s fore
told to one or other or both of the m in a drea m
and they hastened forward t o the combat Unfort u
na t e ly the text of the actual encounter has not been
preserved but we learn fro m the context that the
heroes were successful in Slaying Kh u m ba ba
Ishtar s L ov e for Gilg am esh

I n the VIt h tablet which relates the story of I shtar s
love for Gilga mesh and the slaying of the sacred
bull victory again waits on the a rms of the heroes
but here nevertheless we have the key to the mis
fortunes which later befall the m O n his return to
Erech after the destruction of Kh u m ba ba Gilga mesh
wa s loudly acclaimed Do i ng the soiled and blood
stained garments he ha d worn during the battle he
robed himself a s be t t e d a monarch and a conqueror
I shtar beheld the King in his regal S plen dour the
owers of victory Still fresh on his brow and her
heart went out to him in love I n moving a nd se du c
tive terms sh e besought him to b e her bridegroom
pro mising that if he would enter her hous e

in
the gloo m o f the ceda r

all mann er o f good gifts
should be his his ocks and herds would increase
h is horses an d oxen would b e without rival the river
E uphrates wo uld kiss his feet and kings and princes
would bring tribute to him B ut Gilga mesh knowing
something of the past history o f this capricious god
dess rej ected her adva nces with scorn and began to
revile her He ta u nted her too wi th her treat ment
of former lovers of Ta mmuz the bridegroo m of her
yo u th to who m sh e clung weepingly year a fter yea r
of Al alu the eagle of a lion perfect in might and a
1 67
MYTH S
A S SY RIA
horse glorious in battle ; o f the shepherd Tabulu and
of Isullanu the gardener of her father All these
S he ha d mocked and ill trea ted in cruel fashion
a nd Gilgamesh perceived that like treat ment would
b e meted out to him should he accept the proffere d
love of the goddess The deity was greatly enraged
More
at the repulse and mounted up to heaven
over I shta r went before Anu ( her father) before A n u
Sh e went and sh e
said
:
O
my
father
Gilga
mesh
(
)
has kept watch on me ; Gilga mesh has counted
my garlands my garlands and my girdles
U nder
lying the story of Ishtar s love for Gilga mesh there
is evidently a nature myth o f some sort perhap s a
spring tide myth ; Gilga mesh the sun god or a hero
who ha s ta ken over his attributes is wooed by Ishtar
the goddess of fertility the great mother goddess
who presides over spring vegetation In the recital
o f her former love a ffairs we nd mention of the
Ta mmu z myth in which Ishtar slew her consort
Tammuz and other mythological fragments It is
possible also that there is an astrological signi cance
in this part of the narrative
O F BA B YL O NIA AND
Th e B ul l
f Anu
To resume the tale I n her wrath and hu miliation

Ishtar appealed to her father a nd mother A nu an d
Ana t u and begged the former to create a mighty bull
and send it against Gilga mesh Anu at rst de murred
declaring that if he did so it would result in seven
years S ter ility on the earth b ut nally he consented
and a great bull Alu was sent to do battle with
Gilgamesh
The portion o f the text which deals
with the combat is mu ch mutilated but it appears
tha t the conict was hot and sustained the celestial
animal nally succumbing to a sword
thrust fro m
'
1 68

their good They are clothed like the birds in a
garment of feathers ; they se e not the light they
dwell in darkness
.
Th e Deat h
f B abani
This Sinister visio n a ppears to have been a presage

o f Ea ba ni s death Shortly afterwards he fell ill
and died at the end of twelve days The manner of
his death is uncertain O ne reading o f the mutilate d
text represents B abani as being wounded perhaps in
battle and succu mbing to the e ffects of the wound
B u t another makes him sa y to his friend G ilgamesh
I have b een cursed my friend I shall not die as
one who has b een slain in battle

The breaks in the
text are responsible for the divergence The latter
rea ding is probably the correct one ; Ea ba ni has
grievously o ffende d Ishtar the all powerful and
the c u rs e which has s mitten him to the earth is
probably hers I n m odern folk lore phraseology he
died of j u j u The death of the hero brings the

VIII t h ta blet to a close
In the I X t h ta blet we nd Gilga mesh mourning
the loss of his friend
Th e
Q uest of G ilg am esh

O n the heart o f Gilga mesh likewise the fear o f
death had taken hold a nd he determined to go in
search of his ancestor Ut Na p ish t im who might b e
able to Show him a way of escape Straightway put
ting his determination into e ffect Gilga mesh se t o ut
for the abode of Ut Nap ish t im O n the way he ha d
to pass through mounta in gorges made terrible by
the presence of wild beasts F ro m the power of thes e
he was delivered by Sin the moon god who enabled
him to travers e the mountain p asses in safety
,
1 7o
Q U E S T OF GIL GAME S H
A t length he ca me to a mountain higher than the
rest the entrance to which was guarded by scorpion
men This was Mashu the Mountain o f the Sun
which lies on the western horizon between the
se t
earth and the u nderworld

Then he ca me t o the
mountain o f Mashu the portals of which are guarded
every day by monsters their backs mo u nt u p to the
ra mparts o f heaven and their foreparts reach down
b eneath A ralu
Scorpion men guard the gate ( of
Mashu) they strike terror into men and it is death
to b ehold them Their splendour is great for it
overwhelms the mountains ; fro m sunrise to s u nset
they guard the sun Gilga mesh b eheld them an d
h is face grew dar k with fear an d terror and the
wildnes s o f their asp ec t robbed him of his senses

O n approaching the entrance to the mountain Gil
ga mesh found his way barred by thes e scorpion men
who perc eiving the strain of divinity in him did
not blast hi m with their glanc e but questione d hi m
regarding his purpose in drawing near the mountain
of Mashu When Gilga mesh ha d replied to their
queries te lling the m how he wished to reach the
abode o f his ancestor Ut Na p ish t im and there
learn the s ecret of perpetual life and youthfulness
the scorpion men a dvised him to turn bac k B efore
him they said lay the region of thick darkness ;
for twelve leashu ( twenty four hours ) he would have
to j ourney through the thic k darkness ere he again
e merged into the light of day A nd so they ref u sed
to let him pass But Gilgamesh implored
with
tears says the narrative and a t length the monsters

consented to admit him Having passed the gate
of the Mountain of the Su nset ( by virtu e o f his
character as a solar deity) Gilgam esh traversed the
region o f thic k darknes s d u ri ng the S pace of twelve
TH E
1 71
MYTH S O F BAB YLO NIA AND AS SY RI A

ha shu
Toward the end of that period the darkness
b eca me ever less pronounced ; nally it wa s broad
day and Gilga mesh found himself in a beautiful
garden or park studded with trees a mong which
wa s the tree of the gods thus charmingly depicted in
the text
Precious stones it bore as fruit branches
h u ng fro m it which were b ea utiful to b ehold The
t Op o f the tree was lapis lazuli and it wa s laden with
fruit which dazzled the eye of him that beheld

H aving pa u sed to a dmire the beauty of the scene
Gilga mesh bent his S teps Shoreward
The Xt h tablet describes the hero s encounter
with the se a
goddess Sa bit u who on the a pproach
o f one who ha d t h e appearance of a god in whos e
body wa s grief and who looked a s though he had
made a long j ourney retire d into her palace and

fastened the door B ut Gilga mesh knowing tha t
her help w a s necessary to b ring him to the dwelling of
Ut Na p ish t im told her of his quest and in despair
threatened to brea k down the door unless sh e opened
to him At last Sa bit u consented to listen to him
whilst he asked the way to Ut Nap ish t im L ike
the scorpion men the se a goddess perceived tha t
Gilga mesh w a s not to b e turned aside from his quest
so a t last sh e ba de him go to A da d Ea Ut Na ish
p
tim s ferryman without whose aid Sh e said it would
b e f u tile to persist further in his mission Ada d
Ea likewise being consulted by Gilga mesh a dvise d
him to desist but the hero pursuing his plan o f
intimidation b egan to s mash the ferryman s boa t
with his axe whereupon A da d Ea wa s obliged to
yield
H e sent his would be passenger into the
forest for a new rudder and a fter that the two
sailed away
.
1 72
MYTH S OF BA B YLONIA AND A S SY RIA

the S hip
The ship itself wa s to be carefully planned
and b u ilt according to E a s instr u ctions When the
god had Spok e n Ut Na p ish t im promised obedience
to the divine co mmand B ut he was still perplexed
as t o how he Sho uld answer the people when they
asked the reason for his preparations Ea therefore
instruc ted him how he should make reply
Bel
hath cast me forth for he hateth me
The purpose
o f this reply seems clear though the remaining
few lines of it are rather broken Ea intends that
Ut Na p ish t im sha ll disarm the suspicions of the
people by declaring that the obj ect o f his ship
building and his subsequ ent departure is to escape
the wrath of B e l which he is to depict as falling on
him alone H e must prophesy the coming o f the
rain but must represent it not as a devastating
ood but rather as a mark of the prosperity which
B el will gra nt to the people of Sh u rip p a k perhaps
by reason of his ( Ut Nap ish t im s) departure there
from
Th e B aby l onian Ar k
Ut Na p ish t im e mployed
many people in the con

S truction of the ship Du ring four days he gathered
the material and built the ship on the fth he laid
it down ; on the sixth he loaded it ; a nd by the
seventh day it was nished O n a hull 1 2 0 cubits
wide wa s constructed a great deck house 1 2 0 cubits
high di v ided into Six Stories ea ch of which was
divided in turn into nine rooms The outside of the
S hip was made water tight with bitu men and the
inside with pitch To signalise the completion of his
vessel Ut Na p ish t im gave a great feast like tha t
which was w on t to be held on Ne w Year s Da y ;
oxen were sla ughtered and grea t quantities o f wine
-
I 74
TH E BA B YLO NIAN ARK
and o il provided A ccording to the command o f

E a Ut Na p ish t im brought into the ship all his
1
possessions his s ilver and his gold living see d of
every kind all his fa mily and household the cattle
and bea sts of the eld the handicra fts men all that
wa s his
A heavy ra in a t eve ntide was the Sign for Ut
Na p ish t im to enter the S hip and fasten the door
All night long it rained a n d with the early dawn
there ca me up fro m the horizon a bla ck cloud

Ra mman in the midst thereof thundered and Nabu
and Marduk went before they pa ssed like messengers
over mountain and plain Ura ga l parte d the a nchor
cable There went Ninib and he made the storm to
burst The A n unnaki ca rried a ming torches and
with the brightness thereof they lit up the earth
The whirlwind o f Ra mman mounte d up into the
hea vens and all light wa s turned into darkness

D uring a whole day darkness a nd chaos appear to
have reign ed on the earth Me n could no longer
behold each other The very gods in heaven were
a fraid and crouched like hounds weeping and

la menting their share in the destructio n o f mankin d
F or six days and nights the tempest raged bu t on
the seventh day the rain ceased and the oods began
to aba te Then says Ut Na p ish t im

I looke d
upon the sea and cried aloud for all mankin d wa s
turned ba ck into clay I n place o f the elds a
swa mp lay b efore me I O pened the window and
the light fell u pon my c h e c k I bowed myself down
I sa t down I wept ; over my cheek owed my
tears I looked upon the world and b ehold all
was se a
1 Th incons is t en
i
n det i ls i s c use d by t h
co
os
i
te
na
t
re
of
m
u
y
p
t h tale whic h i s dr w n fro m t w d ffere nt t blets
.
I 7S
MYTH S OF BA B YLO NIA AND AS SY RIA

Th e B ird Messeng er s
A t length the ship ca me to rest on the su mmit of
Mount Nit sir There a re various readings of this
portion o f the text thus :

A fter twelve ( days)
the land appeared
or A t the distance of twelve
k
or
Twelve ( cubits)
( a sbu) the land appeared ;
a bove the water the land appea red

However this
may b e the ship remained for six days on the moun
tain a nd on the s eventh Ut Na p ish t im sent out a
B ut the dove found no resting place an d
cl ove
Then he sent out a swallow which
so Sh e ret u rned
also returned having found no spot whereon t o rest
F inally a raven was sent forth and as by this time
the waters had begun to aba te the bird drew nea r
to the ship wading and croaking but did not

enter the vessel Then Ut Na p ish t im brought his
household and a ll his possessions into the open air
and made an o ffering to the gods o f reed and ceda r
wood and incense The fragrant o dour o f the
incense ca me up to the gods and they gathered
like ies says the narrative a roun d the sacrice

A mong the company wa s I shtar the La dy of t h e
Gods who lifted up the necklac e which Anu ha d
given her saying :

Wha t gods these are ! B y
the j ewels o f lapis lazuli which are upon my ne ck
I will not forget ! These days I have set in my
memory never will I forget the m ! L et the go ds
co me to the o ffering but B el shall not co me to the
offering sinc e he refused to a sk counsel and sent t h e
del u ge and handed over my people unto destruction

The god B e l was very wroth when he discovered
that a mortal man had survived the deluge an d
vowed that Ut Na p ish t im should perish B ut Ea
defended his a ction in having saved his favourite
fro m destruction pointing out that B el h ad refused
.
,
.
1 76
THE BI RD ME S SENG ERS

to take counsel when he planned a universal disaster
and advising him in f u t u re to visit the sin on the
sinner and not to punish the entire human ra ce
F inally B el was m ollie d H e approached the shi p
into
which
it
would
appear
tha
t
the
remnants
of
(
the human rac e ha d retired d u ring the altercation)
and led Ut Nap ish t im a nd his wife into the open
where he bestowed on the m his blessing

Then
they took me says Ut Na p ish t im

and a far off at
the mo u th of the rivers they made me to dwell

Such is the story o f the deluge which Ut Na p ish t im
told to Gilga mesh No caus e is assigned for the
destruction o f the hu man race other than the e u
mity which s eems to have existed b etween man and
the gods particularly the warrior god B e l B u t it
app ears fro m the latter part o f the narrative that in
the ass embly o f the gods the maj ority contemplate d
only the destruction o f the city o f Sh urip p a k and
not that of the entire hu man fa mily It has been
suggested indeed tha t the story as it is here given
is compounded of two s eparat e myths one relating
to a universal catastrophe perhaps a mythological
typ e of a periodic inundation and the other dealing
with a local disaster such as might have b een occa
sione d by a pheno menal overow of the E uphrates
The antiquity o f the legen d and its original char
acter are clearly shown by comparison with another
version o f the myth inscribed on a tablet found a t
Abu Habbah ( the ancient site of Sippar) and dated
in the twenty rst century b efore our era Not
withstanding the imperfec t preservation o f this text
it is possible to p erceive in it m any points o f rese m
blance to the Gilga mesh variant B e rossus also
quotes a version of the deluge myth in his history
Kin g Xisut h ros for
substituting Chronos for E a
1 77
MYTH S OF
A S S Y RIA
Ut Nap ish t im and the city of Sippar for that o f
Sh u rip p a k
I n this version immortality is bestowed
not only on the hero and his wife bu t also on his
da u ghter and his pilot O ne writer ingeniously
identies thes e latter with Sa bit u and Adad Ea
respectively
To return to the epic The recital of Ut Na p ish t im
served it s primary purpose in the narrative by proving
to Gilgamesh that his case was not that of his deied
ancestor Meanwhil e the hero had remained in the
boat too ill to co me ashore now Ut Na p ish t im took
pity on him and promised to restore him to health
rst of all bidding him sleep during six days and
seven nights Gilgamesh listened to his ancestor s
advice and by and by sleep like a te mpest brea thed
upon him
Ut Na p ish t im s wife b eholding the
sleeping hero was likewise moved with co mpassion
and asked her husband to send the traveller sa fely
home He in turn bade his wife co mpound a magic
preparation containing seven ingredients and a d
minister it to Gilga mesh while he Slept This was
done and an enchantment thus put upon the hero
When he awoke (on the seventh day) he renewed his
i mportunate request for the s ecret of p erpetual life
His host sent him to a spring of wa ter where he might
bathe his sores and b e healed ; and having tested
the e fficacy of the magic waters Gilga mesh returned
once more to his ancestor s dwelling doubtless to
persist in his quest for life No twithstanding that
Ut Na p ish t im had already dec lared it impossible
for Gilgamesh to attain immortality he now directed
him (apparently at the instance of his wife) to the
place where he would nd the plant o f life and
instructed A dad Ea to condu ct him thither The
magic plant which bestowed immortalit y and eternal
B AB YLO NIA AND
1 78
MYTH S OF BA BYLONIA AND A S SY RIA

thou kiss thy daughter who m thou didst love ; no
more dost thou s mite thy daughter who m thou dids t
hate The sorrow o f the underworld ha th ta ken
1
hold u p on the e
Gilga mesh went fro m temple
to te mple ma king o fferings and desiring the gods
to restore Babani to him ; to Ninsu m he went
to Bel and to Sin the moon god but they he eded
him no t A t length he cried to Ea who took co m
passion on him and pers uaded Nergal to bring the
shade of Babani fro m the underworld A hole wa s
opene d in the earth and the S pirit o f the dea d man
issue d therefro m like a breath o f wind Gilga mesh
a ddressed B abani thus :
Tell me my friend tell
me my friend the law o f the earth which thou hast
seen tell me
I cannot
B abani answere d him :
tell thee my friend I cannot tell thee

B ut a fter
sit
wards having bidden Gilga mesh
down and
weep he proceeded to tell him o f the conditions

which preva iled in the underworld contrasting the
lot o f the warrior duly buried with that of a person
whose corps e is cast uncared for into the elds
On
a couch he lieth and drinketh pure water the man
who wa s slain in battle thou and I have oft seen such
an one his father and his mother (support) his
head and his wife (k ne e le t h) at his S ide But the
man whose corpse is cast upon the e ldthou and I
have o ft s een such an one
his S pirit resteth not
in the earth The man whose Spirit has none to
care for it thou and I have o ft seen such an one
the dregs o f the vessel the leavings of the feast
and tha t which is cast out upon the streets are his
food
U pon this sole mn note the epic closes
Th ese e m r k s
p erh ap s no t t o b t k en liter lly o f E b ni
Th ey rep rese nt t h en t irely for m l m nner in wh i ch ny dece sed
ddresse d
B bylo ni n w
.
a re
1 80
as a
THE B I RD ME S SENG E RS
The doctrine o f the necessity for ministering to the
dead is here enunciate d in no uncertain fashion
Unless their bodies are decently buried and o fferings
o f food and drink made at their graves their lives
in the otherworld must be abj ectly miserable The
manner in which they meet their end is likewis e
taken into account and warriors who have fallen
on the eld o f battle are pre e minently fortunate
happy S pirits ;
B ab ani is evidently one o f the
his ghost is designated ut ulehu a na me applied not
only to the fortunate dea d bu t likewis e to a class o f
be ne c e nt sup ernatural beings
The term edimm u
on the other hand designates a S pecies o f malevo
lent being a s well as the errant and even va mpirish
S pirits o f the unhappy dead The du e observance o f
funeral and comme morative rites is thus a ma tter
which to u ches the interests not only of the decease d
but also o f his relatives and friends
We have seen fro m the foregoing that the epic o f
Gilga mesh is partly historical partly mythological
Around the g u re of a great national hero myths
have grown and twined with the passing of the
generations and these have in time bec ome woven
into a connecte d narrative setting forth a myth
which corresponds to the daily or annual cours e of
the sun Within this may b e discerned other myths
and fragments of myths solar s eas onal and diluvian
B ut there is in the epic a nother important ele ment
which has alrea dy been referred to the astro the o
logical The zodiacal Signicance of the division of
the e pic into twelve tablets may be se t aside since
as has been indicated the signicance is in all pro
ba bilit y a supercial one merely added to the poe m
by the scribes of A ss u r bani pal and not forming
an integral p art o f it At the sa me time it is not
1 81
MYTH S O F B AB YLO NIA AND A S S Y RIA

hard to divide the epic naturally into twelve episodes
thus : ( I ) Gilga mesh s oppression of E rech ; ( 2 ) the
seduction o f B abani ; ( 3) the s 1aying of the monster
the
ght
the
wooing
o
f
I
shtar
Kh u m ba ba
( 5)
(4)
with the sacred bull ; (6) Ea ba ni s death ; ( 7) Gil
u ntain o f the Sunset ;
e sh s journey to
the
Mo
a
m
g
8
his
wanderings
in
the
region
of
thick
darkness
;
( )
1
0
the
crossing
o
f
the
waters
o
f
death
the
;
( 9)
( )
deluge story ; ( 1 1 ) the plant o f life ( 1 2 ) the return
o f B abani s S pirit Thro u ghout the epic there are
indications o f a correspondence between the exploits
of the hero and the movements o f heavenly bodies
I t is possible for instance that Gilga mesh and his
friend Ea ba ni had so me relation to the S ign Ge mini
also associated in ancient Chaldean mythology
with two forms of the sola r deity even as were the
hero and his friend The Sign L eo reca lls the slaying
o f Kh u m ba ba the a ll egorical victory of light over
darkness represented on monu ments by the gure
o f a lion ( symbol o f re) ghting with a bull
F ollowing the Sign of L eo the wooing o f the hero
by the goddess Ishtar falls naturally into the S ign o f
Virgo the virgin The Sign o f Ta urus is represented
by the slaying o f the c elestial bull Alu by Gilgamesh
The j ourney o f the hero to Ma shu and his encounter
with the scorpion men a t the gate o f the sunset are
of course mythological representations of the Sign o f
Scorpio a s are also his wanderings in the region
o f thic k darkness I t is noticeable in this respect
tha t Babylonian astrology o ften doubled the eighth
Sign ( Scorpio ) to provide a s eventh ;
it is there fore
not unlikely that this sign sho uld correspond with
two distinct episo des in the poem The rst o f these
episodes is associated with Scorpio by virtue of the
introduction o f scorpion men and the second on

,
82
THE L AT E R PANTH EO N
OF B AB YLO NI A
C HAPTER
V:
H E reign of Kha mmurabi is a convenient

point a t which to observe general changes
in and later introductions to the pantheon
of the Babylonian gods
Th e political alterations
in the kingdo m were reected in the divine circle
Certain gods were relegated to the cold shades of
o bs curity whilst new deities were a dopted and others
hitherto regarded a s negligible quantities were exalte d
to the heights of heavenly omnipotence The worship
o f Merodach rst ca me into p ro minence in the days
of Kha mmurabi B ut his cult is so outstanding and
i mportant that it has b een deemed b etter to deal with
it in a separate and later chapter Meanwhile we
shall exa mine the nat u re o f so me of the gods who
Sprang into importance at or about the era o f the
great law maker and note changes which took place
with regard to others
.
N ebo
The popularity of Nebo was brought about through

his association with Meroda ch H is chief seat of
worship was a t B or sipp a opposite to Ba bylon and
when the latter city beca me the seat of the imperial
power the proximity o f B orsip p a greatly assisted the
cult of Nebo So close did the association between
the deities of the two cities become that at length
s
a relation
ebo
was
regarded
as
the
of
erodach
o
n
M
N
ship that often implies tha t the so called descendan t
o f the elder god is a serious rival or that his cult is
nearly allied to the elder worship Nebo ha d ac quire d
something of a reputation a s a god o f wisdom and
probably this it wa s which permitted him to stand
.
1 84
N ebo
So n
of
Me r o da ch
the
Ph
olo
G o d o f \V1 sdo m ,
ng
nv e n o o f w r
ll
tr
1 . l l a use ll
iti
a nd
a nd
C0
1 84
MYTH S OF B AB YLO NIA AND A S SY RIA

together their na mes and those o f their temples a re
fo u nd in close proximity a t every turn and the
symbols o f the bow and the stylus or pen respectively
typical of the father and the son are usually dis
covered in one and the sa me inscription Even
Merodach s dragon the symbol of his victory over
the dark forc es of chaos is assigned to Nebo !
,
N ebo
as
G r ain G od
But Nebo see ms to have ha d also a n agricultural

S ide to h is chara cter In many texts he is praised
a s the god who O pens up the subterranean sources
in order to irrigate the elds and the withdrawal of

This
h is favour is followed by fa mine and distress
s eems to favour the idea o f his watery nature H is
na me the proclaimer does not assist us much in
xing his mythological signicance unless it was
a ssigned to him in the r le of herald of the gods
.
T ashm it
Nebo s c onsort was Tashmit
I t is believed tha t
Kha mmurabi uns u ccessfu l in s u ppressing the c ult
of Nebo succeeded with that o f his spous e She
s ee ms to have been the sa me as a goddess Ea lur
who beca me a malga mated with Za rp a nit u m the
wife o f Merodach
The na me may mean according
the hea rer a nd to o thers a revelation
t o some
and in view o f the character o f her wise h u sband
was perhaps one o f the original designations o f
Merodach himself Tashmit ha d therefore but little
individuality None the less sh e possessed consider
a ble popularity O n a seal
impression dating some
where betwe en 35004500 B C there are outlined
two gures male and female supposed to represent
The former has a wide o p e n
Nebo and Tashmit
1 86
HA DAD
mo u th and the latter ears of extraordinary Size
B oth are holding wild animals by the horns and
the representa tion is tho u ght to be typical of the
s trength or p ower of S peech and Silence
S h am a
K h am m ur abi
We nd that Kha mmurabi wa s very devoted to
His improve
Sha mash the early type of su n god
ments and restorations at Sippar and L arsa were
extensive The later B abylonian monarchs followed
his exa mple and one of t h e m Mili Sh ikh u ( c 1 450 B C )
even placed Sha mash before Merodach in the pan
theon
The early connexion between Merodach
and Sha mash had probably much to do with the grea t
popularity of the latter That this was the case so
far at least as Kha mmura bi was concerned is obvious
from certain of his inscriptions in which he alludes
in the sa me sentence to Merodach and Sha ma sh and
to their close relationship
Kha mmurabi appears
also to have b een greatly attached to the c ult of a
goddess Inna na or Ninni ( lady or great
who was evidently the consort of so me male deity
H e i mprove d her te mple at Ha lla bi and S pea ks of her
as placing the reins of power in his hands There wa s
another goddess o f the sa me na me a t Lagash who m
Gudea worshipped as mistress of the world but sh e
does not see m to have b een the sa me as the Inna na of
Ha lla bi near Sippar as she w a s a goddess of fertility
and generation o f the mother goddess typ e and
there do not appear to be any grounds for the assertion
tha t the goddess o f Halla bi can b e equa te d with her
s
and
ff adad
or R immon identied with Hadad or

Adad is a deity of later typ e and introd u ction
Ra mman
,
1 87

Indeed Ra m m an m a y b e merely a variant or sub
meaning as it does the th u nderer
sidia ry na me
quite a co mmon title for several types of deities
The w orship o f Hada d wa s widespread in Syria an d
Palestine and he was a god of storms or rains whose
symbol was the thunderbolt or the
lightning which he holds in his grasp
li k e a ery sword B u t he bears solar
e mble ms u pon h is apparel and seems
to wear a solar crown H e does no t
h ow e v e r , a p p e a r t o h a v e h a d a ny c e nt re
o f worship in B abylonia , and wa s pro
bably a god o f the Amorites , and be
coming pop ular with the B abylonians ,
wa s la ter a dmitted into their pan

theon At Asshur in Assyria he was
worshipped along with Anu with
whom he ha d a temple in common
This bu ilding which wa s excava ted in
1 908 contains two shrines having but
H A D A D R mm
the
one
entrance
an
d
the
date
of
its
F rom R l g
foundation is referred so far back a s
B l f nd p m
1 B by l ni
B C 2 400
There
can
be
little
doubt
by
d A y
J stro w
that the partnersh i p o f H a dad Wi th
p rof
(G R P 1
Perhaps
it
wa
s
Anu wa s a late one
Sons )
on Assyr i an and not B abylon i an $ 011
that Hadad rst entered fro m the alien world
In many o f his characteristics H adad g lose
resemb led Eu lil
L ike him he wa s designated the
grea t mountain and seems t o h ave been conceived
of as almost a counterpart o f the older god It is
peculiar tha t while in A ssyria and Babylonia Ha da d
ha s many of the characteristics o f a sun god in his
old ho me in Syria he possessed those of a thunder
god who dwelt a mong the mountains o f northern
.
e i
i ou s
e ie
"
an
ss
ri a ,
a
11
11 3 1
1 88
MYTH S O F BA B YLONIA AND A SS Y RI A

is the wor d which we have in B e Da d or B e n Da d the
f
son o f Da d
the
father
o
f
the
Edomite
H
adad
;
i
we have it also in the David o f the O ld Testa ment
David o r Dod a s the word ought to b e rea d which
is sometimes written Dodo with the vocalic su ffix
o f the nominative is the masculine corresponding
to a Phoenician goddess whose na me means the
belove d one and who was called Dido by the writers
o f Ro me Dido in fact w a s the cons ort of the
Sun god conce ived as Ta mmuz the beloved son
and was the presiding deity o f Carthage who m
legend confounded with Elissa the foundress o f the
c ity I n the article I have alluded to above I
expressed my conviction that the na mes o f Dodo
and David pointed to a worship of the Sun god under
the title o f the b eloved one in southern Canaan
as well a s in Phoenicia I had little idea a t the time
how soon my b elief would b e veried Within the
last year the s queeze o f the Moabite stone now in
the L ouvre has been subj ected to a thorough e x a m i
nation by the German Professors Soc in and Sm e nd
with the result o f correcting some o f the rec eived
rea dings and of lling up some o f the la cun a O n e
o f the most impor t ant discoveries that have been
thus made is that the Israelites o f the northern
kingdo m worshipped a Dodo or Dod by the side o f
Yahveh or rather that they adored the supreme
God under the name of Dodo as well a s under that o f
Yahveh
Mesha the Moabite king in describing the
victories which his god Chemosh ha d enabled him
t o gain over his I sra elitish foes tell s us that he had
carried away fro m At a ra t h the arel ( or altar) of
Dodo and dragged it before Chemosh and fro m
which he
Nebo the a rels (or altars) of Yahveh
likewis e dragged before Che mosh
Here the arel
-
0
I9
EA IN LATE R TIME S
altar o f Dodo is pla ced in parallelis m with the
or
and it is quite clear there fore that
a rels o f Yahveh
Dod o like Yahveh was a n a me under which the
deity wa s worshipped by the people o f the land
I have suggested that Dod or Dodo wa s an old title
o f the supre me God in the Jebusite Jerusalem and
tha t hence I saiah ( v I ) when describing Jerusale m
as the tower of the vineyard the L ord ha d planted
in I sra el calls him Dod i my b eloved
We can
easily understand how a na me o f the kind with
such a signication should have b een transferred
by popula r affection fro m the Deity to the king of
who m it is sa id tha t all I srael and J u dah love d him
I
m
x
iii
S
a
v
(
,
L at er T im es
Ea develope d with the centuries and about the
epoch o f Kha mmurabi appears to have achieved a
high Standard o f godhea d probably b ecause of the
very considerable a mount o f theological moulding
which he ha d received I n the later Babylonian
period we nd him described a s the p rotagonist o f
mankind the father o f Merodach and along with
The priests
Anu and B el a memb er o f a great tria d
o f Babylon were the sole mythographers of these
This is in sharp contra distinction to the
days
mythographers o f Greece who were nearly alwa ys
philosophers and never priests B ut they were
mythographers in a s econdary sense only for they
merely rearranged r e edited or otherwise altere d
alrea dy existing tales relating to the gods us u ally
with a V iew to the exaltation of a certa in deity or to
enable his story to t in with those o f other gods
I t is only after a religion or mythological syste m
has enj oye d a vogue more or less extended tha t the
Ea in
1 91

relat ionship o f the gods towards one another b eco me s
xed
The appointment of Merodach to the suprem e
position in the Babylonian pantheon naturall y ne c e ssi
t a t e d a rea rrangement so far as the relationship o f t h e
other deities to him was conc erned This meant a
r e shaping of my t h and tradition genera lly for the
purpose of ensuring consistency The men tted to
acco mplish such a task were to hand for the age o f
Khammurabi was fertile in writers scholastic and
legal who would b e well e quipped to carry out a
change o f the description indicated E a ha d not
in the past enj oye d any very exalted Sphere B ut
a s the chief god o f the important country in the
n eighbourhood o f the Persian Gulf the most ancient
ho me o f Babylonian culture E a would p robably
have exercised a great inuenc e upon the anti quarian
and historic s ense of a man like Kha mmurabi As
the go d of wisdo m he would strongly appeal to a
monarch whos e whole career wa s marked by a love
o f j ustic e and by sagacity and insight Fro m a
loc al g od of E ridu E a b eca me a universal deity o f
wisdo m and be ne c e nc e the Strong shield o f man
and h is b ene factor by the gi fts o f harvest and water
Civilized and softer emotions must have begun to
cluster aro u nd the cult of this kindly god who when
the angered deities resolved t o destroy mankind
interceded for po or hu manity and succeeded in
preserving it fro m the divine wrath A s a god o f
medicine too E a is hu mane and protective in
character and all the arts fall under his patronage
H e is the culture god of B abylon par ex cellence
H e might not transcend Merodach so he beca me
his fat he r Thus did pagan theology succeed in
mergi ng the c ults o f deities which might oth erwis e
.
1 92
MY TH S OF B A B YLO NIA AND AS S Y RIA

of the gods a fterward conceived a ha tred for their
o ffspring and how Tia wa t h with her monster broo d
o f snakes and vipers dragons and scorpion men
and raging hounds ma de war on the hosts of heaven
Her son Kingu sh e ma de captain o f her hideous
a rmy
T o m c h be fo e t h fo ces to le d t h h ost
T o g i ve t h b ttle s i gn l to dv nce to t h tt ac k
T o di ect t h b ttl e to co nt ol t h gh t
,
ar
e a
To him sh e gave the Tablets o f Destiny laying the m

on his breast with the words
Thy co mmand shall
not b e without avail and the word o f thy mouth
shall be established
Through his possession of
the divine tablets Kingu rece ived the power o f Anu
and was able to decree the fate o f the gods After
several deities had refused the honour of beco ming
champion o f heaven Meroda ch was chosen He suc
c e e d e d a t length in sla ying Tia wa t h a nd destroying
her evil host ; and having van quished Kingu her
captain he took fro m him the Tablet s of Destiny
which he sealed an d laid on his own breast I t
was this Merodach or Marduk who afterward be
ca me identied with B el
Now Zu in his greed for power and dominion was
eager to obtain the potent symbols He beheld the
honour and maj esty of B el and from contemplation
of these he turned to look upon the Tablets of Destiny
saying W ithin himself
L o I will possess the tablets of the gods and
The S pirits of
a ll things shall be subj ect unto me
heaven shall bow before me the oracles of the gods
shall be in my hands I shall wear the crown symbol
of sovereignty and the robe symbol of godhead
and then shall I rule over all the hosts of heaven

,
I 94
THE L E G E ND OF ZU
Thus inamed he sought the entrance to Bel s
hall where he awaited the dawn of day Th e text
goes on
e B l w p our i ng ou t t h c le w ate ( L t h
li gh t of d y
t k e n ff nd l y up o n t h t h o ne
And h i di de m w
( Zu) se i e d t h T blets of Dest i ny
H too k B e l s d o m ini o n t h p o w er of g i v i ng co m m nds
Th en Zu d w y nd hid h i m se lf in h i m ou nt i n
Now
wh n
as
ar
r,
e.
as
B el was greatly enraged at the theft and all the

gods with him Anu lord of heaven summoned
a bout him his divine sons and aske d for a champion
to recover the tablets B ut though the god Ra mman
was chosen and after hi m several other deities they
all refuse d to advance against Zu
The end of the legend is unfortunately missing
but from a passage in another tale the l e gend of
E tana we gather that it was the su n god Shamash
eventually
stormed
the
mountain
stronghold
h
o
W
of Zu and with h is net succeeded in capturing the
presumptuous deity
This legend is of the Prometheus type b ut whereas
Prometheus (once a bird god) steals re fro m heaven
for the behoof of mankind Zu steals the Tablets o f
These must of course be re
Destiny for his own
gained if the sovereignty of heaven is duly to con
tin ne and to make the tale circumstantial the sun god
is provided with a fowler s net with which to capture
the recalcitrant Zu bird Jastrow believes the myth
to have been manufactured for the purpose of showing
how the tablets o f power were originally lost by the
older B e l and gained by Merodach but he has dis
c ounted the reference in the E tana legend relating
to their recovery
,
I9
MYTH S
O F B AB Y LO NIA AND A S SY RIA
B el
We nd a good deal of confusion in later B abylonian

religion a s to whether the na me B e l is intended
to designate the old god of that name or is merely
a title for Merodach Khammurabi certainly uses
the name occasionally when speaking of Merodach
but at other times he quite as surely e mploys it for
the older divinity a s for example when he couples
the name with Ann O ne o f the Kassite kings too
speaks of B e l the lord of lands meaning the old

Bel to who m they often gave preference over Mero
dach They also preferred the old city of Nippur
and its te mple to B abylon and p erhaps made an
atte mpt at one time to make Nippur the capital
of their E mpire
Some authorities appear to think it strange that
B el should have existed a t all as a deity after the
elevation of Merodach to the highest rank in the
pantheon I t was his association with Ann and B a
as one of a triad presiding over the heavens the
earth and the deep which kept him in power More
over the very fact that he was a me mber of such a
triad proves that he was regarded a s theologically
e ssential to the well being of the Babylonian religion
The manufa cture or slow evolution of
a s a whole
a trinity of this description is b y no means brought
about through popular processes I t is indeed the
work of a school of a college of priests Strangely
enough Kha mmurabi see ms to have associate d Anu
and B el together but to have entirely o mitted E a
fro m their co mpanionship and it has been thought
that the conception of a trinity was subse quent t o
his epoch The god of earth and the god of heaven
typify respectively that which is above and that
which is below and are re miniscent of the F ather
sk
y
96
and Mother earth of many primitive mythologies

and there is much to say for the theory that Ea god
of the deep although he had existe d long prior to
any such grouping was a later inclusion
-
Tr iad of E ar th Air and Sea

The habit of invoking the great triad became
almost a co mmonplace in later B abylonia They
nearly always take precedence in religious insc rip
tions and we even nd some monarchs stating that
they hold their regal a uthority by favour of the
trinity Whenever a powerful curse has to b e
launched one may be certain that the na me s of
the gods of the ele ments w ill figure in it
Th e
Daw k ina
Da w k ina
was the consort of Ea and was occasion

ally invoke d along with him She was a goddess of
some antiquity and strangely enough for the mate
of a water god she appears to have originally been
connecte d in some manner with the earth There
fore sh e was a n elemental deity I n later times her
attribute s appear to have been inherited by Ishtar
According to so me authorities B e l was the son of
E a and Daw k ina B e l in this case meaning Mero
dach We find her name fre quently alluded to in
the Magical Texts but her cult does not see m to
have been very widespread
,
Ant:
We have already alluded to Anu s position in the

triad with Ea and B e l in later B abylonian times
When he stands alone we find hi m taking a more
human guise than as the mere ele mental god of earlier
days He is fre quently mentioned in the texts apar t
I 97
MYTH S O F B AB YLONIA AND A SSY RIA

fro m Ba and Bel and is occasionally allud ed to along
with Ra mman the god of thunder and storms who
of course would naturally stand in close relationship
with the sk y We also find him c onnected with
Dagan of Biblical celebrity
But in this case Dagan
appears to be the e quivalent of B e l
There is also a hos t of lesser deities the maj ority
of who m are no more than mere names They do not
see m to have achieved much popularity or if they did
it was an evanescent one The names of some are
indeed only mentioned once or twice and so little is
known concerning the m as al most to leave u s entirely
in the dark regarding their natures or ch aracteristics
,
1 98
MYTH S O F
A S SYRIA
for the occasions when national catastrophes defeat
failure of crops destructive storms and pestilence
reveale d the displeasure and anger of the gods

At such times earnest endeavours were made through
petitions accompanie d by fasting and other symbols
of contrition to bring about a reconciliation with the
angered power This ritual owing to the religious
pre eminence of Nippur beca me the norm and stan
dard throughout the Euphrates Valley so that when
Marduk (Merodach) and B abylonia came practically
to replace En lil and Nippur the formula s and appeals
were transferre d to the solar deity of Babylon who
representing more p articularly the sun god of S pring
was well adapted to b e viewed as the one to bring
blessings and favours after the sorrows and tribu
lat ions of the stormy season
Strange as it will appear although he was patron
god of Babylon he did not originate in that city but
in Eridu the city of Ea and probably this is the
reason why he was rst regarded as the son of Ea He
is also directly associated with Shamash the chief
su n god of the later pantheon and is often addressed
as the go d of canals and opener of subterranean
fountains
In appearance he is usually drawn
with tongues of re proceeding from his person thus
indica ting his solar character At other times he is
r epres ented a s standing above the wate ry deep with
a horned creature a t his feet which also occasionally
serves to symbolize Ea It is noteworthy too that
h is temple at Babylon bore the same na meE Sag ila
the lofty house as did Ea s sanctuary at Eridu
We nd a mong the cuneiform texts a copy of an
older B abylonian text a n interesting little poe m
which sho w s how Merodach attracted the attributes
of the other gods to himself
BAB YL O NIA AND
ZOO
A NEW YEAR S CE RE MONY

E i s t h M r du k ( or Mero d c h ) f c n ls ;
N i ni b i s t h M r du k of stre ng th ;
N erg l i s t h M r d u k of w ;
Z m m i s t h M r du k of b ttle ;
Enl i l i s t h M r du k of sovere i g nt y nd co ntro l ;
N e bo i s t h M r du k f p ossess i o n ;
Sin i s t h M r du k of i ll u m i n t i o n of t h ni gh t ;
Sh m s h i s t h M r d u k of j u dg m e nts ;
Ad d i s t h M r du k of r i n ;
Ti h p k i s t h M r du k of t h h ost ;
G l i s t h M r du k f stre ng th ;
Sh uk m unu i s t h M r du k f t h h rvest
ar
would see m as if Merodach had absorbed the

chara cteristics o f all the other gods of any importance
so successfully that he had almost establishe d his posi
tion as the sole deity in Babylonia and that there
fore some degree of monotheis m had been arrived a t
Th l S
A New Y ear s Cerem ony

'
O n the rst da y of the Babylonian Ne w Year an
asse mbly of the go ds wa s held at Babylon when all

the p rincipal gods were grouped round Merodach
in precisely the sa me manner in which the King was
surrounded by the nobility and his of cials for many
ancient faiths imagine d that the polity of earth merely
mirrore d that o f heaven that a s Paracelsus would
have said the earth was the microco sm of the heavenly
macrocos m
as above so bel ow
The ceremony
in question consisted in the lesser deities paying
homage to Merodach as their liege lord In this
council too they decided the political action of
Babylonia for the coming year
It is thought that the B abylonian priests at state d
intervals enacted the myth o f the slaughter of Tia w a t h
This is highly probable as in Greece and Egypt the
myths of Persephone and O siris were represente d
,
2 01

d ramatically before a select au dience of initiates
We S ee that these representations are nearly always
made in the case of divinities who represent corn or
vegetation as a whole or the fructifying power of
S pringtime The na me of Merodach s consort Zar
a nit u m
was
rendered
by
the
priesthood
as
seed
p
producing to mark her connexion with the god who
was responsible for the S pring revival
Merodach s ideograph is the sun and there is abun
dant evidence that he was rst and last a solar god
The na me originally Am a ru duk probably signi es
the young steer of day which see ms to be a gure
for the morning sun He was also called Asari which
may be compared with Asar the Egyptian name of
O siris O ther na mes given him are Sar
the
ag ag a m
glorious incantation and Me ragaga the glorious
charm both of which refer to the circumstance that
he obtained from Ea his father certain charms and
incantations which restored the S ick to health and
exercised a benecial inuence upon mankind
Merodach was supposed to have a court of his own
above the S ky where he was attended to by a host
of ministering deities Some superintended his food
and drink supply while others saw to it that water
for his ba nds was always ready He had also door
keepers and even attendant hounds and it is thought
that the satellites of Jupiter the planet which re p r e
sented him may have been dimly V isible to thos e
a mong the Chaldean Star gazers who were gifted with
good S ight These dogs were called Ukk u m u Seizer
Ak k ulu
Eater Ik su da
Grasper and Ilt e h u
Holder
It is not known whether these were sup
posed to assist him in shepherding his ock or in the
chase and their na mes see m appropriate either for
sheep dogs or hunting hounds
.
2 02
MYTH S OF B AB YLO NIA AND AS SY RIA

S triking exa mple were re quired of the danger of suc
a proceeding it might be found in the vain attempt
to discover an exact parallel between the religiou s
systems of ancient Mexico and those of Guate mala
and Yucatan The city S tates of the more northerl y
group of people had evolved a separate syste m o f
worship for each pue blo or town the deities of which
with minor di fferences were substantially identical
B ut when the pantheons of the more southerly region
co me to be exa mined it will b e found that although
the gods which gure in the m S pring apparently
fro m the sa me stock a s those of the Mexican people
and even possess names which are mere transl a tions
of those of the gods of Mexico their attributes and
characteristics di ffer profoundly fro m those of their
Mexican congeners The reason for this dissimilarity
is to be found in variations of climate culture and
politics three sure factors in the modi cation of
religion I f then we are satised that such di ffer
e nc e s e xiste d in the religious systems of two race
groups almost as closely connected as were the peoples
of B abylonia and Ass yria may we not be pardoned
for the supposition that similar divergences existed
b etween the faiths of the two great races of Chaldea
We nd in the Assyrian pantheon numerous foreign
d eities whom the Assyrian kings included among the
nationa l gods by right of con quest These we shall
deal with later I t will su f ce for the present to
mention Assur bani pal who S peaks of the capture of
twenty gods of the Elamites I t was of course
only upon the rise of a distinct Assyrian e mpire that
the religion of the northern kingdo m acquire d traits
that distinguished it fro m that of Babylonia
Having outlined the reasons for the di fferences
which we believe to have existed between the Baby
2 04
THE PA N THEO N OF A S SY RIA

lonian and Assyrian faiths let uS briefl y consider
the variation of type between the two peoples which
must have caused this divergence The languages
of the two races were not more distinct than the
dialects of northern and southern Englandindeed
a mong scholars they are designate d by the common
name of Assyrian But the Assyrians had a pure
strain of that Se mitic blood which has done so much
to syste matize religions ancient and modern The
Se mite cannot content himself with half truths I t
is essential to his very life that he must feel himself
upon sure religious ground He hates doub t and
despises the doubter At an early time in his ancient
career he had so securely syste matized religion as to
s u pply the earliest instances of pure dogma There
foll owe d the relentless a bj uration of all the troublous
circumstances of mistrust A code founded upon the
rock of unquestioning faith was instituted And
in the religious syste ms of B abylonia and especially of
Assyria we observe a portion of the process of e v olu
tion which assisted in the upbu ilding of a narrow
yet highl y Spiritualize d syste m
The great gods in Assyria were even more o m nip o
tent than in Babylonia O ne cause contributing to
this was the absorption of the minor local cults by
deities associated with the great centres of Assyrian
life E arly religion is extre mely sensitive to political
change and as a race evolves fro m the tribal or local
stat e and bands itself into a nation so the local gods
b ecome national and centralize d probably in the
great deity o f the most politically active city in the
state Nor is it essential to this process that the deities
absorb ed should be of a like nature with the absorbi ng
god Quite often a divinity assu mes the na me and
attributes of one with whom he had little in common
,
2 05
MYTH S
O F B AB Y LO NIA AND
AS SY RIA
A sshur
The state religion of Assyria centres in Asshur
nor was any deity ever so closely identied with an
e mpire as he O n the fall of the Assyrian state
Asshur fell with i t
Moreover all the gods of Assyria
may be said to have been co mbined in his person
Y MBO L S
F rom Relig i ous B el
f a nd
ie
by
OF
TH E
G OD
A SS U R
H
P ra ctic e i n B a by loni a
Prof J strow (G P Putn

.
am
a nd
s So ns)
Assyri a ,
'
In Babylonia Merodach was a leader of hosts In

Assyria Asshur personied these hosts that is the
other Assyrian gods had beco me attributes of Asshur
and we can only understand the re maining Assyrian
gods if we regard the m as lesser Assh urs so to S pea k
as broken lights of the great god of battle and conquest
Asshur originated in the city of his na me situate d
on the west bank of the Tigris not far from the
.
2 06
MYTH S OF B AB YLONIA AND A S SY RIA

archer at the top see ms representative of a lightning
o r storm god a mythic character fre quently associ
ated with the sun that strong warrior
B y virtue
of his possession of the lightning arrow the storm god
is often accepted as a god of war
The etymology of the na me of Asshur throws little
light upon his character as a divinity The city which
took his na me was in all probability originally calle d
The city of the god Asshur
To call it by the
na me of the god alone would not b e unnatural
The name is derived fro m a root meaning to b e
gracious and there fore means the gracious god
the good god
B ut there are indications that an
older form of the name had existed and it has been
asserted that the form Anshar has priority With
Kishar a god Anshar was created as the second pair
of deities to se e the light and according to one
version it is Anshar who dispatches Anu Ea and
nally Merodach to destroy ph e monster Tia w at h
This Anshar then appears as possessed with a ut h o
rity a mong the gods B ut we nd no mention of hi m
in the ancient texts and inscriptions of Babylonia
The version in which Anshar is alluded to may of course
have been ta mpere d with and his inclusion in the crea
tion myth may be regarded as a concession to Assy
rian greatness Indeed in one creation tablet we nd
Merodach displace d by Asshur as fra mer of the earth
-
Th e
S ec
A ssy r ian Gr eatne ss

Asshur is mentioned in the oldest Assyrian insc rip
tion known to us that of Samsi Ramman ( c 1 8 50
the priest chief of Asshur who ruled in the days
when as yet the o f ces of king and high pries t were
undivided Indeed when the title of king had
co me into use so me 350 years later the mon arch s
r et
2 08
THE SECRET OF AS S Y RIAN G REAT NES S

of Assyria still retained the right to call the mselves
priests of the god Asshur
The entire faith in
and dependence on their beloved deity on the part
of these early Assyrian rulers is touching They are
his ch ildren and rely wholly upon him rst for pro
t e c t ion against their cruel ene mies the Kassites and
a fterwards for the extension of their growing e mpire
No wonder that with such a faith to S timulate her
F aith in her tutelar god was
Assyri a became great
indeed the secret of her greatness The enemies of
Assyria are the ene mies of Asshur her soldiers are
the warriors of Asshur and their weapons are the
weapons of Asshur
B efore his face the ene mies
of Assyria tre mble and are routed he is consulte d
oracularly as to the making and conduct of war and
he is present on the battle e ld B ut the solitary
nature of Asshur was re markable
O riginally he
possessed neither kith nor kin neither wife nor
child and the unnaturalness of his S plendid isola
tion appears to have Struck the Assyrian scribes who
in an interesting prayer attempted to connect their
divinity with the greater gods of Babylonia to nd
him a wife ministers a court and messengers
A p r ay e r
to
Ass h u r, t h e
ki ng
of
the
o s
g d
er ove r
rul
e ve n nd e rth
t e w h h cre te d t h g o ds t h su p re m e t bo rn
th
e ve n nd e rth
i ncl i nes to cou nsel
t h su p re m e m u t t ll u w h
n
d
ne
i
ver
of
t
h
sce
tre
t
h
t
h
ro
th
g
p
T o Nin lil t h w i fe f Assh u t h beg etter t h e c e a t ess
f h e ve n nd e rth
m outh
Wh by co m m nd f h
T o Sin t h lor d of co mm nd t h u p li fte of h o ns t h
s p ect cle of h e ve n
T t h Sun g d t h g re t j u dg e of t h go ds wh c u es
t h e ligh t ni ng to i sue fort h
e
h a
fa h
of h
as
er
r,
rs
2 09
MYTH S OF B AB YLO NIA AND AS SYRIA

T Anu t h lor d nd p i nce p ossess i ng t h l i fe of Ass h u
f th e f t h g re t g o ds
th
T o R mm n t h m i ni ste of h e ve n nd e th t h lo d f
t h w i nd nd t h ligh t ni ng of h e ve n
T Is h t
t h q uee n
f h e ve n nd t h st s w h ose se t
i s e lte d
T o Mero d ch t h p i nce f t h g o ds t h i nte p ete f
t h S p i r i ts of h e ve n nd e r t h
T o Ad t h n of M l lil t h g i nt t h t bor n
T o N e bo t h m esse ng er of Assh u (Ans r)
T o N erg l t h lor d of m i gh t nd S tre ng th
T o t h g d w h m ch es in fro nt t h t bor n
T o t h seve n g o ds t h w rr i or de i t i es
t h g e t g o ds t h
lor ds f h e ve n nd e th
o
r o
ar
r o
rs
ar
as
Assh ur
e so
r a
ar,
ar
r,
xa
ar,
rs
ar
Conq ueror
An incident which well ill ustrate d the p opularity

of the Assyrian belief in the con quering power o f
the national god is described in an account of the

e xpedition of Sargon against Ashdod
sta mpe d on
a clay cylinder o f that monarch s reign Sargon
States that in his ninth expedition to the land beside
the se a to Philistia and Ashdod to punish King
Azu ri of that city for his refusal to send tribute and
for his evil deeds against Assyrian subj ects Sargon
placed Ahim it i nephew of Azuri in his lp lac e and xe d
the taxes B ut the people of Ashdod revolted agains t
the puppet Sargon had place d over the m and by
acclamation raised one Yaran to the throne and
fortied their dominions They and the surrounding
peoples sought the aid of E gypt which could not
help the m F or the honour of Asshur Sargon then
engaged in an expedition against the Hittites and
turned h is attention to the state of a ffairs in Philis
tia ( c 7 1 1
hearing which Yaran for fear of
Asshur fl ed to Meroc on the borders of E gyp t
where he hid igno miniously Sargon besieged and
2 10

absolutely identical with the B abylonian Ishtar h e r
favourite S hrines in the northern kingdom being
Nineveh Arbela and the temple of Kidm uru also in
Nineveh The Assyrians appear to have admitte d
her Babylonian origin or a t least to have confessed
that theirs was originally a Babylonian I shtar for
Tiglat h p ile se r I lays e mphasis upon the circu m
stance that a S hrine he raised to Ishtar in his capital
is dedicated to the Assyrian Ishtar
The date of
this monarch is 1 0 1 0 B C or near it so that the abov e
is a co mparatively early a llusion to Ishtar in Assyrian
history The Ishtars of Arbela and Kidm uru do not
appear in Assyrian texts unt il the time of E sar haddon
N
thus
the
Ishtar
of
ineveh
was
much
the
1
6
8
(
most venerable o f the three Arbela was evidently a
religious centre of importance and the theory has
b een a dvanced that it beca me the seat of a s chool
of prophets connecte d with the worship of I shtar
Jastrow in his Religion 0/ B a bylonia a nd Assyria
writing on this point says It is q uite
( 1 898 p
possible if not probable that the three Ishtars are
each of independent origin The q ueen of Kidmuru
indeed I venture to think is the indigenous Ishtar
of Nineveh who is obliged to yield her place to the
Assyrian Ishtar
upon the transfer of
so call ed
the capital of Assyria to Nineveh and henceforth is
known by one of her epithets to distinguish her fro m
her more formidable rival The cult of Ishtar a t
Arbela is probably too of ancient date ; but special
circumstances that escap e us appear to have led to
a revival of interest in their cults during the p eriod
when Assyria reached the zenith of her power The
important point for us to bear in mind is that no
essential distinctions between these three Ishtars
were made by the Assyrians Their traits and
,
2 1 2
ISHTA R A S A WAR GO DDESS

epithets are S imilar and for all practical purposes
we have only one Ishtar 1 n the northern empire
Ish tar as a War GoddeSS

Ishtar w a s fre quently place d by the S ide of Asshur
as a war goddess E re sh e left the plains of B aby
lonia for the uplands o f Assyria Sh e had evinced
certain bellicose propensities In the Gilga mesh epic
sh e appears as a deity of destructive and S piteful
character if not actually of warlike nature B ut if
the Babylonians regarde d her rst and fore mos t
a s the great mother goddess the Assyrians took but
little notice of this S ide of her character To the m
and a s the Assyrians
sh e was a veritable Valkyrie
grew more and more military so sh e beca me more
the war goddess and less the nature mother of love
and agriculture She appeared in drea ms to the
war loving Kings of Assyria encouraging and heart
e ning the m with words of cheer to further military
exploits F ire was her raiment and as beca me
a goddes s of battle her appearance was terric
She con sumed the ene mies of Assur bani
pal with
flames Still strangely enough in the religious texts
influence d probably by B abylonian sources S he was
still to a great extent the m ild and bountiful mother
of nature I t is in the historical texts which ring
with tales of con quest and the grandilo quent boastings
of con quering monarchs that sh e appears a s the
leader of armies and the martial goddess who has
S lain her thousands and her tens of thousands So
has it ever been impossible for the priest and the
soldier to possess the selfsa me idea of godhead and
this is so in the modern no less than in the ancient
world Ye t occasionall y the stern Assyrian kings
unbent and it was prob a bly in a brief interval of
213

peace that Assur nazir pal allude d to Ishtar as the
lady who loves him and his pr i esthood

Sen na
c h e r ib also S poke of the goddess in similar terms
It is necessary to S tate that the name or title of
Belit given to Ishtar does not signify that sh e is the
wife or consort of B e l but merely that S he is a great
lady for which the title B elit is a generic term
I f S he is at times brought into close association with
Asshur S he is never regarded as his wife
She is not
the consort o f any god but an independent goddess
in her own right S tanding alone e qual with Asshur
and the dependant of no other divinity B ut it was
late r only that sh e ranked with Asshur and purely
because of her military reputation
-
A ssy rian War G od

S uch a deity as Ninib (another na me for Nin
i
r su
the
god
of
L
agash
was
certain
to
nd
favour
)
g
a mong the Assyrians by virtue of those character
ist ic s which would render him a valuable ally in war
We nd several kings extolling his prowess as a
warrior notably Tigla t h p ile se r I and Assur
the courageous one

rish ish i who allude to him as
and the mighty one of the gods

His old status
as a sun and wind god in which he was regarded as
overthrowing and levelling with the ground every
thing which stood in his path would supply him
with the reputation necessary to a god of battles
He is associate d with Asshur in this capacity and
who full
Tigla t h p ile se r brackets the m as those
h is desire
B u t Ninib s chief votary was Assur
nazir pal ( 85860
who commenced his annals
with a p aean of praise in honour of Ninib which so
abounds in fulsome e ulogy that we feel that either
he must have felt much beholden to the god or else
Ninib
as an
2 14
MYTH S OF B AB YLONI A AND AS SYRIA

a s such people usually are and that after the
manner of their kind they doted upon every
thing ancient and possibly everything B abyloni an
j ust as the later Romans praised everything Greek
,
Ninib
as
Hunt er G od
'
But Ninib ministered to the a musement of h is

royal devotees as well a s to their warlike desires
We nd Assur nazir pal invoking hi m before com
m e nc ing a long j ourney in search of Sport and Tig
a s a doughty hunter of lions
who
w
il
e se r I
lath
p
and elephants ascribes his success to Ninib wh o
has placed the mighty bow in h is hands
Jensen in his Kosmologie points out that Ninib
represents the eastern sun and the morning sun
I f this is so it is strange to nd a god representing
the sun of morning in the S tatus of a war god I t is
usually when the sun god reaches the zenith of the
heavens that he slays his thousands and his tens of
thousands As a variant of Nin girsu he would of
course be identied with Ta mmuz His consort was
Gula to who m As sur nazir pal erected a sanctuary
.
Dag an
Dagan
the fish god who we saw was the sa me as

O annes or E a strangely enough rose to high rank
in Assyria So me authorities consider him of Philis
tian or Ara mean origin and do not compare him
with Ea who rose from the waters of the Pe r
sian Gulf to e nlighten his people and it is evident
that the Mesop otamian Palestinian region contained
several vers ions of the origin of this god ascribing
it to various places In the Assyrian pantheon h e
is associated with Anu who rules the heavens Dagan
supervising the earth It is Strange to o bserve a
-
,
.
2 16
I d i recte d by Ni nib
E l P l
Ti g la t h -Pile se r
ve
yn
au
2 1

destruction personi ed Says an old Assyrian hymn
concerning Ramman
Th m i gh t y m ou nt i n t h ou h st ove rwh e lm e d i t
At h i ng er t h i stre ng t h
At hi ro r i ng t h i th u nder i ng
Th g o ds of h e ve n sce nd to t h
ky
Th g o ds of t h e r t h sce nd to t h e r t h
I nto t h h or i o n of h e ve n th e y e nter
I nto t h ze ni th of h e ve n th e y m k e th e i r w y
.
s a
e S
What a picture have we here in these few S imple

lines of a pantheon in dread and terror of the wrath
and violence of one of its nu mber We can almos t
behold the divine fugitives crowding in flight some
into the upper regions of air to outsoar the anger
o f the destroyer others seeking the recesses of the
earth to hide themselves fro m the erc e ne ss of his
countenance the roar of his thunderbolts and the
arrows of his lightning Simple almost bald a s the
lines are they possess marvellous pictorial q uality
bringing before u S as they do the rout of a whole
heaven in a few S imple words
The weapons of Ra mman are lightning deluge
hunger and death and woe to the nation upon whom
he visits his wrath for upon it he visits flood and
famine Thus his attributes as a storm god are
brought into play when he gures as a war deity
for j ust as a weather god of the lightning wields it
as a spear or dart in the ght so Ramman as storm
god brings to bear the horrors of tempest upon the
devoted head of the ene my
So highly did the Assyrian kings value the assist
ance of Ra mman that they sacriced to hi m during
the S tres s and bustle of a campaign in the eld They
liken an attack of their troops to his onslaught and
if they wish to depict the stamping out of an adversary
.
218
RAMMAN
his eating up as Chaka s Z ulus were wont to term

the process they declare that their men swept over the
enemy as Ramman might have done Assur
nazir
pal alludes to Ramman a s the mightiest of the
gods but as in reality that phrase was e mployed
in connexion with all the principal deities at one
time or another by kings or priests who favoured
them there is no reason to suppose that anything
more is intended than that Ramman occupied a
place O f importance in the Assyrian pantheon
The worship of Ramman in later times ca me very
much into prominence I t was o nl y in the days of
Khammurabi that he came into his kingdom as
it were and even then his worship was not very
r ml y established in B abylonia With the ris e of
the Kassite dynasty however we nd hi m coming
more into favour and his name bestowe d upon
Babylonian kings He see ms to have formed a triad
with Sin and Shamash and in the Hymn of Kha m
m ura bi we nd him appealed to along with Sha mash
Nebuchadrezzar I
as Divine L ords of Justice
appears to have held him in high esteem although
he was unfriendly to the dynasty which rst brought
him into prominence and this monarch couples hi m
with Ishtar as the divinity who has chiefly assiste d
him in all his great undertakings Indeed Ne buc h
p er
a dre zza r evinced much partiality for Ra mman
haps feeling that he must placate the especial god
He S peaks of
O f those he had cast fro m power
hi m as the lord of the waters beneath t h e earth
and of the rains from heaven
Th e place o f Ra mman s origin s ee ms obs cure
We have already dealt with h is manifestations in
more primitive days but Opinions appear to differ
regarding the original seat o f his worship some
2 19
MYTHS OF BAB YLO NIA AND A S SY RIA

authorities holding that it was Muru in Southern
B abylonia others that it is necessary to turn t o
Assyria for traces o f his rst worship
His cult is
found in Da mas cus and extende d as far s outh as the
Pl ain Of Jezreel
As Milton says
,
Ri m m o n,
s e de ligh tfu l se t
W f i r D m scus n t h fertile b nk s
m
d
luc
i
st
e
s
Of Abb n
nd Ph
h
p
lso g i nst t h h ouse f G d w bo ld
H
A le p er o nce h lost nd g i ne d king
Ah
w h o m h dre w
h is ott i s h
nqu
Go d s lt
to di sp g e nd di sp l ce
F
n
f Sy r i n m o d e w h ereo n to bu n
Hi o di ous O ffe i ng s nd dore th g o ds
Wh o m h h d nqui h d
as
or o
co
va
ror,
a ra
e O
as
ar
r a
ar ,
ar
az
a a
e a
who
This later theory would make him of Ara maic

origin but h is cult appears to have been Of very
c onsiderable anti q uity in Assyria and it might have
been indigenous there Moreover the earliest men
tion of his worship is in the city of Asshur AS
has been indicated he was probably a storm god
or a thunder and lightning god but he was also
associate d with the sun god Shamash
B ut what
ever he may have been in Babylonia in Assyria
he was certai nl y the thunder deity rs t and fore
most
A Babylonian te x t o f some anti q uity contains a
really ne hymn to Ramman which might b e para
phrased as follows omitting redundancies
0 lord Ra mman thy na me is the great and

glorious B ull child of heaven lord Of Karkar lord
of plenty companion of the lord Ea He that
rideth the great lion is thy name Th y na me doth
charm the land and covers it like a garment Thy
thunder shakes even the great mountain En lrl
,
2 20
MYTH S OF BAB YLONIA AND AS SY RIA

considered his presence a s essential to victory NO
wonder that the great god of s torm mad e a good
war god I
.
S h am ash
The cult of Sha mash in Assyria date s fro m at least

1 340 B C
when Pu dilu bu ilt a temple to this god
in the city of Asshur He entitled Sha mash The
Protecting Deity which name is to b e understood
is unchange
as that of the god of j ustice whose a t Z
able and in this manner Shamash di ffered somewhat
fro m the Babylonian idea concerning him I n the
southern kingdo m he was certai nl y regarded as a j ust
god but not as i be god of j ustice a very different
thing It is interesting as well as edifying to watch
the process of evolution of a god of j ustice Thus in
Ancient Mexico Tezcatlipoca evolve d fro m a tribal
deity into a god who was beginning to bear all the
marks and signs of a go d of j ustice when the con
quering Spaniards put an end to his career We
observe too that although the Greeks had a special
deity whos e department was j ustice other divinities
such a s Pa llas Athene displayed signs that they in
time might possibly become wielders of the balances
between man and man In the Egyptian heave nl y
hierarchy Maat and Thoth both partook of the a t t ri
b utes of a god o f j ustice but perhaps Maat was the
more directly symbolical of the two Now in the
case of Shamash no favours can b e O btained fro m
him by prayer or sacrice unless those who supplicate
him monarchs though they be can lay claim to
righteousness Even Tigla t h p ile ser I mighty con
u e ror as he was
recognized
Shamash
as
his
j
udge
q
and natura lly as the j udge of his ene mies whom he
destroys not because they are ghting against Tiglat h
.
2 22
As sur
na
zir
p al
B aS
tte nd e d
I c llt
by
f fro m t h e
W i n g e d Myt h olog i c a l
th
no r
Nl m i ud
I h o/ o
we s
H a nse l !
e rn
a nd
pa
l ce
a
Be i ng
at
Co
o
t
NN
MYTHS O F B A B YLO NIA AND A S SY RIA

as is known no lunar deity in any other pantheon
poss ess es a military S ignicanc e Several are not
without fear inspiring attributes b ut thes e are
caused chie fly by the manner in which the moon is
regarded a mong primitive peoples as a bringer of
plague and blight B ut we nd Sin in Assyria
freed from all the astrological sig nica nc e s which he
had for the Babylonians At the same time he is
regarded as a god of wisdom and a fra mer of decisions
in these respects e quating very fully with the E gyptian
Thoth Assur bani
pal alludes to Sin as the rst
b orn son of B el j ust as he is alluded to in Baby
lonian texts thus affording us a clue to the direct
Babylonian origin of Sin
,
Nusk u of t h e Brill iant
S c ep tr e
I t is strange that although we know that Nusku
had been a Babylonian god fro m early times and had
gured in the pantheon of Kha mmurabi it is not
until Assyrian times that we gain any very de nite
infor mation regarding him The symbols used in
his na me are a sceptre and a stylus and he is called
b y Shalmaneser I The Bearer of the Brilliant
Sceptre
This circumstance associates him closely
with Nabu to designate who m the same symb ols are
e mployed It is di fficult however to b elieve that
the two are one as s ome writers appear to think
for Nusku is certainly a solar deity while Nabu
appears to have originally been a water god There
are however not wanting cases where the sa me
deity has evince d both solar and a queous character
ist ic s and these are to b e found notably a mong the
gods of American races Thus a mong the Maya of
Central America the god Kukulcan is depicted with
both solar and a q ueou s attrib utes and Similar
,
22
4
.
PRISONER GODS
instances
could b e drawn fro m lesser known myth

ologies Nusku and Nabu are however probably
connected in some way but exactly in what
manner is O bscure In Babylonian times Nusku
had become a malgamated with Gibil the god of
re which perhaps accounts for his virtual efface
ment in the southern kingdo m In Assyria we nd
him a lluded to as the messenger of B e l Merodach
and Assur
bani pal addresses hi m as the highl y
honoured messenger of the gods
The Assyrians
do not see m to have identifi ed hi m in any way with
Gibil the re go d
-
Mer Odac h
Even B el Merodach was absorbe d into the As syrian
pantheon To the Assyrians B abylonia was the
country of B el and they referred to their southern
neighbours a s the subj ects of B el This of cours e
must be taken not to mean the older B el but B e l Mero
They even allu ded to the governor who m they
dach
placed over conquere d B abylonia a s the governor of
B e l so closely did they identify the god with the
country I t is only in the time of Shalmaneser I I
the ninth century B C that we nd the na me Mero
dach e mploye d for Bel so general did the use of the
latter become O f course it was impossible that
Merodach could take rst place in Assyria as he
ha d done in B abylonia but it was a tribute to the
Assyrian belief in his greatness that they ranked him
i mmediately after Asshur in the pantheon
B el
Prisoner G Ods
v
The Assyria n rulers were suffic i ently politic t o

award this place to Merodach for they could not but
se e that B abylonia from which they drew their arts
,
2 25
MYTH S O F B A B YLO NIA AND A S S Y RIA

and sciences as well as their religious beliefs and
fro m which they beneted in many directions must
b e worthily represented in the national religion And
j ust as the Romans in con quering Greece and Egyp t
a dopted many of the deities of these more culture d
and less powerful lands thus seeking to bind the
inhabitants of the con quered provinces more closely
to the mselves so did the Assyrian rulers believe that
did they incorporate Merodach into their hierarchy
he would become SO Assyrian in his outlook as to
cease to be wholly B abylonian and would doubtless
work in favour of the stronger kingdo m In no other
of the religions of anti quity as in the Assyrian was
the idea SO powerful that the god of the conquered
or subj ect people shoul d beco me a virtual prisoner
in the land of the conquerors or should at least be
absorbe d into their national worship Some of the
Assyrian monarchs went SO far a s ft o drag almos t
every petty idol t hey encountered on their con q u ests
back to the great temple of Asshur and it is obvious
that they did not do this with any intention of up
rooting the worship of these gods in the regions they
con quered but because they desired to make political
prisoners of them and to place the m in a te mple
prison where they would b e unable to wreak venge
ance upon them or assist their beaten worshippers
to war against the m in the future
I t may b e tting at this point to e mphasize how
greatly the Assyrian people as apart fro m their
rulers cherished the older beliefs of Babylonia B oth
peoples were substantiall y of the sa me stock and
any movement which had as its obj ect the de st ruc
tion of the B abylonian religion would have met with
the strongest hostility fro m the populace of Assyria
Just as the c onquering Aztecs see m to have had
,
,
,
2 26

self a s their son alluding to B elit a s Mothe r of
the Great Gods a circ umstance which would go
to S how that like mos t of the Assyrian kings his
egois m rather overshadowed his sens e o f hu mour
I n Assur bani pal s pantheon B elit is placed close
by her consor t Asshur B ut there see ms t o have
been a good deal of c onfusion b etween B elit and
Ishtar b ecaus e of the general meaning of the word
B elit
Nabu and Mer odac h

AS in B abylonia so
in Assyria Nab u and Merodach

were paired together O ften as B el and Nabu Esp e c i
ally were they invoke d when the a ffairs of Babylonia
were b eing dealt with In the seventh century B C
we nd the cult of Nabu in high popularity in Assyria
Nira ri I I I appears to have
and indeed Ra mman
made an atte mpt to a dvance Nabu considerably
He erecte d a temple to the god at Calah and grante d
him many resounding titles B ut even SO it does
not see m that Ra mman Nira ri intended to exalt
Indeed it would
Nab u at the expense of Asshur
have b een impossible for hi m to have done so if he ha d
desired to Asshur was as much the national god o f
the Assyrian people as O siris was of the E gyptians
Nab u was the patron of wisdom and protector of the
arts he guided the stylus of the scrib e and in thes e
attributes he is very clos e to the Egyptian Thoth
and al most identical with another Babylonian god
Sargon call s
Nusku a lluded to on pages 2 2 4 2 2 5
Nab u the Seer who guides the gods and it would
see m fro m so me notices of him that he was als o
regarde d as a leader o f heavenly or spiritual forces
Those kings who were fond O f erudition paid great
devotion to Nabu and many of the tablets in
,
228
LE SS E R G O D S
their literary collections close with thanksgiving to
him for having opened their ears to receive wisdo m
.
Ea
Ea was of co urse accepted into the Assyrian

pantheon because of his me mbership in the Old
Assyrian triad b ut he was also regarded as a go d of
wisdom possibly because of his venerable reputation ;
and we nd hi m also as patron of the arts and
especially of building a nd architecture Threefold
w a s his power of dire ction in this respect
The great
Colossi the enormous winged bulls and mythological
gures which flanked the avenues leading to the
royal places the images of the gods and lastly the
greater buildings were all exa mples of the archi
t e c t ura l art of which he was the patron
,
Dibbarr a
Another B abylonian
ranks of the Assyrian
deity who was place d in the

pantheon was Dibba rra the
plague god who can only be called a god through a
S pecies of courtesy as he partook much more of a
d emoniac character and was a t one time almost
certai nly an evil spirit We have already alluded
to the poe m in which he lays low people and armies
b y his violence and it was probably fro m one of
the texts O f this that Assur bani pal conceive d the
idea that those civilians who had perished in his
campaigns agains t B abylonia had been slaughtere d
b y Dibba rra
,
L esser G ods
Some o f the lesser Babylonian gods like Da m k u
and Sh a rru Ilu see m to have attracted a passing
interest to the mselves b ut as little can b e found
,
2 29
MYTH S OF B A BYLONIA AND A S SY RIA

concerning the m in Babylonian texts it is s carcely
necessary to take much notice of the m in such a
chapter as this Most probably the Assyrians a c
c e t e d the Babylonian gods on the basis not only
p
of their native reputation but also of the occur
rence of their name s in the ancient religious texts
with which their priests were thoroug hl y ac quainted
and though broadly speaking they accepted prae
tically the whole of the B abylonian religion and
it s gods in entirety there is no doubt that some O f
these by their very natures and attributes appeale d
more to the m than others and therefore possesse d
a somewhat different value in their eyes fro m that
assigned to the m by the more peace loving people
of the southern kingdo m
,
P R O CE SSI O N
GOD S
Rock r li ef t M l t i ( A nti T u us r nge ) O rd er from i gh t
t
left Ass h u r Is h t r S n En 1 1 Sh m sh A d d nd Ish t r
of Arbel F rom R l g i B l f nd P t in B by l ni
nd A y
by Prof J stro w ( G P Pu t n m s So ns )
OF
2 30
a a
ss ri a ,
ous
e i
e ie
r ac i c e
MYTHS OF BAB YLO NIA AN D A SS Y RIA

with the eleven monsters forming the host of Tiaw at h
Thus it w o uld see m that the zodiacal syste m as a
whole originated in Babylonia The knowledge of
t h e Chaldean astronomers appears to have been con
side ra ble
and it is likely that they were fam iliar
with mos t O f the constellations known to the later
Greeks
.
L eg e nd of t h e Or ig in Of St ar Worsh ip and I dolatry

The following legend is told regarding the origin of
astrology by Maimonides the famous Jewish rabbi
and friend of Averroes in his commentary on the
Miselpna lv
In the days of E nos the son of Seth the sons of

Ada m erre d with great error : and the council O f
the wise men of that age be ca me brutish ; and Enos
himself was O f the m that erred And their error
was this : they said F oras much as God hath
c rea t e d t hese s t ars a nd s her es t o
overn t he w orld and
g
p
ba t h se t the m on high and hath imparte d honour
unto the m and they are ministers that minister
be fore Him it is meet that men should laud and
glorify and give the m honour F or this is the w ill of
God that we laud and magnify who msoever He magni
e t h and honoureth even as a king would honour
the m that S tand before him And this is the honour
of the king himself When this thing was come up
into their hearts they began to build temples unto
the stars and to O ffer sacri ce unto the m and to
lau d and magnify the m with words and to worship
b efore the m that they might in their evil O pinion
O btain favour of their Creator
And this was the
root of idolatry ; for in process of time there S tood
A
false
prophets
a
mong
the
sons
of
dam
which
said
u
p
that God h ad commanded the m and said unto the m
,
2 32
S PECULATIO N S O F THE CHAL DEA NS

Worship such a star or all the S tars and do sacrice
unto the m thus and thus and b uild a te mple for it
and make an image of it that all the people women
and children may worship it And the false prophet
s howed t he m t he ima ge which he had feigned out
of his own heart and said that it wa s t he im age of
that star which wa s made known to him by prophecy
And they began after this manne r to make images
in te mples and under trees a nd on the top s of moun
tains and hills and asse mbled together and worshipped
the m ; a nd t his t hing w as sp rea d t hr ough a ll t he w orld
to serve images with service s die re nt one fro m
a nother and to sacri ce unto and worship the m
So in process of time the glorious and fearful Na me
was forgotten out of the mouth of all living and
out of their knowledge a nd they a cknowledge d Hi m
not And there wa s found on earth no people that
knew aught save images of wood and stone and
te mples o f stone which they had been traine d up
fro m their childhood to worship and serve and to
swear by their na mes ; and the wise men that were
a mong the m the priests a nd such like thought that
there was no God save the stars and S pheres for
whose sake and in w hose likeness they had made
these images b ut as for the Rock Everlasti ng there
was no man that did acknowle dge Him or know H i m
save a few persons in the world as E noch Me t h u sale h
Noah She m and Heber And in this way did the
world work and converse t ill that pillar of the
world Abra m our father was born

,
Sp
f t h e Ch alde ans
ec ulat ions o
To arrive at a proper co mprehension of Babylonian

religious doctrines it is necessary to understand the
nature of the astrological S peculations of the ancien t
2 33
MYTH S O F B A B YLO NIA AND AS SYRIA

Chaldeans They recognized at a n e arly p eriod that
eternal and unchangeable laws underla y p lanetary
m otion and see m to have been able to forecast e clipses
Soon also did they begin to identify the several
heavenly bodies with the gods Thus the path of the
sun was known as the
way of Anu and the course
of the moon and planets they determined with refer
ence to the sun s ecliptic or pathway It is strange
too that they should have e mploye d the same
ideograph for the word S tar and the word god
the only difference b eing that in the case of a god they
repeate d the sign three times I f the sun and moon
under animistic law are regarded as gods it stands t o
reason that the st a rs and planets must also b e looked
upon as lesser deities Indeed poets still use suc h
a n expression regarding the m as the host o f heaven
and we fre quently encounter in classical authors the
S tate ment that the stars in their course s fought for
s uch and such a person This is tanta mount to
saying that the S tars possess volition and even
although o mens were looked for out of their move
ments it may have been believe d that these were the
outcome of volition on the part o f the stars the m
s elves as deities or de ic individuals Again we can
se e how the idea that the gods reside in
heaven
that is the sk y
arose from early astrological
conceptions The gods were identied in many
cases with the stars therefore it is only natural to
suppose that they resided in the sky region I t is
indeed one of the most diffi cult matters for even an
intelligent and enlightened man in our enlightened
age to dissociate the idea of God fro m a residence
in the sk y or so mewhere up there
The idea of S pace too must have assisted in such
a conception as the residence of the gods in the upper
.
'
2 34
MYTH S OF B AB YLO NIA AND ASSYRIA

in Asia Minor in re mote times a nd these probably
assisted in the disse mination of Asiatic and especially
Babylonian lore
The sun was regarded as the shepherd of the stars
an d Nergal the god of destruction and the under
world as the chief sheep probably because the
ruddy nature O f his light rendered him a mos t con
S ic u ou s O bj ect
u
is
the
ole
Star
of
the
ecliptic
P
A
n
p
B el the Pole Star of the e quator wh ile E a in the
southern heavens was identi ed with a star in the
c onstell ation Argo
F ixed stars were probably
selected for the m because of their permanent and
elemental nature The sun they represented as riding
in a chariot drawn by horses and we fre quently
notice that the gure representing the luminary on
Greek vases and o ther remains wears the Phrygian
cap a typically Asiatic and non He ll enic head dress
thus assisting proof that the idea of the sun as a
charioteer possibly originated in B abylonia L unar
worship or at least computation of time by the phases
of the moon fre quently precedes the solar cult and
we nd traces in Babylonian religion of the former
high rank of the moon god The moon for example
is not one of the flock of sheep under guidance of the
su n
The very fact that the calendar was regulated
by he r move ments was suffi cient to prevent this
L ike the Re d Indians and other primitive folk the
Babylonians posses sed agricultural titles for each
month but thes e periods were also under the direct
patronage of some god or gods Thus the rst month
Nizan is sacred to Anu and B e l ; and the second Iyar
to Ea Siwan is devote d to Sin and as we approach
the summer season the solar gods are apportione d
to various months The sixth month is sacred to
Ishtar and the seventh to Sha ma sh great god of the
,
2 36
I DENTIFIED WITH GO DS
sun Merodach rules over the eighth and Nergal
over the ninth month The tenth curiously enough
is sacred to a variant of Nabu to Anu and to Ishtar
The eleventh month very suitably to Ra mman the
god of S torms and the last month Adar falling
within the rainy season is preside d over by the
seven evil Spirits
None of the goddesses receive d stell ar honours
The na mes of the months were probably quite
popular in origin Thus we nd that the rst month
was known as the month of the Sanctuary the
third as the period of brick making the fth as
the ery month the S ixth as the month of the
mission o f Ishtar re ferring to her descent into the
real ms of All a t u The fourth month was designate d
scattering seed the eighth that of the opening of
dams and the ninth was entitled c opious fertility
wh ile the eleventh wa s known as destructive rain
We nd in this early star worship of the ancient
Babylonians the co mmon origin of religion and science
Just as magic partakes in so me measure of the nature
of real science ( for so me authorities hold that it is
pseudo sc ie nt ic in origin ) so doe s religion or perhaps
more correctly S peaking early science is very closely
identie d with religion Thus we may believe that
the religious interest in their early astronomy spurred
the ancient star gazers o f Babylonia to ac quire more
knowle dge concerning the motions of those stars and
planets which they believed to be deities W e nd
the gods so closely connecte d with ancient Chaldean
astronomy as to be absolutely identied with it in
every way A number was assigned to each of the
chief gods which would see m to S how that they were
connected in some way with mathematical science
Thus I shtar s nu mber is fteen ; that of Sin her
PLAN ET S
37
MYTH S OF B AB YLO NIA AND A SSYRIA

father is exactly double that Anu takes sixty and
B e l and Ea represent fty and forty
Ra mman is
identied with ten
I t would b e idle in this place to atte mpt further
to outline astrological science in Babylonia con
cerning which our knowledge is vague and scanty
Much re mains to be done in the way of research be
fore anything more denite can be written about it
and many years may pass before the workers in
this sphere are rewarded by the discovery of te x ts
b earing on Ch aldean star lore
.
38

hands of the gods to overawe the m whereas religion
is an a ppeal to their protec tive instincts Now
when the feeling began to obtain that there was such
a quality a s j ustice in the universe and when the
idea o f j ust gods had an acceptance a mong the pe ople
through the instruction of thinking theologians the
more vulgar practices o f the sorcerer priests fell
out of favour with the upper classes if not with the
populac e and a more imposing cere monial took the
place of mere incantation B esides b eing fo unded
on the idea o f mercy as opposed t o mere power
religion ha s invariably reco mmended itself politi
cally S peaking to the class of mind which makes for
immediate and practical progress as apart fro m
that which seeks to encourage mere S peculation
As the ritual grew the necessity for new branche s
of the priesthood was discovered At the head of
the priestly organization was the sha ngan
ma lehu
and each class of priests had its chief as well The
priests were a caste that is it is probable
that the right to enter the priesthood was vested
in certain families but many young men were
educated by the priests who did not in a fter life
exercise their functions but who beca me scribes or
lawyers
AS in the ca se of most primitive religions the day
of the priest was carefully subdivided I t was made
up of three watches and the night was divided into
a similar nu mber of watches Three relays of priests
thus o ffi ciated through the day and three through the
night
Priestesses were also known in Babylonia and
many re ference s are made in the texts to the sacred
women
Some of these wer e:exorcisers and others
like the Greek pythonesses p resided at oracular
,
4o
S A CRI FICE S
S hrines The cult of Ishtar in especial had many
attendant priestesses and thes e were of several
classes
.
S a ifi
L ike the other Se mitic peoples the
c es
cr
B abylonians
attached great importance to the question of sacrifices

Professor Robertson S mith has pu t it on record in
his Religion of t he Semites that sacrifi ce a mong
that race was regarded a s a meal shared between
the worshipper and the deity This view of sacri
c e is almost world wide a mong p eople s in the
higher stages of barbaris m if not in those of
savagery
There is no source fro m which we can denitely
discover the exact manner o f B abylonian and Assyrian
sacrices
As civilization advance d what was in
tended for the god almost invariably went for the
use of the te mple Certain parts of the animal
which were not t to eat were burned to the glory
of the deity The bloo d of the animal may however
have been regarded as more directly pleasing to the
gods and was probably poured out upon the altar
This practice is distinctly of magical origin The
wizard believes that the dead de mons and super
natural beings in general have a special desire for
blood and we re me mber Homer s vivid description
of how when the trench was cut and the blood of the
V ictims poured therein the shadowy presentment s
of the dead fl ocked about it and devoured the stea m
arising from the sacrice In some cults blood alone
is o ffered to the gods and perhaps the most striking
instance of this is afforded by the religion of ancient
Mexico in which blood was regarded as the pabulu m
or food of the gods and the body of the victim a s
.
2 41
MYTHS OF B AB YLONIA AND AS SYRIA

the cere monial corpse of the deity to b e eaten by
his worshippers
.
Th e
T em p les of B aby l onia and A ssy r ia

The te mple building phas e is chara cteristic of
Babylonian religion fro m an early stage More than
3000 years before the nal extinction of the cult we
find places of worship being raised in the E uphrates
Va lley
Even in later times these Babylonian
structure s would appear to have been built for
practical rather than aesthetic purposes and in the
early part of the te mple bu ilding epoch they were
o f the crudest description mere rude structures of
brick without an atte mpt at architectural elabora
tion An early i deal was to reproduce in miniature
the mountain of all lands Kh u rsag kurkura
the birthplace o f the gods and to this end the
te mple was erected on a mountain like heap of earth
To the primitive one storied building other stories
came to b e added till in pursuit of a general ideal
o f height they ca me to b e veritable Towers of B abel
aspiring to reach to heaven
These zihleura ts or
staged towers as they have been called were built
of brick and were quadrangular in form their four
sides facing north south east and west respectively
Their sombre and unlovely appearance was relieve d
to so me extent by the u se of brilliant colourings but
in neither for m nor c olour need we look for any
particular artistic interest nor any especial religious
or other symbolis m though attempts have been
made b oth in later B abylonian and in our own times
to nd astrological interpretations of these B y and
b y the zikkurat ca me to be more of a high place
than a te mple the altars and sanctuary proper being
disposed about its base
-
2 42
TEMPLES OF B A B YLO NIA AND AS SY RIA

With this develop ment of the te mple area a new
phase was inaugurated Huge courts were built
supported by brick columns and enclosing all the
various buildings connected with the cult of the deity
to who m the te mple was dedicated These courts
which were for the most part open to the sky covere d
a large area as much perhaps as ten or twelve
acres in some cases B rick was still the material
e mploye d in their structure though wood was use d
for gateways and for roofs for the s maller te mples
As time went on they beca me more richly decorate d
precious metals and woods were imported for their
adornment and draperie s and coloure d bricks were
e mploye d with more or less aesthetic intent In
some Assyrian te mples stone colu mns were e mployed
The interior of the temple proper consisted of a central
hall a holy of holies wherein w a s se t the statue o f
the god in whose honour the sanctuary was built and
an asse mbly roo m where the gods of the pantheon met
The te mples of B abylonia rese mble very closely
thos e of ancient Mexico and Central America for
j ust as the Chaldean te mple was evolved fro m the
idea of the holy hill so was the Mexican teoca lli
or house of God
O riginating probably in a rude
mound of earth the te mple in both countries came
through the march o f civilization under the influence
o f architecture proper In America there are S till
extant many links in the chain of evolution between
the rude earth mound and the carven teoca lli b ut
in the cas e of B abylonia we have only inference to
support the theory o f such a development This
inference is however of a very powerful character
Commencing probably with a one story struc ture
we nd both the Mexican and B abylonian high
places developing a s econd then a third fourth
.
MYTH S OF B AB YLO NIA AND AS S Y RIA

fth and even S ixth stage in the case o f Babylonia
and so metimes a fourth in the case of Mexico
A sharp distinction must b e drawn between the
Egyptian pyramid and the temples of Babylonia
and Assyria The pyramid of the Nile country was
undoubtedly developed fro m the grave mound the
cairn I t is the burial place of a monarch and has
nothing whatever to do with religious worship The
zikkurats of Babylonia and the teocallis of Mexico
as their names i mply were un questionably religious in
origin and had nothing whatsoever to do with burial
B ut one essential di fference there was between
the m and that is that whereas in Mexico the teocallis
seldo m possessed interiors this was very fre quently
the case with the te mples of Babylonia It is true
that the Mexican te mples ha d attached to the m
buil dings called teop a n but these appear to have
been dwelling places for the various grades of priests
In Babylonia on the other hand another de sc rip
tion of residence arose This was the te mple proper
a part fro m the zikkurat or tower Mos t Babylonian
cities had a denite religious quarter and excava
tions have made us familiar to some extent with the
plan and appearance of these Perhaps the best
known exa mple is that at Nippur the extent of
which appears to have been about sixteen acres
A large court was lined with brick columns and
when excavated was found to have supported a
wooden roof Close to this was the building in
The people
w hich the te mple re cords were kept
gathered for worship in a second court of S ixty wooden
colu mns with supports and capitals of metal and
there in a basin S pecially built for the purpose
they made their ablutions before o ffering up sacrice
At the eastern end of this courtyard was placed a
,
,
.
2 44
MYTH S OF B AB YLO NIA A N D A SS YRIA

and striking the interior of many of the Babylonian
te mples must have been The enamelled bricks
the hig hl y polished woodwork the brilliant precious
stones the gold and silver inlaid on the wall s and
ceilings must indeed have dazzled the beholder
The Se mites were prone to the u se o f bright colours
and as it was the aim of the architects to outshin e
the sun itself in their interiors we can j udge of the
effect Draperies and rugs were probably also lavishly
used The wooden gates were overlaid with bronze
in high relief Passing through the m the worshipper
must have been deeply affe cted by the wonderful
play of colour and S hadow combined in the interior
The vastness of length and height would inspire
hi m with deep awe a nd the curtain s creening the
holy of holies would b e for hi m the boundary betwixt
the human and the divine B ehind this curtain was
probably the statue of the g o d and the cha mb er which
contained this was known as the p ap a hhu which
means S hut o ff
In all probability no one had
access to it but the king and high religious O f cials
I t was indeed the holy of holies A S tone tablet foun d
at Sippar represents the god Sha mash seated in such a
cha mber He is sitting on a low throne and before
him is an altar containing a symbol of the sun god
A monarch and priest stand before him
The decora
tion of such a cha mber w as lav ish in the extreme the
fl oors walls and ceiling being inlaid with precious
stones and in so me cases as that of Merodach in
the te mple of B abylon the statue and the altar
in front of it were of solid gold
.
Th e
G r e at Tem p le
B uilde r s
The history of te mp le building in Babylonia begin s

at an early date We nd Sargon and Nara m
sin
-
46
THE G REAT TEMPLE BUILDERS

calling themselves B u ilder of the Te mple of En lil in
Nippur Gudea was probably the rst potentate
to achieve great results in te mple building Kha m
mu ra bi was also active as a b uilder of sanctuaries
B ut besides planning the erection of ne w te mples
the kings of B abyloni a and Assyria appear to have
been zealous in the restoration and improve ment of the
older te mples in the land Restoration was fre quently
necessary because of the fact that many of the older
shrines had been b uilt of sun dried brick which ha d
not the same lasting power as the glazed bric k drie d
in kilns used in later times
The Assyrian con querors of B abylonia considered
it their policy as well as their pleasure to restore many
of the ancient S hrines of the land they ha d su bdued
and in doing so they fre quently allude in their
records to the age of the te mple on which they are
at work sometimes providing us with a clue to the
date of its foundation In this way we can trac e the
history of so me of these ancient buildings over a
S pace of more than 3000 years Such a sanctuary
must have appeared to the Assyrian monarch who
rebuilt it as an edice erecte d in the days of Solo mon
would see m to u s Thus in the times of the later
Assyrian kings so me o f the older te mples would have
behind the m a record as ancient as th a t o f the te mple
a t Jerusale m to day !
The Assyrian restorers of these ancient fanes
refer piously to their original builders They care
fully unearthed the Old foundation S t ones which the y
preserved and clung tenaciously to the ritual whic h
had been celebrated in the te mples of B abylonia fro m
very early times
There are many long lists of temples in existence
and assu ming that each god possessed his own shrine
,
,
47
MYTH S OF B A B YLO NIA AND A S SY RIA

hundreds of temples must have been scattered over
the length and breadth of the northern and southern
lands These were probably much m ore nu m e rous
in B abylonia which was older a nd whose peopl e
exh ibite d a greater religious feeling
Th e Tem p le
f B Kur
The oldest known temple in Babylonia was that

of E Kur at Nippur sacred to En lil I t was pro
bably founded so mewhere about 4000 B C or even
a t an earlier date B efore the time of Sargon we
nd the rulers Of Nipp ur e mbellishing the te mple
there The climate of the place necessitate d fre q uent
repairs and by reason of o c c asional popular re v olu
tions the fabric received considerable damage We
nd U rbau about 2 700 B C building a zikkurat in the
te mple area at Nippur and a few centuries after
ward B ur sin repairing this zikkurat and a dding a
new S hrine E Kur sa w nu merous political changes
and when foreign dynasties ruled the land its im
portance waned somewhat B u t later al ien rulers
shrewdly sa w the a dvantage o f restoring its rather
tarnished S plendour a nd we nd several kings of
the Kassite dynasty (e 1 400 B C ) SO far honouring
it as to place within its connes a votive obj ect fro m
E lam which had originally been placed in the te mple
of Ishtar at Erech whence it had been re move d
by an Elamite con queror about 900 years before
This was almost as re markable as if the Stone of
De stiny the L ia Fail in W estminste r Abb ey were
t o b e restored to its original seat in Ireland
The te mple at Nippur w a s at this time dedicated
to B e l before that deity was ousted by Merodach
Al most every one of the Kassite rulers made more
or less costly additions to the temple at Nippur and
-
8
4
MYTHS O F B AB YLO NIA AND AS SY RIA

Another such centre of lunar a doration was Harran
These places were regarde d as especially sacrosanct
as the moon cult was more ancient than that of the
su n and was therefore looked upon with a greater
degre e of veneration B oth of these cities possessed
te mples to Sin the moon god and in the m astrology
and S tellar observation were enthusiastically carried
on Harran was more than once overrun by the
erce nomadic tribes of the deser t but its prestige
s urvive d even their destructive tendencies
The te mple of E anna at E rech dedicate d to
Ishtar was one of the most fa mous sanctuaries in
Babylonia I t is allu de d to in one of the creation
legends as were also the te mples at Nippur as The
bright house of the gods
Th e
T w in T em p les
The te mple of Merodach at E Sagila and that of
Nabu at E Z ida were inseparably associated for a
visit to one practically necessitated a visit to both
An original rivalry between the gods had ended in a
S pecies of a malgamation and together they may b e
said to have symbolized the national religion o f
Indeed so gre at was their in fluence that
B abylonia
it can s carcely b e over esti mated The theological
thought of the country e manate d fro m the schools
which clustered around them and they were the
great literary centres o f B abylonia and thus the
progenitors of Assyrian culture
-
T em p l es as B ank s
I t was perhaps typical of the race that its places
o f worship S hould gradually become great nancial
centres and the nuclei of trade and usury Heavil y
e ndowed as they were by the kings of Babylonia
.
2 5o
E c
x
Th e
ua r e
of
s in
e c e n re
on
COIVJ
'
l li
ll l by
e e n t ra nc e
e u nnt c t e
ar
is
m ic /m a nd
av a
two wa
q tr
te d R ui n s f t h T e m p le f E S
h
ll
t m k h
h
d h T w
m il l
g wh h
th m pl
c
te
um]
to t
a g rl a
p assa g e . :1
e r of Ba e
I w lu w ood . l
o m lon
bl
MYTH S O F B ABYLO NIA AND AS SY RIA

to him I t see ms to have lasted for a t least ten or
twelve days As has already been described the
union of Nab u and Merodach father and son was
sole mnly celebrated Nabu piously paying a visit
to his father s sanctuary The other gods were sup
posed to assemble in S pirit in Merodach s te mple
to witness the cere mony and afterwards the priests
of Merodach escorted the idol of Nabu back to its
S hrine themselves carrying the image of their deity
To behold this festival which was celebrated with
all possible magnicence people fl ocked from all parts
of Babylonia The king approaching the Statue of
the god seized its hands in token of covenant and
in later times Assyrian monarchs in order to legitima
t ize the mselves as rulers of Babylonia went through
this cere mony which came to b e recognized as duly
fullling their claims to sovereignty in the southern
land ; but whereas they went through the cere
mony once only the kings of Babylonia celebrated it
annually with the intensest possible devotion
.
Th e Ch am ber
f Fat es
O n the e ighth day of the festival all the gods
were thought to asse mble in Merodach s Cha mber

of F ates to hearken to Merodach s decree concern
ing the fates o f men for the ensuing year This
re markable apart ment was regarded as the repro
duction of the interior of the great mountain wherein
the gods me t in council j ust as the zikkurat wa s
thought to typify that mountain itself It was
s ituated in a special portion of the mountain
known as the Uhshu Kenna and a mong its sacred
na mes is one which may be translated brilliant
cha mb er
which S hows that it must have been
lavishly decorated Ubsh u Kenna ( or Up sh uk k i
2 52
LA ME NT ATIO N RIT UAL S

naku ) must b e carefully distinguishe d fro m the
heaven proper of the Babylonian gods I t is
S ituated in the east in the Mountain of the Sunrise
not far fro m the edge of the world where it was
bounded by the waters of the great deep It is in
fact the brilliant cha mb er where the sun takes
his rise
Lam ent ation Rit uals

O n the occasion of any national or popular disaster
such as defeat in war the appearance of a pestilence
or an e clipse of the sun or moon a certain formula
of lamentation was gone through which was thought
to have the e ffe ct of lessening or averting the malign
influence of ev il powers or the punitive measures
of an angry god This for mula varie d of course
with the deity or demon who wa s considere d t o have
caused the calamity Many of these ancient la men
t a t io ns are written in the Su merian tongue which
witnesses to their great antiquity F ro m the m it
would see m that the B a bylonians were of the Opinion
that if the people had in any way sinned the gods
averted their faces fro m them and departing fro m
their neighbourhood le ft the m a prey to cala mitie s
o f all kinds A denite ritual a ccompanied thes e
form ul as one of the provisions of which was fast
ing and puri cation cere monies of a very elaborate
nature were also celebrate d by the priests probably
in the hope of symbolically washing away the sin
which had so o ffende d the gods
The formula most in use in these propitiatory
cere monies was that which ob tained in the sacre d
c ity of Nippur and particularly in the te mple o f
E
Kur The monotony o f these laments is t yp i
cal O i ancient Semitic worship
They describe the
,
2 53

disasters that have occurred and piteously beg tha t
the gods may b e appeased O nly now and again
in perusing the m does a bright line or a pictures que
phrase cap ture the eye and re the imagination
A paraphrase of one o f the m may well chara cteriz e
the whole The god En lil shepherd of the dark
headed people is implored to return to his city
He is entreate d by the various na mes of his godhead
such as lord of lands
lord O f the faithful word
lord of self create d vision and SO forth Each
separate part of the te mple area is alluded to in the
re quest that he w ill return the great gate the S tore
house and the other religious depart ments A touch
ing do mestic picture is drawn o f the deserted homes in
the city ; where the wo man could sa y to her young
husband My husband where sh e could say to the
young chil d
My child where the maiden could
My brother where the little girl could say

sa y

there the little ones perish there the
My father
great perish In her ban queting hall the wind holds
revel her streets are desolate
F ro m some of the texts it would appear that the
su ppliants were ignorant of the Sin they had co m
penitential psalms
m it t e d and many so calle d
are extant in which the stricken one appeals fervently
to the gods to release him fro m the burden of his
unknown sin He weeps and he is unable to restrain
himself He la ments earnestly and begs through
the priest for the divine mercy These appeals always
end in the sa me way that is in the pious h Op e tha t
the heart and liver of the god may be app eased
With the B abylonians as with the modern Armenians
t o who m they are perhaps related the liver wa s
regarde d as the seat of the e motions
O ccasionally a higher intellectual and ethical
,
S4
MY THS O F B A BYLO NIA AND A SSY RIA

An e clipse to most primitive peoples means that
the sun or moon god has either met with disaster
or has withdrawn h is face fro m h is worshippers The
monthly waning of the moon made the ancients
b elieve tha t it would be entirely blotte d out unless
the god wa s pacied Thus if no eclipse took place
it was considered that the efforts of priests and people
had prevailed ; otherwise they were held to have
failed and panic ruled supre me In a certain prayer
Sin is adj ure d not to withhold his face fro m his
people The day of the monthly disappearance of
the moon is called a day of distress but a season
of u bile e foll owed upon the advent of the new moon
next day
-
2 56
C H APT E R X : T HE MAG I C AND DE MO N

OLO GY OF BABYLO NI A AND ASSYR IA
I KE other primitive races th e p eoples of

Chaldea scarcely discriminated at all between
religion and magic O ne difference b etween
the priest and the sorcerer was that the one e mployed
magic for religious purposes whilst the other used it
for his own ends The literature of Chaldea e sp e c i
ally its religious literature teems with references
to magic and in its spells and incantations we se e
the prototypes of thos e e mployed by the magicians
t
of medi eval E urope Indeed so closely do so me
of the Assyrian incantations and magical practices
resemble those of the E uropean sorcerers of the
Middle Ages and of primitive peoples of the present
day tha t it is difficult to convince oneself that they
are of independent origin
In Chaldea a s in ancient Egypt the crude an d
vague magical practices of primeval times receive d
for m and develope d into a ccepted ritual j ust a s
early religious idea s evolved into dogmas under
the stress o f theological c ontroversy and Opinion
AS there were men who would disp ute upon religious
questions so were there persons who would discuss
matters magical This is not to say that the terms
religion and magic possessed any well de ne d
boundaries for the m No r is it at all clear that they
do for us in this twentieth century They overlap and
it has long been the belief of the writer that their rela
tions are but represented by two circles which intersec t
on e another and the areas of which partially coincide
The writer has outlined his O pinions regarding
1
the origin of magic in an earlier volume of this series
.
The
Myth: of Ancient
R
Egypt
2 57
MYTH S OF
B AB YLO NIA AND A S S Y RIA
has little to add to what he then wrote except

that he desires to lay stress upon the identication
of early religion and magic It is only when they
b egin to evolve to branch out that the two systems
present di fferences If there is any one circumstance
which accentuates the di fference more than ano ther
it is that the ethical element does not enter into
m agic in the sa me manner a s it does into religion
Tha t Chaldean magic w a s the precursor of E urop ean
medi aeval magic as apart from popular sorcery and
witchcraft is instance d not only by the similarity
b etween the systems but by the introduction into
medi aeval m a gic of the na mes of B abylonian and
Again and again
Assyrian gods and magicians
is Babylon appealed to even more frequently than
Egypt and we meet constantly with the na mes o f
B eelzebub Ishtar ( as Astarte) B aal and Moloch
whilst the names of de mons obviously of Babylonian
origin are encountered in almost every work on the
subj ect F requent a llusions are also made to the
wise men and necromancers of Babylon and to
the star ga zers o f Chaldea The conclusion is irre
that ceremonial magic as practised in the
sist ible
Middle Ages owed much to that of B abylon
O ur information regarding Chaldean magic is much
more complete than that which we possess concerning
the magic o f ancient Egypt Hundreds of S pells incan
ta rions and o men inscriptions have been recovered
and these not only enlighten us regarding the class of
priests who practised magic but they tell u s of the
several varieties of demons ghosts and evil S pirits ;
they minutely describe the B abylonia n witch and
wizard and they picture for us many magical cere
monies besides informing u s of the names of scores
of plants and flowers possessing magical properties of
a nd
2 58
MYTH S OF B A B YLO NIA AN D A SS Y RIA

d we ll ers in houses De mons with claw and talon
va mpires ghouls all are there Spirits blest and
unbles t j inn witch hags lemures sorrowing u n
buried ghosts No typ e of supernatural being a p
pears to have b een unknown to the imaginative
Semites of old Chaldea These must all be laid
exorcised or placated and it is not to b e marvelled
a t that in such circumstances the trade of the necro
The witch or wizard
m a nc e r fl o urished exceedingly
however the unprofessional and det a ched practitioner
with no priestly status must beware He or she was
regarded with suspicion and if one fell S ick of a strange
wasting or a disease to which he could not attach
a na me the nearest sorcerer male or female real or
imaginary was in all probability brought to book
.
Wizards
There were a t least two classes of priests who
dealt in the occult the ha r il or seers and the arip il
or wizards The caste of the ba r wa s a very ancien t
one dating a t least fro m the time of Kha mmurabi
The ba r performe d divina tion by consulting the
livers o f animals and also by observation of the
We n d many of the kings o f B aby
fl ight of birds
lonia consulting this class of soothsayer Sennacherib
for exa mple sought from the ba r the cause o f his
father s violent death The a sip on the other hand
was the remover o f taboo and bans of all sorts ; he
chante d the rites described in the magical texts
and performed the c ere mo ny of atonement I t is
Pr iestl y
H e th a t
S t illeth
to rest th t p i t h ll
B y w h ose i nc nt t i o ns ever y t h i ng i s t p e ce
a
a ll
ac
The gods are upon his right hand and his left they
are behind and before him
,
2 60
PRIE S TLY
WI ZA RDS
The wizard and the w itch were known as Karrap u
or Ka ssap t u These were the sorcerers or magicians
proper and tha t they were considered dangerous to
the community is S hown by the manner in which they
are treate d by the code of Kha mmurabi in which it
is ordained that he who charges a man with sorcery
and can j ustify the charge shall obta in the sorcerer s
house and the sorcerer shall plunge into the river
B ut if the sorcerer be not drowned then he who
a ccused him shall be put to death and the wrongly
a ccused man shall have his house
A series of texts known a s Maklu provides us
among other things with a striking picture of the
B abylonian witch It tells how sh e prowls the S treets
searching for victims snatching love fro m handsome
men and withering beauteous women At another
time sh e is depicted sitting in the S hade of the wall
making S pell s and fashioning images The suppliant
prays that her magic may rever t upon herself tha t
the image of her which he ha s ma de and doubtless
rendered into the hands of the priest shall b e burn t
by the re god tha t her words may be force d back
into her mouth
Ma y her mouth b e fat may her
tongue b e salt continues the prayer The ha ltapp e n
a nt along with sesame is sent against her

l
O
p
w itch like the circlet of this seal may thy face grow
green and yellow !

An Assyrian text says of a sorceress that her
bounds are the whole world that Sh e can pass over
The writer states that near his door
a ll mountains
he has posted a servant on the right and left of his
door has he se t L ug a lg irra and All a m u that they
might kill the witch
The library of Assur bani pal contains many cune i
for m tablets dealing with magic but there are also
.
2 61
MYTHS OF BA B YLO NIA AND A S SYRIA

extant many magical tablets of the later B abylonian
E mpire These were known to the B ab ylonians by
some na me or word i ndica t ive perhaps o f the S pecial
S phere of their activities Thus we have the Maklu
.
Ut u k k i limnt i
Sur p u
evil S p irits and La ba r t u witch

hag series be
sides many other texts dealing with magical practices
The Maklu series deals with spells against witches
and wizards images o f whom are to b e consumed
by re to the a ccompaniment of suitable spell s and
prayers The Surp u series contains prayers and
incant a tion s against taboo Th at against evil spirits
provides the haunte d with spells which will exorcise
d emons ghosts and the powers of the air generally
and place devils under a ban In other magical
tablets the diseases to which poor hu manity is prone
are g uarded against and instructions are given on
the manner in which they may b e transferred to the
dea d bodies of animals usually swine or goats
,
A T oot h ac h e My th
The Assyrian physician had perforce to b e something
of a demonologist a s possession by devils wa s held
to b e the cause o f divers diseases and we nd incanta
tions S prinkled a mong prescriptions O ccasionally
too we come upon the fag end of a folk tale or dip
momentarily into myth a s in a prescription for the
toothache compounded of fermente d drink the
plant sa leilhir and oil
probably as efficacious in
the cas e of tha t malady as most modern ones are
The S tory attached to the cure is a s follows
When Anu ha d created the heavens the earth
created the rivers the rivers the canals and the
canals the marshes which in turn created the wor m
And the worm came weeping before E a saying
,
62
THE W O RD OF POWE R
What wilt thou give me for my food what wilt

thou give me for my devouring
I will give thee
ripe figs replied the god

rip e gs and scented
wood
replied the worm
what are rip e
Bah
gs to me or what is scente d wood
L et me drink
a mong the teeth and batten on the gums that I
may devour the blood o f the teeth and the strength
thereof
This tale alludes to a B abylonian super
st it ion that worms consume the teeth
,
Th e
Word of Pow er
AS in Eg y pt the word of power was held in great
reverence by the magicians of Chaldea who be lieve d
that the na me preferably the S ecret name of a god
possessed suf cient force in its mere syllables to defea t
and scatter the hordes o f evil things that surrounde d
and harassed mankind The names of Ea an d Mero
dach were perhaps most frequently used to carry de
struction into the ranks of the de mon army It was
also necessary to know the na me of the devil or person
against whom his S pells were directed I f to this
could be added a piece of hair or the nail parings in
the case of a human being then S pecial ef cacy was
given to the enchantment B u t j ust a s hair or nails
were part of a man SO was his na me and hence the
great virtue ascribed to names in art magic ancient
and modern The na me wa s a s it were the vehicle
by means o f which the magician e stablished a link
between himself and his victim and the B abylonians
in exorcising S ickness or disease o f any kind were wont
to recite long catalog ues of the na mes o f evil S pirits
and demons in the hope that by so doing they might
chance to light upon tha t especial individual who
was the cau se of the malady
Even long lists of
names of persons who had died premature dea ths were
,
63
MYTH S O F B AB YLO NIA AN D ASS Y RIA

often recited in order to ensure that they would not
return to torment the living
.
B aby lonia n
V am p ir es
In all lands and epochs the grisly conception o f the

va mpire has gained a strong hold upon the imagi
nation of the common people and this wa s n o less
the case in Babylonia and Assyria than elsewhere
There have not been wanting those who believed that
vampirism was conned to the Slavonic race alone
and that the peoples of Russia B ohemia and the
Balkan Peninsula were the sole possessors of the
vampire legend Recent research however has ex
posed the fa llacy of this theory and h a s shown that
far from being the property of the Slavs or even of
Aryan people s this horrible belief is or wa s the p os
session of practically every race savage or civilized
that is known to anthropology The s even evil
S pirits of Assyria are a mong other things vamp i res
of no uncertain type An ancient poem which was
chanted by the m commences thus
th ey ! Seve n
t h ey !
Seve n
In t h oce n d ee p seve n
th e y !
B tte ni ng in h e ve n seve n
th ey
B re d in t h de p th s f t h oce n ;
N ot m le n fe m le
th ey
B ut
ro m i ng w i nd bl st
th
N o w i fe h ve t h ey n n n t h e y beg et ;
Know i ng ne i th er m erc y n p i t y
Th e y h e r k e n n t to p r yer to p r yer
Th e y
h orses re re d m i d t h h i lls
Th Ev i l Ones of E
Th ro ne be rers to t h g o ds
th ey
Th e y S t nd in t h h i gh w y to befoul t h p at h ;
Ev i l
th e y ev i l
t h ey !
Seve n
t h ey seve n
t h ey
Twi ce seve n
t h ey !
,
are
a re
or
a re as
a re
ar e
ar e
ca
o so
or
ar e a s
are
a re
are
a re
a re
a re
64

Tylor considers vampires to b e causes conceived in
S piritual form to account for specic facts of wasting
disease
Afa na sie f regards the m a s thunder gods
and S pirits of the storm who during winter slu mber
in their clo ud c ofns to rise again in spring and draw
moisture fro m the clouds B u t this theory will
scarcely recommend itself to anyone with even a
S light kn owledge of mythological science The Abb
Ca lm e t s difficulty in believing in va mpires was that
he could not understand how a spirit could leave its
grave and return thence with ponderable matter in
the form of blood leaving no traces showing that the
surface of the earth above the grave had been stirred
B ut this view might be solved by the occult theory
of the precipitation of matter
-
Mag ic
The earliest B iblical account of anyth ing supposed
to be connected with magic is to b e found in the
history o f Rachel When with her S ister L eah an d
her husband Ja cob S he had left the house o f her
father
Rachel had stolen the images that were her
father s
Then L aban overtook Jacob
and
L aban said
yet wherefore hast thou stolen my
gods !
and Jacob answered and said With
whomsoever thou nde st thy gods let him not live :
before our brethren discern thou what is thine with
me and take it to thee F or Jacob knew not that
Rachel had stolen them
And L aban went into
Jacob s tent and into L eah s ten t and into the two
maid servan ts ten t but he found them not Then
went he out of L eah s tent and entered into Rachel s
tent Now Rachel had ta ken the images and put
the m in the camel s furniture and sa t upon them
And L aban searched all the tent but found them not
Th e B ibl e
and
2 66
THE S PEAKI NG HEA D

And S he said to her father L et it not displease my
lord that I cannot rise up before thee
And he
searched but found not the images

This passage
has given no little trouble to commentators but most
of them see m to consider these teraphim or images as
something of a magical nature
,
Th e
S p eak ing H ead
The targum of Jonathan Ben U zziel gives the follow
ing version : And Rachel stole the images of her

father ; for they had murdered a man who w a s a
rst
born son and having cut off his head they
e mbalmed it with salt and S pices and they wrote
divinations upon a plate o f gold and put it under his
tongue and placed it against the wall and it conversed
with the m and L aban worshipped it And Jacob
stole the science of L aban the Syrian that he might
not discover his departure

The Persian translation gives us astrolabes instead
of teraphim and implies that they were instrume nts
used for j udicial as trology and that Rachel stole
the m to prevent her father fro m discovering their
route At all events the teraphim were means o f
d ivination a mong believers and u nbelievers ; they
were known a mong the Egyptians and among
Syrians What makes it extre mely probable tha t
they were n ot obj ects of religious w orship is that
it doe s not appear from any other passage of Scrip
ture tha t L a ban w as an idolater ; besides which
Rachel who was certainly a w orshipper of the true
God too k the m it see ms on a ccount of their sup
It must however be
posed supernatural powers
observed that some have supposed thes e teraphim
to have been talismans for the cure of d iseases ; and
others that being rea ll y idols Rachel stole the m
,
26
MYTHS OF B A B YLO NIA AND AS S Y RIA

t o put a stop to her father s idolatry There is a
n o t very dissimilar account related ( Judges xviii)
of Micah and his teraphim which seems su f cient
to prove that the u se of them was not considered
inconsistent with the profession of the true religion
G ods
Dem ons
onc e
Many of the B abylonian gods retained traces of
their primitive de moniacal characteristics and this

applies to the great triad E a Anu and En lil who
probably evolved into godhead from an animistic
group of nature spirits Each of these gods w a s
a ccompanied by demon groups Thus the di sease
demons were the beloved sons of B el the fates
were the seven daughters o f Anu and the seven
S torm demons the children of Ea

In a magical
incantation describing the primitive monster form
of Ea it is said that his head is like a serpent s the
ears are those of a basilisk his horns are twisted into
curls his body is a sun sh full of S tars his feet are
a rme d with claws and the sole of h is foot has no
heel
E a was the great magician of the gods ; his
S way over the forces of nature wa s secure d by the
p erformance of magical rites and his services were
obtaine d by human beings who performed requi
S it e ceremonies and repeated appropriate spells
Al though he might b e worshipped and propitiated
in his temple at E ridu he could also b e conj ured in
mud huts The latter indeed as in Mexico appear
to have been the oldes t holy places
,
L eg end of Ur a
It is told that U ra the dread demon of disease
once made up his mind to destroy mankind B ut
Th e
2 68
MYTH S OF BAB YLO NIA AND AS S Y RIA

c eremonies rice beer and tea salad are O ffered to
the m Women are employed as exorcists for driving
out the evil S pirits
-
Pur ific at ion
Puri cation
by water entered largely into Baby

lonian magic
The ceremony known a s the Incan
cation o f E ridu so frequently alluded to in B aby
lonian magical texts was probably some form of
purication by water relating as it does to the ho me
o f Ea the se a god Another ceremony prescribes
the mingling of water fro m a pool that no hand
hath touched with ta maris k mar ta ka l ginger alkali
and mixed wine Therein must be placed a sh ining
ring and the mixture is then t o b e poured upon
the patient A root o f saffron is then to be taken
and pounded with pure salt and alkali and fat of
the m at /eu
bird brought fro m the mountains and with
this strange mixture the body of the patient is to b e
anointed
.
Mag ic ian
L et us attemp t to describe the trea tment o f a
case by a priest
physician magician of B abylonia
The pro ceeding is rather a recondite one but by the
aid of imagination as well a s the assistance of Baby
lonian representation we may construct a tolerably
clear picture
The chamber o f the sage is almost
c ertain to b e S ituated in some nook in one of those
vast and imposing fanes which more closely rese mbled
cities than mere te mples We draw the curtain and
enter a rather darksome room The atmosphere is
pungent with chemic odours and ranged on shelves
disposed upon the tiled walls are numerous j ars
great and small containing the fearsome c ompounds
Th e Ch am ber
f t h e Pr iest
7o
THE CHAMB E R OF THE PRIEST MAGICIAN

which the practitioner applies to the sufferings of
B abylonian humanity The a sip u shaven and austere
asks us what we desire o f him and in the r ole o f
B abylonian citizens we a cquaint him with the fact
that our lives a re made mis erable for us by a witch
who s ends upon us misfortune a fter misfortune no w
the blight or some equall y intractable and horrible
disease now an evil wind now unspeakable enchant
ments which t orment u S unceasingly In his capacity
of physician the a sip u exa mines our bodies shrunken
and exhauste d with fever or rheumatism and having
prescribed for us co mpounds the mixture with his
own hands and enj oins us to its regular application
He mixes various ingredients in a stone mortar
whispering his S pell s the while w ith many a prayer
to E a the be ne c e nt and Mero dach the a ll po w erful
that we may be restored to health Then he promises
to visit us at our dwelling and gravely bids us adieu
after expressing the hope that we will graciously
c ontribute to the upkeep of the house of religion to
which he is attached
L eaving the darkened haunt o f the a sip u for the
brill iant sunshine of a B abylonian su mmer afternoon
we are at rs t inclined to forget our fears and to
laugh away the horrible superstitions the relics of
barbarian ancestors which weigh us down B ut a s
night approaches we grow more fearful we crouch
with the children in the darkest corner of our clay
brick dwelling and tre mble a t every sound The
rush in g of the wind overhead is for us the n oise
o f the La ba r t u the hag demon come hither to tear
from us our little ones or perhaps a rat ru stli ng in
the S traw may see m to us the Alu de mon The
ghosts of the dea d gibber at the threshold and even
pale U ru lord o f d isease himse lf may glance in a t
.
2 71
MYTH S
O F BAB YL O NIA AND ASSY RIA
the tiny window with ghastly countenance and eager

red eyes The pa in s of rheumatism assail us Ha
the evil witch is a t work thrusting thorns into the
waxen images made in our S hap e that we may su ffer
the torment brought about by sympathetic magic
to which we would rather refer our aches than to the
circumstance that we dwell hard by the river swa mp s
We tremble
A loud knocking resounds at the door
an ew and the children s crea m At last the dread
powers of evil have come to Su mmon us to the nal
ordeal or perhaps the witch herself grown bold by
reason o f her immunity has co me t o wrea k fresh
vengeance The fl imsy door o f b oards is thrown
open and to our unsp eakable relief the stern face of
the a sip u appears b eneath the fl ickering light o f the
taper We S hout with j oy an d the children cluster
around the priest clinging to his garments and
c lasping his knees
,
Witc h Finding
The priest s miles a t our fear and motioning us
to sit in a c ircle produces s everal waxen gures o f
de mons which he pla ces on the fl oor I t is noticeable
tha t these gures all appea r to be bound with minia
ture ropes Taking one o f these in the shap e o f a
La ba rt u or hag demon the priest places before it
twelve s mall ca kes made fro m a peculiar kind of m e a l
He then pours out a libation o f wa ter pla ces t h e
image of a s mall black dog beside that of the witch
lays a piece of the heart of a young pig on the mouth
of the gure and s ome white bread and a box of
ointment beside it He then chants something like
the following : Ma y a guardian S pirit be present
at my side when I draw near unto the sick man when
I exa mine his muscles when I compose his limbs when
Th e
2 72

when in innocent play they cast hot ashes upon her
thatch and introduced hot swa mp water into her
cistern In righteous wrath we lay hands on the
abandoned being who for SO many months has cast a
blight upon our lives She exclaims that the pains of
d eath have seized upon her and we laugh in triumph
for we know that the superior magic of our a sip u
has taken e ffect O n the way to the river we are
j oined by neighbours who rej oice with us that we
have caught the witch Great is the satisfaction
of the party when at last the devilish crone is cast
headlong into the strea m
B ut ere many seconds pass we begin to look
incredulously upon each other for the wicked one
re fuses to sink This means that sh e is innocent !
Then awful moment we nd every eye directed
upon us
w e who were so happy and light hearted
but a moment before We tremble for we know
how severe are the laws against the indiscriminate
accusation of those suspected of witchcraft As the
ancient crone continues to float a loud murmuring
arises in the crowd and with quaking limbs and
eyes full of terror we snatch up our children and
make a dash for freedom
L uckily the a sip u a ccompanies us so that t h e
crowd dare not pursue and indeed so absurdly
changeable is hu man nature most of them are
busied in rescuing the old woman In a few minutes
we have placed a ll immediate danger of pursuit
behind us The a sip u has departed to his temple
richer in the experience by the lesson of a false
1
prescription
After a hurrie d consultation we
quit the town S kirt the arable land which fringes
1 H
i s e e m p t fro m t h p u ni sh m e nt p rov i de d by t h code f
Kh m m ur bi f t h f lse cc us ati o n
.
2 74
or
THE MA GIC CI RCLE

She who was opposed
it and plunge into the desert
t o the employment of a young and inexperienced
a si u does not make ma tters any b etter by reiterati ng
p
And he who favoure d a second

I told you so
opinion on paying a night visit t o the city
discovers tha t the witch has succu mbed to her
harsh treatment ; that his hous e has b een made
over to her relative s by way o f comp ensation an d
that a legal process ha s been taken out against him
Returning to his wife he acquaints her with the
sad news and hand in hand with their weeping
o ffspring they turn and face the desert
.
Mag ic Circ le
The magic circle as in use a mong the Chaldean
bears many points o f resemblance to tha t
sorcerers
described in m e dimv al works on magic The Baby
lonian magician when describing the circle made
seven little winged gures which he Se t before an
image of the god Nergal After doing so he S tated
that he had covere d them with a dark robe and
bound them with a coloured cord setting bes ide
the m tamarisk and the heart of the palm tha t he
had completed the magic circle and had surrounded
the m with a sprinkling of lime and fl our
Tha t the magic circle of m e dize v a l times mus t
have been evolved from the Chaldean is plain fro m
the strong resemblance between the two Directions
for the making of a medi aeval magic circle are as
follows
In the rst place the magician is supposed to
x upon a spot proper for s uch a purpose which
must be either in a subterranean vault hung round
with black and lighted by a magical torch o r else
in the centre of some thick wood or desert or upon
Th e
75
MYTH S OF BA BYLO NIA AND A S SY RIA

where several
some extensive unfre quented plain
roads meet or a midst the ruins of ancient castles
abbeys or monasteries or a mongst the rocks on
the seashore in some private detached churchyard
or any other melancholy place between the hours
o f twelve and one in the night either when the
moon shines very bright or else when the elements
are disturbed with storms o f thunder lightning
wind and rain ; for in thes e places times and
sea sons it is contended tha t S pirits can with less
di f culty manifest themselves to mortal eyes and
continue visible with the leas t pa in
When the proper time and plac e are xed upon
a magic circle is to b e formed within which the
master and his associates are carefu lly to retire
The reason assigned by magicians and o thers for the
institution and u se of the circles is that so much
ground b eing blessed and consecrated by holy
words and cere monies has a secret force to e xpel
all evil spirits from the bounds thereof and being
S prinkled with sacre d wa ter the ground is puri
e d from a ll uncleanness ; beside the holy names of
G od b eing written over every part of it its force
becomes proof against all evil S pirits
,
B aby lonian Dem ons
Babylonian de mons were legion and mos t o f

them exceedingly malevolent
The Ut u k k u wa s
an evil spirit that lurked generally in the desert
where it lay in wait for unsuspecting travellers
b ut it did not conne its haunts to the more barren
places for it wa s also to be found a mong the moun
tains in graveyards and even in the sea An evil
fate be fe l the man upon w hom it looked
The Rabisu is another lurking de mon that secrete s
.
76
MY TH S OF B A B YLO NIA AND AS SYRIA

corn the hoof of a dark coloured ox fl our of roast
corn and a li ttle leaven The ghosts were then
asked why they tormented the haunted man after
which the flour and leaven were kneaded into a paste
in the horn of an ox and a s mall libation poured into
a hole in the earth The leaven dough was then
placed in the hoof of an ox and another libation poure d
out with an incant a tion to the god Sha mash In
another case gures o f the dead man and the living
person to whom the spirit has appeared are to b e made
and libations poured out before both of them then
the gure of the dead man is to be b uried and that
of the living man washe d in pure water the whole
cere mony being typical of sympathetic magic which
thus supposed the burial of the body of the ghost
and the purication of the living man In the
morning incense was to b e offered up before the sun
god a t h is rising when sweet woods were to be burned
an d a libation of sesame wine poured out
I f a hu man being was troubled by a ghost it wa s
necessary that he S hould be anointed with various
sub stances in order that the result of the ghostly
c ontact might b e nullied
When a ghost appeareth in the
An old text says
hous e of a man there will be a destruction of that
house When it sp eaketh and hearkeneth for an a n
swer the man will die and there will be lamentation

-
T aboo
The belie f in taboo wa s universal in ancient Chaldea
Amongst the B abylonians it was known as ma m it
There were tab oos on many things but especially
upon corpses and uncleanness of all kinds We nd
the taboo generally alluded to in a text a s the barrier
that none can pass

.
2 78
TA BOO
Among all barbarous peoples the taboo is usua ll y
intended to hedge in the sacred thing from the pro
fane per son or the common people but it may also b e
e mployed for sanitary reasons Thus the fl esh o f
certain animals such as the pig may no t be eaten
in hot countries Food must not be prepared by
those who are in the slightest degre e suspected o f
uncleanness and these l aws are usually of the most
rigorous character ; but should a man violate the
taboo placed upon certain foods then he himself
often beca me taboo No one might have any inter
course with him He was left to his own devices
and in S hort became a sort of pariah In the
Assyrian texts we nd many instances of this
kind of taboo and nu merous were the supplica
tions tha t these might be re moved If one dran k
water fro m an unclean cup he had violated a taboo
L ike the Arab he might not lick the platter clean

I f he were taboo he might not touch another man
he might no t converse with him he might not pray
to the gods he might no t even be interceded for by
anyone else In fa ct he was exco mmunicate I f
a man cast his eye upon water wh i ch another p erson
had washed his hands in or if he ca me into contact
with a person who had not yet performed his ablu
tions he became unclean An entire purication ritual
was incu mbent on any Assyrian who touched or even
looke d upon a dead man
I t may b e asked wherefore was this elabora te
cleanliness essential to avoid taboo ! The answer
undoub tedly is because of the belief in the power of
sympathetic magic Did one come into contac t wit h
a person who was in any way unclean or w ith a corpse
or other unpleasant obj ec t he was supposed to co m e
within the radi us of the evil which e m a n a ted from it
,
2 79
MYTH S OF
Pop ular
B A B YLO NIA AN D
AS S Y RIA
S up e
r st it ions
The superstition that the evil eye o f a witch or a

wizard might bring blight upon an individual or co m
m unity wa s as persisten t in Chaldea as e lsewhere
Incantations fre quently allude to it a s among the
causes o f sickness and exorcisms were duly directed
a gainst it Even to
day on the site o f the ruins of
B abylon children are protected against it by fastening
s mall blue obj ects to their headgear
Just a s mould fro m a grave was supposed by the
witches of the Middle Ages to be particularly e f c a
c io us in magic so was the dust o f the temple supposed
to p ossess hid den virtue in Assyria
I f one pared
one s nails o r c ut one s hair it was considered necessary
to bury the m lest a sorcerer should discover them a nd
u se t he m against their late owner for a sorcery p er
formed upon a part was by the law o f sympathetic
m agic thought to refle ct upon the whole
A like
sup erstition attached to the discarded clothing o f
people for a mong barbari an or uncultured folk the
apparel is regarded a s part and parcel of the man
E ven in our own time simple and uneducated people
t ear a piece from their garments and hang it as an
o ffering on the bushes around any o f the numerou s
healing wells in the country that they may have
j ourneyed to This is a survival of the custom of
sacricing the part for the whole
I f one desired to get rid of a headache one had to
take the hair of a young kid and give it to a wise
woman who would spin it on the right side and
double it on the left then it wa s to be b ound int o

fourteen knots and the incantation of E a pronounced
upon it after which it wa s to be bound round the head
and neck of the sick man F or defects in eyesight the
Assyrians wove black and white threads or ha ir s
-
a8o

animal is most complicated in appearance The t w o
lower lobes are S harply divided fro m one another and
are separated from the upper by a narrow depression
and the whole surface is covered with markings and
ssures lines and curves which give it much the
appearance of a map on which roads and valleys are
outlined This applies to the freshly excise d liver
only and these markings are never the same in any
two livers
Certain priests were set apart for the practice of
liver reading and these were exceedingly expert
be ing a ble to decipher the h e p a t osc 0p ic signs with
great S kill They rst examined the gall bladder
which might b e reduced or swollen They inferred
various circu mstances fro m the several ducts and the
S hapes and sizes of the lobes and their appendices
Diseases of the liver too particularly common a mong
sheep in a ll countries were even more frequen t
a mong these animals in the marshy p ortions of the
E uphrates Valley
The lit erat ure connected with this sp ecies of
augury is very ext ensive and Assur ba ni pal s library
contained thousands of fragments describing the
o mens deduc ed fro m the prac t ice Thes e enu merat e
the chief app earan ces of the liver as the sha de of
t h e colour of the gall the length of the ducts and
forth The lob es were divided int o s ections
so
lower medial and higher and the int erpret a tion
varied from the phenomena therein observed The
markings on the liver poss ess ed various na mes such
as palaces
weap ons
paths and feet which
t erms re mind u s s omewhat of the bizarre no men
L ater in the progress of the
c la t u re of astrology
art the various c ombinations of S igns ca me to b e
known so well an d there wer e so many cuneifor m
.
2 82
C l y bj ect re se b l i g Sh ee p s L i er
Tl
i c i b d h m g ic l f m lm it w p b bly
f h
u d f p rp
t
d w
m p l y d by
th
f B hj l
th c m i
p ri
ns
se
is
ns
or
n it
o se s
I ll olo ll
or
on in
'
.
v rna ro n ,
e st s o
Il a / l u l l
an
en
a nd
as
as
e re
Co
ro
on e s
MYTH S OF B AB YLO NIA AND AS S Y RI A

step c o mmended itself t o Merodach the chief deity
o f B abylonia SO he applied t o the liver inspectors
o f his day and foun d that the o men was favourable
W e n d hi m als o desirous of ma king a c ertain symb ol
o f the sun god in acc ordance with an ancient pattern
He plac ed a model of this b efor e Sha mash an d c on
su lt e d the liver of a S heep t o ascertain whether the
god approved of the o ffering but on three s eparat e
o ccasions the S igns were unfavourable Nab onidus
then c oncluded t hat the model of the symb ol c ould
not have b een correctly reproduced an d on replacing
it by another he found the signs propitious I n
order however that there should b e no mis ta ke he
s ought a mong the records o f the pas t for the result
of a liver insp ection on a S i mila r occasion and by
c omparing the o mens he b eca me convince d that
h e w a s safe in making a symb ol
Peculiar S igns when they were foun d c onne cted
with event s of i mp ortanc e were S pecially not ed in
the literatur e of liver divination and were handed
down fro m generation to genera tion of diviners
Thus a nu mb er of o mens are associate d with Gilg a
me sh the mythical hero oi the B abylonian epi c
and a c ertain condition of the gall bla dder is said
t o indicat e the o men of Ur u m ush the k ing who m
th e men of his palace killed

B a d S igns and good S igns are enu merated in the
literature of the s ubj ect Thus like most p e oples
the B abylonians considered the right side as lucky
an d the left as unlucky Any S ign on the right S ide
of the gall bladder ducts or lob es w as s uppose d
t o re fer t o the king the c ountry or the army while
a similar S ign on the sinister side applie d t o the
ene my Thus a good S ign on the right side appli ed
to B abyloni a or Assyria in a favourable s ens e a
,
2 84
THE MIS SIN G CA RA VAN

bad S ign on the right side in an unfavourable s ens e
A good S ign on the left S ide w a s a n omen favourab le
t o the ene my whereas a b ad S ign on the left side
w a s of course t o the native king o r forces
It would b e out of plac e h ere to give a more
exten de d des cription of the liver reading of the
ancient Chaldeans Suffice it t o sa y that the subj ect
is a very co mplicat ed one in its deep er signican ce
a nd has little int eres t for the general reader in its
a dvanc ed S tages Certain we ll marked c ondit ions
of th e liver c ould only indicat e c ertain p olitical r eli
I
t
will
b
e
mor
e
int
erest
i
u
s or p ersonal events
o
g
ing if we att e mpt t o visualis e the a c t of divination
b y liver reading a s it was prac tis ed in anc ient
B ab yloni a and if our i maginations bre ak down in
the p rocess it is not the fault o f the very large
mat erial they have to work upon
.
Missing Car av an
The ages ro ll bac k as a sc roll an d I se e mys elf
as on e of the great banker merchant s of Babylon
on e o f thos e princes of co mmerc e whos e c ontra ct s
an d agree ment s a re found sta mpe d upon clay
cylinders where onc e the S tately palac es o f bart er
aros e fro m the swarming street s of the city o f
Merodach I have that morning b een carried i n
my litt er b y s w eating S laves fro m my whit e hous e
in a lea fy sub urb lying b enea t h the S hadow of the
l ofty t e mple cit y of B or sip p a As I reach my pla c e

of b usines s I a m aware of unrest for the nancial
op erations in whi ch I engage are so closely wat ched
that I may sa y without self prais e that I repres ent
the puls e of B abylonian c o mmerce I ent er the
cool cha mb er where I usua ll y transact my b usines s
and wher e a pair of o ffic iou s Persian S l aves co mmen ce
Th e
2 85
MYTH S OF B A B YLONIA AND AS SY RIA

t o fan me as s oon a s I ta ke my s eat My head
clerk enters and ma kes ob eisance with an expression
on his fac e eloqu ent of i mp ortant news It is a s
I exp ect ed as I feared The caravan fro m the
Persia n Gulf du e t o arrive at Babylon more t han
a wee k ago has n ot yet made its app earanc e an d
although I had s ent scouting parties as far as Ninnu r
thes e have returned without bringing me the least
intelligenc e regarding it
I feel convince d that the caravan with my spices
woven fabrics rare woods and pre cious S tones will
n ever co me tinkling do w n the great c entral street
to dep osit its wealth at the doors of my warehouses
an d the thought renders me so irritable that I sharply
dis mis s the Persian fan b earers and curs e again
and again the bla ck browe d s ons of Elam who have
doubtless looted my goods and cut the throats of
my guards and s ervants I go home at an early
hour full of my mis fort une I cannot eat my evening
meal My wife gently as ks me what ails me b ut
with a growl I refus e t o enlighten her up on the
caus e of my annoyance Still however sh e p ersists
and succ eeds in breaking do w n my surly opp osition
Why trouble thy heart concerning this thing

wh en thou mayes t know what ha s happ ened t o thy
goods and thy s ervants ! Get the e t o morrow t o
the B ar u and he will enlighten thee sh e says

I start Af t er all wo men have s ense There
can b e no harm in seeing the B aru and as king hi m
t o divin e what has happ ened to my caravan B ut
I b ethink me that I a m wealthy and that the pries ts
love t o pluck a well feathered pigeon I mention
my suspicions of the priestly cast e in no measured
t er ms t o the distress of my devout wife an d the
a mus ement of my s oldier son
.
2 86
MYTH S OF BAB YLO NIA AND A S SYRIA

Ha ! wha t is that ! B y Merodach it is it is
the s ound of b ells
U p I leap upsetting the
wretched scrib e who s q uats at my feet an d tra mp
ling up on his Still wet clay tablets I rush t o the
door Down the street slowly a dvances a travel worn
caravan an d at the head of it there rides my trusty
brown faced captain Bab bar He tu mbles out of
the saddle and kneels b efore me b ut I raise hi m in
a clos e e mbrace All my goods he ass ures me are
intact and the caus e o f delay was a s ever e sickness
which broke out a mong his followers B ut all have
recovered and my credit is restored
enter my warehous e with Babbar
As I turn t o r e
a detaining hand is placed on my S houlder I t is
a messenger fro m the chief Bar u
My brother at the te mple sa w thy caravan coming
fro m a far he says p olite ly

and his message t o
the e my son is that S ince thou hast so happily
recovered thin e own thou shouldst devot e a tithe
o f it t o the service of the gods

,
2 88
C HAPT E R X I : T HE MYTHOLO GI C AL
MO NST E R S AND ANI MAL S OF C H AL DEA
IAWATH
was not the only monster known t o

Babylonian mythology B ut S he is so me
ti mes likened to or c onfounde d with the
serp ent of darkness with which she ha d originally n o
c onn exion whatever This b eing was however like
Tia w a t h the o ffspring of the great deep and the
ene my of the divin e powers We are told in the
s econd vers e of Genes is that the earth was without
form and void and darkn ess was up on the fac e of the
de ep a nd therefore res embling the abyss of B aby

lonian myth We are also informe d that the serpent
was este e med a s more s ubtle than other b east of the
eld and this it has b een poin t e d out by Professor

Sayc e was p robably b ecaus e it was as sociate d by the
author or authors of Genesis with E a the go d of
waters and of wis dom To B abylonian geographers
as t o the Greeks the ocean was a c oiling sn a ke like
thing which was often a lluded to as the great serp ent
and this s oon ca me to b e considered as the source of
all evil and misfortune The ancients and especially
the ancient Se mites with the exception of the
nic ia ns app ear t o have regarded it with drea d
t
and loathing The s erp ent appears t o have b een
called Aib u the ene my
We can se e how the se r
p ent o i darkness the o ffspring of cha os and c onfu
sion b eca me a lso the Hebrew symbol for mis chief
He w a s rst the sou rc e of physical and next the
s ource o f moral ev il
.
Wing ed Bulls
The winge d bulls SO closely identi ed w ith ancient
Chaldean mythology were probably ass ociated with
' '
2 89
MYTH S O F
Merodach
BAB YLO NIA AND ASSY RIA
Thes e may have repres ent ed the origina l

t ote mic forms of the gods in question b ut we must not
c onfound the b ull forms of Merodach and E a with
thos e winged bulls which guarde d the entrances to
the t e mples These to p erp etrat e a double b ull
were n ot b ulls at all b ut divine b eings the gods or
genii of the holy places The hu man head attached
t o the m indic ate d that t h e creature w as endowe d
with hu manit y and the b ull like b ody symb oli zed
s treng t h When the B abylonian translat ed the word
bull fro m the Akkadian tongue he usually rendered
it hero or strong one
I t is thought that the b ull
for ms of E a and Meroda ch must have originated at
E ridu for both of thes e deiti es were c onnected with
the city The B abylonians regarded the sky country
as a double of the plain in which they dwelt a nd they
b elieved that the gods a s planets ploug h ed their way
a cross the a zure elds of air Thus the sun was the
B ull of L ight
and J upit er the nearest of the
planets t o the ecliptic was known as the Planet of
the B ull of L ight
.
Th e Dog in B aby lonia
Stra ngely enough the dog was class ed by the Baby

l onians as a m onst er ani mal and one to b e despis ed
and avoided In a prayer ag ainst the p owers of
evil we read F ro m the dog the snake the s corpion
the reptile and whatever is baleful
may Mero
dach pres erve us

We nd that although the
Babylonians p oss ess ed an excellent bree d of dog
they were not fond of depicting the m either in paint
ing or bas relief Dogs are s een illustra ted in a h a s
relief of Assur bani pal and ve clay gures of dogs
now in the B ritish Mus eu m rep resent hounds which
b elonge d t o that monarch The na mes of these
.
29
0
MYTH S OF BAB YLONIA AND ASSYRIA

b y the c o mmand of E a the lord of wisdo m b y the
1
c o mmand of Merodach the lord of revelation
,
G azelle
and
G oat G ods
The gazelle or antelop e was a mythological ani mal

in Babylonia s o far a s it repres ent ed E a w h o is
entitle d the princely ga zelle and the g a zelle
who gives the earth
B u t this animal was als o
appropriate d t o Mul lil the god of Nipp ur who
wa s sp ecially called the gazelle god
I t is likely
therefore tha t this animal ha d b een worship p ed
t ot e mically a t Nippur S cores of early cylinders
repres ent it b eing offered in sacri c e t o a god an d
bas relie fs and other carvings S how it rep osing in
the arms of various deities The goat t oo s ee ms
t o have b e en p eculiarly sacred ; an d formed one o f
the signs of the zodiac A god called Uz has for his
na me the Akka dian word for goat Mr Horm uzd
Ra ssa m found a s culpture d ston e tablet in a t e mpl e
o f the sun god at Sip p a ra on which was a n ins criptio n
t o Sin Sha mash ; and Ishtar ; as b eing se t a s c o m
p anions at the approach to the deep in sight o f the
god Uz
This god Uz is depicted as S itting on a
throne watching the revolution of the s olar dis c ;
which is pla ced up on a table an d made t o r evolve
by means of a rop e or S tring He is clad in a rob e
of goat S kin
,
Th e
G oat
Cult
This cult of the goat appears t o b e of very a nci ent

origin and the strange thing is that it S ee ms to have
foun d its wa y into m e dimv al and even into modern
magic an d ps eudo religion
There is very little
S yce H ihh t L t u
p 2 8 8 (by p er m i ss i o n of Mess rs Wi lliams
nd Norgat e)
,
2 92
er
ec
rer ,
TH E G OAT CU LT
doubt that it is the B apho met of the knights t e mpla r

and the Sabb atic goa t of the witchcraft of the Middle
It s ee ms al most certa in that when th e
Ages
Crusaders s oj ourn ed in Asia Minor they ca me int o
c ontact with the re mains of the old Babylonian
cult W hen Philip the F air o f Franc e arraigned
the m on a charge of heresy a grea t deal of curiou s
eviden ce was extort ed fro m the m regarding the
worship o f an idol that they kept in their lodges
The real chara cter of this they s ee med unable t o
explain I t wa s said wh ich the i mage was made in
the likenes s o f B aphomet which na me was said
t o b e a c orruption of Maho met the general Christ ia n
na me a t that p eriod for a pagan idol althoug h
others give a Greek deriva tion for the word This
gure was oft en describ ed as p os s essing a goat s
hea d and horns That too the Sabb ati c goat o f
the Middle Ages was of East ern an d prob ably Bab y
lonia n origin is s carcely t o b e doub ted
At the
witch orgies in F ranc e an d els ewhere thos e who wer e
a fterwa rds brought t o book for their s orceries declare d
that Satan appeared to the m in the shap e of a go at
a nd that they worshipped hi m i n this for m Th e
Sabbatic meetings during th e ft eenth c entury in
the wood of Mo fflaines near Arras ha d as th eir
c entre a goat de mon with a hu ma n c ount enance and
a like end was adored in Ger many and in S cotland
F ro m all this it is cle ar that the Sa bbati c goat mu st
have ha d so me c onnexion with the Eas t Elip h as
L evi drew a picture of the B apho met or Sab batic
goat t o acco mpany one of his occult works an d
strangely enough the symb ols that he adorns it
with are pecu liarly O riental more over the su n dis c
Now L evi knew n othing of
gures in the d rawing
Babylonian mythology althou gh he wa s moderat ely
-
2 93
MYTH S OF
AS SY RIA
vers ed in the mythology of modern occultis m and
it would s ee m that if he drew his infor ma t ion fro m
modern or medi aeval sources that thes e must have
b een in direct line fro m Babylonian lore
Adar the su n god of Nippur wa s in the sa me
manner c onn ecte d with the pig which may have
b een the t ote m of the city he ruled over and many
other gods had att endant ani mals or birds like the
sun god of Kis whos e symb ol wa s the eagle
Thos e mons ters who ha d c o mp os ed the host of
Tia w a t h were supp os ed after the defeat and de st ruc
tion of their c o mman dress t o have b een hurled like
Satan an d his angels int o the a bys s b eneath We
rea d of their c onfusion in four tablets of the creation
epic This legend S ee ms t o b e the original s ourc e
of the b elief that thos e who reb elled against high
heaven were thrust into out er darkness I n the
B o ok of E noch we read of a great abyss regarding
which an angel said to the prophet
This is a plac e
of the c onsu mmation of heaven and earth and again

in a lat er chapter
Thes e are of the stars who h ave
transgressed the command of God the Highest and
are bound here till
worlds the nu mb er o f
the days of their S ins S hall have consu mmat ed
this is the pris on of the angels and her e they are
held to eternity
Eleven great monsters are S p oken
of by Babylonian myth as co mprising the host of
Tia w a t h b esides many less er for ms having the heads
of men and the b odies of birds Strangely enough
we nd thes e monst ers guring in a legend c onc ern
ing an early Babylonian king
B A B YLO NIA AND
Inv asion of th e Monsters

The tablets up on which t his legend w as i mp re ssed
were at rst kn own as the Cut h aea n legend of
Th e
9+
MYTH S OF B AB YLO NIA AND A S SYRIA

and destruction upon his realm Nevertheless rising
fro m his lethargy of despair he stated his intention
to go forth against the enemy in his own person
saying The pride of this people of the night I will
curse with death and destruction w ith fear terror
and famine and with misery of every kind

B efore setting out to meet the foe he made Offerings
t o the gods The manner in which he overcame
the invaders is by no means clear fro m the text but
it would seem that he annihilated them by means
of a deluge In the last p ortion of the legend the
King exhorts h is successors not to lose heart when in
great peril bu t to take courage from his exa mple
He inscribed a tablet with h is advice which he
placed in the shrine of Nergal in the city of Cuthah
Strengthen thy wall he said

ll thy cisterns
with water bring in thy treasure chests an d thy
c orn and thy silver and a ll thy poss essions

He
also a dvises those o f his descendants who are faced
by similar conditions not to expos e themselves need
lessly to the ene my
I t w as thought a t on e time tha t this legend applied
to the c ircu mstances of the creation and that the
S peaker was the god Nergal who wa s waging war
against the b rood of Tia w a t h I t wa s believe d that
a ccording to local conditions at Cuthah Nergal
would have taken the plac e of Merodach but it has
n ow been made clear that although the tablet wa s
intende d to b e placed in the S hrine of Nergal the
S peaker was in reality an early Babylonian king
.
Th e
E ag le
As we have seen the eagle was perhap s regarded
as a symbol of the sun god A B abylonian fable
tel ls how he q uarrelled with the serpent and in curred
,
2 96
Myt h olog i c a l
E gle h e d e d
a
2 96
I n t h e L o uv re
I lrulo H
'
.
l / u n st ll
Be i n g
nd L u
MYTH S OF BABYLO NIA AND A S SY RIA

birds a ll of which swooped down and ate of the flesh
B ut the eagle suspected the purpose of the serpent
and did not come with the rest until gree d and
hunger prompted him to share in the feast
Come
said he to his children
let u s swoop
d own and let us also eat o f the flesh of this wild
ox
Now the young eagle who ha d before dissuaded
his father from devouring the serpent s young aga in
begged him to desist fro m his purpose
Have a care O my father he said

for I a m
certain tha t the serpent lurks in yonder carcase for
the purpose of destroying you

B u t the eagle did not hearken to the warning o f
his child but swooped on to the carcase of the wild
ox He so far ob eyed the in j unctions of his o ffspring
however as closely to examine the dead ox for the
purpose of discovering whether any trap lurke d
near it Satised that all was well he co mmenced
to fee d upon it when suddenly the serpent seized
upon him and held him fast The eagle a t once
be gan to plead for mercy but the enraged reptile
tol d him tha t an appeal to Shamash was irrevocable
and that if he did not punish the king o f birds he
himself would b e punished by the god and despite
the eagle s further protests he tore o ff h is wings an d
pinions pulled him to p ieces and nally cast him
into a pit where he perished miserably as the god
had decreed
.
98
C HAPT E R
X II : TAL E S OF T HE BAB Y.
LONIAN AND ASSYR I AN KI NG S
H E tales of the Babylonian an d As syrian

kings which we present in this chapter are
of value b ecaus e they are taken at rst han d
fro m their own historical a ccount s of the great events
which occurred during their several reigns O n a
rst exa mination thes e tablets app ear dry and
uninterest ing but when S t udied more closely and
patiently they will b e found to conta in mat ter a s
abs orbing as that in the most exciting annals of any
c ountry L et u s take for exa mple the wonderful
inscriptions of Tigla t h p ile se r I I (950 B C ) which
refer t o his various c on qu ests and which were dis
c overe d b y George S mith at Ni mru d in the t e mple
of Neb o
Tigla t h c o mmences with the usual O riental fl ourish
of tru mpets He styles hi msel f the p owerful warrior
who in the s ervic e of Asshur has tra mpled up on h is
haters swept over them like a fl ood and reduce d
the m to sha dows He ha s marched he says fro m
the se a to the land of the rising sun and fro m the
se a of the s etting s un t o Egypt
He enu merate s
the c ountless lands that he has conquered The
cities Sa rra p a nu and Ma lila t u a mong others he t ook
by S tor m and captured the inhabitants t o the nu mb e r
of
men women and children all of who m
h e s ent t o Assyria Much trib u te he rec eived fro m
the p eople of the conquered lands gold S ilve r
precio us s tones rare woods and cattle His cus t o m
s ee ms to have b een to make his successful generals
rulers of the cities he c onquered and it is noticeable
that up on a vict ory he invaria bly sacric ed t o the
gods
H is methods appear t o have been drasti c
'
29
9
MYTH S OF B AB YLO NIA AND AS SY RIA

in the extre me I rri tat ed at the de anc e of the
p eople of Sa rra p a nu he reduced it t o a heap of earth
an d crucied King Nab u Usa bi in front of the gat e
o f his city Not c ontent with this ven g eance Tiglat h
carried off his wealth his furniture his wife his
s on his daught ers and lastly his gods so that no tra ce
o f the wretched monarch s kingdo m S hould re main
I t is noticeable that throughout thes e ca mpaign s
Tigla t h invariably s ent the prisoners t o Assyria
which S hows at least that h e considere d hu man life
a s relatively sacred Probably thes e capt ive p eople
were reduced t o S lavery The races of the neighb o u r
ing des ert too ca me and prostrat ed the ms elv e s be
fore the Assyrian hero kissing his feet an d b ringing
hi m trib ut e carrie d by sailors
Tig la t h then b egins t o b oas t ab out his gorgeous
n ew residenc e with all the vulgarity O f a nouvea u
H e s a ys that his hous e was decora t ed like a
r iche
Syrian palac e for hi s glory He b uilt gat es of ivory
with planks of cedar and s ee ms t o have ha d his
pris oners the c on qu ered kings of Syria on exhibition
in th e palace p recin cts At the gat es were gigantic
li ons and b ull s of clever workmanship which he
describ es as c unning b eautiful valuable and this

plac e h e called The Palaces of Rej oicing
I n a frag ment which relates the circu ms t ances of
his E ast ern exp editio ns he t ells how he b uilt a city
called Hu mur and how he excavat ed the neighb our
ing river Patti which had b een lled up in the past
an d along its b ed le d re freshing waters into c er tain
o f the cities he had c onqu ered H e complains in
on e t ex t that Sarduri the King o f Ararat revolte d
against hi m along with o t hers b ut Tigla t h capture d
his ca mp and Sarduri had p erforce t o escap e up on
a mare Into the rugged mountains h e rode b y night
.
30 0
THE AU TO BIO G RAPHY O F ASSUR BA NLPAL

and s ought safety on their p ea ks L ater he took
r efu ge with his warriors in the city o f Tu ruSp a
After a S iege Tigla t h s u cc eede d in reduc ing the place
Afterwards he destroyed the land of Ararat and
made it a des ert over an area of ab out 450 miles
Tigla t h dedicat ed Sa rduri s couch t o I shtar an d
carried off his royal riding c arriage his S eal h is
nec k lac e his royal chariot his ma c e and lastly a
great ship though we are not t old how he ae co m
i
sh e d this last feat
l
p
Poet
or
Br ag g art !
I t is strange t o n otic e the in fl ated manner in whic h

He talks ab out
Tigla t h S p eaks in thes e descriptions
people races and rulers sinning against hi m as
i f he were a god bu t it mu st b e re me mb ered that he
like other Assyrian monarchs regarde d hi mself a s
the representative of the gods up on e arth B ut
though his language is at ti mes boa st ful and ab s urd
yet on other o ccasions it is extre mely b eautiful an d
even p o etic In sp eaking of the tribut e he rec eive d
fro m various monarchs he says that he obta ine d fro m
the m clothing of wo ol and linen viol et wo ol royal
treas ures the s kins of sheep with fl eec e dye d in
shining purple birds o f the sk y with fea thers of
S hining violet hor ses ca mels and Sh e c a mels with
their young ones

H e app ears t oo t o h ave b een in c on fl ict with a
Queen o f Sheb a or Saba on e Sani si who m he sent
a s a pris oner t o Syria with her gods and all he r
p ossessions
.
Aut obiog rap hy of Assur bani p al

In a former chapter we outlined the mythical history
O f Assur bani pal or Sa rdanapalus
and in this plac e
Th e
30 1
MYTH S OF B ABYLO NIA AND A S SY RIA

may brie fly review the story of his life a s told in his
in scriptions H e commences by stating that he is
the child of Asshur and B eltis but he evidently intends
t o convey that he is their son in a spiritual sense only
for he hastens to tell us that he is the son of the great
King of Ridut i ( E sar
haddon ) He proceeds to tell
of his triumphal progress throughout E gyp t whos e
kings he made tributary to him

Then he remarks
in a hurt manner the good I did to the m they de
Seditious
words
S ise d and their hearts devised evil
p
they spoke and took evil counsel a mong the mselves

In S hort the kings of Egyp t had entered into an
alliance to free the mselves from the yoke of Assur
bani pal but his generals heard o f the plot and cap
t u re d several of the ringleaders in the midst of their
work They seized the royal conspirators and bound
the m in fetters of iron The Assyrian generals the n
fell upon the populations o f the revolting cities and
c ut o ff their inha bitants to a man b ut they brought
the rulers of Egypt to Nineveh into the presence of
To do him j ustice that monarch
Assur bani pal
treated Necho who is described as King of Memphis
and Sars with the utmost consideration granting
h im a new covenant and placing upon him costly
ga rments and ornaments of gold bracelets of gold a
ste el sword with a S heath of gold ; with chariots
mules and horses
.
Dr e am
G y g es
Continuing Assur bani pal recounts how Gyges

K ing of L ydia a remote place of which his fathers
had not heard the name was granted a drea m con
c erning the kingdo m of Assyria by the god Asshur
Gyges was greatly impressed by the drea m and s ent
to Assur ban r pal to request h is friendship but having
-
302
MYTH S O F B AB YLONIA AND AS SY RIA

the crossing o f the river It it e which was in high fl ood
could be accomplished by his army in perfect safety
The warriors easily negotiated the crossing and in
fl icted grea t losses upon the enemy
Among other
things they dragged the idol of Susinay fro m its
sacred grove and he remarks that it ha d n ever been
b eheld by any man in Ela m This with other idols
he carried O ff to Assyria He broke the winged
lions which flanke d the gates o f the temple dried
up the drinking wells and for a month and a day swep t
E la m to its utmost extent so that neither m an nor
oxen nor trees could be found in it nothing but the
wild ass the serpen t and the beast of the desert
The King goes on to say that the goddess Nan a
who ha d dwelt in Ela m for ove r 1 600 years ha d
been desecra te d by so doing

That country he
declares
was a plac e not suite d to her The re
turn O f her divinity S he had truste d to me
Assur
bani pal S he said bring me out fro m the midst of
wicke d Ela m and cause me to enter the temple o f
The goddes s then took the road to the
Anna
te mple o f Anna a t E rech where the King ra ised to
her an enduring sanctuary Those chiefs who had
t rusted the Elamites now felt a ffl icted at heart and
began to despair and one of them like Saul begge d
his own armour bearer to S lay him master and man
killing each other Assur bani pal refused to give
his corpse burial and cutting o ff its head hung it
round the neck of Nabu Quati Z abat one o f t h e
followers o f Saulm ugina his rebellious brother In
another text Assur bani pal recounts in grandilo q uen t
language how he b uilt the temples of Asshur and
Merodach
The great gods in their assembly my glorious

reno w n have heard and over the kings who dwell
,
304
ASSUR BANL PAL
A S A RCHITECT
in palaces the glory o f my name they have raised
and have exalted my kingdom
r
A ssur bani p al
A rc h it ec t
The temples o f Assyria and B abylonia which

Esar haddon
King o f Assyria ha d begun their
foundations he ha d built b ut ha d no t nished their
tops ; anew I built the m I nished their tops
Sadi
rabu matati ( the great mountain of the
earth) the temple o f the god Assur my lord c om
l
e t el
I
nished
Its
chamber
walls
I
adorne
d
p
y
with gold and S ilver great c olumn s in it I xed
a nd in its gate the productions o f land and se a I
placed The god Assur into Sadi rab u matati I
brought and I raised him an everlasting sanctuary
Saggal the temple o f Merodach lord o f th e

gods I built I completed its decorations ; B el an d
B eltis the divinities of B abylon and Ea the divine
j udge fro m the temple of
I brough t out and
p laced them in the city of B abylon Its noble
sanctua ry a grea t
with fty talents o f
its brickwork I nished and raised over it I caused
to make a ceiling o f syca more durable wood bea uti
ful a s the stars of heaven adorne d with b eaten gold
O ver Merodach the great lord I rej oiced in heart
I did his will A noble chariot the carriage o f
Merodach ruler o f the gods lord o f lords in gold
silver and precious S tones I nished it s work
manship
To Merodach king o f the whole of
heaven and earth destroyer of my ene mies as a gift
I gave it
A couch o f sycamore wood for the sanctuary
covered with precious stones as orna ments as the
resting couch o f B e l and B eltis givers of favour
makers of friendship s kilfully I cons tructed In
z
as
3 5
0
MYTH S OF
B AB YLO NIA AND ASSYRIA
the gate
the seat o f Z irat banit which adorne d
the wall I pla ced
Four b ulls o f silver powerful guarding my royal
threshold in the gate of the rising su n in the greatest
gate in the gate of the temple Sidd a which is in
1
the midst o f B orsip p a I se t up
-
A L ik eable Monarc h
E sar haddon the father o f Assur bani
pal has
been called the most likeable o f the Assyrian

kings He did not press his military conquests for
the mere sake o f glory but in general for the main
He is notable a s the
t e na nc e o f his own territory
restorer o f B abu and the reviver o f its c ulture He
showed much clemency to political o e nde rs and
his court was the centre o f literary a ctivity Assur
bani pal his son S p eaks warmly o f the sound educa
tion he received at his father s court and to tha t
education and its enlightening influences we now
owe the priceless series o f cylinders and inscriptions
fo und in h is library H e does not see m to have
b een a ble to control his rather turbulent n eighbours
and he was actua lly wea k enough ( from the Assyrian
p oint of view) to return the gods of the kingdom of
He
Aribi after he had led them captive to Assyria
seems to have b een good natured enlightened and
easy
going and if he did not boast SO lou dl y as his
s on he had probably greater reason to do 3 0
O ne of the descendants of Assur bani pal Bel
zakir isk u n speaks of his restoration of certain
temples esp ecially that of Neb o and plaintively adds
In after days in the time of the kings my sons

When this house decays and becomes old
wh o repairs its ruin and res tores its deca y Ma y h e
Georg e Sm i t h s t ans l t i on S h i A y i n Disco r i p 355 E
-
06
ee
ss
r a
ve
es,
THE FATAL ECLI PSE

wh o does so se e my name written on this insc r ip
tion May he enclos e it in a receptacle pour out
a libation and write my name with his own ; but
whoever defaces the writing of my name may the
gods not establish him May they curse and destroy
his seed fro m the land

This is the last royal
inscription o f any length written in Assyria and
its almost p rOp h e t ic terms see m t o suggest that he
who framed the m must have foreseen the downfall
o f the civilization he represented Does not the
inscription almos t foreshadow Shelley s wondrous
O zymandias
sonne t on
I m t
t velle fro m n nt i que l nd
Wh s i d Tw v st nd tru nkl ess leg s of sto ne
N e r th e m n t h s nd
St nd in t h desert
sh tte e d v i s g e li es w h ose fro w n
H lf su nk
And w r i nk le d lip nd s neer of col d co m m nd
T e ll th t i ts scul p tor w ell t h ose p ss i o ns re d
Whic h y t surv i ve st m p e d n th ese li feless th i ng s
Th h nd th t m oc k e d t h e m nd t h h e rt t h t f d ;
And n t h p e dest l th ese w or ds p p e r
My n m e i s O ym ndi s ki ng of ki ng s
Loo k n m y w or k s y m i gh ty nd des p i r !
N ot h i ng bes i de re m i ns Rou nd t h dec y
Of t h t coloss l w rec k bou ndless nd b re
Th lo ne nd level s nds st e tc h f
w y
.
ra
ar a
Th e Fat al
E c lip se
The reign of Assur Da n I I I ( 773764 B C ) supplie s
us with a picturesque incident This Assyr i an
monarch had marched several times into Syria
and had fought the Chaldeans in B abylonia
Numerous were his tributary states an d widesprea d
his power B ut disaster crep t slowly upon him
and although he made repeated e fforts to stave it
Insurrection followe d
o ff these were quite in va in
insurrec tion and it would see m that the priests o f
-
3 7
MYTH S OF B A B YLO NI A AND A SS Y RIA

Babylon considering themselves Slighted j oine d
the malconten t party and assisted to foment discord
At the critical j uncture of the fortunes of Assur
Da n there happ ened an eclipse of the sun and as the
black shadow crep t over Nineveh and the King lay
upon h is couch and watched the gradual blotting out
of the sunlight he felt that his doo m was up on him
After this direful porten t he appears to have resisted
n o longer b ut t o have resigned himself to his
fate Within the year he was slain and his rebel
Adad Narari IV ; sat up on his murdere d
son
father s throne B ut Nemesis followed upon the
parricide s footsteps for he in turn found a rebel
in his son and the lan d wa s s mitten with a terrible
pestilence
Shalmaneser I ( e 1 2 70) was cast in a martial and
heroic mould a nd an epic might aris e fro m the
legends o f his conquests and military exploits In
his time Assyria possesse d a superabundant p Op ula
tion which required an outlet and this the monarch
After c onquering the
d ee med it his duty to supply
provinces of Mitani to the wes t of the E uphrates he
a ttac ked B a bylonia and so ercely did he deal with
his southern neighb ours that we nd him a ctually
gathering the dust of their conquered cities and
casting it t o the four winds of heaven Surely a
more extre me manner of dealing summarily with a
conquered ene my ha s never been recorded !
Al though the life of the Babylonian or Assyrian
king wa s lived in the full glare o f publicity he ha d
not to encounter the same criticism a s regards his
a ctions tha t present
day monarchs must face for
the moral code of the peoples of Mesopota mia was
funda mentally di fferent fro m that which obtains
a t the present time AS the monarch was regarded
,
08
A ROYAL DAY
as the vice g eren t of the gods u p on earth ; it therefore
followed that he could do no wrong Sub mission
to his will was complete In the hands of a race
of men who wielded this p ower unwisely it could
have been nothin g else b ut disastrous to both prince
and people B u t on the Whole it may b e said that
the kings of this rac e bore themselves worthily
according to their lights I f their sense of dig nity
a t times a mounted to bombast tha t was because
they were SO full o f their sense of delegate d duty
from a bove There is every reason to believe that
before entering upon their kingly state they had to
undergo a most rigorous e ducation consisting of
instruction upon religious subj ects so me history
an d the inculcation of moral precepts O n the
other hand they were by no means mere puppet s
for we nd the m initiating ca mpaigns presiding
over courts o f law and fra ming the laws themselve s
and generally guiding the trend o f the na tional
p olicy As a whole they were a strong and deter
mined race wise a s well as warlike , and by n o means
unmindful o f the re quirement s of their p eople
B u t with the m the gods were rst and their rea ding
o f the initial duty o f a king seems to have been the
b uilding of te mples and the celebration of religious
ceremonies of which a gorgeous and prolonged ritual
wa s the especial fe a ture
.
Roy al Day
sketch o f a day in the life o f an Assyrian or

B abylonian king may assist the reader to visualize
the habits o f royalty in a distant era The ceremonies
of robing and ablution upon rising would necessitat e
the at tendance o f numerous special o f cials and
the morning repast over a private religious ceremony
A
309
MYTHS OF BAB YLONIA AND ASSYRIA

would follow The business of the court would
supervene Perhaps an e mbassy fro m Ela m or
Egypt would occupy the early hours o f the morning
failing which the dictation of letters to the governors
of provinces and cities or to distant potentates
would b e overtaken As a scholar himself the
King would probably carefully scrutinize these pro
A visit might then b e paid to a temple
duc t ions
in course of construction where the architect would
describ e the progress of the b uilding opera tions
and the K ing would w atch the slow rising o f S hrine
and tower ; or p erhaps the a fternoon would b e
L eashes
se t apart for the pleasures o f the chase
of great dogs not unlike those o f the Danish boar
hound breed would be gathered at a c ertain p oint
and setting out in a light but s trong chariot the
King would soon arrive at tha t point where the
b eaters had assure d themselves of the presen ce o f
gazelles wild asses or even lions Matters would
of course b e so arranged that the chief glories of
the day S hould be left with royalty I t is not clear
whether the King wa s a ccompanied by his courtiers
in the chase a s was the case in the Middle Ages or
if he w a s merely attended by professional huntsmen
B e that a s it may when the cere mony o f pouring
libations over the dead game ca me t o b e celebrated
we nd n o one excep t the King the harpers an d
professional huntsmen present for the kings of this
virile and warlike race did no t disdain t o face the
lion unattended and armed with nothing b ut bow
and arrows and a S hort falchion Unless the in
Sc r i t io ns which they have le ft on record are altogether
p
mendacious we must believe that many an Assyrian
king risked h is life in close combat with lions Great
risk attends lion hunting when the S portsman is
.
31 0
A ROYAL DAY
armed wi t h modern weapons o f precisi on b ut the
risk attending a personal encounter with these savage
animals when the hunter is armed with the most
rudimentary weapons see ms appalling according
to modern civilize d ideas
O r again the a fternoon might b e occupied by a
great ceremonial religious function the laying of
the foundation S tone of a temple the O pening of a
or the celebration of a festival
r eligious edice
The King ; a ttended by a glittering retinue of courtiers
an d priests would be carrie d in a litter to the place
o f celebration where hymns to the god in whose
honour the function was held were s ung to the
a ccompanimen t o f harps and other instruments
libations to the god were poured out sacrices
o ffered up and prayers made for continued protection
The private life of an Assyrian or B a bylonian
king was probably not of a very c omfortable order
surrounded as he was by sycophantic ofcials S pies
in the pay of his ene mies s chemers and o f c e
seekers
of all descriptions AS in m ost Oriental countries
the hare m was the centr e of i ntrigue and political
unrest Its occupants were usually princesses fro m
foreign countries who had probably received in
j unctions o n leaving their native lands to gain a s
much ascendancy over the monarch as possib le
for the purpose o f swaying him in matters political
Many of these a lliances were supposed to be made
in the hope of maintaining peaceful relations between
Mesopotamia and the surrounding countries b ut
there is li t tle doubt that the n umerous wives of a
Mesopota mi a n k rnd were only too often little be tter
than spies whose of ce it was t o report pe riodica lly
to their relative s the condition of things in B a bylon
or Nineveh
,
MYTH S OF BABYLO NIA AND A SS YRIA

Slaves swarme d in the palaces and these occupied
a rather higher status than in some other c o untries
A S lave who possessed good a ttainments and who
w a s S killed in weaving the making of unguents or
preserves w as regarded a s a n asset The slaves
were a caste but the laws regarding them were
exa ct and not inhumane They were usually sold
by auction in the market places of the large towns
A strange c ustom too is said by Herodotus to have
obtained a mong the B a bylonians in connexion with
marriage Every marriageable woman ob tained a
husband in the followi ng manner The most bea uti
ful girls o f marriageable age were p ut up to a uction
and the large su ms realize d by their sale were given
to the plainer young wo men a s dowries who thus
furnished with plentiful means readily foun d hus
bands The life o f a Mesopota mian king wa s so
hedged around by ceremonial a s to leave little time
for private pleasures The se as in the ca se of
Assur bani pal sometime s took the form of literary

or antiquarian a musements b ut the more general form
of relaxation seems to have been feasts or ban quets at
which the tables were well supplied with delicacies
obtaine d from distant a s well a s neighbouring regions
Da ncing and music both furnished by a professional
class foll owed the repast and during the evening the
King might consult his soothsayers or astrologers
as to some portent tha t ha d been related to him
or some drea m he had experienced
The royal lines of Mesop ota mia seem to have
been composed o f men grave sedate and conscious
of the authority which reposed in them B ut few
weaklings sat upon the thrones o f B abylonia or
Assyria and those who did were not infre quently
swept aside t o ma ke room for better men
,
3 12
MYTHS OF
B A B YLO NIA AND
AS SY RIA
Chaldea were usually city or district gods showing
much less of the nature of the departmental deity
in their construction than the divinitie s o f Egypt
The Egyptian god type was more exact and explicit
We have seldom much dif culty in discovering the
nature of an Egyptian god We have fre quently
however immense trouble in nding out for what a
Mesopotamian deity stands The B a bylon Assy
rian idea of godhea d a ppears to have been princi
pally astral terrestrial or a quatic that is mos t
B abylonian Assyrian deities are connecte d either
with the heavenly bodies the earth or the waters
I t is only a s an afterthought that they be come gods
of j ustic e of letters o f the underworld This sta te
ment mus t of course b e taken a s meaning that their
connexion with abstract qualities is much more loose
than in the cas e of the Egyptian gods t hat their
departmental character is secondary to their original
chara cter a s gods of nature Ther e is onl y o ne ex
c e t ion to this and that is to b e fo un d in the depart
p
ment of war to which certain of the m appear t o have
b een relegated at an early period and later t o hav e
become identied with it very closely indee d
In one circumstance the B a bylonian Assyrian
re li gion closely rese mbled the Egyptian and that
was the lasting effect wrought upon it by priestly
cult s and theological schools Just a s the priests of
Thebes and Me mphis an d O n moulded the varying
c ults of E gypt added to their mythology an d read int o
the m ethical S ignicance so did the priests of Nipp ur
and E rech mould and form the faith of B a bylon
We have plenty of evidence for s uch a statement
and nowher e perhaps was theological thought so
rife in the ancient world as in B a bylonia and E gypt
There are als o p oints of contact with the great
-
1
3
CO MPA RATI V E
VAL U E OF RELI GIO NS
mythological syste m o f Greece tha t syste m which

was so much a mythology that it could scarcely
b e called a religion That Greece borrowed largely
from Mesopotamia is n ot to b e doubted but we
n d the Hellenic departmental deities very explicit
indeed in their nature
Palla s for example stands
for wisdom Poseidon for the sea Ares for war and
O ne god usua lly p ossesses one attribute
so forth
and although Z eus ha s a number of minor a ttributes
we do not nd him combining in his one person so
many as does Merodach As h a s been said it would
s ee m that the departmental character of many
B a bylonian gods was purely a ccidental or fortuitous
The formula seems to run take a local or city god

proba bly derived from totemic sources or perhap s
of animistic origin and having con quere d much
surrounding territory exalt him to the position of
the god of a large region which being incorpora ted
aga in with a still larger empire leaves him only a
local S tatus This status he cannot hold in a pantheon
where each member must possess a specic attribute
therefore it becomes necessary to impose upon him
so me
uality
by
which
he
can
be
specially
recognized
q
Someti mes tha t quality is suitable to his chara cter
in fac t it may be indicated by it but a t other times it
is merely arbitrary Why for example should I shtar
have been made a goddess o f war by the Assyrians
This bestowal of departmental chara cteristics up on
the gods of B abylonia and Assyria was contemp orary
with the erection of these countries into empires
No pantheon can exis t on high without a political
refl ex in the world below L ike the granti ng of
most departmental o f ces in religious systems these
change s took place at a comparatively late date in
the evolution of S emitic reli g ion Whenever we n d
,
3 15

the depart mental de ities o f a religious syste m more or
less sharply outlined a s to their duties and status we
may pre mis e two things : rst that temp oral power
has been acquire d by the ra c e which conceived them
and s econdly that this power is of comparatively
re cent or i g i n
,
S em itic
Conser v at ism
When we S peak of depart mental deities o f a country

like B abylonia or Egypt we must bear in mind that
these lands knew so many dynasties and had such
an extende d history that their religious syste ms
must from rs t to last have exp erience d the most
p rofound changes In Egypt for example religious
phenomena altered slowly and by imperceptible de
grees The changes exp erience d in the course of
fty c enturies o f religious evolution must have made
the cults of Egypt exhibit very different conditions
at the close of their develop ment from let us sa y
those seen mid w ay in their evolutionary course We
have seen how the B abylonian and Assyrian faiths
altered in the course o f generations but withal there
appears to have been something more strongly
c onservative in the nature o f Semitic religion than
in any other Probably in no other land did the
sa me ritual and the sa me religious practices obtain
over so long a period a s in B abylonia where the
national life wa s much stronger and much more
centralized than in Egyp t and where if rival cults
did exist they were all su bservient to one a s wa s
by no means the case in the land of the Nile
.
T eut onic and Celt ic Com p ar isons

Compared with the great Germanic religion the
Babylonian o ffers fe w point s of resemblance In
.
1
6
3
MYTH S OF B AB YLO NIA AND A SSY RIA

This o f course is no new conclusion only the
circumstance tha t the B abylonian gods were not
strictly departmental that they have only a slight
hold upon their of ces assists in proving the correct
ness of the theory o f their elemental origin I t is
also o f interest t o the Student of comparative religion
a s indicating to him a mythological syste m in which
the maj ority o f the gods are certainly of elemental
origin a s opposed to totemic or fetishistic origin
O f the spiritistic nature of the Babylonian pantheon
s mall doub t remains To the Se mite in who m
imagination an d matter of fact are SO strongly com
bine d animistic infl uen ces would b e sure to appeal
most strongly I t stands to primitive reason that
if man is gifted with life s o is everything else and
this convictio n gives imagination full play We do
not discover these animistic influence s so strongly
entrenched in anc ient Egypt The O sirian c ult is
certa inly animistic to a degree but the various
tote mic cults which rivalled it and which it at last
e mbrace d held their own for many a day
.
A Mot h er GoddeSS T h eor y

O n e outstanding fea ture o f Babylonian religion
is the worship o f the grea t earth mother This
is a universal religious phase but in few systems
do we nd it so prominent as in B abylonia and
indeed in the whole Mes opota mian tract E fforts
have been made t o S how tha t in Mesopota mia there
encountered one another two strea ms o f people of
opposing worship one worshipping a male and the
other a female deity With thos e who worshipped
the man god hunters and warriors with who m
women were considered more as beasts o f burden
than anythin g elseman was the superior bein g
r
31 8
MYTHS OF B AB YLO NIA A N D A SS YRIA

exercised a nd still exercises a considerable in fl uence
upon our own thought and life and which had been
brought into close contact with the religion and cul
ture of B abylonia at a critical epoch in its history
The in fluence of Jewish religion upon Christianity
and consequently upon the races that have been
moulded by Christianity has been lasting and pro
found Now J ewish religion was intimately bound
up with Jewish history more intimately perhaps
than has been the case with any other great reli
gion o f the world I t took its colouring fro m the
e vents that marked the p olitical life o f the Hebrew
p eople ; it develop ed in unison with their struggles
and successes their trials and disappointments Its
great devotional utterance the B ook of Psalms is
national not individual ; the individual in it has
merged his own aspirations and su fferings into thos e
o f the whole community The course o f J ewish
prophecy is e qually stamped with the impress of the
national fortunes It grows clearer and more catholic
a s the intercourse of the J ewish p eople with thos e
around the m beco mes wider ; and the lesson is
taught a t last that the God o f the J ews is the God
also o f the whole world Now the chosen instruments
for enforcing this lesson a s we are expressly told
were the Assyrian and B abylonian The Assyrian
wa s the rod of God s anger while the B abylonish
exile was the bitter punishment meted out to Judah
for its sins The captives who returned again to
their own land ca me back with changed hearts and
p uried min ds ; fro m hence forth Jerusalem w as to
b e the unrivalled d w elling place of the righteous

nation which keepeth the truth
Apart therefore from any influence which the
old religious b eliefs of B abylonia may have had
,
32 0
INFLU E NCE ON J EWISH RELI G IO N

upon the Greeks and which a s we S hall see was not
so wholly wanting a s was formerly imagined their
c ontact with the religious conceptions of the Jewish
exiles must to sa y the least have produced an effec t
which it is well worth our while to S tudy Hitherto
the traditional view ha s b een tha t this effec t exhibited
itsel f wholly on the antagonistic side ; the J ews
carried nothing away fro m the land o f their captivity
except an intense hatred of idolatry more especially
Babylonian as well as o f the beliefs and practices
associated therewith
Professor Ignatius Goldzih e r o f B udapest has
enlightene d us in a passage in his Mythology a mong
as to the great influence wielded by
t he He bre ws
B abylonian upon J ewish religion H e says :
The
receptive tendency of the Hebrew manifeste d itself
again prominently during the Ba bylonian Captivity
Here rst they gained an opportunity of forming for
themselve s a complete and harmonious conception
o f the world The infl uence of Canaanitish civiliza
tion could not then be particularly p owerful on the
Hebrews ; for that civilization the highest poin t
o f which was attained by the Ph oenicians wa s quite
dwarfe d by the mental activity exhibited in the
monuments of the B abylonian an d Assyrian E mpire
which we are now able to admire in all their grandeur
There the He brews found more to rece ive than
some few c ivil political and religious institutions
The extensive and manifold literature which they
foun d there could not but act on a receptive mind
for it is not to be imagine d
a s a powerful stimulus ;
that the nation then dragged into captivity live d
so long in the B abylonian Assyrian E mpire without
gaining any knowle dge of its inte llectual trea sures
Schr ader s latest publications on Assyrian poe try
,
1:
32 1
MYTH S O F BA B YLO NIA AND AS S Y RIA

have enabled u s to establish a striking Similarity
between both the course of ideas and the poetical
for m of a considerable portion of the O ld Testa ment
especially of the Psalms and those of this newly
discovered Assyrian poetry I t would be a great
mistake to account for this similarity by reference
t o a common Semitic origin in primeval times ; for
we can only resort to that in cases which do not go
b eyond the most primitive ele ments of intellectual
life and ideas of the world or designations of things
of the external world Conceptio ns o f a higher and
more complicated kind a s well a s aesthetic p oints
can c ertainly not be carried off into the mists of a
prehistoric age I t is much better t o keep to more real
an d tangible ground and to suppose those points
of contact between Hebrew and Assyrian p oetry
w hich are revealed by S chrader s Le norm a nt s an d
George S mith s publication s to form part of the
c ontribution s ma de by the highly civilize d B a bylo
nia ns and Assyria ns to the Hebrews in the course
of the important p eriod of the Captivity
We se e fro m this that the intelle ct o f Babylon
a nd Assyria exerted a more than passing in fluence on
that of the Hebrews not merely t ouching it b ut
entering deep into it and leaving its own impress
upon it The Assyrian poetry o f the kind j ust
mentione d stands in the same relation to that of the
Hebrews as does the plain narrative texts o f the
Hebrews and a s does the sacricial Ta blet of Ma r
s eilles to the Hebrews beginnings of a sacerdotal
constitution The B abylonian and Assyrian ini
u e nc e is of course muc h more extensive pregnant
and noteworthy
The Abbe L ois y in a F rench work Les myt hs
,
ha hylonie ns,
32 2
et
les p r em iers
c ha
i
t
res de la
p
Genese
MY TH S OF BAB YLONIA AND AS SY RIA

B aby lonian Influenc e up on t h e oth er S em it es
The in fl uence of the Babylonian religion upon othe r
Semitic cults is worthy of notice although its effect
upon the Jewish faith was more marked than on any
other Se mitic form of belief Ye t Still through con
ques t and other causes it undoubtedly exercised a
S trong in fluence up on the surrounding p eoples espe
thos
e
of
related
stock
We
must
regard
the
c ia ll
y
whole of Asia Minor or a t least its most civilized
portion as p eopled by races of diverse origin who yet
possess ed a general culture in co mmon Some of
thos e races if we b e p ermitted to e mploy rather
time worn ethnological labels were S emitic like
the Assyrians and Hebrews others were of the
U ral Altaic or Armenoid type like the Hittites
whilst S till others like the Philistines appear to
have been of Aryan ra ce resembling the Greeks
and Goths B ut all thes e di fferent races ha d e m
braced a common culture their architecture pottery
weapons crafts and laws see m to have come from
a common source and lastly their religious systems
were markedly alike
,
Th e Canaanit es
We nd a people called the Canaanites as the rst

historic dwellers in the countries now known a s Syria
and Palestine We do not know whether the na me
Canaan originated with the land or the race but the
na me Canaanites is now used a s a general designa
tion of the pre Israelite inhabitants o f Palestine
These people were probably neolithic in origin and
appeared to have been Semitic In any case they
spoke a language very much akin to Hebrew They
exercised a strong in fluence upon Egypt about
and thousands of them settled in that
1 400 B C
.
32 4
THE CA NAA NITE S

country a s slaves or o fficials They invaded Baby
lonia a t an early date under the na me o f Amorites
and many of the personal names of B abylonian kings
during the Ha mmurabi dynasty seem to b e Amorite
in origin F rom the Egyp tian records it s eems
pretty clea r tha t a s early as 2 500 B C they ha d in
vaded Palestine had exterminated the inhab itants
and tha t this invasion synchronized with tha t of
Babylonia
Their religion see ms to have be en
markedly S e mitic in typ e but of the earlier variety
that is animis m was j ust beginning to e merge into
polytheism The gods were not call ed by their
p ersonal na mes bu t rather by their attributes The
general na me for god wa s al which was used als o
b y the Hebrews and which we nd in such na me s
a s J ezebel Elkanah and perhap s in the modern
B u t this word w a s no t e mployed by
Ar abic Allah
the Canaanites in a monotheistic s ense it was generic
and denoted the particular divinity who dwelt in a
c ertain place I t w a s indeed the word god
a
god any god but not t he God
B ut such a god
having a sanctuary or presiding over a c ommunity
was known a s
This might apply to any
supernatural being fro m fetish to full fle dg e d deity
and only meant that the S pirit o r divinity had estab
lish e d a relation with a particular holy place
We also nd a mongst the Canaanitish deities
Shamash the sun god SO widely worshippe d in
Ba bylonia Sin the moon god Hadad or Rimmon
and Ur u god of light whose na me is found in U ru
Salim or Jerusalem Dagon too is held b y so me
authorities to have been purely an Amorite divinity
The worship of animals was also general and bulls
horses and s erpents were represented a s deities
There were also an immense number o f nameless
.
,
.
33 5

gods or S pirits presiding over all sorts of physical ob
j ee rs and thes e were known as ha a lirn They were
the resultants of animistic ideas The early inh abi
tants of Canaan were also ancestor worshippers like
many o ther primitive people and they seem to have
S hown a marke d preference for the cult o f the dead
B u t many o f their depart mental deities were
either identical with or strongly rese mble d the gods
o f the B abylonians Ash t a r t was of cours e Ishtar
In the mounds o f Palestine large n umb ers o f t e rfi
cotta pla ques b earing her e f gy are foun d She
is often dep icte d on these with a tall hea d dress
necklace anklets and girdle quite in the B a bylo
n ian S tyle B u t other representa tions of her reveal
E gyptian Cypriote and Hittite influences an d this
goes to S how that in all probability the great mother
goddess o f B a bylon an d Asia Minor wa s compounded
o f various early types fused into one To con ne
ourselves to those deities who are more closely
c onne cted with the B abylonian religion we nd
the na me o f Ninib translated by the Canaanites a s
Mashti an d it has been thought that Ninib wa s
Eu
a go d o f the W est who ha d migrated to Babylonia
The na me of Nebo the B abylonian patron o f B orsip p a
who also acte d a s scribe to the gods appears in tha t
o f the town of Nebo in Moab in Judea and that
Canaanites were conversant with the na me o f Ne r
gal the war god is proved by a sealed cylinder o f
Canaanitish workmanship which b ears the inscription
Resheph
At a na h e li son o f Ha bsi servant of Nergal
also ap p ears to have been known to the Canaanites
'
'
Th e G ods of t h e Ph oenic ians

The Ph oe nicians who were
the lineal descendant s

of the Canaanites adopted many o f the deities o f
32 6
THE G ODS OF THE PHCENICIANS

B abylonia L ike the early deities o f tha t great
empire the Phoenician gods were associated either
with the earth the waters or the air Some of
these in later times held sway over more than one
element Thus the god Me lk a r t h o f Tyre ha d both
a celestial an d a marine a spect and B aal an d Ash t a rt
assume d celestial attributes in addition to their
earthly one The Ph oenicians described their gods
in general a s a lonim much as the Israelites in early
times must have described theirs for we nd in the
rst chapters of Genesis the word elohirn e mployed
B oth then went back to the S ingular fo r m e l the
common Se mitic name for god adding to it the
Semitic plural ending im The god o f a locality
or S hrine was kno w n as its ha a l and as in early
times this did no t apply to any particular deity
Although the ir go ds all ha d na mes ye t S till they
were merely the ha a lir n o f Tyre the chie f o f who m
was Me lk a r t h whose name signies merely king
or patron o f the city Perhap s on e o f their mos t
venerated gods was B a al Hamman who was also
worshipped in Carthage a Ph oenician colony O n e
o f the most strongly marke d characteristics of the
Ph ce nic ia n religion was the unvarying addition o f
a female to every male god Ash t a r t or Ishta r
wa s quite a s popular in modern Ph oenicia a s sh e
has been in ancient Canaan I t mus t be born e
in mind that Tyre and Sidon were closely in touch
with Assyria and that their ship s probably carrie d
Assyrian commerce fa r and wide throughout the
Mediterranean exchanging Syrian goo ds for Egyptian
Cyprian and Hellenic Ash t a r t or Ishtar had temples
a t Sidon and Askelon and Phoenician mariners
see m to have carried her worship a s far a s Cyprus
and even Sicily Indeed it wa s probably through
.
3 7
2
MYTH S
OF BAB YLO NIA AND
AS SY RIA
their agency that Sh e was introduced into the Greek
world but there were Greek colonies on the shores
o f Asia Minor a t an early date and these may have
transferred her c ult to the people o f their o wn race
in the Gree k motherland Another goddess Specially
honoured at Carthage was Ta nit h who was also
calle d the Countenance of Ba al
Esh m un the
god o f vital force and healing seems to have b een
w orshipped especially at Sidon b ut also a t Carthage
Melk art h the patron deity of Tyre the Greeks
e q uated with their H eracles ; Reshef the lightning
god wa s of Syrian origin and was identi ed by the
Greeks with Apollo The Ph oenicians were also
prone to fuse their gods one with another so that
we have such combinations a s Esh m un Melk a rt h
Me lk a r t h
Reshe f and SO forth
Ph oenician religion
w a s also S trongly in fl uenced by Egyptian ideas
and Plutarch ha s p ut it on record that when I sis
j ourneyed to B yblus S he wa s called Astarte Certain
Ph oenician settlers a t Pir mus the port of Athen s
worshipped the Assyrian god Nergal and many o f
their proper na mes are compounded o f the names
o f Babylon
deities The worship o f Moloch was
also popular in Ph oenicia where he was called Melk
King
and to him a s to the Moloch o f the other
S emitic peoples infants were o ffered up in sacri ce
The Phoenician s likewise adopted the custom o f
b urning the chief god o f the city in e f gy or in
the person of a human representative a t Tyre
and Carthage
( See remarks on Hamman pages
1 42
1 44 ; and on Sardanapalus page s 3 1
We know very little concerning Phoenician myth
We cannot credit wha t is written by Philo o f B yblus
concerni ng it a s he professed that he ha d used a s
his a uthority the writings o f one Sanch unia t h on an
,
32 8
MYTH S O F B AB YLO NIA AN D A S SY RIA
Carthage were Baal ammon or Moloch Tanit goddess

o f the heavens an d the moon Ash t a r t or I shtar and
The cult of
Esh m un the patron deity of the city
Ta mmuz Adonis wa s also greatly in vogue a s was
tha t o f the god Pa t e c h u s a repulsive monster who
may have been of Eyg p t ia n origin
The Tyrian
Me lk ar t h too was widely worshipped We also
encounter in inscriptions the na mes of deities con
c erning who m we know n othing such a s Rab ba t
U mma
the Great Mother
Illat Sakon an d
,
Tsa p h on
About
the b eginning o f the third century B C the

intima te relations b etween the Carthaginians and
the Greeks o f Sicily favoure d the intro duction o f
Hellenic ele ment into the Punic religion an d
a
there was reciprocal borrowing on the part o f the
Greeks In the foru m o f Carthage was a te mple
to Apollo containing a colossal statue which was
la ter remove d to Rome and on on e o ccasion the
Carthaginian worshipp ers o f Ap ollo a ctually s en t
o fferings t o Delphi We also nd the ir goddess
Tanit c o mpare d with the Greek De meter H er
symbol is a crescent moon and in her temple at
Carthage was preserve d a fa mous veil which was
regarde d a s the palladiu m or mascot of the city
its luck bringer Inscriptions to Tanit and B aal
a mmon a bound an d a s these are usually found in
conj unction it is only reasonable to suppos e tha t
these two deities are worshipped together Tanit
The Coun
w a s in fact fre quently allude d to as
whos e name we nd in those o f
t e na nc e of B aal
the Carthaginian heroes Hannibal and Hasdrubal
The Carthaginian B aal
a mmon is represented a s an
old man with ram s horns on his forehead and that
animal was fre quently portrayed along with him
.
33
THE CA RTHA GINIA N RELI GIO N

He also holds a scythe At Carthage children were
sa criced to him and their bodies were placed in the
arms of a colossal bronze statue which represented
him W hen they grew tired they slipped through
the embrace of the god into a furnace below a mid
the excited cries o f the fanatical worshippers E ven
Roman severity could no t put an end to these horrors
which persisted in secret until a rela tively late date
I t is s trange to think that a fter the fall of Carthage
the goddess Tanit beca me identie d with Dido by
the n ew Roman colonists of the c ity Virgil ha d
celebra ted her misfortunes and a public Dido cult
grew up the colonists even claiming to have dis
c overe d the very house from which Sh e ha d watche d
the departure o f fEne a s
I t is n ot unlikely that through the agency o f the
t
nic ia ns some fragments of the B abylonian religion
may have p enetrate d even to our own shores W e
know tha t they tra de d for tin with the ancient in
ha bitants o f Cornwall and the Scilly Isles and some
writers believe they have philology on their S ide
when they try to S how that several Cornish na me s
are of Ph oenician origin Fo r exa mple the na me
Mara zion appears to mean in S e mitic Hill by the
Sea and Polg a rt h sa y s ome owes its s econ d
syllable to the Phoenician word for c ity
B ut it
will not do to be dogmatic regarding these na mes
which may after all be explica ble fro m Cornish or
other sources
We see then that t h e Se mitic religion travelle d
over a considera bly wide a rea that beginning in
all probability in Arabia it S pread itself through
Mesopotamia northward a s far as L ake Van and
southward through the Sinaitic peninsula into Egyp t
and the north o f Africa I t is strange to observe
.
33 I
MYTHS OF B AB YLO NIA AND A S SY RIA

that the later Se mitic religion o f Moha mmed followed
almost precisely the same course and that its early
progress westward halted almost on the very s ite
o f ancient Carthage ; that when it over flowed into
Spain its disciples were acting precisely as Ca rt h a
ginian Hannibal had don e long before and that it
was b eaten back by E uropean e ffort in almost
exactly the same way
Robertson S mith in his valuable work The Religion
of t he Sem it es
mentions that in his view Semitic
religion does no t di ffer so funda mentally from the
other types of world religion a s many writers on the
subj ec t app ear to think B ut the longer one considers
it the greater do the barriers b etween Semitic an d
other religions appear an d the more clearly marked
their lines of demarcation The prolonged isolation
to which the S emitic peoples see m to have been
subj ecte d appears to have greatly a ffecte d their
manner o f religious thought They are in truth
a p eculiar people practical yet mystical strongly
of the world ye t nding their chief solace in those
things which are not of the world
The materials for a c omplete in q uiry into the
history o f Semitic religion are lacking and we mus t
perforce ll up the gaps which are many by compara
tive methods B ut in this we are greatly assisted b y
the nu merous manifestations o f Se mitic faith which
including as it does B abylonian Assyrian Canaanitish
Ph oenician Ar a bian and Moha mmedan cults pro
vides us with rich c omparative material
,
Z oroast er
The faith which immediately supplanted that o f
ancient Babylonia and Assyria could not fail to draw
c onsiderably fro m it This was the Z oroastrian
Th e Relig ion
of
332

fled to India where they are now represented by their
descendants the Parsis of B ombay
The religious belief taught by Z arathustra is based
on the dual conception o f a good principle Ahura
Mazda and an evil principle Anra Ma inyu and the
leading idea o f his teaching is the constan t c onflict
between the two which must continue until the en d
o f the period ordaine d by Ahura Mazda for the dura
tion o f the world when evil will be nally overcome
u ntil then the god s power is to so me degree limited
as e vil still withstands him Z arathustra s doctrine
was essentially pra ctical and ethical ; it was no t in
a bstrac t contemplation or in s eparation fro m the
world that man was to look for S piritual deliverance
b ut in active charity in deeds of usefulness in kind
ness to animals in everything that could help to make
the world a well ordered place to live in in courage

an d all uprightness To build a bridge or dig a canal
wa s to help to lessen the power of evil As Re inach
has c oncisely expressed it a life thoroughly o ccupied
wa s a p erpetual exorcis m
The two gure s o f Ahura Mazda an d Anra Mainyu
the on e with his atten dant archangels and angels
an d the other with his arch demons an d de mons or
Divs compose the Z arathustrian c elestial hierarchy
as represented in the earlier sa cred writings ; in the
later ones other gures ar e introduce d into the
pantheon The sacred writings that have b een pre
served are of different periods and outside the range
o f Z a rathustra s moral system of religion there are
traces in the m o f revivals o f an older primitive
nature worship an d of the b eliefs of an early nomadic
shepherd life as for instance the sacredness in
which cow and dog are held as well a s re min iscences
o f general Indo Germanic myths
,
334
THE RELI GIO N OF Z O ROA S TE R

Ahura Mazda wa s the creator of the universe fo r
the duration of which he xed a certain term I t
see ms un certain whether the Pers ians pictured the
world as roun d or fl at but according to their idea it
wa s divide d into seven zones of which the central
on e was the a ctual hab itable earth B etween thes e
zones an d enveloping the whole was the great a byss
o f waters B etween earth and heaven rose the
celestial mountain whence all the rivers up on earth had
their source and on which was deposited the Hao ma
The central feature o f Z oroastrian ritual w a s the
worship of re a n old established worship w hich
had existe d before Z oroaster s time In the oldest
an d holy rites could
e r io d images were forbidden
he perfor me d without te mples portable r ealtars
b eing in use Te mples were however b uilt in quite
early times and within these was the sanctuary
fro m which a ll light wa s excluded an d where the
sacre d re wa s kep t alight which could only b e
approache d by the priest with covered hands an d
mouth The Persians carrie d the fear of de le m e nt
to an extreme and ha d even more elaborate reg u
la t ions than most Ea st e r ns concerning methods of
purica tion and avoidance o f de le m e nt both a s
regards personal conta mination or tha t o f the sacred
ele ments of earth re an d water E ven hair and
nails could not be cut without special directions
a s t o how to deal with the separate d portions B ut
this perpetual and exhausting state of caution and
protective e ffort against contact with de ling obj ect s
and rigorous syste m of purication ha d an ultima te
concern with the great struggle going on between
good an d evil Death and everything that partook
of death or ha d any power of inj ury were works
o f the a rch ene my
.
3 35
MYTHS OF BAB YLONIA AND AS SY RIA

I t w as owing t o the fear o f conta minating t h e
thre e ele ments named a bove that the Persian s
neither buried nor cremated their dead and looked
upon it a s a criminal a ct t o throw a corpse in to the
water
Th e old mode o f disp osing of the dead
wa s sim ilar to that now practised by the Parsis
of B o mbay who carry the b ody t o one o f the Towers
o f Silence S o the Persians expose d the corps e
till on e or other devouring agent birds of p rey o r
the elements ha d reduce d it to a Skeleton AS
regards man himself he wa s thought to b e a reason
able b eing of fre e will with c onscience soul and
a guardian Spirit or prototyp e o f himself who dwelt
l
a bove ca led a F rava shi his own character in
deed put into a S piritual body almost identical
with the a mei rna lghen or S piritual n ymphs o f the
H e ha d the choice
Araucanian Indians o f Chile
o f good and evil and c onse quently suffered the
due p unishmen t of sin F or the rs t thre e days
a fter death the s oul of the dea d was supposed to
hover a b out its earthly a bode
During this time friends and relatives perfor med
their funerary rites their prayers an d offerings be
c oming more earnest and a bundant a s the hour
drew nigh when the soul wa s bound t o start on its
j ourney t o the b eyond This wa s a t the beginning
o f the fourth day when Sra osh a carried it aloft
assaile d on the way by de mons desirous o f o btain
ing possession of his burden O n earth everyth ing
wa s being done to keep the evil S pirits in check res
lighted a s particularly effective against the powers
of darkness And thus assisted Sra osh a arrived
safely with his charge a t the bridge that
a nne d
s
the S pace between earth an d heaven
Ip
ere at
the entrance to the accountant s bridge the soul s
,
6
33

o f these countries was not by any means so exalted
a s our own although the religious outlook was not
a low one To begin with the character of B aby
lonian myth w a s a great deal p urer than that of
Hellenic or Scandinavian myth The gods of B aby
lonia appear to b e more dignied than those o f the
Greeks or Norsemen for exa mple They do not
descend to the same puerilities and their record is
i mmeasurably cleaner This may have something
to do with the very g reat body of ritual connected
with the Babylonian religion for when a p eople is
so he dged in by religious custom as were the ancient
Chaldeans so threatened on every side by taboo
the mere thought of wrongdoing an d the conse q uence
thereof is sufcient to deter them fro m a cting o ther
wise than reasonably In course of time sin becomes
so ugly and repulsive in the light of punishment
that the moral code receives a tre mendous impulse
There is no doub t that the B abylonians devoutly
believe d that their gods demanded rigid a dherenc e
to the moral code I t was generall y thought that
misfortune and ill ness were the conse q uen ces o f
moral transgression B ut the Babylonians did not
believe that the cardinal sins alone were he ino us fo r
they included in t ransgression such misde meanours
a s maliciousness fraud unworthy a mbitions and
inj urious teach i ng
,
338
X IV : MO DE R N E X C AV A.
T I O N IN B AB YLO NI A AND ASSYR I A
C H APT E R
N no lan d has excavation assiste d history
so
grea tly a s in Mesopota mia In Egypt although

spade work ha s widened o ur knowledge of life
and religion in the Nile country most of what
we know of thes e subj ects h a s been gleaned fro m
te mples an d pyra mids rock to mbs and mastabas
for the proper examination o f which little or no
digging was necessary and generally spea king it may
b e said that excavation in Egypt has fur nishe d u s
with a greater insight into the earlier periods of
E gyptian progress it s prehistoric life
B u t in
the B abylonian Assyrian region practically every
discovery has been due to strenuous labour with
pick and S pade ; our knowledge of Chaldea in its
hey day has litera lly been dug up piec e by piece
The honour o f beginning the grea t task of u n
earthing the buried ci t ies of Mesopotamia belongs
to M B otta who was French consul a t Mosul in
Moved by the belief that many o f the grea t
1 842
sand covere d mounds which are so conspicuous a
feature of the Mesopota mian landscap e probably
concealed ruins of a vanished c ivilization B otta
c o mmenced to excavate the large mound of
Kou y u nj ik which is situated close to the village
where he resided B u t he found little to reward
his la bours and he does not see m t o have gone a bout
the business of excavation in a very workmanlike
manner His attention was called by an intelligen t
native to the mounds of Kh or sa ba d the S ite of
ancient Nineveh and he dispatched a party of
workmen to the S pot Soon his perseve rance was
rewarded by the discovery of so me sculptures and
.
3 39
MYTH S OF B AB YLO NIA AND ASS Y RIA

recognizing the superior importance of Kh orsa ba d
for arch ae ological purposes he trans ferred his estab
lish m e nt to that village an d res olved to devote him
self to a thorough investigation of the S ite
Soon a well planned S inking operation ca me upon
one of the palace walls and subse quent digging was
rewarded by the discovery of many cha mbers and
halls faced with slabs of gypsu m c overed with m y t h o
logical gures battle scenes processions and similar
subj ects He had in fact unearthed a palace b uilt
a t Nineveh by Sargon King of Assyria who reigne d
C
one
o
f
the
nest
exa
mples
o
f
ssyrian
0
B
2
2
A
7 5
7
palatial architecture H e c ontinued his excavations
a t Kh orsa ba d until 1 845 and wa s successful in
bringing to light a te mple and a grand porch deco
rated by three pairs of wings under which pa ssed
the roa d fro m the c ity to the palace Many of the
fruits of h is labours were re moved to Paris and
deposited in the L ouvre H is successor Victor
Place continued B otta s work a t Kh orsa ba d and
discovered a c ity gate guarded by winged bulls
the bac ks of which supporte d the arch of the
entrance
,
H enry L ay ard
Meanwhile Mr a fterward Sir H enry L ayard ha d
visited the country in 1 840 and was g r e a t ly im p re sse d
by B otta s work and its results Five years later
through the assistance of Sir Stratford Canning he
was enabled himself to co mmence excavations a t
Nim r d He soon unearthed the remains of extensive
buildings in fact he discovered two Assyrian palaces
on the very rst day of his excavations ! At the
outset he had only eleven men in his e mploy and
b eing anxious to push on the work in fear tha t the
Sir
34
MYTHS
OF B A B YLO NIA AND
AS SY RIA
local Turkish governor or the approach of the winter
season would put an end to his operations he
increased his sta ff to thirty men The peasants
laboure d enthusiastically but to the excavator s
disgust the Turkish authorities forbade him to pro
L ayard nevertheless hoodwinked the a u t h ori
ceed
ties and succeeded in uncovering several large
gures of winged bulls and lions
Soon a fter this L ayard S pent Christ mas with
Sir Henry Rawlinson of the B ritish Museu m with
who m he ce mented a warm friendship and to
gether they were able to overcome the unfrie ndli
ness of the Turkish of cials H or m u zd Ra ssa m
a n intelligent native Chris t ian ca me to Laya r d s
a ssistance an d operations were onc e more co m
m e nc e d a t Nim r d
Ra ssa m s labours were quickly
crowne d by success for h e ca me upon a large hall
in a ne s tate o f preservation The serious work
o f excava tion was not without its hu morous S ide
for if they chance d t o unearth a carven monster
with the body of a b ull and the hea d of a bearde d
man the native labourers threw down their tools
and ran
The Turkish Governor too hearing fro m
a native source that Nimrod ha d been found sent
a message to the e ffect that his remains should be
treated with respect and b e no further disturbed

L ayard ha d now unearthed many valuable s culp
tu res and he resolve d to attemp t their dispatch
to E ngland Rawlins on sent a S mall stea mer the
N it oer is to Nim r d but it was found impossible to
S hip the massi v e pieces on this frail craft and even
the smaller sculpture s had perforce to b e fl oated
down the Tigris on rafts L aya r d s health was by
this time in no very robust s tate but a two months
m ountain holiday in Kurdistan refreshed him and
,
Th e
B l ck O b el i sk of
l lzo/ o It
'
.
ll rm sd l
Sh
a
l m n e ser
nd t o
II

also ca me upon the oldest Assyrian arch ever dis
covered
He had now collected a large nu mber of important
sculptures and of these he succeeded in s ending
three by ra ft t o B asra whenc e they were later shipped
to England
B y the mid dle of Ma y 1 847 he had
nishe d his work at Nim r d and had co mmenced
h is search for the ruins of Nineveh in the mound of
Ko uyunj ik near Mosul where B otta ha d laboured
before him He dug for the platfor m o f sun dried
bricks which he knew by exp erien ce formed the
foundation of all large Assyrian edices and ca me
upon it as he ha d expected at a depth of twenty
feet shortly afterward discovering the entrance
flanked by the inevitable winged bulls B ut the
building itself had been so da maged by re a s to
present little more than crumbling heaps of lime
L ayard returned to England in Jun e 1 847 and
was appointed attach to the E mbassy at Constan
Meanwhil e h is published works had create d
t inop le
an extraordinary impression throughou t E urope and
the pressure of public opinion so wrought up on the
Govern ment that he was re quested to lead a second
expe dition to Nineveh
.
Wh er e Raw l ins on Sl ep t
B etter e quipped L ayard left Constantinople in
August 1 849 and arrived at Kouyunj ik in O ctober
Employing a bout a hundred men he set strenuously
to work removing only as much earth a s w a s
n ecessary to show the sculptured walls Having
fairly s tarte d the work at Ko uyunj ik L ayard
accompanied by Ra ssa m returned to Nim r d and
recommenced work there O ne morning he w as
inspecting the trenches when he found Rawlinson
,
344
WHE RE RAWLINSON SLE PT

asleep on the floor of an excavated cha mber wrapped
wearied out b y a long and
in h is travelling cloak
harassing night s ride

He was on his way home to
England which he had not seen for twenty two years
The rich nds in the painted palace o f Sennacherib
at Kouyunj ik consisted chiefly of mural painti ngs
1
and bas reliefs O f thes e Professor Hilp r e c h t says :
Hundreds of gures cover the face o f the slabs fro m
top to bottom We become ac quainted with the
peculiarities in type and dress of foreign nations
and the characteristic features and products of their
lands ; we are introduced into the very life and
occupations of the persons represented The S culptor
S hows u s t h e B abylonian swamps with their j ungles
of tall reeds fre quente d by wild boars and barbarous
tribes skimming over the waters in their light boats
o f wicker work exactly such as are use d to day by
the inhabitants of the same marshes ; or he takes
us into the high mountains of Kurdistan covered
with trees and crowne d with castles endeavouring
even to convey the idea o f a va ll ey by reversing
the tree s and mountains on one S ide o f the strea m
which is lle d with she s and crabs and turtles
H e indicates the different head gear worn by female
musicians or by captive wo men carried with their
husbands and children to Nineveh Some wear their
hair in long ringlets some plaited or braided some
conned in a ne t others are characterized by hoods
tting close to their heads others by a kind of
turban ; Ela mite ladies with their hair in curls
falling on their shoulders bound above the temples
by a band or ll et while those fro m Syria wear
a high conical head dress S imilar to that which is
fre q uently found to day in those regions

Exp l r t ions in B ble L nd
nd T C l r k
,
o a
345
MYTH S OF B A B YLONIA AND A SS Y RIA

The excavation of Sennacherib s palace with its
seventy rooms ha lls and ga lleries was indeed one
of the most striking results of Laya r d s secon d
expe dition to Nineveh B ut even more remarkable
was the nd of Assur bani pal s famous royal library
at Nineveh which h a s already been described
Results at Nim r d too had been favourable per
haps the most interesting being the discovery of
the tower of Calah regarded at rs t as the tomb o f
Sardanapalus
No w for the second time L ayard
began to feel the e ffects of overwork and exposure
an d in April 1 8 5 1 accompanied by Ra ssa m he
turned fro m the ruins of Nineveh with a heavy
heart
Twenty four years l ater he was to become
Ambassador a t Constantinople in which capacity
he loyally assiste d the zealous Rassa m h is worthy
subordinate
In 1 8 5 1 Rawlinson was entrusted by the British
Govern ment with the excavations in Assyria and
B abylonia
He had the invaluable assistanc e o f
Ra ssa m as chief practical excavator
Stationing
his workmen at a s many sites a s possible he un
earthed the annals o f Tigla t h p ile se r I at Qal at
Sh e r q at discovered E zide the temple of Nebo a t
Nim r d and a
S tele of Samsi Adad IV ( 8 2 5
81 2
At Kouyu nj ik he ca me upon the palace
of Assur bani pal A beautiful ba S relief wa s r e
covered representing Assur bani pal in his chariot
on a hunting expedition The lion room the
walls o f which repres ented a lion hunt was also
unearthed and w a s S hown to have been used both
a s a library and a p icture gall ery
many thousands
of clay book tablets being found therein
Abandoning excavation for a political appoin tment
Mr Ra ssa m was followed by Willi am Kennet L oftus
346
G EO RG E SMITH
did good work a t the ruins o f Wark a in B a bylo

nia Meanwhile the French expedition under F resnel
Op p e r t and Tho mes was excavating at B abylon
coming upon the re mains o f the Nebuchadrezzar
p eriod and excava ting the mound of B abil
who
.
G e org e S m it h
O ne who wa s to perfor m yeoman S ervice for
Assyri o logy
now entered the eld This was George

S mith whose na me is so unalterably associated with
the romantic side of that science he love d so well
W riting o f himself he says :
E veryone has so me
b ent or inclination which if fostered by favourable
c ircu mstances wi ll colour the res t of his life My
own taste has always been for O riental S tudies and
fro m my youth I have taken a grea t interest in
E as tern explorations and discoveries partic ularly
in the grea t work in which L ayard and Rawlinson
were engaged For some years I did little or nothing
but in 1 8 66 seeing the unsatisfactory state of our
knowle dge of those parts o f Assyrian history which
bore upon the history o f the B ible I felt anxious
to do so mething towards settling the questions
1
involved
S mith found the Deluge tablets a mong
the s core s of fragments sent to the B ritish Muse u m
by L ayard and L oftus and this and other discoveries
whetted h is desire to go to Mesopota mia and unearth
its treasures with his own hands In conse quenc e
o f the wide interest taken a t the time in these dis
c o v e r ie s
the proprietors o f The Da ily Telegr ap h
ca me forward with the o ffer o f a thousand guineas
for fresh researches a t Nineveh with the provis o
that S mith should head the expedition and s upply
the j ournal with accounts of his discoveries The
l A
r
i
D
n
i
ies p 9 ( Lo ndo n
y
.
ss
r a
scove
347
MYTHS O F BA B YLO NI A AND ASSYRIA

offer was accepted and S mith now a me mber o f
the s taff o f the B ritish Museu m received leave of
a bsence for six months
Arrived at Nim r d Smith settled down to excava
tion there commencing operations a t the te mp le
o f Ne bo ; but he found little to j ustify his labour
a s the structure w a s in a ruinous condition and had
la tterly be en used a s a granary O n each S ide of
the entrance stood a colossal gure of the god with
crossed arms in an attitude of meditation an d lesser
images of him were foun d inside the ruined building
S mith s reason for digging here wa s that he suspected
the presence of inscriptions which might cast light
u pon the reign of Tigla t h p ile se r I I ( 745 B C ) an d
therefore upon B ible history His industry wa s
rewarded by the discovery of the upper p ortion of
a tablet of this monarch but further nds of
importance were not forthcoming
.
f Nim r d
Th e Palac e
S mith then institute d syste matic excavations in

the south east palace and made some interesting
discoveries O n exa mining this part o f the mound
he sa w a considerable tunnel in the south fac e
co mmencing on the S loping part of the mound
This tunnel appeared to go along the middl e of a
cha mb er the fl oor having been cut through and
appearing in a lin e on each S ide o f the tunnel
F urther on the tunnel reache d the wall at the end
o f the cha mber and the face of this ha d been cleared
for some little distance ; then descending below
the foundation of t h is wall the passage ran for s ome
distanc e into the base of the mound He co m
m e nc e d on the two sides of this cutting and cleared
away to the level of the p avement soon coming to
-
,
.
348
TH E PALA CE OF NI MROD
the wall on each side The Southern wall o f the

cha mber had fallen over into the plain as it was
here close to the edge of the platform and the cha mber
c ommenced with two parallel walls running north
and south The right hand wall in a place near
the edge where it was much broken down showed
thre e steps of an a scent which had gone apparently
to some upper cha mbers
F urther on it S howe d
two recesses each ornamented on both S ides with
thre e s quare pilasters The left hand S howe d an
entrance into a second chamber running east to
west and fro m this turned a third running parallel
with the rst Altogether in this place he opened
six chambers all o f the same character the entrances
orna mented by clusters of s quare pilasters and
recesses in the rooms in the sa me style The wa lls
were coloured in horizontal bands of red green and
yell ow on plaster and where the lower parts of the
cha mbers were panelled with s mall ston e S labs the
plaster and colours were continued over these In
one of these rooms there appeared a brick receptacle
let into the fl oor and on lifting the brick which
covered this S mith found six terra cott a winged
gures closely packed in the receptacle Each gure
wa s full faced having a head like a lion four wi ngs
with one hand across the breast holding a baske t
in the other and clothed in a long dress to the feet
These gures were probably intended to preserve
the building against the power o f evil S pirits
All the eastern and s outhern portions of the mound
of Nim r d had been destroye d by being turned into
a burial place The ruins had been excavated a fter
the fall o f the Assyrian e mpire wall s had been dug
through and chambers broken into and the openings
lled with cof ns
.
349

Mr S mith then turned his attention to the ruins
of Nineveh at Kouyunj ik and Nebbi Yunas L ayard
an d even the Turkish Govern ment had both been
before him here He co mmenced operations by
cutting trenches at the south eastern corner of Assur
bani
pal s palace B ut a t rst nothing of great
interest resulted and he diverted O perations to the
palace of Sennacherib hard by Here he came upon
a n u mber of inscriptions W hich co mp ensated him
for his labour At length the excavations in Assur
bani pal s palace bore fruit for there were unearthe d
the greater portion of seventeen lines of ins cription
belonging to the rst column of the Deluge narrative
and tting into the only place where there was a
s erious blank in the S tory
The palac e o f Sennacherib also steadily produced
it s tribute of obj ects including a s mall tablet of
E sar haddon King o f Assyria some new fragments
of on e o f the historical cylinders of Assur bani pal
and a curious fragment of the history o f Sargon
King of Assyria relating to his expedition against
Ashdod which is mentione d in the twentieth chapter
of the B ook of Isaiah O n the same fragment was
also part of the list of Median chiefs who paid tribute
to Sargon
The proprietors o f The Da ily Telegra p h considered
that with the nding of the Deluge fragment the
purpose of the expedition had been served and tha t
further excavation in Mesopotamia S hould b e carried
on un der national auspices
Mr S mith was there
fore forced to return to England but not before
he had discovered further a valuable syllabary an d
two portions o f the sixth tablet o f the Deluge story
as well as other minor obj ects of interest
About the end of 1 8 73 however the British
.
,
,
35
MYTH S OF BAB YLO NIA AND AS S Y RIA

to t h e belief that the rest of the tablets must b e in
the palace of S ennacherib O n excavating he found
nearly three thousand fragments of tablets in the
cha mbers round Laya rd s library cha mber an d
fro m the position of these fragments he was led to
the Opinion that the library was not originall y
S it uated in thes e cha mbers but in an upper story
o f the palace an d that on the collaps e of the building
they fell into the cha mbers below Some of the
cha mbers in which he found inscribed tablets had
n o communication with ea ch other while fragments
o f the same tablets were in the m ; and looking a t
this fa ct and the positions and distribution o f the
fragments he was convinced that the tablets were
s cattere d over a wide area and resolved to excavate
over an extensive section of the palace
In the long gallery which contained Scenes
representing the moving o f winged gures

says
S mith
I found a great nu mber of ta blets mostly
along the oor ; they include d syllabaries bilingual
lists mythological and historical tablets Among
these tablets I discover ed a beautiful bronze Assyrian
fork having two prongs j oine d by orna ment al
shoulder to shaft of S piral work the sha ft ending in
the head of an ass This is a beautiful and uni q ue
S pecimen of Assyrian work and S hows the advances
the people had made in the rene ments of life
South of this there were numerous tablets roun d
La ya rd s old library cha mber and here I found part
of a curious astrolabe and fragments of the history
o f Sargon King o f Assyria 72 2 B C In one place
below the level of the fl oor I discovered a ne
fragment o f the history o f Assurb anipal containing
n ew and curious matter relating to h is Egyptian
wars and to the a ffairs of Gyges King o f L ydia
.
35 2
THE PALA CE O F NI MRUD

F ro m this part of the palace I gained also the
S houlder of a colossal statue with an inscription of
Assurbanipal
In another spo t I obtained a bon e
spoon and a fragment of the tablet with the history
of the seven evil S pirits Near this I discovered a
bronze style with which I believe the c uneifor m
tablets were impressed In another part of the
excavation I found part of a monu ment with the
representation o f a fortication In the western
part of the palace near the edge of the mound I
excavated and found remains of crystal and alabas
te r vases and specimens of the royal seal Two
of these are very curious ; one is a paste seal the
earliest example of it s kind and the other is a clay
impression of the seal o f Sargon King o f Assyria
Near where the principal seals were discovered I
found part of a s culpture with a good gure o f a
dead buffalo in a strea m Among these S culpture s
and in scriptions were nu merous s mall obj e cts in
1
c luding beads rings S tone seals etc
B y January 1 1 8 74 Smith had no less than Six
hundred men employed B ut he had to encounter
tre mendous local di fficulties especially de mands
that he S hould pay immense sums to the proprietors
o f t h e land which he excavated Soon afterward
the season bei ng unpropitious he returned to
England A third visit to Mesopota mia proved
his las t as he beca me ill and passed away at Alepp o
in 1 8 76 to the universal regret not only of thos e
who were privileged to have his frien dship but to
all who had perused his works and were aware o f
his s trenuous life and s tudies Fro m the position
o f a bank note engraver he had raised himself to
that of an esteemed scholar and his kindness of
r p 1 48 ( Lo ndo n
A yr i n D
,
ss
i s c ov e i es,
35 3
MYTH S OF B AB YL O NI A AND A S SY RIA

heart and honesty o f purpose n o less than his out
standing abilities make him one of the most graciou s
gures in the history of a science to which m any men
of high endeavour have devoted the ir live s
,
H orm uzd Rassam

Th e la mented
dea th of S mith caused the British

authorities to re q uest Mr Horm uzd Ra ssa m who
ha d retired into private life in England to take up
the vacant pos t Mr Ra ssa m at once accepted the
trus t and started for Constantinople in November
At rst there was serious trouble with the
1 8 76
Turkish Govern ment b ut in January 1 8 78 Ra ssam
was enabled to commence excava tions which he
carrie d on almost continuously for ve years
L ayard as ambassador a t Constantinople s tood
him in good S tead He took much a dvantage o f
native talent which if not up t o the standard of
E uropean ef ciency he found in n o wise despicable
B ut too many excavations were being carrie d on a t
one an d the same time Again Rassa m was pron e
t o atte mp t sensational n ds rather than to keep
steadily at the more solid and less showy work of
excavation Guide d by certain indications of the
presenc e o f obj ects o f the Shalmaneser perio d a t
Kouyu nj ik he dug there once more and succ eede d
in unearthing the bronze pla ques which had covered
the cedar gates of a large Assyrian building at leas t
They
2 500 years old and built by Shalmaneser I I
represented warriors and e questrian gures and it
was found that the S ite on which they were dis
covered had been the city of Imgur B el Ra ssa m
also recovered further clay tablets from the library
of Assur bani pal at Kouyunj ik With his return to
E ngland in 1 8 8 2 it may be said th a t the Assyrian
,
354
DE SARZ EC
excavations o f the nineteenth century in contra

distinction to thos e carried out on B a bylonian soil
came to an end
,
De Sarzec
With the excavations of the F renchman de Sarze c

a t TellO the second great period o f Chaldean a r c h mo
logical research may be said to have c ommenced
E rnest de Sa rze c was F rench Vice consul at B asra
but by his private e fforts he succeeded in making
Te llO the Pompeii o f early Babylonian antiquity
The two principal mounds excavate d by him are
known to Assyriologists as Mound A and Mound
B
Digging in the for mer he soon collecte d suf cien t
evidence to convince him tha t he stood on a sit e
o f grea t antiquity He found indee d tha t Moun d A
consisted o f a platfor m of unbaked bricks crowne d
by an edice o f considera ble size an d extent He
unearthed part o f a great statue on the shoulder of
which was engraved the na me o f Gudea ( 2 700
patesi or ruler of L agash with which city Mound A
prove d t o be identical and later expose d nu merous
large columns o f bricks of the time of Gudea the
stele of vultures erected by King E anna t um and

two large terra cotta cylin ders of Gudea each ln
scribed with about 2 000 lines of early cuneiform
writing
O n a later visit at the en d o f 1 88 0 and beginning
o f 1 8 8 1 he further developed excavation in Mound A
and discovere d nine large dolerite s tatues fragments
o f precious h a s reliefs and numerous inscriptions
He also came upon layers of more ancien t re
main s beneath the building he had unearthed in
Mound A
The collection o f early B abylonian sculptures r e
.
35 5
MYTH S O F B AB YLO NIA AND AS SY RIA

gained by de Sa rze c was hailed with accla mation
in Paris An O riental section was instituted in the
L ouvre and L on Heuzy commenced the publica
tion of a monu mental work De eouvertes en Cha lde e
ar Ernest de Sarze c ( Paris
8
which
laid
1
8
p
4
the foundation for a methodical treatment of ancien t
Chaldean art
The subse quent excavation o f de
Sa rzec in Te llO and its neighbourhood carried the
history of the city back to at least 4000 B C and
a collection of more than
ta blets of the time
o f Gudea was gradually unearthed
German expedition under Dr
1 8 87 a
In 1 886
Koldewey explored the ce metery of E l H ibba to the
South o f Te ll O and succeeded in throwing much
light upon the b urial customs of ancient Babylonia
A second Ger man expedition under Dr Andrae
working at Babylon in 1 8 89 laid bare the palac e
of Nebuchadrezzar and the great processional road
and subse quently conducted excavations at Q al a t
Sh e r qa t the S ite of Asshur
.
Am er ic an Ex p edit ion of 188 9

There had been keen interest in Babylonian
arch ae ology in America almost fro m the inception
of the series of excavations dealt with in this s ketch
and this w a s in all likelihood due to the pop ularity
of B iblical studies in the grea t republic of the Wes t
The Babylonian Exploration F und wa s instituted
on Nove mber 30 1 8 8 7 Excavatory labours were
commenced at Nippur in 1 8 8 9 and on rst beholding
the immense mass of the mounds which conceale d
the ruins of the te mple city the members o f the
expedition were not a little disturbed

Even a t
a distance I began to realize that not twenty not
fty years would su ffice to excavate this important
Th e
6
5
3
MYTH S O F B A B YLO NIA AND A S SY RIA

buildings hidden fro m their V iew The dire ctor
Dr Peters was rapi dl y exhausting his fund of
without coming upon anything of value
and recognizing the ne cessity for the promp t dis
c ov e r
of
important
obj
ects
if
opinion
at
ho
me
was
y
t o be placated Hilp r e c h t p ointed out to him the
desirability of atta c king an isolate d mound which
in his j udgment containe d the residences of the
priests and the temple library Peters agreed to
the proposal and almost a t once an important s erie s
of ta blets w a s discovered The moun d see med in
deed inexhaustible and most of its contents were
o f a date about 2 000 B C but there were also later
tablets belonging to the reign of Na bop ola sse r
Nebuchadrezzar Nabonidus and even Cyrus Ca m
by se s and Darius
Shortly after this the rst expedi
tion was brought to a close
In the S econd expedition also undertaken at
Nippur Dr Peters decided to dispense with the
services of Messrs Hilp r e c h t and F ield the expert
Assyriologists who had been dispatche d to advis e
him professionally Himself not an Assyriologist
he laboure d at a disadvantage without the assistanc e
o f these experts The work of the rst expedition
had concentrate d a t three conspicuous points the
te mple the table t hill which ha d yielded such
good results and the Court of Columns
The
principal obj ective w a s now the conical hill of B int
e l Amir
containing the zikkurat and temple of B el
Peters regarded t h e temple as having been built
by a king not far re moved fro m Nebu chadrezzar
in time but many of his inferences have been tra
vers ed by H ilp re c h t
In h is endeavour to reach
the older re mains before the more recent strata ha d
been investigated in the leas t ade q uately Peter s
.
35 8
THE BU SINE S S Q U A RTE R OF NIPPU R

broke through the outer casing of the zikkurat
built of i mmense blocks of a dobe in a cavity o f
which he discovered a well preserve d goos e egg an d
perceived that there w a s an older stage tower of
quite a di fferent form and much s maller dimensions
enclosed within the other B y means of a diagonal
trench cut through its centre he ascertained its
height an d characteristic features down to the level
o f Ur Gur an d ca me to the conclusion (which how
ever did not prove correct ) tha t the zikkurat of
this ancient monarch was the earliest erecte d a t
Nippur
W ells and similar shafts were sun k at
other points of the te mple especially at the northern
and western corners where he reached original
r
b
l
6
8
constructions of Ash u a na p a ( 6 62 6 B C ) and
Gur (about 2 700
and discovered scattere d
Ur
bricks
S howing that many kings of many
1
age s ha d honoured the te mple of Bel a t Nippur
,
Q uar t er Of N ip p ur
The excavators soon conclude d that they had hit
upon the business quarter of Nippur basing their
belie f upon the commercial character o f the tablets
found the large nu mber of day labels pierce d for
attachment to sacks and j ars books of entry in clay
and weights and measures So much da mage had
been done t o the buildings while excavating how
ev er that the appearanc e and plan o f any o f the
B abylonian business houses and warehouse s c ould
not be arrived at
In August 1 893 Haynes co mmenced a s earch for
the original bed and e mbankment o f the river
Chebar which he ca me upon a t a depth of twenty
h t E pl r t i n in B bl L nd p 2 32 ( T
Hilp
nd T C l r k
Th e B usiness
re c
o a
s,
3 59
MYTH S OF B AB YLO NIA AND A S S Y RIA

feet fro m the surface In the dried up bed of the
river or canal he found a round terra cotta fountain
in three fragments decorated with birds fro m whos e
m ont h s the water passed
-
Th e Four t h Cam p aig n
The fourth ca mpaign covered the years

1 900
and was under the direct control of the U niversity
o f Pennsylvania E xcavations were c ommence d at
the extreme south eastern end of the west ridge
Spring and su mmer were spent by Haynes in a
nervous search for ta blets although a strictly
Scientic examination of Nippur
had been asked
for L ate tablets and c o f ns resulte d fro m this
search ; nds of old Babylonian character were
meagre The director did not se e eye to eye with
his architects and one of t he m Mr F isher resigned
returning however in the autumn of 1 899 The
Committee in America re quested Haynes to con ne
his e fforts to the exploration of the eastern half of
the temple court and to this task he addressed
himself with zeal if only with partial success
Ta blets according to the directo r suf cient to
institute a distinct library by itself continue d to

p our out of Ta blet Hill
B u t technical and expert
advice was lacking The architects desired to remove
a Parthian round tower Haynes reluctantly con
sented and upon it s re moval the gate of an ancient
te mple was unearthed
8
8
1 9
H ilp r ec h t Ret ur ns
Professor Hilp r e c h t
now reappeared and his

coming put a n ew co mplexion on a ffairs A trained
and efficient a rc h molog ist he saw a t once that
Tablet Hill represente d the site o f the temple
,
36o
MYTH S OF B A B YLO NIA A ND A S SY RIA

5 The temple of B el consisted of two large courts
adj oining each other the north
west court with the
zikkura t an d the hous e of B el representing the
most holy place or the inner court while the s outh
eas t ( outer ) court see ms to have been studde d with
the shrines of all the di fferent gods and goddesses
worshippe d a t Nippur including one for B el himself
6 Im g u r Marduk and Nimit Marduk mentione d in
the c uneifor m inscriptions a s the two walls of Nippur
( dru and Sh alk h ) cannot have surrounded the
whole city According to the results of the excava
tions conducted under my own supervision only
th e te mple was enclosed by a double wa ll while in
all probability the city itself re mained unprote cted
The
large
complex
o
f
b
uildings
covering
the
top
7
o f B int e l Amir h a s nothing to do with the ancient
te mple below b ut represents a huge fortied Parthian
pala ce groupe d around and upon the re mains of the
1
stage tower then visible
B y means o f care ful tunnelling Hilp re c h t als o
unearthe d the south east S ide of a pre Sargonic
te mple tower but the nature of the excavation
risking as it did a sudden collapse of s oil and
bricks was too dangerous to permit o f further
labours upon it
.
Th e
H ou se of t h e Dead
A building record o f Assur bani pal was brought
to light which described the te mple tower of Nippur
i
u nn
Hous
e
of
the
To
mb
B
efore
this
as E
g g
other titles of it had been recovere d which alluded
to it as Mountain of the Wind and it was under
s tood to have been a local representation o f the
great mythological mountain of the world Kh arsag
Exp lo t i n in B ible L nd ( T and T C l k
-
36 2
ra
o s
ar
A BA B YLONIAN MU SEU M
kurkura This was puzzling until Hilp r e c h t found
tha t the tower penetrated so far into the earth a s
to descend to the city o f the dea d which according
to Ba bylonian belief w a s directly below and within
the earth
.
Th e
T em p l e L ibrary
Hilp r e c h t now turned his attention t o the te mple
library in Table t Hill with results most important
for the s cienc e of Assyriology This bu ilding con
te mporary with the time of Abra m now yielde d
large quantities o f ancient ta blets occurring in S trata
o f fro m one to four feet in thic kness as if they had
once been disposed upon wooden S helves
Muse um
An important nd was made o f a j ar containing
ab out twenty inscribed obj ects mostly clay tablets
which constituted a veritable s mall B abylonian
museu m evidently collected by a late B abylonian
priest or s omeone connected with the te mple library
Ar c h molog y w a s probably fashionable about the time
o f Na bonidus ( 5565 39
himself a monarch of
anti quarian tastes The collector o f this museu m
had actually ta ken a s queeze or impression o f an
inscription o f Sargon I ( 3800
in his time about
0
years
old
and
had
even
place
d
upon
it
a
334
label stating that the obj ec t was a s queeze or
mould of an inscribed s tone which Na bz rlish ir
the scribe sa w in the palace o f King Naram Sin a t
Agade
Says Hilp re c h t c oncerning this re markable col
lection
The owner or cura tor o f the little
museu m of B abylonian originals must have obtained
h is speci mens by purchase or through personal
A
B aby lonian
36 3

excavations carried out in the ruined buildings o f
B el s city He doubtless lived in the sixth century
a bout the time of King Na bo nidos and was a man
well versed in the ancient literature of his nation
and deeply interested in the past history of Nippur
This follows fro m the fact that his vase was found in
the Ne o Babylonian stratu m of Tablet Hill and
fro m the circumstance that the latest anti q uity of
his collection is dated in the govern ment of Sin
Sh a r ish k u n
the last representative of the Assyrian
dyna sty (about 6 1 5
In the second year of this campaign Peters con
tented himself with sounding a s many places as
possible rather than settling down to the steady
work of excavation in which preference he resemble d
Ra ssa m
B u t his labours were crowned with no
little success for he ca me upon a large nu mber o f
Kassite votive obj ects the rst great collection of
antiquities of this dynasty ever found and a S hrine
of King B ur Sin I dedicated to B e l about 2 600 B C
The excavation of the large and important building
re mains grouped around the te mple tower of B e l
was however Pe ters principal task during his
s econd ca mpaign B ut his hope of discovering many
inscribed tablets while excavating these ruins was
not to be realized He w as more fortunate how
ever in the triangular mound ( that known as
Mound I V ) to the south of the temple which
yielded some 2 000 tablets S cientic literary and
nancial manuscripts and even school exercises
being turned u p by the spade About the sa me
time excavations in the south eastern wing of the
large mounds disclosed the presence of thousands
o f tablets and many gures of B e l and his consort
B eltis Most of the tablets here were co mmercial
364
MYTH S OF BAB YLONIA AND AS SY RIA

imposed upon the S ite until he ca me to the brick
pave ment of Assur
bani pal He then ca me upon
a pave ment of the Sargonic period which extende d
through a considerable part of the mound as a
dividing line The rubbish which lay beneath this
wa s about sixteen feet in depth and had been
accu mulated within a period o f more than thre e
thousand y ears ( 3800350
The most important
of the many S trata of this rubbish heap is that which
lies between the pave ment o f King Ur Ninib and
tha t immediately below it O ver 600 fragments o f
vases s tatues and slabs were gathered here a ll
see mingly deliberately broken
by so meb ody who
r
lived between the reigns of U Gur of U r and Ur
perhaps the leader o f an E la mite

Ninib of Nisin
raid
The famous text o f Lug alzuggisi King
of E rech with it s 1 32 lines of writing was found
here and restore d by Hilp re c h t fro m sixty four
fragments
Digging elsewhere Haynes unearthed the oldes t
a rch in the world at a considerable depth drain
pipes of the date about 4500 B C and pre Sargonic
cellars containing large wine or oil j ars In on e
chamber twenty feet below the surface were found
the business archives of a great B abylonian rm
Mura sh u and Sons bankers and brokers a t Nippur
2
e
6
( 4 4 4 4
,
Rec ent Researc h

Recent research
in Mesopota mia has c entred

around the S ite of Babylon where results o f a mos t
interesting and encouraging description have been
a chieved The German O riental Society commenced
work upon the site in the S pring of 1 899 and a fter
twelve years of incessant labour under the direction
,
366
Ru i n s f B b ylo n
tf r t w l y r l b by G m
i ng m 9
wh b g
a
Unco r
ve e d a
e ve
o
C opy r ig h t
ea s
a n e x c a vat
nd e r wood
by U
o ur
a nd
er
a n ar
00
Uncle: wood Lond on

,
l it
e o o g s s,
36 6
MYTH S O F BA BYLO NIA AND AS SYRIA

another without risk to horses or driver Companies
of men co uld be moved along this mural highway in
time of siege so that a supply of de fenders could b e
brought with d ispatch to guard any portion of the
defences that was imminently threa tened
.
B abil
as a
Cit adel
The mound o f B abil to which we have fre q uently

re ferred in this account of B abylonian excavation
was recognized by the German expedition a s a
c itadel built for defensive purposes by Ne buc h a d
rezzara plac e o f refuge to which the King an d
court could repair in case of the capt ur e o f the city
itself I t contained the royal Stores and treasury
a large armoury and arsenal and there is reason to
believe that the monarch resided there even in times
o f peace I t was indeed a miniature city a lesser
B abylon containing everything ne cessary for the
royal support and pleasure
,
B aby l on s Wat er Sup p ly

Th e question of a
suitable water supply agitated

municipal Babylon j ust as keenly as it does any
of our own great centres of population an d recent
excava tions have illustrate d the manner in which
the E uphrates was utilized for this purpose Nabo
inscriptions
t
o
S
how
how
he
olasse r has left
re
p
built the walls of a channel called the Ar a kh t u to
lead the river Euphrates past the city boundaries
Nebu cha drezzar built a massive fortication with
walls of fro m fty to S ixty feet in thickness into the
bed of the E uphrates to prevent the formation of
sandbanks in the river which possibly caused the
fl ooding of the left bank above the temple of
This left a narrow channel between the
E Sa gila
-
368
THE G REAT TH RO NE ROOM

new wall and the old quay and it is probable that
this huge construction caused a s ubse quent change
in the course of the E uphrates
,
Ne buc h adr ezzar s Pal ac e

Nebuchadrezzar s palace
wa s situated in the
southern citadel on the moun d known as the Kasr
O n this building he lavished both time and treasure
When he came to the throne he found the S ite occupied
by the residence of his father Na bop ola sse r but when
he returne d fro m his triumphan t Egyptian ca m
a i ns he despised the plain old place and like so me
p g
modern potentates resolved to build himself a royal
edice which would symbolize the power and maj esty
of the e mpire he had won for himself He turned
his father s palace into a mere platform upon which
to rear his own more flamboyant structure and lle d
in its room s c our t s and spa ces with rubble
Window s
F or the most part the palace was b uilt roun d
open c ourts much in the Spanish fashion and there
is no trace of windows a pheno menon which con
s t a nt l
rec
urs
in
ancient
buildings
in
the
East
in
y
Egypt and in Central America B u t when we
consider the extre mes of hea t encou ntered in these
latitudes we can appre ciate the desire for a cool
se mi gloo m which called for the windowless chamber
The fl at roofs too were used for S leeping p urposes
so that the inhabitants did not who lly dispense with
fresh air
Th e Palac e
w it h out
Th e G r e at T h rone Room
B u t by fa r the most interesting apartment in the
palace is the great Thron e Roo m of Ne buchadrezzar
,
369

the apartment upon which he lavished so much
p ersonal care an d considera tion I t S tands im
mediately south of the Great Court and is much the
most spacious room in the palace In the wall
opposite the grand entrance from the court is a deep
recess or niche where it is thought the royal throne
must have stood so that not only the courtiers
in the Throne Room but the lesser dignitarie s
thronging the courtyard without could have had
sight of the monarch of the Eastern World seated
in all his S plendour upon his imperial throne
Strangely enough the walls o f this great apartment
of S tate were merely plastered with white gypsum
while the brickwork of the outer fa cade which faced
the court was decorated with brightly coloured
enamels displaying the most involved designs floral
and geometrical in blue yellow black and white
S uch ornamentation would p r oba by b e banned from
the Throne Room because of the high re fl ections from
a brightly polished enamelled surface and as we
have seen heat and light were taboo in Babylonian
i nter i ors
.
Th e Dr ainag e
Sy
st em
Doors
in the throne room wall communicated

with what were probably the King s private apart
ments The hare m and other purely private suites
were placed further to the west over the earlier
residence of Na bop ola sse r the o f cial portion of the
palac e being situated towards the east There was
a mos t elaborate drainage system which not only
carried rain water from the flat roofs but from the
c ourts and walls as well The larger drains had
corbel S haped roofs but the s maller ones were
formed of bricks se t together in the shap e of a V
-
37
T H E H A NG I NG G A RDE NS
and closed in at the top with other bricks l a id at
Vertical sh a ft s and gutters were also in use and
t he s e were conducted down the side s of to wer s
and fortications
Th e
H ang ing Gardens
Ano t her s t r u c t u re
has bee n indicated as p erh a p s

the foundation of the fa mo u s Hanging Gardens
of B abylon I t c onsists of a nu mber of barrel
vaulted cells seven on each side of a central passage
The s e cell s are roofed over with semi circ u lar arches
and are an k ed on t he north by the palace wall I t
is known that hewn stone was employed in the
construction of this wonder of t he world and only
in t hree o t her places in the palace de me sne ( the
Sacred R oad t he bridge over the E u phrates and the
Kasr Wall) is stone e mployed This p oints to t he
identication o f the s ite in question as being t h a t
of the H anging Gardens on which layers o f earth
were laid and the shr u bs trees and arbo u rs which
d ecorated it planted thereon
B e r o ssu s distinctly
state s that these gardens were within the b u ild
ings by which Neb u chadrezzar enlarged h is father s
palace B u t the dimensions of t h is struct u re do
not tally with t h o s e given by Strabo and Dio do ru s
and the imagination revolts a t t he conception of
t he s e famo u s and romantic gardens having for their
fo u n dation this obsc u re and prosaic cellarage
B y all means
Ar c h mology m u st leave u s something
le t u s have tr u th and enlightenment unless where
truth is itself u glier than falsehood ! I t has been
shrewdly conj ect u red by P rofessor King that these
cellars formed t he palace granary and we m u s t be
gratef ul to hi m for the s uggestion
H i t y f B byl n p 50
.
s or
37 I
MYT H S
O F B A B YL ONI A AND
A SSY RIA
I sh t ar
I t was in the spring of 1 902 that Dr Koldewey
made the important discovery o f the Grea t Gat e of
the goddess I shtar which spanned t he Sacred Way o f
the imperial city This turreted erection orna men te d
in relief by the gures of mythical animals in coloured
brick has b een excavated clean out o f the sup er
inc umbent earth and constitutes a double monu ment
to its ancient builders and t o t he patient arch aeologists
who recovered it fro m the sands of antiquity It
was the main gate in the north cit a del wall and had
been reconstructed by the zealous Neb uchadre zzar
I t is double ( for t he fortication line in which it
stood wa s twofold ) and in fron t consists o f t w o
high towers with gate
houses behind The gures
of the animals are so arranged tha t to the eye of
one approaching the city they would see m advancing
to meet him A t least 575 of these creatures w ere
depicted on t he gate t he favourite subj ects being
b ulls and dragons beautifully and realistically
modelled in relie f
Th e
G r e at G at e
Th e Str eet
f Pr oc e ssions
A portion
of the Stree t of Processions upon which

this gateway O pened has also been excavated This
highway was of imp osing breadth and ran its course
fro m north t o s o u th dire ctly across the city I t
was a species of Via Sacra for o v er it s s tones was
carried the image of Merodach u pon his day of high
festival I ts u se wa s restricted to foot passengers
and n o chariots o r o t her horse
drawn vehicle s w ere
permitted to make use of it I ts foundation is o f
burnt brick u pon which is overlaid an upper pave
ment of brecci a (conglomerate rock) in slabs
.
372
MYTH S O F B A B YL O NI A AND A SSY RIA

constr u cted castle of the Norman epoch I ndeed one
u nidentied temple bears resemblance t o a prison so
forbidding is it in it s almost u nbroken line of turret
and retaini ng wall We mus t re me mber however
that colo u r lent e mbellishment to t he s e buildings
the otherwise heavy fa cades of which would have
been dreary indeed
.
,
,
E Sag ila
The temple of E Sag ila which was dedicated to

Merodach patron deity of Babylon is of course by
far the most important within t he city bounds
I t has not been wholly excavated fro m the mound
of Tell A mran b ut t he main western portion of it
has been bro u ght to light and has been shown like
o t her B a bylonian shrines to have consisted of a
s er ie s of chambers b u ilt round an open co u rt I n
the centre of each side was an Open gateway where
once stood the famo u s eight bronze serpents two
to each entran ce The especial shrine of Merodach
which has not yet been unearthed lay on the we st er n
side and had a towered entrance and decorated fa cade
which Neb u chadrezzar stated he ca u sed to shin e
like the su n H e coated the walls of the shrine with
gold and roofed it with the choicest c edars from
t he noble forest
H ere says H erodotus
L ebanon
the mighty gure of the god rested which with the
throne dais and table before it was fashioned o f
p u re gold of 800 talents in weight To the north
of Merod a c h s temple rose it s zikk ur a t or tower SO
far excavation upon it has in a measure disproved
the accoun t of H erodotus that it consisted of a
steppe d tower in eight stages with the ascent to
the s u mmit encircling the o u tside The rst stage
now uncovered has a triple stairway built against
-
374
E L DE R B A B YL O N
on e side of the tower bu t we shall never know what
the upper stories were li k e for they have long since
c ru mbled into desert d u st Dr Koldewey considers
t hat the great tower w a s b u ilt in one stage decorated
with coloured bands and s u rmounted by a shrine
TH E
G r eat T ow er
The
of
N abu ( E Z ida)
The foundations of t he great tower o f Nab u a t

B orsip p a a s u burb of Babylon still awaits excava
tion but as it stands it rises to a height of o v er
The clearing of its base
1 00 feet above the desert
will necessitate a colossal a mo u nt of labour but
when e ffected our knowledge of these te mple towers
will be considerably enhanced
,
E up h at es B idg e
The bridge ov e r t he river E uphrates is worthy of
mention since it represents the Oldest bridge known
t o the sc ience of arch ae ology I t po s sessed stone
piers b u ilt in the sh a pe of boats th u s showing that
it had been evolved from an earlier bri dge of boats
The bo w s o f these piers point u p stream and th u s
brea k the force of the c u rrent The river at t he point
where it was crossed by t he bri dge w a s at least sixty
feet broad and t he passage way of wood was laid
across the boat piers and m u st have been rather

narrow The str u ct ure w a s the work of Na bop ola sse r
Th e
Th e Elder B aby lo n
Du ri ng the rst
years o f their lab o u rs the excava

tors were u nder the impre ssion that the destr u ction
of the older portions o f t he city by Se nnacherib
had been so complete tha t bu t few of its remains
were to be loo k ed for in the co u rse of excavation
B u t a s time progressed it was found that the relics
375

of the older quarters lay mostly beneath t he present
water level I n the Menkes Mound a quarter of the
ancient city has been unearthed a t a depth of so me
thirty feet and the outline o f its streets clearly
shown Sti ll lower were found houses dating fr om
the period of Merodachbaladan I ( 1 2 0 1 1 1 8 9 B C )
and Meli ship ok I I ( 1 2 1 6 1 2 02
A thick layer
o f a s he s showe d that a still earlier portion o f the city
had b een destroyed by re and this archaic quarter
has been identied a s the city of Kha mmurabi the
princely law maker ( 2 1 2 3 2 08 1

and h is imme
diate successors according to dated tablets found
a mong the burnt debris mut e witnesses o f the
disaster which overtoo k Babylon s First Dynasty
-
Tow a lanning
I t is noticeable th a t the later streets follow closely

the trend and plan of the older thoroughfares which
generally spea k ing ran north and south parallel
1
t o the co u rse of the Sacred Way
Professor King
gives it as h is opinion that here we have a deliberate
atte mpt a t town planning on a s cientic basis !
H e credits this to t he Semitic element in the p op u
lation as in Su merian towns t here is no trace of
town planning
A nd ye t B abylon w a s strangely
conservative A s sh e co mmenced s o s he continued
and her early e fforts were only sup erseded in mag
nit u de not in quality of purpose
,
37 6
History of B abylon,
85
MYT H S O F B A B YL ONI A AN D A SSY RIA

of Sha mash A n d that hastened his doom for the
priests beca me his bitter enemies and when the
P ersian Cyrus entered the gates of Babylon as a
con q u eror he was hailed as the saviour of Merodach s
honour
The last native kings of Babylonia were great
temple b u ilders and this policy they continued until
the end I ndeed in the time o f Nebuchadrezzar
there was a revival of ancient and half forgotten
cults and many local gods were exalted to a pitch
o f popularity hitherto unknown
.
Th e C onquer ing C y r us
Then in 5 39 B C ca me the conquering Cyrus

and the period of the decay of the B abylonian reli
gion b egan The victor merely upheld the cults of
Merodach and Nabu for reasons of policy and w he n
in turn the Greeks ruled over B abylonia they followed
the Persian lead in this respect B y the defeat of the
Persian Dari u s at the battle of A rbela ( 33 1 B C ) the
way to Babylon wa s left open t o the mighty Alex
ander the Great This was the beginning of t he end
The old religion dragged out a bro k en existence
until about the beginning of the Christian er a then
slowly b ut surely vanished beneath the attacks of
H e llenic scepticism Christian propaganda and pagan
capr i ce
That a faith s o virile so ancient so entren ched
in the love of a people a s that of Babylonia should
fall into an oblivion so profo und a s to be totall y
forgotten for nearly nineteen centuries is a sole mn
an d impressive reminder of the evanescent cha
r a c t e r of h u man affa irs
They were men of their
hands these ancient Mesopota mians great t h e olo
gians great builders great soldiers Y et their mighty
.
378
A G RE A T L E SSO N
works their living faith le ft not a wrack behind
save mounds of r u bbis h which when excavated by
the modern antiq uary were fo und to contain a few
poor vestiges of t he Sp lendo u r tha t wa s B abylon
and the pomps of the city o f A ssh u r Does t here
not reside in this a great lesson for modernity !
Must our civilization o u r faith all that is ours and
that w e have raised must thes e things too fade
into the shadows of unre membranc e a s did the
civilization of Mesopota mia
,
AG
L esson
The answer to such a question depends upon
ourselves u pon each and every one of u s I f we
q u it ourselves as civilized men striving and ever
striving to rene and p u rify o u r lives o u r cond u ct
intellect ua l o u t loo k to Spiritualize ou r faith
o ur
then tho ugh the thi ngs of o u r hands may b e d u st
the wor k s of ou r minds of o ur so uls shall not vanish
bu t shall remain in the conscio u sness of o u r des e en
dants so lo ng a s h u man memory lasts The faith
of ancient B abylon went u nder bec a u se it w a s b uilt
rather on the worship of frail and bestial gods t h an
u
the love o f tr th gods many of whom w ere devils
in disg uise bu t devils n o w h it worse than o u r ends
of a mbition of greed of p ug nacity of u nsympathy
Thro ugh the worship of s u ch gods B abylon ca me t o
oblivion Le t u s contemplate the colossal wreck
of that mighty work of man and as we gaze over
the g ulf of a score of centuries to w here its cloud
d
u s palaces
towers
and
gorgeo
glitter
in
the
ca
pp
mirage of l e gend let u s bra ce o u rselves for the
str u ggle which h u manity has ye t to w a ge w ith
dar k ness with disease with s u perstition B u t while
We rememb e r her f a ll w ith sadness let u s thin k
r e at
,
,
379
MYT H S O F B A B YLONI A AND A SSY RIA

generously and kindly of her dea d mightiness of
the ancient e ffort sh e made striving a fter her lights
o f her pict u resq u e and many colo u red life and not
leas t of her achieve ments the invention of those
symbols by which the words o f man can b e trans
ferre d
brother across t he silent ocean
t ime
,
THE P RONU NCI AT I ON OF ASSYRI AN
A SS Y RIA N d in m any respec t s from th o t h er Sem it c langu ages

T h ere are few g tt rals th ese h a ng b een m os t ly s m oo t h ed t Th s
B l
B l
and H adad Adad O n t h o th er h and it
b ecam e
i t h o g h t t h a t t h c neiform inscrip t ions m y h a v e o m tt ed gutt ral
so nds Th c neiform sys t e m of wri t ing is so i m perfec t and com pli
t d t h a t we m s t m a k e cer t ain reser v a t ions in
accep t ance of t h
t ranscrip t ions of con t em porary Assy iologis t s and i t m s t t h erefore b
nders t ood t h a t A syrian n m es and words as we know th em and as
fo nd in t h presen t work and index m y b ye t grea t ly m od ed by
f t re researc h es Assyrian nam es as know n t o day are prono nced
according t o analog y gleaned from t h pron nciat ion of t h o th er
T h s Sh n ar is spel t W i t h t h H eb rew in
Se m i tic lang ages
( g tt ral ) in t h Scrip t res and w are naware w h e t h er t h Scr p t ral
a t h or in t erpola t ed t h g tt ral or no t Analogy in th is ins t ance i
not nearly so val a b le a g ide as in t h case of E gy p tian w h ere we h a v e
in Cop t ic t h m odern form of t h E gy p t ian lang age t o gu de
nor
i i t a t all li k ely t h a t we s h all e v er know m c h m ore t h an we do concern
ing t h pron ncia t ion of a lang age t h wr tt en sym b ols of w h c h are
so ncer ain as regards t h eir precise alp h b e tic v al es
'
CI S
ca
ou r
u u
ou
vi
us ,
G L O SS ARY AND INDE X
A H A B King of Israel o v er
A
t h rown by Sh al m aneser II 4
A
M
Sargon d splaces A
by
AA or A Consort of Sh m as h
M N
A B E D N G On of Dan el s m A
Mazda and S
h
o v erco m e 3 3 7
panions 3 8
A B R A M U r C i ty of
A H U RA MAZ D A Good p n p l
49 ;
N i m rod and 5 5 6 ; Jewis h
of Z ara t h s t a s religion 3 3 4 ;
legen ds 5 5 ; Persian t ra
crea t or of t h ni v erse 3 3 5
A
U
Th serpen t
89
d t n
5 3 ; ano t h er t ra
5
d t ion preser ved n t h E as t A KK A D Kingdom fo nded by
Se m t es
6 ; K ing Sargon of
5 3 5 6 ; s t ar Ven s and 5 5
Th ancien t s it e
fo nds rs t g rea t Sem t c e m pire
A U HA BB A
of Si pp r 7 7
in B a bylonia 6
AN Desc ip t ion of 3
Ea
A
St a t e m en t of
NU
A
6 ; lang age
3
4 ; B by l
A Y SS T
Paradise and 8
nian Sem i t es recei v e germ s of
A C C A D Par t of N i m rod s k ng
c l t re from t h 4 m odern
d m 49
e q i valen t for t h older is t h
C
son de
M
A
expression S m n n 5 ; s t ars
s t died by 3
t h rone d b y 3 3 3
A D A D E q i v alen t H a dad 8 7 A KK U U ( E a t er) A tt endan t
b
nd of Merodac h
9
A D A D E Ut N p h t m fe y A L A L U Th eagle ; Is h t ar and
67
Gilga m es h cons l t s
m n
7
ALE A ND E R T H E G R E A T 3 7 8
7 ; Ut N p h m Gilga m es h
Mode rn Ara b ic na m e
and 78
A D A D N RA R IV S n of As
3 5
Dan I II 3 8
ALL T U E q i v alen t E h k
A D A M Th sons of 3
gal m i t ress of H ades
9;
A D APA Th So t h \Vind and
rea lm of 3 7
Al O m m
De c ip ti v e t erm of
s t o y of 6
A D A R S n god of Ni p p r
P h oenicians for t h eir god s 3 7
O f Dodo and of Y h
H ym n t o 6 8 connec t ed W i t h A
h
t h pig 93
94
9
9
i of Azar ; according
A L U B ll sen t b y Ann ga ns t
AD N A
Gil g a m es h 6 8 6 9
t o an E t ern t rad t on t h
AL U DE MO N Th 7 7 7
paren t s of A b ra m 5 4
m o t h er
U
Th
nam e Mero
Sm yrn a
of A
A ON IS
dac h ori g na lly
m t h of
reference t o
7
H
IV King of
re la t ed t o t h a t of T mm z A
E yp t le tt ers t o unear h ed a t
3
T el l Am arn a
O f P nt b b l n
RA
U
A
A MO R I T
H adad a god of t h
ference t o
88
dei t y Dagon an 3 5
O f G lg m
E
( Gilga m e h )
U
AV
lh
con ort of Ann
grandson of S k k
57
66
O v a m pire
68
A
3 m o t h er of Is h t ar
W O R S H I P Th C
A FR I C A 3 9 ; Se m tic religion in A
i t es and 3 6
33
'
1 10
i -r i
H Ri
r aos
re ,
B YD E
re
HE
KK AD i
y a x a re s
is
rr
ti
is
2 02
su r -
ve
0,
1 2
i i AR
D UK
si E x
EI
CH
B DO
EP
os
a ro s ,
F - A N - As - i s r
,
t e
22
E -S
n
i
1 2
'
e,
A I
1 1 2
Li AN
2 02
e, 2
O-
i e
as
I2
L r A R- s
re s
1 21
1 1
A-
'
ou
'
E
E NI D Z
C H JE
i i
1 12
i B
e u
Ci
re ,
ri
s re ,
io
z u ri
2 i o
co
Hi -
h C E STO R -
a ii a a n
38 3
MYT H S OF B A B YLO NI A AND A SSY RI A

A N D R A E D R A Germ an ex A P O L O T em ple t t C ar t h a ge
33
356
pl
A N I M A L S B a bylonian gods h a ving A P O LL O D O RU S St at em en t of
Ea
form of 9 93 ; m yt h ological
89
Th
Ap
deep or h ouse
m ons t ers and of C h aldea
of knowledge 7 a lt erna tiv e
98 ; t h dog
9
9 ; t h pig
Zig un ;
of E a
m o t h er
94
A N I M IS T I C B ab ylonian re ligion
th
pr m e v l
7
73
74 ;
t ypically 3 7 3 9
93
A U
Appears from E u A Q U A R I U S SI G N O F Th deluge
AN N
s t ory and 8 3
th
n S
Generic A R A B IA Sem it es belie v ed t h a v e
T
A nn n k
nam e for t h gods of t h ear th
com e from 5 6 ; N aram Sin
sp iri t s of ear t h 9 ; de
pene t rat es 7 ; Sem it ic reli g on
8
3
cree fa t e 73 ; t orch es carried
33
N b p l
AR AR H U
and
by
75
t h c h annel called t h
A N SA R God ; b ir th of 7 ;
36 8
nderworld 5
AR A
Th
T w t h and 7 6
8 3
A N S H A R Varian t of Ass h r
Goddess ; v ar
7
crea t ed W i th Kis h ar 8 Anu
an t E res ln g l N ergal and
I5
E a and Merodac h sen t t o de
s t roy T w t h 8
AR B E L A Is h t ar s s h in in
b a tt le of 3 7 8
God of t h sky ; son of
AN U
Ansar and Kisar 7 ; Ansar AR
B a b ylon ian
46
and 76 ; Merodach and 79 ;

C
h
aldean
7
9
4
3 6 6 Am eri
33
can in t eres t n B a by lonian
m os t ancien t of B a b ylonian
dei t ies 9 ; h eld sway o v er

6
fas h ionab le ab o t
35
366 ;
th
E rec h and Der 94 t em ple of
t i m e of N ab onid us ( 5 5 6
So t h W ind and
5 39
363
7
ni v ersal
A R E S Greek god 3 5
En lil E a and t h
S igni cance
A R GO E a iden t i ed with
t riad
;
th
consor t of
s t ar in t h cons t ella tion 3 6
3 ; An t
B
and 44 ; sacred b ll A R K Th B a b ylonian 74 7 8
3
sen t agains t Gilgam es h b y A A
Median m n h
fa t h er of Is h t ar 6 8 ;
N nn confo nded W i th 46
58 ;
H adad wors h ipped W i t h a t A R TE M IS R eference t 3
B a b ylonian
Ass h r 8 8 ; t h T a b le t s of AR
t
g m
t ing e t c 7 ; B a bylonian li t er
Des t iny and 95 ; in a t riad
E a and B l b t m ore
a t re and nder Kh am m rabi
W th
fre q en t ly in t h t ex t s apar t
Grea t
th
u nder
; all t h
from t h em 97 98 ; Dagan
E a s pa t ronage 9
and 98 in Assyria n B a b y A RU RU Goddess w h aided
lon
in v oked W th B l
fo m a t ion of m n 8 8 6
th
7 ;
th
Pole St ar 3 6 ;
crea t es a c h am p on
7 ;
3
eclipses and 5 5
agains t Gilgam esh 6
L esser goddess m erg AR AN R ace t h Ph l is t ines
A U
ed n concep t ion of Is h t ar
h 3 4
As A
Appella t ion of Mero
4
R
D e Is h t ar and c l t
dac h
m y b co m pared
A
of 4 ; Is h t ar and connec t ed
W i t h Asar ( O m )
AS H D OD
T em ple of Dagon
35
A P O C R P H A L gend of B ] and
a t 5 Sargon s exped t on
t h Dragon in 97
aga ns t
35
L
o, a
o re r ,
2,
1 12
0 2
su .
re
ar
E D
u-
a-
HE .
z,
1 2
20
o a sse r
e,
ia
1 11 .
2, 1
ea , 1 1 2
re a
e u
12
ia
20
212
C H ZE O L O G Y .
1 1
a u,
R r
i r
1 2
cu ~
e,
2,
20
Y-
12
1 2
RI
2 02
2 02
8
3 4
PR
N IT
2 1
22
o, 1
a rc
T S.
ar
I os .
1 21
au
1 2
B C
1 21
1 21
1 2
1 02
1
,
2 1 0, 2 1 1
MYT H S O F B A B YL ONI A AND A SSY RI A

reli gi ons of B a bylonia and B A B EL Th T ower of 48 ;
com para t i v e v al e of 3 33 3 7 ;
H e b rew v erb b b l conf sed
W i t h word b b l 4 8
re ligion of Z oroas t er s pplan t ed
s t ory of
t h a t of ancien t 3 3 e t h cs
T ower of s gges t ed by one of
th
t owers of B ab ylon ; t h
3 3 7 3 3 8 ; m odern exca v a t ions
b eg nning of N m rod s kingdom
in 3 3 9
3 66 ; e m p ire fall of in
6 6
was 49
3 77
A S T R O L OG Y B ir th place of 3 B A I L Mo nd and enclos re o f
l ( or al t ar ) of
Th
A A
3 3 4 7 ; as a c it adel 3 6 8
BA BU
Dodo carried fro m 9
E sar h addon res t orer o f
A
U
God ; Dagon wor
3 6
B A B YL O N IA N
R acial origin
s h ipped as 7
m o t h er of as t rolo gy nd m a gi c
Al t erna t iv e Der
A R
land b n daries t h T igris
ke t o F is h goddess legendary
and E p h ra t es
m o t h er of Se m ira mi s
t h Ak k
5
d ians and 3 ; Se mi t srece iv
AT H E N A G O R AS Refers t o wor
s hi p of Se mi ra m is 7
ger m s of c l t r fro m Akk
AT H E N S Pira s por t of 3 8
d ans 4 ; l ng ua ge 4 ; c ivil
i t n
A s A god a k in t o Adon is 3
o ffs h oo t of c l tur
4
A U R A MA N Y U E v l principle
of E ri d 5 ; rs t fo un ders
of Z ara th s t ra s religion 3 3 4
5 ; Se m i t e con q erors en t er
6 ; rs t grea t Se miti c m
F riend of M i
A V E RR
5
m nid
pire in fo nded by Sargon of
3
A V E S T A E arl ies t form of 2
Akkad 6 ; Syria and Pales
as t er s na m e in t h 3 3 3
t ine welded with by Sargon 7
Th
kings vicegeren t of t h gods
A
b e t o t h ed of Sh a m
h
66
t
7 ; ar t ; g m c t ti ng
7;
O n of N im rod s g ards ;
co mm n ica tion b tween isl nd
A
t rad iti onal fa t h er of A bra m
of Cy pr s and 8 ; fall of Firs t
D yna ty of
; B rn b
54
King of
R e v erence of for wor
A
; T k ul t i in
y
Aris ti t kes nd slays Kin g
s hi p i T ol t ecs 6 7
B t ily
Sargon disp lace
A U R KIN G
; b uil t b y S mira
6 ; n ally con q uered by
mi
b y Ah imi t i
Tigl t h p l
III 3
render f t h o gh s tar v a tion
l
t
era
t
r
Ass
ur b an i p l
;
;
3
4
B
and 3 5 ; N b c h adrez ar leads
Jews in t o cap t it y in 3 7 ;
Sun god
H adad t h
B AA L
Kings N a bon id s las t of 4
pre m e 8 9 ; m agi c and 5 8 ;
independence of reco v red af t er
P h oenician god 3 7 T m t all
dea t h of Da i us 4 ; Persi ns
ded t o
C o n t enance
Th
con q er 4
des t r c tion of
i
33
Sele c ia b il t ut of r ins
C anaan it is h god 3 5 ;
4
of 4 arc h ology 46 4 7 ;
t erm appl ed by Ph oenicians
i
legend
of
conf
s
on of t on g es
3 7
and t owers of 4 7 ; E S g l
S
B AA L A MM O N or M
t ower of 47 ; b l t by N m
Moloc h
rod 5 ; c neifor m writing
Ph enician god
B A A L HA MM A N
of 6 6 6 ; cos m ogony 7 8 7 ;
wors h ipped in C art h age 3 7
i
8
i
rel
i
g
on
e
rly
8
sp
r
i
6
ts
Presi
ing
t
l
m
d
B
i
;
5
3
;
3
p
and gods in ancien t 8 95 3 ;
o f Ty re t h P h n i n and
i
i
i
i
rel
i
g
on
e
t
c
n
uenc
on
S
m
3 7
B C
.
TA R G A I
1 0
a re
rA
Y Ar I s
ou
1 2
eu
I-
o- Es.
z-
i,
as ,
22
s,
21
22
as
o L OCH
ce
lIl
ic a
S,
i a,
0-
ui
38 6
ee
a
e
a a
iv
su
u e
e
s ur
i ese r
ur
s-
s,
a su , 2 2
2 10
22
e c ., 1
z r Ec s
e,
z AR
01 0
as
za i o
u e
u,
YA
e s, 2
1 2
12
r ri
'
RA r H
GLO SSA RY AND I N DE X
rel on s gns of t o
Pan t h eon
E ar y
L a t er 8 4
N pp r preferred t o
co n t ry of
5
t m
s t ar wors p
ag c and
ples of
el ief in
de onolo y
ta oo
con q ered Sh l
anese I
rel g ons of
Assyria and co m para ti ve v al e
;
3
3 3 3 3 6 e t c ; cap ti vi t
reli gion pene t ra t ed t o B rit ain
rel gion of Zoroas t er
th
33
s pplan t ed t h a t of anc ien t 3 3
e t h cs 3 3 7 3 3 8 ; m y t h m
pared w ith H ellen ic and Scandi
na ian 3 3 8 ; m oral code 3 3 8 ;
m odern exca v a t i ons in
339
of N e b ch adrezzar
366 ; t h
II 3 6 7 wa t er s pply of 3 6 8
h nging gardens of 3 7 ; t h
lder 3 75 3 76 ; na tional s t a t s
of regained 3 77 ; reli gion de
r f 3 7 8 3 79
A work b y I m
B b
y l n
con t aining fragm en t s
bh h
of B a b ylonian h is t ory 5 6 ; refer
ence t o an epi t om e of t h b y
Ph o t i s 5 6
T em ples as 5 5
B A N KS
N a m e of pagan idol
B A HOM ET
93
C ne iform
B A R B A R O J O SAP H A T
w i t ng and 6
K ng of Ar m en ia
B AR SA N E S
6
Th seers
B i
L ayard sends sc lp t res
B AS RA
t o 3 44 ; E rnes t de S
F renc h ice
cons l a t 3 5 5
F o nd i n palace
B A R EL I E F
of Sennac h erib a t K y ] k
fo nd in palace of Ass r
3 45
b ani pal 3 4 6
God dess m o t h er of m n
BA
kind c h ief da gh t er of An
and 5
Z g m k
4S
44
Th
or B D
B D
fa t h er of h E dom i t e H adad
9
Magic and 5 8
B EL Z E B U B
t ex t a t 6 5
P
ON
B H
igi
i
2 ;
91 ,
,
t e m ism in , 92 ; t h e
l , 94, 95 :
,
i
1 98 ;
u
1 96 ; t h e
u
B el,
h i in , 2 3 1 2 3 8
m
i
2 42 2 5 1 ;
,
m
2
b
g , 57 2 88
b , 2 78
u
by
t
i i
m
,
3 08 ;
2 2
2 1
co
e,
ea
zc- a .
us ,
e,
0, 2
ar
a r ze c ,
UD l
Ol l
E-
EN -
AD
u,
AD
is r
-
C TS l a D
a ylon ian n god 4 ;

Dragon and 7 ; Merodac h
and 7 9 94 ; a t N ipp r
looked on as crea t or of m n
86 ;
r led a t N ipp r ( N ff )
earlier v arian t Em lil
94
descrip t ion of 95 97 ; legend
of t h Dragon and in t h
Apocryph a 97 ; wors h p of a t
B a b ylon 98
King C yr s and
wors h p of 98
t h t e m ple
5 ; disco v ery of M
of
George Sm i t h
t e m ple of
N e b o son of
fa th er of N ig S3 I Ut
N p ht m
and
76
74
Gilgam es h resor t s t o 8
T a b le t s of Des t iny and 93
Dagan and 98
6 ;
95 ;
th
Assyrians and t h co n t y
of
Merodac h
s rped
5 ;
place of 7 t h Pole St ar
( of e q a t or ) 3 6 ; eclipses and
B il e all ied W i t h
55 ;
3 7 ;
s h rine t o of King B S n I 3 6 4
B l
In
Th
Ob
t n
l ibrary fo nded b y Sargon
8 ; t ransla t ed in t o Greek b y
B
8
B EL I
A generic t erm giv en t o
Is h t ar 4 7 ; An s con
sort 7 ; g res as W ife of
Ass h r 7 ; T g l t h p l
I
and 7 ; Ass r bani pal and
7
B
K U DUR U Z UR Th las t of
th
old Assyrian line k illed b y
H adad nadin akhi 3
B
M
DACH
B a b ylon ian
god ; a v enged by C yr s 4
son of E and D w k n 7 3
a bsor b ed in t o t h Assyrian
pan t h eon 5
B E LO S
S
v arian t B l Mero
dac h 7 3
B
B a b ylonian p
pella t ion for Daniel 3 7
B
Varian N in lil ; t h
W fe of E n lil
sanc t a y
of a t C irs
; na m e
gn
d
lady
t a b le t s and
;
g res of fo nd b y Dr Pe t ers
B EL
the
B b
su
ur
1 01
1 01
1 0
re
1 01
ir
is
1 02
22
ur -
se r va i o
u u
22
2 1
e ross u s ,
2 1
22
22
22
22
i e se r
22
EL
EL
ER o -
a,
22
ee
L1
EL I IS
u,
1 01
1 01
Si
1 01
36 4
38 7
MYT HS O F B A B YL ONI A AND A SSY RIA

B L US
T em ple of ; m o nd of B U LL Sacred s l i n by Gilg
i den t i ed
B ab i l
w it h
m es h and E b ni
3 ;
58 ; R m
d hn t n
of an im als pre
m an s nam e t h
great
;
ser ed i t e m ple of
form s of E a and Merodach 9
4
B U LL WI N G E D
a ian t Dis 4
Sym b ol of and
B
ZAK I R
UN
Descendan t
Em lil 97
m t d wit h M
rodach 8 9 9
of Ass r b an i pal 3 6 3 7
B U RME S E
A t t it ud of t t h
God h us b and o f M
B NA NI
lil i 8
dead 6 9
King of t h m ons t ers B UR N A UR YAS King of B a by
B NI NI
lon ia
os s s B ab ylon ian h i t
BU N U
B
C une ifo m writ ing and
i n ; t ransla t es Th Ob
63
ti n
B U SI N
R epairs U rb an s
ik
f B l in t o Greek 8 narra ti v e
k ra t 48 s h rine t B l dedi
of
crea tion of m n 8
t d by 36 4
E a copied b y
h i s t a t e m en t
B
Jou rney of Isis t
Alexander Polyhi s t or e t c
q o t es v ers ion of t h
3 ;
3 8 ; Ph lo of 3 8
del ge m y t h 77 7 8 ; t h
h a ging gardens of
B a b ylon
and 3 7
A pries t of B l
G
a t B a bylon 4 ; hi s t o y b y
CA L A H Sennac h erib t akes nu

4
4 5 ; ex t rac t s fro m hi s t ory
l
of Ass r b an i pal s lib
of preser v ed by J osep h s and
rary fro m 5 4 ; res idence of
E se bi s 4
S
th u
and
Ass h r
Nin ib s t e m ple
h
legend of Oannes 4
4
7
at
residence of Ass r
h
acco n t of t h del ge 4
5 ;
i
naz
r
pal 5 Sin s t e m ple of
D
n
and
44 ;
7
B I LE
A C el t ic de it y 3 7
3 ; t ower o f d isco v ered by
B INT
AMI R H ll of 3 5 8 3 6
L ayard 3 46
A B E D isb elie f o f in
C M
B I RD ME SS E N G E RS
v a m pires 66
Ut N p h
CA L N E H Par t of Nim rod s king
t im sends
t
76
B
N I M RUD R ins of 3
d m 49
B t
CAM
S n of C yrus 4
T
Sacred s t ones
9
A S U King of B ab ylon CA N AA N I TE S TH
First h is t oric
B
sla in b y T k lt i in Ar is ti
dwell ers in Syria and Pales tine
B OMB A Y
Th P
of 3 3 6
f 3 5 3 6 :
3 4 3 6 : gods
B
A
ances t or wors hi p and 3 6
Si t e of N e b o s t m
ple a t 3 Th St ages of t h CA NN I N G S R ST RA T O RD Si
S e v en Sp h eres
t h wonder of
H enry L yard assis t ed by in
hi exca v a tions t N im r ud 3 4
4 c h ief sea t o f N e b o s wor
s h ip 8 4
CA R I C O RNU S SI G N O F S
B O TT A
M
Arch ologi cal
goddess S bit and 8 3
searc h es t N ine v e h 46 ; CAP T I V I T T
BA
L O N IA N
F renc h C ons l a t Mos l ; h
3
3 3
exca v a t ions in Mesopo t am ia CA R A V A N Th s t or y of t h m iss
ing
85
88
B R I T IS H
MU S E U M
B ricks in
C H E MIS H W ors hip of H
C
con t a in ing Ass r b ani pal s
dad ex t ended fro m t E do m
h
89
35 7
54
SS
9 ;
o b elise of Sh al m aneser I I CA R T H A G E D ido t h res id ing
dei t y of 9 ; B a al H a mm an
3 43
10
ea io
EL
ER
se rva
1 1
Y B L US
o,
1 12
ca e
re
22
re
s or
-B
2 20
a e
a sso
I SK
1 1
1 1
i su
ao
us
I Rs
HE
IT
E T,
1 0
B Y SES .
a rSl S
O R SI P P
is
21
es i
AR
388
1D ,
BY
re
ea
HE
Y,
re
'
10
22
'
10
se a TC
is
2 1
I L -Y
2 2
20
AL
ou
2 1
12
,
EL -
is
is
c eus
MYT H S O F B AB YL ONI A AN D A SSY RIA

D A G O N God At g t
wor DE A D Th doct rin of min is
s h pped nder t h nam e of
t erin g t o 8
oft en left
n b ried in B a bylon ia 6 9 ;
5
5 ; an
7 ; a h god
Am ori t e dei t y 3 5
a tt i t de of B r m ese t 6 9 ;
D A M AS O n of t h t wo e n ch s
C an ani t es and c l t o f t h
3 6 ; Pers ians nd t h e ir 3 3 6 ;
p p m t d t o wa t c h R h d n
Parsis and t h eir 3 36 ; H o s
and S n ni 5 7
las t of t h
Th
of t h
a t Nipp r 3 6
DAM AS C I U
N eopla t on is t s 7 ; a t h or of DELL A V A LLE P I ET R O Cunei
nd S l t n
form wri t ing and 6
D bt
f th F t
P m mp l
DEL P H I W ors h ppers o f Apollo
73
W orship of H adad
send o fferin gs t o 3 3
D AM AS C U S
accoun t
a t nder na m e of Rim m on DEL U G E TH B
u
of 4 45 reference t o acco n t
8 9 ; wors h p of R am m an in
of in G lg m h Ep i 4 ;
analogies W i th F lood My th 45
D A M R U On of t h lesser B a b y
lonian gods 9
4 6 ; B a b ylonian and H e b rew
DAN I
B a b ylon ian appella
s t ory of h a v e a com m on orig n
t ion B el t es h azzar 3 7 ; N e b
4 5 3 3 ; m yt h of
73
refugees sa ed from
and 3 7 4 ; Sh
h d
78 ;
E
drach Mesh ac h and A b ednego
t
5
com panions of 3 8 ; reference DE M ETE R T anit co m pared w it h
a cor p t ed s t ory of t h
t
33
del v erance of t h t h ree H e b rew DE MO N O L OG
Of
B a b ylon ia
princes recorded by 5 3 B ook
and Assyria 5 7 8 8
of 97 ; t h wors h ip of B l and DE MO N S Many B a bylon ian gods
8
e vol v ed
6 8 ; B by l
m
9
D A O N Th s h ep h erd king of
n ian described 76 78
P nt b b l n
DE S T I N M mm t um t h m ake
K ng
or D A
of
NU
DA
of 73 I Zn and t h T a ble ts
d B
B by l m
Li F a il t h
of
93
7
95 ; t h
ind p n d
B by l m
St one of reference t o
D AR I U S
48
ence reco v ered af t er dea t h of DE I L
Possession by 6
defea t ed a t Arb ela 3 7 8
Goddess 3 5 3 9
D A NA
4
D A I D R ese m b lances b t ween D B A RR A
A v ar an t of N er
H dad D ada Dido and 8 9
gal 6 a B a bylon ian deit y
v arian t s Dod Dodo 9
placed in t h Assyrian pan
9
t h eon 9
B elos
DAw KI N A
( B l Mero
dac h ) t h son of E a and 73 ; D
Rese m blances
be tw een
sa v ed from t h del ge 5 ;
H adad D ada Da id nd
Is h t ar iden t i ed W i t h 7 3 7
8 99 ; Q een of C art h ge
consort of E a 97
T ani t iden t i ed wit h
3 9
MO R G A N U near t h m on u
D
S3
t S sa
D
V arian t of B e l s
m en t of N aran S n
4
cop y of Kh amm ra bi s D I I N A T I O N Prac tice of by
7
code fo nd by
B a b ylon ians
and Assyrians
88
E RN E S T F renc h
SAR
8
Sh m as h H adad and
D
ice cons l a t B asra ; diori t e
Rim m on
lords of
83 ;
s t a t es of G dea ( 7
P h en icians b elief in 3 9
)
fo nd by 47 ; exca v a t ions of D I V I N I T I E S T RI A L Th m os t
t
a t T ello 3 5 5 3 5 6 ; D
o t s t anding 94
n Ch ld
reference t
D I V S Arc h de m ons and d mon
p
S.
s o
zrs
E.
c .,
1 1
Y.
i:o
12
22
1 1
IS
1 1
00
B C
.
c ou oer es
ar ,
39
2 1
Z E C,
356
I Do.
10
1 2
S.
I-
e r o ss u s ,
vz e
a,
Y.
1 1 2
os.
1 01
a, e
ru
1 12
c,
r e z za r
es
22
EL
e ro ss
2-
2 20
e,
u e
es ,
o,
o u io
s a
ou
es
s,
a us
ar
o,
334
s,
G L OSSA RY AN D I NDE X
or Do no S Da vid ; wor
s hi p of by t h side of Y a h v e h
9
D
Th
in B a b ylon ia ; v e
h o nds of Ass r b an i
pal 9
legend of a 9 9
9
D RA GO N T
and 7
B l
Ch na and 8 ; in E g yp t i t
i
serpent Ap p 8 ; in
th
India t h serp n t V t (Ah )
8 ; in A t
and in par t s
h
of N Am erica a grea t frog 8
B eow lf and 8 ; F ffn
and
8 ; legend of B l and in t h
A p ocryp h 97 ; Merodach s
86 ;
in Z oroas t er s rel
th
337
8
DREAM
N b h d
nd
Daniel 3 74 ; of Gyges King
of L y d a 3 3 3
D U MU
A con t rac t ion of D
m
aps ; nam e of T m
de v ed from 6
m
D UN G I G dea v assal of t h
t h one of 9
DY N AS TY Th Firs t of B a b y
lon
a Kassi t e fo nded
;
Firs t of
b y Kan d is
; th
Ur
and an
; Kh m b b
E lam i t e
reference t o
66 ;
Kassi t e 48 t h H a m m ra bi
Sele cida
and t h
3 5 ; th
DO D
ee
OG- s .
e,
HE
e
,
0,
us r a
ri
ra
ir
a,
e,
1 0I1 .
-S .
ZI
02
ri
2 1
2 1
1 01
12
u ~zi -
uz
re z z a r s , a
uc
a,
Ars a CI d ae
333
6
a byss
fa th er of
I
Gree k
Merodac h
9
na m e O annes I
n t
t ons t end ng t o h m anize m n
k nd
wri t ngs of
3 ;
m yth
crea t on of
world and 5 ; v arian t Nin
gal
6 ;
v arian t En k i
6 ;
6 ;
Adapa son of
Dagon ( Dagan ) sa m e as 5
6
5
7 ; Ut N p i h t m
in
ins t r c t ed b y
76 ;
74
la t er tim es 9 93 D w k in
consor t of 97 iden t ed W i th
a s t ar in t h cons t ella tion
Argo 3 6 : eclipses and 5 5 ;
de m ons and na m e of 6 3 ;
9
g azelles nd
EA B A N I
Goddess Ar ru and
86
t em ple m aiden Ukh t and
t yp i es prim i t i v e
63
9
m n in Gilga m es h epic
55
6 ; t h m ons t er Kh m
59
sl n b y wra t h
b a b a and
58
of Is h t ar 5 8 S h ade of
appears t Gilgam es h 6
a sor t of sa t yr 6 3 t h
63
6 4 ; G lg
b eg iling of
dea t h
6 4 6 6 ;
m es h m ee t s
of 7 ; Gilgam es h la m en t s
gh os t of designa t ed
79 ;
t kk
8
EA G LE Sy m bol of Ki
th
6
B a b ylonian fa b le
9
98
E
L UR Goddess ; m algam a t ed
t m
86
W i th Z p
E A NN A
T e m ple of a t E rec h
5
E A NN A T U M
Sh a m as h
rs t
m en t ioned in reign of
9 ;
s t ele of v l t res erec t ed b y
d sco v ered by de S
355
EA R T H
Th
k
th
An
spi i t s of 9
m o t h er wor
s h ip of 3 8 3 9
E B A BB A R A
Th
s h in ing
h o se ;
n m e of Sh m as h s
sanc t a y 9 49
E
T A N A Cy
th S y
t h ian k ing of 3
E C L I PS E T error of t o B a b y
lonians 5 5 5 6 ; t h fa t al in
c se of As r Dan I l l 3 73 9
1 1 I
I1
1 1
1 1
1 12,
1 1
a-
1 1
21
2 1
u,
a ru
ia
u,
1 02
a,
12
ai
u u
u,
s,
ani
10
a rze c ,
nuna
BA
10
a x a re s ,
i,
or O AN N E S Th B a b y
lo ian god of lig h t and W isdo m
4 ;
4 ; h eld sway a t E r d
legenda y fa t h er f Se m ira m is
5 ; so rce of all t h ngs and
m o t h er
n)
(Z g
7 : Aps
of 7 ; v arian t N d m m d
7 3 2 T w t h and 7 6 ; Mero
dac h and 7 9 ; displaced
poli t ically b y Merodac h 8 6
99 ; na m e of Jona h m y b
co m pared W i t h t h a t of 8 7 ;
h for m
of 93 ; t h god
of t h d eep 93 ; E rid C i t y
th
;
of 94 ; t e m ple of
god of t h wa t ers and of t h
A,
1 1
ar
1 1
re
re
s r uc
su
39I

K GAL
Th
E D OM W ors hi p of H adad ex ER
( All t )
t ended from C arc h em is h t o 8 9
m s t ress of H ades
9
E G
N NO
c ivili
H o se of t h
B a b ylon i n
ER
T o m b ; t h t e m ple t ower of
ti on gro ped ro und 4 ; t h
Nipp r 3 6
th
h o m e of E a or Oannes
EG T
Se m ti c imm igran t s in
god of l igh t and wisdo m 4 ;
U r near ne igh bo r of 5 ;
5 ; con q ered by Se m ram is
6 ;
E ar h ddon wars W i t h
c l t re of nd B a bylon 5 ;
e m ana t ed
m ag ical
h y mns
3 ; N e b c h adre zar i n ades
fro m 6 8 ; wor h ippers of B
3 7 3 C l t of Is h t ar in
4 ;
Sem iti c re l g on in 3 3
a t 7 ; t e m pl of E a t
t i n in 3 3 9
th
del ge and 6 s pre m
E KUR
Th t e m ple of 48
acy of passes t o B ab ylon 99
53
t e m ples of E S g l and 49
Merodac h origina t ed t
E L A M I TE S N ort h ern Mesopo E S I L A N b m d and t h
t am ia and o v ercom e by Sargon
pries t s of 4 N eb o s S h rine
85 ;
yoke of t h rown ff b y
in t e m ple of
E Z ila
7
K h am m ra bi
n m e of
nam e of Merodach s t em ple a t
;
Kh m b b
arg es enm i t y
B a b ylon
t em ples of E
;
b e t ween B a b ylon and
66 ;
K
and 49 t em ple of 5
Ass r b ani pal and gods of
3 6 8 3 74 3 75
th
E SA
T ower i B a by lon
4 ; v o t i e o b j ec t from
48
4 7 3 74 3 75
E B U GAT
F eas t of 3 4
E SA R H A D D O N S n of Senna
E I S SA
h
D do confo nded w it h
b 3
Ass r b ani pal
d d as King of Assyria 3 4
9
Eloh m
m os t
T er m e m ployed in
Is h t ar and
th
Genesis 3 7
of t h Ass y rian kings
hk
bl
EN K
Varian t of E a 6
palace b il t b y
3 7 ;
3 6
EN LI L
Th god
t e m ple of
near t h ed by L ayard 3 43
4
near th ed 4 7 ; Merodac h and E MUN Th god of force and
84
earlier na m e of B l 95
h ealing 3 8 3 3
E MU N M
H
Ph eni ci n
97 ; a god of v ege t a tion 96 ;
co m binat on 3 8
sy mbol of W inged b ll p
sen ts 97 word lil s ign i es
ES T H E R Is h t ar and 4 4
B ook of w h y writt en
de m on 97 ; B el tis ( N in lil)
44
W ife of
H adad rese m b led
4 ; e q i v alen t Is h t ar
4 ;
8 8 ; R a m m an son of
L ang on s t ory of 4
;
43 ;
X erxes
and 43 ; v ar an t
t e m ple of E Ku sacred t o 48
H adassah 43 ; Dr Jas t row
EN MAS H T I N a m e of N inib t rans
on B ook of 43
la t ed b y C anaan it es 3 6
E N O C H B OO K O F Q o t ed 94 E A N A Th legend of 95
E
E T H C S B ab ylon ian nd Assy ian
S n of Se t h
3
E H
U
Pa t on ss of nd
D iana 3 5
ET H N O L OG I C A D I FF E RE N CE S B
E
P H A N I U H is all ega ti ons
tw een t h peoples i t h
N m rod 49
nort h ern and so th ern c ul t re
E R EC H Part of N m rod s k ng
gro ps 3
E U P H R A TE S
d m 49 ; t e m ple of 8 ; Di
Ri v er
77 3 6 8
6
B ridge 3 75
b arra pl nders
9 ; cen t re
369 ;
of Is h t ar s c l t 4 Gilgam es h EU R A TE S T I G R IS V lley
pr nce of 5 4 ; t em ple of I h
C i l iza t ion of in enced Semi
t ar t 48
t i eld 9
I G- U
YP
20
20
e,
ur
1 1
SH
1 01
EL K A R T
N os .
E s-
S.
'
10
20
10
1 2
PH
vi
s.
2,
P -I -
T-
re
12
a s,
392
22 1
re
2 1 2
SH
re
s uc
ea
e ri
cee
0,
G I LA .
2 oo
2 00
us
1 1 1
AG
1 1
i a
exca
1 2
za
va
I- D U .
1 2
a u
I-
E SH -
MYT H S O F B A B YLONI A AND A SSYRIA

perp t l li fe 73 8 ; Adad
m oon god
o f U r 4549 :
E and
Dagon a h 5 5
6
78
79
G
G A M E S H EPI C THE Acco n t
7 3 5 ; Ni ig or Enu R
t
of del ge in reference t o 4 ;
Gilg m es h
n
53 ;
E b ni
one of t h grea t es t l it erary
a un
57 ;
59 ;
L a t er Pan t h eon of B ab yloni a
prod c t ions of anc ien t B a b y
8 498 ; N e b o
84 86 3 6 ;
lonia 5 48 3 ; Is h t ar in 3
R am m an
8 7 8 9
CIR SU
B el ti s sanc t ary a t
95
7
U
Gil
G
AR or I Z D U B A R
3 5 ; H adad or Adad
8
m
h
i
a un
pro
v
s
i
onal
na
m
e
6
3 5 ; B aal
7 9
g
5
89 3 7
D ada Dido
G IS H ZI D A On of t h g ardi ans
3 8 ;
Dodo 8 99 ; Zn a s t orm
of t h ga t es of h ea v en 8
G O A T S Gazell e and gods 9 94

93
95 ; Merodac h origi na ll y
a n 99 ; t h great of
E a O annes 4 5 7
G
Assyr
a
6
8
6
8
9 ; Ass h r 94
5
73 7
79
7 93 94
6
6
N in h war god
6
4
9 ; En l l
4
h
and
n
t
er
8
u
B
6
I
O
I
a
y
b
95 97
47
4
3 6 ;
4
th
m oon
8
lonian k ngs t h direc t ce
94
9
7
8
N sku 4
geren t s of t h on ear t h 7 ;
3
4 ;
Gi b il t h
B a b ylon ian Merodac h 4
5 ;
5 ;
47
B l Merodac h
8
6
8
8 4 8 6 93 94
6
5 ; prisoner
5
7 8
6 ; B e li t all ded t o as
6
8
8
5
9
;
99
3
4
Mo t h er of t h G r a t
8
B l
B a b ylon ian
un
4
procession
ill s t ra t ion
6
h
h
i
ir
t
of
t
b
t
h
9
97
7
8 7 ; T w t h Aps u and Mum
3 id g p h t h sa m efor s t r
nd
plane t s iden t i ed
m
t rini t y of 7 4 ; H or s
34 ;
w it h 3 5 2 N a bu nd Merodach
reference t o 7 5 ; King ; Tia
8 ; D ib b
wa t h and 7 5 ; Merodach t h
9 ; D mku
Il
and Sh
crea t or of t h 8 Se m i t es and
m ny
9;
B a b ylonian e v ol v ed fro m de
89 ;
spi i t s and in ancien t
B a b ylonia 8 9
m ons
6 8 ; gazell e
Anu m os t
nd goa t
9
ancien t of B a b ylon ian 9
9
94 H ellen ic d p r t m en t l
depart m en t l c h rac t er
97
98
3 5 ;
3
7 ; in v oked b y
i t
Assyr an k ings 9 ; Kis t h
of t h of B a bylon ia and
n
nder n m l
Assy ia 3 5 3 6 ; g neral e q i
93
94 ;
form s 9 93 ; t h grea t 93
v alen t l sed by C naani t es
8
and H e b rews 3 5 3 6 of lig h t
94
5 3 ; S n m oon
9
t
r
al
i
b
d
U
of t h t ni i n
m
t
94
3 5
7
3 5
pan t h eon t h a t h eld sway prior
C an an it
3 7 3 9 R es h ep h
t o Kh am m rabi 94 95 ; de
3 6
3 8 ; M lk t h o f T yre
A h t t 3 6 3 7 33 :
scrip t ion of B l 96 a t ri n it y of
3 7 ;
E h m n god of vi t al force 3 8
( B l E a and Ann) 97 ; Si bi
8 ; Sh a m as h
th
Moloc h 3 8 ; C ar t h agin ian M
n
4
87
loc h 3 3 ; P t h
m ons t er
94
9
3
3 5 ;
N ergal 8 94
6
5
3 3 ; Illa t
3 3 ; Sakon
33 ;
8
T p h n 33
of B a b ylon m ore
5
35 3 6 3 8 3 9 ;
Adapa 6 ; Is h t ar 3
dign i ed t h an t h ose of t h
n god of E id
Greeks or N orse m en 3 3 8 ; t h
44 T m m
6 4 4 ;
Is h t ar and Perse
T
w ilig h t of t h 3 7 7 3 8
p h one 3 3 5 ; N in G
G O DD E SS
Is h tar 8 94
44 5 8 6 5
B
Pap s k al
44 ;
44 ;
m essenger of t h
G
68
I h
3 ;
76
4 3 6 ;
t um d g
N annar t h
t
a gene ic designa t ion for
45 ;
ua
IL
u,
2 1
2,
21
su
es
I S- D H
a
es
OD - S .
.
1 1 1
1 1
2 1
10
0,
10
i v
1 2
10
0,
1 2
2 22,
2,
1 1
22
10
ar .
au,
a ec
us , a
u,
E s.
ar
2 1 1
r
2 1
i r su ,
1 2
e,
e,
e,
s,
sa
c a
ar
10
394
su
1 21
u z , su
u
,
ru ,
i e s,
e,
s ics
10
22
2- 2
0, 1 2 1
22
u,
a rr u -
2,
a rra ,
see
22
2 1
22
22
ra
eo
22
0,
22
re
22
1 2
21
10
su
22
22
22
e,
2 1 1
e,
22
22
2 02
20
20
0,
ia
1 2
1 2
u,
Vi
2 1
e,
1 0
0,
su
1 02
22
21
or
1 1
222,
1 01
21
1 01
G LO SS A RY AND I N DEX
N
V a ri a n t
of E st h er
43
bele
ot er
HA D E S D esce nt of Is h t r i nto
ot er of L g s
8 3
B is h k g l
lie for of
9
(Al l t ) m istress of
I nn n
HA L L A
tem p le t
B lur
87
lg te it
HA M A N Th Book of E s t h er n d
I
or Ni i
ccep te d i d e ntity W it h
4
ors
of
H m m n or H m m n
4
gre t ot er
HA MM UR A B I D y n sty 3 5
H
C rt h g ni n h ero
st r e
T it
l s n m e n 33
33
33 ; B
m oo n
R bb t U mm
HA O MA
Dep os te d n t h
33 ;
celesti l m ou n t i n 3 3 5
3 3 ; T ni t 3 3
G R AI N G
Ne bo
N
86
HA
Abr m s y ou ngest
G R EECE C lt of Is h t r in 4
brot h er 5
G R EE K S B b y lo ni ru le d o er H AR R A N A ce ntre of lu n r
by 3 7 8
d or tio n
83
5
GR
ND
GE O R G C un e i for m H A RU B A L C rt h gi ni n h ero
w iting nd 6
B l s n me n 33
64
G U B A RR A
Pr yer nd g d 6 8 HA U G D R T r n sl tor of t h
GU DE A
A v ss l of t h t h o ne
C at h as 3 3 3
of D u ngi 9 ; h g h p r i est of HA Y N E S E c v t ons of t
Ni p p ur 3 6 3 6 6
L g s h 9 ; h i bu l d i ng nd
rc h tectur l b ili ty 9 47 ; HA Y N E S M J H Se nt n 8 8 9
to e c te t N p p 4 7
d ior i t
st tues of found b y d
H E A V E N Th I g g t h s p i i ts
S
4 7 ; B n llu d e d to n
of g
nscri p t i o ns
of 44 ;
ncie n t
ser
Sym bol ; t h
by 8 7 H E B R E W
w ors h p of I n u n
for m isch ef 8 5
Nm
f our te of 5
p e nt t h
g
Rel g o n B by l m n n ue n e
nd
83
d
h e p tosco p y
u p on 3 3
nd 3 5 5
S
os co
R i tu l nd
H
A
G U L A C o sort of N i ni b 6
8
88
r
ctice
of
G Y G E S K n g of L y d i ; Assur
p
M lk t h e q u te d
b ni p l nd 3 3 3 G orge H
W it h 3 8
eries 3 5
d s
Sm t h
LE S Refere nce to 8 7
H
U
St te m e nts of
H
m
8
e
ir
is
ccou
S
m
nt of
;
H
te m p le of Bel
3 ; m
custo m s n B bylo ni
A p ro p h et nt to
A U
HA
g
refere nce
d escri b e d by
fee d D iel
;
3
t
HA D A D or A D A D R mm n or
3 6 7 3 74
I A H Ki ng of Ju d h
Ri mm o n i d e nt e d W it h 8 7 H
rese m b l nces b et w ee n
3 7 ; Se nn c h e ib s c mp ig n
3
9 ;
g i st 3 ; p r ise of su g b y
D ad D i d o D i d nd 8 9
Byro n n h H b w M l d 3
l 89
t h su p re m e B
9
R A PO L
Me m or ls of
II
C n nitis h g d 3 5
d t
Se m ir m is p reser
HA DAD N
Pl ce d n
7
P R O F E SS O R An
t h ro ne of B b ylo n by Assur H R
A
n l g t
h
l
k
l
n
i
ls
Assy
i
ert
t
n
357
3 45
p
y
3
p
m o n c h Bel ku d ur uzur
363
36
3
a na a n d An uni t , 1 2 4 ;
4:
Sa m k h a t
of
j o y , 1 3 1 ; Cy
the m
h
B au,
I 32 ;
,
m h
a a h,
I 44 , 1 4 5
G a - t u m d ug , a l
d
m
B a n, I 4 5 ;
A za l u, 1 491 5 1 ;
Sa b i t u, a se a
1 72 ;
a
,
a ma
am a
d W h Z a r p a ni t u m ,
1 86 ;
mna h a
nn , 1 8 7 ;
D a w ki na ,
hi p
1 97 ;
w
a m
h , 3 1 8 , 3 1 9 Ta nit h ,
3 2 8 : As h t a rt , 3 2 6 , 3 2 7 , 3 2 8 ;
I sis ( A a t ) , 3 2 8 ;
t he
an
,
1 2
H AD
A s s AH
1 2
a u
0,
i r su
ar z e c
'
s. 1
a i
ur ,
z z
E P
-
21
PY .
L R Ac L ES
22
e,
re ,
av a
2 1
co v
02
0-
av
0,
a r ze c ,
'
aa
aa
1 2
'
S D
A N N i B AL
a s
O TE F E
R A
BI.
1 2
a,
as , 1
OD
ar
E R CU-
ER O D or -
BB
C-
an
EZ E X
aa
aa
ar
a n
i E
-
is
is
re
e o
i es,
ex
o o
ia
ve
ss
E CH T,
r a
'
ILP
a Z i r-
12
A D i N- Ax iii
ar
o,
av
10
a,
o.
re
re
1 01
I oo
ri a
se
is
0-
395
MYTH S O F B AB YLO NIA AND AS S Y RIA

Go d d ess ; f m e of
H I N K S R E D W A RD L ngu ge I H A
Se m i r m is m i ngle d w i t h t h t
fou nd t Persep ol s d eci p h ere d
of t h 8 g o d d ess of N eve h
by 6 5
court of Z m m nd
Th
E gyp t i n g d of
H RU
94
w i t nesses p lu nd er of E rech
l gh t T w t h rem i nd s of 7 5
by D b
6
bot h
H O US E
N O R U N E qu
7
s i gu i
m le
v lent H d es 6
nd fe m le
;
f c n ce
ge ner i c d
H U I T Z I L OPO C H TL I ( p ro n H w t
3
44 ;
S ign t i o n for go d d ess
il
Refere nce to
4 ;
p t h tl )
e q u le nt s As h terot h or As
44
t rte 4 3 7 ; cult of Ap h
H UR A AN
Th storm g d
1
d i te beg n in t h t of
l d d t in t h P p l V k 97
4 ;
E st h er nd
H YMN
T o A d r 6 8 to Ne b o
4
44 ;
4
i d e t i e d w i th Ve nus 4 3 5
69
to Nusku 6 9 m g c l
i d e nt i e d W it h Nin l i l 4 t h
e m n te d from E ri d u 6 8
Akk d n n w h i ch T m m uz
co nsort of Assh ur 5 d esce nt
i s dd resse d 6 ; of Kh m
i nto H d es of 5 6 ; w
to R m m n
go d d ess 7 3 4 co sort
m
bi
9
of T m m uz 7 ; co nsort of
M ero d c h nd Assur
7 ;
I
i d e nt i e d W h D w k in 3 7 ;
I AM Li nu
Aut h or of B by
go d d ess of veget t i o n 3 7
l m
56
3 8 ; sl y s E b ni
5 8 ; Ir
I D O L A T R Y L e ge nd orig i n of
ni n
for m of 6 5 1 love of
6
L
b
s
i
ges
n
6
68
m
for Gilg m es h 6 7 6 8 : An
;
3
en 9
I g i g TH
Sp i rits of h e
f t h er of 6 8 An t m ot h er
I
S U D A ( Gr s p er ) Atte nd nt
of 6 8 ; L dy of t h Go d s
h ou nd of M ero d c h
6
Assyr
i
s
n
d
n
7 ;
4;
I A B RAT
M ni ster of An
Assur n z i r p l nd 4 ; n
7
ILL A T C rt h g i ni n d eit y 3 3
fusion betw ee n Bel i t nd 8
I
Atte nd n t
U
A p h ro d i te nd co nnecte d 3 5
( H ol d er )
h ou nd of Mero d c h
s i t h m ont h s cre d to 3 6 ;
I M AGE
St rs nd
te m p le of E nn d e d i c te d to
33
C i t y of 3 5 4
I M R
B
m g i c nd
v r i nt
5
58
I N C A N T A T I O N O F E R I DU Th
A h t t 3 6 3 7 3 3 ; gre t
cere m o ny of t h 7
g te of d i scovere d by Dr Kol
I ND I A N Se m ir m i s m kes w
d e w ey 3 7
K g of 6 7 I S H U M Atte nd nt of D i b
b b t
n St
follow ers of Z r t h ustr d to
6 8
of 3 3 4 ; I s s O s i ri s nd 3 3 j ourney
d esce nd n ts t h P
Ar uc i n of C h le 3 3 6
to Ast rte 3 8
Th p lot of E r d u
IN
H
I S R A EL I TE S W ors h i p of Do d o or
5
M A O N C i ty of 8
IN M
D d by t h s i d e of Y h e h b y
O f Sh l m neser
I N S CR I P TI O N
th
9
I 3 5 of T k lt i m nip 3 5
I Y A R Th second m o n t h s cre d
L A Th bo d e of ; t h
to E 3 6
I K
8
69
I DU B A R or G
h ouse of d rkness
H
Pro
I R N I N A A for m of Is h t r 6 5
vi s i o n l n m e of G i lg m es h 5 6
I s AI A H Jerus le m d escri be d by
refere nce to S rgo n s
9
J
p dit i n g i n st As h d o d m n
J A C OB L b n nd 6 7
t i n d by 3 5
NU
Ur s cou nsell or 6 9
K ng of J u
I
J HO IA K I M
EV .
R.
S.
ee
o c
o-
ee
S.
I2
ro
1 2
ia
u ra
2 1
220
1 2
1 2
21
-c
s.
re
1 2
a,
'
r,
av
L-
EL
2 02
S.
ra
a e s,
an a
ES
in
AL -
SE
3 96
at t a ,
U B AR .
ISD
ex
e
a, 2
as
e, 1
10
1 2
22
10
co
1 1
10
S.
21
a rsrs
A R-
2 1
ar
ar
a a
ro
e, 2
2 1 1
S.
L I E H
u, 1 1
a u
2 02
ar
1 2
ca,
21
1 2
1 2
1 2
I2
1 2
1 2
12
1 1 1
iva
K-
12
a a
10
10
ar ra ,
I2
1 01
EI
2 1 2
or
ia
in
e, 2
'
er
sa
MYTH S
W orl d
O F B AB YLO NIA AND
etc Sem i
etc
r m i s 9 ; of A s y r i T g l t h
II I 9 ; of Assy
p l
Sh lm neser IV 3 ; of Ju d h
H ezek i h 3 3 7 ; of Assyr
Se nn c h er b 3 ; of Ass y r
E s r h dd n 3 3 6 3 7
of
Ass
i
Assur
;
3 43 3 5
y
b ni p l
( S r d n p lus )
3
3
3
3 6 3 46 ; of Ass y
A h u b n p l 3 3 ; of Ass y i
Sin
sk n 3 6 ; f E b
t n Cy
3 6 ; of B by
o
n
i
N ebuc h d rezz r I I 3 6
l
of B by lon
4
47
4
N b nd
C y rus
49 ;
4
f B bylo n
t h Pers i n 4
C m by ses 4
Ale nd er t h
Gre t 4 ; of Ch l d e N m
d 5
R mm nn
I 9 ;
of Persi C y rus 98 ; D o n
s h e p h erd of P nt ib b l n
th
X er es
of
Persi
;
4
of B byloni S k k
57 ;
of B bylo n M h Shik h u 8 7 ;
th
Mo bite
Mes h 9 ; of
As h d o dAzu
of
;
B by lo ni
soot h s y ers
nd
6 ; t les of B b y lo ni n
nd
Assy n
N bu
99 3
U b Ki ng of S
p nu 3
Gyges Ki ng of Ly d 3 ;
T gl t h p l
11
99 3
of Assy r Assur D n III 3 8 ;
of Ass y ri A d d N r r I V
ro y l d y 3 9
;
3 8 ;
3
of Ass y U Gur 3 5 9 3 6 6 ;
of A sy U Ni nib 3 6 6
K I N G U G d ; onl y h usb nd
of T w t h 7 5 ; bou nd by
Mero d ch 7 8 ;
n of T
w th
94
K
Th
B by loni n un g d
K AR
G d ; b i rt h of 7
K O L D E W EY D R Ge m n
356
3 6 7 ; gre t g te
pl
of Is h t r d isco ere d by 3 7 ;
te m p le f E S g l nd 3 74 3 7 5
K m l g
Je ns n s 6
K U Y UN J
M Bott
nd
m ou nd
of 3 3 9 ; L y d
se rch es in m ou nd of 3 44
th e
a
'
i e se r
10
0,
xa
i rari
1 12
ia
a,
2 1 1
sa
a r ra
i e se r
ria
ia
12
so
ia
ore r ,
o o ie
i a a
IK.
ex
3 98
a a i
os
01
ri a
i s
02
00
ia,
ia
15
12
i,
2 1 0,
a,
t i,
a ros ,
ri a
ia
us,
a x a re s ,
0,
r a
t on s
-
CAN
UL -
g od
ex
Ra ssam
35 1
at , 3 54 35 5
v a t i on s
K UK
at ,
'
s exca
Reference
the
to
224
21
ar
ri a
sa r -i
ro
3 45 ;
ia
r a
01
ia
O,
ri a
A SS Y RIA
G orge Sm i t h
c v
s
,
LA B A N J a cob and 2 6 7
LA B A R T U Th e ha g d e m on
77
LA D Y O F T H E G O D S
76
LA G AS H
2 71
Is h t r
he,
T el lo
o e
Th e m d rn
S m
m n m
m 16
the pr
e rl est e i te
o u e nts
com e fro
i ests of
bec m e k ngs 6
Gu d e
h ig h p r i est of
9 355 ; B u
m ot h er of
45
LA H A ME G d ; b i rt h f 7
LA H M U G d ; b rth of 7
L A M AS S U
A s p i r i t of S i m l r
typ e to t h Se d u 77
LA M E N T A T I O N
F or T mm u
4 ; R i tu ls
53
55
LA N G U A G E Th Akk d i n 3
B b y lo ni n p r est h oo d p
4
serve d id A kk d n tongue
s cre d 4 Sum er ns
borro w e d from i ch Sem it i c
tongue 5 cu ne i fo m w i t n g
6
66
W r t ng ; Me d n
6 5 ; Sus n 6 5 ; Ass y ri n 6 5 ;
L ng p
tr nsl t i on of As
sy i n 6 6 ; of B by loni nd
Ass y i com p re d 5
LA R SA Sh m sh w ors h i p p e d t
Kh m m ur b i s im p rove
9
m e nts t
87
LA Y A RD Si H E NR Y Assur
b ni p l s l br ry t N neveh
nd
rc h ologi c l
3 5 46
se rch es t N neve h 46 5 5
rese rch es of t
3 44
3 46 ;
N m d 34 34
3 44 3 46
L E G E ND
Je w s h Abr m nd
Ni m ro d 5 Pers i n Abr m
nd
Ni m ro d 5 5 3 ; t h
cre t on 93 95 ; of E t n
of t h or gi n of st r
95 ;
of U
w ors hip
th
3
6 8 7 ; of
d g
9
9
n of cre tio n
C th
94
96
i
'
i a
S.
ia
re
z,
as
ia
see
e ri e r s
10
re
0,
s.
re
aa
re
2,
e,
a,
a i
ae
'
20
r a,
ia
r a
i i
ra ,
2
-
G LO SS A RY AN D I NDEX
H ebre w and Assy
M A K L U A ser es of
L E N O RMAN T
oe t y nd 3
I G N O F Rec lls t h sl y
L
8
ng of K h m b b
L ETTE R
F r nke d b y cl y se ls
be r n g n m e of S rgo n 8
L E V I E H A Th B p h o m et
go t nd 93
Th
Sto n e of
FAI L T
L
Desti ny ; ref re nce to 48
LI B R A R Y Assur b ni p l s 3 5 46
8
te mp le
6
3 46 ; t h
7
in T blet H ill 3 6 3
LI GH T Mero d c h nd Ti w t h
nd t h
p r m l st ife bet w ee n
d r k ness nd 7 9
LI TE R A T UR E
B b y lo ni n rt
u nd er Kh m m ur bi t h
nd
nd
Gre t
; Assur b ni p l
B b y lo ni n 3 5 ; s cre d of
69
B b y lo ni 6 7
LI V E R R E A D I N G By p ri ests 8
83
W I LL I A M KE NN ET S
L
U
cessor of M H m d R m
L O K I G d of re ; Nerg l n t
6
nh k
Storm b i r d g d
LU A BAN D A
l ke Prom et h eus 93
Z U GG I SI Ki ng of E r c h
LU
f m ous t t of fou nd by H il
p rec h t 3 66
r an
p
S
EO,
22
LIP
HE
IA
a,
a i
,
20
a,
OF I
S,
e,
Io
L-
a ssa
uz
or
uc
G AL
ex
kn o w n
Ma m
M
M AA T Refere nce to
M A G I Co nfou nd e d b y Z oro ster
3 33
M A G I C A L T E T S D w k n llu
d d to in t h
97 ; A nn m n
of B b ylo ni
n
n d
t
98 ;
88
llu d e d
nd Assyr
57
6 7 ; Circle
66
in Bi b le
t
th
76
75
M A G I C IA N
Th w or d of p o w er
E
63
t h gre t of t h
nd
go d s 6 8
M A HOM ET AN B p h om et cor
ru p t o n of 93 co nq uest 3 3 3
Je w is h r bb i
MAI M N
f e nd of A erroes ; h
m
hn h
m e nt r y n t h M
3
.
222
a,
i D ES
-
e, 2
i a, 2
is
ri
zsc
co
61
as , 2
Eq u
e ts
boo
x
le nt for t
78
M M M ET U M Th m ker of d
ti ny 7 3
M K I N D C re t i o n of by M ero
d ch
8
8
go d d ess Aruru
ssists in t h cre t o n of 8
86
h u m n izi n g of
3
M A R A Z I O N S g n n Sem it i c
H ill by t h S 3 3
MAR C H E S H U A N
Mero d c h s
m o nt h
5
M A R D U K S Mero d c h 75
M A RR IA G E C ustom s in B b y
lo ni 3
M A R S I d e nti e d w i t h Nerg l
35
M AS H U Th Mou nt i n of S n
set 7
M
A
On
of t h s p i ri tu l
p o w ers in Z oro ster s religio n
337
MEC C A Refere nce t t h cele
b t d K
b ( te m p le ) t 5
ME D E Z oro ster 3 3 3
ME D I A Su b d u d b y Ni nus 5
ME D I C I N E E g d of 9
M
I D D O Th C n nitis h for
tress f 8 9
M LI LI
Q uee n ; w i fe of
B n ni 8 ;
Mot h er of t h
m o n sters
95
96
MEL I S H I P OK I I H ouses fou nd
d t i n g fro m p er i o d of 3 7 6
MEL K
V nt of Moloc h
3 8
AR
M
P h ni c i n g d of
T yre 3 7 3 8 ; w ors h p of n
C t h ge 3 3
AR
RE S H E F P h m
M
co m bi n tio n 3 8
M M A N G A B L e d er of t h m n
t
95
96
ME M PH IS Assyr i n s e nter 3
ME N K E S M O UN D 3 7 6
M
A G A V i nt of Mero
d ch
ME R C U RY I d e n ti e d w i t h N bu
35
M R
Y r n ees to
i t.
1v a
AN -
es
0,
a i
es
ea,
1 1 2
1 1
'
ee
2 00
12
a,
Az D
ra e
aa
a,
aa
a, a
EG
'
io
a ri a
TH
EL K
ar
c ra r.
s e rs , 2
oe
TH
EL K
oe
ER AO
-
ar a
2 02
oc
a a
2 1 0, 2 1 1
399

M R DAC
B b y lo ni n g d M AH Refere nce t h i t er
te m p le f 47 3 7 4 : N m
68
ph im
d i d e n t e d w i t h 5 ; p r yer
M I DD LE A G E S Th S bb t i c
nd g d
68 ;
T w th
nd
go t of t h w i tch cr ft of t h
6
8 ; cre tes m n 8 ; t h
93
7
ce ntr l gur of
M L I SH
U
B by loni n m n
p o p ul r
m yth 8 4
d i s p l ce d
rch ; Sh m s h nd 8 7
g d E
by 8 6 99 ; m y h e b ee n M h n h C omm e nt ry n t h
b ull g d 93 ; w ors hi p p e d t
3
B b ylo 94 ; Ass h ur d t i MI TA N I Provinces of conq uere d
by Sh l m neser I 3 8
d w i t h 94 ; Nebuc h d rezz r
M I T H R A R s h nu nd 3 3 7
nd
nd
6 ;
4 : Di b
for m of M A R R N
th
n me Mor d ec i
A t
un
h
th
49
4 ;
g re t fest i v l of
of M O FF L AI N E S W oo d of 93
Z km k
w ors hi p
4 ;
rst p ro m i nent in d ys of M OH A MM E D A N IS M I ni t i te d by
Kh m m ur b i 8 498 ; ssoc i
t h Sem i t i c r ce 3 3 3 3
8 4 8 6 ;
tio n w i t h Neb
M O L O C H M g i c nd 5 8 ; w
s h i p i in Ph oe ic i 3 8 w
t h C h m ber of F tes in te m p le
8 5 ; Z p nit m w i fe of
s h p f in C rt h ge
B l
f
mm o n 3 3
86
c h l d re n s c i
; su p re m cy of
9 ;
d to 3 3
r nt M r d uk 94
;
nd
M MMU T A W A T H Th p r i m v l
Sh m s h
: v r i nt s
d k
As r i S g g m
oc n 7 S M mi
Am
Mer g g
tte n M O N S TE R
M y t h ologi c l ni
nd
;
m ls nd of C h l d e
f
8 9 98
d nt h ou n d s
; usur p e d
h
d
l
d
t
i
v
s
i
o
l
ce
of
Bel
ire
B
n
n
;
9
9
;
7
p
g
p
of t h
Ju p i ter i d ent i e d
8
P t h
W it h
94
96 ;
eig h t h m o nt h rule d
w i th
33
35
over b y 3 7 ; m o t h M
MON TH
Ti t les of by B by
lo
i
s
n
n
6
belo nge d t
n
h h
3
38
5 ;
ecli p ses nd 5 6 ; d e m o ns M OO N B bylon n re li gi on nd
n m e of
6 3 ; four
nd t h
36 ; ci ty ; U r t h
49
5 ;
h e d of t h
Abr m p rob bly m oon w
d ogs of
9 ;
s h i p p er 49 ecl i p ses nd t h
B b y lo i n P nt h eon 3 77
N boni d us 3 77
56
D A C H B A AN I H ouses M OO N DE I T I E S Os i r i s
M
38
Ap h ro di te 3 8 Proserp ne
fou nd d ti ng fro m p er i o d of
8
ni c i n
P
e
As
h
toret
h
h
6
3
g
8
nn
m
N
oo
n
n
T
h
Mo
b
te
k
i
A
Nl g
3
g d of U r
g;
8
Ch em os h g d of 9
45
49 ; Sm
7
T i t 33
O
ME S H AC H
of D ni el s
3
MO R D E
Th Book of E st h e
co mp i ons 3 8
form of M rd uk
nd
El m
nd
A M A
M
4
Mero d ch 4
Nort h ern
overco m e b y
rgo n 7 ; Se mi t i c rel i g i o n M O S UL M Bott F re nch C nsul
L y d
t
rese rch e
e c v tio ns in 3 3 9 ff ;
in
339 ;
t 34
George
t h d i s p tc h e d to
3 44
M
O
T
H
E
R
E
A
R
T
H
O
f
i
i
t
i
v
m
rece
n
ese
rc
h
i
n
6
6
;
p
3
5
3
yt
h olo g i es
m
97
6
37
M E I C O Refere nc to reli gious M O T H E R G O DD E SS Th eo y 3 8
com p ou nd e d of v rious
s y stem of nc i e t 4 ; refer
3 9
t yp es 3 6
e nce to te m p les n 43
E.
o .
ia
10
IT R
uc
ES
ar
ar u
ea
us ,
a ec
ia
ne
2 2
I-
'
20
ar
'
or
0-
O.
12
an
CA - I
a r,
ES o POT
or
e,
an
e, 2
'
AL -
400
a, 2
0,
E R o-
s.
ou
ee
Sa
aa
a r
ar
o,
n a
as
e,
or
i-
or
ua
es
ce
2 02
22
2 02
22
2 00
a,
ar a
a,
2 00
va ia
2 02
'
r ai os
o,
e,
10
e,
arr a a
en
IK E
i sc
av
n,
ic
ro
MYTH S
O F B A B YLO NIA AND
i fe of
02 , 1 8 5 ,
; Ta sh nit , w
, 1
a
n w h
8 6 3;
a
hi
a ,
da h ,
1 8 41 8 6
ai n
as
B O I Si p p a , I 8 4, 3 2 6
ah v h
the a a
g od , 1 8 6
m , 1 90 ;
d
mp
d a
,
3 0 6 . 3 46 . 3 48
m d
Se e
1 02
ssoci tio
it
Mero
c ef se t
c
gr
lt rs of Y e
r gge fro
te le of
N E B RO D
Ni ro
N B U C H A R E Z Z A R I R mm n
nd
9
N E B U C H A DR E ZZ A R I I ( or N
R ) K ng of B b y
U H
N
lo ni reign of 3 6 4 ; nv d es
E gy p t 3 7 ; w rs g i nst Jeru
s le m 3 7 ; p uts Je h oi ki m to
sets p Z e d eki h
de th 3 7
K ng f Jerus le m 3 7 ; D niel
h
d
re
m
s
n d 3 7
37 4 ;
4
nd A b e d
Sh d r c h M es h c h
nd
nego
3 8 ; rui n s of p l ce
of e p lore d n 8 99 4 7 ; S
H C R w l i nso n s d sco ery
Sh m s h s
te m p le
4 ;
restore d b y 49 ; D r And r e s
d sco er y
3 5 6 ; M ero d c h
nd 3 7 7
N E B U C H A DR E ZZ A R II I K i n g of
B b ylo n 4
S
N i m ro d
N MA
N E R G A L T e m p le of t C ut h h
of C ut h h 94 p tro n
8
96
n t u n l ke
5
g d of C ut h h
L o ki 6 D b
r i nt of
Ar lu nd 5
6
5
s h d e of B b ni nd 8
ni tis h
M rs nd 3 5 C
w
g d 3 6 ; w ors h p p e d by
P h e nic ns 3 8
Asse m b ly of go d s t
N W YEAR
B bylo n n rst d y of
;
B
M ero d c h nd
nd
nd
5
5 ; Gu d e
Mero d c h s st r 7 9
N B I RU
N I M R O D Th m g h ty h u n ter
n
of C h us t h
49 5 6 ;
re p ute d d esee n
ZEt h p 4 9
gures n
d n t of H m 4 9 ;
Bi bli c l nd B bylo ni n tr d
tio n 49 ; built B bylo n 5 ;
Greek n m e d Nebro d or Nebros
5 ; i d e n t i e d w it h Mero d c h
Gilg m es h nd O i o n 5 ;
n m e fou n d in E g y p t n d ocu
2 1
E ZZ A
AD
a,
is
ir
re ,
a a
10
re ,
as
ia,
R T.
ee
2, 2
ar -
a n aa
0,
I-
so
io
au a
2 01
2 01
a a
a rr a , v a
1 0
10
10
2
0
4
ia
A SS Y RIA
m e n ts
f X X II D y n st y
N m t
d er
t i o n of
5 ;
n me m y m e n
rebel 5 ;
lege nd s f l t d by P h lo in
D G g nt b
h
5 ; Abr m
nd 5
5 6 ; K n g of C h l d e
d e nt i ty W t h
5 ; suggeste d
Gilg m es h 5 6
N I M R UD S H e nr y L y d
e c tion s t 3 4 3 4 3 44 ;
R
m
se rc h es t 3 44 ;
George Smi t h s se rch es t 3 48
354
N GAL
V ri nt of E
6
N
H
Built by Senn c h eri b
Assur b ni p l s li br r y t
3
h
l g
l
35 7
5 4 3 46 ;
rese rch es f L y r d nd Bott
t 46
George Sm i t h s l bours
t 46
Mr H m d R m
t 4 7 ; bu lt b y Ass h ur
w ork
4 9 ; t blet w r i tte n for t e m p l
of Nerg l d sco ere d t 8 ;
res i d e n ce of Ass h ur 7 I h
t r s S h r ne in
; M B tt
n d s i te of
3 39 3 4 ; L y rd
n d 3 44 ; p l n f 3 5 7
N m e m e ns L r d
N N CI R S U
of G
Sh ul
4 4 : kno w n
gur Lor d of t h corn h e p s
44 3 i d e n ti e d w i t h T m m uz
6 ;
4 4 ; v ri n t N in ib
4
f vour i te of G u d e
5
te m p le of 8 3
N I N I B 8 4 75
w
g d
4 ;
r n t of Nin gi
6
4
I Assur h hi
T gl t h
p l
Assur n p l nd 4
h u nter g d
6
e tolle d by
I
Tig l t h p l
6
in
k d by Assur n z i r p l
6
Gul co nsort of 6 ; S turn
nd
tr nsl te d
E
35
M s h t i by C n n tes 3 6
N N I G I N A G I R SI R
S e d w i th
E
etc fro m d eluge 5
N
L I L V ri nt of Belt s
co nsort of E l l ; Is h t r nd
4
N I N N I V ri n t of Inn n 8 7
N
UM
Gilg m es h resort s to
8
N I NU S Ki ng of Ass y ri
5 ;
O
ar
i va
us ,
re a e
is
as
a,
ir
a ssa
0,
I N A-
a, 1 1
I N Ev -E
uz
or
a o o i ca
a rc
a ssa
i r su ,
20
212
a
a
2-
ar
av a
as
2 1
2 1
a,
va ia
'
i e se r
a Z I r-
vo
i e se r
a,
I N-
aa
as
2 1
as
av
1 1
2 1
ri s i s
2 1
21
2 1
a,
2 1
2 1
r su , 2 1
ar -
1 01
a
1 2
IN S
I
a, 1
a,
G LO SS A RY AN D I N DEX
Se mi r am i s w i fe of 2 5
N ny s
O RI ON
N i m ro d i de nt i e d w i t h
,
of 6
5
N
S n of Ni nus ; d uri n g
O
Is i s n d refere nce t o
m nor i t y of Se mi r m s ssu m e d
8
3 3 ; refere n ce to
th
rege ncy 6
M A N D I AS Sh elley s n
O
N I PP UR B b ylo ni n c i vi l i z t i o n
n t
n 3 7
grou p e d rou nd 4 ; g d Bu d d
nd
ity of U r colo ni ze d
4 ;
by
e c
5 ; Mr H y nes
P
t n
t 47 3 5 9 36
365 36 6
te m p le of 8 ; cos m ologi c l P AI N T I N G S Disco ere d in S n
n
h
b p l ce t K
t les t 8 4 ; of Su m eri n
Y J k
o ri g n 96 ; p refe re d to B b y
3 45
l n
Bu lt t N i ne e h by
l m e nt tio n itu l t P A L A CE
96
S rgo n ; M Bott u n e rt h s 3 4 ;
t
99
; t e m p le of E Kur
Assyri n t w d isco ere d t
f
n
4 8 ; busi ness q u rter
N m d 3 4 ; built by E s r
e rt h e d 3 5 9 3 6 ; st ge to w er
h d d o n u e rt h e d b y L y r d
of 3 6 te m p le to w er of 3 6
N R
S nn h nt n f
G d ;
i nt
En
nd b y
3 43 ;
L y r d 3 45 ; Assur
Restu Bel f t h er of 5 3
b ni p l s
d isco ere d b y R w li nso n 3 46 ;
N
N
F irst m o nt h ; s cre d to
An n nd Bel
of N m d George Sm it h s
36
t n
n 3 4 8 3 49 ; Nebu
N O A H P tr rc h refere nce to
h d
f
e c te d 3 6 9
nd E
4 5 ; lege nd of d eluge
r i nt Ut N p h t m
S7
5 ;
6
P A LE S T I N E Syri nd i n d e d
by S rgo n 7 ; w t p of
N RET URN
L nd of 8
H d d n 8 8 t h C n ni tes
V
NU D I M M U D
n t f n m e of
rst d w ellers n 3 4
E
73 ; T w t h nd 7 6
N U MB E R S Assigne d to e c h of P A LL AS A H E N E Refere nce to
t h go d s
38
37
PA N T H E
A SS UR AN P A L S
N U S K U Th m esse nger of Mul
Belit nd Ass h ur n 8
hl 6 8 ; h y m n to 6 9 ; te m p le of
P A N T H E O N O F A SS Y R IA 3 3 ;
of t h Brilli n t Sce p tre
d i ffere n ces b et w ee n t h
B by
N bu nd co nnecte d
5
4
l
n nd
D go n n
55
5 ; ec li p ses nd
ssoci te d w h Ann 6 7 ;
B l Mero d c h
b sor b e d n t h
E
:
n th
[ Mb
;
9;
5
O
b nn i t h e
9
PA N T H E O N
B A B L O N IA
AN N E S S E
O
4
E rly Prior to K h m m ur b i
O f Sh l m neser II 3 4 3
O B EL IS K
L ter
( e ner l
A p p e rs fro m
of
O DA CO N
94
95
c h nges in nd d d itio ns to
E th
84
B V I nc
I
usur p e d
L i br y of S rgo n n
OM EN
98 ;
th
b y Mero d c h
n
8 ;
t
d book d e li ng w it h
7
8
8
d i i n ti o n b y
h 3 8
p H U U n t ure
P
S U A L Th m esse nger of
d
MO
R
C
A
C
h
l
ic
e
q
u
i
le
t
O
th
T h l t h : Greek t h l
3
g d
4
PA R A D IS E T h Al
nd 8
O n of Ni nus ge ner ls
ON N ES
i
P
O f Bo m b y 3 3 4
h usb nd of Se m ir m is
5
P
C te i s t le
h
n
P
E
R
T
F
re
c
e
lor
tio
n
O
p
so n
I N YAS
lo
s a .
22
so
av a
0,
e ri
ac
a a
OU
UD I
2 00
ZY
2 01
Si RI s
S.
v ar a
i a
va
a,
is
a ri a
s,
a,
ia
22
a,
o ni a
se a
a a
co
va
a a ss a ,
1 1
20
AP
22
s,
2 2
2 1
22
e,
2 1
22
rt
'
ar
1 1 2
a i ne
v
OE
aa
ee
ar
ra,
ON,
22
ru
o rs u
va
22
2 2
av a
1 02
ex
1 2
O-
s i
1 1
re z z a
ou
c av a io
1 1
ac
n a
r ii
IG .
Iz A
v ss a
AR s s
e di t i o n a nd
3 47
ex
A R s o N D Es .
1
6
1
4
49
s a
re ,
MYTH S O F B AB YLONIA AND A S SY RIA

re p uls v
of ki ng
G d;
8 3 sol my t h
PA T E C H U S
m o nster 3 3
h oo d cult nd
9
g ph
P A T R IA R C H TH E S Abr m
te m p les
wi r d s
39 4 :
nd
H
N E or P R O S E R P I N E
6 :
m gici n ;
P R
th
Refere nc to 3
co res
c h m b r of t h 7 7 5 l i ver
re d i ng by 8 : of T h ebes
3
p o nd s to All t
Refere nce to 6
P R
M e m p h i s nd On 3 4 ; of
l ngu ge fou nd t d eci p h ere d
N i p p ur nd E rec h 3 4
b y L ow e n stern nd H i n ks 6 5
P RI E S TE SS E S
In B b y lo ni
4
tr nsl te d l ngu g
L ngp i
4
P R I E S T HOO D S P i es t
fou nd t 6 6
PE R S E U Refere nce to 8 7
P R I S O N E R G O D S Ass y i n rulers
PE R SIA N
nd
Si gns in co nn e i o n
6
5
66
PR M E TH E U
w i t h cu ne i for m w ri t i ng 6
L ug lb nd
nd
relig i on of
33
93 : Z n nd
95
P SA L M S B OOK O F T H E N t i o n l
t
3 36
; fe r of d l m nt
n t
ndi vi d u l
3 35
3
; p oet i c l
PETE R S D R Director of A m er
for m of 3
P U N I C Rel i g i o n 3 3
n e p e d i t i o ns 3 5 8 3 5 9 3 6 4
P UR I F I C A T I O N 7 ; by w t r
365
in co nn e i o n w i t h B b y lo ni n
P H I L IS T I A S r go n s e p e d i
t i o n g i nst
m gi c
7
N I C I A W orsh p of Moloc h P OR I M F e s t of 4 4
PH
in 3 8
Th Go d s of t h
PH N
AN
relig i on E g yp t n
6
3
3 9
Q
i n ue nce 3 8
C u neifor m Q A L A T SH E R Q AT Ann l of
P I CT UR E W RI T I N G
W rit i n g
S
nd 6 6
T gl t h p l
I d i scovered by
Port of At h e ns 3 8
P R E US
R w l nson 3 46 D And r s
B b n
nd
P
SI G N O F
e c v t o ns t 3 5 6
83
PL A CE V I CT O R Bott s w ork t
b d co nti nue d by 3 4
Kh
R
PL A N ET
I d enti e d W it h go d s
RA
W ors hip of in E gyp t
35
3
PL U T A R C H Is i s ( Ast rte ) nd 3 8 RA AT UM M A Th Gre t
PL U T O Referen ce to 3 3
Mot h er 3 3
P O ET R Y Ass y ri n 3 3
RA
U
A lur ki ng d em on 76
P h en ci n w or d
AR H
P
77
c i ty nd 33
R A CE S As i M i nor p eop le d wi th
G d
R ALE X A N D E R
d iverse 3 4
H
P
nd
R A C H EL Th s t olen i m ges nd
E
3
6 6 6 8
P O LYT H E IS M Se m t i c 3 3
Refere nce t 6
Refere nce to 97 RA M
P p l Vuh
R A M M A N 7S : e q u i v lent Rim
5
Pos D N Greek g d 3 5
m n ;
i d e n t e d wi t h H d d
n g d etc
or A d d 8 7 8 9 t h T blets
P R A YE R
T th
of Dest ny nd 95 ; p p u
67 68
l it y
n d fu nct i o ns
PRI E S T
Akk d i n to ngue p
;
7
w e p o ns of
8
serve d by B b ylo ni n 4
w ors h i p of
n d ys of
K h m m ur b nd
t h ose of L g s h bec me ki ngs
Nebuc h d rezz r I 9 ; Ass u
6 ; h i g h of Ass h ur too k title
SEP
ee
2 , 2 01
a u, 1
r er
CE
-S
cE
I CI
a e
0, 1
i e se r
i s c E s,
a s
ee
'
e,
ia
22
20
2 1 0, 2 1 1
a a
ca
0,
r a
s.
a, 2
22
O-
ee
22
e c.
s.
s.
za
e, 2
S E P OL I S.
a
20
e rs, 1
21
ra
a i
ae
o r sa
-
S.
OLG
EI
ET.
s,
e su
S.
re
a
,
21
222
21
ar
404
o,
CH
1 1
1 12
I S TO
a a
L -Y -
E i s
22
2 1
E B
22
21
MYTH S O F B A B YLO NIA AN D A SS Y RIA

Ki ng of Assyr i 4 ; S m SA T URN I d e nt i e d wi t h N i ni b
m t
f ourite of 4 ;
m
35
Ass h ur m e ntione d n i n scri p tio n SA U L M U G I N A Rebell i ous
of 8
brot h er of Assur b ni p l 3 4
Ph ilo nd SC H R A D E R Ass y r n p oet y nd
SA N C H U N A H N
p reser e d n w orks of E useb us
SC I E N CE
St r w ors h i p t h
ori
3 9
SA O S H Y A N T
s v i our in
Th
g in of
3 7 t h root of
59
SC I LL Y I S L A ND S
Z oro ster s relig i o n 3 3 7
Ph en ci ns in
V ri nts of Mero
SAR A A G A M
33
SC O R P I O
d ch
G i lg mesh
SI G N O F
nd
Greek e q u i v le nt for
8
SA A
SC O TL A ND
Sin s rk i n 3 6
Go t d em on d ore d
in
SA D A N A P A L U S T H E SP LE N D I D
93
Assur b ni p l know n to Greek SC U L P T UR E D i scovery of glo i
fy ng
lege nd 3 K i ng of Assyr i
Assur n
3 43 ;
p l
refere nce to in Th G ld n
B byloni n d scovere d by d
3
S
B
35 5
gh 3 ; Si J m es F r zer
SC Y T H IA N
n 3
P n tr t i nt o As
3 4 ; p ro m ne n t fe tures
syr i 3 6
in lege n d s of 3 3 ; w e v i ng of
SE D U
A gu r d i n ( som et im es
lege nd of 3 4
m l) s p i rit i nvoke d wi t h
1 Of Akk d fou n d s
n
SA R GO N
rst gre t Se m t i c e m p ire in
th L m
u
77
B bylo ni 6 ;
B bylo ni n S U A C i ty bu i l t ut of
ru ns of B bylon 4
Art h ur 6
lege n d of
; th
b i rth 6 7 ; i n sio n s S M I R A M IS T H E G R E A T As
h
syr i n Q uee n 49 ; le ge n
nd
of Sy r
P les t i ne 7 ;
d y or i g n
w i fe of O nnes
E l m nd N M eso p ot m i
5
nd l ter f N i n us
o erco m e by 7 ; N r m
6
Niny
n of
6 ; e ng ges in b ttle
letters
n of
Sn
9:
7
St b b t
fr n ke d by cl y se ls be r i n g
K i n g of I nd i
8
of S rgo n 8 ; rst
S m
n m
9;
7 ; f m e of
m t
m
h
Assyr n t tle
fou nd er of B b ylo ni n l i br ry
W ife of S m s i R m m n
br i cks d iscovere d w i t h
8 ;
9;
m yt h i c l co nne i o n w i t h
of n 4 7 ; A h
n me
9
Is h t r 9 ; w ors hip p e d by
con q uering p o w er nd
th
Sy r i n s
K ng A i nd
;
7 ; estee me d
;
th
d ug h ter of D
t
Ah imiti n d
; Y r n nd
7 ;
d i str i ct ro und L k V n c lle d
nd
nd
3 ; Bel
; Sin
m
i
m
d
t
h
fter
h
m
d
S
S
8
N
bu
ter
e
t
eer
g
;
7
8 ;
SE M I TE S
Ger m s of cultur
go d s
wh
g u i d es t h
i d
fro m Akk d i n s by
Bu i l d er f t h T e m p le of
B bylo ni n 3 ; t h e i r lov
En l i l
4 7 ; h e p t osco p y nd
w
d
m
l
ce
built
by
of
i
s
o
u
n
83 ;
5 : B by lo n
4
p
e ntere d by 5 6 ; b l i eve d
e rth e d t N i ne e h 3 4 ;
to h ve co m e fro m Ar b i
Georg Sm ith n d s fr g m e n ts
6 ;
m d e by t h co d e of
of h i stor y of 3 5 I I U surp i ng
5
n c i e nt
K h m m ur bi
nd
ge ner l cl i m e d d esce n t fro m
go d s 8 9 ; serp e nt lo t h e d by
Gre t 3 ; f t h er
S r go n t h
89 ;
ni m i st i c i n ue nces ;
of Se nn ch er i b 3
p
II
SA R R A P A N U T g l t h p l
p e l of to 3 8
E m p i re rst gre t
SE M I T I C
c p tures 99
found e d in B by lo ni by S
Rulers 333
SASS A N I AN
2
a,
as
ur a
av
20
a,
s.
is
2 1
so
zur
21 1
2 10
2 10
ro
a a
a,
ia
a a
er
i e se r
te
a,
2 1
ra
e r c a us ,
as
ce ve
22
er
as
a e s,
210
2 1 0,
22
ur s
22
ss
406
ur a
ra
so
ar
a.
a a
CI -
va
ass
EL E
ia
a e
a,
a,
a zrr
ar z e c ,
s.
as ,
2 02
ou
K os
'
ia
ar
G LO SS A RY AND I NDEX
of Akk d 6 relig i ous

t h oug h t 3 5 Z w ors h i p n d
l m e nt tio ns 5 3 p olyt h eis m
co nser tis m 3 6 cults
3 3
B bylo ni n i n ue nce u p o n 3 4 ;
religio n 3 9 3 3
p eo p les ;
f it h
p eculi r p eo p le 3 3
i nclu d es v rious m nifest
tio ns 3 3
S N NACH E RIB
S n f usur p i ng
ge ner l S rgo n 3 ; c m p ig n
of g i nst H ezek h 3 Ni e
h built b y 3 ; E s r h d d o n
n of
t kes n ucleus of
3
Assur b ni p l s li b r ry fro m
C l h 5 4 soot h s yers nd h
de th
6 ; L y
d d isco eries
in p l ce of 3 4 5
SE R P E N T
Th
nc i e nts
nd t h
89
e q ui le nt A bu t h
e ne m y
89
S
0
n d refere n ce to
33
S
A
A w e lt h y B b ylo ni n
wh
h r b ours S n n
59
SE V E N SPH E R E S T H E ST A G E S
A b uil d i ng t h w o n d er of
B
pp
4
SE V E N T A B LET S
O f cre t i o n
p i m ry ob j ect of 7
SH A D R A C H
O n of D ni el s
m
p n io n s 3 8
SH A L
M
R I
K ng of As
syri
Aris t i
3 8 T k lt
n of
nd
; Nusku
4 ;
i nsc i p tio n of u ne rt h e d by
George Sm t h 3 5
II K i ng of As
SH A L M A N
syri n successio n to Assur
n zir p l I I I
4 ; o ert h ro w s
A h b Ki g of Isr el 4 ;
S m si R m m n
n
of 4 ;
th g d D d
nd
8 9 ; Mero
d ch
d
( 3 1)
5
d isco ery of o b el sk of
d e d ic tio n s of u ne rt h e d 3 5
IV
Successor
SH A L M
III 3
of T g l t h p l
T e m p le of t S p
SH A M AS H
d
restore
b y N bo i d us
p
d ore d
t
Si p p r
91 ;
4 ;
n g d
n of
th
9
;
co nsort of
S
;
9; A
Is h t r nd 3 ; Gilg m es h
go n
va
a a
ia
ve
so
a a
ar
is
e a
va
ET
5 11 1 5 a
ET
Po
is,
or
10
a,
O I Si
co
A N E SE
~
a, 2 2
so
E S ER
so
2 2
A NE S ER
a
in,
10
a,
10
I I I
so
,
su
ar,
'
22
i e se r
an
22
i ih
-
22
a nd ,
1 10
56,
1 87 ;
a nd ,
K h m m ur b i
c p ture d b y
65 ;
Zn
da h
Mero c
nd
;
cult of n Assyri
3 ;
se e t h m o nt h s cre d to 3 6 ;
C n nitis h g d 3 5 N b n
d
nd
Th
gre t
3 77
i d ol of 49
S
RU I L U
O n of t h
lesser
B b ylo ni n go d s 9
SH A TT
EN
I
E c t o ns
lo ng b nk of by H y nes
365
S
A
T gl t h
Q U EE N O F
I I q u rrels W t h 3
p l
SH E PH E RD
Th
n th
of t h
st rs 3 6 En lil of t h d rk
h e d e d p eo p le
54
SH E PH E RD K I N G T
D o n of
P n t b bl n
SH I N A R
PL A I N O F B by lo n
b uilt n 5
SH U L G UR
V ri n t of Nin Cirsu
44
S
S n of U b r
T utu 7 3
C ity of 7 7 7 8
SH U T U
V ri n t of Sout h W nd
7
SI E I
8
Th g d
SI C I LY
W ors h i p of A h t t
( Is h t r ) t 3 7
SI D D A
Th te m p le 3 6
SI D O N
T yre nd n touc h w i t h
Assyri 3 7 ; A h t t or I h
t
te m p le of n 3 7 E hm n
w ors h i p p e d t 3 8
L eo V i rgo
SI G N
G m ni
T urus Scor p io 8 C p ri
co n us A q u rius Pisces 8 3
TO W E R S O F P
SI LE N CE
d e d nd t h
336
Th
S
( p er h p s p ro n S W )
m oo g d 94
3
4 ; rule d
t
U r 94 ; Sh m s h n of
8
9 ; Is h t r d ug h ter of
Gilg m es h d eli ere d by 7
Gilg m es h resorts to 8 ;
ecli p ses nd g d 5 6 ;
C
i tis h g d 3 5
PE N I N S U L A Se m it i c
S
religio n n 3 3
S N O N IS
Ro m nce of G m
1
95 ;
22
av a i
a
i e se r
HE,
1 1 2
01
e,
su
N L
HE E
22
H AR
222
aa
us
2 00
a,
H U RI P P A K
-
a a
1 1
10
ar
a,
n-
22
1 0
22
so
a na a n
a nd ,
12
'
i N A iT Ic
a I Si s
'
e,
IN
er
ar
ar,
us
ar
56 60
07

S N A IS KIN
L st K i ng of S IL Y A T m m uz co m p re d
Assyri 3 6 t h S k of
w i th
7
th
Greeks 3 6
ST O N E
Th
Mo b i te 9 ;
S
SH A R I S K UN
Th l st re
m in d b y Professors S in
Ass y ri n
nd Sm nd
p rese t t ve of t h
9
d y n st y 3 6 4
ST R A
B A TE S Ki ng of I ndi ;
SI P P A R Sh m s h w ors hi p p e d t
Se m i r m i s m kes w
n
6
7
t
SU M E R I
M o d ern q i
;
9 ; A w ors h i p p e d
Ab H bb b t h
nc e n t S ite
le t for t h old p ress i o n
of 7 7 B
subst i tutes
Akk d i n 5
for Sh ip p k 7 8 ; Kh m SU Mero d ch s i d eogr p h i s
i m p rove m e nts t
m
bi
th
k now n t h W y
8 7 ; Sh m s h s
te m p le t
of An
Bull of
34 ; t h
L igh t 9
49
T e m p le of n g d S GO D S G d s
R
S
Mr R m d sco ers 4 7 9 SU P E R S T I T I O N I n Ch l de 8
8
U T RU S Th F loo d Myt h
S
SU SA
Mo nu m e nt of N r m Sin
nd 4 5
Mont h s cr d to 8 m 3 6
u ne rt h e d by d Morg n t 7 ;
SI W A N
GE O R G E Refere nce to
co p y of Kh mm ur b i s co d e
SM I T H
rc h ologic l l bours 46 5 5
fou nd t by J d Morg n
Bel SU S I
L ngu ge ;
ltern
3 47 3 5 4 ; d isco er y of
T gl t h
ti e Me d i n 6 5
d scover y of
II 99 ; B bylo i n SU S I N
I d ol of 3 4
p l
P lest i ne nd i nv de d
S Y R IA
n d Ass y r i n p oetr y n d 3
Mot h er of A d o ni s
by S rgo n 7 ; w orship f
SM Y R N A
H d d in 8 8 ; t h C n ni tes
refere ce to 7
rst d w ellers in 3 4
Su p p ose d to res i d e in t h
SO U L
O f
l
of rel i gi o n
liver 8
SY S TE M
nd Ass y ri
Moh mm e d ni s m in 3 3
in B b y lo ni
SP AI N
9
T
L b n
of religio n in B by l m 99 ;
SP E A K I N G H E A D
67
reli g ous of ncie nt M e i co
d
Ass y i n 7 7 78
Gu tem l
n d Y uc t n ; re
SP I R I T
F i rst ki g to re i gn
fere nce t o 4 ; H ellen c nd
S
fter t h d eluge
Rom n 3 5 ; reli gio nsJu d
in B b ylo ni
t h gr n d so n of
i m C h i st nit y
Moh mm e d
57
5 7 E li
Se nn c h erib nd
n m
SOO T H SA YE R S
3 3 ; of rel i g ous r ces
in As i
Mi nor 3 4 Z t h u
6
M g i str te w h
U
tr s m or l 3 3 4
S
se n d s Si mo ni s to B bylo n 5 8
Ch ld e
d th
S
m g c ircle
75
76
T
Soul c rri e d by t
SR O S H A
T A LET H I LL H ynes di
be y ond 3 3 6 3 3 7
th
i
F or m e d b y Belus
t
tem p l
ST A R
5 ;
36 ; t h
libr ry n 3 6 3 K ng N b n
B bylo ni n w ors h i p of 3
d eogr p h t h
s m e for
d
se fou nd t
( N b o ni d us )
38 ;
n th
nd
364
34 ; th
g d
Ann
T A B LET S T w elve of t h Gilg
s h e p h er d of t h
36 ;
e p ic 5 5 5 8 5 9 ;
Pole 3 6 ; Bel t h Pole
m es h
th
n d st r
d et ile d e
m i n t i o n of
6
36 ; E
( e q u tor )
of Desti ny 93 95 ;
8 ;
Argo 3 6 ;
in co nstell t i o n
cu ne i form d e l ng w i t h m g ic
g zers of C h l d e 5 8
i
a,
n a i
1 0
u~
ur
u ra
su
assa
IS
ee
S.
a, 2
1 01
i e se r
re
re
n a
AY
1 2
HE .
s.
r a
an
is
S.
o R CE R E Rs
C
a i
S.
e,
1 1
2
c ov e r e s
a, 2
va
os
su
a ra
an
ia
an ,
O R A C CH
408
a a
20
a a,
a,
a,
O K K A R os
Ci a
aa
an
2 1
22
AN
ae
a a
0,
UN-
u va
as
I P P A-
e , 2 02
u,
ex
AN
ar o
ex
1 1 0
Ro
e r o ss u s
oc
-B
1 2
os
a ra
IN
xa
a i

N
c h os 93 ; sl ugh ter of m T
C r t h g i ni n d e i t y
cte d
h ost of
; th
3 ;
33
N AR IS T I
o nl y B b y lo n n m n TU U
n t th
S n of
Sh lm
ster 8 9
eser I ; t kes B by lon
T I G L A T P I L E S E R I Altern
nd sl y s its ki n g B t ly
ti e T k l t p l E s ri Ki g TU U L T I N N
S n of Sh l
of Assyri 3 g d Bel ( En lil )
m
I nscri p t ons of 3 5
T Y R E Si d o n nd n t ouch W t h
nd
Is h t r nd
95 ;
Ni ib nd
6 ;
Sh
Assyr 3 7
4
Mero d c h nd
m s h nd
n d scovers
7 ; R wh
n l of 3 46
U
T I G L A T P I L E S E R I I T les of
U B A R A TU T U
Sh ip p k
n
99 3
P I L E S E R 1 1 1 Seco nd
of 7 3
T
A
Assyr n Em p ire com m e nce d U E S H U KE N N A ( or Up h k k in
co q uers B b ylo n
k )
W th
Th
bri lli nt Ch m ber
9;
sove
w h ere t h
nd is i n este d W it h t h
r se
un t kes h
Asi 3 6
gnt y of
T I G R I S Th r ver 6 3 4
U
U
B b ni nd 9 6 3
n of t h
TO L TEC S Refere nce to Aztecs
s cre d w om en of t h
6
t e m p le of Is h t r
nd
63
7
TO N G U E S B by lo ni n tow ers U U MU ( Se zer) Atte nd nt
h ou nd of Mero d c h
q
nd lege nd of
n of 4 7
lege nd of nq n of fou nd n U ND E R W O R L D T
8
5
C e ntr l Am er c 4 8 ; m o ng
B b ni d esce nd s
36 ;
3
Afric n tr bes som e such m yt h
i nto 6 d escr p t i o n of in
VI I t h of Gilg m es h t blets
fou nd 49 ; cert i n A t h n
69
U R C it y from w h e ce Abr m
nd Mo n goli
p eop les p ossess
S i m il r tr d itio 4 9
c me
ne r
of
nei g h bour
TOO T H A C H E MYT H A
6
E ri d u colonize d by Ni p p ur 5
TO TE M IS M Signs of n B by l
f ll of t h d yn st y
N nn
n i n rel gio
th
f
m oo n g d
9
45
49
t h m oo n C t y
TO W E R O F B A B EL L ege nd o f
49 5
confusio n f to gues d 47 U R A Th legend of 6 8 7
UR
G A L 75
S
B b el
T R EE A d o ni s nd m yrrh 3 7 U R B A U B llu d e d to in in
D ms
d t m r sk
of 4 4 ; Z ikkur t
3 7 Attis
pt n
b uilt by t Ni p p ur 48
n d p i ne
37
3 8 ; T m m uz
nd ce d r
U R G A A to w n n Mesop ot m i
38
T R IA D S T ri i t y
e q uiv le nts C m t nd D i r
T R I B A L D I V I N I T I E S Th m ost
b ekr 5
U GU
K ng of Ass y i 3 5 9
outst nd i ng 94
T R I N I TY A T w t h Ap su nd
366
U NIN I B
Bel E
nd
Reference t p ve
M mm
74 ;
m e nt of 3 6 6
An
96
98 ;
9
97
E
En h l
nd
Ann
U RU C n nitis h g d of l i gh t
;
of e rt h i nd
n m e fou nd n U
S hm 3 5
97 ;
R m m n S n nd Sh m s h U U A A G G A B u s tem p le t
Ann nd Bu h l evolve d
9 E
45
U R U K Pl ce 8 4
from d em ons 6 8
h u ter ;
U RU K I N A B u llu d e d t
T
U
Th
C i lg
63
66
n i nscri p t o n s of
m es h E b ni nd
44
a
2 01
a, 2
TH
20
K H
22
c on
co
io
io
us ra
an
ia
u,
a,
2 1
1 1 1
a,
a ra
r a,
aa
r u-
'
1 21
se a ,
a,
S AI D
a r,
R-
ar,
u,
au
io
ee
A-
sc ri
2o
a i
an
1 2
12
2 02
n,
n,
HE,
12
an
is
a,
ee
KK
22
a,
so
ur
re i
ah
10
i a,
ia
I P.
01
a su , 2 2
i i
IG L
an
n so
a s
21
222
2 2
2 1
L Tr r
2 1 2
a n e se r
a,
u i
ia
S A PH O
AG
Ur NAP
G LO SS A RY A N D I N DEX
V r nt of WE S TE R G AA RD Me d i an l ngu a ge
I SH TI M.
ia
No h 6 6 ; h ero of B by
l n n d eluge m yt h gures n
Gilg m es h ep ic 5 5 5 8 6 ;
Gilg m es h s ncestor 7 7 3
Gilg m es h seeks secret of p
l h f fro m
p t
73
78 ; t h
d eluge m y t h
nd
73
78
U U
U
G h ost of E b n d
8 ;
n
l sp r t
gn t d
76
U
G d w ors h p p e d u nd er form
of go t 93 9
J O N A T H A N B N Th
U
t rgum of 6 7
a
1 1
a nd ,
ia
W I ND
65
O U T H Ad
a nd
pa
the
sto y of
6
ri nt
;
Sh utu
7
W I ND O W S No ne in N b h d
p l ce t B b ylo n 3 6 9
W I TC H
K now n
K
pl
6
nd n g
7
7 5 ; orgies
n F r n ce
93
Priestl y
W I Z A RD S
6 6 3
k no w n K p 6
P W
W O RD
T
Th
m g ci ns of C h l d e
nd
63
W O R S H I P Of go d s b y go d s 7 7 ;
f go d s u nd e r ni m l form s 9
93 : of Bel 98
; of Sh
m sh
of A
of
V
9;
;
ht r
Is
of
D
go
n
;
5 ;
4
V A MP I R S B bylo ni n 6 4 6 6
of
Mero
84
85 ;
of
d ch
V A N L ke 3 3
84
Ne
b
o
of
H
85
d d
n
V AS H T I Refere nce to 4 ;
Syr
8 8 ; of t h
S n g d n
F r zer n 43
C
n
nd
Ph n
9
VE D I C G O D S Refere nce to 7 7
d o or D d b y t h S i d e of
of
D
o
V E G ET A T I O N E n li l ( Bel ) g d
h eh
Y
9 ; of R m m n
9
of 96 ; Is h t r gre t m ot h er
of
Aztecs
d T oltecs
;
of 3 3 7 3 8 6 8 ; se e n
6
of
st
rs
B
b
ylo
ni n
7
g tes of Ar lu nd t h d ec y
3
3 8 ; lu n r
3 6 ; m oo n
of 3 7 ; T m m uz g d of
Se m tic
nd l m e nt
49 ;
A d o nis nd
38
37
4 ;
tio
ns
g
zelle
nd
5 3 ; of t h
A p h rod ite co nnecte d W it h 3 9
go
t
f gre t e rt h
9
94 ;
C eres
m m ot h er
39 ;
m ot h er 3 8 3 9
f ncestors
Proserp i ne s m e n ture 3 9
nites
C
of
Moloc
h
3 6 ;
O m
i ntro d uce d corn nto
8
C
rt
gi
i
h
n
n
;
3
3 9 33 ;
E gyp t 3 ; Mord ec i
g d
Z
oro
stri
n
of
re
33
336
of 4 4 H m m n n E l m ite
3 3 5 etc
g d of
44
W R I T I N G C UN E I F O R M R t
VE NU S St r ; A b r m nd 5 5 ;
tio
n of 6
6 7 ; Jos p h t B
te m p le of 5 8 ; Is h t r nd 4
b
ro nd 6 ; Pietro d ll
35
hn
V
lle
nd
6 ;
S
Jo
V I R GO SI G N O F Is h t r nd
h r d i n nd 6
C
Nie
b
u
h r nd
8
th
6
n
nd
6 ;
M n
; Ty h
ter nd 6 Georg G t f nd
6
d
Professor L sse n nd
W
63 ;
Bu nou t nd 6 3 ; M j or
W R Is h t r g o d d ess of
n
R
w
H
e
ry
li
so
6
n
n
n
d
7
4 66
V)
t
d
nd
6 5 ; Mor is
3
4
g d Ni ni b
4 ;
g
R mm n
d 6 5 ; L Ow
n
t
nd 6 5
g d
H i ks
W R A W ork of L oftus
t
65 ;
nd
L
gp
nd
66 ;
origi of 6 6 6 7 ;
A TE R
Pu i c tio n by 7
n obe lisk of Sh l m neser I I
O F D E A T H Gilg m es h
VV
343
WR I T I N G
crosses 5 8 5 9
Religio ns of B by
,
KK
Si
a e
i i
e vr
zz I E L ,
a ssa
co
12
se
2 1
a,
I2
ro e e
es e r
an
A TP RS
aa r
ns e r
on
2 1
22 1
a,
ir
ar
e s o ra
an
2 1
e,
2 1
as
a na a
i Ci a ,
ce
2 2
an
2 2
1 10
220
ia ,
I 2
1 01
a na a
a,
1 2
a a
10
HE
a, 2
u,
a ssa
F R,
0F
as
as
a a
re z za r s
uc
va
1 21
1 1
1 1
er
e ua
ri e r
s.
11
4
MYTH S O F B A B YLO NIA AND AS S Y RIA

Z A RA H U
RA
S
Z oro s t r
lo ni 6 7 of O nnes 3 6
Nebo cre dite d like E W it h t h Z A R A N UM Go dd ess w i f
of Mero d c h 8 6
i n ent o n of 8 5 T s hm it
; E lu
m lg m te d w i t h
8 5 ; st rs t h
86
of
p tro n of
he
en 3
Z r t h ustr i n Z EC H A R I A H Allus i o n of t
H d d Ri mm on 8 9
s cre d 33 4
Z E D K I A H K ng of Jerus lem ;
Nebuch d rezz r nd 3 7
Z E U S Reference to 3 3 5
X
A RUN
Z
I
G
V ri nt of A p su 7
XER XES
K I N G Refere nce t
U RAT
Z
I
K
St ge d to w ers ;
E st h er t h cro w n n m e of
4
d escr b d
4
46 ; o f Assur
J e w s h wife of 43
b n p l 365
Z I R A T B A N I T Th se t of 3 6
Z
U HR
K
ING
B
Y
subst tu t s for Ut N p i h tim
YA H W E H Th H ebre w n m e of
Z
A
Si g ns of t h
in th
G d 4 9 ; w ors h p of by t h
B b y loni n s t rologi c l s y stem
S i d e of D o d o by t h Isr eli t es
83
t h go t
n of
;
3
3
9
t h S i gn s of t h
9
YA R A N S rgon nd
Z OG A N E S Th of t h S
4
YEA R N W S N w
Z R
AS TE R Th re ligion of
h t form of n m
33
h ustr
de
Z
r
t
Me
;
3
3
3
Z
nd ev i l p r i nc i p les
3 3 3 ; goo d
Z A B Th i er 7
of religio n of 3 3 4
ZA G M U K U (Z k mul ) F es t i l Z U Th storm g d ; ret i ne d
of S em or 4 ; go d d ess
bi rd l ke form 93 9395
B
nd
lege
of
n
d
5
93
95
Z A K M U K S Z g
m u ku
Z U B I RD
Th bir d 0
in A
Z A M A M A C ourt of Is h t r nd
bi n N ig h t
p oss ble d ese n
d n t of
93
a
a,
av
S T
I T
o,
is
OS,
o DI
e, 2
ee
2 1 0, 2 1 1
e,
e rossu s
2, 2
2,
S.
i-
2 02
e,
ee
1 1
a,
1 1
a c asa , I
2
,
es
e ar
a a
e,
a,
e r v
au
-
1 01
20
ee
va
s,
0,
ra
AC H
I nd e
E
o lu m e De m y
C l ot h e t r a
x.
8 y o,
: 2 5 6d
abo u t
ne t
400
pa g e s
w th
fr o m
to
32
Pl te
64
s and
MYTHS OF GREEC E AND ROME

Th eir Sto rie s Sign i t i n and O ri g i n
By H
A G O ER ER
5 7 F ull p ag e I llus t r a t i o ns
4 6 pag e s
MYTH S OF TH E NORSEMEN
F r o m t h e Eddas and Sagas
By H A G UERB ER W i t h 33 F ull
I llus t r a t i o ns by e m i n e nt C o n t i n e n t al an d Engl s h Ar t i s t s
4 6 p ag es
MYTH S AND LEGENDS OF TH E MIDDLE AGES
By H A G U R ER Wi t h 36 E q u i s i t e F ll p g I llus t r a t i o ns 4 6 p
T H E o bj e t of t h i s w o r k i s t o fa m i l i a ri e s t ud e n t s w i t h t h e m y t h s and l e g e nds
fo r m t h e pri n ip al su bj e t s of m e d ie al l i t era t u re and w h o s e in u e n e i e ery
a pp a re n t i n t h e su b s e q u e n t h i s to ry of li t er a t u re and a r t
HE RO MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF TH E BRITISH RAC E
By M I E UTT M A W i t h 5 O ri ginal Full pag e I llus t r a t i on
J H F B A C O N R I B YA M SH A W W H MA R G ET S O N R I G D :
HA MMO N D R I an d PA I TEN WI LS O N 400 pa g e s
MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF TH E CELTIC RACE
By T W RO LLES T O N W i t h 46 O i g i na l Full p ag e I l l us t r t ion
STE H EN RE I D
Se o n d Ed i t i o n Re i e d
464 p ag e s
THE MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF J APAN
By F HA D L A N D D s W i t h 3 E qu i s i t e P la t e s in Co l ou by Ev
P A U L 448 p g e s
TH E MYTHS OF MEXI C O AND PERU
By a
Wi t h 48 P la t e s in H al f t one nd 4 P l at
S EN C E
C o l o u r 38 4 p g
TH E MYTHS OF TH E NORTH AMERIC AN INDI ANS
By L w S E N CE F
au t h o r o f My t l f M i nd P u
C o l o u r by J A ME S J
400 p a g e s
3 P la t e s
THE MYTHS OF ANC IENT EGYPT
By LE W IS S E N CE
W i t h 6 Co l o u r P l a t e s an d m ny o t h er
p ag e Illus t r a t i o ns 384 p ag e s
MYTHS OF TH E HINDUS AND BUDDHISTS
By SI TE R e nn A and D A N A N D A C MARA W AMY W i th 3
t t i n i n Co l o u r by A AN D RO N AT H T A GO R E an d o t h er I n di a n A
TH E
ca
BB
avi
rs
e s.
u o
ac x .
ra
4 r6
'
rr
OO
p ag e s
er
ex co a
I !)
rs
v s
TH E MYTHS OF BABYLONI A
By L E W IS
400 p ag e s
SP
E N CE
F RA I
.
AND ASSYRIA
W i th m an y P la t e s i n Co l o u r
a nd
al f
HE RO TALES
By
W O ISL A
AND LEGENDS OF TH E SERBI ANS

W i t h 3 P la t e s i n Co l o u r 4 pag e s
V M PET RO V I TC H
.
A Sp e c ial Prosp e c rue
of tbrs
Imp o r tan t S ri
e e
w ill be
ent t
20
o an y addr e e
es
I
e e
s
Univ r ity oi Ca IiIornia

SO UTHERN REG O NAL L B RARY FAC L TY
405 Hi g a rd Av nu Los Ang l
CA 90024- 1 38 8
R t urn t h i mate ria l to th e IIbrary
from wh ic h It was borrow d
I
e es
II

Myths & Legends of Babylonia & Assyria by Lewis Spence PDF

Caricato da

Informazioni sul documento

Titolo originale

Copyright

Formati disponibili

Condividi questo documento

Condividi o incorpora il documento

Opzioni di condivisione

Hai trovato utile questo documento?

Questo contenuto è inappropriato?

Copyright:

Formati disponibili

Myths & Legends of Babylonia & Assyria by Lewis Spence PDF

Caricato da

Copyright:

Formati disponibili

UN

ll a Ill trat ons

pag e Ill s t rat ion

a e Plat e nd oth r Ill s tr ti ns

oth er Ill trations

t5 3 PO RT SMOU TH STREET KI NG SWAY

p urp os e of this b ook is

only a popular ac count Of the religion an d

MYT H S O F B A B YL O NI A AND A SSY RIA

A B YLO N IA A N D A SSYRIA I N H I ST ORY AND

Tig lat h - Pil e se r I

( Alla n Ste wa rt)

( Sir H e nry L ay a rd)

Ass u n a ir p al t t en d e d by a W in g e d Myt h logi l B e in g

p e ailin g o e r t h e P r ie st s of B l (Ev ly n P ul)

CHAPT E R I : B AB YL ONIA AND ASS YRIA

MYTH S O F B A B YL ONI A AND A SSY RI A

the E ast but not an unimaginative race for the

Who then were the A kkadians who m the Baby

MYT H S O F B A B YL O NI A AND A SSY RIA

Mid dl e A ges c omposed their writings in dog L atin !

MYT H S O F B A BYL ONI A AND A SSY RIA

A B aby lonian C onq uer or

B ut the rst great Semitic empire in Babylonia

our ow n King A rthur the early years of Sargon

of bulrushes on the waters of the E uphrates whence

and enlarged the e mp ire left him by his

MYT H S O F B A B YL O NI A AND A SSY RIA

L ibr ary in B aby lonia

the well a u thenticated assertion that ve thousand

down in the lowest va ults a h aematite cylinder

B ut the empire which Sargon ha d founded was

MYT H S O F B A B YL ONI A AND A SSY RIA

MYT H S O F B A B YL ONI A AND A SSY RIA

seven years when he was faced by a p opular revolt

kudur uzur the last of the old A ssyria n royal line

Tig lat h Pileser

or Tu k ult i pal E sana to confer

MYT H S O F B A B YLONIA AND A SSY RIA

Sem iram is t h e G r eat

I t was probably in the reign o f this monarch that

would have been wonderful indee d ha d the magic

ever conceived ye t no t more beauteou s than itself

her a s she wa s Sa m m u ra m a t the Babylonian queen

simplicity as A woman o f the palace o f Sa msi

Ra mm on King of the World

MYT H S O F B A B YL O NI A AND A SSY RIA

MYT H S O F BA BYL O NIA AND A SSY RIA

ha d this device for their national insigne

King of the F our Q uarters o f th e World

MYT H S O F B A B YL ONI A AND A SSY RIA

S A RDA NA PAL U S THE S PLE NDI D

O f all the Assyrian monarchs he was

perhaps the most p ompous and the least tted to

E sar haddon wa s succeede d by Assur banipal

MYTH S O F BA BYLO NIA AND AS SY RIA

local Heracles or B aal wa s burned in c h igy This

Sardanapalus Sir Ja mes F razer writes :

SARDANA PALU S THE S PLENDID

MYTH S OF BAB YLO NIA AND AS SY RIA

THE FI RS T G REAT LI BRARY

in an inscription h e ca ll s a limb of Satan b ut

Th e First G r eat L ibr ar y